April 1, 2018

Mid-term Election Looms Large at Stateswomen for Justice Luncheon
 Donna Brazile: This is a political year we haven't seen in a lifetime
By Barrington M. Salmon

Donna Brazile galvanizing crowd at 8th annual Stateswomen for Justice Luncheon PHOTO: Roy Lewis/Trice Edney News Wire

Donna Brazile predicts defeat for Republican Congress in November. PHOTO: Roy Lewis/Trice Edney News Wire

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Seven months before the 2018 midterm elections, Donna Brazile told a luncheon crowd of several hundred people that she’s on a mission to galvanize African-American votes to ensure that the prospective “blue wave” becomes reality.

The veteran Democratic Party operative and keynote speaker at Trice Edney News Wire’s Stateswomen for Justice luncheon told the gathering at the National Press Club Ballroom that everything is aligning perfectly and politically for African-Americans to be a force that drives Republicans out of office in November.

But Brazile, who has been involved in politics since she was 9, cautioned against complacency.

“There are some of you who worry about what Donald Trump is doing. I told you that a storm is brewing,” said Brazile, two-time chair of the Democratic National Committee and author of the New York Times bestselling book, ‘Hacked: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House.’

Brazile predicted, “By the end of the day on Nov. 6, Donald Trump will see the results of people coming out to vote despite the voter suppression, intimidation and them forcing people off the voter rolls…This is a political year we haven’t seen in a lifetime,” she said. “Our power is enormous. I’ve seen it in every aspect of life … Get ready, get ready. That’s the strength. We can turn anything we want black, red, blue, any color.”

Yet, despite the formidable political power that African Americans possess, it isn’t and hasn’t been used to its full potential, said Brazile, who has been involved in 56 Congressional House and Senate races, served seven years as a campaigner staffer and worked as a strategist and analyst in 11 campaigns. Rather than coming to political parties and politicians hat-in-hand begging for a seat at the table, she said, Africans should be asserting their power and demanding that politicians deal with them in a manner that reflects their political clout.

“We need to tell them we’re loaning you our votes today, but we will take them back when we run,” she said. “They don’t respect you, they don’t want your body, so don’t give them your votes until they give us an agenda that matches our needs.”

Brazile touched on the 2018 midterms, related election issues, women’s empowerment, economic equality and voter registration. She also focused on the explosion of black women who’re running for office seeking governorships and seats in Congress, state legislatures and elsewhere across the political landscape. Much of this nascent black female political activism has been fueled by opposition to the Trump administration’s open hostility to black people, disapproval of his divisive anti-Black and anti-woman policies, and an intense desire for change.

Brazile shared data that shows 573 Black women candidates are running for office this year. Ninety-eight are running for federal positions, including judgeships, judicial slots and the US Senate, 200 are vying for state seats and 249 are running locally. Overall, 240 Black women are competing in blue states, while 333 have put themselves forward in red states. Of this total, 209 are incumbents seeking re-election and 364 are challengers.

Historically, the party that controls the White House almost always loses seats in Congress during midterms. Already so far in Trump’s first year, Republicans have lost 41 contests, including surprise Democratic wins in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Alabama and drubbings in Virginia and New Jersey. All of this points to a Democratic tsunami in November.

In the luncheon’s eighth year, the theme was ‘No Ways Tired’: Galvanizing Our Power for Progress. Created and organized by noted journalist Hazel Trice Edney, the event – held as Women’s History Month ends – honors Black women in the Black Press, arts, politics, education and a range of different spheres. This year’s distinguished group of panelists was comprised of Dr. Maya Rockeymore Cummings, who moderated the spirited discussion; economist and educator Dr. Julianne Malveaux; Lois Johnson, founder and CEO of United Security Finance Corp; activist and Women’s March Co-Chair Tamika D. Mallory; and civil rights attorney Barbara Arnwine.

“Eight years later, we’re no ways tired,” Trice Edney declared. “Three hundred years after we hit these shores, and 50 years after the King assassination, we’re here. I’m so glad you all are here …”

“We’ve got to show up and show out all the country,” said Arnwine, a radio talk show host and president and founder of Transformative Justice Coalition. “There’s nothing more important in this moment. We must harness the energy, passion and strategy.”

Arnwine, host of Igniting Change with Barbara Arnwine, said voter suppression is a critical issue that’s getting scant public attention. Republican legislators have been engaged in a steady assault against black voting rights.

“Not everyone’s talking about it but in 2016, 2 million less Black votes were counted, an 11 percent decrease from 2012,” she said. “In Detroit, 77,000 ballots weren’t counted when the presidential election was settled with 60,000 votes. We need to be very clear of the fight in front of us.”

In a recent case, Hawkins v Kemp, the plaintiff Miranda Hawkins – with help from the American Civil Liberties Union – filed suit in 2017 to have the court reverse a voter roll purge by Georgia election officials who scrubbed 300,000 African-Americans from the rolls after sending letters threatening to remove them.

Johnson asserted that one of the most pressing challenges affecting African-Americans is the housing gap and building legacy wealth.

“In the most recent recession, African Americans lost billions in real estate and half of all African Americans are now renting,” she said. “We’re paying someone else’s mortgage note, someone who doesn’t live in our community. Why can’t we put our people in a home?”

Mallory expressed her concern about motivating young people to invest in the political system enough to believe that their vote can make a significant difference.

“I found out during the last election that people were well-intentioned but broken,” she said. “They didn’t vote because they saw a system that does not work for them …. No one has taught young people how to access their power through the vote. We can get them to participate but we’ve got to teach them the power of the vote. We have to figure out how to do that.”

Brazile used the bully pulpit to galvanize the audience.

“We want to put Democrats back in the statehouses,” she said. “Women turn out when it’s rainy, hot, humid or stormy. Gubernatorial and statehouse races must be our focus. We must also be concerned with the (US) Senate. This is the moment to stretch our reach and ensure that that (politicians) understand and respond to our desires and issues. We need healthcare and still need jobs, vocational training and funding for HBCUs. We must also make a commitment to register five more people (each).”

To Be Equal 

April 1, 2018

MLK50 – Where Do We Go From Here?
By Marc H. Morial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - "When we foolishly maximize the minimum and minimize the maximum, we sign the warrant for our own day of doom. It is this moral lag in our thing-oriented society that blinds us to the human reality around us and encourages us in the greed and the exploitation which creates the sector of poverty in the midst of wealth. Again we have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that Capitalism grew and prospered out of the protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifice. The fact is that Capitalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor both black and white, both here and abroad." – Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a civil rights organization that worked closely with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the April 4 anniversary of King’s assassination has always been a somber day of remembrance for the National Urban League.

This year, the 50th anniversary, is an especially poignant one, presenting an opportunity to examine the progress of racial equality over the last half-century, and examining King’s legacy through the lens of that history.

On Wednesday, I have the honor of speaking at the official 50th Anniversary Commemoration at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Museum occupies the former Lorraine Motel where King was shot to death. At 6:01 p.m., the moment of his death, bells at the Museum will ring. To symbolize the news of his death rippling across the country and around the world, bells will ring nationally at 6:05 p.m. and internationally at 6:07 p.m.

I was a child at the time of King’s death, but I remember the devastation of my parents, Dutch and Sybil Morial, who knew him personally. My mother first met King when he was a graduate student at Boston University, where she was an undergraduate. She describes the day in her memoir, Witness to Change: From Jim Crow to Political Empowerment.

He knew it was his time. He had said it …“I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” He knew it, but we didn’t. And we didn’t understand his death. I was inconsolable … I said to Dutch, “Now that Martin is gone, what will become of the movement?” “It will go on. It must.” And it did.

And now, 50 years later, the country asks itself the same question: What will become of the movement? The Museum’s commemoration is part of its year long exploration of the theme, “MLK50 - Where Do We Go From Here.

It’s seldom emphasized that the reason King was in Memphis on April 4, 1968, was to support the city’s striking sanitation workers. Earlier in the year, a worker had been crushed to death by malfunctioning equipment, leading 1,300 men to walk off their jobs to protest dangerous conditions and low pay.

Memphis was the first stop in his Poor People’s Campaign, a massive march on Washington planned for later that year. King saw the Poor People’s Campaign as an expansion of his movement from civil rights to human rights, an effort to unite all marginalized people.

His plan for the Poor People’s Campaign included petitioning the federal government to prioritize helping the poor with a $30 billion anti-poverty package that included, among other demands, a commitment to full employment, a guaranteed annual income measure and more low-income housing.

Sadly, the campaign floundered as a result of the sudden loss of his leadership.  With an eye toward this history, the National Urban League has established robust programs to cultivate and nurture leadership potential within and without our movement. Our Emerging Leaders Program is a competitive, 12-month development opportunity for professionals that provides a unique chance to master analytical and critical leadership skills in the non-profit sector. Walmart Foundation, a sponsor of Wednesday’s ceremony, has made its support of Emerging Leaders and other leadership training initiatives a centerpiece of a community-wide commitment to honoring King’s legacy.

With the help of a new generation of leaders, the Poor People’s Campaign has been revived, and begins a series of local action, peaceful rallies and protests in April. In alignment with the National Urban League’s mission of economic empowerment and opportunity, we look forward to helping the spirit of King’s legacy live on through sustained activism.

April 1, 2018

Moving Dr. King's Agenda Forward
By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.

(TriceEdneyWire.com)—In #45's administration, so many things happen each day that it’s hard to decide the most important issue of the week—but decide we must! Seemingly, everything happening impacts our community one way or the other.

As many of my friends and associates head for Memphis, Tennessee this week, I want to talk about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

50 years ago, Dr. King went to Memphis to support garbage workers who were on strike for their dignity. Their non-violent civil disorder was sparked by the simple declaration, “I AM A MAN!” Since they were men, that declaration shouldn't have been necessary, but it was.

Since then, along with men of color, millions of women have joined the worldwide effort for the recognition of their right to human equality. Sadly, today finds women singing a refrain much like our predecessor, Sojourner Truth. We still labor with the cry, “I AM A WOMAN, and I deserve to be treated like a human being.”

Like many, I wonder why so many still cling so aggressively to the belief that women and non-whites are lesser humans? I can’t help but wonder what insecurities foster the hatred common to our current time. Why are there such ferocious efforts to revert to an uglier period in time?

As we come to the 50^th anniversary of the brutal murder of Dr. King, I suggest we renew our understanding of his vision for us, as well as the challenges he knew we would have to overcome. Let us internalize his words which are celebrated at his memorial in Washington, DC. Given the appropriate focus, we will not be overwhelmed by his historical presence. Instead, as he would wish, we must all be engaged in conduct and behaviors which enhance the process of perfecting our union. His philosophical roadmap allows our society to flourish 50 years after his death and in a far-beyond existence.

Despite the discord of the time, Dr. King's “I Have A Dream” speech left us these guidelines:

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. (And presumably sisterhood). With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

Whichever you hold most sacred, it is our duty and/or responsibility to move Dr. King’s agenda forward. We can’t stop now or pretend his dream for us in America has come true. That's what Colin Kaepernick and other modern visionaries tell us when their self-sacrifices challenge America to live up to its creed. As we reflect upon the greatness of Dr. King during this 50-year observance of his death, let’s also remember, embrace and join in the commitment of other heroes and sheroes who gave their lives to authentically make America great for us all.

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. 202/678-6788. www.nationalcongressbw.org)

April 1, 2018

Dr. King Targeted by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI
By A. Peter Bailey

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - As we commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the April 4, 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is important to once again take note of the intense hatred FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, had for Dr. King and Brother Malcolm X.

Anthony Summers, in his book," Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover", wrote that Hoover believed “Martin Luther King, the preacher’s son from Atlanta, was a black man who did not know his place…”  Martin Luther King had been in the public eye for some five years.  Edgar had lumped him together with advocates of violence such as Malcolm X.  ‘We wouldn’t have any problem,’ he had once grunted over lunch with Johnson in his senatorial days ‘, if we could get those two guys fighting, if we could get them to kill one another off…’”

Richard Gid Powers, in his book wrote that one “a long range” goal for the Black Nationalist COINTELPRO included the following:

1.      Prevent the coalition of militant Black Nationalist groups…An effective coalition of Black Nationalist groups might be the first step toward a real “Mau Mau” in America, the beginning of a true black revolution.

2.      Prevent the rise of a “Messiah” who could unify and electrify the militant Black Nationalist movement.  Malcolm X might have been such a “Messiah;” he is the martyr of this movement today.  Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and Elijah Muhammad aspire to this position.  Elijah Muhammad is less of a threat because of his age.  King could be a very real contender…should he abandon his supposed “obedience” to “white liberal doctrines.”  Carmichael has the necessary charisma to be a real threat in this way.

According to a reporter, Tony Copaccio, in the August 28, 2013 Washington Post, “Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech inspired the world.  It also galvanized the FBI into undertaking one of the biggest surveillance operations in its history.”  This means that Hoover and his boys didn’t focus on the dreaming part of Dr. King’s speech.  Rather they took notes when he said “…It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the movement and to underestimate the determination of the Negro…  Those who hope the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.  There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted full citizenship rights.  The whirlwind of revolt will continue to shake the foundation of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.”

Dr. King also said in his March on Washington speech that the United States government had given our ancestors a promissory note “and we have come here today to cash that check.”

A 1976 report of the Select Committee to Study Government Operations in Respect to Intelligence Activities stated that  “The FBI’s program to destroy Dr. King as the leader of the Civil Rights Movement entailed efforts to discredit him with churches, universities and the press.”

Hoover, who had Negro collaborators in both Dr. King’s and Brother Malcolm’s organizations, must also have been outraged when finding out that Dr. King had quietly sent word to Brother Malcolm in 1964 that he would support his effort to accuse the U.S. government of being unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of black people before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. That would have been a major propaganda blow to the U.S. which was flagrantly and hypocritically describing itself as God’s gift to those seeking liberty, justice and equality.

Finally, while commemorating Dr. King, we black folks should ask ourselves if we as a group of people have proven worthy of the supreme sacrifices made by him and other warriors who were killed in the line of duty in the war against white supremacy/racism.

A.Peter Bailey may be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..