By Deborah Bailey
Contributing Editor
AFRO American Newspapers

More than 800 persons from the violence intervention community across the United States joined a White House briefing Oct.  23, to learn how states can access federal dollars provided by Medicaid for violence prevention services. 

The White House Office on Gun Violence Prevention fielded the call in response to an executive order signed by the Biden-Harris administration on Sept. 26 and its announcement of additional steps to reduce gun violence. 

During the signing ceremony, Biden called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CSS) to clarify the reimbursements currently available through CSS.

“One in five Americans know someone who has been shot or killed as a result of gun violence,” said Greg Jackson, deputy director, White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, on the call. 

“This is $805 billion put in place for the communities we are serving,” Jackson said. “We really are challenging you to step up and build the coalitions needed to access this funding; to work closely with your state leadership and to get these resources to every state.” 

Medicaid reimbursement has been available to states since 2021 for violence prevention services. However, only eight states currently provide reimbursement for community prevention violence strategies. 

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New York, North Carolina and Oregan have passed legislation allocating Medicaid reimbursement for a range of violence prevention services based on needs in communities in their respective states. 

“Different states are doing it in very different ways. There is a lot of experimentation going on and we’re learning along the way,” said Dr. Kyle Fisher, who practices emergency room medicine and serves as clinical associate professor at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. 

For instance, Maryland and several other states are using Medicaid reimbursement to pay for violence prevention training and certification for front line violence prevention workers, while North Carolina has set up a 1115 Medicaid reimbursement plan covering basic life needs such as housing, food, and job placement by those directly impacted by community level violence. 

State violence prevention coalitions have the option to work with state Medicaid offices to request what is known as a 1115 waiver, allowing states to make experimental changes to their existing Medicaid programs to offer innovative supports like the North Carolina reimbursements. 

“We need you to work closely with your state leadership” to determine what services are critically needed in individual states, Jackson said to call participants.

Gun violence was responsible for 46,728 deaths in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This figure represents a slight decrease from 2021, when the highest number of deaths by gun violence ever, 48,830, was recorded. 

Black people in America continue to face death by gun violence at a rate 13 times higher than their White counterparts, according to an analysis of CDC data by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. For children and youth ages 1-17, Black deaths due to gun violence are 17 times the rate of Whites. 

The U.S. rate of death by gun violence far exceeds other high-income nations. Additionally, the U.S. is the only country in the world where civilian ownership of guns exceeds the population according to the World Population Review.

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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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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.

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By Sharon Johnson
The Associated Press

The third-grade students at Roberta T. Smith Elementary School had only a few days until summer vacation, and an hour until lunch, but there was no struggle to focus as they filed into the classroom. They were ready for one of their favorite parts of the day.

The children closed their eyes and traced their thumbs from their foreheads to their hearts as a pre-recorded voice led them through an exercise called the shark fin, part of the classroom’s regular meditation routine.

“Listen to the chimes,” said the teacher, Kim Franklin. “Remember to breathe.”

Schools across the U.S. have been introducing yoga, meditation and mindfulness exercises to help students manage stress and emotions. As the depths of student struggles with mental health became clear in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year endorsed schools’ use of the practices.

Research has found school-based mindfulness programs can help, especially in low-income communities where students face high levels of stress or trauma.

The mindfulness program reached Smith Elementary through a contract with the school system, Clayton County Public Schools, where two-thirds of the students are Black.

GreenLight Fund Atlanta, a network that matches communities with local nonprofits, helps Georgia school systems pay for the mindfulness program provided by Inner Explorer, an audio platform.

Joli Cooper, GreenLight Fund Atlanta’s executive director, said it was important to the group to support an organization that is accessible and relevant for communities of color in the Greater Atlanta area.

Children nationwide struggled with the effects of isolation and remote learning as they returned from the pandemic school closures. The CDC in 2023 reported more than a third of students were affected by feelings of persistent sadness and hopelessness. The agency recommended schools use mindfulness practices to help students manage emotions.

“We know that our teenagers and adolescents have really strained in their mental health,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen told The Associated Press. “There are real skills that we can give our teens to make sure that they are coping with some big emotions.”

Approaches to mindfulness represent a form of social-emotional learning, which has become a political flashpoint with many conservatives who say schools use it to promote progressive ideas about race, gender and sexuality.

But advocates say the programming brings much-needed attention to students’ well-being.

“When you look at the numbers, unfortunately, in Georgia, the number of children of color with suicidal thoughts and success is quite high,” Cooper said. “When you look at the number of psychologists available for these children, there are not enough psychologists of color.”

Black youth have the fastest-growing suicide rate among racial groups, according to CDC statistics. Between 2007 and 2020, the suicide rate among Black children and teens ages 10 to 17 increased by 144 percent.

“It’s a stigma with being able to say you’re not OK and needing help, and having the ability to ask for help,” said Tolana Griggs, Smith Elementary’s assistant principal. “With our diverse school community and wanting to be more aware of our students, how different cultures feel and how different cultures react to things, it’s important to be all-inclusive with everything we do.”

Nationwide, children in schools that serve mostly students of color have less access to psychologists and counselors than those in schools serving mostly white students.

The Inner Explorer program guides students and teachers through five-to-10-minute sessions of breathing, meditating and reflecting several times a day. The program also is used at Atlanta Public Schools and over 100 other districts across the country.

Teachers and administrators say they have noticed a difference in their students since they’ve incorporated mindfulness into their routine. For Aniyah Woods, 9, the program has helped her “calm down” and “not stress anymore.”

“I love myself how I am, but Inner Explorer just helps me feel more like myself,” Aniyah said.

Malachi Smith, 9, has used his exercises at home, with his father helping to guide him through meditation.

“You can relax yourself with the shark fin, and when I calm myself down, I realize I am an excellent scholar,” Malachi said.

After Franklin’s class finished their meditation, they shared how they were feeling.

“Relaxed,” one student said.

Aniyah raised her hand.

“It made me feel peaceful,” she said.

This article was originally published by The Associated Press.

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By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer

On day one of its Annual Legislative Conference (ALC), the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) took on Black maternal health, Black infertility, family building and reproductive justice. 

Experts from across the country weighed in on challenges, opportunities and policies regarding reproductive health for Black women, who disproportionately experience maternal mortality, infertility and miscarriages. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White Women. The public health agency also reports that they are more likely to encounter infertility compared to their White counterparts. 

“Across the board, Black women and Black birthing people have worse maternal health outcomes than our White counterparts,” said Nicole M. Cooper, executive vice president and chief strategy and innovation officer at United Way Worldwide. “From preterm births, to lack of access, to equitable care, to insufficient prenatal care and poor postpartum recovery supports and services, the U.S. health system is failing Black women and their families during a time that should be full of joy and hope.” 

Examining infertility and maternal mortality in the Black community

Dr. Lasha Clarke is the assistant director of research and translation at Morehouse School of Medicine’s Center for Maternal Health Equity. Since 2021, the center has been conducting a Fertility Equity Study. 

Clarke shared that the study has concluded that Black women face infertility twice as much as White women. They are also half as likely to seek fertility care. Clarke stressed the importance of destigmatizing infertility.

“Infertility is a medical condition–not a social condition,” said Clarke. “It’s not something that we need to feel a sense of shame or blame around.”

The center also found that in certain segments of the country, Black women are five times more likely to die during childbirth. Even when controlling for socioeconomic factors, they are more likely to experience maternal mortality than their counterparts. Clarke said this is also reflected in infertility. 

“In our study and even in the broader literature, Black women who are of high socioeconomic resources are reporting the same thing,” said Clarke. “They are experiencing infertility, but there are barriers to seeking care that are not strictly the finances of it.”

These barriers include racial biases and discrimination from providers and limited access to education about maternal health and fertility. 

The role of doulas and midwives 

Considering the poor state of Black maternal health in the U.S., many women turn to non-traditional care providers, like birthing centers, doulas and midwives. 

Baltimore County Delegate Jennifer White Holland (D-10) pointed out that Maryland does not have any free-standing birthing centers. 

“That limits the options that birthing people have in finding other alternatives to receive their care,” said Holland. 

She noted that the state has made progress on supporting doulas. In 2022, Maryland started the Medicaid Doula Services Program, which provides reimbursement to these professionals. But, the compensation is not yet enough.

“Unfortunately, the reimbursement rates are so low that there isn’t really an incentive for doulas to participate, which makes it very cost-prohibitive for many birthing people to access doula services,” said Holland. 

Leah Jones, director of maternal health and birth equity initiatives for SisterSong, said her organization is aiming to mitigate certification issues for community midwives in Georgia. 

“They’re literally people who can teach physicians how to do their work. They’re reflecting our communities, our issues and our stories. However, they have licensing issues in Georgia,” said Jones. “We have been on a continuous fight to make sure their legitimization gets pushed through legislation and that communities can reach into midwives, doulas and birth workers who look like them, talk like them and live in their neighborhoods.”

Black men as allies in the fight for reproductive rights

Historically, a dangerous and unfounded stereotype has been propagated about Black fathers being absent parents. Data from the CDC refutes this generalization. It found that Black fathers were more likely to feed and eat meals with their children; bathe and dress them; and take them to activities compared to other racial groups. 

“The best piece of advice that I ever received as an expectant father was that everything she feels, the baby feels,” said Charles Johnson IV, founder of 4 Kira 4 Moms. “It’s your job fundamentally to make sure that she feels safe, protected and happy at all times, as much as humanly possible.”

He started his organization after his wife, Kira Johnson, died during a routine C-section in 2016. Johnson said it’s critical for Black men to be informed about the spectrum of labor options and how to advocate for their partners even before they become pregnant. 

Sheehan Fisher is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University. He also serves as associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion for the institution. Fisher acknowledged that for a lot of Black women, pregnancy can be an isolating experience. This is only compounded by their heightened risk factors for poor maternal health outcomes. Fisher said he believes Black men should eliminate the isolation their partners may feel while on their maternity journey. 

“She needs a partner who can be an advocate throughout the whole experience,” said Fisher. “Fathers are not clinicians or doctors, but they can be trained to know what to look out for.”

Charles Daniels Jr., CEO of Father’s Uplift, explained that Black men must first address their mental health in order to be good partners through pregnancy. 

“We need to go to therapy,” said Daniels. “We need to get the necessary help to be able to be present.” 

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By Aria Brent
AFRO Staff Writer
abrent@afro.com

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) kicked off their 53rd Annual Legislative Conference (ALC) at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C. on Sept. 11. Attendees from across the country and beyond have traveled to the nation’s capital to partake in the panel sessions, networking opportunities and social events planned Sept.11 to Sept. 15. 

The opening ceremony featured several leaders and elected officials, including CBCF CEO and President, Nicole Austin-Hillery. The CBCF leader spoke on empowering the global Black community and taking action aligned with this year’s theme of “Vision to Victory: Amplifying Black Voices.”

“We are carrying on with our mission of empowering the global Black community and we know that empowering the global Black community means creating opportunities, creating spaces and ensuring equity for all,” she said. “We refuse, as a community, to go backwards…we will achieve all of the visions for success that we have for our community in front of us.”

Attendees spoke with the AFRO about why they decided to attend the legislative conference. 

“I’m a sponsor. I’m also Black and in government to a very large degree,” said Kwame Canty, managing director of external affairs for Edison Electric Institute.

“People from all over the world– from parliaments and governments from other countries– come here to learn and to hear some of the policy discussions. The diaspora isn’t just in the Americas–it’s all over the world and Black culture is all over the world,” Canty said. “It’s good to hear policy descriptions that germinate from different places.” 

Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell (D-AL-7) spoke on the organization’s commitment to empowering and advancing the Black community.

“We on the CBCF Board take seriously our mission to uplift, empower and advance the Black community. That’s exactly what #ALC53 is all about– it’s more than just a conference it’s a catalyst for change,” said Sewell. “In less than two months, we will have the opportunity to enter into a new chapter in America’s history in electing the first Black woman president of these United States.”

The ALC has always been a breeding ground for innovation and change. Many use the conference to encourage young women and men alike to get involved in politics. 

“Within legislation we need a lot more young people that can be the voice for the future,” said Taylor Robinson, 29-year-old former CBCF fellow from Houston, Texas. “It’s important for people our age to be active within this space, to really talk about what’s happening in our communities, nationally and worldwide.” 

Vendors at the event range from Black authors and designers to members of service organizations and researchers, such as David Asiamah, Ph.D. The research and content developer manager for the Black Wealth Data Center said Black data is imperative in creating policy for wealth equity.

“Until now, the data needed to fully understand racial wealth equity has been out-of-date, inaccessible, and difficult to find in a single location. This has made it difficult for policymakers and practitioners to leverage data to make decisions that affect Black communities,” said Asiamah. “That’s why Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative launched the Black Wealth Data Center to better inform research, investment decisions, and policies that support Black communities.”

Sessions that took place on day one of the event included a panel addressing an equitable approach to Black infertility and family building;  a session titled, “AI and How It Can Be Leveraged by Small Businesses”; a discussion on DEI and children and a forum on how Project 2025 could impact Black women if implemented after the next presidential election.

In addition to the workshops, forums and panel discussions, a variety of both professional and social events will be held throughout the length of the conference, providing attendees with plenty of opportunity to brainstorm, empower one another and network. 

“Through the CBCF I’ve met a plethora of people and I’m glad that I was able to expand myself and connect with a couple of people,” said Janelle Edge, a former CBCF fellow from Orlando, Fla. “The fellowship was great, I was able to learn how policy is actually implemented and know the logistics of different stakeholders. I learned how essential partnership is.”

This year the CBCF is partnering with Amazon to help make the conference possible. Several people from the retail conglomerate spoke about the importance of their company supporting the CBCF and all of their initiatives.

“Growing up in D.C. I had the privilege of attending CBC programs and it was in those spaces that I saw first hand how policy makers, community activists and corporations come together to address critical community challenges,” said Terreta Rodgers. “Much like the CBCF, Amazon believes that solving our complex issues requires collaboration, innovation and deep commitment to community. Whether it’s advancing social equity, supporting education, helping small businesses thrive or fostering social justice, we are proud to partner with organizations like the CBC to drive impactful solutions.”

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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.” 

The post Harris, Trump face off as members of Black Press weigh in on ‘Debate Night in Black America’ appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com 

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. and around the globe. The World Health Organization reports that 726,000 people around the world die by suicide every year. In the U.S., more than 49,000 people died by suicide in 2022, equating to one death for every 11 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

September 10 marks World Suicide Prevention Day, and September recognizes National Suicide Prevention Month. The observations denote a time to raise awareness about the stigmatized crisis and share vital resources. 

“Most people don’t realize that there are more suicides than there are murders in the United States,” said Tamara Ferebee, executive director of human services administration at the National Association of Black Counselors. “We get very upset about shootings because there’s so many, but the number of suicides far exceeds that number.” 

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, in 2021, there were nearly two times as many suicides, 48,183, in the U.S. than homicides, 26,031. 

Ferebee explained that mental and physical health should be treated with equal priority. She said some of the warning signs for a suicide attempt include someone talking about death, withdrawing from friends and family, saying goodbye to people, giving away their personal items, taking undue risks, eating or sleeping a lot less or more than usual and increasing their consumption of alcohol or drugs.

“One of the big ones is if they’ve been down for a while, and then, all of a sudden, they’re happy,” said Ferebee. “Usually, that’s because they’ve made the decision that they’re planning to die. They feel like their burdens are over.” 

New York native Dionne C. Monsanto lost her daughter, Busisiwe Ayo Monsanto, to suicide 13 years ago. She was 15 years old at the time of her death. 

Her loved ones affectionately called her, “Siwe,” for short, but her full name meant blessing and joy, which Monsanto said was a fitting description.

“She was a really active, outgoing person and very helpful. I think we were both serial helpers,” said Monsanto. “She was a dancer, reader and writer, and she played the acoustic and bass guitar. She had been on full scholarship at The Ailey School.” 

At the age of four, Monsanto said her daughter would cry for long periods of time when she left Kindergarten. Her teacher said she was perfectly fine during school hours. When Monsanto sought guidance from teachers and doctors, they told her it was an adjustment period. 

The crying seemed to phase out as Siwe got older, but Monsanto decided to have her tested by a doctor when she was nine. 

“It came out that she was highly-intelligent, gifted and talented and had depression and anxiety disorder,” said Monsanto. “They were very matter-of-fact, saying it’s perfectly normal to have depression and anxiety disorder with her intelligence level.” 

When Siwe was a teenager, Monsanto said it was a constant battle to get her to clean her room, a common struggle for parents of teens. But, before her death, Siwe cleaned her room. Monsanto saw it as a parenting win at the time. 

But since her death, she’s realized it may have been a warning sign. Siwe gave her mom an $80-dress that she begged her mother to buy. 

“She gave me the dress, but she didn’t say she was giving it to me. She wanted me to hold on to it. She was like, ‘Mom, you know how my room is. If I’m going to find this dress, you’ll know where it is when I want to wear it,’” said Monsanto. “That made perfect sense to me.” 

Since her daughter’s death, she said she heals by talking about her and keeping her memory alive. She said she’s learned to accept the duality of life, although she sometimes has to remind herself that Siwe’s death wasn’t her fault. It’s important to Monsanto to be a part of conversations on suicide, especially for parents of color. 

According to the CDC, suicide rates among Black people aged 10 to 24 have increased from 8.2 to 11.2 per 100,000, a 36.6 percent increase. Mental health has also long been a taboo topic in the Black Community. 

“We do not judge anyone who has cancer. We do not judge anyone that has diabetes. We do not judge people for a broken leg,” said Monsanto. “We really have to embrace mental health in the same way as we would any other physical thing. If we talk about it, then we can collectively heal.” 

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, help is available. Please consult the resources below:

• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
• 741741 Crisis Text Line
• National Alliance on Mental Illness Helpline
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention 

The post Breaking the silence: Raising awareness on suicide prevention appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Jamie Stengle
The Associated Press

From barbecues to getaways to shopping the sales, many people across the U.S. mark Labor Day — the federal holiday celebrating the American worker — by finding ways to relax.

This year is the 130th anniversary of the holiday, which is celebrated on the first Monday of September. While actions by unions in recent years to advocate for workers are a reminder of the holiday’s activist roots, the three-day weekend it creates has become a touchstone in the lives of Americans marking the unofficial end of summer.

Here’s what to know about Labor Day:

How did Labor Day become a federal holiday?

Its origins date back to the late 19th century, when activists first sought to establish a day to pay tribute to workers.

The first Labor Day celebration in the U.S. took place in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882, when some 10,000 workers marched in a parade organized by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor.

Workers were seeing their quality of life decline as they transitioned from artisan to factory jobs, even as the quality of life of factory owners was “just skyrocketing,” said Todd Vachon, an assistant professor in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations.

In the years that followed, a handful of cities and states began to adopt laws recognizing Labor Day. President Grover Cleveland signed a congressional act in 1894 making it a federal holiday.

That was the same year that workers for the Pullman Palace Car Company went on strike after the railcar-maker cut wages without reducing rent in the company-owned town where workers lived near Chicago, Vachon said. Over 12 workers were killed after Cleveland sent federal troops to crush the strike, he said. 

Cleveland’s move to establish Labor Day as a federal holiday is seen by some historians as a way for him “to make peace” with the working class after that, Vachon said.

What do Americans do over Labor Day weekend?

For the three-day weekend created by Labor Day, travelers pack airports and highways for end-of-summer escapes, and backyard chefs prepare cookouts for family and friends.

Barbecuing has been a part of Labor Day celebrations from the start, said Robert F. Moss, food writer, culinary historian and author of “Barbecue: The History of an American Institution.” 

He said it was already such an entrenched tradition in the U.S. that when the labor movements developed in the late 19th century, it was natural to celebrate as large groups gathered. In the 20th century, the holiday’s barbecues moved more toward gatherings of friends and family in backyards, he said.

“It still has a lot of that same communal sense, gathering around the grill, eating together,” he said.

Vachon said that whether the origins of the labor movement are on one’s mind while celebrating depends on whether they live somewhere with a large union presence.

In Chicago, a parade and festival are held over Labor Day weekend in what is now the Pullman neighborhood, home of the holiday’s roots. Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, said the parade and festival they host brings in union members and their families from all over the area.

How has the labor movement evolved over the decades?

When Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894, unions in the U.S. were largely contested and courts would often rule strikes illegal, leading to violent disputes, Vachon said. It wasn’t until the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 that private sector employees were granted the right to join unions. 

Later into the 20th century, states also began passing legislation to allow unionization in the public sector. But even today, not all states allow collective bargaining for public workers.

In recent years, Vachon said, there’s been a resurgence in labor organizing, activism, interest and support. 

“A lot of the millennial and Gen Z folks are coming into the labor market in a period that’s not a lot different from that period in the 1880s where there was a lot of labor unrest,” Vachon said. “Jobs just don’t pay enough for people to achieve the American dream.”

What’s the connection between fashion and Labor Day?

The adage that one shouldn’t wear white after Labor Day is a “rule” that’s broken with very fashionable results, but where did it originate?

Fashion experts say it likely goes back to the Gilded Age — the same period in the late 1800s that spawned Labor Day. The cool, white frocks worn by wealthy New Yorkers during their summers in places such as Newport, Rhode Island, would be packed away on their end-of-summer return to the city with its dirt-packed streets. 

Christy Crutsinger, a professor in merchandising and digital retailing at University of North Texas, heard the adage from generations of women in her family. But “the fashion world’s not working that way anymore,” she added.

“People think it, say it, but don’t abide by it,” she said.

With back-to-school shopping and a switch by many business people from a more relaxed summer dress code, fashion is on the mind of many around Labor Day, said Daniel James Cole, adjunct assistant professor in fashion history at the Fashion Institute of Technology and co-author of “The History of Modern Fashion.”

The holiday, he said, “is kind of this hinge” between summertime dress and fun to going “back to more serious pursuits.”

___

Associated Press journalist Wyatte Grantham-Philips contributed to this report.

The post What to know about Labor Day and its history 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 Alexis Taylor

AFRO Managing Editor

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore delivered electrifying speeches on day three of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. A host of noted leaders and elected officials spoke straight to voters via live stream on the DNC’s official Youtube channel. Both implored voters to take part in the 2024 election and gave moving personal testimony to why they are in support of electing Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz into the positions of president and vice president, respectively.

“America is an ongoing project. It requires commitment. It requires being open to the hard work and the ‘heart work’ of democracy –and every now and then–it requires standing up to life’s bullies,” said Winfrey, on Aug. 21 at the Chicago-based convention. “I know this. I’ve lived in Mississippi, in Tennessee, in Wisconsin, Maryland, Indiana, Florida, Hawaii, Colorado, California…and sweet home, Chicago, Ill.”

Winfrey told the crowd that she has “actually traveled this country from the Redwood Forest…to the Gulf Stream waters,” invoking the lyrics of Woody Guthrie’s 1956 song, “This Land Is Your Land.” 

“I’ve seen racism, and sexism, and income inequality and division. I’ve not only seen it at times I’ve been on the receiving end of it. But more often than not, what I’ve witnessed and experienced are human beings –both Conservative and Liberal– who may not agree with each other, but who’d still help you in a heartbeat if you were in trouble,” Winfrey continued. “These are the people who make me proud to say that ‘I am an American.’ They are the best of America, and despite what some would have you think, we are not so different from our neighbors.” 

Winfrey said that her message was for her fellow registered, independent voters and those who are still undecided. 

With less than four months left before Election Day 2024 on Nov. 5, time is quickly running out.

Winfrey said now is the time to decide “what we want our futures to look like.” 

“There are choices to be made when we cast our ballot,” she said, reminding voters that when it comes to the candidates up for election, “values and character matter most of all.”

Wes Moore spoke moments after Winfrey, and started his address with how Harris proved she was ready to be president when it came to the state of Maryland. 

“On March 26 at 1:30 in the morning a container ship the length of three football fields slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and the bridge collapsed. A port that drives 13 percent of our state’s economy was now closed,” recalled Moore. “Thousands of workers were hours away from waking up and realizing they no longer had a job. Six Marylanders who had been on the bridge in the middle of the night fixing potholes lost their lives. And one of the first phone calls that I got that morning started with these three words ‘Gov. it’s Kamala.’ She said ‘I know you spoke to the president and I want you to know that we are here with you every step of the way.’” 

Moore said that his training and actual experience leading soldiers in combat in Afghanistan taught him that “you never learn anything about anybody when times are easy. You learn everything you need to know about somebody when times are hard and the temperature gets turned up.” 

“America, I saw that Kamala Harris is the right one to lead in this moment first hand,” he told the audience. “United, with the Almighty God’s grace, we brought closure to the families of the six victims and while many said that it could take 11 months to reopen the Port of Baltimore, we got it done in 11 weeks because that is the story of America. We are a nation of patriots who serve when the mission is hard and who serve when the destination is uncertain.” 

Moore spoke to voters who have become disillusioned. 

“I know our history isn’t perfect. The unevenness of the American journey has made some skeptical, but I’m not asking you to give up your skepticism. I just want that skepticism to be your companion and not your captor,” said Moore. “I’m asking that you join us in the work, because ‘making America great’ doesn’t mean telling people you’re not wanted. And loving your country does not mean lying about its history.” 

Moore said that Harris is a “prosecutor who defended our freedoms” that “had Maryland’s back” when the state “needed it most.”

“Now, MVP, we’ve got your back as well,” he said, before turning his attention to his “ fellow veteran,” Walz. 

“Tim knows that in the military you count the days towards mission completion. We have ‘75 days and a wake up’ until election day,” said Moore, using military terminology for how soldiers in combat count the days before they can wake up and head home. “Seventy-five days and a wake up for us to prove what Americans can do when the pressure is on; Seventy-five days and a wake up for us to show that true patriots do not whine and complain–we put our heads down and we get to work.”

“Seventy-five days and a wake up to build a future that those who came before us hoped for, and those who come after us deserve,” Moore continued, rousing the crowd. “Seventy-five days and a wake up to elect a leader who is willing to believe in the best of us and that leader is Kamala Harris, the next president of the United States.”

The post Oprah Winfrey, Gov. Wes Moore speak at 2024 Democratic National Convention appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

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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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 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 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 Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com

President Joe Biden recently announced new efforts to reduce housing costs for Americans. The proposals include imposing rent caps on corporate landlords and building more affordable housing.

The move comes after the Biden-Harris administration revealed its Housing Supply Action Plan in May. It is designed to drive down housing expenses over time by increasing the supply of homes across the country. 

“Families deserve housing that’s affordable—it’s part of the American Dream,” said Biden in a  July 16 statement. “Rent is too high and buying a home is out of reach for too many working families and young Americans, after decades of failure to build enough homes. I’m determined to turn that around.”

According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, 49 percent of renters were cost-burdened in 2021, spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing.

If passed by Congress, Biden’s proposal would deny federal tax credits to landlords who increase rent by more than 5 percent each year. The policy would start this year and continue for the next two years. Landlords who control more than 50 units would be subject to the cap, ultimately reaching more than 20 million renters in the U.S. 

“Rent’s too high and a home is out of reach for too many working and young Americans. After decades of failure to build enough homes, the president decided that it was time to take action to turn that around,” said Stephen K. Benjamin, senior adviser to the president and public engagement director at the White House. “We’ve seen this trend of corporate landlords, those on Wall Street primarily, buying hundreds and thousands of homes in one community and significantly increasing rents higher than normal inflation would dictate.” 

High rents often have a disproportionate impact on Black and Brown families. In 2021, the Pew Research Center found that 58 percent of households led by Black adults are renters. This is compared to 27.9 percent for households led by White adults.

Benjamin highlighted that the president is also working to remove barriers to homeownership, a means of creating generational wealth for Black Americans. According to the adviser, nearly 250,000 Black adults have purchased a home with the help of a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan since 2021. 

He also said Biden’s foreclosure prevention measures have kept more than 160,000 African Americans in their homes.

“People just want a fair shot, an opportunity to do the great things that God has in store for them. They want a level playing field that realizes that oftentimes the system does not work for Black and Brown tenants across this country,” said Benjamin. “The civil rights challenge of the 21st century is, how do I build generational wealth? For many of us, it’ll be through housing.”

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

(NNPA Newswire) – A group of well-known Black Democratic leaders unveiled Project FREEDOM, a fresh strategy to combat Project 2025, a contentious 922-page plan to reform the federal government put forth by a conservative Washington think tank and other political allies.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have repeatedly warned in campaign speeches that if Donald Trump wins a second term, he plans to use the conservative blueprint to exert unprecedented presidential power, eliminate the Department of Education and federal housing assistance, and significantly cut or restrict food stamps and other social welfare programs.

Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, calling some of the proposals “seriously extreme,” but its architects helped shape his Republican Party platform. 

Project FREEDOM, the organizers said in a virtual news conference, is designed to engage Black voters in four key battleground areas.

In the plan, the group says it aims to mobilize voters of color through town halls, community events, digital campaigns and phone banks in Michigan, North Carolina, Las Vegas, and the Pennsylvania/Tri-State area.

Project FREEDOM aims to provide voters with a substantial policy agenda for Democrats ahead of the November election, offering a clear and precise contrast to Project 2025. 

Organizers say Project FREEDOM is based on four pillars: Freedom to Live, Freedom to Learn, Freedom to Vote, and Freedom to Thrive.

“When people show you who they really are, you have a responsibility to speak your truth. Project FREEDOM is our opportunity to speak in one collective voice and say, ‘This will not stand,” said Rev. Michael McBride, co-founder of Black Church PAC and the National Black Brown Gun Violence Prevention Consortium, which work to center Black and Brown gun violence prevention practitioners and scale up life-saving interventions related to urban and communal violence.

They said Freedom to Live is born from the idea that the Black community should be able to “live freely and without fear.” Organizers are calling for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which Republicans in the U.S. Senate have stalled. 

“The way to really engage voters to go to the polls is to make sure they know we’re not just going for a celebratory vote. Instead, we’re going to the polls with our bag of demands with us,” said Tamika Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom, an intersectional social justice organization.

Mallory emphasized the need to address income inequality, educational challenges and police violence. She referenced the case of Sonya Massey, an unarmed 36-year-old Black woman and mother of two, who was fatally shot by former deputy Sean Grayson in her Illinois home. Grayson’s troubled history in law enforcement, including prior disciplinary issues, highlights systemic problems in policing that Project FREEDOM aims to address.

Meanwhile, Freedom to Thrive calls for expanding the Child Tax Credit, increasing the federal minimum wage to match inflation, and a pilot program for universal basic income in low-income communities nationwide. 

Additionally, Freedom to Learn focuses on education, including canceling student debt and protecting Black American history in public schools. 

Freedom to Vote aims to strengthen voting rights, advocate for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act’s passage, and reshape the U.S. Supreme Court.

Michael Blake, founder of Project FREEDOM and CEO of KAIROS Democracy Project, emphasized the urgency of the initiative. 

“Our democracy is under siege by a man and political machine that put themselves above all those in whom they detect ‘otherness,’” said Blake, a former vice chair of the Democratic Party.

“We cannot afford to forget the pain inflicted on our people throughout Donald Trump’s administration, and we certainly cannot afford the destructiveness a second term would normalize,” Blake stated.

Project FREEDOM officials said, “Make no mistake: Communities of color are the frontline communities targeted by the poison that is Project 2025’s Christian Nationalist vision for the future, and Project FREEDOM is the antidote.”

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By Christine Fernando
The Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — ” Brats for Harris.” ” We need a Kamalanomenon. ” ” Gen Z feels the Kamalove.”

In the days since President Joe Biden exited the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Gen Z voters jumped to social media to share coconut tree and “brat summer” memes — reflecting a stark shift in tone for a generation that’s voiced feeling left behind by the Democratic Party.

Youth-led progressive organizations have warned for months that Biden had a problem with young voters, pleading with the president to work more closely with them to refocus on the issues most important to younger generations or risk losing their votes. With Biden out of the race, many of these young leaders are now hoping Harris can overcome his faltering support among Gen Z and harness a new explosion of energy among young voters.

Since July 21, statements have poured out from youth-led organizations across the country, including in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, California, Minnesota, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, as leaders thanked Biden for stepping aside and celebrated the opportunity to organize around a new candidate. On July 26, a coalition of 17 youth-led groups endorsed Harris.

“This changes everything,” said Zo Tobi, director of communication for the Movement Voter Project, a national progressive funding group focusing on youth-led organizations, when he heard the news that Biden was dropping out of the race and endorsing Harris. “The world as it is suddenly shifted into the world as it could be.”

As the campaign enters a new phase, both Harris and her Republican rival, Donald Trump, are expected to target messages aimed at younger voters who could prove decisive in some of the most hotly contested states. 

Trump spoke late July 26 at a Turning Point USA conference and Harris plans to deliver a virtual address July 27 to Voters of Tomorrow, an organization focused on young voters.

John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, who has worked with Biden, said the “white-hot energy” among young people is something he hasn’t seen since former President Barack Obama’s campaign. While there’s little reliable polling so far, he described the dynamic as “a combination of the hopefulness we saw with Obama and the urgency and fight we saw after the Parkland shooting.”

In many ways, it was the first time many young people felt heard and felt like their actions could have an impact on politics, he and several young leaders said.

“It’s reset this election in profound ways,” he said. “People, especially young people, for so long, for so many important reasons have been despondent about politics, despondent about the direction of the country. It’s weighed on them. And then they wake up the next morning, and it seems like everything’s changed.”

About 6 in 10 adults under 30 voted for Biden in 2020, according to AP VoteCast, but his ratings with the group have dipped substantially since then, with only about a quarter of the group saying they had a favorable opinion of him in the most recent AP-NORC poll, conducted before Biden withdrew from the race.

That poll, along with polls from The New York Times/Siena and from CNN that were conducted after Biden dropped out, suggest that Harris starts off with somewhat better favorable ratings than Biden among young adults.

Sunjay Muralitharan, vice president of College Democrats of America, said it felt like a weight was lifted off his chest when Harris entered the race.

Despite monthly coalition calls between youth-led groups and the Biden campaign, Muralitharan spent months worrying about how Biden would fare among young voters as he watched young people leave organizations such as the College Democrats and Young Democrats to join more leftist groups.

College Democrats issued statements and social media posts encouraging the party to prioritize young people and to change course on the war in Gaza and have “worked tirelessly to get College Dems programming” at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later this summer. But they received limited outreach in return, Muralitharan said.

A Harris campaign represents an opportunity to move in a new direction, he said. The vice president has shown her vocal support for issues important to young voters such as climate change and reproductive rights, Muralitharan said, adding that she may also be able to change course and distance herself from Biden’s approach to the war in Gaza.

“The perpetual roadblock we’ve run into is that Biden is the lesser of two evils and his impact on the crisis in Gaza,” he said. “For months, we’ve been given this broken script that’s made it difficult for us to organize young voters. But that changes now.”

Santiago Mayer, executive director of the Gen Z voter engagement organization Voters of Tomorrow, said the Biden campaign “created an entirely new framework for operating with youth organizations” that can now be transitioned into supporting Harris’ campaign.

“Gen Z loves VP Harris, and VP Harris loves Gen Z,” he said. “So we’re ready to get to work for her.”

___

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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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 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 ReShonda Tate
The Defender

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee died at 74, her family announced Friday night (July 19). An apologetic champion for her constituents, the longtime Congresswoman served the public for more than 30 years.

“A local, national, and international humanitarian, she was acknowledged worldwide for her courageous fights for racial justice, criminal justice, and human rights, with a special emphasis on women and children,” a statement from her family said.

Last month, Jackson Lee announced she was fighting pancreatic cancer. In a statement, Jackson Lee said she was undergoing treatment to battle the disease “that impacts tens of thousands of Americans every year.”

“She will be dearly missed, but her legacy will continue to inspire all who believe in freedom, justice, and democracy. God bless you Congresswoman and God bless the United States of America,” Jackson Lee’s family said.

This article was reprinted with permission from 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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“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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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.

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By William J. Barber, II

If you’re an ordinary American who goes to work to pay the bills or takes care of a loved one most days, it’s easy to feel down when you see the headlines about the 2024 election. Donald J. Trump has been convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying business records to cover up hush money he paid to bury an alleged affair with a porn star during the 2016 campaign, and the Republican Party continues to think he’s their best candidate. At the same time, President Biden, is struggling to hold together his Democratic base as images of devastation in Gaza continue to dominate the news. Stories of good news in politics seem few and far between. 

But as a preacher, I learned a long time ago that you don’t get to the good news by looking away from problems; the good news is most often found right in the midst of trouble. Yes, politics is a mess in 2024. But, at the same time, several popular movements of everyday people struggling for economic justice have emerged that have the potential to reshape our politics. Against the backdrop of decades of rising inequality, low-wage worker movements have made huge strides since the pandemic, insisting that living wages are a moral issue for “essential workers” and seeing the largest increase in real wages in decades. Young people who’ve watched education and healthcare costs soar have come together to form effective coalitions for debt relief and won billions in loan forgiveness. Leveraging worker power, unions have waged effective strikes and negotiated new contracts while expanding to include new workers, especially in the South. Though they’re rarely in the headlines, these movements made up of millions of low-income workers have the potential to re-frame political debates for people who are weary of the status quo. The good news in 2024 is that poor and working people are the new swing vote in US politics.

A report from Lake Research Partners demonstrates just how powerful this untapped coalition of low-income voters could be. Looking back at the past three Presidential elections, they found that in the seven states that will likely decide the 2024 election—Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, and Pennsylvania—low-income voter participation was an average of 12 percentage points lower than that of their higher income voters. Using past averages to project 2024 turnout, this study measured the difference between the margin of victory in the last Trump/Biden matchup and the number of eligible low-income voters who are likely not to vote. In Georgia, for example, Biden won by almost 12,000 votes in 2020. In North Carolina, he lost by 74,000. But in both states, more than a million eligible low-income voters will likely not vote in 2024 if past trends continued. That’s a huge potential swing vote, and the proportions are similar across the seven swing states in the study.

Since the 2024 Presidential race will likely be a rematch of 2020, this study used exit poll data from 2020 to ask who unlikely low-income voters would vote for if they did turnout in 2024. Of the 1.3 million likely nonvoters in Georgia, 746,000 would likely be Biden voters. Of the 1.1 million in North Carolina, some 594,000 would likely go for Biden. In short, Biden and other Democrats have a huge advantage among this demographic when they are able and willing to vote. The overwhelming takeaway of this study is that a relatively small increase of low-income voter turnout in any of these seven states would dramatically increase Biden’s chances of winning a second term in the White House. The millions of low-income people who’ve risen up as leaders in movements for economic justice over the past few years have the power to decide the outcome of the 2024 election.

Celinda Lake and her research partners are consultants for the Biden campaign, and their is clearly focused on the potential for his candidacy in 2024, but the potential power of this swing vote is much larger than one election or even one political party. Both Democrats and Republicans have ignored low-income voters for decades precisely because they are unlikely voters. But when the nonpartisan Poor People’s Campaign, which I serve as a co-chair, surveyed poor people to ask why they don’t vote, the number one reason they gave was, “No one speaks to us.” 

This is why our campaign has committed hold a Mass Poor People’s and Low Wage Worker’s Assembly in Washington, DC, on June 29^th. We are bringing the everyday people who’ve demanded better wages from their bosses to Washington insist that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents make clear what they will do to address the needs of 135 million Americans who are living on the edge in the richest nation in the history of the world. And we are committing to go home to our communities and reach 15 million of the unlikely low-income voters with the message that they have power in 2024. If they show up, especially in seven key states, their votes will decide the outcome in 2024. When they do, they will be in a position to help shape the reconstruction of an American democracy that works for all of us.

William J. Barber, II is President of Repairers of the Breach and author of the new White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy. 

The post The Good News In 2024: Poor People Are the New Swing Vote 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.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

The Biden-Harris administration held the second annual Juneteenth concert on the South Lawn of the White House on June 10.

The event started at 7:30 pm and was hosted by comedian Roy Wood Jr., who cracked jokes throughout the night while also emphasizing the importance of celebrating Juneteenth.

The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, the day that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out that they were free through the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln on Jan. 1, 1863. 

President Joe Biden gave a speech during the concert and stated that the June 10 celebration was a “fitting tribute” for the holiday. The president also took a moment to discuss recent attacks launched against diversity and equity programs across the nation. 

“Old ghosts in new garments trying to take us back– taking away your freedoms, making it harder for Black people to vote or have your vote counted,” he added. “Our history is not just about the past, it’s about our present and our future…for all of us.” 

In attendance were Congressional members Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas-30), Ayanna Pressley, (D-Mass-7), Cori Bush (D-Mo-1) Maxine Waters, (D-Calif-43) and Steven Horsford, (D-Nev-4), attorney Ben Crump, MSNBC host Symone Sanders-Townsend and rapper Joey Bada$$. 

“It’s an honor to be invited–especially looking at what this nation faces at this point. Specifically, with what I’d consider essentially a race war,” said Ameshia Cross, a Democratic strategist. “We’re seeing measures to erase curriculum that is reflective of what actually happened in American history.”

Pressley stated she attended the Juneteenth concert to pay tribute to Opal Lee, the advocate who pushed for the holiday to become nationally recognized. 

“She made this possible and many fought to make this holiday real,” said Pressley. “There are a lot of people who bled, who prayed, who paved the way…for me to be involved everyday in the work of Black liberation.”

Over a two-hour period, guests experienced performances from Patti LaBelle, Anthony Hamilton, Kirk Franklin, Raheem DeVaughn, Charlie Wilson, Doug E. Fresh, Gladys Knight and many other talented artists.

LaBelle sang her hit song “Love, Need and Want You,” Hamilton sang his classic “Charlene” and Kirk Franklin gave the audience a show while dancing to his song “Love Theory.” 

“This was a celebration of achievements against a backdrop of people who are trying to erase it and make it harder for Black people to have access points,” said Cross. “President is going against all odds to ensure there’s equity and strength for the Black community.”

In 2021, Biden signed a law that made Juneteenth a federal holiday. This year Juneteenth will be recognized on Wednesday, June 19.

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By Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware
Word in Black

On June 2, when thousands of ministers representing all ages, genders, and cultures descend upon Hampton University’s campus in Hampton, Virginia, the convergence will be unlike any other in the world.

For the 110th time, ministers, chaplains, pastors, choir members, organists, musicians and directors will gather with great anticipation of yet another time of worship, learning, and fellowship, to attend the school’s annual Ministers Conference and the 90th Choir Directors and Organists Guild Workshop.

Attendance at last year’s conference had not yet returned to pre-COVID numbers. But this year’s registration numbers seem to indicate that people are ready to come back — and that doesn’t include those who register on-site, as many do.

“I’m excited because of the number of women participating,” says the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hale, founding and senior pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia, and current president of the conference. “My goal was to increase the numbers of women in ministry as well as the young ministers and pastors of all cultures.” 

Dr. Hale says there had been wisps of dissension because of the ongoing changes, but she knows her assignment. “Finally, I’m at a place where I can do what God has called me to do, and that is to position ministers so they can grow and excel.”

The theme for this year is “Tools for Transforming the Life of the Leader,” and the highly anticipated presenters for this year are:

• Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, mid-day preacher, senior pastor of Alfred Street Baptist Church, Alexandria, Virginia.
• Rev. Marissa R. Farrow, morning preacher, associate at Allen AME, Jamaica, New York
• Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, lecturer, senior pastor
• Rev. Dr. Shareka Newton, women in ministry hour
• Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes, conference preacher
• Rev. Dr. Cynthia James, senior stateswoman
• Rev. Dr. Raquel Lettsome, lecturer

The Ministers’ Conference got its start in 1914, born from the collaboration of the Negro Organizational Society, the Conference for Education in the South, the Southern Education Board, and the Cooperative Education Board. These groups, confronting the urgent issues facing African-American churches and their communities, found a powerful ally in Hampton Institute. This institution, with its strong community ties, became the birthplace of the original Ministers’ Conference, then known as The Conference of Negro Ministers.

Its first home was in the campus chapel, Memorial Church, with only 40 ministers from four denominations. By its 14th anniversary, attendance had grown to 800 ministers representing 19 different denominations. And in 1934, the conference grew by the addition of the Choir Directors’ and Organists’ Guild.

More than a century later, “We are pleased to present a stellar program of powerful prolific preachers and proclaimers of the gospel of Jesus Christ from across the nation,” Dr. Debra L. Haggins, executive director and treasurer of the Conference, said in a welcome statement online. 

Hale is especially excited about the young preachers and how they worship after all the other planned activities for the day are over.

“They have their own preaching series, and it is absolutely incredible. They’re in all stages of their journeys, some in seminary, some pastoring, others preaching. They have praise and worship, but then this ring, I call it a boxing ring, in the middle of the floor in the Student Life Center; and the preacher goes up there, and they literally just circle the preacher,” she said. “There is wonderful affirmation and excitement.”

There is also much opportunity for learning during the week. Participants can attend two sessions of workshops. 

“They are relevant, they are practical, and speak to their needs right where they are,” Dr. Hale says.

This article was originally published by WordinBlack.com.

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
Tmcqueen@afro.com

Former U.S. President Donald Trump made history in April 2023, becoming the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges. Now, with the 2024 presidential election mere months away, Trump becomes the first U.S. president to be convicted in a criminal court case. 

“Donald Trump’s unanimous conviction on 34 counts proves that our system of justice is not a respecter of position, power, or privilege,” U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-07) told the AFRO. “This case, while historic in nature, proves that America’s system of equal justice under law remains steadfast. Even if it is the former president of the United States on trial, this case proves that no one is above the law.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg spearheaded the efforts to get Trump into a courtroom facing criminal charges. Trump was accused of falsifying documents to conceal a payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, in order to keep her silent about an alleged affair 12 days before the 2016 election. 

Bragg alleged that the former president used his company, American Media Inc. (AMI), and a team of lawyers to send $130,000 to Michael Cohen, a former attorney, to pay Daniels.

The indictment claims Trump, after the 2016 election, reimbursed Cohen for the payment through monthly checks via the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, a legal entity that held the Trump Organization’s assets after Trump became president, and from Trump’s personal bank account. 

Allegedly, each check was disguised as a legal services payment.

The conviction came after jurors deliberated on two separate days. 

The Biden-Harris campaign released a statement via X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, shortly after the announcement of the conviction.

“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law,” said the Biden-Harris campaign in a statement released on the conviction. “Today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the oval office: at the ballot box.”

The Biden-Harris campaign emphasized the likelihood that Trump will move forward as the Republican nominee for president and why people should vote in November.

“The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution,” read the statement. “A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms and fomenting political violence – and the American people will reject it this November.”

Trump also spoke to the upcoming November election in his response to the conviction on his campaign website.

“The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 –by the people. They know what happened here,” said Trump, in a May 30 statement. 

The convicted former president said that he will “fight to the end” and claimed the “country has gone to hell.”

When asked for comment, White House Counsel’s Office Spokesperson, Ian Sams, in a separate statement to the media said “We respect the rule of law, and have no additional comment.”

According to the Associated Press, the judge set Trump’s sentencing for July 11.

Tashi McQueen is a Report For America corps member.

The post Former U.S. President Donald Trump guilty on 34 felony charges  appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

Donald Trump has been convicted of 34 criminal charges. The unanimous verdict by the New York jury marks the first time in American history that a former U.S. president has been found guilty of a crime.

Despite Trump’s claim that Black people will relate to his legal troubles, we remember how Trump failed to relate to the Black and brown teenagers in the Central Park Five case that he tried to execute and never apologized after they were exonerated.

RELATED: Don’t Be Fooled By Trump’s Ops in the Bronx

The conviction should give Republicans a convenient off-ramp to find a new nominee, but they’re too far down the rabbit hole to use common sense. The Constitution does not prohibit a “convicted felon” from running for president, so the verdict will not end Trump’s presidential campaign. But let this mark the end of the foolish conversation that Trump and Biden are the same. They are not. No matter what President Biden’s weaknesses, there is no other person in American history — past or present — as dangerous to democracy as Donald Trump.

It was not the Biden campaign or the White House that convicted Trump. It was the unanimous verdict of 12 jurors, selected in a transparent process in open court. And while Trump politicized the trial by yapping his mouth at daily press conferences outside the courtroom for six weeks, he never once opened his mouth to testify inside the courtroom under oath.

Trump complained that the prosecution relied on the testimony of a convicted felon and a porn star to prove its case, but those were the people with whom he chose to associate. Trump hired Michael Cohen to be his lawyer, and Trump engaged in an adulterous sexual encounter with adult film star Stormy Daniels. The Manhattan district attorney didn’t pick those people; Trump did.

The verdict in Trump’s hush money trial is the first of four criminal cases facing the former president. He’s also facing state charges of election interference in Georgia, federal charges for stealing and withholding classified documents in Florida, and federal charges for “conspiracy to defraud” the United States by plotting to overturn the 2020 election results leading up to the January 6 insurrection.

Those are just his criminal trials.

Trump has also been found liable in multiple civil trials. He was fined $454 million for fraud, $83.3 million for defamation, and ordered to pay a $5 million fine for sexually assaulting a woman in New York. His company was convicted of 17 felonies and ordered to pay a $1.6 million fine. His university was shut down and fined $25 million, and his foundation was shut down and fined $2 million.

Although Trump ran for office in 2016 promising to hire “the best people,” he surrounded himself with people in trouble with the law. The CFO of his company was convicted. His campaign chairman and deputy campaign chair were both convicted. His campaign manager cut a plea deal in a battery case. Three of Trump’s top White House aides — Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, and Peter Navarro — were convicted. Even his lawyers have been indicted and pleaded guilty to crimes.

When Trump first ran for president in 2016, he warned voters that if Hillary Clinton were elected, “it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis” because “she is likely to be under investigation for a long time, concluding, probably, in a criminal trial.” But that’s exactly the situation we find ourselves in today.

Despite Trump’s campaign mantra to “lock her up,” Hillary Clinton was never arrested, indicted, or convicted of any crime. But Trump has been. He is the constitutional crisis he warned us about. And if he is elected, he will be the first president in history still under criminal investigation and facing criminal trial. At least Richard Nixon had the decency to resign the presidency when he got caught.

What makes the prospect of a Trump presidency even more threatening is that Trump has pledged to pardon the insurrectionists who aided his attempt to overthrow our democracy in 2021.

For all the unsupported right-wing claims about President Biden protecting Hunter Biden, Biden has done nothing to interfere with the Justice Department’s investigation of his son. Trump, on the other hand, might abuse the power of the presidency to shut down both of his federal criminal cases. And in the unlikely event that he is convicted in one of his federal cases before January 2025, Trump has already indicated that he believes he has the power to pardon himself.

I don’t know how many times I can say this is not normal, but it must be said. I’ve worked in politics for 40 years and have studied and taught political science since college. I know from 250 years of history that America has survived crooked presidents and incompetent presidents. We’ve had racist presidents and slave-owning presidents. But we’ve never had a president who obstructed the peaceful transfer of power. And we’ve never elected a president who had just been convicted of a crime.

Some people may not remember the chaos of Trump’s first term in office, but I do. I covered him for five years as a political commentator for CNN. I read his disturbing midnight tweets, watched his belligerent press conferences, witnessed the tear gassing of peaceful protesters, called out his mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis, and resisted his attacks on Black people.

Trump was unhinged his first time in office, but his worst impulses were constrained by a small group of people who knew better. Now, with a criminal conviction under his belt and nothing to lose, there will be no constraints.

The post Lock Him Up: Trump Is Now a Convicted Felon appeared first on Word In Black.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

President Joe Biden recently announced that he plans to nominate four individuals to federal circuit and district courts. The list includes Judge Embry J. Kidd, an African-American judge.

Kidd, a graduate of Yale University’s law school, currently serves as the Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. He was appointed to the bench on July 25, 2019. If nominated, Kidd would become a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Last week, Biden announced that he intends to also nominate Judges Adam B. Abelson, Joseph F. Saporito and Meredith A Vacca to fill vacancies in district courts in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. 

The White House released a statement which read, that the nominations “continue to fulfill the president’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country – both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.” 

In a statement obtained by the AFRO, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford, D-Nev. applauded Biden’s nomination.

“Judge Kidd is an immensely qualified candidate with more than a decade of experience in private practice as well as time as a federal judge and Assistant U.S. Attorney,” said Horsford. 

The Nevada lawmaker added that the president’s nomination of Kidd builds “on his promise to ensure that the federal judiciary reflects the diversity of backgrounds and lived experience in our nation.”

U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, both representatives of Maryland also praised Biden’s choices and endorsed Judge Abelson, who if confirmed by the U.S. Senate would become a judge in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. 

Van Hollen said in a statement that Judge Abelson “has served the people of Baltimore for more than a decade. He has proven commitment to equal justice under the law and a strong command of a wide range of legal issues.”

Cardin also weighed in on the nominations. 

“Marylanders should be confident that Judge Abelson will continue to carry out his judicial oath and guarantee equal justice of the law to all parties that come before his courtroom,” said Cardin, in a statement.

After President Biden officially nominates the four judges, the Senate Judiciary Committee will conduct confirmation hearings for each nominee.

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By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO

A statue of civil rights activist Daisy Gatson Bates will be unveiled at the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol on May 8. 

U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) spoke with the AFRO ahead of the honor. 

“The unveiling of her statue in the halls of Congress shows the arc of history bending towards justice,” said Ivey. “It is an honor to be a member of this body as we enshrine her legacy.

U.S. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas also weighed in on what the recognition means in today’s time. 

“Considering the current climate that we’re in as it relates to politics and race, it’s important that we remind people of our history. I think we need to consistently remind people of our history and what really matters,” said Crockett. “And hopefully we can find it in our hearts to recognize the future historians who are currently doing their part to better this country.”

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y. said that he is excited to see a statue of Bates at the U.S. Capitol.

“Those who do not know their history tend to repeat it,” said Bowman. “I feel like we’re in a moment where we may be repeating the horrors of the civil rights movement without the triumphs. This is an opportunity to celebrate the triumphs, keep working and looking for more triumphs.”

Bates was born in 1914 in Huttig, Arkansas and while she was an infant, her mom was murdered by three White men. That tragedy inspired her to become a civil rights icon who broke barriers.

In her fight for justice, Bates and her husband L.C. Bates launched “The Arkansas Weekly,” which was an African-American newspaper solely dedicated to the civil rights movement.

Bates took her advocacy a step further in 1954 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for schools to remain segregated. Following the verdict, Bates ensured that Black students were able to attend all-White institutions and in 1957 she recruited nine students, known as the Little Rock Nine, to integrate at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

On Nov. 4, 1999, Bates passed away and President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded her with a Congressional Gold Medal.

“We all stand on the shoulders of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s,” said Ivey. “Daisy Bates’ work with the press and with the NAACP as it pertained to the integration of Little Rock’s Central High School and the Little Rock 9 makes her one of the early catalysts of change during those turbulent years.”

Crockett told the AFRO that stories like that of Bates are “a part of the fabric of who America is. When you talk about the greatness of America that’s what made America great. We never needed an orange man to make us great.” 

“It was people like Daisy Bates, the people who weren’t seeking the glory, weren’t looking for cameras but really believed in doing the real work,” said Crockett. “The people that lived out what it meant to be a Christian, instead of using Christianity as a tool of war to oppress other people.”

A statue of American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash will be unveiled alongside Bates’ statue at the Capitol on May 8. Both statues are set to replace the statues of 19^th-century politicians like attorney Uriah Rose and former James P. Clarke, a former governor and senator from Arkansas.

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Here’s what’s known about the scam surrounding the shooting

By Ben Finley
The Associated Press

It was a common scam that ended with an uncommon outcome, tragically in an Ohio driveway.

William J. Brock fatally shot an Uber driver because he wrongly assumed she was part of a scheme to extract $12,000 in supposed bond money for a relative, authorities said this week. Lo-Letha Hall was a victim of the same con, summoned by the grifters to Brock’s house to retrieve a purported package for delivery.

Brock later told investigators he believed Hall arrived to get the money the scammers wanted. He is now facing murder charges, to which he’s pleaded not guilty. Hall’s family is grieving. And Uber is helping investigators to try to catch whoever was behind the attempted swindle.

The grift is commonly known as a grandparent scam or fraud, exploiting older people’s love for their family, experts say. Callers claim to be anyone from grandchildren to police, telling victims something terrible happened and that their younger relative needs money.

Here’s what we know about the shooting and the investigation so far:

WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED?

Brock, 81, received scam calls the morning of March 25 at his home in South Charleston, a town of about 1,800 people between Dayton and Columbus. The calls regarded an incarcerated relative and “turned to threats and a demand for money,” according to a statement from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

While Brock was on the phone, Hall got a request through the Uber app to pick up a package from Brock’s house for delivery, the sheriff’s office said. Hall, 61, of Columbus, was unaware of the attempted scam.

“Upon being contacted by Ms. Hall, Mr. Brock produced a gun and held her at gunpoint, making demands for identities of the subjects he had spoken with on the phone,” the sheriff’s office said.

Hall was unarmed and never threatened Brock or made any demands of him, the sheriff’s office said.

Brock took Hall’s cellphone and refused to let her leave, the sheriff’s office said. When she tried to get back into her car, Brock shot her. He shot her a second time and a third time during subsequent scuffles.

Brock then called 911 to report he shot someone on his property who was trying to rob him.

Police body camera footage shows him briefly discussing what he said had happened.

“I’m sure glad to see you guys out here because I’ve been on this phone for a couple hours with this guy trying to say to me I had a nephew in jail and had a wreck in Charleston and just kept hanging on and needing bond money,” Brock said. “And this woman was supposed to get it.”

The footage shows investigators discussing $12,000 sitting on a table in Brock’s house.

The footage also shows a Clark County Sheriff’s Office detective in Brock’s house talking on the phone with a man who was talking to Brock earlier. He identified himself as an officer and told the detective, “You’re going to be in trouble.”

When the detective identified herself as an actual police officer, the phone disconnected. During a subsequent phone call with the man, the detective told him the Uber driver was in a serious accident, in the hospital and “not doing well.”

The man told the detective he’d be there in 20 minutes. He was not.

Brock was indicted on April 15 on charges of murder, assault and kidnapping. He posted $200,000 bail and was released from the Clark County Jail on April 17. His attorney, Paul Kavanagh, did not immediately return an email seeking comment on April 19.

HOW COMMON ARE THESE SCAMS?

Grandparent scams have become increasingly common in the last 10 to 15 years — in part because of the abundance of personal information available about people online, said Anthony Pratkanis, an emeritus psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Criminals retrieve specific details about someone’s relative on social media and use the information to convince victims that their loved one is in trouble, said Pratkanis, whose research includes fraud crimes.

“Basically what the criminal is doing is taking advantage of our human nature,” he said. “You’re in a panic state, high emotional arousal. It’s a fear appeal. And the best way to get rid of that fear is to give the criminal that money.”

Fraudsters typically prefer financial transactions that don’t require physical proximity, such as wire transfers, gift cards or cryptocurrency, Pratkanis said. This case is unusual because the scammers deployed Hall as an unsuspecting money mule.

“Most people in today’s kind of scams don’t really have interactions with the criminal — there’s a distance,” Pratkanis said. “But when there isn’t, there’s an opportunity for the anger of being victimized to cause the victim to take action.”

Uber said April 17 that it was helping investigators look into an account that sent Hall to Brock’s home. 

The ride-hailing company described Hall’s death as “a horrific tragedy.”

‘A BOND LIKE NO OTHER’

An obituary for Hall described her as the parent of a son and a stepson, a devoted member of her church and a talented cook known for delicious pound cakes.

She retired from Ohio’s Regional Income Tax Agency and also worked in behavioral health, at a school and for Uber. She studied horticulture at Ohio State and started a janitorial business.

At a memorial service that was streamed online, her son Mario Hall spoke of how close they were even though they lived in different states, often speaking on the phone multiple times a day. He said they “had a bond like no other.”

“Thank you for all your sacrifices and all the things you have instilled in me,” he said. “You are the best mom that anyone could ask for. And I promise to continue to make you proud.”

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By Ron Reynolds
Texas State Representative

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) – As a representative deeply invested in the well-being of my constituents, I feel compelled to shed light on the harmful impact of the MAGA agenda. While its proponents claim to champion America’s greatness, the reality is far from uplifting, especially for Black Americans.

Let’s be clear: Make America Great Again (MAGA) is not a call for progress; it’s a thinly veiled attempt to turn back the clock on the hard-fought gains of marginalized communities, including Black Americans. From voting rights to healthcare to economic opportunity, the policies espoused under the guise of MAGA pose a direct threat to the advancements we’ve made in the pursuit of equality and justice.

Take voting rights, for example. MAGA proponents peddle baseless claims of widespread voter fraud to justify voter suppression tactics that disproportionately target Black voters. The purpose of restrictive voter ID laws, purging voter rolls, and limiting early voting hours is to silence marginalized communities and maintain the status quo of power and privilege.

Healthcare is another area where the MAGA agenda falls short for Black Americans. The relentless attacks on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) threaten to strip millions of Americans, particularly those in underserved communities, of access to affordable healthcare. For Black Americans who already face disparities in healthcare access and outcomes, the repeal of the ACA would be nothing short of disastrous.

And let’s not forget about economic opportunity. While MAGA proponents tout a booming economy, the reality is that Black Americans continue to face disproportionately high rates of unemployment, poverty and wage stagnation. The tax cuts and deregulation championed by the MAGA agenda only exacerbate these disparities, further widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

The most insidious message of MAGA is the underlying idea that America was somehow greater in the past—a past marred by slavery, White supremacy, segregation and systemic racism. For Black Americans, the nostalgia of MAGA is not just misguided; it’s deeply offensive. It ignores the struggles and sacrifices of generations past who fought tirelessly for civil rights and equality.

As a nation, we cannot afford to romanticize an era of oppression and inequality. We must instead confront the injustices of the past and work towards a future where every American, regardless of race or background, can thrive. That means rejecting the divisive rhetoric of MAGA and embracing policies that promote justice, equality, and inclusion for all.

So, to my fellow Black Americans, I urge you to see through the empty promises of MAGA and recognize it for what it truly is: a dangerous regression that threatens to undo the progress we’ve made. Let’s unite in opposition to hate, White supremacy and division and strive toward a future where all citizens can experience the full potential of America.

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Justice Thurgood Marshall to be spotlighted 

By AFRO Staff

It has been almost 70 years since the seminal Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision crumbled the legal wall of separation between Black and White students in public schools, and served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement and the striking down of other bulwarks of segregation and discrimination in American society.

On April 24, just under a month before the official anniversary on May 17, the Thurgood Marshall Center Trust and the Reginald  F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture will host a commemorative event that will spotlight the legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the attorney who argued the landmark case before the high court on behalf of the NAACP and, later, became the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court (1967–’91).

The free event, comprising a reception and panel discussion, will take place at the Museum’s facility in downtown Baltimore, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The panel discussion will feature several renowned  civil rights leaders, including U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., former head of the NAACP. Also appearing will be Larry Gibson, longtime professor at the Frances Carey School of Law, University of Maryland and  author of “Young Thurgood – The Making of a Supreme Court Justice.” And last, Benjamin Chavis, president of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and chair of the Thurgood Marshall Center Trust’s Board of Directors, will round off the list of featured speakers.

The memorial event will engage the panelists in sharing their experiences, expertise and knowledge of Justice Marshall’s life, career and legacy. The discussion will be moderated by Terri Lee  Freeman, president of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, and will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience. 

To register for this free event, go to:  

https://lewismuseum.ticketing.veevartapp.com/tickets/view/list/70th-anniversary-of-brown-v-board

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By TriceEdneyWire.com

Less than a year after the fanfare announcement that he will succeed the Rev. Jesse Jackson as leader of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III announced his resignation this week amid what insiders described as a painful financial situation. 

Few details were available at Trice Edney News Wire deadline, but according to Dr. Haynes’ April 16 statement titled, “Public Resignation Statement,” he said the following as he resigned from the organization that announced him as Jackson’s successor last July and formally installed him Feb. 1:

“After continued prayer and deliberation, I have decided to step down from the position of Chief Executive Officer and President of Rainbow Push Coalition (RPC), effective immediately. I remain committed to honoring the rich history of RPC and the legacy of its esteemed leader, the incomparable Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr., and, most significantly, to the calling and pursuit of social justice. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all who have expressed their support since my appointment in July of last year. Rest assured that my work in the fight for liberation and freedom continues. 

Yours in the struggle, Frederick D. Haynes III”

Neither Rev. Haynes nor Rev. Jackson, who has been ill with Parkinson’s disease, could be reached for comment by deadline. Sources close to RPC said the organization has been stricken with insurmountable financial problems. 

Dr. Haynes still serves as the Senior Pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas.

On its website, RPC describes itself by saying, “We protect, defend, and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields, and to promote peace and justice around the world.”

According to its written history, The Chicago-based organization, founded in 1971, “is the product of a social justice movement that grew out of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) Operation Breadbasket. Founded by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Operation Breadbasket sought to combine theology and social justice and to effect progressive economic, educational, and social policy in America. In 1966, Dr. King appointed Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. to serve as the first director of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago.”

According to a news release, Haynes’ sold-out installation event on Feb. 1 this year, “featured VIP program participants and attendees from all over the country, including Roland Martin, Rev. Al Sharpton (NAN), Shavonne Arline-Bradley (NCNW), Dr. Michael Sorrell, Dr. Amos Brown, and Dr. Ron Daniels.”

Rev. Sharpton who was keynote at the event, said in his speech, “Look at the time we are in: everything that was gained in the ’60s is now under threat…They talk about affirmative action, women’s rights, diversity, inclusion, voting rights, like somebody woke up and gave us that. Nobody donated anything to us. We fought for everything we got and we need to get back to fighting right now. And that’s why I’ve come to celebrate Freddy, because we need fighters in the pulpit… We need a fighter like Freddy Haynes.” 

Vice President Kamala Harris, at the Rainbow/PUSH convention where Haynes was announced last July, said, “I am so confident in his leadership and his ability to carry on the greatest traditions of this organization and to meet the challenges of this moment.”

This article was originally published by TriceEdneyWire.com.

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By: DaQuan Lawrence
AFRO International Writer
DLawrence@afro.com 

U.S. President Joe Biden recently invoked the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA) and declared that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will be vested with the power to utilize funds to provide assistance and military training to countries that will lend support to Haiti via a Multinational Security Support Mission. 

Under section 506(a)(2) of the FAA, Biden delegated authority to Blinken, who can direct up to $60 million in resources from U.S. federal agencies and direct the Department of Defense to provide anti-crime and counter-narcotic assistance to nations that contribute personnel to the Multinational Security Support Mission for Haiti and to the Haitian National Police.

In November 2023, the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council approved a resolution allowing the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti, under the command of Kenya, to combat gang-related violence. The MSS mission is authorized by the U.N. resolution “to take all necessary measures” to stop the violence in the beleaguered Caribbean nation. 

The resolution was ultimately delayed by a court injunction after a petition was filed by the opposition group, Thirdway Alliance, which called the choice to send troops overseas unlawful, as reported by Reuters. 

The international legislation was drafted by the U.S. and Ecuador and was approved with 13 votes in favor and two abstentions from China and the Russian Federation. Biden’s decision to appropriate additional funds to support Haiti comes after the U.S. committed up to $200 million in support of the MSS, which authorizes a one-year deployment of military force with a nine-month review and would be supported by voluntary donations. 

“This idea of bringing police officers all the way from Kenya, who have had a brief, intense training to prepare them for Haiti – but they don’t even speak a common language – is a very wrong minded approach,” Melinda Miles told The AFRO.

Miles is a Miami-based coordinator of the Haiti Response Coalition, a cross-sectional platform for different organizations that work in Haiti. The group focuses on sharing information and taking collaborative action to enable stakeholders to serve and improve Haiti.

“The coalition is based on a human rights approach,” she said.

Miles added that various mainstream media narratives about gang activities in Haiti are challenging because they tend to misleadingly depict the entire nation or capital city of Port-au-Prince as being in pandemonium.

She mentioned that she believes solutions in Haiti must be led by Haitians, and international legislative acts to support the nation must be comprehensive and seek to address political, environmental, social and economic issues. 

“The answer has to be holistic. The gangs are certainly connected to former and current political leaders as well as private sector stakeholders,” Miles told The AFRO. “The outcome is fighting between gangs aligned with government interests versus gangs aligned with private sector interests, and that has been driving these devastating and brutal ongoing battles.” 

According to the World Population Review, Haiti, the nation formerly known as Ayiti which is globally known as the first free Black republic in the world and was once the richest European colony and nation in the Western Hemisphere, is now the poorest nation there. 

The already economically struggling country has been further impacted by both earthquakes that plagued the nation in 2010, 2018 and 2021 and the political instability incited by the assassination of the nation’s 43rd president, Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021.

In the wake of these challenges, members of civil society across the U.S. are focused on supporting Haiti and its population. Last month the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) convened at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., to organize U.S. citizens and members of the international community to contribute toward the Haiti Support Project.

Led by Dr. Ron Daniels, the Haiti Support Project has spent the previous three decades working to build a constituency that can work collaboratively with the Haitian population. Its current campaign, the Montana Accord Movement is about educating members of the African Diaspora and allies about emerging events in Haiti and what will happen moving forward.

 “Our rally is against the backdrop of one of the worst crises in Haiti that I have observed in the 29 years that we’ve been working there,” Daniels said.

The Montana Accord, also known as the Aug. 30, 2021 Agreement, is a movement led by the Commission to Search for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis (CRSHC). The CRSHC was created on March 6, 2021, as an initiative of many committed civil society organizations during a Civil Society Forum. The agreement is the first to seek a Haitian solution to the crisis that the nation has been undergoing since July 2018.

“The Montana Accord came out of nine months of roundtable discussions to create a consensus on what a transition should look like in Haiti. A nine-member presidential transition council has been submitted to CARICOM (Caribbean Community), who has facilitated negotiations among the parties in Haiti for about a year,” Miles said.

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By Joseph Federman
The Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says Iran has launched a number of drones toward Israel.

The army’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said it would take several hours for the aircraft to arrive. He said Israel was prepared. He spoke late April 13.

Israel has been on heightened alert since an airstrike last week killed two Iranian generals in Syria. Iran accused Israel of being behind the attack and vowed revenge. Israel has not commented on that attack.

A U.S. official briefed on the attack said Iran had launched “dozens” of drones. The official could not publicly discuss details of the attack and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Earlier April 13, the Israeli military said it was canceling school and limiting public gatherings to no more than 1,000 people as a safety precaution.

Briefing reporters, Hagari said Israel is “prepared and ready” with defensive and offensive actions. He also said there was “tight” cooperation with the U.S. and other partners in the region.

The head of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. Erik Kurilla, has been in Israel in recent days to coordinate with Israel about the Iranian threats.

Israel has a number of layers of air defense capable of intercepting everything from long-range missiles to UAV’s and short-range rockets. Hagari said Israel has an “excellent air defense system” but stressed it is not 100 percent effective and urged the public to listen to safety announcements.

___

AP writer Michael Balsamo in New York contributed.

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By Ericka Alston Buck 
Special to the AFRO

O.J. Simpson, a name etched in American sports and entertainment, at the age of 76, has closed his final chapter marked by triumphs, controversies, and a rollercoaster ride through the justice system.

Simpson’s journey to fame began on the football fields of the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1960s, where his exceptional talent earned him the prestigious Heisman Trophy in 1968. 

Drafted as the first overall pick by the Buffalo Bills in 1969, Simpson soared to NFL stardom, setting records and captivating audiences with his unparalleled athleticism. His crowning achievement came in 1973 when he became the first player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a 14-game season, a feat that still echoes in football history.

Beyond the gridiron, Simpson ventured into the realm of acting, gracing the silver screen in films like “The Towering Inferno” and the beloved “Naked Gun” series, showcasing a charm that transcended his athletic prowess.

However, Simpson’s life took a dark turn in 1994 with the brutal murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. What followed was a trial that gripped the nation, as Simpson stood accused of the heinous crimes in what became known as the “Trial of the Century.” Despite mounting evidence, Simpson was acquitted in 1995, sparking debates and controversies that resonated throughout the balance of his life..

Yet, the shadow of suspicion lingered, and in 1997, Simpson faced civil charges and was found liable for the deaths, ordered to pay $33 million of which only a  small portion was paid. Subsequent legal troubles, including a 2007 conviction for 12 criminal charges in Las Vegas, including armed robbery and kidnapping, further tarnished his once-glittering legacy. He was sentenced to nine to 33 years and was incarcerated in a Nevada state prison for nine years. He moved from California to Florida.

In addition to his legal woes, Simpson battled health issues, including a bout with prostate cancer, adding another layer of complexity to his tumultuous life.

As news of Simpson’s passing reverberates, his legacy remains a study in contrasts—a tale of unparalleled athletic achievement marred by allegations of violence and legal entanglements. Love him or loathe him, O.J. Simpson’s name will forever be synonymous with the complexities of fame, justice and the human condition.

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(Black PR Wire) Atlanta, GA – The nation’s largest African American-led mentoring organization, 100 Black Men of America, Inc., announced today (April 6) the launch of its “Real Men Vote” campaign and 13-city tour. The tour kicked off in Cleveland, Ohio on April 1 at Premier Barbershop, and this effort is focused on delivering critical voter education and engagement ahead of the 2024 Presidential election.

Milton H. Jones Jr., Chairman of the 100 Black Men of America , Inc said, “We are an organization with more than 4,000 members, all of whom are registered to vote in the upcoming national and local elections. Further, all of these men are committed to helping men and women in their communities register to vote, learn about the election issues and see the importance of casting their ballots at every opportunity to vote.”

In addition to a critical presidential election, there are 435 seats in the House of Representatives and over 30 Senate seats up for election this year. Ahead of one of the nation’s most consequential election seasons, the “Real Men Vote” campaign is dedicated to combating an onslaught of misinformation and voting dissuasion campaigns. The goal of the tour is to equip Black men across the country with accurate information about issues and policies at the federal, state and local levels.

Dr. Wes Bellamy, Chair of the Public Policy Committee of the 100 Black Men of America, Inc. Board added: “ Black men and their potential to shape future elections have increasingly gained national attention. However, with that attention has come an influx of misinformation tactics directly targeting them. The ‘Real Men Vote’ campaign was created to provide Black men with the information and tools they need to make informed civic decisions that allow them to leverage their voting power to better our communities and protect our vision for the future.”

The multi-city tour will feature town halls curated by 100 Black Men, Inc. chapters in each respective city to discuss the importance of voting and how voting builds power. In cities noted below, the town halls will be jointly hosted by the Coalition of 100 Black Women and the 100 Black Men of America, Inc. The 100 Black Men of America will also be working with the Collective Education Fund, Black Voters Matter, and others to ensure that this is a collaborative approach to engage Black men from a multitude of backgrounds.

The “Real Men Vote” tour will be hosted in the following cities:

• Mobile, AL
• Charlotte, NC
• Cleveland, OH
• Philadelphia, PA *
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Macon, GA
• Las Vegas, NV *
• Atlanta, GA *
• Detroit, MI
• Milwaukee, WI
• South Florida *
• Jacksonville, Florida *
• Baton Rouge, LA *

* Co-hosted by 100 Black Men of America, Inc. and Coalition of 100 Black Women

100 Black Men, Inc. is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life and enhancing education and economic opportunities for all African Americans. Through mentorship, education, health and wellness, and economic empowerment, the organization is committed to initiatives that empower community members to become self-sufficient shareholders in the economic and social fabric of the communities they serve.

To learn more about the “Real Men Vote” campaign and upcoming tour dates, please visit 100blackmen.org/real-men-vote and follow the organization on Facebook, X and Instagram.

About 100 Black Men of America, Inc.

100 Black Men was founded as an organization in New York City in 1963. The national organization, 100 Black Men of America, Inc. began with nine chapters in 1986 as a national alliance of leading African American men of business, public affairs and government with a mission to improve the quality of life for African Americans, particularly African American youth. These visionaries included businessmen and industry leaders such as David Dinkins, Robert Mangum, Dr. William Hayling, Nathaniel Goldston III, Livingston Wingate, Andrew Hatcher, and Jackie Robinson. Since inception, the vision emerged and grew to over 10,000 members impacting over 125,000 underserved, underrepresented minority youth annually. Visit www.100blackmen.org for more information on the programs and initiatives of 100 Black Men of America, Inc. and their global network of chapters.

Source: 100 Black Men of America, Inc.

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The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Association of Black Students at St. Louis’ Washington University on April 5 held a sit-in at a dining hall where a group of students last month allegedly threw eggs, stood on tables and used racial slurs in front of primarily racial minority workers.

University spokesperson Julie Flory in a statement said the private college does not “share information about any specific incident or investigation involving our students or other members of our community.”

“We are working directly with our students and other members of our community to address their concerns,” Flory said.

Dining hall workers felt intimidated and uncomfortable when students on March 21 jumped on tables, spit at each other and used racial slurs, the president of a local food workers union, David Cook, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The Association of Black Students told the newspaper that most of the workers that night were racial minorities.

St. Louis Democratic state Sen. Karla May in an April 5 statement said she reached out to student advocates and campus leaders “to ensure steps are being taken to address these overt acts of racism.”

The Association of Black Students met at the cafeteria April 5 to write thank-you notes and show support for workers who were present during the alleged incident, which the group said was “not an isolated instance of violence.”

“It shows how racism is still a part of the culture and has been fostered at Washington University, elite institutions, and historically white organizations for far too long,” the group said in a statement posted on the social media platform Instagram.

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By Sean Murphy
The Associated Press

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — A Black man convicted of shooting and killing two people in Oklahoma City more than two decades ago was executed April 4.

Michael Dewayne Smith received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and was pronounced dead at 10:20 a.m., Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesperson Lance West said.

After the first of three lethal drugs, midazolam, was administered, Smith, 41, appeared to shake briefly and attempt to lift his head from the gurney before relaxing. He then took several short, audible breaths that sounded like snores or gasps. Oklahoma DOC Director Steven Harpe said after the execution that Smith “appeared to have some form of sleep apnea.”

A masked doctor entered the execution chamber at 10:14 a.m. and shook Smith several times before declaring him unconscious.

Smith appeared to stop breathing about a minute later. The doctor reentered the execution chamber at 10:19 a.m. and checked for a pulse before Harpe announced the time of death.

Smith was sentenced to die in the separate shooting deaths of Janet Moore, 41, and Sharath Pulluru, 22, in February 2002. He is the first person executed in Oklahoma this year and the 12th put to death since the state resumed executions in 2021 following a nearly seven-year hiatus resulting from problems with executions in 2014 and 2015.

Given the opportunity to say last words, Smith responded, “Nah, I’m good.”

Moore’s son Phillip Zachary Jr. and niece Morgan Miller-Perkins witnessed the execution from behind one-way glass. Attorney General Gentner Drummond read a statement on their behalf that said in part: “Justice has been served.”

Drummond, in his own statement, called Moore “a rock for her family” and said Pulluru “was an inspiration to his family” as the first member to come to the United States for an education.

“Janet and Sharath were murdered simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time; that was all. I am grateful that justice has been served,” Drummond said.

During a clemency hearing last month, Smith expressed his “deepest sorrows” to the victims’ families, but denied he was responsible.

“I didn’t commit these crimes. I didn’t kill these people,” Smith said, occasionally breaking into tears during his 15-minute address to the board, which denied him clemency in a 4-1 vote. “I was high on drugs. I don’t even remember getting arrested.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 4 denied a stay of execution requested by Smith’s attorneys, who argued that his confession to police was not sufficiently corroborated.

Prosecutors say Smith was a ruthless gang member who killed both victims in misguided acts of revenge and confessed his involvement in the killings to police and two other people.

They claim he killed Moore because he was looking for her son, who he mistakenly thought had told police about his whereabouts. Later that day, prosecutors say Smith killed Pulluru, a convenience store clerk who Smith believed had disrespected his gang during an interview with a newspaper reporter.

Smith’s attorney, Mark Henricksen, argued that Smith is intellectually disabled, a condition worsened by years of heavy drug use, and that his life should be spared and he should be allowed to spend the rest of it in prison. Henricksen said Smith was in a PCP-induced haze when he confessed to police and that key elements of his confession aren’t supported by facts.

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mar 29, 2024–The Oklahoma Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on April 2 in a case brought by the two last known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Nine justices will determine whether the Survivors can be blocked from seeking justice for one of the worst racial incidents in U.S. history. The highly anticipated decision could have far-reaching implications for all Oklahomans who’ve suffered rights violations, with the potential to either uphold everyday people’s access to the civil court system, or curtail it significantly.

Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Ford Fletcher, both 109, continue to make history by pressing on with their lawsuit against the City of Tulsa and other institutions that played a direct role in carrying out the massacre, which left hundreds of Black people dead and one of the country’s most affluent Black communities in ruins. They are hoping that the state’s Supreme Court will swiftly direct the Tulsa District Court to move the case forward – thereby giving them a shot at seeing justice during their lifetime.

“We are grateful that our now-weary bodies have held on long enough to witness an America, and an Oklahoma, that provides Race Massacre survivors with the opportunity to access the legal system,” Randle and Fletcher said in a joint statement. “Many have come before us who have knocked and banged on the courthouse doors only to be turned around or never let through the door.”

“Now, our pursuit of justice rests in the hands of our Oklahoma Supreme Court. They have the power to open the doors of justice and give us the opportunity to prove our case.”

The lawsuit, filed in 2021 under Oklahoma’s public nuisance law, cleared historic legal hurdles and sparked hope that, for the first time in over a century, the massacre’s perpetrators would be brought to trial.

In August, the decision by a Tulsa district judge to dismiss the Survivors’ lawsuit on dubious procedural grounds sent shockwaves across the country. However, the Oklahoma Supreme Court quickly revived the case, agreeing to consider the Survivors’ argument that they were being held to a standard that no other plaintiff in Oklahoma is required to meet.

“It breaks my heart that even after suffering through a state-sponsored atrocity and its demoralizing aftermath, the last two Tulsa Race Massacre survivors are devoting the fleeting time they have left to a battle that the defendants hope will break their spirits,” said Damario Solomon-Simmons, lead attorney for the survivors. “But the City of Tulsa’s shameful plan will not work.”

“To be clear, the fight facing Mother Fletcher and Mother Randle is about more than just Black Wall Street. It is about the right of every person in Oklahoma to be rest assured that if they are ever abused, swindled, or exploited, they will have a reasonable chance to prove their case in court. This is what every American deserves, and it’s what the City of Tulsa, one of the main culprits behind the Tulsa Race Massacre, is trying to take away. I look forward to the Oklahoma Supreme Court hearing our arguments, and pray that they uphold the rights of my clients, and all victims in the state, by swiftly directing District Judge Caroline Wall to proceed with the case.”

“We look forward to the opportunity to explain to the court why our clients have met Oklahoma’s pleading requirements and why the case should continue expeditiously in the trial court.” said Michael Swartz, partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel, co-counsel on the case representing the two remaining survivors. “The defendants are asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to hold Mother Randle and Mother Fletcher to a higher pleading standard than any other plaintiff who seeks justice in Oklahoma courts, which would be a grave injustice.”

If the justices find that the survivors did not meet the pleading standard and uphold the Tulsa District Court’s dismissal, the decision could fundamentally change Oklahoma’s pleading standard for all future plaintiffs. Such a holding would make it harder for any victim in the state to move a lawsuit forward.

Further, if the justices delay in making a decision, the April 2 hearing could be the survivors’ final courtroom appearance while they’re still alive. Hughes “Uncle Red” Van Ellis, who was the youngest of the remaining massacre survivors at 102, died in October. In 2021, he participated in a Congressional hearing, where he made the tearful plea: “Please do not let me leave this earth without justice.”

Ellis’ sister, Viola Fletcher, turns 110 on May 10.

Justices will hear oral arguments April 2 at 1:30pm CST/2:30 EST at the Oklahoma State Capitol (2300 N Lincoln Blvd, Oklahoma City, OK), in the Supreme Court Room on the 2nd Floor.

The hearing will be open to the public and live streamed at: JusticeforGreenwood.org/watchparty

Media interested in interviews should contact: 

Gerry Johnson 
gerrycj@01iampeace609-923-1816

Stanton 
Mike Goodwin 
mgoodwin@stantonprm.com
646-502-3595

Sneha Satish 
ssatish@stantonprm.com
646-502-3556

ABOUT THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE

The Tulsa Race Massacre took place in 1921 when a mob of white individuals, deputized and armed by municipal and county officials, killed, looted, and burned down the Greenwood area. The Massacre resulted in the murder of more than 300 Tulsans and the destruction of the prosperous Greenwood neighborhood, often referred to as “Black Wall Street.”

ABOUT GREENWOOD

Greenwood, most revered for “Black Wall Street” was co-founded by Black Creeks—it became one of the most prosperous, organized, and successful Black communities in United States history, and a place for Black people to escape the political, economic, and social oppression of southern lawmakers post-civil war.

ABOUT JUSTICE FOR GREENWOOD FOUNDATION

Justice for Greenwood is a grassroots, 501(c)(3) organization with a big vision: to get Respect, Reparations, and Repair for the Greenwood community for the near century of historical omissions and continued harm caused by the 1921 Massacre, through survivor and descendant support, public education, and advocacy.

ABOUT SCHULTE ROTH & ZABEL

With a firm focus on private capital, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP (“Schulte”) comprises legal advisers and commercial problem-solvers who combine exceptional experience, industry insight, integrated intelligence and commercial creativity to help clients raise and invest assets and protect and expand their businesses. The firm has a long history as a leader in pro bono legal work and a legacy of contributing to the greater good. Schulte embraces its professional and moral obligations to seek justice through the legal system. The firm directly represents and empowers the most vulnerable and marginalized; brings impact litigation to fuel social change; and supports social entrepreneurs to form the next generation of mission-driven organizations that will advocate for the underserved.

RECOGNIZING OUR ACCOMPLISHED LEGAL TEAM, AND NATIONAL & LOCAL PARTNERS

Damario Solomon-Simmons and Kym Heckenkemper of Solomon Simmons Law; J. Spencer Bryan and Steven Terrill of BryanTerrill, P.C.; Professor Eric Miller of Loyola Marymount College of Law; Maynard M. Henry, Sr.; Lashandra Peoples-Johnson and Cordal Cephas of Johnson Cephas Law PLLC; Michael Swartz, Randall Adams, Sara Solfanelli, McKenzie Haynes, Erika Simonson, Lea Dyce, Sedinam Anyidoho, Alex Mason-Pazmiño and Ben Lewson of Schulte; Tiffany Cross (American television personality, political analyst, and author); Gerry Johnson (Human Rights Watch); Dr. Tiffany Crutcher (Executive Director and Founder, Terence Crutcher Foundation); and Cassidy Fallik (ACLU OK).

View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240329214115/en/

Gerry Johnson,gerrycj@gmail.com; Michael Goodwin,mgoodwin@stantonprm.com; Sneha Satish,ssatish@stantonprm.com

KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA OKLAHOMA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: CONSULTING OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES LEGAL PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

SOURCE: Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP

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By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Reporter

As damage from the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is assessed, leaders are now questioning the incident’s implications for Maryland’s economy. 

“Locally, and even internationally, people are getting a real-time lesson on the importance of the Baltimore Port,” said Mark Anthony Thomas, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC). “When we saw the accident, initially, we did not assume the port would be shut down indefinitely. Now, we are learning that it will have a longer impact on our economy. We just don’t know how dramatic that will be.” 

The Port of Baltimore contributes nearly $3.3 billion in total personal income to the local economy and generates more than $395 million in taxes and $2.6 billion in business income. It supports more than 15,000 direct jobs and over 139,000 related jobs. Nearly 1,800 ships visit the marina each year. 

Nationally, the Port of Baltimore ranks number one for automobile shipments. In the face of the recent catastrophe, vessel traffic will be suspended until further notice. Thomas said there is an immediate need to restore the port’s operations.  

“It serves as a major thoroughfare for cars,” said Thomas. “Any part of the United State’s supply chain that’s disrupted creates a ripple effect in other areas.”

Drivers are urged to use I-95 and I-895 tunnels as alternative routes to the Key Bridge. As a reminder, MDTA officials are imploring drivers to remember that vehicles transporting hazardous materials are prohibited in tunnels. According to the MDTA, those drivers “should use the western section of I-695 around tunnels. This includes vehicles carrying bottled propane gas in excess of 10 pounds per container (maximum of 10 containers), bulk gasoline, explosives significant amounts of radioactive materials.”

The Francis Scott Key Bridge opened in 1977, according to information released by MDTA, and was “the third longest continuous truss bridge in the world. With the main span stretching 1,200 feet.” 

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By DaQuan Lawrence 
AFRO international Writer 
DLawrence@afro.com

Haiti is in turmoil once again as authorities and local gangs engage in a deadly power struggle for control over the country. The conflict began to intensify in late February, and on March 11, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to resign once a plan for leadership is put into place. As the killings continue, residents are caught in the middle with nowhere to go as surrounding countries have closed off their borders. The main seaport in the nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince has also closed, blocking food and other aid to millions of Haitian citizens. Black allies from around the globe are now seeking to support the country, while calling for a Haitian solution to the challenges facing the country. Collage photos: AP Photos/Odelyn Joseph

The death toll continues to climb in Haiti as gangs and Haitian authorities clash in attempts to take control of the country. Around the world supporters and political figures are calling for the violence to cease, as solutions to the many problems facing the country are discussed and agreed upon.

In the United States Black advocates are calling for an answer created for the Haitian people, by the Haitian people. 

To further discuss proposed plans for peace and how Black people around the world can help, the Institute of the Black World: 21st Century convened at the historical AME Metropolitan Church in Washington, D.C. to galvanize U.S. citizens and members of the international community in support of Haiti. 

Led by Dr. Ron Daniels, the Haiti Support Project has been active over the previous three decades and working to build a constituency that can work collaboratively with members of the Haitian population. 

“We are the premier African-American organization that has worked to address issues in Haiti.  Our rally at the historic AME Metropolitan Church is against the backdrop of one of the worst crises in Haiti I have observed in the 29 years that we’ve been doing work in Haiti,” Daniels said. 

Daniels is a major supporter of a plan for Haiti called “The Montana Accord,” which was first proposed in August of 2021. The Montana Accord is a plan created by the Commission for a Search to a Haitian Solution to the Crisis. The commission is a collection of Haitian advocates from all walks of life– including clergy, politicians and a wide variety of community leaders. The group came together in the aftermath of Moïse’s assassination, which left Haiti without a national leader. 

The Montana Accord calls for the country to hold elections while a temporary government is in place. According to the Congressional Research Service, the document lays out a plan for Haitian authorities “restore order, administer elections and create a truth and justice commission to address past human rights violations.”

Internationally known as the first Black free republic in the world, which was once the richest colony and nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is now known as the poorest nation in the hemisphere. 

While many people are familiar with the earthquakes that impacted the nation in 2010 and 2018, and more recently, the political instability that has struck the nation since the assassination of Jovenel Moïse, the 43rd president, on July, 7 2021.

Since Moïse’s death, Ariel Henry has served as acting prime minister and acting president of the nation, however Daniels mentioned that Henry was initially expected to serve for a short period of time. 

“Henry really was only to stay in position for about three months. That ended up being

extending into almost two years, against the backdrop of people demanding change,” Daniels said. 

Under tremendous pressure to resolve the nation’s problems, Henry recently announced his resignation on March 11, 2024. 

The U.S. Department of State has issued a level 4 travel advisory for Haiti, and is advising U.S. citizens not to travel to the nation due to high levels of political instability and gang violence.

“Kidnapping is widespread, and victims regularly include U.S. citizens. Kidnappers may use sophisticated planning or take advantage of unplanned opportunities, and even convoys have been attacked,” said the U.S. Department of State, in an alert posted to their official government website. “Kidnapping cases often involve ransom negotiations and U.S. citizen victims have been physically harmed during kidnappings. Victim’s families have paid thousands of dollars to rescue their family members.”

The state department warned that “Violent crime, often involving the use of firearms, such as  armed robbery, carjackings and kidnappings for ransom that include U.S. citizens are common” in the area. 

In the past several months, residents have tried to flee the area as the chaos intensified. However, they have met resistance as bordering countries have closed their borders to flights to and from Haiti. Some of those forced to stay have resorted to fighting back against the gangs that are killing without consequence and pillaging communities.

“Mob killings against presumed criminals have been on the rise since late April [2023],” reported U.S. officials in the travel advisory. “Protests, demonstrations, tire burning, and roadblocks are frequent, unpredictable, and can turn violent. The U.S. government is extremely limited in its ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Haiti – assistance on site is available only from local authorities–Haitian National Police and ambulance services. Local police generally lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents.” 

Since the violence began, U.S. officials report “shortages of gasoline, electricity, medicine and medical supplies continue throughout much of Haiti. Public and private medical clinics and hospitals often lack qualified medical staff and even basic medical equipment and resources.”

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The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said March 23 that the election interference prosecution against Donald Trump hasn’t been delayed by proceedings over her romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she hired for the case.

“I don’t feel like we have been slowed down at all,” Willis told CNN in an interview. “I think there are efforts to slow down the train, but the train is coming.”

Her latest comments come as defense attorneys continue to press claims about her handling of a sprawling prosecution against the former president and current GOP presumptive nominee. Trump faces four felony indictments — including separate federal and state cases for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that he lost to President Joe Biden — but has fought to delay and dismiss the cases, arguing that political opponents are wrongly targeting him.

Willis spoke days after a Georgia judge allowed attorneys for Trump’s codefendants to appeal his ruling that she could stay on the case after the withdrawal of the special prosecutor, Nathan Wade. That may allow defense attorneys to amplify allegations of impropriety between Wade and Willis.

Defense attorneys have alleged Willis hired Wade to profit from the Trump prosecution through their romantic relationship. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove those claims but rebuked Willis for what he called a “tremendous lapse in judgment.”

Willis told CNN that she didn’t think her reputation needed to be reclaimed and that she hadn’t done anything embarrassing.

“I’m not embarrassed by anything I’ve done,” Willis said. “I guess my greatest crime is that I had a relationship with a man, but that’s not something I find embarrassing in any way.”

Anthony Michael Kreis, a Georgia State University law professor who’s been following the case, criticized her comments in a post on X.

“If I were Fani Willis, I would simply not talk to the media at all at this point just out of an abundance of caution,” Kreis said.

The post Fulton County DA Fani Willis says despite efforts to slow down Trump case, ‘the train is coming’ appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Michael Goldberg and Emily Wagster Pettus
The Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge on March 21 finished handing down prison terms of about 10 to 40 years to six White former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to breaking into a home without a warrant and torturing two Black men in an hours-long attack that included beatings, repeated uses of stun guns and assaults with a sex toy before one of the victims was shot in the mouth.

U.S. District Judge Tom Lee called the culprits’ actions “egregious and despicable” and gave sentences near the top of federal guidelines to five of the six men who attacked Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker in January 2023.

The case drew condemnation from top law enforcement officials in the country, including Attorney General Merrick Garland. In its grisly details, local residents saw echoes of Mississippi’s history of racist atrocities by people in authority. The difference this time is that those who abused their power paid a steep price for their crimes, the victims’ attorneys said.

“The depravity of the crimes committed by these defendants cannot be overstated,” Garland said March 21.

Brett McAlpin, 53, who was the fourth highest-ranking officer in the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office, received a sentence of about 27 years on March 21. McAlpin nodded to his family in the courtroom. He offered an apology before he was sentenced but did not look at the victims as he spoke.

“This was all wrong, very wrong. It’s not how people should treat each other and even more so, it’s not how law enforcement should treat people,” McAlpin said. “I’m really sorry for being a part of something that made law enforcement look so bad.”

The only defendant who didn’t receive a prison term at the top of the sentencing guidelines was Joshua Hartfield, 32, a former Richland police officer who did not work in a sheriff’s department with the others and was not a member of a “Goon Squad.” He was the last of the six former officers sentenced over three days this week, months after they all pleaded guilty.

Before giving Hartfield a 10-year sentence March 21, Lee said Hartfield did not have a history of using excessive force and was roped into the brutal episode by one of the former deputies, Christian Dedmon. Lee said, however, that Hartfield failed to intervene in the violence and participated in a cover-up.

Lee sentenced Dedmon, 29, to 40 years and Daniel Opdyke, 28, to 17.5 years on March 20. He gave about 20 years to Hunter Elward, 31, and 17.5 years to Jeffrey Middleton, 46, on March 19.

Arguing for a lengthy sentence, federal prosecutor Christopher Perras said McAlpin was not technically a member of the Goon Squad but “molded the men into the goons they became.”

Parker told investigators that McAlpin functioned like a “mafia don” as he instructed the officers throughout the evening. Prosecutors said other deputies often tried to impress McAlpin, and Opdyke’s attorney said March 20 that his client saw McAlpin as a father figure.

The younger deputies tried to wrap their heads around how they had started off “wanting to be good law enforcement officers and turned into monsters,” Perras said March 21.

“How did these deputies learn to treat another human being this way? Your honor, the answer is sitting right there,” Perras said, pointing at McAlpin.

In March 2023, months before federal prosecutors announced charges in August, an investigation by The Associated Press linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with lasting injuries.

The officers invented false charges against the victims, planting a gun and drugs at the scene of their crime, and stuck to their cover story for months until finally admitting that they tortured Jenkins and Parker. Elward admitted to shoving a gun into Jenkins’ mouth and firing it in what federal prosecutors said was meant to be a “mock execution.”

The terror began Jan. 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence when a White person complained to McAlpin that two Black men were staying with a White woman at a house in Braxton. McAlpin told Dedmon, who texted a group of White deputies asking if they were “available for a mission.”

“No bad mugshots,” Dedmon texted — a green light, according to prosecutors, to use excessive force on parts of the body that wouldn’t appear in a booking photo.

Dedmon also brought Hartfield, who was instructed to cover the back door of the property during their illegal entry.

Once inside, the officers mocked the victims with racial slurs and shocked them with stun guns. They handcuffed them and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces. Dedmon and Opdyke assaulted them with a sex toy. They forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess.

After Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth, lacerating his tongue and breaking his jaw, they devised a coverup. The deputies agreed to plant drugs, and false charges stood against Jenkins and Parker for months.

McAlpin and Middleton, the oldest in the group, threatened to kill other officers if they spoke up, prosecutors said. In court March 21, McAlpin’s attorney Aafram Sellers said only Middleton threatened to kill them.

Sellers also questioned a probation officer about details submitted to the judge. When federal investigators interviewed the neighbor who called McAlpin, that person reported seeing “trashy” people at the house who were both White and Black, Sellers said. That called into question whether the episode started on the basis of race, he argued.

Federal prosecutors said the neighbor referred to people at the home as “those people” and “thugs.” 

The information included in the charging documents, which the officers did not dispute when they pleaded guilty, revealed some of them used racial taunts and epithets throughout the episode.

Majority-White Rankin County is just east of Jackson, home to one of the highest percentages of Black residents of any major U.S. city. The officers shouted at Jenkins and Parker to “stay out of Rankin County and go back to Jackson or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River,” court documents say.

Attorneys for several of the deputies said their clients became ensnared in a culture of corruption that was encouraged by leaders in the sheriff’s office.

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey revealed no details about his deputies’ actions when he announced they had been fired last June. After they pleaded guilty in August, Bailey said the officers had gone rogue and promised changes. Jenkins and Parker called for his resignation and filed a $400 million civil lawsuit against the department.

Bailey, who was reelected without opposition in November, said in a statement March 21 that he is “committed to the betterment of this county” and will work “with the honest, hard-working men and women currently with this department” to make Rankin County safer.

In a statement read by his attorney March 21, Jenkins said he “felt like a slave” and was “left to die like a dog.”

“If those who are in charge of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office can participate in these kinds of torture, God help us all,” Jenkins said. “And God help Rankin County.”

___

Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.

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By Kate Brumback and Alanna Durkin Richer
The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — A special prosecutor who had a romantic relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis formally withdrew March 15 from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump after a judge ruled he had to leave or Willis couldn’t continue to pursue the charges.

Attorney Nathan Wade’s resignation allows Willis to remain on the most sprawling of four criminal cases against the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election.

But the long-term damage to the public perception of the prosecution remains unclear, particularly in light of Trump’s relentless barrage of attacks on the pair who pledged to hold Trump accountable but found their own actions under a public microscope.

Wade offered his resignation in a letter to Willis, saying he was doing so “in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public and to move this case forward as quickly as possible.”

“I am sure that the case, and the team, will be in good hands moving forward and justice will be served,” Wade wrote.

Willis complimented Wade’s “professionalism and dignity” in a letter accepting his resignation, effective immediately. She said he had endured threats against himself and his family, as well as “unjustified attacks” in the media and in court on his reputation as a lawyer.

“I will always remember — and will remind everyone — that you were brave enough to step forward and take on the investigation and prosecution of the allegations that the defendants in this case engaged in a conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 Presidential Election,” Willis wrote.

Trump’s team felt differently.

In a social media post, Trump said the “Fani Willis lover” had “resigned in disgrace,” and Trump repeated his assertion that the case is an effort to hurt his campaign to reclaim the White House in November. 

Trump has denied doing anything wrong and pleaded not guilty.

An attorney for the former president said they respected the court’s decision but believe the judge “did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade.”

“We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place,” Trump attorney Steve Sadow said.

Defense attorneys could try to appeal the ruling, but they would need the judge’s permission to do so.

In a separate criminal case against Trump in New York, a judge agreed March 15 to delay the trial related to hush-money payments during Trump’s 2016 campaign until at least mid-April. The trial was supposed to begin later this month, but Trump’s lawyers said they needed more time to sift through evidence they only recently obtained from a previous federal investigation into the matter.

In Georgia, Wade’s resignation came hours after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said he had to be removed or Willis must step aside from the case. McAfee did not find that Willis’ relationship with Wade amounted to a conflict of interest but said the allegations created an “appearance of impropriety” that infected the prosecution team.

“As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed,” the judge wrote.

“Put differently, an outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.”

The extraordinary developments underscored the extent to which the case that began with allegations that a former president tried to undermine the will of the people who voted him out of the White House had become consumed by talk of the love lives of its top prosecutors. In accepting Wade’s resignation, Willis made clear her determination to turn the page from weeks of embarrassing headlines about romantic getaways, sex and stashes of cash that have dominated coverage of the case.

Willis hired Wade in 2021 to lead the team to investigate and ultimately prosecute Trump and 18 others on charges that they illegally tried to overturn his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia in 2020. The case uses a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power.

Willis and Wade testified at a hearing last month that they had engaged in a romantic relationship, but they rejected the idea that Willis improperly benefited from it, as lawyers for Trump and some of his co-defendants alleged. Willis and Wade insisted they didn’t begin dating until after he became special prosecutor, though a former friend and employee of Willis’ testified that she saw the pair hugging and kissing before he was hired.

Willis and Wade said the relationship ended in the summer of 2023. They both said that Willis either paid for things herself or used cash to reimburse Wade for travel expenses.

McAfee wrote that there was insufficient evidence that Willis had a personal stake in the prosecution. And he said he was unable to “conclusively establish by a preponderance of the evidence” whether Willis and Wade began dating before or after he was hired as special prosecutor.

“However, an odor of mendacity remains,” the judge wrote. He said “reasonable questions” about whether Willis and Wade testified truthfully about the timing of their relationship “further underpin the finding of an appearance of impropriety and the need to make proportional efforts to cure it.”

Even so, he said, dismissal of the case was not the appropriate remedy to “adequately dissipate the financial cloud of impropriety and potential untruthfulness found here.”

An attorney for co-defendant Michael Roman was the first to ask McAfee to dismiss the indictment and prevent Willis and Wade and their offices from continuing to prosecute the case. The attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, alleged that Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then improperly benefited from the prosecution of the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations for the two of them.

Merchant said in a statement March 15 that while Roman’s team maintains that the judge should have disqualified Willis’ office entirely, the judge clearly agreed with the defense that there is a “risk to the future of this case” if Willis “doesn’t quickly work to cure her conflict.”

____

Richer contributed from Boston. Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.

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By Jannette J. Witmyer
Special to The AFRO

Ret. Lt. Cmdr. Brenda E. Robinson, the U.S. Navy’s first African-American female pilot, has always had a fascination with airplanes. She can still remember her excitement as a child, watching as planes landed and passengers disembarked, during trips to Philadelphia International Airport with her parents. The experience was much different then. 

“There was no TSA. You’d go into the gate, and sit there at the gate, and wait for the airplane to pull up, and they pull the stairs up to the airplane. And you know, these fabulous people walked down the stairs off the airplane, having come in from somewhere. And that was just amazing,” she recalls. “I didn’t care how I was going to do it. I wanted to get up in that airplane.” 

Her interest never waned, and in high school, she was accepted into an aviation career study program, which introduced her to jobs that she had no idea existed. When she discovered air traffic controllers during an airport field trip, she decided that was the career she wanted and chose Dowling College to pursue her degree. She became the first Black woman to graduate from the college with a degree in aeronautics.

While in college, the aviation enthusiast also started flying and earned her private pilot’s license. When the military visited Dowling’s campus to brief aviation students about considering a military career, Robinson had no interest in the event and no intention to attend. But the Dean sent one of her fellow students to get her, and the rest is history. 

While the other branches of the military didn’t seem ready for women pilots within their ranks, the Navy had a plan. 

“I chose the Navy because they had the most compelling option,” Robinson told the AFRO. “They said, ‘If you can get through basic training you are pipelined straight into the flight program.’” 

To qualify for one of the 10 slots open to women each year, she needed a four-year-college science degree and some flight background. With a B.S. degree in aeronautics and a full-fledged pilot’s license, she was over-qualified. She was offered a slot. 

Robinson describes basic training as “brutal,” but she got through it, along with two other women in her group. In the end, her class of 32 students was whittled down to 17 who successfully completed the training and were commissioned as officers and sent to flight school.

She became the first African-American woman to graduate from the United States Navy Aviation Officers Candidate School and earned her wings of gold in June of 1980 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. 

In January 1981 she became the first African-American female certified for C-1A aircraft carrier landings on the USS America. Her call sign was “Raven.” While she was the first African-American woman to land on an aircraft carrier, she was only the second woman in history to do so. The first woman was a member of her squadron. A few of her other firsts, of which there are many, include being the first African-American female VIP transport pilot, flight instructor and evaluator.

After 13 years of full-time active duty and seven years in the Naval Reserves, Robinson retired from the Navy– but not from flying. She joined American Airlines as a pilot, and flew for the airline for 17 years. Still, her career didn’t end there. If anything, she has expanded it.

First, she began working, part-time, for Flyright, a company that provides recurrent training to professional pilots from all over the world on FAA approved full motion simulators. Then, in 2014 she established Aviation Camps of the Carolinas (AviationCamps.org), and began taking kids to airports in hopes of introducing them to careers in aviation. 

“Like I said, when I saw the air traffic control tower, I didn’t even know that that was a thing. And then when I saw it, it took me five minutes to realize that’s what I was going to do for the rest of my life,” she says. “Teenagers don’t need a bunch of time. They don’t need to be lectured. What they need to do is see stuff.”

Held four times a year, the camp is not just for kids interested in aviation. It covers confidence building, education, and exploring options and opportunities, which provides the direction needed to pursue any career. Robinson also gives each participant a copy of her book, Success Is An Attitude, Goal Achievement For A Lifetime, which she wrote specifically for teenagers to help them understand themselves and how to work with others.

In 2016, Lt. Cmdr. Brenda E. Robinson was inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame.

The post Meet Ret. Lt. Cmdr. Brenda E. Robinson: The U.S. Navy’s first African-American female pilot  appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Aria Brent 
AFRO Staff Writer 
abrent@afro.com

Last year, March 9 was declared 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion Day after Gov. Wes Moore signed the statewide day of commemoration into law. The predominantly Black, all female sector of the Women Army Corp (WAC) was responsible for sorting and clearing a huge amount of backlogged mail during World War II. Their work helped restore the military postal system which allowed soldiers and civilians to effectively communicate amidst wartime. With the special occasion approaching, Gov.Moore spoke about his administration’s commitment to recognizing the service of the 6888th.

“Here in Maryland, we will protect, preserve and celebrate our rich history, and it’s my honor to recognize March 9 as 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion Day,” said Gov. Moore. “These women were trailblazers and their commitment to service was invaluable to our country. The Moore-Miller administration is proud to commemorate their legacy.”

The battalion has received a series of other honors including a Congressional Medal of Honor, a monument in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and a national day of recognition which is observed on Sept.16. However, this is the first year the legendary group of women will be honored throughout the state of Maryland.

Retired Col. Edna W. Cummings has played a vital role in highlighting the legacy of the 6888th battalion and she explained how this honor is a representation of all Black women who have served in the military. 

“We must continue to honor the 6888th because they represent the service and sacrifice of thousands of Black women who served our nation and were unheralded,” Cummings stated. “They served the country when the country didn’t always serve them. The 6888th and other Black women from that era are a new set of role models for the thousands of Black women in the military.”

U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-M.D.-07), of Maryland, shared similar sentiments, praising the bravery of the women in the battalion. 

“Amid the peril and danger of World War II, the tenacity of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion never wavered,” Mfume shared. “These 855 Black women bravely served our nation despite knowing their return home would be to an America that still denied their basic rights and liberties.”

The resilience and tenacity of the 6888th seems to resonate with Black women both in and outside of the military. There have been so many instances of Black women’s achievements being disregarded but Cummings and many others are determined to not let this story go untold. The preservation of their history is detrimental to the preparation of our nation’s future. Sen.Cory McCray talked to the AFRO about the importance of knowing the story of the 6888th and using it to inspire the next generation of young Black women. 

“It’s important that we recognize that this is a critical component of our history. The upcoming 6888th day is an example of how we preserve our history and how we make sure that their story is told over and over again,” McCray stated. “Their story is ongoing and if we don’t know where we come from we won’t know where we’re going.”

It’s been nearly 80 years since the battalion of groundbreaking women discontinued their work and yet their impact is still so powerful. To this day, the 6888th is the only unit made up entirely of women of color to serve overseas. The history those women 

created has yet to be repeated making their legacy all the more precious.

After serving in the military for several decades and then dedicating herself to honoring the work of the 6888th battalion, Cummings is proud to see them recognized on a national and local level. 

“I’m honored and humbled to know that our grassroots efforts for the 6888th have led to state and national recognitions for these veterans and other Black women from World War II. This recognition secures their legacy alongside the rest of our nation’s heroes,” Cummings stated proudly. “Women have always volunteered to serve this country and made significant impacts. We must include women’s contributions as part of military history and not as an afterthought.”

The post Maryland to celebrate inaugural 6888th Battalion Day on March 9  appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

President Biden delivered his third State of the Union Address in the U.S. Capitol on March 7.

“My purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment,” said Biden.

Biden’s address was largely a campaign speech for his re-election campaign.

Dems shouted “four more years” several times throughout the night.

Biden said he will continue to support Ukraine, discussed the January 6th insurrection and said he will guarantee the right to in vitro fertilization (IVF).

“My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th. I will not do that,” said Biden. “I ask you all, without regard to party, to join together and defend our democracy. Respect free and fair elections. Restore trust in our institutions and make clear –political violence has absolutely no place in America.”

Biden repeatedly mentioned “his predecessor,” Donald Trump (R) several times throughout his speech.

“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the core values that have defined America: honesty, decency, dignity equality. To give hate no safe harbor,” said Biden. “Now some other people my age see a different story. An American story of resentment, revenge and retribution. That’s not me.”

In a released prebuttal on Biden’s address, Trump largely criticized Biden’s handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.

During Biden’s speech, he said, “we can fight about the border, or we can fix it.  I’m ready to fix it.”

Biden also recognized the Uvalde, Texas school shooting from 2022 where 19 children and two teachers were killed. 

“Jill and I went to Uvalde and spent hours with the families. We heard their message and so should everyone in this chamber – do something,” said Biden. “I did do something by establishing the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the White House that Vice President Harris is leading.”

Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) plans to follow suit by introducing legislation this Maryland General Assembly session to create a Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention in the Maryland Department of Health. 

“I have never been more optimistic about the promise of our future. But the future we seek is only possible if we work together,” said Moore in a statement shortly after the address. “I believe that we must move in partnership if we want to meet this critical moment in our history. The president’s speech tonight reaffirmed my deep belief that we can.”

HB583/SB 475 would go into effect on Oct. 1 if passed by the Maryland General Assembly and signed by the governor this year.

“We commend President Biden for the work he has done to create a more inclusive and equitable America,” said Mount Vernon, N.Y. Mayor Shawyn-Patterson Howard, African American Mayors Association president, in a statement. “We look forward to working with his administration in the coming months to build upon his investment in America and strengthen the state of our union.”

Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.-04) highlighted the state of the economy in his reflection on the president’s address.

“I thought he did a great job of laying out the positive things he did in his first term. You know, 15 million new jobs, cutting unemployment down under four percent,” said Ivey.

When asked how he thinks Biden can reassure the African-American vote he pointed back to the economy.

“Bringing manufacturing back to the country, those are the kinds of things that can resonate with folks,” said Ivey.

Tashi McQueen is a Report For America corps member.

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By Ashleigh Fields
AFRO Assistant Editor
afields@afro.com

A massive wave of political justice advocates gathered in Selma, Ala. March 3  to promote the John Lewis Voting Rights Act amidst the state’s Supreme and lower courts repealing legislation to prevent disenfranchisement.  Over the course of two days, March 3 and 4, Vice President Kamala Harris, Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.-6), Steny Hoyer (D-M.D.- 5) and newly appointed Senator Laphonza Butler (D-CA) marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate “Bloody Sunday.”

On March 7, 1965 over 600 civil rights demonstrators were violently attacked by state troopers as they marched across the bridge to protest the violation of their constitutional rights to vote. 

“Hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, they marched for the freedoms that were theirs by birth and theirs by right: the freedom to vote, the freedom to live without fear of violence or intimidation, the freedom to be full and equal members of our nation,” shared Harris, according to a transcription sent out by her office.

Over 59 years later, the Black community still faces discrimination. 

Butler shared a statement addressing the 2013 case, Shelby County v. Holder, which eliminated necessary federal protections for minority voters in various jurisdictions and the 2021 Brnovich v. DNC, which adopted ‘guideposts’ that make it hard to prove racial discrimination when casting a ballot.

“Though state lawmakers and election officials may no longer make voters of color count the number of jelly beans in a jar or the number of bubbles on a bar of soap, we know that they continue to draw racially discriminatory Congressional districts in a way that prevents voters of color from electing the candidates of their choice,” Butler wrote. “One need only to look to the Alabama State Capitol just a short walk away from where we sit today and the state legislature’s attempt to defy the Supreme Court’s order in Allen v. Milligan last summer to draw an additional majority-Black congressional district to understand that some things have not changed.” 

In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that Republican lawmakers clearly violated voter’s rights after they redrew the state’s congressional map after the 2020 census and failed to create a second Black district.Since then, a new district has been added to account for the discrepancy. For years,, lawmakers have committed to gathering in Selma annually to convene with local leaders.

“I come back to Alabama – to Montgomery and Selma – first, because I was so close to John Lewis. I walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge 15 times with John Lewis, seven of which I held his hand as we walked across. That was one of the highlights of my life because John Lewis exuded the best of us in America, the best of us as human beings, the best of us as children of God,” Hoyer expressed. “It wasn’t so long ago that civil rights leaders, like my dear friend and brother John Lewis, put everything on the line in Alabama and across the country to advance voting rights for African Americans.”

Currently, members of Congress are pushing to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act in his honor which would require states to seek federal approval before changing their voting laws. 

This article has been updated to reflect the proper people and position in cutlines; clarify lawmakers in attendance during three separate trips to Selma, Ala.; clarify Bloody Sunday march happenings and the addition of a new voting district in Alabama. The AFRO deeply regrets these errors.

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By Colleen Slevin and Matthew Brown
The Associated Press

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado paramedic was sentenced March 1 to five years in prison in a rare prosecution of medical responders following the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man whose name became part of the rallying cries for social justice that swept the U.S. in 2020.

McClain was walking down the street in a Denver suburb in 2019 when police responding to a suspicious person report forcibly restrained him and put him in a neck hold. His final words — “I can’t breathe” — foreshadowed those of George Floyd a year later in Minneapolis.

Peter Cichuniec and a fellow paramedic were convicted in December of criminally negligent homicide for injecting McClain with ketamine, a powerful sedative ultimately blamed for killing the 23-year-old massage therapist. Cichuniec also was convicted on a more serious charge of second-degree assault for giving a drug without consent or a legitimate medical purpose.

McClain’s death and others have raised questions about the use of ketamine to subdue struggling suspects, and the prosecution sent shock waves through the ranks of paramedics across the U.S.

McClain’s mother, Sheneen, raised her fist in the air as she left the courtroom following the March 1 sentencing, as she has done after previous hearings.

In testimony before the sentence was handed down by Judge Mark Warner, Sheneen McClain said she once dreamed of being a firefighter and considered them heroes “until the day they took my son’s life.”

“You are a local hero no more,” she said as Cichuniec sat with his attorneys at a nearby table. “Next time, think for yourself and do not follow the direction of a crowd of cowards.”

She added that the other paramedics could have intervened “simply by just saying, ‘Stop hurting my patient.’ “

Cichuniec had faced up to 16 years in prison on the assault charge, and the five-year sentence was the minimum the judge could have given him under sentencing guidelines. The second convicted paramedic, Jeremy Cooper, Cooper, is scheduled to be sentenced in April.

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

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) – In a move towards easing the financial burden on working families, Vice President Kamala Harris recently unveiled a comprehensive set of measures to lower child care costs and provide crucial support for early educators. 

The White House noted in a Fact Sheet that the initiative aligns closely with President Biden’s historic executive order on care. The White House said the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized a rule that bolsters the Childcare & Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program, a cornerstone for child care assistance benefiting over a million families monthly.

Under the new rule, families participating in CCDBG will now face a cap on co-payments, limiting them to no more than 7 percent of their income. Administration officials asserted that the move is expected to alleviate the significant financial strain that high co-payments have placed on working families, particularly those with low incomes. The HHS projects that more than 100,000 families will see their co-payments reduced or eliminated due to these reforms.

Moreover, the rule urges states to eliminate co-payments entirely for families facing specific challenges, such as those with disabilities, experiencing homelessness, in foster care, in Head Start, and families at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. 

Financial relief is not limited to families alone. Officials said the rule also addresses the challenges faced by childcare providers. States must now pay CCDBG providers more fairly and on time, which is designed to improve financial stability for approximately 140,000 child care providers. This change is anticipated to incentivize more providers to participate in the CCDBG program, leading to a broader range of childcare options for families.

Additionally, the rule seeks to streamline access to CCDBG subsidies by encouraging states to adopt online applications for enrollment, which reduces the paperwork burdens currently faced by families, with nearly one-third of states still relying on paper applications for childcare assistance. Further, the new rule promotes adopting presumptive eligibility policies, allowing families to receive temporary and immediate financial assistance for child care while their eligibility for the program is determined and verified. Currently, only six states offer presumptive eligibility to families.

Administration officials said the comprehensive reforms underscore the Biden-Harris team’s commitment to addressing working families’ pressing challenges, making quality child care more accessible and affordable for all. 

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

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) – In a press briefing on Feb. 29, U.S. Senate leaders alongside civil rights advocates announced the reintroduction of S.4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, aimed at safeguarding voting rights and fortifying the nation’s democratic foundations.

According to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on March 12 to discuss the growing threats to voting rights and the need for federal voting safeguards.

The leaders said as the nation reflects on the sacrifices of civil rights champions like the late Rep. John Lewis, the call resounds for every member of Congress to endorse pivotal democracy bills, including the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, and the Native American Voting Rights Act, ahead of the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday on March 7.

“This year’s presidential election will be the first since Republican-led state legislatures passed a wave of restrictive voting laws,” Durbin remarked. “As members of Congress, we have an obligation to defend our democracy against these attacks on our fundamental right to vote.”

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York emphasized what he called the vital role of a robust democratic foundation. “To make real progress on the issues we care about, the foundation of democracy must be strong,” Schumer said. “The hard right is trying to cut those efforts off at the knees, making it harder for people to participate in democracy and be represented.”

Georgia senator the Rev. Raphael Warnock underscored the legislation’s importance in preserving democracy. “Let’s protect the sacred right. We’ve got to get this done in the spirit and in the name of John Lewis, and because our democracy itself is at stake,” Warnock said.

Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference, emphasized the non-partisan nature of the cause. “This is not about partisanship; this is about people having power. That is why we need the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” Wiley said.

Others from various civil rights organizations also weighed in, with John C. Yang of Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) urging Congress to support the change, and Damon Hewitt of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law stressing the need for a democracy that works for everyone.

“Voters are demanding better from their representatives, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act must be the response,” added Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer of ACLU.

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By Lisa Woelf
Capital News Service

More homeless people than ever sleep on the streets.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide if local governments can punish homeless people who sleep or camp outside when no shelter beds are available, or if such laws violate the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

The issue came to the court from the small Oregon city of Grants Pass, which has more homeless people than shelter beds. City ordinances prohibit those people from sleeping on the street or in parks if they use a blanket or cardboard box as protection from the weather. Three homeless people filed a complaint against the city, and a district court ruled that the city can’t enforce that law.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in late April.

Elected officials including California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged the Supreme Court to take the case and side with Grants Pass.

In a statement, Newsom said that “the courts have tied the hands of state and local governments that seek to use common sense approaches to clean our streets and provide help for unhoused Californians living in inhumane conditions.”

In an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, Newsom argued that local governments “need the flexibility to…address immediate threats to health and safety in public places – both to individuals living in unsafe encampments and other members of the public impacted by them.”

Ed Johnson, lead counsel for the homeless respondents in the Supreme Court case, said in a written statement: “This case is not about a city’s ability to regulate or prohibit encampments. That has always been permissible.” Instead, the issue is whether cities can punish homeless residents “for simply existing without access to shelter,” he said.

The Supreme Court decided to take on the case amid what Jesse Rabinowitz at the advocacy organization National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC) calls a “nationwide movement…to criminalize people experiencing homelessness.”

In an analysis of 187 city laws from 2006 to 2019, NHLC found a vast increase in laws targeting visible homelessness, such as panhandling and sleeping in public.

“It’s sad that cities are throwing up their hands and saying the only way we can end homelessness is by arresting people,” Rabinowitz said.

In recent years, the NHLC recorded an increase in state-level efforts to criminalize homelessness. As of Jan. 24, 11 states had seen bills criminalizing homelessness introduced or passed, according to the organization.

While criminalization efforts increase, the number of homeless people sleeping on the streets reached an all-time high in 2023. In a single night, 256,104 people were counted as unhoused across the United States, according to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The data is collected nationwide every year on a specific night and goes back to 2007, the year with the second-highest number of homeless people sleeping outside.

An analysis of the nationwide data shows that there was a nationwide downward trend in unsheltered homelessness until 2015, after which the number steadily increased for five years.

The 2020 count took place before the coronavirus pandemic swept the country. The effects of the virus and measures against its spread impacted the 2021 survey that shows a sharp drop in unsheltered homelessness, often attributed to federal moratoriums on evictions, among other causes.

Since then, the number of unsheltered homeless people has increased again, peaking in 2023.

In contrast to the national trend, Maryland has significantly reduced homelessness over the last 14 years, according to HUD data.

The numbers for 2021 and 2022 “were suppressed by the pandemic,” Danielle Meister, assistant secretary for homeless solutions at the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, said in a statement.

Compared to 2020, 7.8 percent fewer people were homeless in 2023. The number of homeless people sleeping outside plummeted by 23 percent.

According to Jake Day, Maryland’s secretary of housing and community development, the state is “within striking distance” of ending homelessness for veterans, unaccompanied youth and domestic violence survivors.

To reach that goal, the department needs to focus on solutions that work: “reducing housing instability, lowering barriers to services, and investing in permanent supportive housing,” Day said in a statement.

Rabinowitz said that he hopes the Supreme Court will uphold the lower court’s precedent and side with homeless people. “Criminalizing people experiencing homelessness keeps them homeless longer,” he said. “When folks get the housing they need, they thrive.”

This article was originally published by the Capital News Service

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By Anne D’Innocenzio
AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s labor board ruled on Feb. 21 that Home Depot violated federal labor law when it fired an employee for refusing to remove the hand-drawn “BLM” acronym for “Black Lives Matter” from a work apron.

The National Labor Relations Act said it protects the legal right of employees to engage in “concerted activities” for the purpose of “mutual aid or protection” regardless of whether they are represented by a union.

The board reasoned that the decision by the worker — identified as Antonio Morales — to display the BLM acronym on the apron was a direct response to racial discrimination complaints within the store and is protected under federal law. It was also an attempt by Morales to bring the complaints to the attention of Home Depot managers.

“It is well-established that workers have the right to join together to improve their working conditions — including by protesting racial discrimination in the workplace,” said Chairman Lauren McFerran in a statement. “It is equally clear that an employee who acts individually to support a group protest regarding a workplace issue remains protected under the law.”

In an email statement to The Associated Press on Feb. 21, Home Depot, based in Atlanta, said it disagreed with NLRB’s decision.

“The Home Depot is fully committed to diversity and respect for all people,” the company said. “We do not tolerate any kind of workplace harassment or discrimination.”

The right to wear clothing with BLM insignia or other social justice apparel in the workplace became a big issue in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020.

That same year, American Airlines announced that it would let employees wear Black Lives Matter pins on their uniforms, calling it a matter of equality and not politics. The company joined Starbucks, Delta Air Lines and other major companies that let employees wear items supporting the movement that protests police violence against Black people.

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By Juan A. Lozano
The Associated Press

ANAHUAC, Texas (AP) — A Black high school student’s monthslong punishment by his Texas school district for refusing to change his hairstyle does not violate a new state law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination, a judge ruled on Feb. 22.

Darryl George, 18, has not been in his regular Houston-area high school classes since Aug. 31 because the district, Barbers Hill, says the length of his hair violates its dress code.

The district filed a lawsuit arguing George’s long hair, which he wears in tied and twisted locs on top of his head, violates its policy because it would fall below his shirt collar, eyebrows or earlobes when let down. The district has said other students with locs comply with the length policy.

After about three hours of testimony in Anahuac, state District Judge Chap Cain III ruled in favor of the school district, saying its policy is not discriminatory because the CROWN Act does not say that exemptions for long hair can be made for hairstyles that are protected by the law, including locs. And he said courts must not attempt to rewrite legislation.

“Judges should not legislate from the bench and I am not about to start today,” Cain said.

The CROWN Act, which took effect in September, prohibits race-based hair discrimination and bars employers and schools from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including Afros, braids, locs, twists or Bantu knots.

The judge encouraged George to ask the state Legislature or the school board to address the issue.

George’s family has also filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency and a federal civil rights lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with the school district, alleging they failed to enforce the CROWN Act. The lawsuit is before a federal judge in Galveston.

Allie Booker, George’s attorney, said she planned to seek an injunction in the federal lawsuit to stop George’s punishment and that she also would appeal this week’s decision.

For most of the school year, George, a junior, has either served in-school suspension at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu or spent time at an off-site disciplinary program.

“The Texas legal system has validated our position that the district’s dress code does not violate the CROWN Act and that the CROWN Act does not give students unlimited self-expression,” Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole said in a statement.

The district did not present any witnesses, instead only submitting evidence that included an affidavit from the district’s superintendent defending the dress code policy. Its attorneys argued that the dress code policy does not violate the CROWN Act because the law does not mention or cover hair length.

Before the trial, George and his mother, Darresha George, said they were optimistic.

Wearing locs is “how I feel closer to my people. It’s how I feel closer to my ancestors. It’s just me. It’s how I am,” George said.

After the ruling, George and his mother cried and declined to speak with reporters.

Candice Matthews, a spokesperson for George’s family, said the 18-year-old asked her as he left the courthouse: “All because of my hair? I can’t get my education because of my hair?”

Testifying for George, Democratic state Rep. Ron Reynolds, one of the co-authors of the CROWN Act, said that while the protection of hair length was not specifically mentioned in the CROWN Act, it was inferred.

“Anyone familiar with braids, locs, twists knows it requires a certain amount of length,” Reynolds said.

It is “almost impossible for a person to comply with this (grooming) policy and wear that protective hairstyle,” he said.

Reynolds said he was disappointed by the ruling, and that he would file a bill for a new version of the CROWN Act that specifically mentions protections for hair length.

“The purpose of the legislation is to protect students like Darryl … the same students that Barbers Hill has discriminated against because of their locs, their braids and their twists,” Reynolds said.

U.S. Rep Bonnie Watson Coleman, a New Jersey Democrat who has tried to get a federal version of the CROWN Act passed, called the Feb. 22 decision “a terrible interpretation of the CROWN Act.”

“This is what we mean by institutional racism,” Coleman said on X.

In his statement, Poole pushed back against allegations that the district’s dress code is racist, saying such allegations undermine “efforts to address actions that violate constitutionally protected rights.”

In a paid ad that ran in January in the Houston Chronicle, Poole wrote that districts with a traditional dress code are safer and have higher academic performance, and that “being an American requires conformity.”

Barbers Hill’s hair policy was also challenged in a May 2020 federal lawsuit filed by two other students. Both withdrew from the high school, but one returned after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction, saying there was “a substantial likelihood” that his rights to free speech and to be free from racial discrimination would be violated if he was barred. That lawsuit is pending.

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By James Pollard 
The Associated Press/Report for America

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A Black transgender woman and the guy she was secretly dating had just been pulled over in rural South Carolina. Dime Doe, the driver, was worried. She already had points against her license and didn’t want another ticket to stop her from getting behind the wheel. Daqua Lameek Ritter, whom she affectionately called “my man,” frequently relied on her for rides.

Everything seemed to turn out OK: Doe sent a text message to her mother that afternoon saying she got a $72 ticket but was “alright.”

Hours later, police found her slumped over in the driver’s seat of her car, parked in a driveway off a secluded road. Her death on Aug. 4, 2019, is now the subject of the nation’s first federal trial over an alleged hate crime based on gender identity, which started Feb. 20.

Much of what transpired in the roughly two-and-a-half hours between the last time Doe was seen and the discovery of her body remains unclear. But as prosecutors wrap up their case this week, more details are emerging about the furtive connection between the 24-year-old Doe — remembered by friends as an outspoken party lover — and Ritter, a man whose distinctive left wrist tattoo is captured in body camera footage from the traffic stop.

Ritter has been charged with a “hate crime for the murder of a transgender woman because of her gender identity,” using a firearm in connection with the hate crime and obstructing justice.

The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that he killed Doe to prevent further exposure of their affair in a small country town where the rumor mill was already churning. Text exchanges between the pair show Ritter tried to dispel gossip of the relationship in the weeks preceding Doe’s death. He also tracked the investigation of her killing while coyly answering his main girlfriend’s questions in the following days, according to trial testimony.

It was no secret in Allendale, South Carolina — population 8,000 — that Doe had begun her social transition as a woman shortly after graduating high school, her close friends testified. Doe started dressing in skirts, getting her nails done and wearing extensions. She and her friends went out drinking. They discussed boys they were seeing.

One of those boys was Ritter, who traveled from New York to visit family during summertime. Doe and Ritter grew close over the course of those stays, leaving Delasia Green — Ritter’s primary girlfriend in the summer of 2019 — with a “gut feeling” that something was up.

Ritter initially told Green that he and Doe were cousins, the girlfriend testified this week. But then she found messages on his phone from an unsaved number that spoke of “getting a room.” She assumed they were from Doe.

When Green confronted Ritter, he became upset and told her that she shouldn’t question his sexuality, she said.

Yanna Albany, Doe’s cousin, testified that she too had a relationship with Ritter that summer but ended it after about three weeks when Doe told her she was also seeing him. Albany said when she broke up with Ritter, he turned red, threatened to beat Doe for “lying on him” and used a homophobic slur.

Nonetheless, Doe’s relationship with Ritter seemed to grow stronger after the entanglement, Albany said. Other friends said Doe never mentioned any drama between the two.

Still, texts obtained by the FBI suggest that Ritter sought to keep their connection under wraps as much as possible. He would remind Doe to delete their communications from her phone, and the majority of the hundreds of texts sent in the month before her death were removed.

Shortly before Doe’s death, the text messages started getting tense. In a July 29, 2019, message, she complained that Ritter did not reciprocate her generosity. He replied that he thought they had an understanding that she didn’t need the “extra stuff.” He also told her that Green had recently insulted him with a homophobic slur. In a July 31 text, Doe said she felt used and that Ritter should never have let his girlfriend find out about them.

Ritter’s defense attorneys said the sampling of messages introduced by the prosecution represented only a “snapshot” of their exchanges. They pointed to a July 18 text in which Doe encouraged Ritter, and another exchange where Ritter thanked Doe for one of her many kindnesses.

But witnesses delivered other potentially damning testimony against Ritter.

On the day Doe died, a group of friends saw the defendant ride away in a silver car with tinted windows — a vehicle that Ritter’s acquaintance Kordell Jenkins testified he had seen Doe drive previously. When Ritter returned to play cards several hours later, Jenkins said he wore a new outfit and appeared “on edge.” It was a buggy summer day, and the group of four began building a fire in a barrel to smoke out the mosquitoes.

Ritter emptied his book bag into the barrel, Jenkins testified. He said he couldn’t see the contents, but assumed they were items Ritter no longer wanted, possibly the clothes he’d worn earlier that day.

Jenkins said that when the two ran into each other the following day, he could see the silver handle of a small firearm sticking out from the waistline of Ritter’s pants. He said Ritter asked him to “get it gone.”

Defense attorneys argued it was preposterous to think that Ritter would ask someone he barely knew to dispose of an alleged murder weapon.

But soon after Doe died, Allendale was abuzz with rumors that Ritter had killed her.

Green testified that when he showed up later that week at her cousin’s house in Columbia, he was dirty, smelly and couldn’t stop pacing. Her cousin’s boyfriend gave Ritter a ride to the bus stop, presumably so he could return to New York. Before he left, Green asked him if he had killed Doe.

“He dropped his head and gave me a little smirk,” Green said.

Ritter monitored the fallout from Doe’s death from New York, according to FBI Special Agent Clay Trippi, citing Facebook messages between Ritter and a friend from Allendale, Xavier Pinckney. On Aug. 11, Pinckney told Ritter nobody was “really talking,” which Trippi said he took as a reference to scant cooperation with police.

But by Aug. 14, Pinckney was warning Ritter to stay away from Allendale because he’d been visited by state police. He later said that somebody was “snitching.”

Trippi testified that his sources never again saw Ritter in Allendale for the summers following Doe’s death.

Federal officials charged Pinckney with obstructing justice, saying he provided false and misleading statements.

___

Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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By Megan Sayles 
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com

Health LeadHer founder, Ogo Ekwueme, is hosting her annual Diaspora Women in Health Global Business Conference in partnership with Sharrarne Morton, founder of Black Door Society, Feb. 22 to Feb. 24 at the Gaylord National Harbor Resort and Convention Center. 

The summit is providing multicultural women with access to more than $10 million in federal contracting opportunities and will enable women to hear from government leaders about impending community health priorities. 

 “I’m not shy to say we are the only conference where every participant walks away with a contracting opportunity. Yes, we love to come together, talk and meet new people, but after most conferences you’re still what to do next,” said Ekwueme. “We’re literally setting these women up to have a successful 2024.” 

According to a 2022 report from McKinsey and Company, women occupy just 32 percent of C-suite roles in healthcare. Women of color are even less represented in the industry’s senior level positions, holding 4 percent of these roles. 

Increasing representation for multicultural women is critical to mitigating health disparities and moving toward health equity. But, women must earn enough money to thrive in the industry. 

“A lot of the women who come to our conference and engage with our program are nurses, doctors, nursing assistants, allied health professionals, public health professionals and community health workers who are in the field doing the work and know what their community needs,” said Ekwueme. “We need to bridge their understanding of the community with the dollars that are available to continue to support their communities.” 

Over the course of the three-day conference, attendees will gain strategies for obtaining government contracts, forging new business partnerships and wealth building. 

Some of the workshops will examine creating wealth as a mother, leveraging artificial intelligence to win procurement dollars and securing grants for health equity and community development projects. 

“The great thing about this conference is that women in these spaces can actually access government health contracts, establish strategic partnerships and build wealth in alignment with the government’s critical priorities for community health,” said Morton. “They can scale their businesses and not have to struggle so much.” 

Keynote speakers for the Diaspora Women in Health Global Business Conference include Tracy  Balazs; president and CEO of Compass Government Solutions; Eleager Primus, former director of strategic contracting for the Department of Veteran Affairs; and Michael Wooten, former administrator of federal procurement policy for the White House. 

Wooten said he wants women to leave the conference with an understanding that there are opportunities in public procurement all over the world, not just at the federal, state and local level. He also wants to ensure attendees know how important they are to improving health in underserved communities. 

“I want them to understand that not only can they serve the sorely deserving women who are their sisters, but they can have a profitable business doing that,” said Wooten. 

Megan Sayles is a Report For America corps member. 

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By Megan Sayles,
AFRO Business Writer,
msayles@afro.com

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world, Black unemployment peaked at 16.8 percent in the U.S. Now, White House officials have reported that 2023 was the lowest year for Black joblessness on record. It currently sits at 5.3 percent. 

Officials say the recovery was jump started by President Biden signing the American Rescue Plan into law, which provided stimulus checks to Americans, deployed capital to hard-hit small businesses, extended unemployment benefits and expanded tax credits. 

“Because of the actions of this administration and the grit and determination of the American people, we’re experiencing the most equitable recovery in American history,” said U.S. Department of Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo. “As we’ve succeeded in driving a historical equitable economic recovery, we’ve also been increasing our long term economic activity through the president’s Investing in America agenda.” 

Biden’s agenda comprises the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Each policy was created to drive public and private investment in manufacturing, repairing roads and bridges, delivering high-speed internet and creating clean transportation. 

The policies also aim to generate good-paying jobs, including union jobs. 

“Under President Biden, 2.6 million more Black Americans have jobs. The latest jobs report also shows the share of Black Americans in the workforce is above its pre-pandemic level and near its highest level in over a decade,” said Adeyemo. “We’ve also seen Black Americans earnings rise faster than inflation. Earnings for the typical Black full-time worker are up 7.1 percent since before the pandemic.” 

Black wealth has also increased by 60 percent since 2019, the largest growth on record. However, the country’s stark racial wealth gap still persists. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, median Black wealth was $24,520 in 2021 compared to $250,400 for Whites. 

“The gap between Black and White wealth in America is still too great. That’s why the president’s been focused on doing things like making sure we’re providing access to small businesses, especially underrepresented small businesses, with the tools they need to build out the economies and communities they live in,” said Adeyemo. “[This includes] $1.4 billion being provided to Black-owned and Black-operated banks in America that will not only make those banks more stable, but will allow them to be in a position where they can lend to businesses in their communities, which traditionally tend to be run by people of color.” 

While in office, the Biden-Harris Administration has continued to increase federal spending on contracts to small businesses. In Fiscal Year 2022, the administration hit an all-time-high by delivering $163 billion in procurement dollars to small businesses, $70 billion of which was awarded to small disadvantaged businesses. 

The U.S. Small Business Administration has also eclipsed $1 billion in lending to Black, small businesses for the third year in a row. 

“The president and vice president came into office on day one, committed to revitalizing our economy from the middle out and the bottom up, combating previous systems that have left communities behind by decades of failed trickle down economics,” said White House Public Engagement Director Stephen Benjamin. “The unemployment numbers we’ve seen today are truly historic, but it’s also important to note the economy is getting fundamentally stronger for African Americans because this administration is making long overdue investments in Black communities.” 

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By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com

Tax season is upon us, with tax returns due to the IRS on April 15. If you brought in less than $64,000 last year, you qualify for free tax preparation through the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs, like the CASH Campaign of Maryland. 

If not, you may choose to file your taxes independently, but if you don’t, choosing a qualified, trusted tax professional is crucial. According to the IRS, thousands of people have fallen victim to tax scams, losing millions of dollars and their personal information. 

“I know people don’t want to spend a whole day going over the best way to file their taxes. It’s something people just want to get over with,” said John Hardt, director of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic at Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS). “But, I would recommend that people take the time to pay attention to what the tax preparers are advertising, what their reputation is and to see if they can find recommendations from people who have used a tax preparer for multiple years.” 

Hardt connected with the AFRO to share some of the warning signs associated with fraudulent tax professionals and offer guidance on how to find a trustworthy preparer. The responses below have been edited for length and clarity. 

Q: What are some common tax scams?

A: A fraudulent tax preparer could direct the refund check from the IRS to them instead of the taxpayer if the taxpayer opts to receive their check by mail or if they leave that decision up to the preparer. Also, some tax preparers will try to convince the taxpayer to give the tax money to them instead of directly to the IRS or the Maryland Comptroller, which allows the fraudulent tax preparer to pocket the money and disappear. 

Another one that is more subtle is when a tax preparer charges a commission based on the size of your refund. They can actually apply for certain tax credits and deductions that they know the taxpayer doesn’t qualify for, and, usually, the taxpayer will initially receive that credit as part of their refund if the return is not audited right away. This means a larger refund and a larger percentage for the fraudulent tax preparer. 

When the comptroller or the IRS takes a closer look at the return after filing season, they will reject the credit. If that happens, the taxpayer is required to pay back all of the extra money that they received, not the preparer. 

Q: Are there any groups of people who are especially vulnerable to tax scams?

A:  Yes. Some of the populations that fraudulent tax preparers will go after are older or retired taxpayers. They will also go after low-income taxpayers who they believe don’t have as much education or familiarity with the tax system. The third group they definitely go after are taxpayers who don’t speak English or speak it as a second language. Our tax system is mostly in English, and a lot of the forms don’t have an official Spanish translation or translation to other languages either. 

Q: What are some things to watch out for when using a tax preparer? 

A: You should immediately stop working with a preparer if they ask you to sign blank or incomplete forms or if they try to get you to fill out forms in pencil. If they don’t sign their own name on the return as a preparer and don’t provide a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) that is a big red flag. 

Another indicator is if they don’t ask you for important documents like your W-2. We’ve seen some fraudulent tax preparers say they can fill out a person’s taxes over the phone without any documents. No matter how good a preparer you are, it’s impossible to fill out taxes like that. 

Finally, watch out for aggressive advertising. Fraudulent tax preparers often make very bold statements saying they will get you a bigger refund than any other preparer. It’s a common promise that unfortunately isn’t true. Tax preparation is more like solving a math equation. If two competent tax preparers do the same person’s taxes, they should get the same answer. 

Q:  How would you recommend people find a trustworthy tax preparer?  

A: The IRS has a directory of all registered, federal tax return preparers in the country. They all have a PTIN and are legally authorized to prepare people’s tax returns for money. It’s not necessarily an endorsement that the preparer is going to do a good job, but it does show that the person is not pretending. Maryland also has their own state licensing board, the Maryland Board of Individual Tax Preparers, and they have a database as well. 

More generally, people should be mindful of the tax preparer’s reputation. The tax preparation business is very seasonal, so scammers can open up shop at the beginning of a tax season and disappear after the filing deadline. A tax preparer is a lot more trustworthy if they’ve been in the community for a while and if they’re open year-round. 

Megan Sayles is a Report For America corps member. 

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By Matt Brown and Jocelyn Noveck
The Associated Press

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is used to prosecuting high-profile, challenging cases. But as she parried questions about her own personal conduct from the witness stand against the legal teams for defendants her office has accused of election interference, many Black women recognized a dispiriting scene.

“It absolutely feels familiar. There is no secret that the common sentiment among Black women in positions of power (is that they) must over-perform to be seen as equals to their counterparts,” said Jessica T. Ornsby, a family litigation attorney in the Washington, D.C., area.

“Here, Ms. Willis is being scrutinized for things that are not directly related to her job performance, in ways we see other Black women regularly picked apart,” Ornsby said.

Willis testified during an extraordinary hearing that could result in her office being removed from the state’s election interference case against former President Donald Trump. She was questioned Feb. 15 about her relationship with the attorney leading her office’s prosecution, Nathan Wade.

Willis and Wade have acknowledged they had a ” personal relationship ” but have denied any improper conduct.

Regardless of the legal merits of the claim by Trump and his co-defendants that Willis’ conduct was improper, relationships between coworkers are often prohibited or must be disclosed in many workplaces, including at major private law firms. Willis has faced criticism from many legal experts otherwise supportive of the case due to her relationship with Wade.

Still, few people who find themselves in such circumstances have the most intimate details of their lives aired so publicly.

In interviews with The Associated Press, many Black women leaders expressed frustration and disappointment that public attention had turned from the merits of the criminal case to the personal conduct of the Black woman overseeing the prosecution. For them, the court challenge to Willis echoes familiar experiences of tests of their authority, competence and character.

“I love that she stood up for herself, but I hate the fact that she had to,” said Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. She said that when she saw video of the testimony she felt: “Why are you all treating her like SHE’S on trial?”

“Black women feel like we’re under attack. And that’s a fact,” Campbell said.

Willis, who has a reputation as an incisive trial attorney, was visibly upset when she took the stand Feb. 15 to reject allegations that she improperly profited from the prosecution because of the relationship.

“It is a lie,” the district attorney said of allegations in court filings.

“You’ve been intrusive into people’s personal lives. You’re confused. You think I’m on trial,” Willis testified. “These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I’m not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.”

For many Black women, the inquiries into Willis’ romantic and financial life were rife with tropes and accusations often unfairly levied at Black women.

Keir Bradford-Grey, a partner at the law firm Montgomery McCracken in Philadelphia, found the questions about Willis’ personal life “disgusting.” She also said the episode had disturbing implications for Black women in leadership roles: “I can’t imagine a world where we have to continue to be treated like this as we seek leadership roles, and we do them well.”

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of voting rights group Black Voters Matter, despaired of the fact that Willis was having to answer questions about “whether she has money, whether she has cash or not and why she has cash, who she sleeps with, who is she flying on an airplane with.”

“So, what is this really about?” Brown added. “When White power, particularly White men, are being held to account … the first thing to do is to disqualify the people that are holding them accountable,” especially when those people are Black women.

Scrutiny of Willis’ personal life has diverted attention away from the allegations against Trump.

He has been indicted four times in the last year, accused in Georgia and Washington, D.C., of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, in Florida of hoarding classified documents, and in Manhattan of falsifying business records related to hush money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels on his behalf. Trump has railed against individual prosecutors, judges and the legal system as a whole. But he reserves special, often coded rhetoric for his attacks on women and people of color.

“Donald Trump knows that he can make an easy target for his base out of a Black woman,” said Brittany Packnett Cunningham, a racial equality activist and podcast host. “What we should recognize is that across many indictments, this particular attack to disqualify through her personal activities is uniquely pointed. Of all the prosecutions that he has endured, this is not the approach he has taken. But he took that in particular with a Black woman.”

The testimony from Willis also reminded many of similar public questioning of Black women’s leadership, including the recent ouster of former Harvard University President Claudine Gay and the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“Images from the court proceedings also reflect many of our day-to-day experiences: defending ourselves against a sea of individuals who do not share our background and harbor biases both implicit and explicit,” Ornsby said.

On Feb. 16, Willis’ team did not call her back to the stand. While the court weighs whether she will be disqualified from the criminal case, it remains largely in limbo.

“We’re not talking about the things that actually matter, which include, but are not limited to bringing this country at least a tiny step back from the brink of fascism. No, instead we’re evaluating a Black woman’s looks, character and professionalism when all she did was do her job,” Cunningham said.

“The standards by which they are judged, with their actions scrutinized at every turn, just seem to be a little different, not a little, a lot different than what I see of our male counterparts,” Bradford-Grey said. “I wish there would be a day that women stand together and say we want the same bar of treatment that men get.”

___

Matt Brown is a member of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on social media.

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By Emily Wagster Pettus
The Associated Press

Former Rep. Alyce Clarke was the first Black woman elected to the Mississippi legislature, and now she is the first Black person — and first woman — to have a portrait on display in the state Capitol.

She smiled on Feb. 13 as fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters honored her during a ceremony to unveil the oil painting, which has a prominent spot in the room where the House Education Committee meets.

Clarke, an 84-year-old Democrat from Jackson, served 39 years before deciding not to seek reelection in 2023.

“Thank God, I’ve had more good days than I’ve had bad days,” she said during the ceremony. “And I’d just like to thank everybody who’s here. I’d like to help everybody who’s helped me to get here because I did nothing by myself.”

Other portraits in the Mississippi capitol are of former governors and former House speakers, who were all White men. The artist, Ryan Mack, said he based the portrait on a photo of Clarke from the mid-1980s.

“I’m a true believer and witness of the good she has done,” Mack said, citing her work on education and nutrition programs.

The first Black man to win a seat in the Mississippi Legislature in the 20th century was Robert Clark, no relation, a Democrat from Ebenezer who was elected to the House in 1967. He retired in December 2003, and a state government building in downtown Jackson was named for him the following year.

Alyce Clarke won a March 1985 special election, and another Black woman, Democrat Alice Harden of Jackson, won a seat in the Mississippi Senate two years later.

Several other Black women have since been elected to Mississippi’s 122-member House and 52-member Senate, but women remain a small minority in both chambers.

Clarke, early in her legislative career, pushed to establish Born Free, a drug and alcohol treatment center for pregnant women. In the 1990s, she led an effort to establish Mississippi’s first drug courts, which provide supervision, drug testing and treatment services to help keep people out of prison.

She was instrumental in establishing a state lottery. Clarke filed lottery bills for 19 years before legislators voted in 2018 to create a lottery to help pay for highways. The House and Senate named the legislation the Alyce G. Clarke Mississippi Lottery Law. When lottery tickets went on sale in 2019, Clarke bought the ceremonial first ticket at a Jackson convenience store.

Democratic Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez said on Feb. 13 that Clarke was persistent in seeking support for her alma mater, Alcorn State University. He recalled meeting with a legislative leader about university funding, and he knew Clarke would ask if he had advocated for the historically Black school.

“I opened the door and came out, and who is standing outside the door? Ms. Clarke,” Johnson said. “I’m going to tell you: The city of Jackson, the drug courts, the lottery and Alcorn State University — nobody had a better champion than Alyce Clarke.”

This article was originally published by The Associated Press.

The post Meet Rep. Alyce Clarke: The first Black woman to have her portrait displayed in the Mississippi Capitol building  appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com

Executive Alliance has issued its 2024 Honor Roll Award for Women’s Representation, and the AFRO has made the list for the second year in a row. In order for a company to qualify for the honor, women must hold at least 30 percent of executive leadership positions and at least 30 percent of the roles board of directors at the company.  Credit AFRO Photo

Executive Alliance recently issued its Honor Roll Award for Women’s Representation, and the AFRO made the list for the second year in a row. Forty-three Maryland businesses and nonprofits, including the Black-owned media company, received the award for their dedication to the recruitment, development and advancement of women. 

To be chosen for the honor, each organization must have women compose 30 percent of its executive leadership and 30 percent of its board of directors. 

“Some businesses have to sit down, look at the numbers and say, ‘Who are we missing?’” said Frances Toni Draper, publisher of the AFRO. “We’ve been a company that’s valued inclusion throughout our whole existence. It’s part of our DNA. We are honored to be recognized once again by Executive Alliance.” 

The AFRO’s 1892 founding stemmed from an investment by a woman. Martha Howard Murphy, wife of John H. Murphy, gave her husband $200 to purchase the newspaper. Today, the paper is led by their great-granddaughter, Draper. 

Managing editor, Alexis Taylor, and assistant editor, Ashleigh Fields, drive the newspaper’s award-winning editorial team. Savannah Wood, a fifth generation Murphy, sits on the AFRO’s board and manages its extensive archival collection under the paper’s sister organization, Afro Charities. 

“I’m so excited that the AFRO is on the Honor Roll, which is honestly not a surprise because there’s such strong female leadership at the publication,” said Rebecca Snyder, executive director of Executive Alliance. “From the very beginning, the AFRO has been supported and uplifted by women. It’s very special to see that carry through and to see them be recognized for those accomplishments.” 

Executive Alliance has run the Honor Roll Award for Women’s Representation since 2007. The organization’s mission is to advance the success and leadership of women in Greater Baltimore through advocacy, education and mentorship. 

Snyder said recognizing organizations for their commitment to empowering women is critical because there are still many C-suites and boardrooms that women struggle to enter. Out of nearly 80 public companies in Maryland, Snyder said only nine met the threshold for the Honor Roll.  

Executive Alliance will hold a celebration for this year’s recipients on March 20 at Notre Dame of Maryland University. During the program, the organization will hold a panel discussion on how women can advocate for one another in the workplace. 

“Programs, like the Honor Roll, are so important because it gives us an opportunity to celebrate these companies and to see that there’s a long way to go until we reach equity because we’re not on pace to do that in any of our working lifetimes,” said Snyder. 

Megan Sayles is a Report For America corps member. 

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By Michael R. Sisak, Jake Offenhartz and Jennifer Peltz
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge ordered Donald Trump and his companies on Feb. 16 to pay $355 million in penalties, finding they engaged in a yearslong scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth.

Trump won’t have to pay out the money immediately as an appeals process plays out, but the verdict still is a stunning setback for the former president.

If he’s ultimately forced to pay, the magnitude of the penalty, on top of earlier judgments, could dramatically diminish his financial resources. And it undermines the image of a successful businessman that he’s carefully tailored to power his unlikely rise from a reality television star to a one-time — and perhaps future — president.

Judge Arthur Engoron concluded that Trump and his company were “likely to continue their fraudulent ways” without the financial penalties and other controls he imposed. Engoron concluded that Trump and his co-defendants “failed to accept responsibility” and that experts who testified on his behalf “simply denied reality.”

“This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin,” Engoron, a Democrat, wrote in a searing 92-page opinion. “They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways.”

He said their “complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological” and “the frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience.”

Trump, who built his reputation as a real estate titan, also was barred from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years or from getting a loan from banks registered in his native state.

His eldest sons, Trump Organization Executive Vice Presidents Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, each were ordered to pay $4 million and barred from being officers of New York companies for two years. Former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg was ordered to pay $1 million.

Trump called the verdict a “Complete and Total sham.” He wrote on his Truth Social platform that New York Attorney General Letitia James “has been obsessed with ‘Getting Trump’ for years” and that Engoron’s decision was “an illegal, unAmerican judgment against me, my family, and my tremendous business.”

The total $364 million verdict — which James’ office said grows to $450 million, adding interest — keeps the Trump Organization in business. The judge backed away from an earlier ruling that would have dissolved the former president’s companies. But if upheld, the verdict will force a shakeup at the top of the company.

In a statement, James said “justice has been served” and called the ruling “a tremendous victory for this state, this nation, and for everyone who believes that we all must play by the same rules — even former presidents.”

“Now, Donald Trump is finally facing accountability for his lying, cheating, and staggering fraud. Because no matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law,” James said.

Trump’s lawyers vowed to appeal. Attorney Alina Habba called the verdict “manifest injustice” and “the culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt.” Trump lawyer Christopher Kise called the outcome “a draconian and unconstitutional fine and a corporate ‘death penalty'” for Trump, his family and his business.

Engoron issued his decision after a 2½-month trial that saw the Republican presidential front-runner bristling under oath that he was the victim of a rigged legal system.

The stiff penalty was a victory for James, a Democrat, who sued Trump over what she said was not just harmless bragging but years of deceptive practices as he built the multinational collection of skyscrapers, golf courses and other properties that catapulted him to wealth, fame and the White House.

James sued Trump in 2022 under a state law that authorizes her to investigate persistent fraud in business dealings.

The suit accused Trump and his co-defendants of routinely puffing up his financial statements to create an illusion his properties were more valuable than they really were. State lawyers said Trump exaggerated his wealth by as much as $3.6 billion one year.

By making himself seem richer, Trump qualified for better loan terms, saved on interest and was able to complete projects he might otherwise not have finished, state lawyers said.

Even before the trial began, Engoron ruled that James had proven Trump’s financial statements were fraudulent. The judge ordered some of Trump’s companies removed from his control and dissolved. An appeals court put that decision on hold.

In that earlier ruling, the judge found that, among other tricks, Trump’s financial statements had wrongly claimed his Trump Tower penthouse was nearly three times its actual size and overvalued his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, based on the idea that the property could be developed for residential use, even though he had surrendered rights to develop it for any uses but a club.

Trump, one of 40 witnesses to testify at the trial, said his financial statements actually understated his net worth and that banks did their own research and were happy with his business.

“There was no victim. There was no anything,” Trump testified in November.

During the trial, Trump called the judge “extremely hostile” and the attorney general “a political hack.” In a six-minute diatribe during closing arguments in January, Trump proclaimed “I am an innocent man” and called the case a “fraud on me.”

Trump and his lawyers have said the outside accountants that helped prepare the statements should’ve flagged any discrepancies and that the documents came with disclaimers that shielded him from liability. They also argued that some of the allegations were barred by the statute of limitations.

The suit is one of many legal headaches for Trump as he campaigns for a return to the White House. He has been indicted four times in the last year — accused in Georgia and Washington, D.C., of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, in Florida of hoarding classified documents, and in Manhattan of falsifying business records related to hush money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels on his behalf.

On Feb. 15, a judge confirmed Trump’s hush-money trial will start on March 25 and a judge in Atlanta heard arguments on whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from his Georgia election interference case because she had a personal relationship with a special prosecutor she hired.

Those criminal accusations haven’t appeared to undermine his march toward the Republican presidential nomination, but civil litigation has threatened him financially.

On Jan. 26, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her after she accused him in 2019 of sexually assaulting her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. That’s on top of the $5 million a jury awarded Carroll in a related trial last year.

In 2022, the Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud and fined $1.6 million in an unrelated criminal case for helping executives dodge taxes on extravagant perks such as Manhattan apartments and luxury cars.

James had asked the judge to impose a penalty of at least $370 million.

Engoron decided the case because neither side sought a jury and state law doesn’t allow for juries for this type of lawsuit.

Because it was civil, not criminal, the case did not carry the potential of prison time.

James, who campaigned for office as a Trump critic and watchdog, started scrutinizing his business practices in March 2019 after his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen testified to Congress that Trump exaggerated his wealth on financial statements provided to Deutsche Bank while trying to obtain financing to buy the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

James’ office previously sued Trump for misusing his own charitable foundation to further his political and business interests. Trump was ordered to pay $2 million to an array of charities as a fine and the charity, the Trump Foundation, was shut down.

Trump incorporated the Trump Organization in New York in 1981. He still owns it, but he put his assets into a revocable trust and gave up his positions as the company’s director, president and chairman when he became president, leaving management of the company to Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

Trump did not return to a stated leadership position upon leaving the White House in 2021, but his sons testified he’s been involved in some decision-making.

Engoron had already appointed a monitor, retired federal judge Barbara Jones, to keep an eye on the company.

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Sponsored content by GBMC HealthCare

In healthcare, equitable access to hospice care remains a pressing concern, particularly within minority communities. Despite concerted efforts to address disparities, Black Americans continue to be underrepresented in hospice and palliative care services, a trend Gilchrist, a leading provider of end-of-life care for 30 years, is actively working to change.

“We’re creating a paradigm shift around how hospitals communicate with communities of color. We’re going into communities and humbly asking what we can do to better serve their needs,” Wayman Scott, Associate Director of DEI and Community Relations, said.

According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, a staggering 82% of Medicare beneficiaries who elected hospice care in 2018 were white, while only about 1% were Black. And locally, a study conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and collaborating institutions, revealed only 34.9% of Black participants utilized hospice services compared to 46.2% of white participants.

Recognizing the critical need for equitable hospice care, Gilchrist seeks to understand and address the root causes of disparities in hospice utilization through community listening sessions and focus groups.

“Gilchrist is doing what we can to reduce barriers and the disparities due to a lack of trust caused by systemic and historic injustice in the healthcare system,” Scott said.

Presence is key. At the heart of Gilchrist’s commitment to serving Black communities in Baltimore lies the William L. and Victorine Q. Adams Gilchrist Center Baltimore. Named after two African American pillars of the local community, this state-of-the-art facility situated at Stadium Place on East 33rd Street serves as a beacon of hope for residents of Baltimore City and their families.

“We’re creating more accessibility for people in the city. We want to be where the people are and we want to reduce barriers,” Scott said.

Gilchrist Center Baltimore focuses on meeting the diverse needs of the city’s population with a range of services and programs including underserved populations, homeless individuals and veterans.

Through initiatives such as the “We Honor Veterans” program, Gilchrist honors veterans’ service through special ceremonies, storytelling sessions, and companionship programs.

One of the hallmark events is the annual Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day Celebration, scheduled for April 7. This event, open to all veterans and their loved ones free of charge, serves as a poignant tribute to veterans and their families, providing a platform to commemorate their service and sacrifices.

“The most important thing is to have veterans come together to socialize and share stories, memories, and just have camaraderie with each other,” William “Bill” Hill, a retired US Army sergeant and Gilchrist volunteer, said. “A lot of veterans, especially during the Vietnam War, who came home really did not receive the welcome that they deserved by serving our country. It’s a way that all veterans are honored and to say thank you for your service.”

Gilchrist’s dedication to equitable hospice care and veteran support exemplifies its commitment to addressing healthcare disparities and honoring the contributions of underserved communities. Through collaborative efforts and community engagement, Gilchrist continues to make strides in ensuring access to dignified end-of-life care and support for all, regardless of race or background.

To learn more about Gilchrist or to register for the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day Celebration, visit, https://gilchristcares.org/events/

The post Inclusive Hospice Care: Gilchrist’s Efforts to Ensure Equal End-of-Life Care Access appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Catherine Pugh 
Special to the AFRO 

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member  of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

~ 14^th Amendment, Section 3

The United States Supreme Court convened at 10 a.m. on Feb. 8, 2024, to hear the State of Colorado’s case against former President Donald Trump, an effort to keep him off their ballot for their state’s Republican primary on March 5.  

The justices bantered back and forth for nearly two-and-a-half hours while listening to the arguments being presented by Trump’s attorney Jonathan Martin, who argued that the Jan. 6, 2021 event, “was not an insurrection but a riot.”  

Jason Murray, who presented the case on behalf of the State of Colorado said: “The state has the right to run its own election and should enforce the 14^th Amendment, Section 3.” 

The Colorado State Supreme Court had ruled that Trump did incite the riot that led to the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

Both attorneys have asked that the case determining whether the former president can be on the ballot in Colorado be decided quickly and before Super Tuesday, March 5.  The precedent for quick decisions by the Supreme Court was set in 2000 when the court issued its decision in Bush vs. Gore, which handed the presidency to George W. Bush.  

It normally takes the Supreme Court three months to make its decision. The justices’ hearing of the case has already placed it on a fast track.

President of the University of Baltimore, an attorney and former mayor of Baltimore City,  Kurt Schmoke said, “The Supreme Court could write an opinion pointing out that the matter should have been defined by Congress—that would be a win for Trump.”  

What will happen in the upcoming days according to Schmoke is, “one of the judges will be assigned as the principal drafter of their decision and it will be sent around to their colleagues, and then the decision will be issued publicly.”  

The decision could impact future challenges to candidates’ eligibility for the White House, such as in Maine’s effort to bar Trump from the 2024 ballot.

The post  Supreme Court hears Colorado’s challenge to Trump’s candidacy appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

In December, Deputy Ty Shelton and another officer arrived at the home of 27-year-old Niani Finlayson who reported a domestic violence incident, noting that her boyfriend had abused her 9-year-old daughter.

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) – The “white lady walks into the police station, and then shoots it up and still is alive.” 

“She called for help and ended up dead. My gosh, our system is jacked.” 

“ we must wake up. What we have here is classic case of a Klansmen disguised as someone who is supposed to protect and serve.”

The comments were among many of the more than 9,100 on an Instagram post detailing the deadly shooting of a distressed Black woman who called 911 for assistance from an allegedly abusive ex-boyfriend. 

In December, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Ty Shelton and another officer arrived at the home of 27-year-old Niani Finlayson who reported a domestic violence incident, noting that her boyfriend had abused her 9-year-old daughter.

When Shelton and his partner arrived, a distressed and scared Finlayson was holding a knife and threatening to stab her ex-boyfriend if he wasn’t removed from the home. On bodycam footage released recently, Shelton is heard ordering his partner to taser Finlayson, but within a split second and with Finlayson’s daughter just a few feet away from her mother, Shelton unleashes four shots into the Black woman who was pronounced dead a short time later.

Reacting to the body-worn camera footage, the victim’s father, Lamont Finlayson, expressed dismay at the shooting.

“When you look at the bodycam, you just have to shake your head and say, ‘Oh my God, what happened? What happened?’” he told KTLA-TV’s Lauren Lyster. “They’re supposed to be there to save her life, not to kill her. You throw the taser down and just automatically go for your weapon within one second. When I look at that, I’m saying, ‘Why is he still on the force?’ Where does this guy come from, where’s his training?”

In response to the case, the sheriff’s department said that with all deputy-involved shootings, there is a thorough review process – involving the Office of the Inspector General, the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office and more – where every aspect of the shooting is evaluated.

However, it wasn’t the first time that Shelton was involved in a domestic incident that turned deadly. According to the Instagram post, Shelton was also involved in the killing of Michael Thomas, 61, under similar circumstances.

In the aftermath of Finlayson’s shooting, the Sheriff’s Department said its investigation continues as Finlayson’s family started the process of suing the department and county for $30 million. 

“As she sought to be protected, instead she was executed,” said Brad Gage, an attorney representing Finlayson’s family. “Niana was sitting on the ground when she was shot in the back. Niani was obviously upset that this man had injured her and her daughter but did not take any violent actions.”

Authorities are asking anyone with information regarding the case to call LASD’s homicide detectives at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be submitted to L.A. Crimestoppers at 800-222-8477.

“They immediately treated her as the hostile one,” Instagram user “afrocrypt” wrote. “No attempt to calm anything.” 

Another user, “cymuzik,” posted about the deputy, “Trained to kill.”

The post Black social media users react to deputy shooting of distressed Black woman appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com

The TD Charitable Foundation is awarding $7 million in grants to nonprofits addressing the affordable housing crisis across TD Bank’s Maine-to-Florida footprint and Michigan. This year, the Housing for Everyone grant program is targeting organizations that support marginalized communities members with rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing and transitional housing. 

Applications for the grant program close on Feb. 13, and winners will be announced in May 2024. 

“At the TD Charitable Foundation, we believe having a safe, affordable place to call home is imperative. Families with low- to moderate-incomes are struggling more than ever to pay their rent or to obtain a mortgage without being moderately severely cost-burdened,” said Paige Carlson-Heim, director of the TD Charitable Foundation. “Often, they are forced to choose between paying rent or other critical household needs like food, clothing or healthcare. These impacts are disproportionately felt in Black and Brown communities.” 

The Housing for Everyone grant program was started in 2005. Since then, the TD Charitable Foundation has deployed more than $49 million to affordable housing efforts through the program. This year’s grant awards range from $150,000 to $250,000. 

According to Carlson-Heim, stable housing is fundamental to economic security. 

“The number of unsheltered homeless continues to rise and disproportionately impacts marginalized communities. Adding to this growing challenge is the end of many pandemic-era support programs, which is only exacerbating the financial insecurity of low-income renters, leading to higher eviction rates and increased homelessness in communities,” said Carlson-Heim. “Successful applicants will have a demonstrated history of providing access to affordable housing for low- to moderate-income individuals and families and will demonstrate a strong track record of creating pathways and facilitating placement for those folks into homes they can afford.” 

Last year, HopePHL, a Philadelphia nonprofit that supplies housing, advocacy and trauma-responsive social services to youth and families, was awarded $250,000 from the Housing for Everyone grant program. The organization owns and operates over 200 units of emergency, transitional, supportive and affordable housing. 

Kathy Desmond, president of HopePHL, said the nonprofit has used its winnings to deploy $38,180 in assistance to help families facing homelessness. 

“All families were at risk of eviction, with court involvement or receiving eviction notices. The housing crisis for each of these families was precipitated by the head of households losing their jobs,” said Desmond. “They were unable to work temporarily due to barriers with childcare, health, financial hardship, higher education and some were still recovering from the COVID shutdown. Hope PHL was able to provide up to six months back rent.”  

Megan Sayles is a Report For America corps member. 

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By Aria Brent 
AFRO Staff Writer 
abrent@afro.com

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) held their Mid-Winter Training Conference Jan. 24-27 at the B Ocean Resort and Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where they hosted representatives of the 250 Black-owned newspapers and media companies of their membership. The theme for this conference was “Empowering in 2024: The Black Press, The Black Vote and Black America,” and throughout the conference there was a heavy focus on how vital the Black and Jewish community have been to each other throughout history.

On the first day of the conference, the NNPA National Town Hall Meeting titled, “Reaffirming the Relationship between Blacks and Jews in America” was held at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center. The town hall was kicked off by NNPA Chairman Bobby R. Henry and was facilitated by NNPA CEO and President Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr. During the town hall a series of members from the Black and Jewish community spoke on a panel about the need for the two groups to come together for the progression and empowerment of each other. 

“We all need to take personal responsibility to make sure that we lean in on restrengthening the relationships between the Black and Jewish communities,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) “Make it our personal responsibility to have dialogue in the parlors of our homes and in the community organizations. to decide to host programming that can bring our communities together, and make sure that we’re there for each other in non-stressful and non-violent times.” 

Schultz furthered her sentiments by mentioning past instances of Jewish and Black communities standing united, including the Civil Rights Movement and post World War II. 

“Be there for one another, like when Jewish community leadership instinctively came down to the South to fight for the civil rights of Black people who were being discriminated against and harmed and beaten,” Schultz said. “Or like HBCUs did in the ‘30s and ‘40s when there were no universities in America that would employ Jewish refugee professors who had come from Europe. Our ties go back even further than that so it’s essential.”

The issues that Black and Jewish people fought against together haven’t disappeared–they’ve evolved and modernized themselves, still making them a threat to these communities. Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) discussed how modern-day issues such as voter suppression can be combated with intentional behavior and education. 

“How do we restore and teach our children, who are disconnected, about the history of our ties and why these alliances are necessary? How do we teach our kids in this generation that you could never win alone–you have to have a coalition,” McCormick said.

Sharing the experiences she’s had with her own children, McCormick went on to discuss how she’s noticed how the youth struggle with taking a step back to look at who is standing with them during times of oppression and hardship.

 “Somehow along the line, there’s been a disconnect with the generations, and I see this when I talk to my children and I ask them about different situations going on and they feel like there’s a distance,” said McCormick. “They said, ‘You know what mom, we’ve been fighting this by ourselves for so long’ and I said,  ‘You know, you only feel like you’re fighting alone because you’re not stepping away and seeing where your comrades are.’ And I think it’s going to take a level of intentionality for us to fight that.”

McCormick encouraged the Black community to take a generational approach to committing themselves to reaffirming their ties with the Jewish community. Noting that in the age of social media and technology it’s become harder for young people to see past what’s in front of them, she believes that has created a huge divide amongst the two communities. 

“Every generation has to understand that we must recommit ourselves to partner with each other every single time. That means my generation has to realize that we can’t win alone, the Jewish community has been here with us, and they will be with us moving forward,” McCormick said. “Our children have to learn now to recommit. What scares me is that I feel like our children are more divided than others. I remember when we grew up, we had more mixed people in our communities or where we went to work, but now they’re able to shelter themselves in the social media world.”

Along with McCormick’s point about emphasizing education amongst Black youth, the importance of using empathy and emotions during those lessons was mentioned as well. Longtime professor, historian and anthropologist Marvin Dunn shared how he’s taught interactive lessons that were done with the intention of making his students feel the emotions of the oppressed, noting that facts and feelings are equally important when learning history. 

“In Miami we have the Holocaust Museum. I used to take my classes there and it’s incredible. We also have, in irony, the old slave ports where the slaves were in Miami. I think the Dade County School system should require every student in high school to go to the Holocaust Museum and that slave building because there they may experience feelings that relate to these experiences,” Dunn said. “Educate kids to go beyond just knowing the facts but also being able to identify the feelings.”

Dunn further explained that although Black and Jewish people know of each other’s sufferings, have found common ground within them and have even helped one another fight against them, there is a level of understanding the two communities need to reach by feeling what the other has endured. 

“What do Blacks and Jews have in common? Suffering. We need to understand the feelings each other suffer. Which means we need to go to the places where we suffered or at least that represent that suffering so that education comes back with feelings and not just facts.”

The fight for civil rights, freedom and equality is one that is shared between Black and Jewish people. Just as the Black community is constantly fighting against systemically racist issues like voter suppression, the Jewish community is facing alarming rates of anti-Semitic hate crimes. However, the Anti Defamation League (ADL) has been a pillar in helping minority communities combat the agendas of White supremacists. 

“What we have measured at ADL over the past three months since October has been alarming. We accounted for over almost 4,500 incidents of anti-Semitism over the past three months, that is almost a 300 percent increase,” said Max Sevillia, senior vice president of national affairs for ADL. “It’s not a unique experience the Jewish community is facing. Yes, these past three months have been unique but a little less than two years ago, the Black community was targeted in upstate New York by an extremist who was first looking at going after and killing Jews. ADL was one of the first organizations to go to Buffalo, be on the ground and show support for the Black community.”

Sevillia shared that following that mass shooting in May 2022, the ADL did exactly what was being discussed throughout the entire town hall–they bridged the gap and reaffirmed the unity amongst minority communities. Not only did they bring together civil rights organizations from Black and Jewish communities but Asian and Latino, as well, to create a coalition that aims to address all forms of hatred and oppression. 

“We were one of the first communities to come together and build a coalition with the National Urban League, the NAACP, the Asian American community and the Latino community. We called for the White House to pay attention to the level of hate and extremism and how it was affecting all of our communities,” Sevillia recalled. “ADL with the leaders from the diverse coalition went to President Biden to reflect on the level of hate and it caused action. We came together at the White House for a summit, United We Stand, and that summit led to a commitment to have the sort of forums that you’re hosting today. It’s so important to take action together. Through action, through commitment and through allyship we are working towards building a better tomorrow.”

The battle against injustice, oppression and White supremacy is one that is best fought together. History shows how impactful the union of Black and Jewish communities was and the time to reaffirm it is now, reiterated Terry Sanders, publisher of the Omaha Star News and the town hall’s mistress of ceremonies.  

“We believe a refocus on that relationship is warranted, given the assault on voting rights and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and a rise in anti-Semitism,” Sanders said. “The Civil Rights Movement and the Holocaust taught both groups about the lifecycle of hate–it simmers like a pot of greens and it has never died. It takes all of us to be vigilant in fighting the ugliness in all of its forms.”

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By Seung Min Kim
The  Associated Press

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AP) — Standing solemnly under gray skies, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden joined grieving families at Dover Air Force Base on Feb. 2 to witness the return of three American service members killed in last weekend’s drone attack in Jordan.

It’s a ritual honoring fallen troops that is one of a commander-in-chief’ s most somber duties.

With his gloved right hand over his heart, Biden looked on as the three transfer cases draped with American flags were carried the short distance from a C-5 galaxy military transport aircraft to a waiting van. The only words spoken during the 15-minute dignified transfer, aside from the commands as each case was carried, were from an Air Force chaplain’s brief prayer, asking God for “grace and mercy.”

The first transfer case held the remains of Sgt. William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton, Georgia. The movement was then repeated for Sgt. Breonna Moffett of Savannah and Sgt. Kennedy Sanders of Waycross. Once the seven-member, white-gloved carry team — composed of members of the U.S. Army, in which Rivers, Moffett and Sanders served — placed the last of the cases in the van, they offered a final salute as the remains were transported to the mortuary facility at Dover.

Before the dignified transfer, the Bidens met privately with the families at the Center for Families of the Fallen on the base. The president had also spoken with them earlier this week to offer his condolences.

“This is not the homecoming for Kennedy I dreamed about,” Sanders’ father, Shawn, wrote in a Facebook posting on Feb. 2. “Now, I can’t stop reliving this nightmare.”

In the post, Shawn Sanders said that “kindness and outpouring of love” was “the only thing holding me up” since his daughter’s death.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who walked with the assistance of a cane, and Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were among the Defense Department and administration officials who joined the Bidens for the dignified transfer, a solemn movement conducted for U.S. service members killed in action. Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, as well as Rep. Buddy Carter, who represents the home district of Moffett and Sanders, and Delaware Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons attended.

The soldiers were returned to American soil shortly before the U.S. military responded to the deadly drone attack that American officials say was carried out by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias that includes the group Kataib Hezbollah. The U.S. began a wave of retaliatory airstrikes Feb. 2, targeting dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iran-backed militias.

In a statement later on Feb. 2, Biden warned that the U.S. response will “continue at times and places of our choosing.”

“Let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond,” the president said.

Rivers, Moffett and Sanders were assigned to the 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, based at Fort Moore, Ga. Sanders and Moffett were posthumously promoted to sergeant rank.

The deaths were the first U.S. fatalities blamed on Iran-backed militia groups, who for months have been intensifying their attacks on American forces in the region following the onset of the Israel-Hamas war in October. Separately, two Navy SEALs died during a January mission to board an unflagged ship that was carrying illicit Iranian-made weapons to Yemen.

“These service members embodied the very best of our nation: Unwavering in their bravery. Unflinching in their duty. Unbending in their commitment to our country — risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, and our allies and partners with whom we stand in the fight against terrorism,” Biden said earlier this week. “It is a fight we will not cease.”

Rivers, Sanders and Moffett hailed from different corners of Georgia but were brought together in the same company of Army engineers. Sanders and Moffett, in particular, were close friends who regularly popped in on each other’s phone calls with their families back home.

Moffett had turned 23 years old just nine days before she was killed. She had joined the Army Reserves in 2019, but also worked for a home care provider to cook, clean and run errands for people with disabilities.

Sanders, 24, worked at a pharmacy while studying to become an X-ray technician and coached children’s soccer and basketball. She had volunteered for the deployment because she wanted to see different parts of the world, according to her parents.

Rivers, who was 46 years old and went by Jerome, joined the Army Reserve in New Jersey in 2011 and served a nine-month tour in Iraq in 2018.

The dignified transfer, in recent years, has become relatively uncommon as the U.S. withdrew from conflicts abroad, most notably the war in Afghanistan where U.S. involvement lasted two decades.

According to the Defense Department, no other service members have been killed as a result of hostile action since 2021. Thirteen service members were killed during the fall of Kabul in Afghanistan, when a suicide bomber at the airport’s Abbey Gate killed 11 Marines, one sailor and one soldier. Nine service members were killed as a result of hostile action in 2020.

The Feb. 2 ceremony is the second dignified transfer Biden attended as president. In August 2021, he took part in the ritual for the 13 service members killed during the suicide bombing in Kabul. As vice president, Biden in 2016 attended a dignified transfer for two U.S. soldiers killed in a suicide blast at Bagram Airfield. He also attended one as a senator in 2008 after a family requested his presence and the Pentagon gave him permission to do so.

The U.S. government said this week that the Iran-backed militants had planned, resourced and facilitated the overnight drone attack. More than 40 troops were also injured in the assault at Tower 22, a secretive U.S. military desert outpost whose location allows U.S. forces to infiltrate and quietly leave Syria.

___

Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Aamer Madhani and Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

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By Kate Brumback 
The Associated Press

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, left image, said in a court filing  filed Feb. 2, 2024, that she is involved in a “personal relationship” with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, right, whom she hired for the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump, but she argues there are no grounds to dismiss the case or to remove her from the prosecution. (AP File Photos)

ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis acknowledged in a court filing on Feb. 2 having a “personal relationship” with a special prosecutor she hired for the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump but argued there are no grounds to dismiss the case or to remove her from the prosecution.

Willis hired special prosecutor Nathan Wade in November 2021 to assist her investigation into whether the Republican ex-president and others broke any laws as they tried to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Since Trump and 18 others were indicted in August, Wade has led the team of lawyers Willis assembled to prosecute the case.

Among the acts listed in the indictment was a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump urged fellow Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 votes needed to overturn his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys have said he was within his rights to challenge election results.

The filing was the first time that Willis or Wade has directly addressed the allegations of a relationship in the nearly four weeks since they first surfaced in a filing by a defendant in the election case. In an affidavit accompanying the filing, Wade said that in 2022, he and the district attorney had developed a personal relationship in addition to their “professional association and friendship.”

But he also said that he had never lived with Willis or shared a financial account or household expenses with her. He said that none of the funds paid to him as part of the job have been shared with Willis, an attempt to undercut defense lawyer claims of a conflict of interest.

Wade described himself and Willis as “both financially independent professionals; expenses or personal travel were roughly divided equally between us.”

“At times,” Wade said, “I have made and purchased travel for District Attorney Willis and myself from my personal funds. At other times District Attorney Willis has made and purchased travel for she and I from her personal funds.”

“I have no financial interest in the outcome of the 2020 election interference case or in the conviction of any defendant,” he wrote.

The Feb. 2 filing by Willis’ team came in response to a motion filed last month by defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Trump co-defendant Michael Roman. The motion alleged that Willis and Wade were in an inappropriate romantic relationship that created a conflict of interest. The filing seeks to dismiss the case and to have Willis and Wade and their offices barred from further prosecuting the case.

Trump and at least one other co-defendant, Georgia attorney Robert Cheeley, have filed motions to join Roman’s effort to dismiss the indictment and remove Willis from the case.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who’s presiding over the election case, has set a Feb. 15 hearing on Roman’s motion. Willis and Wade are among a dozen witnesses Merchant has subpoenaed to testify at that hearing.

The Feb. 2 filing asks McAfee to dismiss the motions without a hearing, saying they “have no merit.”

Willis’ team’s filing argues that Willis has no financial or personal conflict of interest that justifies removing her or her office from the case. It also calls the attacks on Wade’s qualifications “factually inaccurate, unsupported, and malicious.” The filing calls the allegations raised “salacious” and says they “garnered the media attention they were designed to obtain.”

Trump and other critics of Willis, an elected Democrat, have capitalized on allegations about the relationship between Willis and Wade, using them to try to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the case. The former president has also accused Willis — and the prosecutors in three other criminal cases against him — of engaging in political attacks as he appears poised to become the 2024 Republican nominee for president.

Roman’s motion questions Wade’s qualifications to be involved in a complex prosecution under Georgia’s anti-racketeering law.

The response from the district attorney fiercely defended Wade’s qualifications to lead the prosecution team, saying he “has long distinguished himself as an exceptionally talented litigator with significant trial experience.”

Exhibits attached to the filing include pictures of awards Wade has received over the years for his legal work. Willis also attached Facebook posts from Merchant in 2016 supporting Wade’s campaign to become a Cobb County Superior Court judge. In one post, Merchant described Wade as “ethical” and said he has “demonstrated his ability to be fair and impartial.”

Roman’s motion also accused Willis of personally profiting from the case, saying she had paid Wade more than $650,000 for his work and then benefited when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations the pair took together.

Roman’s motion did not include any concrete proof for the allegations of a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade. But in a filing in Wade’s divorce case, his wife included credit card statements that showed Wade had bought plane tickets for Willis to travel with him to San Francisco and Miami.

Also on Feb. 2, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, sent Willis a subpoena for any documents or communications related to her office’s receipt and use of federal funds, as well as any documents or communications referring or relating to any allegations of the misuse of federal funds by her office.

“We are proud of our grant programs and our partnership with the Department of Justice that makes Fulton County a safer, more just place,” Willis said in a statement responding to Jordan’s subpoena.

Jordan has sent several letters to Willis since September requesting information. Each time, she has refused to send the requested information, saying the congressman’s requests violate the principles of federalism and separation of powers and accusing him of trying to interfere with a criminal prosecution.

___

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington and Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed.

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By Alexis Taylor
AFRO Managing Editor

The National Newspaper Publishers Association, the trade association which represents more than 240 Black publications across the nation, held their Mid-Winter Training Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Jan. 24 to Jan. 27.

Publishers, editors, writers and businessmen and women from around the country gathered under the theme of empowering the “Black Press, the Black vote and Black America.” Bobby R. Henry Sr., NNPA chairman, spoke on the significance of choosing such an embattled state to hold the association’s conference.

“Here in Florida, you understand what Florida has become to our country– it’s really an eye sore,” said Henry. “I had to wrestle that.” 

Henry said that he ultimately decided to hold the conference in Florida because of the fact that members of the Black Press are indeed “making headway and addressing issues and building coalitions that work– not just in word, but in deed also.” 

On the first day of the conference, board meetings were held to address NNPA business matters and funding. Later in the day, attendees were chauffeured to the African American Research Library and Cultural Center for a national town hall meeting, titled “Affirming the Relationship Between Blacks and Jews in America. 

“The Black Press is 197 years . When Russworm and Cornish first published Freedom’s Journal in 1827, some of their financing to start the first Black newspaper came from the Jewish community of New York. We’ve been involved with the Jewish community for 197 years– particularly during the Civil Rights Movement,” Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. told the AFRO.  “We planned this way before Oct. 7, back in August, because we knew that Broward County has a very large Jewish population and a large Black population. When we go to a local community and have our national events, we want to have interaction with the community.”

On the second day of the gathering, publishers were able to attend sessions such as “Revenue Generating Strategies in the Publishing Digital Age” and “Harnessing the Power of the Community, the Black Press and Inclusive Corporate Leadership.” Both were topics of discussion throughout the length of the conference, along with how to reach voters in an election year. Attendees had an opportunity to interface with members of the Google News Initiative team and learn how to better understand their audience..

Day two of the conference also included time for recipients of the PGA Tours Scholarship, Jasmine Hall of Bethune Cookman University and Victoria Gisel Montanet, of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, to receive recognition. In addition, the Black Wall Street Ticker was introduced by Dr. Charles Walker, founder and CEO of FOTM Global. 

In the evening, members of the Black Press were hosted at the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center (HDEC). During their visit, they heard from two Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, and learned how genocide is possible anywhere stereotypes, hate and bigotry go unchecked. 

The third day of the meeting featured important panel discussions on how to use Google analytics to further engage audiences and how to incorporate technology and expand media coverage with digital storytelling. The evening offered those in attendance an opportunity to celebrate with John and Carol Zippert, NNPA Publisher Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. 

The Zipperts have been publishers of the Green County Democrat Newspaper in Alabama since 1985, when they put the former owners, who used the pages to promote White supremacy, out of business. Together, with the help of the local residents, the two turned a publication previously known to promote racist views into a publication that caters to the Black community–which makes up 85 percent of the county population. 

Day after day, night after night, attendees of the NNPA Mid-Winter Training Conference were given opportunities to learn, grow and appreciate the hard work done by Black media professionals. The conference concluded on Jan. 27 with a breakfast, coupled with a think tank session. 

Against the backdrop of sunny Florida, publishers were able to pick up new strategies to engage audiences and make change, editors were given tips to improve their local newsroom and all in attendance took home a new fervor for advancing the mission of the Black Press. 

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By Ashleigh Fields
AFRO Assistant Editor
afields@afro.com

There are currently 49 seats in the James S. Brady briefing room for White House reporters dedicated to covering the most trying truths of our nation’s present and past. Only one belongs to a Black owned media outlet, well half a seat. The Grio, short for the griot, a term that references a separate class of people in West African culture designated as “oral historians” or “caretakers of the truth.” The entity stands in a league of its own surrounded by a sea of larger media companies and conglomerates. Across from them at the daily briefings stands history maker and trail blazer Karine Jean-Pierre who serves as the first Black press secretary for the President of the United States.

In November, she announced a pivotal decision to rename the lectern from which she unearths news for the American people, after two Black women, Alice Dunnigan and Ethel Payne.

“It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve as the first Black woman in this role. It’s not lost on me that I stand on the shoulders of Alice Dunnigan, Ethel Payne, and the monumental struggle and sacrifice of everyone who looks like me within, before, and beyond this White House,” Jean-Pierre told the AFRO. “It’s my hope that the Dunnigan-Payne lectern will serve as a beacon of what Black communicators can achieve – whether they are seated before it or answering questions behind it.”

The unique triangular structure is filled with uncommon features such as curved inward slants which showcase the speaker’s legs and feet. The object was fused with pieces of black walnut and metal. 

“As you can see, the metal speaks to the resilience and strength of our nation, while the black walnut represents the rich history and the deep-rooted foundations upon which this country stands,” Jean-Pierre shared at unveiling during the Nov. 30 press briefing. “The blue paint signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice.”

Payne and Dunnigan were the first Black women admitted to the White House Press core where they overcame remarkable challenges in their own right. The two co-authored many pieces together for the renowned Chicago Defender in which they bonded over tongue-lashings and shared traumas during presidential briefings. 

“On February 10, 1954, I tried my-fledgling wings as an accredited White House reporter and asked President Eisenhower my first question at his news conferences,” Payne recalled in a Chicago Defender article she penned. “I remember my knees knocking and my voice quavering as Ike cupped a hand” to his ear and asked me to repeat.”

Over the weeks, a boldness began to develop and Payne quickly became known as the “First Lady of the Black Press” for her intense line of questioning based on research and lived experience. Dunnigan documented the most notorious bouts of anger seen by President Eisenhower in an article entitled, “Why Press Query Fired Ike’s Ire.”

“The President’s lack of knowledge on many racial issues, raised by reporters of Negro news- papers, seems to have become embarrassing after awhile, and his impatience began to show,” Dunnigan wrote. “The curt manner in which the President has begun answering the questions posed by Negro reporters has been observed and mentioned by many of the press and radio people present. It has also given rise to a critical “blast” issued upon the women reporters by the lone Negro man who attends the President’s conferences.”

“The disease of professional jealousy seems to be very contagious as it is apparently spreading to other male columnists who are joining the fray and vehemently tossing word stones of un- pleasantness at those who would dare go to the bat for issues affecting ten percent of America’s population,” she continued.

Over the course of their career, Dunnigan would be forced to cover stories from the service section during Eisenhower’s presidency and came out of pocket to pay for her  own accommodations during President Harry S. Truman’s entire Western campaign. Payne almost had her credentials revoked due to her complex questions and succumbed to low pay in comparison to her male counterparts while working as a one person bureau in D.C. 

Despite these obstacles, the pair fiercely overcame each setback with grace leading to a series of awards presented posthumously. In 2022, the White House Correspondents’ Association created the Dunnigan-Payne Lifetime Achievement Award in their memory.

“For the Chicago Defender, Ms. Payne was a frontline journalist of the highest order and a lion for her people. Even today, few journalists can match her skills, fearlessness, sagacity and curiosity combined with an unquenchable thirst for excellence. Those attributes led her to serve with distinction as our White House correspondent and travel the world and Chicago covering issues that concerned her people, Black people,” Tacuma Roeback, current managing editor for the Chicago Defender expressed. “She is and will always be “The First Lady of the Black Press,” but she deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Ida B. Wells, Helen Thomas and Barbara Walters.”

Payne was a classically trained journalist who studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University while Dunnigan earned her degree from Kentucky State University. 

“In an endeavor where doggedness and fearlessness are virtues, Alice Dunnigan embodied both more than most journalists, regardless of race, gender or orientation. As someone who had to bear the twin burdens of racism and sexism, what she achieved throughout her career is nothing short of remarkable,” shared Roeback. “When individuals are singled out for being “one of one,” they have the rare ability and self-belief to reach the upper echelons of their professions. Considering the racial and gender bias they endured, Ethel Payne and Alice Dunnigan are truly in that “one of one” category.”

The last lectern was introduced in 2007 under President George W. Bush and remained for a total of 16 years before being replaced. A team comprised of those in the Army, Navy and civilians assigned to the White House Communications Agency designed the new one over the course of 2023. It stands as a silent reminder of Payne’s parting words.

“I stick to my firm, unshakeable belief that the Black press is an advocacy press, and that I, as a part of that press, can’t afford the luxury of being unbiased,” Payne said. “When it comes to issues that really affect my people, and I plead guilty, because I think that I am an instrument of change.”

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By Deborah Bailey
AFRO Contributing Editor 
dbailey@afro.com

Seated humbly in a chair on the platform of the Washington National Cathedral, former United Nations Ambassador and Congressman Andrew Young preached extemporaneously Jan. 14. King confidante, friend, collaborator and fellow pastor, Young is among a dwindling number of activists who worked and served full time in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. 

Young knew King from the start of the Civil Rights Movement and was at King’s side as he died in 1968 on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. As few movement veterans can, Young is still able to offer a first-hand account of times that transformed both him as a man and the world. 

Young’s recollections of King as the young, inexperienced pastor of the conservative Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.  in 1955, set the tone for the conversation.

“Martin had no time. He received the announcement one hour before the start of the meeting. He rose to the occasion with less than one hour to prepare himself and made one of the better speeches of his career,” Young said, referring to the speech made at Montgomery’s Holt Street Baptist Church, urging the continuation of the bus boycott. 

Young said the Montgomery bus boycott was originally planned to last one day, but persisted for 381 days until November 1956, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation illegal on public transportation systems. 

History changed King’s trajectory as well, said Young, who spoke about his involvement in a series of civil rights campaigns King led in Georgia, Alabama, Washington, D.C  and Alabama. But Young said the campaign in Chicago, Ill. Introduced King to another side of the American cultural dilemma. 

“More and more he began to see the problems we were having in Northern cities were not just social; they were economic,” said Young. “That commitment led him to Memphis,” he added, noting that  sanitation workers were preparing to strike after the accidental deaths of sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker. 

 “I think he knew his days were numbered. I think he had decided if he gave his life had decided if he gave his life, he wanted it to be for the least of these, God’s children. The sanitation workers, the garbage workers were a perfect example of ‘the least of these.’ The garbage workers had no benefits, no retirement,” Young said. “They were still virtual slaves in our modern democracy. I think he knew. Everything about the way he acted in those next several days led us to believe that he knew he was going to his death.”

 “When I heard that shot, I looked up at Martin Luther King and ran to the top of the steps. realized that…the bullet moved faster than his feelings,” said Young. 

The grand sanctuary of the National Cathedral became pin-drop silent. “He probably never felt that bullet,” he said. “I think that’s the reason why, 50 something-odd years later, we’re still gathering all over the world to celebrate him…and the values for which he gave his life,” Young said of King. “He probably never heard that bullet. I thought that maybe it’s true that someone can go straight from this life to heaven on a flaming chariot.”

Randolph Hollerith, dean of the National Cathedral, captured the sentiments of the parishioners and visitors who came to hear Young’s presentation. 

“Sir, you honor us today. Wherever I go and whatever I do I’ll always remember these words and you sitting in this chair offering them,” Hollerith said to Young, before the entire congregation. 

Others attending felt a similar sense of awe following the service.

“I’m so grateful for Rev. Young’s account of MLK’s life, in which he breathed new life,” said Natalie Doyle. 

Georgianne Thomas was also grateful to be in attendance.

“Thank you, Ambassador Young, for your long committed service to our community,” said Thomas. “We live Black – daily. Unless you live it, you will never understand it.”

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By Jennifer Peltz
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — For almost two decades, the 2002 killing of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay stood as one of the hip-hop world’s most infamous and elusive crimes, one of three long-unsolved slayings of major rap stars.

Now Jay’s case is the first of those killings to go to trial. Opening statements are set for Jan. 29 in the federal murder trial of Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington, who were arrested in 2020.

“A brazen act,” then-Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said at the time, “has finally caught up with them.”

Washington and Jordan are accused of gunning down Jay in his recording studio over a drug dispute, a prosecution narrative challenging the public understanding of a DJ known for his anti-drug advocacy. 

They have pleaded not guilty, as has a third defendant who was charged this past May and will be tried separately.

Jay, born Jason Mizell, formed Run-DMC in the early 1980s with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Joseph Simmons, known as DJ Run and Rev. Run. Together, the hat-wearing, Adidas-loving friends from the Hollis section of Queens built a rap juggernaut that helped the young genre go mainstream.

They were the first rappers with gold and platinum albums and a Rolling Stone cover. They were the first hip-hop group with a video on MTV, where their subsequent 1986 collaboration with Aerosmith on the classic rockers’ “Walk This Way” would bust through a wall between rap and rock, literally doing so in the accompanying music video. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.

“We always knew rap was for everyone,” Jay said in a 2001 MTV interview. “Anyone could rap over all kinds of music.”

Embracing rock sounds, rap wordplay and New York attitude, Run-DMC notched hits talking about things ranging from their fame to people’s foibles, including perhaps the only top-100 reference to somebody accidentally eating dog food.

The group also made clear where they stood on drugs and crime.

“We are not thugs, we don’t use drugs,” they declared on the platinum-selling 1987 single “It’s Tricky.” 

The group did an anti-drug public service announcement and shows, called for a day of peace between warring Los Angeles gangs, established scholarships and held voter registration drives at concerts.

Along the way, Jay opened a 24/7 studio in Hollis and a label, mentoring up-and-comers including 50 Cent.

Jay was killed at that studio on Oct. 30, 2002. His death followed the drive-by shootings of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997, a trio of hip-hop tragedies that frustrated investigators for decades. A man was charged in September in Shakur’s killing in Las Vegas and has pleaded not guilty; no one has been arrested in The Notorious B.I.G.’s slaying in Los Angeles.

More than $60,000 in rewards were offered for information on Jay’s death. Theories abounded. Police received enough tips to fill 34 pages, according to a court filing. But the investigation languished as investigators said they ran up against reluctant witnesses.

Prosecutors have said in court papers that the case took crucial strides in the last five years as they interviewed new people, did more ballistics tests and got important witnesses to cooperate, among other steps.

But defense lawyers have claimed the government dragged its feet in indicting Washington and Jordan, making it harder for them to defend themselves.

Authorities say the two men confronted Jay in his studio after being buzzed in. Prosecutors allege Washington brandished a gun and ordered a witness to lie on the floor, and Jordan shot the 37-year-old DJ in the head and another witness in the leg.

The motive, according to prosecutors: anger that Jay was going to cut Washington out of a plan to distribute 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of cocaine in Maryland. Prosecutors maintain the DJ had been mixed up in kilo-level coke deals since 1996. His family has insisted he wasn’t involved with drugs.

Investigators were quick to eye Washington, who reportedly had been living on Jay’s couch. Washington already had a record of gun, assault, drug and other convictions, and authorities said he went on a robbery spree after Jay’s death, hopping among motels until being arrested three months later in the hold-ups, authorities said.

He had told authorities and Playboy magazine in 2003 that he was present during Jay’s killing but the armed men were Jordan and another man. Prosecutors publicly identified him in 2007 as a suspect.

After being arrested in the shooting — while still in prison for the robberies — he told agents he “never wanted someone else to get in trouble for something he (Washington) had put them up to,” prosecutors said in court papers.

Lawyers for Washington, 59, have said in court papers that he didn’t match DNA on a wool hat found at the crime scene, and they have raised questions about a witness’ identification of him. A message sent Jan. 26 seeking comment on the upcoming trial was not immediately returned by his lead attorney, Susan Kellman.

Prosecutors have portrayed Jordan in court filings as a veteran drug dealer who boasted about his activities in his own raps, including a video called “Silver Spoon” — filmed in front of a mural of Jay — and a gun-filled clip titled “Aim for the Head.” Authorities say they have their own videos, too: recordings of him repeatedly selling cocaine to an undercover agent in 2017.

Jordan, 40, has pleaded not guilty to gun and cocaine charges that will be decided at the murder trial. 

Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall said in 2020 she is “not going to hold any individual accountable for the lyrics in a rap song that is consumed by our community — and, in fact, it’s consumed by me,” according to the New York Daily News.

Jordan’s lead lawyer, Mark DeMarco, declined to comment ahead of the trial. In court papers, he has said Jordan “adamantly denied his involvement in the murder” and was at his then-girlfriend’s home when it happened.

He considered Jay to be family, since the DJ grew up across the street from Jordan’s father, his defense wrote.

If convicted, Washington and Jordan face at least 20 years in prison. The government has said it would not seek the death penalty.

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By Jake Offenhartz
The Associated Press

A judge has ordered the Los Angeles Police Department to get rid of photographs of legal documents that officers allegedly took during an unannounced raid on the home of an attorney representing a prominent Black Lives Matter activist.

The attorney, Dermot Givens, said roughly a dozen Los Angeles police officers descended on his townhouse on Jan. 23, ordering him to stand outside as they executed a warrant.

When he went back inside, Givens said he saw an officer photographing documents left on his kitchen table related to a lawsuit filed against the department on behalf of Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter.

Abdullah has alleged officers violated her civil rights in 2020 by forcing her out of her home at gunpoint after receiving a hoax call about a hostage situation there.

The papers photographed by police contained “portions of Mr. Given’s case file, and potentially attorney work product” related to Abdullah’s case, according to an application in Los Angeles County Superior Court requesting that police destroy or return the materials and provide a copy of the warrant used to justify the search.

On Jan. 26, Judge Rupert Byrdsong granted that request. Givens said he had not received confirmation from the LAPD or any information about the warrant as of Jan. 27.

A police spokesperson said the department was conducting an internal investigation and declined to provide further details about the search. “This is an open criminal investigation as well as an internal affairs investigation,” the spokesperson, Capt. Kelly Muniz, said by phone.

According to Givens, police said they were responding to a GPS tracker located near his home as part of their search for a young man named Tyler. After surrounding the townhouse with guns drawn, officers in tactical gear “ransacked” his house, he said, emptying drawers, opening his safe, and rifling through his briefcase.

Givens said he had lived in the house for more than two decades and did not know anyone who matched the name and description of the person police claimed to be looking for. The raid was first reported the night of Jan. 26 by the Los Angeles Times.

The attorney alleged that it was the latest instance of harassment from the LAPD for his work on behalf of clients who are suing the department. He said police “know exactly who I am and where I live” and they’re lying if they say otherwise.

Givens is currently representing Abdullah in her lawsuit against the LAPD for their response to a “swatting incident” at her home in 2020, which involved officers surrounding her house and ordering her and her children to come outside through a loudspeaker.

She has alleged that police used the prank call, which was carried out by teenagers, as pretext to “terrorize” her for her role in organizing protests following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020.

Los Angeles police have not commented on officers’ actions at Abdullah’s home, citing the pending litigation.

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By Juan Lozano
The Associated Press

ANAHUAC, Texas (AP) — A judge ordered Jan. 24 that a trial be held next month to determine whether a Black high school student in Texas can continue being punished by his district for refusing to change a hairstyle he and his family say is protected by a new state law.

Darryl George, 18, has not been in his regular classroom in Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu since Aug. 31. Instead, he has either been serving in-school suspension or spending time in an off-site disciplinary program.

His Houston-area school district, Barbers Hill, has said George’s long hair, which he wears in neatly tied and twisted locs on top of his head, violates a district dress code that limits hair length for boys. The district has said other students with locs comply with the length policy.

George, a junior, said Jan. 24 that he has felt stress and frustration over what he sees as unfair punishment, but that he was grateful to soon be getting his day in court.

“I’m glad that we are being heard, too. I’m glad that things are moving and we’re getting through this,” George said after the hearing in Anahuac, with his mother, Darresha George, standing next to him.

State District Judge Chap Cain III in Anahuac set a Feb. 22 trial in a lawsuit filed by the school district regarding whether its dress code restrictions limiting the length of boys’ hair violates the CROWN Act. 

The new Texas law, which took effect in September, prohibits race-based hair discrimination and bars employers and schools from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including Afros, braids, locs, twists or Bantu knots.

Darresha George said she was disappointed the judge did not consider granting a temporary restraining order, which would have halted her son’s punishment until next month’s trial.

“I have a son, 18 years old, that wants to go to school, that wants to get his education, and y’all messing with him. Why?” she said.

In an affidavit filed last week in support of the temporary restraining order, Darryl George said he is being subjected to “cruel treatment.”

“I love my hair, it is sacred and it is my strength,” George wrote. “All I want to do is go to school and be a model student. I am being harassed by school officials and treated like a dog.”

A spokesperson for the school district didn’t speak with reporters after the hearing and didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

In a paid ad that ran this month in the Houston Chronicle, Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole maintained the district is not violating the CROWN Act.

In the ad, Poole defended his district’s policy and wrote that districts with a traditional dress code are safer and had higher academic performance and that “being an American requires conformity.”

“We will not lose sight of the main goal — high standards for our students — by bending to political pressure or responding to misinformed media reports. These entities have ‘lesser’ goals that ultimately harm kids,” Poole wrote.

The two Texas lawmakers who co-wrote the state’s version of the CROWN Act — state Reps. Rhetta Bowers and Ron Reynolds — attended the Jan. 24 hearing and said the new state law does protect Darryl George’s hairstyle.

The district “is punishing Darryl George for one reason: his choice to wear his hair in a protective style which harms no one and causes no distraction in the classroom,” Bowers said.

George’s family has also filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency and a federal civil rights lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with the school district, alleging they failed to enforce the CROWN Act. The lawsuit is before a federal judge in Galveston, Texas.

Barbers Hill’s policy on student hair was previously challenged in a May 2020 federal lawsuit filed by two other students. Both students withdrew from the high school, but one returned after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction, saying the student showed “a substantial likelihood” that his rights to free speech and to be free from racial discrimination would be violated if not allowed to return to campus. That lawsuit remains pending.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) – The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) concluded its 2024 annual Mid-Winter Training Conference Jan. 27 at the B Ocean Resort and Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where publishers, editors, sponsors, partners and visitors shared four days of workshops and fellowship that promise to strengthen the iconic Black Press of America as it heads toward its bicentennial.

Representing 250 African American-owned newspapers and media companies in the United States, the NNPA’s theme for this year’s conference was “Empowering in 2024: The Black Press, The Black Vote, and Black America.”

The conference provided attendees with valuable insights into performance-driven tools and methodologies aimed at expanding and monetizing their businesses. Workshops, presentations and discussions featured prominent figures from various fields, making it a comprehensive and enriching experience for participants.

Reflecting on the conference, NNPA Chairman and Westside Gazette Publisher Bobby R. Henry Sr. said he’s expecting bigger and better things for the Black Press, and noted its recent advocacy.

“As the chairman of our beloved association, hosting the NNPA members—the Black Press of America—in Florida’s Broward County in Fort Lauderdale was a true honor,” Henry said. “In these challenging times, the Black Press confronted bigotry and hatred, understanding the need for collective action.”

Through the NNPA’s National Town Hall Meeting, Henry said, the group aimed to reaffirm the historic bond between Blacks and Jews in America, rooted in the shared struggle for civil rights and freedom. He emphasized the importance of re-engaging and strengthening the significant relationship between Blacks and Jews, “Remembering we marched together, fought together, and died together for civil rights.”

NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis added that the NNPA, members of the Anti-Defamation League and others planned the Town Hall, which included U.S. Reps. Deborah Wasserman Schultz and Sheila Cheflius-McCormick, ADL Senior Vice President of National Affairs Max Sevillia, and professor emeritus of the Department of Psychology at Florida International University Dr. Marvin Dunn.

The highly anticipated event took place at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Ft. Lauderdale, and Chavis and others noted that they planned the Town Hall well before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in Israel.

“We knew that, with the rise of anti-semitism and with the rise of hatred in America, particularly against Black people in America, we needed to do something,” Chavis said.

The Holocaust Museum of Southern Florida also sponsored a lively reception one day after the Town Hall.

During the conference, there were also several lively sessions on a variety of topics.

Carolyn Fox, the managing editor of the Tampa Bay Times, discussed “Revenue Generating Strategies in the Publishing Digital Age” in a public session. The fireside chat between Chavis and Stephanie Childes, vice president of Diageo, explored “Harnessing the power of community, the Black Press, and inclusive corporations,” in which the popular spirits company reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the Black Press of America and educating all on responsible drinking. Pfizer Rare Disease conducted a lunch talk on “Sickle Cell and ATTR-CM” while another panel emphasized “The Black and Brown Vote.”

Google News Initiative led a discussion on “The Power of Audience to Generate Revenue,” and Hyundai sponsored a breakfast and informational session, including a film presentation and a panel discussion. Additionally, a panel sponsored by Reynolds held a poignant discussion on “The Importance of Racial Impact Studies.”

An energetic millennial panel on “Digital Creative Storytelling” included Lafayette Barnes of the Bridge newspaper, Micha Green of the Washington Informer, NNPA social media correspondents DaNiesha Bell and Dawn Montgomery, and New York Beacon Publisher Ashley Smith.

Niele Anderson, the founder and CEO of PLB Media Inc., hosted a “Scaling- Moving from Print to Digital” session discussing the importance of being relevant and profitable in a digital world and riding the 2024 election revenue wave.

The PGA TOUR demonstrated its commitment to education by providing two $5,000 scholarships for HBCU students, Jasmin Ball and Victoria Gisel Montanet.

The NNPA 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award went to Greene County (Alabama) Democrat publishers Carol and John Zippert. 

“The Black Press are storytellers,” Carol Zippert said in accepting the award. “We tell our own story, and if we don’t, folk are gonna tell it the way they want. If the lion told the story, it would be different from the hunter’s story.”

Chavis praised the conference as one of the best of his 10-plus-year tenure. Publishers also took the opportunity to salute retiring NNPA executive administrator Claudette Perry — whose massive workload includes organizing NNPA conferences and conventions — with a standing ovation during the association’s board meeting.

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) – Recent research conducted by Scientific American Online supported fears that facial recognition technology (FRT) can worsen racial inequities in policing. The research found that law enforcement agencies that use automated facial recognition disproportionately arrest Black people.

The report’s authors stated that they believe these results come from factors that include the “lack of Black faces in the algorithms’ training data sets, a belief that these programs are infallible, and a tendency of officers’ own biases to magnify these issues.”

FRT was again cast in a negative light after the arrest of a 61-year-old grandfather, who is now suing Sunglass Hut’s parent company after the store’s facial recognition technology mistakenly identified him as a robber. Harvey Eugene Murphy Jr. was subsequently held in jail, where he says he was sexually assaulted, according to a lawsuit.

The robbery occurred at a Sunglass Hut store in Houston, Texas, when two gun-wielding bandits stole thousands of dollars in cash and merchandise. Houston police identified Murphy as a suspect, even though he lived in California.  They arrested Murphy when he returned to Texas to renew his driver’s license. His lawsuit claims that, while in jail, he was sexually assaulted by three men in a bathroom, causing him to suffer lifelong injuries.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office later determined Murphy was not involved in the robbery, but the damage was already done while he was in jail, his lawyers said in a news release.

“This is precisely the kind of situation we’ve been warning about for years: that these systems, whatever their theoretical reliability, are in practice so finicky and consequential that they cannot be fixed,” Os Keyes, an Ada Lovelace Fellow and doctoral candidate at the University of Washington, told Vice News.

“The only thing I’d push back on is Murphy’s lawyer’s claim that it could happen to anyone; these systems are attractive precisely because they promise to automate and speed up ‘business as usual,’ which includes laundering existing police biases against people who are already in the system, minority groups, and anyone else who doesn’t fit,” Keyes continued. “This outcome is as inevitable as it is horrifying and should be taken as a sign to restrict and reconfigure policing in general as well as FRT in particular.”

Scientific American researchers noted that the algorithms used by law enforcement “are typically developed by companies like Amazon, Clearview AI and Microsoft, which build their systems for different environments.” They argued that, despite massive improvements in deep-learning techniques, federal testing shows that most facial recognition algorithms perform poorly at identifying people besides White men.

In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission prohibited Rite Aid from using FRT after the company wrongly accused individuals of shoplifting. CBS News noted that, in one incident, an 11-year-old girl was stopped and searched by a Rite Aid employee based on a false match.  Also last year, the Detroit Police Department was sued by a woman whom their technology misidentified as a carjacking suspect. Eight months pregnant at the time, Porcha Woodruff was jailed after police incorrectly identified her using FRT.

The Commission acknowledged that people of color are often misidentified when using FRT. 

“Disproportionate representation of white males in training images produces skewed algorithms because Black people are overrepresented in mugshot databases and other image repositories commonly used by law enforcement,” Scientific American researchers determined. “Consequently, AI is more likely to mark Black faces as criminal, leading to the targeting and arresting of innocent Black people.

“We believe that the companies that make these products need to take staff and image diversity into account. However, this does not remove law enforcement’s responsibility. Police forces must critically examine their methods if we want to keep this technology from worsening racial disparities and leading to rights violations.”

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By Jeff Amy
The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s state Senate joined attempts to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Jan. 26, voting 30-19 to create a special committee that Republican senators say is needed to determine whether the Democratic district attorney misspent state tax money in her prosecution of former President Donald Trump and others.

“This has to do with following state funds,” said Republican Sen Matt Brass of Newnan. “We want to know where is our money going.”

The committee, which doesn’t require approval by the state House or Gov. Brian Kemp, is tasked with making recommendations on state laws and spending based on its findings. But the committee can’t directly sanction Willis, and Democrats denounced it as a partisan attempt to try to play to Trump and his supporters.

“You’re talking about partisan politics. That’s all you’re talking about,” said Democratic Sen. David Lucas of Macon.

Trump on Jan. 25 joined an effort by co-defendant Michael Roman to have Willis, special prosecutor Nathan Wade and their offices thrown off the case. Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Roman, filed a motion Jan. 8 accusing Willis of having an inappropriate romantic relationship with Wade that resulted in a conflict of interest.

Willis has yet to respond publicly to the allegations of a romantic relationship between her and Wade. But she vigorously defended Wade and his qualifications in a speech during a service honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at a historic Black church in Atlanta on Jan. 14. She suggested during that address that the questioning of Wade’s hiring was rooted in racism.

A filing in Wade’s divorce case includes credit card statements that show Wade — after he had been hired as special prosecutor — bought plane tickets in October 2022 for him and Willis to travel to Miami and bought tickets in April to San Francisco in their names. Republican State Sen. Brandon Beach of Alpharetta said that Willis’ employment of Wade is a “prosecution for personal profit scheme,” contending that she has stretched out the Trump inquiry to keep paying Wade and derive personal benefit.

“I believe this scheme — prosecution for personal profit — was a fraud against the court and it was a fraud against you as a Georgia taxpayer,” Beach said.

The new panel would be able to issue subpoenas and require people to testify under oath — powers that no other Georgia legislative committee routinely uses.

People can already be prosecuted for making false statements to Georgia lawmakers. Those are among the criminal charges that Rudy Giuliani and some others face for the false claims they made to Georgia lawmakers in late 2020. They claimed Georgia’s election was marred by widespread fraud and that Trump and not Democrat Joe Biden was the rightful winner of the state’s 16 electoral votes.

The action comes at the beginning of Georgia’s 2024 legislative session, with all 56 Senate and 180 House seats up for election later this year. With few of the 56 Senate districts expected to be competitive between Republicans and Democrats, the most serious opposition that many lawmakers could face would be in their party primary in June. Attacks on Willis by Republicans and a defense of her by Democrats could deter primary challenges on both sides in advance of the March deadline for candidates to file for election.

Most of the top supporters are Republican lawmakers who also publicly backed Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, including Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Willis was barred from prosecuting Jones by a judge after she hosted a fundraiser for a Democratic opponent. Jones on Jan. 24 reaffirmed his support for Trump after the former president won the New Hampshire primary.

“I’ve never shied away from it,” Jones told reporters. “I’m a Trump guy. I’ve been a Trump supporter since 2015.”

Kemp, though, has said he favors a revived prosecutor oversight board looking into whether Willis did anything wrong, instead of a legislative committee.

Democratic Sen. Josh McLaurin accused Republicans of going down a “dangerous path” by catering to Republicans who have shown themselves willing to threaten violence against Georgia lawmakers seen as insufficiently supportive of Trump.

“If you guys think you can handle it — if you think you can inflame that base, and feed them more, feed them misinformation, or let them persist in their misinformation about the results of elections — and not face the consequences someday, I think you’re mistaken,” McLaurin said.

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By Mark Sherman
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court should declare that Donald Trump is ineligible to be president again because he spearheaded the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn his 2020 election loss, lawyers leading the fight to keep him off the ballot told the justices on Jan. 26.

In a filing filled with vivid descriptions of the Jan. 6, 2021, violence at the Capitol, the lawyers urged the justices not to flinch from doing their constitutional duty and to uphold a first-of-its-kind Colorado court decision to kick the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner off the state’s primary ballot.

“Nobody, not even a former President, is above the law,” the lawyers wrote.

The court will hear arguments in less than two weeks in a historic case that has the potential to disrupt the 2024 presidential election.

The case presents the high court with its first look at a provision of the 14th Amendment barring some people who “engaged in insurrection” from holding public office. The amendment was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War.

In their plea to the court, the lawyers said, “Trump intentionally organized and incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol in a desperate effort to prevent the counting of electoral votes cast against him” after he lost the election to Democrat Joe Biden.

They called for a decision that makes clear that what happened on Jan. 6 was an insurrection, for which Trump bears responsibility. The president is covered by the constitutional provision at issue, and Congress doesn’t need to take action before states can apply it, the lawyers wrote.

The written filing includes extensive details of Trump’s actions leading up to Jan. 6, including his tweet on Dec. 19, 2020, in which he informed his followers of the planned protest on the day Congress would count the electoral votes and wrote, “Be there, will be wild.”

Then in his speech to supporters on Jan. 6, the lawyers wrote, “Trump lit the fuse.” The brief reproduces photographs of the mayhem from that day, including one of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Daniel Hodges pinned in a doorway during the attack.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that efforts to keep him off the ballot “threaten to disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans and … promise to unleash chaos and bedlam” if other states follow Colorado’s lead.

The Colorado Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling should be reversed for any of several reasons, Trump’s lawyers wrote, including that Trump did not engage in insurrection and that the presidency is not covered by the amendment. They also contend that Congress would have to enact legislation before states could invoke the provision to keep candidates off the ballot.

The justices are hearing arguments Feb. 8. Trump already has won the first two GOP presidential contests: the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is Trump’s sole remaining significant GOP opponent.

Still, both sides have said the court needs to act quickly so that voters know whether Trump is eligible to hold the presidency.

The court is dealing with the dispute under a compressed time frame that could produce a decision before Super Tuesday on March 5, when the largest number of delegates in a day is up for grabs, including in Colorado.

A two-sentence provision in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that anyone who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” against it is no longer eligible for state or federal office. After Congress passed an amnesty for most of the former confederates that the measure targeted in 1872, the provision fell into disuse until dozens of suits were filed to keep Trump off the ballot this year. Only the one in Colorado was successful.

Trump is separately appealing to state court a ruling by Maine’s Democratic secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, that he is ineligible to appear on that state’s ballot over his role in the Capitol attack. Both the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state’s rulings are on hold until the appeals play out.

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By Ashleigh Fields
AFRO Assistant Editor
afields@afro.com

Thousands of citizens now have the opportunity to clear their records of convictions relating to marijuana usage, to include simple and attempted possession charges. 

This new opportunity was announced by President Biden ahead of the Christmas holiday on Dec. 22 and applies to all cases federally and in the District of Columbia which uniquely falls under presidential jurisdiction. 

Those who were charged on or before Oct. 6, 2022 by either a federal or D.C. Superior Court and are U.S. citizens, permanent residents or were lawfully present in the United States at the time of the offense meet the requirements for forgiveness. 

“Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing and educational opportunities,” Biden shared during the official announcement. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana.  It’s time that we right these wrongs.”

In order to be approved, those seeking clemency must submit an application to the Justice Department requesting a certificate of pardon. Appeals are currently being accepted online, via email and mail by the Office of the Pardon Attorney. 

“We’re going to continue to push President Biden to free all cannabis prisoners, and address all those that are serving long sentences. DCMJ was pleased that 11 long-term prisoners will be freed under the pardons, but this is just scratching the surface so we expect more,” said Adam Eidinger, founder of D.C. Marijuana Justice, an advocacy organization.

Cities and states across the county have followed suit. 

According to 2021 statistics reviewed by the United States Sentencing Commission, “of the 1,765 offenders whose criminal history category was impacted by a prior marijuana possession sentence, most were male (94.2 percent), U.S. citizens (80.0 percent) and either Black (41.7 percent) or Hispanic (40.1 percent). Nearly all (97.0 percent) of the prior marijuana possession sentences were for state convictions, some of which were from states that have changed their laws to decriminalize (22.2 percent) or legalize (18.2 percent) marijuana possession, states that allow for expungement or sealing of marijuana possession records (19.7 percent), or some combination thereof.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser (D-D.C.) has been pushing for representation on the matter since Biden’s first announcement. 

“While we have made good progress with our medical marijuana program, because of our lack of statehood, we remain limited in our ability to right past wrongs and move forward with an equitable adult-use program,” Mayor Bowser wrote in a 2022 statement, released after the announcement of the original pardon.”One of those limitations, and a reason President Biden’s pardons are especially important to our community, is that the Mayor of D.C. lacks the ability to grant pardons or commute sentences – a power that every state’s governor has.”

The Mayor did not immediately respond to the AFRO’s requests for comment and the D.C. Office of the Attorney General declined to speak on the matter.

Local residents in the District feel especially crippled sharing that Biden and other leaders have not done enough reform for there to be a viable impact. 

“The Biden announcement would have been more impactful if it covered people that sell or cultivate cannabis,” said Eidinger. “Currently there are over 3000 people sitting in federal prison from these cannabis crimes that are not covered by President Biden’s pardons.”

Local civil rights attorney Donald Temple agrees.

“I think the big question for D.C. is two fold, whether there should be a commutation of their sentences is a question that needs to be met square on and if the federal government is going to legalize marijuana, or allow the D.C. to do what other states are doing in terms of licensing at the retail level, not just medicinal licenses,” Temple told the AFRO. 

The District’s Initiative 71 (I-71), legalizes the possession, personal use, home cultivation and gifting of small amounts of marijuana but leaves millions of earned profit untaxed in the industry dominated by Black and Latino residents.

D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-D.C.-At-Large) proposed an alternative solution for citizens in the District through the Reparations for Victims of the War on Cannabis Fund in late January of 2023. The legislation would offer payments of between $5,000 and $80,000 to people arrested, convicted or incarcerated for a marijuana-related offense prior to the enactment of I-71 on March 27, 2015 and regulate recreational marijuana sales by taxing 40 percent of all sales for 10 years.

The bill currently awaits congressional action and approval but could make significant strides towards improving racial equity in the District. 

On the federal level, marijuana remains an illegal drug classified under Schedule I laws which deem it, “currently unacceptable for medical use and a high potential for abuse.” 

“As for the other steps the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to address the country’s failed approach to marijuana, relevant agencies have been pursuing solutions that will move our community forward, including ongoing deliberations on revising how marijuana is scheduled in federal law,” shared Rodericka Applewhaite, White House spokesperson. 

Many law regulators are pushing for its reclassification as a Schedule III with less restriction and described as “a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”

“Every American has a fundamental right to equal justice under law,” said Vice President Kamala Harris. “Last year, to address these historic injustices and with the support of faith leaders, civil rights advocates and law enforcement officials, President Joe Biden granted a blanket pardon for simple marijuana possession under federal and D.C. law.”

Currently no prisoners have been or will be released under the 2022 and 2023 pardons. White House officials say that there is no one currently in federal prison solely for simple possession of cannabis.

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) is gearing up for its 2024 Annual Mid-Winter Training Conference, which begins on Jan. 24, at the B Ocean Resort and Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 

Representing 250 African American-owned newspapers and media companies in the United States, NNPA’s theme for this year’s conference is “Empowering in 2024: The Black Press, The Black Vote and Black America.”

The four-day interchange promises attendees valuable insights into performance-driven tools and methodologies aimed at expanding and monetizing their businesses. Highlights include workshops, presentations and discussions featuring prominent figures from various fields.

NNPA Chairman Bobby R. Henry Sr. affirmed, “As the Chairman of our beloved association, hosting the NNPA members — the Black Press of America — in Florida’s Broward County in the city of Fort Lauderdale is a true honor. In these challenging times, the Black Press confronts bigotry and hatred, understanding the need for collective action. The Westside Gazette and the NNPA, through the NNPA’s National Town Hall Meeting aims to reaffirm the historic bond between Blacks and Jews in America, rooted in the shared struggle for civil rights and freedom.”

NNAP Chairman Henry emphasized, “It’s a call to re-engage and strengthen this significant relationship. Remembering we marched together, fought together, and died together for civil rights.”

Main registration for the conference opens at 8 a.m., Jan. 24, 2024. The NNPA will host its board meeting at 11 a.m., and the NNPA Fund will hold its meeting at 2 p.m.

Again, one of the many highlights is the NNPA National Town Hall Meeting: “Reaffirming the Relationship between Blacks and Jews in America.” The NNPA National Town Hall Meeting will convene on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale.

The National Town Hall Meeting will feature distinguished panelists, including NNPA Chair and Westside Gazette Publisher Bobby Henry, NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., U.S. Congresswoman Deborah Wasserman Schultz, who serves as the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives; U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Cherflius-McCormick, who represents Florida’s 20th District in the U.S. House of Representatives; Jonathan Greenblatt, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL); and Dr. Marvin Dunn, a renowned psychologist and historian.

On Jan. 25, 2024, Carolyn Fox, the managing editor of the Tampa Bay Times, will discuss “Revenue Generating Strategies in the Publishing Digital Age” in a public session. The always-popular fireside chat occurs Jan. 25 at 11:50 a.m. between Chavis and Stephanie Childes, vice president of Diageo. It will explore “Harnessing the power of community, the Black Press, and inclusive corporations.”

At 12:45 p.m., Pfizer Rare Disease plans to conduct a lunch talk on “Sickle Cell and ATTR-CM.” Freshman U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost has been invited to give the keynote address, “The Black and Brown Vote,” at 1:15 p.m.

Another highlight on Jan.25 is expected to be a 2:30 p.m. session featuring Google News Initiative experts, titled “The Power of Audience to Generate Revenue.”

Highlights for Jan. 26, 2024, include a Hyundai-sponsored breakfast at 8:30 a.m. which promises to provide informational speeches, a film presentation, and a panel discussion.

Later on Jan. 26, a Millennial Panel on “Digital Creative Storytelling” will include Lafayette Barnes, Micha Greene, DaNiesha Bell, and Ashleigh Fields. Niele Anderson, the founder, and CEO of PLB Media Inc., will host a workshop at 11:20 a.m., discussing the importance of being relevant and profitable in a digital world and riding the 2024 election revenue wave.

The PGA TOUR will demonstrate its commitment to education by providing two $5,000 scholarships for HBCU students Jasmine Ball and Victoria Gisel Montanet.

The elegant black-tie affair, the NNPA 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award Gala, will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Friday evening of Jan. 26, 2024, at B Ocean Resort and Hotel, Promenade A & B & C. The conference adjourns on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024 with a continental breakfast and a NNPA publisher’s think tank. Dr. Benjamin Chavis stated, “On behalf of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, we are elated and so very much pleased to present the NNPA 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award to Carol and John Zippert, the distinguished co-publishers of the Green County Democrat newspaper in Eutaw, Alabama. Carol and John are longtime freedom-fighting publishers for civil rights, justice, equality and freedom.”

NNPA’s 2024 Mid-Winter Training Conference is made possible through the support of its sponsors and partners, each playing a crucial role in fostering empowerment and growth within the Black press and community. The sponsors include:

Diageo: A global leader in beverage alcohol, Diageo is known for its wide range of spirits and beers, committed to promoting responsible drinking and supporting communities.

Hyundai: The automotive giant, Hyundai, is dedicated to innovation and sustainability, consistently contributing to technological advancements in the automotive industry.

Comcast: A leading telecommunications conglomerate, Comcast provides a range of services including cable television, internet and telephone, shaping the landscape of digital connectivity.

AARP: A non-profit organization advocating for the well-being of older adults, AARP focuses on issues such as healthcare, employment and retirement planning.

The American Petroleum Institute (API): Representing the oil and natural gas industry, API plays a pivotal role in setting standards and promoting safe and sustainable practices.

Volkswagen: A renowned automotive manufacturer, Volkswagen is recognized for its commitment to quality, innovation and environmental responsibility.

Rebuild Local News: This initiative is dedicated to supporting and revitalizing local journalism, recognizing its crucial role in informing and engaging communities.

Wells Fargo: A major financial services company, Wells Fargo is committed to providing banking, investment and mortgage services, contributing to financial stability.

Nissan: As a leading automobile manufacturer, Nissan is synonymous with innovation, quality and sustainability in the automotive industry.

NNPA Partners

NNPA’s partnerships play a key role in advancing its mission. Partners include :

Reynolds:

Reynolds is a prominent American company known for contributing to the tobacco and packaging industries. While they are historically recognized for their tobacco-related products, the company has diversified its portfolio and is engaged in various business sectors. It has a substantial presence in the packaging industry, offering innovative solutions and products.

Pfizer:

Pfizer is a leading global pharmaceutical company widely recognized for its contributions to healthcare and the development of innovative medicines. With a focus on research and development, Pfizer has played a crucial role in addressing various health challenges, from infectious diseases to chronic conditions. The company is committed to advancing medical science and improving health outcomes worldwide.

NNPA Media Partner, Google News Initiative:

The Google News Initiative (GNI) is an effort by Google to collaborate with the news industry and support the future of journalism. GNI aims to strengthen quality journalism, empower news organizations through technology and foster a sustainable ecosystem. It provides tools and resources for journalists, publishers and newsrooms to adapt to the evolving digital landscape.

General Motors:

General Motors (GM) is a major American automotive company with a rich history in the automobile industry. GM has been a key player in shaping the automotive landscape, known for iconic brands such as Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC. The company is committed to innovation, producing a wide range of vehicles that include electric and autonomous options, contributing to the advancement of the automotive industry.

This article was originally published by NNPA Newswire.

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By Ashleigh Fields
AFRO Assistant Editor
afields@afro.com

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden remain top contenders in the 2024 presidential election. Both of them won the New Hampshire primary for their respective parties this week with only one of the two appearing on the ballot.

Biden secured 73 percent of the votes as a write-in candidate over Dean Phillips (D-Minn.- 3) and self help author Marianne Williamson.

The sitting president chose not to appear on the ballot after a startling change to the Democratic primary calendar shifting the first official primary from New Hampshire to South Carolina for the first time in over 100 years.

Nonetheless New Hampshire state law mandates that it holds the first primary in the nation which secures privatized ballots unlike the Iowa Caucus.

Due to the calendar dispute, Biden was prevented from campaigning in state without penalty but sent cabinet members and close confidants to wager support which proved to be a worthy cause until a deceptive voicemail targeted at voters discouraged citizens from participating in the primary. 

“It’s important that you save your vote for the November election,” declared the voice believed to be generated by AI. 

The Biden campaign team immediately reported the robocalls to the attorney general which is currently investigating the matter. 

Despite the setback, Biden emerged victorious thanks to backing from a super PAC that reportedly poured $1.5 million into the effort. However, the results won’t count towards the president’s official nomination in spite of the calendar contention with the Democratic party. 

Republicans have far from lamented over the grievance.

In a close resemblance to Iowa, Trump garnered the support of over 50 percent of voters. This time, former ambassador, Nikki Haley trailed by a small margin with upwards of 45 percent of voters after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and Vivek Ramaswamy suspended their campaigns pledging loyalty to Trump.

It’s clear that Haley is moving ahead with full steam regardless of voter polls. 

“New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last in the nation. This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go. And the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina,” said an emboldened Haley at a campaign rally on Jan. 23. 

“With Donald Trump, Republicans have lost almost every competitive election. We lost the Senate. We lost the House. We lost the White House. We lost in 2018. We lost in 2020, and we lost in 2022. The worst kept secret in politics is how badly the Democrats want to run against Donald Trump. They know Trump is the only Republican in the country who Joe Biden can defeat,” she later continued. “A Trump nomination is a Biden win and a Kamala Harris presidency.”

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By Catherine Pugh
Special to the AFRO 

Dexter Scott King, the youngest son of civil rights leader and icon, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Coretta Scott King, died on Jan. 22 after a battle with prostate cancer.  

Dexter King lived with his wife of 11 years, Leah King, in Malibu, Calif.

“He transitioned peacefully in his sleep at home,” she said. 

At the time of his death, Dexter King was serving as chairman of the King Center and president of the King estate. 

An attorney, Dexter King focused on protecting the intellectual property of the King family and managing his father’s legacy. 

It was Dexter King who most resembled his father, and was persuaded to play his dad in a small role in the 2002 CBS movie, “The Rosa Parks Story.”

Born in Atlanta on Jan. 30, 1961, and named after the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Alabama where his father once served as pastor, Dexter King was the third child born to Coretta Scott and Martin Luther King Jr. He was only seven years old when his father was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. on April 4, 1968. His mother died on Jan. 30, 2006. Her death was followed by the passing of his oldest sister, Yolanda King, on May 15, 2007.

Dexter King is survived by his wife, Leah, older brother Martin Luther King III, and younger sister Bernice King.

Leaders around the country are sending prayers to the family, including Congressman Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-07). 

“My deepest condolences go out to Martin III, Bernice and the entire King family on the passing of Dexter Scott King, chair of The King Center and president of the King Estates. Our prayers are with you during this time of sorrow and loss. Dexter will be greatly missed by all of us.”

Former U.S. Ambassador Suzan Johnson Cook said, in a statement, that the passing should serve as a reminder. 

“Our hearts go out to the King family and to everyone who was inspired, moved, or changed by Dexter’s life and work. In his memory, let us recommit ourselves to the principles of justice, equality and peace,” she said.  “As we honor Dexter Scott King, let us remember the impact one individual can have in continuing a legacy of change. May his memory be a beacon of hope and a call to action for all of us in the continued fight for justice.” 

The 100 Black Men of America, a Black-led organization focused on mentoring youths, also weighed in on the death.

“The 100 Black Men of America celebrates the life, legacy, and witness of Dexter Scott King, chairman of The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change,” said Milton H. Jones Jr., chairman of the organization, and Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant, interfaith chairman, in a statement. “A Morehouse man and an accomplished activist, attorney and creative executive, Dexter King will be remembered for his efforts to protect his family’s legacy and intellectual property. He was also president of the King Estate, ensuring that Dr. and Mrs. King’s affairs were managed with dignity and care.” 

“We hope the King family finds encouragement in the promises of Corinthians 2:5,” continued the statement. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

“Rest in peace and power, Chairman Dexter Scott King. Well done”

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By Claire Rush and Gene Johnson
The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Majiah Washington noticed a flash outside her home this week in Portland, where a dangerous storm had coated the city with ice. Opening her blinds, she saw a red SUV with a downed power line on it and a couple who had been putting their baby in the car.

The woman screamed to her boyfriend to get the baby to safety, and he grabbed the child and began to scramble up the driveway on concrete so slick it was almost impossible to walk. But before he made it halfway, he slid backward and his foot touched the live wire — “a little fire, then smoke,” Washington said.

The mother, six months pregnant, tried to reach the baby, but she too slipped and was electrocuted. So was her 15-year-old brother, when he came out to help.

Washington, 18, was on the phone with a dispatcher when she saw the baby, lying on top of his father, move his head — the 9-month-old was alive. Having just seen three people shocked to death, she decided to try to save the boy.

She kept a low crouch to avoid sliding into the wire as she approached, she said at a news conference Jan. 18, a day after the deaths. As she grabbed the baby she touched the father’s body, but she wasn’t shocked, she said.

“I was concerned about the baby,” said Washington, who recognized the woman as her neighbor’s daughter. “Nobody was with the baby.”

Portland Fire and Rescue spokesman Rick Graves praised Washington for her heroism but confessed he didn’t understand how she and the baby weren’t also electrocuted. The baby was examined at a hospital and is fine, authorities have said.

“We do have fortunately with us a toddler that is going to be able to thrive and do what they possibly can as they move forward,” Graves said. “And they are here, in part, because of the heroic acts of a member of our community.”

The snow, freezing rain, ice and frigid temperatures that hammered the Pacific Northwest in the past week have now been blamed for at least 10 deaths in Oregon, from hypothermia and falling trees or utility poles, along with five from hypothermia in the Seattle area.

Oregon’s governor declared a statewide emergency the night of Jan. 18 after requests for aid from multiple counties “as they enter the sixth day of severe impacts” from the weather.

The ice weighs down trees and power lines making them prone to snap, especially in strong winds. That appears to be what caused the electrocution deaths: A large branch broke from a tree, landed on utility wires and pushed one onto the vehicle.

Washington’s neighbor, Ronald Briggs, declined to speak with The Associated Press beyond confirming that his 21-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son had been killed.

But he told Portland television station KGW that his daughter had come over to use the internet after hers went out. He and his wife had just gotten in their own car to run an errand when they heard the boom and saw the SUV apparently on fire.

He watched as the couple slid to their deaths — and then told his 15-year-old son, Ta’Ron Briggs, a high school sophomore, to keep his distance, to no avail.

“I told him, ‘Don’t go down there — try to get away from them.’ And he slid, and he touched the water, and he, and he died too,” Briggs said. “I have six kids. I lost two of them in one day.”

“It just hurt,” he said. “Being a good father cannot solve this right now.”

___

Johnson reported from Seattle.

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By Heather Hollingsworth and Summer Ballentine
The Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Many students at a historically Black college in Missouri returned from Christmas break this week dressed in black, mourning the suicide of a beloved administrator who had alleged bullying and racism by the school’s White president.

Known for keeping her office door open and greeting everyone at Lincoln University with a smile, Antoinette Bonnie Candia-Bailey’s death has spurred student protests and #JUSTICE4BONNIE T-shirts across the idyllic red-brick campus in Jefferson City.

While President John Moseley agreed last week to go on paid leave pending a third-party investigation, many of the school’s 1,800 students and its alumni group are calling for his termination. A string of #firemoseley social media posts have questioned his qualifications, his treatment of the Black administrator and whether it was appropriate for a White man to lead an HBCU.

“We do want to see the removal of Dr. Moseley, as well as the board of curators and everybody else who was responsible,” said 22-year-old senior Xoe Binford, who was among about 30 protesters at a curators’ meeting on Jan. 17.

The board described the 49-year-old’s death on Jan. 8 as “tragic,” but declined to comment in detail, citing the need to keep personnel information confidential.

“As a University community, we want to prioritize the mental health of everyone here and make sure each employee and student is treated with dignity and respect,” Board of Curators President Victor Pasley said.

Monica Graham, a Lincoln graduate and longtime friend, said Candia-Bailey killed herself days after being fired as vice president of student affairs. Graham shared an email in which Candia-Bailey detailed the problems she was having with Moseley, including saying that he harassed her and alluded to her being “an angry Black woman,” which she described as a “stereotype that has demoralized Black women for decades.”

Candia-Bailey wrote that the situation deteriorated after she requested time off through the Family Medical Leave Act to deal with her “severe depression and anxiety.”

Moseley has not responded to an email seeking comment.

Most historically Black colleges and universities had White presidents through the 1940s after which graduates began to push back, said Marybeth Gasman, a Rutgers University historian whose research focuses on systemic racism in higher education.

Today, a White president at an HBCU is a rarity, she said. She was aware of just one other example, Bluefield State in West Virginia, which is now a majority White school.

“As it’s rare, we don’t know much about the consequences,” she said. “However, we do know from research and many examples that Black women are often mistreated, bullied, and harassed in the workplace by White men and others. They have to contend with sexism and racism as well.”

The first Black female president of Harvard University was recently forced to resign after being accused of plagiarism and amid backlash over her testimony at a Congressional hearing about antisemitism on campus. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to end affirmative action in college admissions, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs are increasingly under attack in academia and the corporate world.

Just 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Lincoln University, anti-racism protests erupted at the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus in 2015, forcing that school’s president to resign. One Black student at the overwhelmingly White campus went on a weeklong hunger strike. Dozens of Black football players refused to play until the president stepped down.

Friends of Candia-Bailey said Moseley was never a good fit to lead the historically Black university.

“Why would you appoint a White president for such a position?” asked 53-year-old Eric Malone, who met the late administrator when they were both students at Lincoln and kept in touch with her over the years. His main concern, though, was Moseley’s qualifications.

Moseley was named as president in January 2022 after serving as the school’s director of athletics and basketball coach. His wife is an assistant professor at Lincoln.

“When he was the basketball coach, we loved him,” said Graham. “Everything was great. But then he became president and that’s where we didn’t support that. Again, not because he’s White, but because he wasn’t qualified to lead a university.”

Kendra Perry, 50, who also met Candia-Bailey when they were students, questioned his motivation in accepting the leadership role.

“I have to ask myself, ‘Are you really going to be for us or are you for what you can benefit from?’ And I saw him being more political and not being more personable to ensure that you keep the integrity of our HBCU,” Perry said.

Emails shared by Graham show Candia-Bailey reached out to the board in November about her troubles with Moseley, and that the board apparently dismissed her concerns. The board president, Pasley, told Candia-Bailey that the board “does not engage in the management of personnel issues for Lincoln University and will not be taking further action related to this issue.”

Pasley declined to comment to The Associated Press.

Cierra Tillman, a freshman computer information systems major at Lincoln, said she hoped the protests achieve “justice, not only for Dr. Bailey, but to raise mental health awareness for every student on campus and every other faculty or staff.”

“Her voice should have been able to be heard before we got to this point,” Tillman said.

Funeral services are set for Jan. 20.

The death has really taken a toll on Perry, whose daughter was hoping to become the fourth generation of her family to attend the school. She is wondering if they should rethink that plan.

“If you can break down someone as strong and confident as Bonnie, then I am in fear for my own child,” Perry said. “I can’t send her down there. I don’t have the trust. I lost the trust in that university.”

___

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.

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University officials take issue with chief diversity officer’s definition of ‘privilege’ in ‘Diversity Digest’ newsletter

By Megan Sayles 
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com

Employees and students at Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) have sent a letter to President Kevin W. Sowers and Dean Theodore L. DeWeese expressing their disappointment over the institution’s response to its chief diversity officer’s definition of “privilege” in a monthly newsletter shared with the school community.  

In the January issue of JHM’s “Diversity Digest,” Dr. Sherita Hill Golden defined “privilege” as a “set of unearned benefits given to people who are in a specific social group.” She went on to list White people, males, Christians, heterosexuals and English-speaking people –among others– as part of those social groups. 

JHM’s leadership renounced this language, saying the definition ran counter to its values and commitment to serving everyone equally. 

“The January edition of the monthly newsletter from the Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity used language that contradicts the values of Johns Hopkins as an institution,” wrote a JHM spokesperson in an email to the AFRO. “Dr. Sherita Golden, Johns Hopkins Medicine’s chief diversity officer, has sincerely acknowledged this mistake and retracted the language used in the message.” 

According to the open letter, students and employees believe this retraction was provoked by pushback from individuals external to the JHM community who claimed that the definition was discriminatory. 

An account on X (formerly known as Twitter), titled “End Wokeness,” posted a screenshot of the newsletter on Jan. 10, drawing a number of negative comments about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and demands for Golden to be fired. Tesla Motors CEO and X owner Elon Musk quoted the post, writing “This must end,” in reference to the newsletter. Conservative-leaning tabloid the Daily Mail referred to the newsletter as a “diversity hit list.” 

“The pushback about the article was not part of a commitment to building an inclusive and fair community at Hopkins. Rather it was part of a strategic effort to disseminate disinformation about the importance of ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion at institutions of higher learning,” wrote JHM students and employees in the letter. 

They continued, taking issue with those responding to Golden’s statements with the line that “not all White men have privilege.” They clarified that Golden did not claim all or only White men have privilege– but that there are certain unearned privileges that accompany White and male identities. 

“Surely discussions about privilege can be challenging. The word is easily misinterpreted or taken to mean that people who benefit from systems of advantage are immoral or unworthy,” wrote JHM students and employees.

“However, it is important for our institution to respond to assaults on our commitment to DEI with courage and conviction. In the face of bad-faith attacks, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Johns Hopkins University must state clearly, loudly and proudly that we value diversity, equity and inclusion.” 

Megan Sayles is a Report For America Corps member. 

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By Ashleigh Fields

AFRO Assistant Editor

afields@afro.com

Iowa voters refused to be iced out of the 2024 presidential election despite the frigid temperatures experienced during the Republican primary on Jan. 15. Thousands showed up to cast their ballots in -3 degree weather for the first caucus of the year. 

Former president Donald Trump won by a landslide, claiming more than 40 percent of votes, leaving supporters of Gov. Ron DeSantis (D-Fla.) and former South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley (R) vying for second place. 

Vivek Ramaswamy trailed with less than 10 percent of votes, followed by Chris Christie, who suspended his campaign on Jan. 10. 

The current candidates have invested an excess of $90 million for ads in the battleground state, showing early signs of the fierce competition ahead of Election Day, which will fall on Nov. 5. 

The post Former President Donald Trump wins Iowa Republican caucus appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

By Sabreen Dawud
Special to the AFRO

Activism is an evolving form of resistance. As technology, communication and communities continue to change, the methods activists use to champion social change have shifted. Still, the question remains, what are the most effective ways to show up for a cause in this new day and age? 

This week, the AFRO focuses on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and all those who are walking in the spirit of his legacy by pushing for change on the local, national and international scale. Are you willing to lift your voice for a cause you believe in this year? Read below to find the top five ways you can affect change in your community. 

1. Social media outreach

With an array of social media apps available, there are several opportunities for social media users to spread the word about a particular cause. A notable aspect of activism is educating members of society on the social issue they seek to change. Whether posting protest flyers, infographics, or updates from professional media outlets, on a day-to-day basis, apps can be a useful way to increase involvement and inform.

2. Join the march

It is important to use your voice and joining a march is the perfect opportunity to do so. While organized marches are certainly not a new method of activism, they remain a memorable form of protest. Showing up in great numbers and coming together as a community to physically demonstrate your passion for change is a method of activism that continues to shake the table. A simple way to stay informed about any upcoming marches in your area is to follow social activist accounts online and keep an eye out for any announcements.

3. Boycotting goods

Money fuels many of the ongoing systems within society. Therefore, if there is a shift in revenue, a corporation will undoubtedly notice. If the cause you are promoting has any ties to a corporation, an impactful way to show your commitment is through boycotting. While it can seem challenging to withhold from purchasing products you may use often, finding alternatives is always an option. Any small act can help create the change you’d like to see and boycotting has proven to drive corporations to listen.

4. Organize your own

Though organizing can be easier said than done, there is no denying that it is a key element in activism. When there is an ongoing social issue, there is a need for someone to take initiative. Partnering with socially involved organizations in your community to host informative events, protests, or to speak with local governments can have an influence on the issues your community is facing. If local action feels too small, push for larger scale initiatives. Any level of activism is sure to contribute to the overarching conflict. Amplify your voice in 2024 by joining with like-minded individuals that are willing to plan, organize and follow through with the business of making change in the community.

5. Volunteer

If you’re not much of an event organizer or are simply looking for hands-on ways to make an impact in your community, volunteering may be right for you. Many local civil action organizations, community food banks, schools, and houses of worship organize events that allow volunteers to aid in giving back to the community. Whether assisting in providing goods to those who are financially insecure or providing services at an event that raises money for a cause, volunteering can be a powerful means of activism. 

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By Terry Tang and Noreen Nasir
The Associated Press

As communities nationwide celebrate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday this weekend with events ranging from parades to prayer services, some people are taking a cue from the slain civil rights icon’s history of protest to demonstrate against the war in Gaza and draw attention to the looming U.S. presidential election.

The Jan. 15 holiday also marks 100 days since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and resulted in about 240 taken hostage. Since then, more than 100 Israelis remain kidnapped and more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, as global health organizations have warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis there.

Perhaps the biggest organized event of the weekend in the U.S. was held in the nation’s capital Jan. 13 — the March on Washington for Gaza, co-hosted by the American Muslim Task Force on Palestine, comprising some of the largest Muslim organizations in the U.S., along with antiwar and racial justice groups.

Thousands of people rallied near the White House to call for an end to Israeli military action in Gaza, with some holding signs questioning President Joe Biden’s viability as a presidential candidate because of his staunch support for Israel in the war against Hamas.

March organizers called on Biden to demand a permanent cease-fire and an end to the violence against civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. They also called for the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian political prisoners and an end to “American unconditional financial support for the Israeli military,” according to Edward Ahmed Mitchell, AMTP media coordinator and deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

A similar demonstration held in November, the National March on Washington: Free Palestine, drew tens of thousands of participants from around the country. Some estimates suggested at least 100,000 attended.

The title of the Jan. 13 march evoked the famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, at which King delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech atop the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That history, as well as King’s vocal opposition to the U.S. role in the Vietnam War toward the end of his life, was a guiding factor for the organizers.

Mitchell, who called King’s legacy “multifaceted,” said King spoke up even if it meant getting vilified.

“He was considered un-American and called a traitor. Even the political establishment shunned him,” Mitchell said.

In 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated, King delivered his famous “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech at Riverside Church in New York City. After quietly opposing the Vietnam War for years, he took the public step to condemn it, connecting racial and economic inequality in the U.S. with increased military spending abroad.

“I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor, and attack it as such,” King said in his speech.

King’s daughter, Bernice King, has said her father was against antisemitism and also would have opposed the bombing of Gaza. The taking of lives through retaliatory violence is not the strategy he would want to see today.

“There is an opportunity for us to have a real breakthrough and get to some genuine conversations and actions that can allow people to co-exist in an area of the world,” Bernice King said in a recent interview from The King Center in Atlanta, where she is CEO.

She believes protests are critical in difficult times. King just hopes that people in general use nonviolent words and actions if they invoke her father’s name.

“My father had a certain manner, tone and tenor in his protest. You know, your language, your speech has to be in line, not just the physical acts,” she said. “But if your language is violent, that is not necessarily in sync with Dr. King.”

The center also will hold a holiday commemorative service Monday at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the late civil rights icon served as pastor.

Observed federally since 1986, the holiday occurs on the third Monday of January, which this year happens to be the Rev. King’s actual birthday. Born in 1929, the minister would have been 95. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act and King’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Prominent Democrats will be commemorating the holiday in South Carolina, now the first state in the Democratic Party’s reshuffled presidential primary schedule.

The NAACP is hosting Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black person to hold the office, at the State House in Columbia. Harris visited the city in November to officially file paperwork putting Biden on the presidential ballot. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black leader of a party in Congress, will speak at an interfaith prayer service. The day’s events will center on a theme of “Ballots for Freedom, Ballots for Justice, Ballots for Change!”

For many, the holiday will be an opportunity to counter the recent backlash over efforts at companies and universities to implement diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, will announce Jan. 15 a national campaign to sustain DEI measures. This comes after he led a demonstration against last week’s resignation of Claudine Gay, Harvard University’s first Black president. Sharpton will also be hosting the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Breakfast. Members of King’s family will be in attendance.

Giving back is also an intrinsic part of the MLK holiday. AmeriCorps will host its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of National Service. The government agency is working with the King Center and several charities, faith-based organizations and businesses on community service projects. Various cities and organizations are holding their own volunteer events such as neighborhood clean-ups, food drives and packing care kits for the unhoused.

On the actual holiday, events will go beyond just Washington and Atlanta, King’s birthplace. Some will touch on the war in Gaza.

Detroit will hold its 21st annual MLK Day Rally & March. The speakers’ list includes Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, who was censured for rhetoric over the Israel-Hamas war, and Shawn Fain, the United Auto Workers president who led negotiations during six weeks of strikes.

There will also be plenty of opportunities to attend events after the holiday is over. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation will hold its eighth annual National Day of Racial Healing on Jan. 16. It has partnered with nonprofits, schools and communities to hold over 200 events nationwide. These include “sing-ins” of Civil Rights era songs and neighborhood dialogues.

The hope is “challenging the attitudes and assumptions that people hold about folks who are different from themselves,” said Alandra Washington, the foundation’s vice president for transformation and organizational effectiveness.

“Even a conversation can make a difference in the lives of others,” she said.

___

Associated Press writer Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta contributed to this report.

___

Noreen Nasir and Terry Tang are members of AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow Nasir on X (formerly Twitter) at @noreensnasir. Follow Tang at @ttangAP.

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By Carolyn Thompson 
The Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Federal prosecutors said Jan. 12 that they will seek the death penalty against a White supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket.

Payton Gendron, 20, is already serving a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole after he pleaded guilty to state charges of murder and hate-motivated domestic terrorism in the 2022 attack.

New York does not have capital punishment, but the Justice Department had the option of seeking the death penalty in a separate federal hate crimes case. Gendron had promised to plead guilty in that case if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

The decision marks the first time that President Joe Biden’s Justice Department has authorized a new pursuit of the death penalty.

Gendron drove more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from his home in rural Conklin, New York, to a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo’s largely Black East Side neighborhood, where he shot eight supermarket customers, the store security guard and a church deacon who drove shoppers to and from the store with their groceries. Three people were wounded but survived.

In court papers announcing the decision to seek the death penalty, Trini Ross, the U.S. attorney for western New York, cited the substantial planning that went into the shooting, including the choice of location, which she said was meant to “maximize the number of Black victims.”

Relatives of the victims — who ranged in age from 32 to 86 — have expressed mixed views on whether they thought federal prosecutors should pursue the death penalty. Mark Talley, whose 63-year-old mother, Geraldine Talley, was killed, said he “wasn’t necessarily disappointed” by the decision, even if he would have preferred Gendron spend his life behind bars.

“It would have satisfied me more knowing he would have spent the rest of his life in prison being surrounded by the population of people he tried to kill,” Talley said.

In a joint statement, attorneys for some of victims’ relatives said the decision “provides a pathway to both relief and a measure of closure for the victims and their families.”

An attorney for Gendron, Sonya Zoghlin, said she was “deeply disappointed” by the government’s decision to seek the death penalty, noting that her client was 18 at the time of the shooting.

“Rather than a prolonged and traumatic capital prosecution, the efforts of the federal government would be better spent on combatting the forces that facilitated this terrible crime, including easy access to deadly weapons and the failure of social media companies to moderate the hateful rhetoric and images that circulate online,” Zoghlin said in a statement.

Federal death penalty cases have become a rarity since the election of Biden, a Democrat who opposes capital punishment. Under the leadership of Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Justice Department has permitted the continuation of two capital prosecutions and withdrawn from pursuing death in more than two dozen cases.

Garland instituted a moratorium on federal executions in 2021 pending a review of procedures. Although the moratorium does not prevent prosecutors from seeking death sentences, the Justice Department has done so sparingly.

It successfully sought the death penalty for an antisemitic gunman who murdered 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, though that attack was authorized as a death penalty case before Garland took office. It also went ahead last year with an effort to get the death sentence against an Islamic extremist who killed eight people on a New York City bike path, though a lack of a unanimous jury meant that prosecution resulted in a life sentence.

The Justice Department has declined to pursue the death penalty in other mass killings, including against the gunman who killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

Gendron carried out his attack on May 14, 2022, using a semi-automatic marked with racial slurs and phrases including “The Great Replacement,” a reference to a conspiracy theory that there’s a plot to diminish the influence of White people.

Prosecutors met Jan. 12  with several family members of victims before the decision to seek the death penalty was made public.

Pamela Pritchett, whose 77-year-old mother, Pearl Young, was killed in the attack, said the mood was somber.

“I will be scarred. Everybody, every family, the community of the East Side, we’re all gonna be scarred,” she said. “For me, my goal is to look at the scar and know that I am healed.”

Gendron did not appear at a status conference held Jan. 12.

___

Associated Press writers Jake Offenhartz in New York and Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.

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Sponsored content by GBMC HealthCare

Roughly 5-8% of pregnancies in the United States include a preeclampsia diagnosis. While most deliver healthy babies, it can be fatal for both mother and baby, if left undiagnosed. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the rate of preeclampsia is 60% higher for Black women, and in a country where the maternal mortality rate leaves much to be desired, this can be a compelling statistic for those pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant to take note of.

Preeclampsia is high blood pressure specific to pregnancy and is associated with rapid progression of symptoms such as low platelet count, impairment of kidney function, high creatinine levels and high protein count in urine. For pregnant women, this can typically look like a sudden onset of:

• Headaches
• Spots in vision
• Unexplained swelling
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Upper abdominal pain
• Bleeding

“More women who are in their first pregnancies are associated with preeclampsia than second or third or fourth pregnancies,” Aneesha Varrey, MD, maternal fetal medicine specialist and high risk obstetrician at Perinatal Associates at GBMC Health Partners, said. “However, for those diagnosed prior to 32 weeks, the risk of recurrence is up to 30%. If you are diagnosed with preeclampsia after 34 weeks, the risk of recurrence is much lower in the second pregnancy with the same father.”

Changes in partner could be a risk of preeclampsia as well as extremes in age, meaning teen pregnancies or for women over the age of 40. Higher BMI, diabetes, smoking, or anything that effects blood vessel health could also result in a higher risk of preeclampsia.

There is a spectrum of how severe preeclampsia develops so consistent monitoring is important. Following a diagnosis, obstetricians will have pregnant women schedule visits every week or twice a week depending on what stage the diagnosis is. Blood pressure is checked at each appointment as well as ongoing education about symptoms and when it could become severe preeclampsia.

Depending on the severity, women diagnosed with preeclampsia can deliver anywhere between 34-37 weeks, according to Dr. Varrey.

“We don’t recommend staying pregnant after 37 weeks with a diagnosis of preeclampsia,” she said. “The risk of eclampsia, risk of end organ damage—which is kidney function or cerebral function—all of that decompensates after 37 weeks. So, we don’t recommend going past 37 weeks for the baby or for the mom.”

There is not any scientific research to explain the discrepancy in rate of preeclampsia for Black mothers. While Black women do tend to have higher rates of the chronic diseases associated with preeclampsia risk factors, socioeconomic disparities and implicit bias play a huge role in Black women not getting the care or attention they need.  

Monitor symptoms, advocate for care and testing if something does not feel right, and get a second opinion if needed. No woman should suffer in silence.

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By Mekhi Abbott
Special to the AFRO

William H. “Billy” Murphy Jr. has invested $1 million dollars into the Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law, housed within the Francis King Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland. 

The school of law announced the new center in Fall 2023, with a goal of improving the lives of those affected by historical, systemic and current racial oppression. 

Murphy, a Carey Law alum,  said he took the initiative to help advance the center’s mission.  

“My goals for Black people now align with what the University of Maryland is about to do. I have known Larry since 1959. When the university decided to open the center and do it in the name of – among others– Larry Gibson, that was music to my ears,” said Murphy. 

Larry Gibson is a professor and legal historian who has written “one of the definitive biographies of Thurgood Marshall,” the law school’s website says. 

Murphy has long been a champion for justice and Black empowerment. He quickly grew to prominence as a criminal defense lawyer in Maryland in his early years practicing law. 

“I now have a vehicle for donating money that will have a legacy value for years to come. And it will advance the cause of justice for Blacks, Browns, women and others who have been mistreated because of their status or their color or nationality,” Murphy said. “The center is going to focus mainly on getting Black people to become full-fledged citizens in this country for the first time,” said Murphy, when asked why it was important for him to make this donation. 

The Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law is named after the University of Maryland’s first Black male and female tenured professors, Larry Gibson and Taunya Lovell Banks. 

“Larry Gibson became a member of the faculty in the ‘70s and has a distinguished reputation as a professor at the university. He has taught about every Black graduate who came out of the university. He taught evidence and criminal procedure and he has taught civil procedure. That man has been the ‘Chief Historian’ of Black lawyers in the United States,” said Murphy.

Carey Law professor and faculty director Michael Pinard reiterated the sentiment shown to Gibson and Banks, while also adding some insight on their legacy and impact to the school of law. 

Pinard said that Larry Gibson and Taunya Lovell Banks “devoted their careers and advocacy to addressing racial and intersectional oppression,” adding that “no other name would be appropriate,” for the law center.

In honor of the Gibson-Banks Center launch, Pinard penned a letter for what the center will achieve in the proceeding years. Pinard also shared that the students will see the importance of the center as the law school “deepens their commitment to addressing racial oppression.” 

Dean of Carey Law, Renée McDonald Hutchins, extended much praise to Murphy for his donation. 

“Billy Murphy’s gift was an absolutely transformative gift. One of the things we have said all along is that we want to make sure that the center is adequately funded at an endowment level so the good work of the center will continue no matter who is sitting in leadership chairs and Billy Murphy’s gift absolutely accomplishes that.” 

Carey is one of the most diverse law schools in the nation, and 39 percent of the 2023 incoming class were students of color.

As far as what impact the donation will have on students from the Dean’s prospective, Hutchins said that the center will be hiring student fellows and allowing law students to train in an area focused on civil rights law, which in her opinion is “absolutely central to the future of American democracy.” 

The center has already hired its first fellow and the Gibson-Banks Center is hitting the ground running. Last November, the center co-sponsored Professor Matiangai Sirleaf’s book launch and it will continue to roll forward with events after that, according to Hutchins. 

When asked what the future of the center looks like in the next 20 years or so, Hutchins painted a picture of philanthropy and progress. 

“Maryland Carey Law is already a thought leader in the state and in the nation. I would love to see the center lean into that legacy and become a thought leader on questions of race and democracy in America. I would love to see the center be the go to voice when we are wrestling with hard issues in this country and say, ‘Here’s a path forward. Here are some things that we need to consider and here are some things we need to investigate.’”

Hutchins ended by adding that Murphy is a “remarkable representation of the high quality attorney that the law school produces.” She added that Carey is very thankful for Murphy’s donation and proud of his success, as someone who has been practicing law for over five decades. 

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Contact: Julia Campbell, Local Media Foundation, julia.campbell@localmedia.org

Move comes three years after site launch, accelerated growth expected

(January 9, 2024) — The long-anticipated day has finally arrived for 10 of the nation’s most trusted and innovative Black publishers, who have worked hard over the past three years to grow Word In Black into a national news site focused on solutions to racial inequities in America. As of Jan. 1, Word In Black has officially incorporated as a public benefit company. 

Word In Black is the only media startup of its kind and serves as a future model for the industry. It was incubated inside Local Media Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with Local Media Association. The incubation period allowed for significant testing and experimentation which in turn led to rapid growth. The 10 publishers and the LMF team worked hand-in-hand throughout the last three years to drive this growth. As part of this transition envisioned in the original 2020 business plan, LMF sold the assets to Word In Black, PBC, and will continue to provide support as a shareholder in the new company.

What makes it so successful is combining the large and loyal audience of the 10 publishers with the new national brand, along with third-party management services that don’t drain local resources. Almost all of the support, both commercial and philanthropic, includes all 10 publishers and the national brand, reaching a combined audience of more than 1 million. All 10 publishers have been able to add mini-beats to their newsrooms focused on health and education, along with access to content developed by the national reporting team. It’s a winning formula that has not been tested anywhere else. 

The public benefit corporation will be supported by the Word In Black Racial Equity Fund, a component fund of LMF. This support will ensure the great journalism funded by philanthropy continues to grow. Word In Black employs a newsroom of 10 FTEs along with contracted freelancers. The staff includes reporters and data journalists focused on health, education, finance, climate justice, religion and more. Read the 2023 Impact Report to learn more. 

The new corporation’s shareholders include the 10 publishers, their companies, LMF and LMA/LMF CEO Nancy Lane. All shareholders contributed to a capital raise to strengthen the infrastructure on the business side. The company will continue to be managed by LMA and LMF for at least the next three years to ensure a smooth transition and manage the growth.

The shareholders elected the first board of directors, as follows: Dr. Frances Toni Draper, CEO, The AFRO American, board chair; Elinor Tatum, CEO, New York Amsterdam News, first vice chair; Patrick Washington, publisher, Dallas Weekly, second vice chair; Denise Rolark Barnes, CEO, The Washington Informer, treasurer; and Nancy Lane, secretary.

“This is a day to celebrate an important step in the evolution of Word In Black,” said Draper. “Launching a digital news site focused on racial inequities in America, in collaboration with nine other leading Black publishers, has been game changing for all of us. The transition to a public benefit corporation allows us to take Word In Black out of the pilot phase and develop it into a much larger national brand that is unapologetically Black.”

In the future, the group believes there will be opportunities to include more of the nation’s leading Black publishers. “We are already working with other like-minded local Black publishers on content campaigns involving large brands,” said Draper. “We look forward to casting a wider net as opportunities arise. Publishers that want to be involved are encouraged to contact us.”

“As chair of the board for Local Media Foundation, I could not be more proud of the work that has been done over the past three years,” said Larry Lee, publisher of The Sacramento Observer, and a shareholder in Word In Black. “We have been sharing our learnings with many others in the industry which has led to the formation of several new collaborations including News Is Out, a queer media collaborative. We believe this model is scalable and important to the long term sustainability of local media.”

As part of the transition, Word In Black is hiring a director of business development to cultivate sponsorships, events, reader revenue and branded content opportunities. 

Without the support of corporations, foundations and individuals, Word In Black would not exist. The board of directors would especially like to thank Google News Initiative, Conrad Hilton Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Comcast Foundation, Commonwealth Fund, Deloitte, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, McKinsey, Henry Luce Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, Wells Fargo, AARP, Biogen, Meta Journalism Project and many others.

For more information about Word In Black and the WIB Racial Equity Fund, visit: www.wordinblack.com/aboutus and www.wordinblack.com/racial-equity-fund.

About Word In Black

Amsterdam News Publisher Elinor R. Tatum conceived what is today known as Word in Black, the acclaimed and historic collaboration of Black newspaper publishers to collectively address racial inequity in partnership with the Local Media Association, after the murder of George Floyd.

Since its launch in late 2020, Word In Black’s reporting team has relentlessly confronted inequities, elevated solutions, and amplified the Black experience by collecting and sharing stories that inform, inspire and center truth.

Through this collaboration, Word In Black aims to accurately frame how the nation understands and addresses systemic issues of race, justice and equity. Collective understanding leads to collective impact.

The 10 publishers that make up Word In Black are: AFRO News, The Atlanta Voice, Dallas Weekly, Houston Defender, Michigan Chronicle, New York Amsterdam News, The Sacramento Observer, The Seattle Medium, The St. Louis American and The Washington Informer. Cumulatively, these publishers have operated for more than 800 years.

About Word in Black Racial Equity Fund

The Word In Black Racial Equity Fund, a component fund of Local Media Foundation, supports the work of Black-owned and operated local news media by providing critical journalism resources for Word In Black, a collaborative effort of 10 of the leading Black publishers. 

The Fund supports journalism projects focused on solutions to racial inequities. Funding generally supports journalists who work for Word In Black, as well as journalists working for the 10 publishers. The Fund currently covers costs of 10 Word In Black journalists: an education reporter, education data journalist, health reporter, health data journalist, newsletter editor, climate justice reporter, community and audience engagement manager, finance reporter, religion reporter and the managing editor. The 10 publishers work with the WIB team to localize the stories in their markets, as well as producing their own original reporting.

About Local Media Foundation

Local Media Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization affiliated with Local Media Association. The LMF mission is to ensure a healthy future for local journalism, which is essential to a strong democracy, by reinventing business models for news.

In line with this mission, LMF worked with 10 of the nation’s legendary Black publishers to incubate Word In Black, a digital startup unlike any other in the industry. Over a three year period the national site, as well as the 10 local publishers, experienced significant growth. The organization believes this is a model that can be duplicated in other ways and in other markets. LMF manages other national collaborations including: Oklahoma Media Center, News Is Out – Queer Media Collaborative, Solving Sacramento, LMA Covering Climate, and New York/Michigan Solutions Journalism. LMF also manages the Local News Fund, which has helped hundreds of local and national news outlets fundraise for journalism projects, along with the Knight x LMA BloomLab, Lab for Journalism funding, Family and Independent Media Sustainability Lab and much more. More information at: www.localmedia.org.

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 In an overview released on Jan. 5, the Justice Department noted that more than 1,265 defendants from almost all 50 states and the District of Columbia have faced criminal charges.

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) — The United States Attorney’s Office is marking the third anniversary of the unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol, which shook the nation and much of the world when supporters of the twice-impeached and now four-times indicted former President Donald Trump stormed the building and disrupted a joint session of Congress where members were attempting to affirm the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“In the wake of this historic event, the U.S. government has been tirelessly working to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the breach,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a release.

In October 2022, officials pegged the approximate losses resulting from the Capitol siege at a staggering $2.8 million. The sum accounts for damages to the Capitol building and grounds, both inside and outside, along with costs incurred by the U.S. Capitol Police.

“Under the continued leadership of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the investigation has progressed at an unprecedented speed and scale,” officials said, adding that the Department of Justice remains steadfast in its commitment to holding those who committed crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, accountable.

In an overview released on Jan. 5, the Justice Department noted that more than 1,265 defendants from almost all 50 states and the District of Columbia have faced criminal charges.

Four hundred and fifty-two defendants were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, including 123 individuals charged with using deadly or dangerous weapons.

One hundred and forty police officers were assaulted on Jan. 6, 2021, with approximately 80 from the U.S. Capitol Police and 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Eleven individuals were arrested for charges related to assaulting members of the media or destroying their equipment.

Of those charged, 1,186 were indicted for entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds, 116 for entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon, 71 for destruction of government property, and 56 for theft of government property. Additionally, prosecutors charged 332 individuals with obstructing an official proceeding and 57 for conspiracy counts related to obstructing a congressional proceeding, obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder, or injuring an officer.

Approximately 718 individuals pleaded guilty to federal charges, with 213 pleading guilty to felonies and 505 to misdemeanors. Eighty-nine individuals who pleaded guilty to felonies faced federal charges of assaulting law enforcement officers, and four individuals pleaded guilty to the federal charge of seditious conspiracy.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office tried 139 individuals who were found guilty, including three in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Further, 32 individuals were convicted following an agreed-upon set of facts, and 76 were found guilty of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers and obstructing officers during a civil disorder.

Finally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported that approximately 749 federal defendants have received sentences, with 467 sentenced to periods of incarceration and 154 given home detention. 

Trump, who has also been found civilly liable for sexually assaulting the writer, E. Jean Carroll, and ordered to pay her $5 million in damages, faces four criminal indictments, including federal charges of inciting the Jan. 6 attack, which led to the deaths of five law enforcement officers.

The DOJ said they’re still seeking more insurrectionists, including Evan Neumann, Jonathan Daniel Pollock, Joseph Daniel Hutchinson III, Adam Villarreal, Paul Belosic and Olivia Michelle Pollock.

“Citizens from across the country have played a crucial role in aiding the investigation,” DOJ officials said. “The FBI continues to seek public assistance in identifying individuals believed to have committed violent acts on Capitol grounds.”

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) — Further highlighting how White supremacy knows no boundaries, a new board game titled “Storm the Capitol—TrueAnon Edition” is set for release this weekend, coinciding with the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The limited-edition game, designed for four to seven adult players and priced at $64.99, is based on the events of that deadly day and claims to allow players to “relive one of the funniest days in American history!”

Players can take on the roles of one of six “Patriots,” navigating the Capitol, collecting ballots, taking hostages and clashing with the police. Alternatively, players can play as the Capitol Police, using every means possible to prevent the “Patriots” from reaching the roof with enough ballots to “Stop the Steal,” according to the game’s website.

TrueAnon, a political podcast with hosts Brace Belden, Liz Franczak and Yung Chomsky, created the contentious board game. According to Newsweek, the podcast currently ranks ninth on Patreon. On a recent episode titled “MAGA-log,” the hosts promoted the game, recalling the Capitol riot. Belden called it “the best day of watching things on TV,” while Franczak described it as “a slice of life.”

The violent incident at the United States Capitol unfolded as a joint session of Congress attempted to certify the electoral college results of the 2020 presidential election, confirming the victory of Joe Biden. 

A large crowd of supporters of Trump gathered at the Capitol, protesting the election results. The situation then escalated, leading to a breach of the Capitol building by some protesters. Rioters broke windows, vandalized offices and clashed with law enforcement officers. Authorities placed the Capitol on lockdown, and lawmakers were evacuated or took shelter. The chaos resulted in the deaths of five individuals, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who succumbed to injuries sustained during the violence.

Insurrectionists had expressed resentment and anger over the election results because of the false allegations of widespread voter fraud that Trump and his allies spread. The attack was widely condemned as an attack on democracy and the rule of law.

More than 1,000 individuals were arrested and subsequently convicted on charges related to their involvement in the riot. Charges ranged from trespassing and disorderly conduct to more serious offenses such as assaulting law enforcement officers, conspiring to obstruct the certification of the electoral college results, and seditious conspiracy. Trump currently faces 91 felony charges stemming from his false claims of election fraud and his actions that sparked the insurrection.

The board game hosts claimed the game is meant for all Americans, regardless of political affiliation. If players choose to be “Patriots,” or the supremacist Trump supporters who caused mayhem that day, they move from room to room, drawing “event” cards or ballots—the game’s equivalent of points. The objective is to accumulate 100 ballots and reach the final room, where the twice-impeached and now four-times indicted former President Donald Trump awaits to fly players in his helicopter and change the results of the 2020 election to his favor, or to ratify the actual results.

One player assumes the role of the Capitol Police, aiming to prevent the “Patriots” from reaching 100 ballots before the 10th turn, at which point the police character would win and certify Joe Biden’s victory. The TrueAnon account provocatively wrote on social media, “January 6 was about having fun with your friends—and this January 6, that amazing feeling is coming back.”

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By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com

As 2024 kicks off, the AFRO takes a look back at the person who truly stood out in 2023, making a difference in the lives of others and affecting actual change in the communities they serve. This year’s honoree, U.S. Army Col. (Ret.) Edna W. Cummings, has contributed much to veterans in Maryland and throughout the United States. 

Cummings was vital in getting legislation passed in 2023 to establish a day recognizing the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, a majority African-American women’s battalion from World War II.

The battalion reported to Birmingham, England, in 1945, where they worked in eight-hour shifts, seven days a week, to eliminate two years worth of backlogged mail. The 6888th were given six months to send all the accumulated mail— they did it in three.

“I’m just grateful for the opportunity to share the story and thankful for the community of supporters, that includes descendants,” said Cummings.

Her years of contributions to educating people about the 6888th and the overall service of Black women in the military make her an excellent fit for the “AFRO Person of the Year” title. 

In the past, Cummings has received several awards and accolades for her work in honoring the women of the 6888th. She won the NAACP’s Jesse Brown Leadership Award in 2022 and became a Military Officers Association of America Changemaker on the national level in 2023.

Cummings has a vast armed forces background, from being raised on military bases by her mother, Jessie Cummings, and father, Sgt. (Ret.) Willie Cummings. 

“I was born on a military base at Fort Bragg, which is now Fort Liberty, in North Carolina. Bases are my childhood,” said Cummings.

She eventually found herself entering the “family business.” Upon graduating high school, she joined an Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at Appalachian State University in 1974.

Unbeknownst to her at the time, she became the first African-American female to enroll in the program and receive a commission as an officer.

“My first assignment was at a school in Fort Lee, Va. After I graduated from that course, I became a quartermaster officer. I was then assigned to Fort Novosel, Ala. I was in charge of refueling helicopters for the students going through flight school,” said Cummings. “I did that for a while, and then I worked as an executive officer for a unit of air traffic controllers.”

Cummings said being a woman in the military was the most challenging aspect of her 25-year career with the armed forces.

“The Army wasn’t accustomed to women when I first came in. I came in on the tail end of the Women’s Army Corps,” said Cummings. “The Army, I think, was unclear about how to integrate women in the ranks. Then to add race – it became even more challenging.”

“Sometimes I was the only Black person and the only woman, and I just felt that I had to be so thorough and detailed because no matter what I did, I would be challenged,” she continued.

Cummings said women were often put in units where combat was not probable, leaving them to get fewer promotions. Still, she was able to climb the ranks and became a colonel in 2001.

Sometime after her military career ended, Cummings discovered the story of the 6888th Battalion.

“I started working on the 6888th project in 2018,” said Cummings. “I was so impressed because of the commander, Charity E. Adams. Some of her experiences were similar to mine— like not being saluted and people not believing I was an officer when I came on active duty. Even though hers was from 1945 – there were many parallels. I took it upon myself to be part of a community to uplift these Black women.”

In 2023, she helped make a day of recognition for the 6888th in Maryland. The 6888th will be commemorated every year in the state on March 9 moving forward. 

“Col. Edna Cummings has been a staunch advocate for telling the 6888th story and advocating for women Veterans,” said Del. Mike Rogers (D-Md.-32), who sponsored the legislation for the 6888th Battalion Day.

In 2023, Cummings also worked to bring the 6888th Broadway musical production to fruition.

“I’m honored to work with actor Blair Underwood on the musical. It embraces how the AFRO told the story of the 6888th. Had it not been for the Black press sending reporters overseas to cover the war – these stories would be lost.”

Cummings said they are hoping to bring the musical to the stage and tour in 2025. 

“Musicals can take up to ten years, but we’re ahead of schedule now,” she said. 

Cummings explained what’s next for her.

“My personal goal is to stay healthy enough to participate in the activities because we plan to tour the musical. We’re going to start in Birmingham, England,” she said. “I also want to stay healthy to continue elevating this narrative and making people aware of the contributions of these phenomenal women.” 

For all of her work in the state of Maryland and beyond, the AFRO commends Col. (Ret.) Edna Cummings, and names her AFRO Person of the Year. 

Tashi McQueen is a Report for America corps member.

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Updated 2:17 PM EST, January 2, 2024

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned Tuesday amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy.

Gay is the second Ivy League president to resign in the past month following the congressional testimony. Gay, Harvard’s first Black president, announced her departure just months into her tenure in a letter to the Harvard community.

Following the congressional hearing, Gay’s academic career came under intense scrutiny by conservative activists who unearthed several instances of alleged plagiarism in her 1997 doctoral dissertation. Harvard’s governing board initially rallied behind Gay, saying a review of her scholarly work turned up “a few instances of inadequate citation” but no evidence of research misconduct.

Days later, the Harvard Corporation revealed that it found two additional examples of “duplicative language without appropriate attribution.” The board said Gay would update her dissertation and request corrections.

The Harvard Corporation said the resignation came “with great sadness” and thanked Gay for her “deep and unwavering commitment to Harvard and to the pursuit of academic excellence.”

Alan M. Garber, provost and chief academic officer, will serve as interim president until Harvard finds a replacement, the board said in a statement. Garber, an economist and physician, has served as provost for 12 years.

Gay’s resignation was celebrated by the conservatives who put her alleged plagiarism in the national spotlight. Christopher Rufo, an activist who has helped rally the GOP against critical race theory and other cultural issues, said he’s “glad she’s gone.”

“Rather than take responsibility for minimizing antisemitism, committing serial plagiarism, intimidating the free press, and damaging the institution, she calls her critics racist,” Rufo said on X, formerly Twitter. Rufo added that “this is the poison” of diversity, equity and inclusion ideology.

Critical race theory is a way of thinking about America’s history through the lens of racism. Scholars developed it during the 1970s and 1980s in response to what scholars viewed as a lack of racial progress following the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. It centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions, which function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.

Gay, in her letter, said it has been “distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor — two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am — and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”

But Gay, who is returning to the school’s faculty, added “it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge.”

Gay and the presidents of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania came under fire last month for their lawyerly answers to a line of questioning from New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate the colleges’ code of conduct.

The three presidents had been called before the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce to answer accusations that universities were failing to protect Jewish students amid rising fears of antisemitism worldwide and fallout from Israel’s intensifying war in Gaza, which faces heightened criticism for the mounting Palestinian death toll.

Gay said it depended on the context, adding that when “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies.” The answer faced swift backlash from Republican and some Democratic lawmakers as well as the White House. The hearing was parodied in the opening skit on “Saturday Night Live.”

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Gay later apologized, telling The Crimson student newspaper that she got caught up in a heated exchange at the House committee hearing and failed to properly denounce threats of violence against Jewish students.

“What I should have had the presence of mind to do in that moment was return to my guiding truth, which is that calls for violence against our Jewish community — threats to our Jewish students — have no place at Harvard, and will never go unchallenged,” Gay said.

The episode marred Gay’s tenure at Harvard — she became president in July — and sowed discord at the Ivy League campus. Rabbi David Wolpe later resigned from a new committee on antisemitism created by Gay, saying in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that “events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony reinforced the idea that I cannot make the sort of difference I had hoped.”

The House committee announced days after the hearing that it would investigate the policies and disciplinary procedures at Harvard, MIT and Penn. Separate federal civil rights investigations were previously opened at Harvard, Penn and several other universities in response to complaints submitted to the U.S. Education Department.

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Johnson championed STEM, women’s rights, veterans, fair housing, transportation and the Affordable Care Act throughout her career.

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

(NNPA Newswire) — Former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a trailblazer and dedicated public servant, died at 89. Kirk Johnson, her son, confirmed her death on Dec. 31. Johnson had been recently admitted to hospice care and left behind a legacy of remarkable achievements and contributions to the nation.

Kirk Johnson highlighted his mother’s accomplishments as a trailblazer, public servant and remarkable family member in a statement that the family released to express their sorrow over her passing. The family acknowledged the mourning of an extraordinary woman while celebrating her life and legacy. 

“I am heartbroken to share the news that my mother, Eddie Bernice Johnson, has passed away,” Kirk Johnson said.

“She was a remarkable and loving mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, and great-grandmother, as well as a trailblazer and public servant. While we mourn the loss of an extraordinary woman, we celebrate her life and legacy. She will be deeply missed.”

The younger Johnson said funeral services are pending.

“I am stunned and saddened to learn of the passing of my dear friend, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson wrote on X Dec. 31. “Congresswoman Johnson was a groundbreaking leader for this country and for our state and city, and there really are no words to express my profound sense of grief and loss at the passing of this legendary American.”

Eddie Bernice Johnson was born to Edward and Lillie Mae Johnson in Waco, Texas. She graduated from A.J. Moore High School and earned her nursing certificate from Saint Mary’s College of Notre Dame in 1955. According to the Texas Metro News, Johnson furthered her education at Texas Christian University, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She earned a master’s of public administration from Southern Methodist University in 1976.

Johnson championed STEM, women’s rights, veterans, fair housing, transportation and the Affordable Care Act throughout her career. She was a founding member of the tri-Caucus (Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus) and the Dallas Coalition of Hunger Solutions. Noted Ambassador Ron Kirk highlighted Johnson’s numerous firsts, including being the first African American to serve as chief psychiatric nurse at the Dallas Veterans Administration Hospital.

In her political career, Johnson served in the Texas House and Senate, becoming the first African American woman in Dallas to be elected to office. When she went to Washington, she became the first registered nurse to ever serve in Congress. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and Links, Inc.

Johnson was the first African American and first female chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. She was also the first African American to serve as the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare’s regional director, appointed by then-President Jimmy Carter.

Before her retirement, Johnson’s portrait was unveiled and hung in the Science Committee Room on Capitol Hill. The program for STEM women has also been named in her honor. Upon her retirement at the end of the 117th session, she was the oldest member of the House of Representatives.

The Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and members of the CBC issued a statement mourning the loss of Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson. 

“Among her many accomplishments in the Texas State Legislature as a nurse and member of Congress, Congresswoman Johnson was perhaps best-known to those close to her as a mother, wife, and friend, and she will be greatly missed,” CBC members stated. “She leaves a legacy and a lifetime of public service that will not soon be forgotten.”

They acknowledged her groundbreaking achievements.

Johnson’s impact extended beyond legislation; she delivered hundreds of millions of dollars toward revitalizing transportation in Texas, notably for the Southern Gateway Project and the DART Rail System. The DART and Amtrak rail centers in Dallas were renamed the Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station in her honor.

Johnson’s multifaceted career included being a mother, wife and friend in addition to a public servant, leaving a void that those who knew her will feel deeply. “Her legacy as a trailblazer and advocate for justice, equality, and progress will endure,” CBC members said.

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The Associated Press undefined

The tradition of Watch Night services in the United States dates back to Dec. 31, 1862, when many Black Americans gathered in churches and other venues, waiting for President Abraham Lincoln to sign the Emancipation Proclamation into law, and thus free those still enslaved in the Confederacy.

It’s still being observed each New Year’s Eve, at many multiracial and predominantly Black churches across the country.

What is the historical background of Watch Night services?

As the Civil War raged on, Lincoln issued an executive order on Sept. 22, 1862, declaring that enslaved people in the rebellious Confederate states were legally free. However, this decree — the Emancipation Proclamation — would not take effect until the stroke of midnight heralding the new year.

Those gathering on the first Watch Night included many African Americans who were still legally enslaved as they assembled, sometimes in secrecy.

“At the time, enslaved Black people could find little respite from ever-present surveillance, even in practicing their faith,” explains the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “White enslavers feared that religion, which was often used to quell slave resistance, could incite the exact opposite if practiced without observance.”

How have Watch Night traditions evolved?

Over its 160-year history, Watch Night has evolved into an annual New Year’s Eve tradition — it not only commemorates freedom from slavery, but also celebrates the importance of faith, community and perseverance.

This description from the African American museum offers some details:

“Many congregants across the nation bow in prayer minutes before the midnight hour as they sing out ‘Watchman, watchman, please tell me the hour of the night.’ In return the minister replies, ‘It is three minutes to midnight’; ‘it is one minute before the new year’; and ‘it is now midnight, freedom has come.'”

The museum notes that the Watch Night worship services were traditionally followed by a “fortuitous meal” on New Year’s Day, often featuring a dish called Hoppin’ John.

“Traditionally, Hoppin’ John consists of black-eyed peas, rice, red peppers, and salt pork, and it is believed to bring good fortune to those who eat it,” the museum says. “Some other common dishes include: candied yams, cornbread, potato salad, and macaroni and cheese.”

How are congregations observing Watch Night this year?

Some of this year’s services will be conducted virtually, without in-person attendance. Beulah Baptist Church in Philadelphia and First Congregational Church in Atlanta are among those choosing this option.

Among the many churches offering in-person services are Abyssinian Baptist Church in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, Reid Temple AME Church in Glenn Dale, Maryland; and Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton, New Jersey.

In Salem, North Carolina, the Rev. William Barber II, a prominent anti-poverty and social-justice activist, will be leading an interfaith Watch Night service at Union Baptist Church along with its senior pastor, Sir Walter Mack. The event is billed as a “service of lament, hope and call to action.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The confetti has been tested for airiness. The giant numerals – 2 0 2 4 – are in place. And the luminous ball, bedazzled in 2,688 crystal triangles, is fixed to the pole from which it makes its 60-second descent at 11:59 p.m.

With throngs of revelers set to usher in the new year under the bright lights of Times Square, officials and organizers say they are prepared to welcome the crowds and ensure their safety.

At a security briefing on Dec. 29, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said there were “no specific threats” to the annual New Year’s Eve bash, which is expected to draw tens of thousands of people to the heart of midtown Manhattan on Dec. 31.

The celebrity-filled event will include live performances from Flo Rida, Megan Thee Stallion and LL Cool J as well as televised appearances from Cardi B and others. Organizers said in-person attendance is expected to return to pre-COVID levels, even as foot traffic around Times Square remains down slightly since the pandemic.

Amid near-daily protests in New York sparked by fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, police said they would expand the security perimeter around the party, creating a “buffer zone” that will allow them to head off potential demonstrations.

Pro-Palestinian marches have disrupted recent events in New York, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the ceremonial lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree,

“We will be out here with our canines, on horseback, our helicopters, our boats,” Adams said. Officials will also monitor protests with drones, he said. “But as we saw last year, after having no specific threats we get a threat.”

During last year’s New Year’s Eve party, a machete-wielding man attacked three police officers a few blocks from Times Square.

Tom Harris, the president of the Times Square Alliance, said there would always be security concerns, but praised the police department’s measures to ensure participant safety. Backpacks, duffel bags and alcohol are banned inside the security perimeter, and all attendees must pass through police checkpoints.

His advice for those planning to attend the countdown: “Come early.”

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Black homeowners and prospective buyers faced serious headwinds in 2023, but 2024 and beyond could provide hope.

By Bria Overs
Word in Black

“Challenging.” That is how Courtney Johnson Rose describes the state of housing in Black America in 2023. Rose is the president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), a minority professional trade organization serving real estate workers. 

The rate of Black homeownership in America has never reached 50 percent, a level other racial and ethnic groups hit in years past. The closest the Black community has ever come to it was in early 2004 when it hit 49.7 percent. It has been rapidly declining in the nearly 20 years since, hitting its lowest point in early 2019 at 40.6 percent.

“It’s a challenge to sell real estate and to inspire people to buy real estate in this type of market,” Rose says. “Rates are high, prices are high. We’ve had buyers in my office that we’ve been looking for six months to find the right house.”

According to NAREB’s annual “State of Housing in Black America,” blaming a lack of desire for homeownership would be unfair. The current process for purchasing has created systemic barriers and obstacles that, for some, are nearly impossible to jump over.

“We need to figure out new ways for Black Americans to build wealth because, in many markets, it’s very difficult to become a homeowner because of the wealth profile of Black Americans,” Andre M. Perry, senior fellow at Brookings Metro, says. “We certainly need homeownership as a vehicle to build wealth, but we need other as well.”

All is not lost, though. Rose says educating, preparing, and reforming systems to be more inclusive for potential and existing Black homeowners can help the community get there.

What Black homeowners and homebuyers face

The list of obstacles is  long, including several that remain out of the control of Black people. The list includes low wages and wealth, housing unaffordability, lack of housing supply, discriminatory property tax systems, and even vulnerability to the effects of climate change.

Black net worth has increased by 61 percent since 2019, from a median of $28,000 to $45,000. However, more money is needed to purchase a home. Providers of conventional home loans denied Black applicants three times more than White applicants. The report found that “unfavorable debt-to-income ratio, poor credit history, and inadequate collateral were the top three reasons for loan denial among Black and white prospective borrowers.”

Then there’s the housing affordability problem. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), 37.4 percent of homes sold this summer were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $96,300. Most Black families do not make half of that. 

Contributing to this problem are interest rates, which were raised by the Federal Reserve 11 times since March 2020 in an attempt to recover from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately for borrowers, as inflation holds steady at 3.1 percent, the year will end with no new increases, and some reports claim the Fed may cut interest rates three or more times in the coming year. Rose hopes this news will encourage more Black Americans to enter the housing market.

In addition to housing unaffordability, property tax systems have made it harder for Black folks to keep their homes. A report from the Brookings Institute found that Black-owned home values were “over-assessed” by tax collectors at 10 percent to 13 percent higher than White-owned homes. At the same time, Black homes are undervalued by 21 percent to 23 percent by appraisers, lowering their homes’ selling price.

Recommendations for addressing these concerns include finding new ways to tax people based on levels of wealth to account for the profiles of different racial and ethnic groups. But more importantly, guards are needed to stop racial bias, Perry says.

“We need data to examine the differences across neighborhoods, and we need systems to hold tax assessors and cities accountable,” he adds.

What’s Next?

Black millennials are the future of homeownership. The NAREB reported the group accounting for the most significant generational share of mortgage loans in 2022. Yet, their homeownership rate is only half that of white millennials, and is at risk of declining because of systemic obstacles and the economy.

“Student loan debt is one of the biggest impediments they have for being able to purchase real estate,” Rose says. “A lot of them went to college, which was the right thing to do, but for the first 15 years out of college, they’re paying off the debt they spent to get their education.”

To provide opportunities for education and advancement, NAREB kicked off its multi-city Black Wealth Tour, making stops in Houston and Birmingham earlier this year. The tour will visit Atlanta, Little Rock, Los Angeles, and other cities in 2024.

“If you have a community that’s active, and that wants it, we can get to the finish line,” Rose says. “I don’t think we have an apathetic community. I think the Black community wants to build wealth, they want to understand, they want to learn and grow. If that desire is there, the NAREB is here to keep on pushing to try to open the door for them.”

This article was originally published by WordinBlack.

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By Meg Kinnard 
The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was asked at a New Hampshire town hall about the reason for the Civil War, and she didn’t mention slavery in her response. She walked back her comments hours later.

Asked during a Dec. 27 town hall in Berlin what she believed had caused the war — the first shots of which were fired in her home state of South Carolina — Haley talked about the role of government, replying that it involved “the freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do.”

She then turned the question back to the man who had asked it. He replied that he was not the one running for president and wished instead to know her answer.

After Haley went into a lengthier explanation about the role of government, individual freedom and capitalism, the questioner seemed to admonish Haley, saying, “In the year 2023, it’s astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning the word ‘slavery.'”

“What do you want me to say about slavery?” Haley retorted before abruptly moving on to the next question.

Haley, the former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor, has been working to become the leading alternative to Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. It’s unclear whether her comments will have a long-term political impact, particularly among the independent voters who are crucial to her campaign.

She backpedaled on her Civil War comments 12 hours later, with her campaign disseminating a Dec. 28 morning radio interview in which she said, “Of course the Civil War was about slavery,” something she called “a stain on America.” She went on to reiterate that “freedom matters. And individual rights and liberties matter for all people.”

Her GOP rivals quickly jumped on her original comments, even though most of them have been accused of downplaying the effects of slavery themselves.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign recirculated video of the original exchange on social media, adding the comment, “Yikes.” Campaigning in Iowa on Dec. 28, DeSantis said that Haley “has had some problems with some basic American history” and that it’s “not that difficult to identify and acknowledge the role slavery played in the Civil War.”

DeSantis faced criticism over slavery earlier in the year when Florida enacted new education standards requiring teachers to instruct middle school students that slaves developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit.” U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate and DeSantis’ then-rival for the GOP presidential nomination, rejected that characterization, saying instead that slavery was about “separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives.”

Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump’s campaign, sent out a release saying Haley’s response shows she “is clearly not ready for primetime.” The group also included an X post from Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, a Black Republican who supports Trump, reading “1. Psst Nikki… the answer is slavery PERIOD. 2. This really doesn’t matter because Trump is going to be the nominee. Trump 2024!”

Trump did not mention the two centuries of slavery in America at a 2020 event marking the 223rd anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. He instead focused on America’s founding having “set in motion the unstoppable chain of events that abolished slavery, secured civil rights, defeated communism and fascism and built the most fair, equal and prosperous nation in human history.”

Issues surrounding the origins of the Civil War and its heritage are still much of the fabric of Haley’s home state, and she has been pressed on the war’s origins before. As she ran for governor in 2010, Haley, in an interview with a now-defunct activist group then known as The Palmetto Patriots, described the war as between two disparate sides fighting for “tradition” and “change” and said the Confederate flag was “not something that is racist.”

During that same campaign, she dismissed the need for the flag to come down from the Statehouse grounds, portraying her Democratic rival’s push for its removal as a desperate political stunt.

Five years later, Haley urged lawmakers to remove the flag from its perch near a Confederate soldier monument following a mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in which a White gunman killed nine Black church members who were attending Bible study. At the time, Haley said the flag had been “hijacked” by the shooter from those who saw the flag as symbolizing “sacrifice and heritage.”

South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession — the 1860 proclamation by the state government outlining its reasons for seceding from the Union — mentions slavery in its opening sentence and points to the “increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery” as a reason for the state removing itself from the Union.

On the night of the town hall, Christale Spain — elected this year as the first Black woman to chair South Carolina’s Democratic Party — said Haley’s response was “vile, but unsurprising.”

“The same person who refused to take down the Confederate Flag until the tragedy in Charleston, and tried to justify a Confederate History Month,” Spain said in a post on X, of Haley. “She’s just as MAGA as Trump,” Spain added, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Jaime Harrison, current chairman of the Democratic National Committee and South Carolina’s party chairman during part of Haley’s tenure as governor, said her response was “not stunning if you were a Black resident in SC when she was Governor.”

“Same person who said the confederate flag was about tradition & heritage and as a minority woman she was the right person to defend keeping it on state house grounds,” Harrison posted Dec. 27 on X. “Some may have forgotten but I haven’t. Time to take off the rose colored Nikki Haley glasses folks.”

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This story has been corrected to show nine people, not eight, were killed in the Charleston church massacre in 2015.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

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Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut in Ankeny, Iowa, contributed to this report.

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By Frank Dobson
The Conversation

On Dec. 26, millions throughout the world’s African community will start weeklong celebrations of Kwanzaa. There will be daily ceremonies with food, decorations and other cultural objects, such as the kinara, which holds seven candles. At many Kwanzaa ceremonies, there is also African drumming and dancing.

It is a time of communal self-affirmation – when famous Black heroes and heroines, as well as late family members – are celebrated.

As a scholar who has written about racially motivated violence against Blacks, directed Black cultural centers on college campuses and sponsored numerous Kwanzaa celebrations, I understand the importance of this holiday.

For the African-American community, Kwanzaa is not just any “Black holiday.” It is a recognition that knowledge of Black history is worthwhile.

History of Kwanzaa

Maulana Karenga, a noted Black American scholar and activist created Kwanzaa in 1966. Its name is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, the most widely spoken African language. However, Kwanzaa, the holiday, did not exist in Africa.

Each day of Kwanzaa is devoted to celebrating the seven basic values of African culture or the “Nguzo Saba” which in Swahili means the seven principles. Translated these are: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics (building Black businesses), purpose, creativity and faith. A candle is lit on each day to celebrate each one of these principles. On the last day, a black candle is lit and gifts are shared.

Today, Kwanzaa is quite popular. It is celebrated widely on college campuses, the U.S. Postal Service issues Kwanzaa stamps, there is at least one municipal park named for it, and there are special Kwanzaa greeting cards.

Kwanzaa’s meaning for Black community

Kwanzaa was created by Karenga out of the turbulent times of the 1960s in Los Angeles, following the 1965 Watts riots, when a young African-American was pulled over on suspicions of drunk driving, resulting in an outbreak of violence.

Subsequently, Karenga founded an organization called Us – meaning, Black people – which promoted Black culture. The purpose of the organization was to provide a platform, which would help to rebuild the Watts neighborhood through a strong organization rooted in African culture.

Karenga called its creation an act of cultural discovery, which simply meant that he wished to point African-Americans to greater knowledge of their African heritage and past.

Rooted in the struggles and the gains of the civil rights and Black power movements of the 1950s and 1960s, it was a way of defining a unique Black American identity. As Keith A. Mayes, a scholar of African-American history, notes in his book:

“For Black power activists, Kwanzaa was just as important as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kwanzaa was their answer to what they understood as the ubiquity of white cultural practices that oppressed them as thoroughly as had Jim Crow laws.”

Overturning White definitions

Today, the holiday has come to occupy a central role, not only in the U.S. but also in the global African diaspora.

A 2008 documentary, “The Black Candle” that filmed Kwanzaa observances in the United States and Europe, shows children not only in the United States, but as far away as France, reciting the principles of the Nguzo Saba.

It brings together the Black community not on the basis of their religious faith, but a shared cultural heritage. Explaining the importance of the holiday for African-Americans today, writer Amiri Baraka, says during an interview in the documentary, “We looked at Kwanzaa as part of the struggle to overturn white definitions for our lives.”

Indeed, since the early years of the holiday, until today, Kwanzaa has provided many Black families with tools for instructing their children about their African heritage.

Current activism and Kwanzaa

This spirit of activism and pride in the African heritage is evident on college campus Kwanzaa celebrations – one of which I recently attended. (It was done a few days early so that students going on break could participate.)

The speaker, a veteran of the Nashville civil rights movement, spoke about Kwanzaa as a time of memory and celebration. Wearing an African dashiki, he led those in attendance – Blacks and Whites and those of other ethnicities – in Kwanzaa songs and recitations. On a table decorated in kente cloth, a traditional African fabric, was a kinara, which contains seven holes, to correspond to the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa. There were three red candles on the left side of the kinara, and three green candles on the right side of the kinara. The center candle was black. The colors of the candles represent the red, black and green of the African Liberation flag.

The auditorium was packed. Those in attendance, young and old, Black and White, held hands and chanted slogans celebrating black heroes and heroines, as diverse as the civil rights icons, Rosa Parks and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Jamaican musician Bob Marley.

It was a cultural observance that acknowledged solidarity with the struggles of the past and with one another. Like the black power movements, such as today’s Black Lives Matter movement, it is an affirmation of “Black folks’ humanity,” their “contributions to this society” and “resilience in the face of deadly oppression.”

Karenga wanted to “reaffirm the bonds between us” (Black people) and to counter the damage done by the “holocaust of slavery.”  Kwanzaa celebrations are a moment of this awareness and reflection.

Frank Dobson is the Associate Dean of Students, Vanderbilt University. This article was originally published by The Conversation.

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By Colleen Slevin and Matthew Brown
The Associated Press

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — Two Denver-area paramedics were convicted Dec. 22 for giving a fatal overdose of the sedative ketamine to Elijah McClain in 2019 — a jury verdict that experts said could have a chilling effect on first responders around the country.

The case involving the 23-year-old Black man’s death was the first among several recent criminal prosecutions against medical first responders to reach trial, potentially setting the bar for prosecutors for future cases.

It also was the last of three trials against police and paramedics charged in the death of McClain, whom officers stopped following a suspicious person complaint. He was injected with the sedative after being forcibly restrained. The case received little attention until protests over the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

An Aurora police officer was convicted of homicide and third-degree assault earlier this year, while two other officers were acquitted.

The jury on Dec. 22 found Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec guilty of criminally negligent homicide following a weeks-long trial in state district court. They could face years in prison at sentencing.

The jury also found Cichuniec guilty on one of two second-degree assault charges, which brings the possibility of an enhanced prison sentence and required that he be taken into immediate custody. 

Cooper was found not guilty on the assault charges and was not taken into custody.

McClain’s mother, Sheneen, raised her fist in the air following the verdict. “We did it! We did it! We did it!” she said as she walked away from the courthouse.

Cichuniec’s wife had her head bowed as deputies handcuffed him. Cooper’s wife sobbed alongside her.

Neither the paramedics nor their attorneys spoke outside court. They did not immediately respond to emails and telephone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The outcome could set a precedent for how emergency personnel respond to situations with people in police custody, said University of Miami criminologist Alex Piquero.

“Imagine if you’re a paramedic,” Piquero said. “They could be hesitant. They could say, ‘I’m not going to do anything’ or ‘I’m going to do less. I don’t want to be found guilty.'”

The International Association of Fire Fighters said in a statement that in pursuing the charges, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser had criminalized split-second medical decisions and set “a dangerous, chilling precedent for pre-hospital care.”

Weiser, who convened the grand jury that indicted the first responders, said he was satisfied with the verdict.

“We remain confident that bringing these cases forward was the right thing to do for justice for Elijah McClain and for healing in the Aurora community,” he said outside court.

The city of Aurora said later Dec. 22 that the two paramedics were fired following their convictions.

The verdict was announced after two days of deliberations. When jurors told the judge later Dec. 22 that they were stuck on one of the charges, the judge told them to keep trying to reach a verdict.

Police stopped McClain while he was walking home from a convenience store on Aug. 24, 2019, following a suspicious person complaint. After an officer said McClain reached for an officer’s gun — a claim disputed by prosecutors — another officer put him in a neck hold that rendered him temporarily unconscious. Officers also pinned down McClain before Cooper injected him with an overdose of ketamine. Cichuniec was the senior officer and said it was his decision to use ketamine.

Prosecutors said the paramedics did not conduct basic medical checks of McClain, such as taking his pulse, before giving him the ketamine. The dose was too much for someone of his size — 140 pounds (64 kilograms), experts testified. Prosecutors say they also did not monitor McClain immediately after giving him the sedative but instead left him lying on the ground, making it harder to breathe.

McClain’s pleading words captured on police body camera video, “I’m an introvert and I’m different,” struck a chord with protesters and people around the country.

In a statement released prior to the verdict, McClain’s mother said that everyone present during the police stop of her son displayed a lack of humanity.

“They can not blame their job training for their indifference to evil or their participation in an evil action,” McClain wrote. “That is completely on them. May all of their souls rot in hell when their time comes.”

Defense attorneys argued that the paramedics followed their training in giving ketamine to McClain after diagnosing him with “excited delirium,” a disputed condition some say is unscientific and has been used to justify excessive force.

The verdicts came after a jury in Washington state cleared three police officers of all criminal charges on Dec. 21 in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who was shocked, beaten and restrained face-down on a Tacoma sidewalk as he pleaded for breath.

In the Colorado case, the prosecution said Cooper lied to investigators to try to cover up his actions, telling detectives that McClain was actively resisting when he decided to inject McClain with ketamine, even though the body camera showed McClain lying on the ground unconscious. It also disputed Cooper’s claim that McClain tried to get away from police holding him down — and that he took McClain’s pulse as he bent down to give him the shot of ketamine, which others testified they did not see.

“He’s trying to cover up the recklessness of his conduct,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Jason Slothouber told jurors in closing statements.

Cichuniec, who testified along with Cooper this week, said paramedics were trained that they had to work quickly to treat excited delirium with ketamine and said they were told numerous times that it was a safe, effective drug and were not warned about the possibility of it killing anyone.

Colorado now tells paramedics not to give ketamine to people suspected of having the controversial condition, which has symptoms including increased strength and has been associated with racial bias against Black men.

When the police stopped McClain, a massage therapist, he was listening to music and wearing a mask that covered most of his face because he had a blood circulation disorder. The police stop quickly became physical after McClain, seemingly caught off guard, asked to be left alone. He had not been accused of committing any crime.

The case’s prominence means the specter of criminal charges and accompanying lawsuits over emergency care will be a concern for paramedics going forward, said Arizona State University law professor James G. Hodge Jr.

It could prompt them to better document what police tell them about people needing treatment and to ask doctors to sign off before paramedics use life-saving but potentially harmful treatments on patients, he said.

“The national coverage of the cases against these paramedics unquestionably influences practices in real-time,” Hodge said.

___

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

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By Claire Rush
The Associated Press

A Washington state law aimed at improving police accountability is in the spotlight after three Tacoma officers were acquitted in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who was shocked, beaten and restrained face-down on a sidewalk as he pleaded for breath.

The measure approved by voters in 2018 was designed to make it easier to prosecute police accused of wrongfully using deadly force. Initiative 940, referred to as I-940, removed a requirement that prosecutors prove an officer acted with actual malice in order to bring a case — a requirement no other state had — and established that an independent investigation should be conducted after use of force results in death or great bodily harm, among other things.

The nearly three-month trial of the three police officers — Matthew Collins, 40; Christopher Burbank, 38; and Timothy Rankine, 34 — was the first to be held under the 5-year-old law. The trial over Ellis’ death in Tacoma, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Seattle, ended Dec. 21 with their acquittal on various murder and manslaughter charges.

The acquittal came a day before a jury in Colorado convicted two paramedics in the death of Elijah McClain, another Black man whose case drew national scrutiny.

Matthew Ericksen, a lawyer for the Ellis family, said Washington’s 2018 police accountability law failed in certain regards in a trial that amounted to a test case for the measure, resulting in a verdict that devastated the family.

“One of the big reforms that I-940 was meant to bring was completely independent investigations of in-custody deaths like Mr. Ellis,” Ericksen said. “And that just didn’t happen. The law was violated, and in many ways, there really haven’t been any consequences for that.”

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office botched the initial probe into the death by failing to disclose for three months that one of its deputies had been involved in restraining Ellis, despite the state law requiring independent investigations. The Washington State Patrol took over, and the Attorney General’s Office conducted its review based on evidence gathered by the patrol as well as its own additional investigation before charging the officers.

How effective I-940 can be will come down to how it is enforced, according to Ericksen. While the Ellis case highlighted gaps in the measure, he said it remained one of the “necessary building blocks to hopefully get to some police accountability.”

“We’re better off having I-940 than not,” he said. “I sincerely hope this one verdict does not deter future investigations and prosecutions, and I know the Ellis family feels the same way.”

Other police reform advocates also were disappointed by the verdict but said the fact the case went to trial at all — due to the law dropping the requirement that prosecutors prove officers acted with malice — already marked a significant change. Another Washington state officer, Jeff Nelson in Auburn, south of Seattle, is awaiting trial on a murder charge brought after I-940.

“We made it possible for them to know that you can be charged if you do something wrong,” said Tonya Isabell, cousin of Charleena Lyles, a pregnant mother who was fatally shot by Seattle police in 2017. “We’re all hurting, we’re devastated and we’re mad. But again, we have to look at the overall outcome of this.”

Lawyers for the three Tacoma officers said their clients acted in good faith and were relieved by the verdict. The Pierce County medical examiner ruled Ellis’ death was a homicide caused by oxygen deprivation, but the defense argued at trial that methamphetamine in his system and a heart irregularity were to blame.

Anne Bremner, who represented Rankine, said dropping the malice requirement for prosecution was generally viewed as unwelcome by law enforcement officers because of the potential for exposure to criminal liability.

“We’ve seen a lot of attrition and folks not wanting to become involved in law enforcement careers,” she said. “The vast majority of the officers that we have everywhere do excellent work and want to do their jobs in a way that they can help people and protect the community.”

State Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, a Tacoma Democrat who previously worked in the Attorney General’s Office on the implementation of I-940, said the law on its own does not guarantee accountability but rather “the opportunity to make the case for accountability” in court.

The measure has since been bolstered, she said, by 2021 laws creating an independent state office to review cases involving police use of deadly force and banning chokeholds and neck restraints.

“We do have a framework moving forward that is much more robust,” she said. “My hope as a bigger picture is that we may be able to realize that changes in the culture of policing and the laws around policing are meant to engender public trust. And I hope that we’ll be able to work together.”

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By Ama Brown 
AFRO Editorial Assistant 

From the fun to the sentimental, this week, the AFRO has compiled a list of classic hip-hop songs to fill the air with holiday cheer.  While we love Mariah Carey, in the 50th year of hip-hop, the time is now to highlight the work of the beat riders and rhyme writers who have carried the genre on their backs for decades, solidifying a movement. This Christmas, make sure you get into the holiday spirit with these hip-hop holiday tunes. Share your favorite hip-hop songs with the AFRO via social media, using the hashtag the #AFROhiphopholiday

Happy holidays and happy 50th anniversary to hip-hop!

1. Kurtis Blow’s 1979 hit, “Christmas Rappin,” is a classic that features amodernized rendition of “Twas the night before Christmas.”  
2. Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis” was a breakout hit from the Def Jam Records charity album in 1987.
3. TLC’s 1992 song, “Sleigh Ride,” is a Christmas tune for the old heads looking to jam to the world’s most iconic trios.
4. In 1996 Snoop Dogg turned “Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto” into a posse cut, featuring Daz, Nate Dogg, Tray Deee and others. Take on the holiday with the smooth tones of Nate Dogg’s vocals and Snoop Dogg’s festive lyrics.
5. Ying Yang Twins’ 2014 song, “Ho Ho Ho,” is the perfect selection for the Christmas party where no kids are allowed.
6. Dej Loaf and Kodak Black teamed up in 2016 for their song “All I Want for Christmas,” a holiday tune with a sentimental vibe. 
7. The party is still going more than two decades after Quad City DJs released their 1995 hit, “What You Want for Christmas.”
8. In 2012, rap artist DMX was asked for an impromptu Christmas song. What he delivered was a gritty twist on the classic hit “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
9. Tyler the Creator debuted “Big Bag” in 2018, bringing Dr. Seuss’s “The Grinch who stole Christmas” to life.

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By Lindsey Bahr
AP Film Writer

It’s not a secret that Fantasia Barrino did not want to play Celie again. The “American Idol” winner hadn’t had the best time doing “The Color Purple” on Broadway.

The protagonist of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells her story of sexual, physical and psychological abuses in the early 20th century South in a series of letters to God. And it was a character she found it difficult to leave behind at the end of the day. Even the prospect of starring in her first major motion picture didn’t seem worth it.

But director Blitz Bazawule had a different vision: He wanted to give Celie an imagination. This Barrino found intriguing.

“Once she understood the assignment, she quickly agreed,” Bazawule said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Now, four decades after “The Color Purple” became a literary sensation and a Steven Spielberg film, the story is on the big screen again. This time it’s a grand, big budget Warner Bros. musical starring Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, as the sultry singer Shug Avery, and Danielle Brooks, reprising her Broadway role as the strong-willed Sofia. It opens in theaters nationwide on Christmas.

“I’m glad that I didn’t allow my fear of my past experience with Celie, because of where my life was at that time, to hinder me from doing something great,” Barrino said. “I’m riding on a high right now.”

Oprah Winfrey is one of several big-name producers on “The Color Purple,” alongside Spielberg, Quincy Jones and Scott Sanders. Winfrey got her acting break and first Oscar nomination playing Sofia in the 1985 adaptation, before helping Sanders turn it into a Broadway musical 20 years later.

Bazawule was not an obvious candidate to direct this film, however. The multi-hyphenate Ghanaian artist had received acclaim and recognition for co-directing Beyoncé’s visual album “Black is King.” The only other film he had under his belt was the microbudget “The Burial Of Kojo,” which was made for less than $100,000.

But he had ambitious ideas involving large scale musical numbers that would take audiences on a dazzling journey through the history of Black music in America, from gospel to blues to jazz. And, of course, Celie’s inner life. He wasn’t at all sure he would get it, but he knew the story he wanted to tell.

“I thought, if I could just find a way to show the audience how this Black woman from the rural South was able to imagine her way out of pain and trauma it will debunk a myth that is that people who have dealt with abusing trauma are docile and passive or waiting to be saved,” Bazawule said. “If we could just imbue in (Celie) that scale, then that’s the version that needed to exist. Thankfully they said yes.”

They would have to jump through some hoops, however, to secure the kind of budget (reportedly around $100 million) that they needed to support the vision, including auditioning Henson, an Oscar-nominated actor, and Brooks, who already had a Tony nomination for her portrayal of Sofia.

“We were not the studio’s choices,” Henson said. “I just felt some way about having to audition. I’m Academy Award nominated. I had just finished singing on NBC’s ‘Annie Live.’ But I checked my ego and I did it. I went in as Shug. I found a dress, had a flower in my hair and faux fur stole and I kicked the door down because I didn’t want them to ever second guess me again.”

For Brooks, it was a six-month process that had her doubting herself. A lot of the people involved in “The Color Purple” felt the exhaustion of both having to prove themselves yet again, but also wanting to rise to the challenge nonetheless because this film was worth it.

“This is a huge undertaking to be part of,” said Brooks. “This movie is about legacy and it’s what I’ve been calling a cinematic heirloom.”

Her Broadway production was very minimalist and stripped down, so to be on location in Georgia, around Macon, Savannah, Atlanta and the small town of Grantville, was revelatory.

“My world really opened up because I got to use all of my senses,” Brooks said. “I got to explore all of Sofia because now I have a juke joint and I have a dinner table. I have a house. We had a White mob attacking me.”

The juke joint was a real set that required a real swamp to be dredged, where they’d stage Shug’s showstopper, “Push Da Button.”

“It’s probably the perfect confluence of my amazing technical and creative teams,” Bazawule said.

The film gives a new boldness to Celie and Shug’s relationship with one another and more dimensions to the male characters, including Colman Domingo’s Mister.

And all carry the weight of responsibility not only to the material and its predecessors, but also to future films made with primarily Black casts at this level.

“It’s not the first time I have been in a production of this scale but what matters to me is that it’s a Black production and it’s a production with Black producer, a Black director predominantly Black cast,” Henson said. “It’s like usually we’re supposed to make a dollar out of 15 cents. And after 20+ in the game, it’s like finally the studio trusted us to deliver.”

The question of awards is a loaded one. Though “The Color Purple” has all the makings of a big Oscar contender (Barrino and Brooks have already been nominated for Golden Globes), it comes with history. Spielberg’s film was nominated for 11 Oscars and infamously won none. And then there is the even stickier subject of Black women and Hollywood awards. Halle Berry remains the only Black best actress Oscar winner.

Bazawule is not particularly interested in the “dog and pony show” of awards season. It’s hard for him to fathom how anyone can pit one film against another, but he does understand that there are real gains in earning potential and creative freedom that happen if his actors, especially the women, get nominated and win.

“Our job was to go in and honor Alice Walker’s brilliant book. We did that. We found our healing through it and we’re an amazing group together. Our Q&A’s are out of this world,” he said, before taking a pause. 

“Now THAT I want an award for.”

All seem to agree that what they experienced is bigger than any validation from an award.

“There’s something magical about this story,” Brooks said. “It really does tamper with your heart in the best way. It opens it up. I’ve never experienced anything like what I’ve experienced during the journey of working on ‘The Color Purple.'”

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By Ashleigh Fields
AFRO Assistant Editor
afields@afro.com

Approximately 75 years ago, President Harry S. Truman desegregated the United States military, forever changing the landscape of defense by blurring racial lines and unblocking life changing opportunities for service members of color. 

This year, local non-profit Leave No Veteran Behind, invited everyone from soldiers from the front lines to high-ranking White House officials to discuss Truman’s transformative decision over seven decades later. Anthony Woods, secretary of Maryland Department of Veteran Affairs, Dr. James Dula, USAF Retired and Mieia Edmonds, a representative, Navy Federal Credit Union in addition to several others spoke during the “Impact Panel.” The topic of discussion was “Creating Veteran Pipelines Into Civic Solutions” with a heavy focus on veteran employment.

Featured speakers included Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18), Edna W. Cummings from the U.S. Army and a champion of the Six Triple Eight Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021 and Dr. William Rowe, Chairman of the 75th EO9981 Ad Hoc Committee EO9981 which was established as the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services.

 Photos courtesy of Leave No Veteran Behind

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By Megan Sayles 
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com

The AFRO ranked 81 in the 2023 Inner City 100 (IC100) Awards, a recognition given by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC). The organization celebrates the 100 fastest-growing businesses in underserved communities across the country. The ceremony took place during ICIC’s Annual Conference, which was held in Miami on Dec. 11 through Dec. 12. 

The AFRO, for 131 years, has centered the Black community in its award-winning coverage. The organization joined several other Baltimore-based businesses, including MD Energy Advisors, SCB Management and Watkins Security Agency, as IC100 Award winners.

“Sometimes when people hear ‘legacy’ and ‘Black newspaper,’ they’re thinking old, dated and not relevant. But, that’s not who we are, and that’s not who we’ve been over 131 years. The company has had to innovate at every stage,” said Frances “Toni” Draper, publisher of the AFRO. “What’s not old is the fact that people need accurate information. We still need to highlight our successes and our community, and no one does it better than the Black press.” 

The AFRO was founded in 1892 by Draper’s great-grandfather John Henry Murphy, a former enslaved man, with a $200 investment from his wife, Martha Howard Murphy. The family-owned, legacy newspaper has transformed itself into a media company over the years. 

Recently the media company rolled out its Digital Billboard Network, a program where businesses across the Greater Baltimore area feature original content from the AFRO on on-site screens. Its philanthropic sister organization, Afro Charities, is also currently in the process of digitizing nearly 3 million photos, letters, business records, audio recordings and reporter’s notebooks from the AFRO’s 131-year-old archival collection. Both companies are looking forward to the upcoming renovation of the Upton Mansion in West Baltimore, where all offices and the AFRO Archives will be housed together. 

This was the first time the AFRO was named a winner in the IC100. 

“We were thrilled to be among the IC100,” said Draper. “They measured your success over a four-year period. These are the best small businesses in the country based on the criteria they used to judge, which was mostly revenue growth and community impact.” 

ICIC’s mission is to propel inclusive economic prosperity in under-resourced communities across the country. Its other initiatives include the Inner City Capital Connections, Building for Growth and Succession Ready. 

ICIC started the IC100 in 1999. The 2023 IC100 winners represented 23 distinct industries, hailing from 54 cities and 26 states, and had an average revenue growth of 454 percent from 2018 to 2022. 

Fifty-seven percent of them were BIPOC-led or -owned and 50 percent were woman-led or -owned. Together, the firms created more than 2,700 jobs from 2018 to 2022.

“They’re proven catalysts and they’re engines for job growth,” said Steve Grossman, CEO of ICIC. “Over the years, they’ve contributed to the enhancement of their community because they always know that–no matter how successful their business is– unless they’re reinvesting back into the life of their community, lifting people up to create better wellness outcomes and sustainable small business ecosystems, the work is not really getting done.”

“I salute them for their investment in the communities in which they live, charitable causes, organizations and the lives of their employees,” said Grossman. 

Megan Sayles is a Report For America corps member. 

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The Associated Press

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (AP) — A late-year storm unleashed heavy rain and gusty winds as it barreled up the East Coast on Dec. 17, forcing water rescues from flooded streets and the cancellation of some holiday celebrations.

Authorities rescued dozens of motorists stranded by floodwaters in South Carolina’s waterfront community of Georgetown, according to Jackie Broach, public information officer for Georgetown County, situated between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. More than 9 inches (22.9 centimeters) of rain fell in the area since late Dec. 16.

“It’s not just the areas that we normally see flooding, that are flood-prone,” Broach said. “It’s areas that we’re not really expecting to have flooding issues.”

Water rescues also took place on Kiawah and Seabrook islands, according to media outlets.

There were numerous road closures across South Carolina’s Lowcountry as the storm dumped heavy rain. The tide gauge at Charleston swelled to reach the city’s highest nontropical tide on record and the fourth-highest tide of all time, media outlets reported. Charleston was soaked by about 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain that tapered off by afternoon. Dozens of roads were closed, while stranded cars littered streets.

“It’s like a tropical storm, it just happens to be in December,” Broach said in a phone interview.

There were no reports of injuries or deaths in Georgetown County, she said. Gusty winds were strong enough to topple some signs and trees. Outdoor holiday decorations were tossed about, she said.

Farther up the coast, minor to moderate coastal flooding was expected Dec. 17, according to the National Weather Service office in Wilmington, North Carolina.

There were more than 31,000 power outages in South Carolina, according to PowerOutage.us, along with over 14,000 in North Carolina and more than 11,000 in Florida.

The storm was forecast to gain strength as it tracked along the Georgia and Carolina coasts, producing heavy rain and gusty winds, the weather service said. Wind gusts of 35 mph to 45 mph (56 kph to 72 kph) could bring down trees, especially on saturated ground.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned of a possible 2 to 4 inches (5.1 to 10.2 centimeters) of rain, powerful winds and potential flooding in parts of the state. Flood watches were in effect in many locations in New York City, and high wind warnings were activated around the city and Long Island.

“We will get through this storm, but preparation is the key,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said. City officials told residents to expect several hours of rain and possible delays during the Dec. 18 commute.

The storm dumped up to 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) of rain across Florida, inundating streets and forcing the cancellation of boat parades and other holiday celebrations.

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings and minor flooding advisories for a wide swath of the state, from the southwest Gulf Coast to Jacksonville. Major airports remained open, however, at the start of the busy holiday travel season.

“Today is not the day to go swimming or boating!” Sheriff Carmine Marceno of Lee County, on Florida’s southwestern coast, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Coastal advisories were issued for much of Florida as strong winds churned waters in the Gulf and along the north Atlantic coast.

The storm could be good news for residents in southwest Florida who have been facing water restrictions and drought conditions heading into what normally is the region’s dry season.

The weather service also warned of 2 to 4 inches (5.1 to 10.2 centimeters) of rain in parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, with the heaviest expected late Dec. 17, and possible urban and small stream flooding and at least minor flooding to some rivers through Dec. 18.

Forecasters also warned of strong winds in coastal areas, gale-force winds offshore, and moderate coastal flooding along Delaware Bay and widespread minor coastal flooding elsewhere.

The weather service said there is a slight risk of excessive rainfall over parts of New England through Monday morning, with the potential for flash flooding. Northern New England is expected to get the heaviest rain Dec. 18 through early Dec. 19.

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

(NNPA NEWSWIRE) — In an exclusive telephone interview, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre underscored President Biden’s unwavering commitment to addressing the Black community’s critical issues. Reflecting on promises made during the 2020 campaign, Jean-Pierre outlined key achievements and ongoing initiatives directly impacting African Americans and other historically underserved communities.

“At the onset of President Biden’s term, the country faced economic turmoil and the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The president, true to his campaign commitment, prioritized equity, ensuring the Black community received fair access to COVID-19 vaccines,” said Jean-Pierre.

“He made sure that small businesses got back on their feet, our schools reopened, and the child tax credit put money into people’s pockets. All those things were important to our community.”

The more than 10-minute discussion also delved into the significance of the American Rescue Plan, which was pivotal in supporting various facets of the Black community. The first Black woman to serve as White House press secretary, Jean-Pierre highlighted the impact of the Biden-Harris administration’s policies on economic recovery, small business revival, and other measures that directly provided essential financial relief to individuals.

“Economic indicators demonstrate significant progress since President Biden took office. Black unemployment, which stood at 9.2 percent, has notably declined to 5.9 percent as of October,” said Jean-Pierre, emphasizing the administration’s commitment to economic revitalization.

Jean-Pierre also noted the importance of net worth, noting a remarkable 60 percent increase for African Americans. She highlighted the historic investment of $7 billion in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and the doubling of Black business ownership since the onset of the pandemic.

“The president has consistently prioritized equity across various policy areas, including healthcare, education, and police reform,” said Jean-Pierre, also the first openly gay person to helm the White House briefing room. 

“Executive orders were issued to ban chokeholds and implement strong use-of-force policies when congressional action stalled,” Jean-Pierre added.

She noted that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have regularly worked to uplift Black and Brown communities, including their fight for voting rights, police reform, and cutting prices at the cash register.

“Lowering prices is what the president works on every day,” the press secretary asserted. “The prices of eggs, milk, and are lower than last year. Used cars and truck prices are down, and we will do everything we can to continue to lower prices. The work continues.” 

The conversation extended to Biden’s recognition of the Black Press’s significance, with Jean-Pierre assuring ongoing access to the president for regular engagement and discussions.

“The president understands the credibility and importance of the Black Press in conveying messages directly to the community. We are committed to ensuring continuous access and engagement,” affirmed Jean-Pierre. “We’re going to ensure has access to the president. That’s what he wants—he wants to speak directly to you. This president understands the importance of speaking to the Black Press, and he wants to have regular engagement with all of you, and we’re going to make sure that happens.”

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By Julie Carr Smyth
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio was in the throes of a bitter debate over abortion rights this fall when Brittany Watts, 21 weeks and 5 days pregnant, began passing thick blood clots.

The 33-year-old Watts, who had not shared the news of her pregnancy even with her family, made her first prenatal visit to a doctor’s office behind Mercy Health-St. Joseph’s Hospital in Warren, a working-class city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland.

The doctor said that, while a fetal heartbeat was still present, Watts’ water had broken prematurely and the fetus she was carrying would not survive. He advised heading to the hospital to have her labor induced, so she could have what amounted to an abortion to deliver the nonviable fetus. Otherwise, she would face “significant risk” of death, according to records of her case.

That was a Tuesday in September. What followed was a harrowing three days entailing: multiple trips to the hospital; Watts miscarrying into, and then flushing and plunging, a toilet at her home; a police investigation of those actions; and Watts, who is Black, being charged with abuse of a corpse. That’s a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Her case was sent last week to a grand jury. It has touched off a national firestorm over the treatment of pregnant women, and especially Black women, in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump elevated Watts’ plight in a post to X, formerly Twitter, and supporters have donated more than $100,000 through GoFundMe for her legal defense, medical bills and trauma counseling.

Whether abortion-seekers should face criminal charges is a matter of debate within the anti-abortion community, but, post-Dobbs, pregnant women like Watts, who was not even trying to get an abortion, have increasingly found themselves charged with “crimes against their own pregnancies,” said Grace Howard, assistant justice studies professor at San José State University.

“Roe was a clear legal roadblock to charging felonies for unintentionally harming pregnancies, when women were legally allowed to end their pregnancies through abortion,” she said. “Now that Roe is gone, that roadblock is entirely gone.”

Michele Goodwin, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and author of “Policing The Womb,” said those efforts have long overwhelmingly targeted Black and brown women.

Even before Roe was overturned, studies show that Black women who visited hospitals for prenatal care were 10 times more likely than White women to have child protective services and law enforcement called on them, even when their cases were similar, she said.

“Post-Dobbs, what we see is kind of a wild, wild West,” said Goodwin. “You see this kind of muscle-flexing by district attorneys and prosecutors wanting to show that they are going to be vigilant, they’re going to take down women who violate the ethos coming out of the state’s legislature.” She called Black women “canaries in the coal mine” for the “hyper-vigilant type of policing” women of all races might expect from the nation’s network of health-care providers, law enforcers and courts now that abortion isn’t federally protected.

In Texas, for example, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton mounted an aggressive and successful defense against a White Texas mother, Kate Cox, who sued for permission to skirt the state’s restrictive abortion law because her fetus had a fatal condition.

At the time of Watts’ miscarriage, abortion was legal in Ohio through 21 weeks, six days of pregnancy. Her lawyer, Traci Timko, said Watts left the hospital on the Wednesday when, coincidentally, her pregnancy arrived at that date — after sitting for eight hours awaiting care.

It turned out the delay was because hospital officials were deliberating over the legalities, Timko said. “It was the fear of, is this going to constitute an abortion and are we able to do that,” she said.

At the time, vigorous campaigning was taking place across Ohio over Issue 1, a proposed amendment to enshrine a right to abortion in Ohio’s constitution. Some of the ads were harshly attacking abortions later in pregnancy, with opponents arguing the issue would allow the return of so-called “partial-birth abortions” and pregnancy terminations “until birth.”

The hospital did not return calls seeking confirmation and comment, but B. Jessie Hill, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, said Mercy Health-St. Joseph’s was in a bind.

“These are the razor’s edge decisions that health care providers are being forced to make,” she said. “And all the incentives are pushing hospitals to be conservative, because on the other side of this is criminal liability. That’s the impact of Dobbs.”

Watts had been admitted to the Catholic hospital twice that week with vaginal bleeding, but she left without being treated. A nurse told the 911 dispatcher that Watts returned no longer pregnant on that Friday. She said Watts told her, “the baby’s in her backyard in a bucket,” and that she didn’t want to have a child.

Timko said Watts insists she doesn’t recall saying the pregnancy was unwanted; it was unintended, but she had always wanted to give her mother a grandchild. Her lawyer believes Watts may have meant that she didn’t want to fish what she knew was a dead fetus from the bucket of blood, tissue and feces that she’d scooped from her overflowing toilet.

“This 33-year-old girl with no criminal record is demonized for something that goes on every day,” she told Warren Municipal Court Judge Terry Ivanchak during Watts’ recent preliminary hearing.

Warren Assistant Prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri told Ivanchak that Watts left home for a hair appointment after miscarrying, leaving the toilet clogged. Police would later find the fetus wedged in the pipes.

“The issue isn’t how the child died, when the child died,” Guarnieri told the judge, according to TV station WKBN. “It’s the fact the baby was put into a toilet, was large enough to clog up the toilet, left in that toilet, and she went on (with) her day.”

In court, Timko bristled at Guarnieri’s suggestion.

“You cannot be broadcasting any clearer that you just don’t get it,” she said in an interview, suggesting Watts was scared, anxious and traumatized by the experience. “She’s trying to protect Mama. She doesn’t want to get her hair done. She wants to stop bleeding like crazy and start grieving her fetus, what she’s just been through.”

As chief counsel to the county’s child assault protection unit, Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor Diane Barber is the lead prosecutor on Watts’ case.

Barber said she couldn’t speak specifically about the case other than to note that the county was compelled to move forward with it once it was bound over from municipal court. She said she doesn’t expect a grand jury finding this month.

“About 20 percent of the cases get no-billed, (as in) they do not get indicted and the case does not proceed,” she said.

The size and stage of development of Watts’ fetus — precisely the point when abortion crossed from legal to illegal without exceptions — became an issue during her preliminary hearing.

A county forensic investigator reported feeling “what appeared to be a small foot with toes” inside Watts’ toilet. Police seized the toilet and broke it apart to retrieve the intact fetus as evidence.

Testimony and an autopsy confirmed that the fetus died in utero before passing through the birth canal. 

In regard to abuse, the examination identified “no recent injuries.”

Ivanchak acknowledged the case’s complexities.

“There are better scholars than I am to determine the exact legal status of this fetus, corpse, body, birthing tissue, whatever it is,” he said from the bench. “Matter of fact, I’m assuming that’s what … Issue 1’s all about: at what point something becomes viable.”

Timko, a former prosecutor, said Ohio’s abuse-of-corpse statute is vague. It prohibits treating “a human corpse” in a way that would “outrage” reasonable family or community sensibilities.

“From a legal perspective, there’s no definition of ‘corpse,'” she said. “Can you be a corpse if you never took a breath?”

Howard said clarity on what about Watts’ behavior constituted a crime is essential.

“For rights of people with the capacity for pregnancy, this is huge,” she said. “Her miscarriage was entirely ordinary. So I just want to know what (the prosecutor) thinks she should have done. If we are going to require people to collect and bring used menstrual products to hospitals so that they can make sure it is indeed a miscarriage, it’s as ridiculous and invasive as it is cruel.”

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By Laura Ungar
AP Science Writer

Gautam Dongre’s two children in India and Pascazia Mazeze’s son in Tanzania live with an inherited blood disorder that turns blood cells into instruments of pain.

New gene therapies promise a cure for sickle cell disease, and Dongre says he’s “praying the treatment should come to us.”

But experts say the one-time treatment is out of reach in India and Africa — places where the disease is most common. Vast inequities cut much of the world off from gene therapy in general.

While access to all sorts of medicine is limited in developing countries, the problem is especially acute with these therapies, some of the most expensive treatments in the world.

Beyond their sky-high prices, these therapies are extremely complex to give patients because they require long hospitalizations, sophisticated medical equipment and specially trained doctors. So far, the two gene therapies for sickle cell have only been approved in wealthier countries: both in the U.S., and one in Britain and Bahrain as well.

“The vast, vast majority of patients live in an area where they have no access to this kind of therapy,” said Dr. Benjamin Watkins, who treats sickle cell at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. “We as medical professionals, and as a society, have to think about that.”

Access to gene therapies was a major focus of this year’s international summit on human genome editing in London. A subsequent editorial in the journal Nature said high prices leave low- and middle-income countries “entirely in the lurch” and could stymie progress across the field.

Some scientists worry that new cures won’t reach their potential, future treatments may never be invented and the prospect of wiping out diseases like sickle cell will remain a distant dream.

STRUGGLING FOR BASIC TREATMENT

For gene therapy to even be an option, people in developing nations must stay alive long enough to get it. There, sickle cell disease is more likely to disable or kill than in wealthy regions. Late diagnosis is common and basic care can be hard to come by.

Sickle cell disease affects hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A genetic mutation causes the cells to become crescent-shaped, which can block blood flow and cause problems such as excruciating pain and organ damage.

Global estimates of how many people have the disease vary, but some researchers put the number between 6 million and 8 million — with more than 1 million in India and more than 5 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dongre, who lives in Nagpur in central India, has seen the struggles in his own family and among people he’s met as a leader of India’s National Alliance of Sickle Cell Organizations.

He recalled how his newborn son Girish cried constantly from stomach and leg pain. Doctors didn’t diagnose him with sickle cell for 2 1/2 years. When their daughter Sumedha was born, he and his wife had her tested immediately and learned she had the disease too.

Available treatments can reduce the bouts of pain known as “crises.” Dongre’s children, now 19 and 13, take hydroxyurea, a decades-old chemo drug that helps prevent the formation of sickle-shaped red blood cells and control the disease.

Other patients in rural areas are dying at very young ages without getting the right treatments, Dongre said.

The situation is much the same in East Africa’s Tanzania.

Mazeze scrambled for information after her son, Ian Harely, was diagnosed.

“I Googled and Googled and I couldn’t sleep,” said Mazeze, executive director of the Tanzania Sickle Cell Warriors Organization. “After that, I was praying. It was God and Google.”

Her son is now 10 and takes hydroxyurea and folic acid for anemia. They’ve helped, but haven’t eliminated pain episodes.

Still, Mazeze counts herself lucky she can afford treatment at all. She said some in Tanzania can’t even pay for folic acid, which costs less than a dollar.

‘SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES’

Such stark realities make the cost of gene therapies an insurmountable obstacle, experts say. The price tags for the two sickle cell therapies in the U.S. are $3.1 million and $2.2 million although costs can vary by country.

The process of giving the therapies is just as big a hurdle. Patients must go to the hospital, where stem cells are removed from their blood. One treatment, made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics, involves quickly sending the cells to a lab and using a gene-editing tool called CRISPR to knock out a gene.

The other therapy, made by Bluebird Bio, doesn’t use CRISPR but involves the same process for patients. They must undergo chemotherapy before they get back their altered cells, and spend weeks in the hospital. The process can stretch on for months.

“There’s great unmet need, but there are also significant challenges,” said Dr. David Altshuler, chief scientific officer at Vertex.

Scientists are working to make easier-to-administer versions of the new therapies. Altshuler’s team is trying to develop a pill that wouldn’t edit genes but would have the same goal: helping the body produce a fetal form of hemoglobin since the adult form is defective in people with sickle cell.

But experts say simpler cures will likely still be unaffordable to many, so foundations and governments will be instrumental in getting them to patients.

If the gene therapy eventually makes it to India, Dongre would like his children to be among the first to get it. Mazeze said she may wait to see how other patients fare but will consider it for her son too.

Both agreed it should be an option in all countries — rich or poor.

“We all are part of one single planet,” Dongre said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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ATLANTA, Ga. and WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 14, 2023 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Distinguished climate activist and founder of the HBCU Green Fund, Felicia Davis, took center stage at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, making groundbreaking announcements that underscore the organization’s commitment to global climate action and youth empowerment.

In a momentous press conference, Davis announced the official opening of the HBCU Green Fund’s new Africa office in Senegal and revealed plans for the third annual Pre-COP Africa, African American Youth Climate Summit, set to take place in Dakar in June 2024.

“Establishing a significant presence in Africa positions HBCU Green Fund to give voice to people most impacted by climate change and help to cultivate innovative youth leadership,” Davis commented.

Cheikhou Thiome, HBCU Green Fund’s Africa director, adds, “Our Pre-COP29 summit will bring young leaders, activists, and innovators from the United States and across Africa together in Dakar, Senegal to engage in constructive dialogues, share insights, and ignite climate action.”

HBCU Green Fund’s Managing Director Illai Kenney shared insights into the organization’s extensive involvement at COP28, with eight delegates from the United States credentialed through partner Omega Institute, and network representatives from 12 African countries. Kenney emphasized the HBCU Green Fund’s dedication to empowering future leaders through supporting youth-led projects in Africa and the U.S.

“We have a unique Eco Spring Break program that is a service-learning experience connecting HBCU students with peers in West Africa that involves hands-on environmental restoration projects. The program offers students, faculty, and alumni the chance to plant trees, dig wells, plant gardens and gain firsthand experience in addressing environmental challenges,” said Kenney.

Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, executive vice president, National Wildlife Federation; Hussein Kassim, Ghana project director; Sharon Gakii Mureithi, Kenya project director, and Denise Ayebare, Uganda local youth coordinator joined Davis, Kenney and Thiome for the press conference.

In addition to the press conference, HBCU Green Fund delegates actively contributed to multiple COP28 side events. Davis delivered a powerful keynote speech at the Uganda Pavilion emphasizing the role of youth in addressing the climate crisis. She also participated in a panel discussion with Dr. Ali at the Kenya Pavilion and Lucky Abeng, a coordinator from Nigeria, organized a conversation that included contributions from Davis and Mithika Mwenda, executive director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance. Davis also contributed to side events organized by young climate leaders from Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania.

Another member of the delegation, Pamela Fann of Impact Energy, moderated a discussion about the energy transition with Davis as a panelist. Fann also coordinated sessions for partner organization, Harambee House/Center for Environmental Justice, featuring renowned environmental justice leader and executive director, Dr. Mildred McClain.

Young leaders in the HBCU Green Fund delegation played a pivotal role in several youth events. Kenney, a former youth activist and the youngest speaker at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in South Africa in 2002, spoke about cultivating young leaders at the launch of the Stone Soup for a Sustainable World Curriculum. She also organized and facilitated the HBCU Green Fund’s day-long workshop and 2024 strategy session for youth delegates. The workshop included a briefing by the founder of the Chisholm Legacy Project, Jacqui Patterson, along with her team, on the Global Afro-Descendant Climate Justice Collaborative.

In response to the overall outcome of COP28 Davis says, “A stronger commitment to phasing out fossil fuels remains a reach, however, acknowledging the need to transition away from fossil fuels is still a small step forward. Ultimately, it is action rather than rhetoric that will make the difference for vulnerable communities already impacted by climate change.” She continued, “The HBCU Green Fund’s impactful presence at COP28 reflects its commitment to global climate action, sustainability, and empowering the next generation of leaders in the fight against climate change.”

For more information on the HBCU Green Fund, Sustainable Africa Network, or the 2024 Pre-COP Africa, African American Youth Climate Summit, visit: https://hbcugreenfund.org/  or check for @hbcugreenfund on social media.

MULTIMEDIA:

PHOTO link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/23-1214-s2p-hbcucop28-300dpi.jpg

Photo caption: COP28 d – 

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Sponsored content by GBMC HealthCare

Pregnancy causes natural changes in the body. And for child-bearing people who don’t know what to expect when expecting, it can be difficult to determine what is a normal change and what needs closer medical attention.

Hypertension is fairly common during pregnancy—1 in every 12 to 17 pregnancies to be exact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Defined as having a systolic blood pressure reading (the top number) of 140 or higher and a diastolic blood pressure reading (the bottom number) of 90 or higher, hypertension, if left untreated, can be harmful to parent and baby.

Photo courtesy of Bing Images

“During pregnancy, there’s a lot more blood flow involved. So, if you have long-standing hypertension, it can lead to impaired functioning of the heart, cardiac problems like congestive heart failure or peripartum cardiomyopathy, which is a specific heart condition during pregnancy where the heart is not able to keep up with the increased volume of blood volume,” Aneesha Varrey, MD, maternal fetal medicine specialist and high risk obstetrician at Perinatal Associates at GBMC Health Partners, said. “In terms of the baby, the placental blood flow can be compromised in a woman with hypertension, which can lead to impaired growth of baby and therefore lead to a preterm birth.”

Women might already have high blood pressure before becoming pregnant or develop it during pregnancy. Either way, the interventions are the same. Dr. Varrey recommends lifestyle changes such as 30 minutes of aerobic exercise daily and lowering salt intake. There are also medications safe for pregnancy that help to stabilize blood pressure.

“One medication we give for women with high blood pressure prior to pregnancy or women who are at increased risk of preeclampsia is baby aspirin, which we start at 12 weeks,” Dr. Varrey said. “It reduces the risk of hypertension developing into preeclampsia by 40%.”

If high blood pressure suddenly develops after 20 weeks, that is referred to as preeclampsia or gestational hypertension. It is an important distinction because preeclampsia is a more serious condition associated with high blood pressure as well as increased protein in the urine and impact on other organs. Pregnant women who have hypertension are at higher risk for preeclampsia, but it is not a certainty.

“In the first two trimesters, blood pressure naturally drops during pregnancy for everyone, so hypertensive women may not require as many medications during the first two trimesters,” Dr. Varrey said. “During the third trimester, blood pressure starts to go up again, and that’s when we usually have to go up on the medications to make sure they don’t develop preeclampsia.”

Pregnant women diagnosed with hypertension should expect to visit with their obstetrician more regularly to check in and be monitored, but the frequency depends on how high their blood pressure is. Dr. Varrey also said that while she and her team do not typically recommend early induction for a traditional pregnancy, this would be different.

“For chronic hypertension, if they’re on medications, we usually recommend an induction by 39 weeks,” Dr. Varrey said. “After that, the risk of stillbirth and abruption increase. At 39 weeks, the baby is fully developed, and we have very good data that shows induction at 39 weeks does not increase risk of cesarean section or any other harmful outcomes.”

Knowing what to expect is step one, and then, advocate for what you need. The best thing pregnant women can do to protect their health and their baby’s health is monitor symptoms, advocate for tests and interventions, and get a second opinion if they feel needs are getting dismissed. Pregnancy can be a new challenge, but now you know what to expect.

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By Lindsay Whitehurst and Alanna Durkin Richer
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A jury awarded $148 million in damages on Dec. 15 to two former Georgia election workers who sued Rudy Giuliani for defamation over lies he spread about them in 2020 that upended their lives with racist threats and harassment.

The damages verdict follows emotional testimony from Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who tearfully described becoming the target of a false conspiracy theory pushed by Giuliani and other Republicans as they tried to keep then-President Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.

There was an audible gasp in the courtroom when the jury foreperson read aloud the $75 million award in punitive damages for the women. Moss and Freeman were each awarded another roughly $36 million in other damages.

“Money will never solve all my problems,” Freeman told reporters outside Washington’s federal courthouse after the verdict. “I can never move back into the house that I call home. I will always have to be careful about where I go and who I choose to share my name with. I miss my home. I miss my neighbors and I miss my name.”

Giuliani didn’t appear to show any emotion as the verdict was read after about 10 hours of deliberations. Moss and Freeman hugged their attorneys after the jury left the courtroom and didn’t look at Giuliani as he left with his lawyer.

The former New York City mayor vowed to appeal, telling reporters that the “absurdity of the number merely underscores the absurdity of the entire proceeding.”

“It will be reversed so quickly it will make your head spin, and the absurd number that just came in will help that actually,” he said.

It’s not clear whether Giuliani will ever be able to pay the staggering amount. He had already been showing signs of financial strain as he defends himself against costly lawsuits and investigations stemming from his representation of Trump. In September, his former lawyer sued him, alleging Giuliani had paid only a fraction of nearly $1.6 million in legal fees he racked up.

His attorney in the defamation case told jurors that the damages the women were seeking “would be the end of Mr. Giuliani.”

Giuliani had already been found liable in the case and previously conceded in court documents that he falsely accused the women of ballot fraud. Even so, the former mayor continued to repeat his baseless allegations about the women in comments to reporters outside the Washington, D.C., courthouse this week.

Giuliani’s lawyer acknowledged that his client was wrong but insisted that Giuliani was not fully responsible for the vitriol the women faced. The defense sought to largely pin the blame on a right-wing website that published the surveillance video of the two women counting ballots.

Giuliani’s defense rested Dec. 14 without calling a single witness after the former mayor reversed course and decided not to take the stand. Giuliani’s lawyer had told jurors in his opening statement that they would hear from his client. But after Giuliani’s comments outside court, the judge barred him from claiming in testimony that his conspiracy theories were right.

The judgment adds to growing financial and legal peril for Giuliani, who was among the loudest proponents of Trump’s false claims of election fraud that are now a key part of the criminal cases against the former president.

Giuliani is still facing his biggest test yet: fighting criminal charges in the Georgia case accusing Trump and 18 others of working to subvert the results of the 2020 election, won by Democrat Joe Biden, in that state. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty and characterized the case as politically motivated.

Jurors in the defamation case heard recordings of Giuliani falsely accusing the election workers of sneaking in ballots in suitcases, counting ballots multiple times and tampering with voting machines. 

Trump also repeated the conspiracy theories through his social media accounts. Lawyers for Moss and Freeman, who are Black, also played for jurors audio recordings of the graphic and racist threats the women received.

On the witness stand, Moss and Freeman described fearing for their lives as hateful messages poured in. Freeman described strangers banging on her door and recounted fleeing her home after people came with bullhorns and the FBI told her she wasn’t safe. Moss told jurors she tried to change her appearance, seldom leaves her home and suffers from panic attacks.

“Our greatest wish is that no one, no election worker, or voter or school board member or anyone else ever experiences anything like what we went through,” Moss told reporters after the verdict. “You all matter, and you are all important.”

Defense attorney Joseph Sibley had told jurors they should compensate the women for what they are owed, but he urged them to “remember this is a great man.”

An attorney for Moss and Freeman, in his closing argument, highlighted how Giuliani has not stopped repeating the false conspiracy theory asserting the workers interfered in the November 2020 presidential election. Attorney Michael Gottlieb played a video of Giuliani outside the courthouse on Dec. 11, in which Giuliani falsely claimed the women were “engaged in changing votes.” Giuliani kept pressing false election claims even after the verdict, telling reporters, “I know my country had a president imposed on it by fraud.”

“Mr. Giuliani has shown over and over again he will not take our client’s names out of his mouth,” Gottlieb said. “Facts will not stop him. He says he isn’t sorry and he’s telegraphing he will do this again. Believe him.”

The judge overseeing the election workers’ lawsuit had already ordered Giuliani and his business entities to pay tens of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees. In holding Giuliani liable, the judge ruled that the former mayor gave “only lip service” to complying with his legal obligations while trying to portray himself as the victim in the case.

___

Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press reporter Michael Kunzelman contributed from Washington.

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By Dr. Stephanie Myers

We all know America was born into violence with genocide of the Native Americans, enslavement of millions of African people and violence against indentured poor White Europeans from England, Scotland and Ireland during the 1500’s-1800’s. Violence has been used as the preferred method of control, and is showcased regularly in movies, on nightly television, in video games, by law enforcement, gangs and through easy access to guns.

For 12 years, during the month of October, Black Women for Positive Change has sponsored annual days, weeks and months of non-violence, families, voters rights and opportunities. It is our belief that with the epidemic of violence still gripping the nation, America should be anxious for new approaches that can promote violence prevention, anger management, conflict resolution and de-escalation of violence. 

So far in 2023, the Gun Violence Archive reports that there have been more than 35,250 people who have died from gun violence this year– and 50 percent were suicides. However, in spite of our 12 years of outreach to governors, members of Congress, mayors and national leaders, there has been very little response to our efforts to start a violence prevention movement. 

Our nation needs a national grassroots movement with citizens and institutions from all sectors. 

Not everyone is turning a deaf ear. In September of 2023, President Joe Biden created the vital Office of Violence Prevention; and Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) are supporting our efforts, along with Everytown for Gun Safety, National Black Nurses Association, National Association for Community Mediation, 100 Fathers and some law enforcement and faith-based organizations. But this is not enough. 

In 2024 we must change the culture of violence in America, and the world, by urging use of new methods for peace and reconciliation. For example, this year during the Month of Non-Violence, we focused on “Restorative Justice Peace Circles” in schools and organizations. These peace circles provided adults and children with forums where they were able to honestly express anger, interact with peers, analyze their moods and to find ways to resolve conflicts without violence or suicide. 

This year, we engaged over 3,400 adults and children, in 84 activities including peace circles, in 15 U.S. States and eight overseas countries. Children in elementary schools in South Korea, Pittsburgh, Houston, the Ivory Coast of Africa and Nigeria, have had open non-judgmental discussions about anger they were feeling and how to resolve it. 

Global peace discussions were held with professionals in the USA, England, Scotland and Canada, where health professionals, educators and law enforcement personnel discussed how to stop domestic violence, and how to teach de-escalation of violence. There was even a session on the impact of artificial intelligence on society, and how it can be used to foster global peace.

As we hear daily news about violence increasing in the U.S. and overseas in Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, Sudan, Ethiopia and other countries, we are all alarmed. It is urgent that people come together to implement non-violence, non-militaristic solutions since history shows that more violence, increased punishment, expanded prisons and lack of mental health for suicidal adults and children, are not the answer. 

Let’s stop ignoring the discipline of violence prevention and start to overhaul the American culture of violence. We must advocate for funding for programs that establish peace circles in schools, make state and local Departments of Parks and Recreation safe centers of non-violence, and build on programs that teach the time-tested philosophies of Dr. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and other non-violent leaders. 

Sadly, much of the violence in our nation begins at the kitchen table and is the fault of law enforcement that commits violent acts against innocent people. Our children, adults and law enforcement must learn how to de-escalate violence and how to use different approaches to resolving disputes and anger, other than taking guns and shooting family members, co-workers, fellow students– or themselves.  

The year of 2024 will be the 13^th Year of Non-Violence, Families, Voters Rights and Opportunities. Will the readers of this article stop ignoring violence prevention and take leadership in their communities? 

If yes, contact us at Bkwomen4poschange@gmail.com or visit our website at www.blackwomenforpositivechange.org.

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The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta police have arrested a woman who’s accused of trying to burn down the birthplace of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta.

Officers arrested the 26-year-old woman around 5:45 p.m. Dec. 7 after responding to a report of vandalism in process at the two-story home in the historic Auburn Avenue Historic District, according to a police statement. Police say a preliminary investigation shows the woman had poured gasoline on the property before people at the site stopped her.

“We believe at this time she was pouring gasoline on the porch and the door of the home. Their quick action saved a jewel of our city, something very important to Atlanta,” Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum told WXIA-TV.

Video shot by a witness and broadcast by local television stations shows a young woman dressed in black pants, a black shirt and a black knit cap holding a large red gas canister standing on the front porch of the house and dousing the home with a liquid. A police report says she was not wearing any shoes.

Two men from Utah, who were in Atlanta for work, decided to visit the historic home and noticed the woman pouring a liquid on the bushes, according to the police report. They became suspicious when she did not respond when they asked if she was watering the plants and other questions.

Once they realized it was gasoline that she was pouring, they pleaded with her to stop and then “saw no other option but to try to apprehend her” with the help of other bystanders, the report says. As they tried to detain her, “she was actively trying to spark the lighter to the property and bushes so they had to remove it out of her hands and get her under control until police responded.”

“It was a little scary there for a minute because we didn’t know who she was,” one of the men, Zach Kempf, told WSB-TV. “We didn’t know if she had weapons on her, we didn’t know anything.”

The police report says the woman was taken to a hospital for a psychological evaluation. She’s charged with second-degree attempted arson and interference with government property. The historic site is now a museum owned and operated by the National Park Service.

“Tonight, an unfortunate incident occurred at the birth home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as an individual attempted to set fire to this historic property,” The King Center said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Fortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful, thanks to the brave intervention of good samaritans and the quick response of law enforcement.”

The statement from the nonprofit organization, which is dedicated to preserving the legacy of King and his wife Coretta Scott King, also said, “Our prayers are with the individual who allegedly committed this criminal act.”

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(Black PR Wire) WASHINGTON, D.C. – National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial and National Action Network Founder and President Rev. Al Sharpton today (Nov. 26) issued the following statement in response to the Federal Communication Commission’s vote to adopt rules to prevent and eliminate digital discrimination of access to broadband services based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin:

“Two years ago, Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which makes significant investments to close the digital divide and aligns with many of the recommendations outlined in the National Urban League’s Lewis Latimer Plan for Digital Equity and Inclusion. Congress said that ‘the digital divide disproportionately affects communities of color, lower-income areas, and rural areas, and the benefits of broadband should be broadly enjoyed by all’ and the FCC’s rules to prevent and eliminate digital discrimination move the nation closer to the goal of equitably closing digital divide in America.

“As legacy civil rights organizations who represent Black and other historically underserved communities, we have seen how the lack of inclusive and equitable policies have created barriers to accessing broadband which have hindered our communities’ ability to fully participate in an increasingly interconnected world. This vote by the FCC will place us on the course of ensuring all experience the social and economic benefits of high-speed internet access.

“Our organizations tirelessly advocated for both disparate impact and disparate treatment to be included in the definition of digital discrimination, for the Commission to explore paths for ISPs to create an internal compliance process to ensure that nondiscrimination principles are at the core of their business practices, and for the complaint process to be accessible so that it benefits consumers and not just well-resourced institutions, all of which were ultimately reflected in the FCC’s Report and Order and 

Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Wednesday.

“We commend FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel for her continued engagement and thoughtful partnership with the civil rights community in the fight for digital equity. We are also thankful for the leadership of FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks who has been a consistent leader, including in this proceeding, on issues that matter to communities of color and who made recommendations that the Commission extend deliberations about the establishment of an Office of Civil Rights, which has been a longtime advocacy goal for our community.”

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By George Townsend 
Special to the AFRO

Your birth certificate is one of the most important identification documents you have – containing vital information about you, your birth and your family. It is important that your birth certificate has accurate information. Often, many Marylanders need to change some of the details on their birth certificate, either because of an error at the time the certificate was created or because of a subsequent change in their name or gender identity.

This article discusses common issues related to birth certificates and how to make changes to your important identification documents. 

Name Change

The most common change to a person’s birth certificate is when an individual legally changes their name or the name of their child. As a general rule, the quickest and easiest birth certificate changes are those that occur within one year of a child’s birth. Parents of a newborn child may change the name of their child one time within the first year after birth without having to obtain a court order. All parents listed on the child’s birth certificate must submit a written request to the Maryland Department of Health along with a sworn and notarized affidavit attesting that they are the child’s true parents and are making the name change of their own free will.

For adults and children over 1 year of age, the process to change a name on a birth certificate requires a court order. A petition must be filed in the Circuit Court of the county in which the person resides, accompanied by a copy of the birth certificate to be amended. There will be a time period for anyone to object to the name change, which will require a court hearing on whether the name change is proper. After the hearing, or after the objection period ends, if there is no objection the court will typically enter an order granting the name change. A name change will be denied if it was attempted for fraudulent purposes or to infringe on the rights of some other person.

For a parent attempting to change the name of a child over 1 year of age, additional documentation is required. The petition would require the consent of the other parent, if there is one on the birth certificate. If the child is over 10 years old, the child must also consent to the change.

Misspelled Name

When a name is misspelled on a birth certificate, the mistake can be corrected without having to hold a hearing. For a child under 7 years of age, the Vital Statistics Administration merely needs a notarized letter correcting the mistake, either from the parent, hospital or attendant at birth (or a notarized physician’s office record indicating the correct name). For a person 7 years of age or older, the correct spelling must be shown on at least two documents from a list of approved sources, including hospital, school or employment records.

Parent Information

Parental information may also be corrected in a manner similar to name changes. The Vital Statistics Administration merely needs to receive from the parent their birth certificate, church or school records, or some other pertinent record approved by the Secretary of the Department of Health.

Gender Change

A person may change the sex listed on their Maryland birth certificate by providing the Vital Statistics Administration with either 1) a signed statement from a licensed health care provider attesting that the person is receiving gender-affirming treatment or is intersex, or 2) a court order indicating that the person’s sex has been changed. In any case, the Vital Statistics Administration can only amend certificates for individuals born in Maryland. Maryland residents born elsewhere would need to review the requirements of the state that issued their original birth certificate.

Amending or correcting a birth certificate can be an important step in acquiring vital identification documents, accessing government or educational programs and affirming name and gender identities. If you have questions about the process, contact the Vital Statistics Administration or consult with an attorney about the options available to you.

George Townsend is a workforce development attorney at Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service. To learn more or get assistance, visit mvlslaw.org. 

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WRITTEN BY: Chiara Sottile

Dr. Desi Small-Rodriguez calls her traveling data science lab her “Data War Pony.” It’s a huge trailer—a classroom on wheels equipped with computers and software, wrapped with ledger art by Dakota artist Holly Young. Small-Rodriguez, researcher, data advocate, and professor, rolls up to tribal communities in the lab (by invitation) to support the collection and analysis of data.

The Data War Pony is instrumental to Small-Rodriguez’s Data Warriors Lab, which carries out work “by Indigenous Peoples for Indigenous Peoples on tribal lands,” she explained in an email to Stacker. These efforts include collecting and analyzing all sorts of data, such as language repositories, health assessments, demographic and economic surveys, and even fish counts.

Small-Rodriguez is a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation and Chicana, as well as an assistant professor of Sociology and American Indian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is also part of a growing renaissance of Native American “data warriors.”

American Indians and Alaska Natives face systematic undercounting, inaccuracies, and exclusion from data gathering, leading to a loss of resources. Stacker conducted interviews, consulted research, and explored how Indigenous data warriors are fighting for data sovereignty: the right and ability of tribes to develop their own systems for gathering and using data.

A relatively small population compared to the U.S., American Indians and Alaska Natives are excluded from data collection due to collection errors and small sample sizes, but also because the very systems used to count Indigenous peoples are built on inequity and a misunderstanding of Indigenous populations.

There is no statistical data standard to govern the collection and reporting of AI/AN population data across federal agencies, nor is there a mandate for state or federal agencies to collect race/ethnicity information.

Exclusion from data is ‘data genocide’

Communities can’t get the resources they need if there’s inaccurate data—or no data at all—to show how they are faring. At its worst, this exclusion from data is a practice Small-Rodriguez and other Indigenous scholars consider a form of “data genocide.”

Take the gathering of race and ethnicity data in the COVID-19 pandemic as an example.

Abigail Echo-Hawk, an enrolled citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, is also a data warrior in this growing revolution. She is the executive vice president of the Seattle Indian Health Board and director of the Urban Indian Health Institute. As part of its work to decolonize data, UIHI looked specifically at COVID-19 racial data collected and analyzed during the pandemic to create a national Data Genocide Report Card.

AI/AN populations suffered disproportionately from COVID-19. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, which relied on a limited number of participating states, AI/AN communities were infected with COVID-19 3.5 times more often and died nearly twice as often as non-Hispanic white people.

The report noted that half of the COVID-19 cases reported as of Sept. 16, 2020, were missing race and ethnicity data altogether. It gave the U.S. an overall grade of D+. This lack of data prevented AI/AN populations from receiving comparable resources to fight the disease.

“Wherever we are not in the data, that means we are not getting the resources that are mandated in our treaties,” Echo-Hawk explained in an interview with Stacker, referring to the responsibility of the U.S. government to protect tribes and provide resources. Given that Indigenous populations are so often at risk in terms of social determinants that lead to health consequences, such as poverty and food insecurity, having accurate data is critical.

In another example, when the CDC published maternal mortality rates in 2021, the report left out American Indians and Alaska Natives “because they said they didn’t have enough data,” according to Echo-Hawk. “They could have used another statistical technique in order to aggregate multiple years.”

Instead, when Congress discussed the findings, American Indians and Alaska Natives were “just left out altogether, even though the data would have shown very high incidents of maternal mortality” in AI/AN populations, said Echo-Hawk.

For American Indians and Alaska Natives, being left out of data is nothing new. Indigenous peoples have even been coined as an “Asterisk Nation” by the National Congress of American Indians because, instead of data, American Indians and Alaska Natives are so often excluded and displayed merely as an asterisk.

While being repeatedly left out of the national conversation is hurtful and inaccurate—like when CNN used the term “something else” to refer to voters who did not identify as white, Latinx, Black, or Asian on election night 2020— it also has profound funding implications for tribes.

Census counts are used to calculate federal funding formulas and vital services allocations to American Indian tribes. For example, in fiscal year 2022, the Department of Housing and Urban Development distributed $772 million to tribes through the Indian Housing Block Grant, an amount determined using Census population data.

By the Census Bureau’s own admission, the 2020 Census, like the 2010 Census before it, undercounted American Indians and Alaska Natives. According to the Census Bureau’s Post Enumeration Survey, the 2020 Census undercounted American Indians and Alaska Natives living on reservation lands by an estimated 5.6% (up from 4.9% in the previous Census).

“Thousands and thousands of Northern Cheyenne were undercounted in the Census,” Small-Rodriguez said, referring to her tribe. “That in itself is an act of erasure and genocide. And that is the norm.”

Small-Rodriguez worked on the Census National Advisory Committee in the lead-up to the 2020 Census and is still working on connecting tribal enrollment records and government agency records. However, sharing that data is tricky because tribes are sovereign nations.

Small-Rodriguez wrote in an email: “It requires a lot of trust between tribes and the federal government though—which we know is hard to come by—because tribes would essentially need to turn over their enrollment data with tribal citizen names, DOB , and other confidential information in order to construct a big data set…”

The ‘purposeful erasure’ of Indigenous data

Echo-Hawk calls the numerous examples of “purposeful erasure” not an accident of data science, but a virus built into the system. According to the UIHI: “…the scarcity of data on AI/AN is not by chance but rather a continuation of systemic and repeated attempts at elimination.”

The exclusion of Native Americans from data goes back to the founding of this country.

Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution mandates a census every 10 years to determine congressional representation and the allocation of resources. But the U.S. government explicitly excluded American Indians for more than 100 years until the passage of the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act.

Hundreds of years of federal policy intentionally and violently excluded and marginalized Indigenous peoples. The U.S. removed Native Americans from their homelands, forced them onto reservations, into the boarding school system, and subjected them to oppressive assimilation policies by the federal government.

For example, the design of the 1887 General Allotment Act (or the Dawes Act) was to “civilize” Native Americans by taking land held in common by tribes and parceling it out to individuals. While it was allegedly to delineate Native American property rights, in reality, it was a massive land grab by settlers. Native Americans lost as much as 90 million acres of their land.

Blood quantum and statistics were designed to ‘break’ Native people

The U.S. has used the collection of vital statistics, like birth and death records, to “break Native people into fractions,” Echo-Hawk said. Since its implementation in the late 1800s, the U.S. government has used blood quantum, or proportion of Indian blood—in a similar manner as the U.S. used the “one drop rule” for Black people.

By measuring “Indian-ness” using fractions of Indian blood, the U.S. government hoped to eventually discount any Native American who failed to meet the minimum requirement. In doing so, the U.S. government sought to systematically use the construct of race so Native Americans would eventually breed themselves out.

“They broke Native people down by fractions to make Natives go away,” Echo-Hawk explained.

In her work with federal agencies, Echo-Hawk often comes across data that lumps AI/AN into an “other” category, undercounts tribes, and excludes anyone identifying as multiracial from data.

Without realizing the country created those systems “more than a hundred years ago to eliminate Native people so they didn’t have to fulfill their treaty responsibilities or allocate resources or land,” researchers continue working within these parameters “because that’s how they’ve always done it,” Echo-Hawk said.

That’s why Echo-Hawk is working to improve the collection and analysis of Indigenous data not just in public health and epidemiology, but also in other areas like criminal justice.

“The Violence Against Women Act says resources are supposed to be dedicated to those most impacted by crime. Native people are most impacted, but if there’s no data on it, the resources don’t have to be allocated,” Echo-Hawk said.

For example, tracking how many Indigenous women have been kidnapped or murdered is impossible unless information about race and tribal affiliation is collected in a culturally appropriate way.

In Washington state, Echo-Hawk worked directly with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to change how law enforcement officers gather information about victims and family members when a case is referred for prosecution. Law enforcement does not usually collect tribal affiliation data, but Echo-Hawk helped the county realize the vast holes in their data. They now share information with local tribes, a partnership she hopes to replicate nationwide.

Data collected in partnership with tribes, as opposed to extracted from them, “can make an active difference in the [Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women] crisis and in ending data genocide,” Echo-Hawk said.

On the other hand, data extraction done without the consultation of tribes deepens mistrust between data researchers and Indigenous peoples.

In 1989, for example, the Havasupai Tribe approached an Arizona State University anthropologist to assist the tribe with an epidemic of diabetes in their community. However, the blood collected from more than 200 tribal members was used to study schizophrenia without consent from the tribe. It took a legal battle to get the blood samples returned.

This misuse of the blood of tribal members underscores the importance of honoring the “history, culture, values, and wishes when engaging in research with that community,” particularly given the fact that blood holds unique cultural and spiritual value to the Havasupai, as the Center for American Indian Community Health laid out in a 2013 paper published by the American Journal of Public Health.

The Havasupai believe that in death, a person cannot pass to the next world unless all their possessions are buried with them. Keeping their blood samples in a laboratory would have prevented them from moving on spiritually. Furthermore, some tribal members chose not to seek treatment for their diabetes later in life due to the fear and mistrust stemming from the “diabetes project.”

Indigenous peoples have always been data gatherers

The Lakota and Blackfeet tribes made counts of tribal citizens, allies, enemies, wild game, and lodges on animal hides, Small-Rodriguez noted in “Building a Data Revolution in Indian Country,” her chapter in the 2016 book “Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Toward an Agenda.”

But what Indigenous peoples empirically used for survival became an instrument of colonization. It is telling that the U.S. government established the Bureau of Indian Affairs, responsible for “the civilization of the Indians” inside the War Department.

“Indigenous data engagement in the United States is inextricably tied to the subjugation of American Indians and federal policies of Indian extermination and assimilation,” Small-Rodriguez wrote.

Later, the U.S. moved the BIA to the Department of the Interior.

“Then, when they stopped classifying us as enemies, they now classify us alongside the parks and minerals. It’s parks, minerals, and Indians,” Small-Rodriguez said.

The ‘data revolution’ is gaining momentum

While the BIA is still housed within the DOI, the fight for data sovereignty is gaining new momentum.

“Now we are seeing a new generation in Indian Country who are really starting to take the initiative to do the work,” Small-Rodriguez said. She points to the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative launched by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in 2021.

Haaland, who is Laguna Pueblo, is the first Native American Cabinet secretary, and this initiative is quantifying the loss of Indigenous life in Indian boarding schools. While that work is ongoing, the DOI has already detailed, for the first time, that more than 500 Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children died attending Indian boarding schools in the U.S.

For data warriors like Small-Rodriguez, this report is a step in the right direction for data sovereignty.

“We have to have the data and put it in their faces so they can reckon with what they have done to us and our grandparents and our children. The power of data is to be able to be this mirror,” Small-Rodriguez said. “This is what you did to us, and you have irrefutable evidence now. Look at yourselves. And that’s how you start to dismantle and rebuild relationships.”

With that shared goal in mind, Echo-Hawk is working tirelessly to duplicate victories in data gathering and sharing across the country. She is also working to develop a technical and in-depth framework for best practices in data collection for use at large.

Meanwhile, Small-Rodriguez is planning a summit in 2024 for the U.S. Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network, which she co-founded. The gathering will bring together Indigenous peoples and allies leading the charge on this data sovereignty revolution, hashing out the priorities for Indigenous data governance in the U.S.

As Small-Rodriguez wrote, “All Indigenous data must start and end with Indigenous Peoples. Period.”

Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn.

The article has been re-published pursuant to a CC BY-NC 4.0 License – original article can be found here

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By Curt Anderson and Chris O’Meara

The Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A man has been arrested in Tampa, Fla., in a mass shooting that erupted during Halloween festivities early Oct. 29. Two people were killed and 18 injured, police said.

At least two shooters opened fire just before 3 a.m. in the Ybor City area, Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said during a news conference at the scene. Later Oct. 29 he said detectives arrested Tyrell Stephen Phillips, 22, in connection with the shooting. He was charged with second-degree murder with a firearm.

“My heart goes out to the families,” Bercaw said in a news briefing posted online. He called the gun violence “extremely tragic” and said police would not tolerate it.

Earlier, authorities said one suspect was in custody and at least one other was being sought, but Bercaw did not immediately say later Oct. 29 whether police were seeking anyone else after Phillips’ arrest.

“We make arrests quickly,” Bercaw said in the briefing. “We have a sense of urgency and if you are going to be out there with a gun, you are going to pay for it.”

It was not immediately known if Phillips had an attorney, and he remained jailed pending an initial court appearance Oct. 30, according to officials and local reports.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, a former city police chief, lamented that Tampa was the focus of national attention for “yet another shooting in our country.”

“We’ve got to say, as a country, that enough is enough,” she said.

The early morning fight occurred in an area with several bars and clubs that was once the center of Tampa’s cigar industry. In more recent years, the area has been known for its lively nightlife, and Tampa police spokeswoman Jonee Lewis said “hundreds” of people were on the streets at the time of Sunday’s shootings because numerous nightspots had just closed.

Police had not released the names of those killed, but Emmitt Wilson said his 14-year-old son, Elijah, was one of the fatalities. Wilson came to the scene Oct. 29 after getting a call that his son was a victim.

“It’s madness to me. I don’t even feel like I’m here right now,” Wilson said. “I hope the investigators do their job.”

Video posted online shows people, many in Halloween costumes, drinking and talking on the street when about a dozen shots ring out followed seconds later by about eight more. A stampede ensued, with some people toppling over metal tables and taking cover behind them. Video from the aftermath shows police officers treating several people lying wounded on the ground.

“It was a disturbance or a fight between two groups. And in this fight between two groups we had hundreds of innocent people involved that were in the way,” Bercaw said.

He did not provide details of the injuries suffered by the victims taken to area hospitals. Authorities later said most of those hurt were treated and released.

Police are still investigating the reason for the fight between the two groups, he said.

Castor blamed the latest shootings on easy access to guns.

“Yet again, a senseless loss of life by those choosing to settle a dispute with firearms. Lives lost and others forever changed. To what end?” Castor asked. “The Tampa Police Department had 50 officers deployed in the area at the time, so this is not a law enforcement issue.

The scene of the shooting was quiet Oct. 29 as officers had the area blocked off. Roosters that roam the historic Ybor City streets wandered among empty cups, beer bottles and shoes left behind.

Two young women who came to the scene Sunday morning said they decided not to go to Ybor City the night before because of the crowds.

“We know how Ybor gets,” said Minna Cohen, a 23-year-old recent University of Tampa graduate. “A lot of crime happens here often. You sometimes know not to go to certain places.”

Her friend, 21-year-old Carolina Londoner, said when the bars all close in the early morning hours the streets are packed and unruly.

“When everyone comes together it gets messy, and it’s that way all night,” she said.

___

AP writer Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., contributed to this report.

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By Megan Sayles

AFRO Business Writer

msayles@afro.com

The Greater Baltimore region has become a federally-designated tech hub for biotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI). President Biden designated 31 communities across the U.S. as Regional Innovation and Technology Hubs on Oct. 23 as part of the CHIPS and Science Act.

The hubs are tasked with driving investment in technologies that are critical to the country’s economic growth, national security, job creation and global competitiveness. Baltimore’s tech hub will be led by the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC).

“From a personal level, this is one of the highlights of my life. From a professional standpoint, I’m super committed to GBC providing economic leadership that has been missing from the region,” said Mark Anthony Thomas, president and CEO of GBC. “To me, this is a win toward building the trust locally that we can do that.”

GBC oversaw the application process for this designation, engaging more than 30 stakeholder organizations in the Greater Baltimore region for the bid. The consortium included local institutions, like Morgan State University (MSU), Fearless, Digital Harbor Foundation, Fulton Bank and Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

 The focus areas for the bid were AI and biotechnology. In the application, GBC leaned into the city being poised to lead in predictive health technologies, which analyze past health care data to identify patterns and improve health outcomes.

The nonprofit expects that this technology will create 52,000 jobs in the region by 2030.

“We realized that those were two themes that had a consistent thread through community colleges, HBCUs and research institutions and in the private sector and government. Now, we’re allowed to put those ideas in front of the federal government and see where there is willingness to put money behind them,” said Thomas. “What distinguished us among the 400 applicants was that our technology and our focus had the potential to have the economic impact that the federal government wants to see.”

Now that Greater Batimore has been given the designation, GBC and its consortium will initiate phase two of the program. This will involve competing for up to $75 million in funding to operationalize biotechnology and AI projects that will propel economic development and sustainability in the area.

“I’m extremely proud of the 38 consortium members who came together. It is not easy bringing a wide range of partners to the table,” said LaToya Staten, director of impact at Fearless. “This is not just about Baltimore, it’s about the region. It’s really exciting to get this designation.”

She thinks leveraging the region’s robust research institutions, like MSU and JHU, will be key to future projects.

“As Governor Moore says, we’ve always been asset rich and strategy poor,” said Staten. “This allows us to really gather Greater Baltimore to put together a good, collective strategy for showing the rest of the country that Baltimore is here, and we are one of the top tech hubs.”

Megan Sayles is a Report For America corps member.

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By Sophia Tareen

Associated Press

An Illinois landlord accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy and seriously wounding his mother was charged with a hate crime after police and relatives said he singled out the victims because of their faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

In recent days, police in U.S. cities and federal authorities have been on high alert for violence driven by antisemitic or Islamophobic sentiments. FBI officials, along with Jewish and Muslim groups, have reported an increase of hateful and threatening rhetoric.

In the Chicago-area case, officers found the 32-year-old woman and boy late in the morning on Oct. 14 at a home in an unincorporated area of Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on social media. 

Relatives and a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group identified the slain boy as the wounded woman’s son.

This article was originally published by the Associated Press.

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Black think tank hopes results will provide guidance to policymakers

(Black PR Wire) WASHINGTON — The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies released the first in a series of survey results — “Building a More Inclusive Agenda: A Survey of Congressional Priorities Across Race” — that tracks what Americans say Congress should prioritize.

As part of its Data for Black America Project, the Joint Center partnered with NORC at the University of Chicago to survey more than 1,200 Americans across race and ethnicity to understand the importance of priorities for members of Congress. Americans were surveyed on policies related to racial equity, jobs and skills training, tax policy, and regulating technology. The Joint Center will be releasing topical survey results over the next several weeks.

With the 118th Congress being the most diverse in history — about 25 percent identify as people of color — the governing body has the power to produce more inclusive legislation that better represents the 41 percent of the American population who identify as people of color. As Congress works on several priorities through the end of the year, most immediately passing a federal budget to avert a government shutdown, the Joint Center is releasing the survey results to inform members of what Americans say they should be prioritizing.

“Members of this increasingly diverse Congress must work together to enact more inclusive policies to benefit Americans across race and ethnicity. Given the various important policy priorities before this Congress, we wanted to hear what Americans across differing races and ethnicities believe should be top priorities for members of Congress. The survey results should be a guiding light for Congress to shift its priorities to what the American people need,” said Jessica Fulton, interim president and vice president of policy for the Joint Center.

Dr. LaShonda Brenson, senior researcher at the Joint Center who leads the think tank’s Hill Diversity work, said, “Through our series of survey results, Congress can see what the American public wants them to prioritize. The results are a call to action — a fundamental principle of democratic governance for Congress to represent the interests and voices of their constituents.”

Respondents were asked to evaluate several issue areas in terms of their level of importance, categorizing them as a top priority, an important but lower priority, not too important a priority, or something that should not be done. Topline results include:

• Over half (52 percent) of all respondents felt that ensuring every American has the right to vote should be a top priority for members of Congress, making it the top priority of all policy issues surveyed.
• Black respondents (58 percent) are more likely than White respondents (53 percent), Asian-Pacific Islander, multiracial, other non-Hispanic respondents (50 percent) and Hispanic respondents (44 percent) to believe that every American has the right to vote should be a top priority for members of Congress.
• Nearly half (49 percent) ranked increasing the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and ensuring that employers pay wages that keep up with the cost of necessities as a top priority.
• Black respondents (62 percent) are significantly more likely than Asian-Pacific Islander, multiracial, other non-Hispanic respondents (52 percent), and White and Hispanic respondents (both 47 percent) to believe that increasing the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and ensuring that employers pay wages that keep up with the cost of necessities as a top priority.
• Forty-eight percent of respondents ranked reducing the federal deficit as a top priority.
• White respondents (51 percent) are more likely than Black respondents (46 percent), Asian-Pacific Islander, multiracial, other non-Hispanic respondents (45 percent) and Hispanic respondents (37 percent) to rank reducing the federal deficit as a top priority.
• Only 15 percent of respondents say that passing legislation to take away funding from the IRS should be a top priority.
• Black respondents (21 percent) are more likely than Asian-Pacific Islander, multiracial, other non-Hispanic respondents (18 percent), white respondents (15 percent) and Hispanic respondents (13 percent) to say that passing legislation to take away funding from the IRS should be a top priority.
• Fifteen percent of respondents say that regulating companies’ use of technology to make decisions about job interviews and loans should be a top priority.
• Black respondents (28 percent) are more likely than Asian-Pacific Islander, multiracial, other non-Hispanic respondents (22 percent), Hispanic respondents (17 percent) and White respondents (12 percent) to say that regulating companies’ use of technology to make decisions about job interviews and loans should be a top priority.

Data from more than 1,200 Americans was collected online between Jan. 26-30, 2023 using NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel. The Data for Black America Project aims to inform decision-makers about the challenges Black Americans face and provide scholars with valuable data to use in the future. This initiative will periodically field surveys and conduct focus groups on various economic and political issues of particular relevance to Black communities.

To read the full analysis, click here.

About the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, America’s Black think tank, provides compelling and actionable policy solutions to eradicate persistent and evolving barriers to the full freedom of Black people in America. We are the trusted forum for leading experts and scholars to participate in major public policy debates and promote ideas that advance Black communities. We use evidence-based research, analysis, convenings, and strategic communications to support Black communities and a network of allies.

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New objects are available online in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the publication of Wheatley Peters’ poems, including the only copy of the poet’s long-lost “Ocean” poem in her handwriting

(Black PR Wire) —The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) has acquired the largest private collection of items to bring new context and perspective to the life and literary impact of poet Phillis Wheatley Peters (c.1753–1784), including one of the few manuscripts written in the poet’s hand. Born in West Africa and captured by slave traders as a child, Wheatley Peters became the first African American to publish a book of poetry with the 1773 release of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in London. A rare and exciting highlight of this acquisition is a four-page manuscript of a poem, “Ocean,” written in ink by Wheatley Peters’s own hand, the only copy that exists today and previously unpublished before 1998. The poem was likely composed on her return voyage to America from England in September 1773.

Of the 30 objects in this collection, six were published during her lifespan. Selected items from the collection can be viewed online through the Searchable Museum website. Plans to display these new acquisitions at a later date are in the works. The museum currently recognizes Wheatley Peters in the “Paradox of Liberty” display in the Slavery and Freedom exhibition with a statue and a copy of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.

“Phillis Wheatley Peters’ poetry brought her renown in abolitionist circles and presented as proof of the humanity of those of African descent and the inhumanity of slavery,” said Kevin Young, the Andrew W. Mellon director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Scholars continue to parse through her work to determine when and where she posed resistance to slavery; her poem ‘On Being Brought from Africa to America’ is considered to be a chastisement of slavery to the millions of White Americans undergoing the religious revival movement known as ‘The Great Awakening.’ This must have pricked Thomas Jefferson’s conscience, for his 1785 publication of Notes on the State of Virginia dismissed Wheatley Peters’s talent as coming from religion and religious training rather than intellect.”

Some additional highlights of the collection include:

• Autograph manuscript of 70-line dramatic poem, “Ocean,” by Wheatley, ca. September 1773, four pages.
• An issue of The Arminian Magazine, August 1789, features the 20-line poem “On the Death of a Child, Five Years of Age” and attributes it to “Phillis Wheatly, a negro.”
• A hardcover edition of the book Pearls From the American Female Poets by Caroline May, 1869. The entry for Wheatley Peters spans pages 39 to 41 and includes a biographical note and two poems: “On the Death of a Young Gentleman of Great Promise” and “Sleep.”
• A hardcover edition of the book The Poems of Phillis Wheatley, 1909. The red cloth cover features Wheatley Peters in profile and holding a quill to paper in her right hand.
• A hardcover edition of the book Phillis Wheatley (Phillis Peters): A Critical Attempt and a Bibliography of Her Writings by Charles Frederick Heartman, 1915. Translated into English from the original German.
• Booklet published by the Phillis Wheatley Club of Waycross, Georgia, in 1930. Contains a biography of the poet and correspondence between Wheatley Peters and George Washington, including a poem she sent him, “His Excellency General Washington.”   

The publication of her poems by the AME Church and a biography by the Phillis Wheatley Club in the early 20th century are the only works in the collection published by Black printers. The biography published by the Phillis Wheatley Club takes on a higher level of importance because it documents the educational work of Black clubwomen and the role Black women played as historians of Black life and culture.

“This collection, ranging from the late 18th century to the early 20th century, provides a glimpse of Phillis Wheatley Peters the poet and Wheatley Peters the icon, as well as Wheatley Peters the woman,” said Angela Tate, curator of women’s history at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “This part of Wheatley Peters’ life has been long removed from popular culture and remembrance. A 1783 poem in this collection is of extreme interest because it is published under her married name of Phillis Peters, and furthermore, it is important to note that she is not presented as Mrs. John Peters.”

About Phillis Wheatley Peters

Wheatley Peters spent most of her life enslaved and in service to John and Susanna Wheatley of Boston. She was named Phillis after the slave ship on which she was transported to the Americas. Her surname of Peters is that of the man she married in 1778, John Peters, a free man of color. Wheatley Peters’ owners taught her to read and write, and by age 14, she had begun to write poetry that would soon be published and circulated among the elites of late 18th-century America and Great Britain. 

Her first and only volume of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1772), was published in London with the assistance of wealthy abolitionists. The Wheatleys manumitted Wheatley Peters in 1773 under pressure from critics who saw the hypocrisy in praising her talent while keeping her enslaved. They died within a few years of that decision and Wheatley Peters soon met and married grocer John Peters. Her life afterwards was indicative of the troubled freedom of African Americans of that period, who were emancipated but not fully integrated into the promise of American citizenship. Wheatley Peters was also affected by the loss of all three of her children—the birth of the last of whom caused her premature death at age 31 in 1784.

Despite being feted as a prodigy while enslaved, the emancipated Wheatley Peters struggled to find the support necessary for producing a second volume of poetry, and her husband’s financial struggles forced her to find work as a scullery maid—the lowest position of domestic help.

Posthumous publications of Wheatley Peters’s poetry in various anthologies and periodicals solidified her image as a child poet for the benefit of abolitionist activism and African American cultural pride in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 21st century, the accumulation of this collection is a restoration of Wheatley Peters the woman and the influence of her poetry and activism today. 

About the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Since opening Sept. 24, 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture has welcomed more than 9.5 million in-person visitors and millions more through its digital presence. Occupying a prominent location next to the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the nearly 400,000-square-foot museum is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history. For more information about the museum, visit nmaahc.si.edu, follow @NMAAHC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, or call Smithsonian information at (202) 633-1000.  

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Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

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By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA

Newswire Senior National Correspondent (NNPA NEWSWIRE)

Drawing from his experiences as a New Yorker, De Niro attested to the city’s firsthand knowledge of Trump, whom he characterized as unfit for leadership. He pointed out that New Yorkers had already tried to warn the world about Trump in 2016, but their concerns went unheeded.

Hollywood legend Robert De Niro delivered a forceful and unmistakable message at The New Republic’s “Stop Trump Summit” in New York City, condemning the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted former president Donald Trump without ambiguity. Even though De Niro could not attend the event due to his ongoing recovery from COVID-19, he entrusted ex-Trump administration official Miles Taylor to read his excoriation of the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner.

De Niro’s central message was clear: Trump is not merely a bad person, he is, in De Niro’s words, “evil.”

Drawing upon his extensive career playing various hoodlum characters and his real-life encounters with individuals of questionable moral character, De Niro offered a stark assessment of the former president, whom a civil jury found responsible this year for sexually assaulting a journalist.

“I’ve spent a lot of time studying bad men,” De Niro said. “I’ve examined their characteristics, their mannerisms, the utter banality of their cruelty. Yet there’s something different about Donald Trump. When I look at him, I don’t see a bad man. Truly. I see an evil one.

”De Niro went on to distinguish Trump from even the most notorious gangsters, remarking that while criminals often have some semblance of a moral code, Trump lacks any sense of right or wrong, ethics orempathy for others.

“He’s a wannabe tough guy with no morals or ethics. No sense of right or wrong. No regard for anyone but himself,” De Niro said.

Drawing from his experiences as a New Yorker, the actor attested to the city’s firsthand knowledge of Trump, whom he characterized as unfit for leadership. He pointed out that New Yorkers had already tried to warn the world about Trump in 2016, but their concerns went unheeded.

De Niro then highlighted the consequences of Trump’s presidency, including the divisive impact on America and the failures in responding to the early 2020 crisis, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, where Trump’s actions resulted in a significant loss of life.

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By Michael Goldberg
The Associated Press/Report for America

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s gubernatorial election could hinge on turnout among Black voters, who haven’t wielded political influence commensurate with their share of the state population, the Democratic nominee said Oct. 6.

At a campaign event in the 80 percent Black state capital of Jackson just over one month before Election Day, Brandon Presley said Black voters could help carry him to victory. He also accused incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who is seeking reelection, of hoping they stay home.

“Black Mississippi and White Mississippi have been purposefully, strategically and with intent divided over racial lines. Intentionally divided for two things: Money and power,” Presley said. “Tate Reeves and that sleazy little crowd he runs around with are sitting over there today hoping that Black voters do not come vote in November.”

Speaking to a crowd at a blues club in Jackson’s Farish Street Historic District, Presley said the interests of Mississippi’s 40 percent Black population — the largest of any state by percentage — had been underserved during Reeves’ term. Roughly a quarter of Jackson residents live in poverty, and its tax base has eroded the past few decades amid mostly White flight to suburbs.

“This race for governor comes down to somebody that cares about the city of Jackson versus somebody who has shown you for 12 years that he could care less about the city of Jackson,” said Presley, who is White. “And whether Tate Reeves believes it or not, the Mississippi Delta is still in Mississippi.”

Before becoming governor in 2019, Reeves served two terms as lieutenant governor and two terms as state treasurer.

Reeves’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reeves has said he helped restore service to Jackson during its 2022 water crisis. He has also touted tornado relief efforts and initiatives to shore up broadband access in the rural Mississippi Delta, another Democratic stronghold with a large Black population.

Promising an administration that “looks like Mississippi, racially and regionally,” Presley’s comments follow a legislative session in which Jackson was at the center of debates over infrastructure woes and crime. A state law that would have authorized some circuit court judges to be appointed rather than elected in Jackson, which critics said stomped on voting rights, was struck down by the Mississippi Supreme Court in September.

Reeves supported the law and said it would help protect residents from violent crime.

Speaking to reporters Oct. 6, Presley said he did not support the law because it allowed unelected judges.

Keshun Brown, a Jackson resident who said he is voting for Presley, pulled Presley aside during the Oct. 6 event. He insisted the candidate prioritize crime.

“I personally told him, make sure you address the crime in Jackson. Everything else was on point. I just told him, never leave that out for us Jacksonians,” Brown said.

Black voters and lawmakers in Mississippi are overwhelmingly Democratic, while Republicans command majority support among white voters and hold supermajorities in the state Legislature. Republicans also hold all statewide elected offices.

Rodney Hall, a recent aide to GOP U.S. Rep. Trent Kelly and a former Army veteran, faces no opponent for a legislative seat in northeast Mississippi. He is set to become the first Black Republican elected to the Legislature since Reconstruction.

Presley on Oct. 6 also repeated promises to expand Medicaid to help uninsured people and financially strapped hospitals. Five rural hospitals have closed since 2005, and 24 are at immediate risk of closing because of severe financial problems, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform, a national policy organization.

Reeves opposes Medicaid expansion but recently unveiled a plan that he said will provide hospitals with a boost in federal money.

An independent candidate, Gwendolyn Gray, is on the ballot along with Reeves and Presley in the Nov. 7 general election.

___

Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.

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Ed Lallo // Getty Images

Stories behind the Trail of Tears for every state it passed through

Markers and remnants of the Trail of Tears stretch as a series of scars across the American landscape. The trail’s facilitators stand as a representation of America at her worst; its captives as a mark of stunning resiliency in the face of indescribable cruelty and terror.

Despite massive encroachment by white settlers on North American lands throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the sovereign Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole nations in the early 1800s accounted for significant swaths of land stretching from northwest Georgia into Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

The Cherokee were particularly adept at pursuing signed documentation protecting their native lands; a dozen treaties were signed between the United States federal government and the Cherokee between 1785 and 1819. As white settlers continued advancing on native lands, tribes sought mitigation in Washington courts to little or no avail. Gradually, other major tribes throughout the young United States acquiesced with treaties that forced their migration west to the other side of the Mississippi River.

Gold was discovered in Georgia in 1828; by 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. The law granted the president the authority to offer Indigenous groups, numbering around 125,000 people at the time, 16,000 acres west of the Mississippi River in Oklahoma Territory in exchange for tribal lands within state boundaries. The removal of these Indigenous groups would free up millions of acres across the American Southeast for mineral extraction, cotton farming, and the growing white population.

The Indian Removal Act had the immediate effect of many groups moving west beginning in the early 1830s, following roads and rivers out to “Indian Territory” in present-day Oklahoma. The Trail of Tears is the shorthand used for the series of forced displacements of more than 60,000 Indigenous people of the five tribes between 1830 and 1850 and extending up through the 1870s. The Choctaw Nation’s forced removal began in 1831; Seminoles in 1832; Creek in 1834; Chickasaw in 1837; and the Cherokee in 1838—the largest forced removal of all. Illini Confederation, Osage, and Quapaw tribes were also displaced.

In honor of National Trail of Tears Commemoration Day Sept. 16, Stacker compiled a list of stories behind the Trail of Tears for each of the nine states it passed through, based on archived personal accounts and historical records and largely focusing on the most significant removal—that of the Cherokee—in 1838 and 1839. Much of the history has been lost due to the destruction of Indigenous lands and settlements following the forced removal of these people from their homes and, later, structured education systems that did not acknowledge these individuals, their languages, or their histories.

During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, tribal communities numbering in excess of 17,000 (16,000 of whom were Cherokee) were met by more than 7,000 troops deployed by President Martin Van Buren. Homes were looted, people were rounded up in camps, others were killed, and thousands at a time were marched west, often at gunpoint. Routes—not one but a tangle of trails—forced people from North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, and Illinois to Oklahoma by foot, train, and boat.

The main route stretched from nearby present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee, through Nashville and Clarksville then through Hopkinsville, Kentucky, into Illinois via an Ohio River crossing, then on to “Indian Territory” in present-day Oklahoma. Along the way, a lack of food, horses, supplies, and other provisions—including so much as shoes for many travelers—made the trek challenging for all and impossible for thousands. Deaths accumulated quickly due to severe exposure, famine, and contagious diseases such as cholera, influenza, malaria, measles, dysentery, syphilis, tuberculosis, typhus, whooping cough, and yellow fever.

Those who survived the march were met in Indian Territory with insufficient supplies necessary for survival and a harsh landscape inhospitable to hunting, farming, or gathering. In total, between 1830 and 1850, roughly 100,000 Indigenous people east of the Mississippi River were relocated against their will to Indian Territory.

More than 4,000 people died along the way, representing as many as one of every four Cherokee. Survivors remade the Cherokee Nation, which exists today as a still-sovereign nation based out of Oklahoma with more than 330,000 citizens across the United States.

The Trail of Tears was designated by Congress in 1987 as a national historic trail. Keep reading to discover numerous stories and significant markers along the trail.

North Carolina

Western North Carolina’s mountains stood as the centerpiece of Cherokee civilization long before the arrival of Europeans. Valleys within the Hiwassee, Little Tennessee, Tuckasegee, and other rivers served as ideal farming communities for the Cherokee.

Around 3,500 Cherokee were living in North Carolina at the time of the Trail of Tears. As government officials estimated headcounts and assessed roadways for the forced removal of Indigenous communities, the Unicoi Turnpike (now a historic trail) was selected as the main route, as it ran through northern Georgia into western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. The Old Army Road between Andrews and Robbinsville was expanded in just 10 days in the spring of 1838 to accommodate wagons and the thousands of travelers who would be coming by foot.

As the vast majority of Cherokee were rounded up, held in internment camps, and then marched from their homes across multiple states, a small group stayed hidden in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina. These Cherokee eventually earned the right to stay and their rights were recognized. Today, that group is known as the Oconaluftee Cherokee.

Georgia

As cultures blended in the early 19th century, a number of Cherokee assimilated into the white settler culture: putting up English-style housing, adopting white settler farming techniques, and in some cases establishing plantations.

Georgia in 1802 became the last colony to cede its western land to the United States government. The Cherokee maintained the occupation of their lands that were promised by treaty—but white residents in the state were increasingly unhappy that Cherokee communities should continue to govern themselves and maintain rights to land that settlers sought to occupy.

The state passed legislation in 1828 nullifying all Cherokee Nation laws; and in 1829, when gold was found on Cherokee land in Georgia, pressure mounted on the government to remove the Indigenous communities entirely. This pressure came at the same time President Andrew Jackson was actively destroying land titles and treaties with the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

When the Trail of Tears commenced, all properties owned by Cherokee were forfeited.

Today, numerous Georgia historic sites—from the Cedartown Cherokee Removal Camp and New Echota State Historic Site to the Funk Heritage Center—commemorate this period in American and Indigenous history.

Tennessee

Roughly 2,800 people spread across three detachments traveled by a mix of steamboats, keelboats, and towing flatboats, down the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, White, and Arkansas rivers from present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Fort Coffee, Oklahoma. The first detachment, which included as many as 800 people, departed on June 6, 1838.

The river routes along the Trail of Tears were not much safer than land trails, as the rations and supplies were equally as scarce and the elements just as brutal. The first detachment made it from Chattanooga to Fort Coffee within two weeks. Another detachment traversed the Arkansas River during an extreme drought that made boat passage impossible and forced the travelers to finish the journey by foot in extreme heat. More than 70 people died during the nearly two-month trek. Later passages were even more dangerous with some death tolls estimated as high as 2,000.

Alabama

About a quarter of the Cherokee Nation in the 1820s lived in present-day Cherokee, Etowah, and DeKalb counties in Alabama. Cherokee living in northern Alabama at the time were part of the sovereign Cherokee Nation headquartered in New Echota.

When the May 1838 deadline arrived for native communities to leave on their own accord, eight companies of the U.S. Army marched into northeast Alabama along with militia from Alabama and Tennessee to remove Cherokee and Creek communities by force. Posts and stockades in forts Payne, Lovell, Likens, and Turkeytown were built to house the troops, store supplies, and imprison Indigenous communities—including roughly 16,000 Cherokee—before the trek began toward Indian Territory in October 1838.

Major Trail of Tears locations in Alabama include Waterloo Landing, Tuscumbia Landing, and Little River Canyon Center.

Waterloo Landing, where a historical marker stands citing its significance, was the last point of departure for Indigenous people from the South and earned the location its nickname as the “End of the Trail.” An annual event at the site memorializes the Trail of Tears and the perseverance of the Indigenous community.

Numerous Indigenous individuals and families were transported to Tuscumbia Landing by train for transport to Oklahoma. People in the Little River region were rounded up and marched along the Trail of Tears’ Benge Route, so-named for John Benge, who led the detachment of soldiers leading the march. At Lake Guntersville State Park, the Trail of Tears is remembered annually with storytelling, a variety of ritual dances, memorial walks, and displays. Blevins Gap Preserve is home to the Smokerise Trail, where visitors can retrace more than a mile of the Trail of Tears.