Feb. 6, 2019

State of the Union: Trump Calls for ‘Choosing Greatness’ as Black Leaders Say His 'Racist Rhetoric' Overshadows Hope for Change
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - President Donald B. Trump’s 2019 State of the Union speech, Feb. 5, following a government shutdown that left many people irreparably damaged, was taken in stride by African-Americans and Democratic leaders who express little hope for change.

“We meet tonight at a moment of unlimited potential. As we begin a new Congress, I stand here ready to work with you to achieve historic breakthroughs for all Americans,” Trump said in the speech in which he never mentioned the hardships of the historic shutdown which, for weeks, put thousands of Americans either out of work or caused them to work without pay. “Millions of our fellow citizens are watching us now, gathered in this great chamber, hoping that we will govern not as two parties but as one Nation. The agenda I will lay out this evening is not a Republican agenda or a Democrat agenda. It is the agenda of the American people.”

The lofty words of the President resonated little with Democrats and Black leaders as he ignored the pain of the shutdown for which he initially claimed credit. Besides that, America had heard it all before. Even during his inaugural address, he promised to be President for all the people after which his administration has become one of the most racially and culturally divisive in history.

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams pointed to Trump’s sins of omission as the official Democratic respondent to his speech.

“Just a few weeks ago, I joined volunteers to distribute meals to furloughed federal workers.  They waited in line for a box of food and a sliver of hope since they hadn’t received paychecks in weeks. Making livelihoods of our federal workers a pawn for political games is a disgrace. The shutdown was a stunt, engineered by the president of the United States, one that betrayed every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people but our values,” Abrams said.

Trump’s speech got intense applause from Republicans, especially as he mentioned his quest for a “border wall” which has become widely known as a dog-whistle to his base and a core race issue. As he pushed the need for the wall in the speech, he never mentioned his campaign promise that “Mexico will pay” for the wall.

“In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall, but the proper wall never got built.  I'll get it built,” he said.

But, Abrams was clear on how millions of others view the wall.

“Democrats stand ready to effectively secure our ports and borders,” she said. “But we must all embrace that from agriculture to healthcare to entrepreneurship, America is made stronger by the presence of immigrants, not walls.”

Trump laid out some key bi-partisan goals such as research to end childhood cancer and HIV/AIDS as well as successes, including economic gains, infrastructure, and criminal justice reform. Guests in the gallery included formerly incarcerated offenders who he had pardoned under new bi-partisan criminal justice reform. Those guests included Alice Johnson, who had served nearly 22 years of a life sentence as a first-time drug offender and Matthew Charles, sentenced to 35 years for selling drugs now “the first person to be released from prison under the First Step Act,” Trump said.

Despite the bipartisan highlights in the speech, Black leaders note that his “racist” views and policy omissions far outweigh the positives.

“Once again the President used the State of the Union as an opportunity to spew the same racist rhetoric, that does nothing but bolster his detachment and disinterest towards the real issues that plague our nation,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “While President Trump rallied for a wall on the border and credited his presidency for lowering unemployment numbers, which he touted after the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history, he conveniently overlooked the voter suppression, over policing, gun violence, and detrimental and xenophobic immigration policies that his administration has instituted that disproportionately affect communities of color.”

Johnson continued in his statement, “As racism continues to permeate through every level of our society, it’s clear from his failure to protect the right to vote and civil rights for ALL, that this President’s agenda represents nothing but pain and suffering for communities of color, the poor, the LGBT community, women and immigrants. Because of this, the state of our union is not strong.”

Jim Clyburn, the most powerful Black member of Congress as House majority whip, pointed out that Democrats are ready to work with the President, but their disagreement on the meaning of “greatness” is a major barrier.

“We welcome his words of comity and are hopeful there will be issues like infrastructure, prescription drug costs, and defeating the spread of HIV where we can find common ground. However, as House Democrats, we know the role we were elected to play and, as my faith teaches me, we know we will be judged on our deeds not our words.

“The President’s theme tonight was ‘Choosing Greatness,’ but I question how he defines that term. I believe that America is already great, and, like historian Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America, the country’s greatness ‘lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.’ Democrats stand ready to work with the President when possible, but in strong opposition when necessary, to repair our faults so we may become a more perfect union.”

Feb. 5, 2019

Governor Northam Would Be Wise to Step Down
By Jesse Jackson

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has admitted that he blackened his face as part of a Michael Jackson costume for a dance party.  He also initially admitted that he was one of the participants in a racist photo — of one person dressed in full Klan regalia and another in blackface —that appeared on his 1984 yearbook page.

The next day, however, he reversed himself, saying it could not have been him, bizarrely arguing that given how difficult it was to get shoe polish off his face after the dance contest, he surely would not have done it again.

The governor apologized, noting: “In the place and time where I grew up, many actions we rightfully recognize as abhorrent today were commonplace.” Yes, 1984 was a long time ago, but it was two decades after the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights laws, and three decades after Brown v. Board of Education declared segregation unconstitutional.

In 1984, I made my first run for the presidency. In 1985, Douglas Wilder became the first African-American elected statewide as lieutenant governor in Virginia, on his way to being elected governor four years later. Northam’s actions were offensive and wrong even at the time he committed them.

America’s long, sordid tradition of blackface minstrelsy — white people in blackface — was designed to burlesque black people, to portray them as dumb, grotesque and lascivious and was not incidentally part of propaganda for slavery.

The governor said that his actions then do not reflect his attitude, his views or his policies now or at any time throughout his military, medical and public career. All of us are sinners. Grace and redemption must be accorded to all who atone. I believe deeply that a person can be redeemed from a hideous past.

Northam’s record has been positive. In stark contrast to President Trump, he acted bravely during the racist protests in Charlottesville, Va., that resulted in the murder of Heather Heyer. Trump infamously embraced the proto-Nazi protesters, arguing that there were “good people on both sides.” Northam has advocated taking down the Confederate statues in Virginia.

In stark contrast to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, portrayed in an infamous picture celebrating the Confederate flag, Northam has pushed to advance voting rights in Virginia. McConnell recently scorned legislation to expand and defend voting rights as a “power grab” while defending Republican efforts to suppress the vote across the country.

Trump and McConnell remain in power, yet the right-wing talking heads who celebrate Trump and McConnell are condemning Northam, demonstrating not their virtue but their rapacious partisanship.

Trump and McConnell have plenty of company on their side of the aisle. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions contended the Voting Rights Act was “intrusive” on states’ rights.

Then there’s Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi. She was elected in November despite saying she’d happily sit in the front row of a “public hanging” if invited by a supporter. She didn’t say it 35 years ago. She said it a few months ago.

The recently elected Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, also played the race card with little to no blowback from his party. He warned the voters of his state not to “monkey this up” by electing his African-American opponent, Andrew Gillum.

And before narrowly defeating African-American gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Brian Kemp was the Georgia secretary of state and purged hundreds of thousands of Georgians from the voting rolls, most of them African-Americans.

As a practical matter, it will be impossible for Northam to lead the state of Virginia after this revelation.  His press conference in which he denied what he had admitted the day before did not help his cause.

Our leaders must represent the values that we espouse and honor the diversity of the coalition that we seek to build.  Virtually the entire leadership of the Democratic Party in the state has called on the governor to resign. He would be wise to accept their advice.

Feb. 5, 2019

Harris and Booker Presidential Races Stir Pride, Excitement and High Hopes
By Barrington M. Salmon

U. S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)

U. S. Sen. Cory Booker, (D-N.J.)

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Dr. Shiela Harmon Martin said she recently got two very pleasant surprises within days of each other when Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) announced that they are joining the race to become America’s next president.

Harris, a former San Francisco prosecutor and California attorney general, set off serious buzz after her announcement and African-Americans have been digging into her law enforcement record and perusing her policy platforms and prior statements in order to discover what type of president she might be.

Dr. Martin, division chair and professor of Political Science at the University of the District of Columbia, said she hopes and expects both Black senators to do well.

“I hope one of them emerges as the top contender and at a minimum in second place,” Martin said. “African-Americans have been the most loyal constituency to the Democratic Party. I don’t feel that because we had one African-American president we shouldn’t have another one for the next 20 years…Hopefully the Democratic pool will look like America.”

Because both candidates have been watched by political observers for years, their formal announcements may also impact the strength of the electorate, Martin says. She hopes their candidacies will lead to increased voter registrations and voter turnout in Black communities.

The announcements of Harris and Booker are already attracting the attention of people from diverse walks of life.

Rev. Dr. Derrick Harkins, national director of Faith Outreach for the Democratic National Committee who served as a faith issue advisor to the Obama campaign, says both Harris and Booker will sore because of what will prove to be energetic campaigns and their donors and support will be competitive. But Harris’ first move may have given her an advantage. And the number and the excitement of the people who showed up for her Oakland announcement was reminiscent of the Obama enthusiasm.

“The energy and focus around her announcement was impressive. I haven’t seen that energy and momentum in other people,” Harkins said. “This was important to her and those waiting in the wings.”

However, political observers agree that no contender – at least not in the near future - will rise to the euphoria of the candidacy of America’s first Black president, Barack Obama.

“2008 was lightning in a bottle,” Rev. Harkins noted. “The energy, fervor and enthusiasm won’t probably be replicated in our lifetime…We’re in a different place. For them, it will probably be more ‘retail’, pushing people out there. They have to mobilize, organize to make sure people will come out.”

There is always the down side for both candidates. Because Harris has such a long record, even as a first-term senator, she is already being buffeted by scrutiny and criticism, said political analyst and media commentator Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever.

“Her challenge is that she has a long and controversial record, I will admit. But she’s being held to an extremely high level of scrutiny,” Jones-DeWeever says.

Jones-DeWeever also points out that Harris has ties to the ‘system’ that raises a lot of people’s suspicions.

“I think she needs to lay out her own criminal justice agenda, have a specific speech on this, spell out the issues and detail what she’ll do going forward,” said Jones-DeWeever, who is president and CEO of the consulting firm, Incite Unlimited, LLC. “We have to be careful not to be over-critical and not hold her to a different standard. A lot of people aren’t asking this of other candidates.”

But, for African-Americans in many quarters, Harris has struck the right chord in the way she entered the race with the announcement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day; her first news conference held at her alma mater, Howard University; and her ability to draw a large crowd to her formal announcement at Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall in her hometown of Oakland, CA. She also got kudos for her remark in front of her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorors in South Carolina.

But in walks the popular orator and politician Sen. Corey Booker.

Kansas City resident and political observer Emily Brown says Booker’s entrance into the presidential fray surprised her.

“I followed Sen. Booker as mayor. He’s an excellent senator, very strong,” she said. “I was shocked that he’s running but having multiple candidates of color is a very positive thing. I’ve never seen a more diverse group running. We saw that in the midterms. I am concerned but think she’s a strong candidate.”

Gloria Murry-Ford said she recently met Booker at a fundraiser for former Georgia State Rep. Stacey Adams and left impressed.

“I took a selfie with him. He’s a very nice, very personable, very smart man,” she said. “I know he’s a Rhodes Scholar but I don’t know a lot about him and I don’t know how he’s doing. They are two powerful Black people. I watched Sen. Harris. I saw the town hall and liked what I saw. I think she’s smart, she’s good, knows what questions to ask and has gotten her message together. She had a great rollout.”

Murry-Ford, a former CNN reporter and now a communications expert specializing in crisis management and strategic communications in Washington, DC, said she was less than impressed with the junior New Jersey senator’s announcement.

“Booker’s rollout was light,” she said. “Standing at a chain link fence? Optics is important and his optics weren’t as great. She had a great roll out. It was magnificent. She claimed her blackness. It’s not bad to be black anymore. With him it was a different atmosphere. He’s got to nail down his message, tighten up stuff.”

Political Scientist Dr. Harmon Martin said she’s confident that Booker and Harris will campaign well, even they deal with the rough and tumble nature of politics and the often coarse and abrasive criticism and attacks that come with it.

“Hey, cheers to Sen. Harris and Sen. Booker,” she said. “I’m a little biased because she’s my soror. She’s an African-American woman and attended an HBCU. I really like Booker too. He’s an outstanding choice, a good mayor, committed to Black people. I despise when people place a litmus test on whose Black enough. Allow both candidates to do well, and may the best woman win.”

Jan. 19, 2019

The Government Shutdown and the Collateral Damage

By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - 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 didn't go to Mar-a-Largo to golf, and he indicated how acutely he felt the shutdown by serving Clemson football players cold fast food.

Furloughed federal workers will be paid, thanks to legislation 45 signed on January 16.  The fact that people will get paid when the shutdown is over (which 45 says may take "months" or "years") is reassuring, but it helps few with their day-to-day obligations.   A 2018 study from the Federal Reserve Bank says that 40 percent of all Americans can't absorb a $400 emergency without going into (further) debt, borrowing or selling something to meet a minor expense like a faulty car engine, a busted heating system, an emergency room copay, or some other ordinary challenge.  So for many, delaying even one paycheck is likely to cause a seismic shock in family finances.

Many will piece it together, but they may miss credit card, mortgage, rent or other payments.  In a month or so they'll be caught up, but what about their credit rating?  Catching up may mean getting current on bills, but it does not mean overcoming the ding that will inevitably appear on one's credit score.  It may take months, even years, for some to transcend that, especially if their credit was shaky to begin with.

Our nation runs on debt, our economic growth is dependent on folks going into debt, but economic growth is also dependent on people being able to pay their debt.  People who live paycheck to paycheck won't pay debt back until they get paid.  And hundreds of thousands aren't being paid because a deranged adult is having a tantrum about a wall.

Four in five Americans live in debt, mostly because of mortgages and student loans ($1.5 trillion total) that strangle people's ability to live in financial freedom.  While mortgage and student loan debts are the most significant contributions to our nation's debt crisis, medical debt is the most frequently cited cause for personal bankruptcy in our country.  The fact that so many have medical debt reflects the crisis in our national health care system.

Bottom line – the shutdown not only affects people's ability to manage their day to day finances but will also affect their long-term credit score and have consequences for those at the margins.  From the data on emergencies, nearly half of all Americans are living at the margins.  These are the folks who Trump and his minions say should "make arrangements" during the shutdown.  They should, some say, have contingency plans.  What is your contingency when you live paycheck to paycheck?

Furloughed workers will get back pay and, though impaired, will manage.  What about those who work for government contractors.  Nobody has their back.  Many are high-rolling, highly-paid contractors who will take a hit but won't be knocked out.  Then, there are the women of color (mostly) who clean federal office buildings at night.  They won't get back pay. They won't be compensated for their services.  They will take it in the shins, and taking it means managing to live without pay for weeks.  Even those who are sensitive to the economic impact of this shutdown have not spoken up for the contract workers who have been disadvantaged.

A government shutdown also means a benefit shutdown for people who receive government benefits – food or housing assistance, or more.  While many are optimistic that things will be adjusted, the fact is that people's expectations are not being met and people are scrambling!  The scrambling is not restricted to any race, to any party.  The man who calls himself President seems to be under the mistaken impression that most government workers are Democrats.  The fact, according to the Government Business Council, is that there is a pretty even split, with 44 percent of government workers being identified as Democrats or Democratic-leaning, 40 percent identified as Republican or Republican-leaning, and the remainder undecided, with a significant number of these identifying themselves as "conservative."  All of these government workers are collateral damage, thanks to 45!

Our entire social and economic fabric is frayed thanks to this petulant government shutdown.  Democrats, Republicans, and everyone else will pay for this thoughtless absurd public tantrum.  This shutdown is aothingr more than a disturbing public outburst.  Where do we go from here?

Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. Her latest book “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy” is available via www.amazon.com for booking, wholesale inquiries or for more info visit www.juliannemalveaux.com