By Julianne Malveaux — As I write this, our federal government has been shut down for 27 days. At first, it seemed like a gamesmanship joke, like who was going to blink first. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and (CA) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) didn’t look like they were blinking when 45 said he would “own” the shutdown to get his wall. He’s not owning it now – he…
Frazier B. Baker was the first black postmaster in Lake City, South Carolina. By Associated Press — LAKE CITY, S.C. — A South Carolina town’s post office will be named in honor of its first black postmaster, Frazier B. Baker, who was lynched in 1898 after he refused to resign. U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., introduced a bill to rename the office after Baker, saying it would ensure that his…
By Briahna Gray, The Intercept — Just before the new year, Steve Phillips, senior fellow at liberal think tank Center for American Progress, filed paperwork to launch a Super PAC to support New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s anticipated 2020 run. The announcement raises a number of red flags, including about the choice to rely on Super PACs at a time when voters are increasingly skeptical of large campaign donations. But perhaps…
By Dr. Julianne Malveaux — The 116th Congress, sworn in on January 3, is the most diverse our nation has ever seen. There are more women – 102 – than ever before. More members of the Congressional Black Caucus – 55 – than ever before. Indeed, a former Congressional Black Caucus intern, Lauren Underwood (D-IL) is part of the incoming first-year class. At 32, she is the youngest Black woman…
By Bruce Hartford, Civil Right Movement Veterans — Note: This brief time-line describes an American history of oppression, persecution, and discrimination in regards to voting rights. But in all of the events described here, those affected were not submissive or passive victims, – rather they fought for their rights with whatever means they had. Similarly, much of this short summary consists of legislative and legal milestones. But those laws and…
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, The Hutchinson Report — Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren did what legions have been urging her to do since 2016. That’s run for the presidency. She took the first big step toward a presidential bid with the announcement that she’s setting-up a presidential exploratory committee. Other Democratic presidential hopefuls will soon follow her lead. But the brutal reality is that Warren is the one Democrat who can give…
The republic has undergone a wild stress test but despite new lows, Donald Trump’s presidency has also seen a democratic renaissance By David Smith, The Guardian — It’s nearly half-time and we’re still here. On 20 January it will be two years since the businessman and reality TV celebrity Donald Trump took the oath as president, spoke of “American carnage” and boasted about his crowd size, leaving millions to wonder…
You don’t know what it means to hustle … until you meet a Nigerian-American. By Molly Fosco, OZY — At an Onyejekwe family get-together, you can’t throw a stone without hitting someone with a master’s degree. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors — every family member is highly educated and professionally successful, and many have a lucrative side gig to boot. Parents and grandparents share stories of whose kid just won…
And how black people in Indian Territory were denied their rights even after their emancipation. By Alaina E Roberts, Al Jazeera — Last week marked the 153rd anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1865. Rightly celebrated as a milestone for the black American community, the 13th Amendment led to the eventual liberation of all African Americans enslaved in the United States of the late…
Slavery and the Legacy of White Supremacy. By Annette Gordon-Reed, Foreign Affairs — The documents most closely associated with the creation of the United States—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—present a problem with which Americans have been contending from the country’s beginning: how to reconcile the values espoused in those texts with the United States’ original sin of slavery, the flaw that marred the country’s creation, warped its prospects, and eventually…
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