Jan. 12, 2021

Democrats Now Dominate White House, U. S. House and Senate
By Hazel Trice Edney

Rev. Raphael Warnock, U. S. Senator-elect

Sen.-Elect Jon Ossoff

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The White House, U. S. Senate, and U. S. House of Representatives – America’s seat of power – will all be Democratically led under President Joe Biden since the U. S. senatorial wins of Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia. The benefit of the dual wins is not only Democratic power in the U. S. Congress, but the likelihood of a smoother legislative agenda for the Biden Administration and possible greater effectiveness on the issues most concerning Black people.

Among Biden’s top agenda items for his first 100 days after the Jan. 20 inauguration are at least a hundred million COVID 19 vaccines within the first 100 days; plus an economic stimulus package. That package could include $2,000 stimulus checks,  another moratorium on evictions, a hike to the minumum wage as well as other economic stimulus.

 Warnock, pastor of the Ebenzer Baptist Church, formerly pastored by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will be the first Black member of the U. S. Senate from Georgia. He won the election after a hardfought race against ardent Trump supporter Sen. Kelly Loeffler.

Ossoff, who was raised Jewish, won election over Republican David Perdue. His win alongside Warnock caused great celebration among African-Americans who recall the racist history steeped in Georgia among other southern states; especially during the days of Jim Crow.

“I come before you as a proud American and a son of Georgia. My roots are planted deeply in Georgia soil,” Warnock said in his speech,  “In this moment in American history, Washington has a choice to make, we all have a choice to make,” he said in his speech. “Will we continue to divide, distract and dishonor one another or will we love our neighbors as we love ourselves? Will we play political games while real people suffer or will we win righteous fights together, standing shoulder to shoulder, for the good of Georgia, for the good of our country? Will we seek to destroy one another as enemies or heed the call towards the common good, building together what Dr. King called ‘the beloved community?"

During a campaign speech, Ossoff indicated he was alrady on the same page as Biden as well as many Black voters:

 "You know who has been hit the hardest by this virus has been George’s black community," Ossoff said. "We need to invest in a longer term economic recovery, because this short-term direct relief will help relieve some of the immediate pain, but we need a significant infrastructure and jobs package to invest in long-term economic recovery."

Jan. 4, 2021

Jim Clyburn to Propose 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' as America's 'National Hymn'
Congress' highest ranking African-American also warns Black journalists to guard against the 'sound bite' culture during COVID 19 and the infiltration of Black Lives Matter
By Richard Prince
 
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn speaks to the Journal-isms Rountable.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest ranking Black member of Congress, told journalists Sunday that he plans to introduce legislation to make “Lift Every Voice and Sing” the “national hymn.”         

“I’ve been toying around with an idea now for two or three decades, ever since I’ve been in the Congress,” Clyburn said during Richard Prince's Journal-isms Roundtable Jan. 3. “I’ve been trying to build up enough nerve to introduce a national hymn.

“I instructed my staff two weeks ago to prepare legislation for me to apply this week to make ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ our national hymn. We have a national anthem, we don’t have a national hymn. I would love to see that become our national hymn, and being sung at events, not as the Negro National Anthem, but as the United States of America’s national hymn.

“We are putting that legislation in this week. I hope I can survive and see [that] it passes.”

The idea may already be taking shape. After a year of a national racial reckoning following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, the NFL decided that during its opening week, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” would be performed before each game, ahead of “The Star Spangled Banner,” as Andrew R. Chow reported in July for Time magazine.

Lift Every Voice and Sing, a soaring hymn that is sung while standing with respect during many Black events, was written by James Weldon Johnson and put to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, in 1900. The heart rinding words of the song describe the struggle of Black people in America from slavery to freedom. 

In his conversation with the more than 50 journalists and guests, Clyburn, who provided the key Democratic primary endorsement that propelled Joe Biden into the presidency and now chairs the Biden inaugural committee, said he did not expect President Trump to attend the Jan. 20 inaugural ceremony. And Clyburn said he was not surprised when told of Sunday’s Washington Post report that Trump “urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to ‘find’ enough votes to overturn his defeat in an extraordinary one-hour phone call Saturday that legal scholars described as a flagrant abuse of power and a potential criminal act.”

Hearing of the then breaking news story, Clyburn said, “We can expect almost anything from this president.” In response to a question, Clyburn also expressed concerns that the swearing-in of Kamala Harris as the nation’s first vice president of color has added to security concerns.

The majority whip said that Democrats had “an even chance” to win two U.S. Senate seats in the special Georgia election Tuesday, Jan. 5,  that would decide which party controls the Senate. The Democrats, he said, would avoid the mistakes made in November in South Carolina, when Democrat Jaimie Harrison failed to unseat Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

“I do believe we can win in Georgia,” Clyburn said. “And I do believe the only difference they need to make in Georgia and South Carolina is to win on Election Day. Jamie went into Nov. 3 leading by 150,000 votes. We have a way of calculating and we were in the lead big time. On Election Day, we got outvoted. We did not do the groundwork that was necessary to win on Election Day.”

Clyburn, whom the Guardian last week called “the most important politician of 2020,” was introduced by his daughter, Mignon Clyburn, formerly acting chair and member of the Federal Communications Commission and who serves on the FCC transition team. Her father said he had secured agreement from Biden to back universal internet access, an issue in which the FCC also has jurisdiction.

“The greatest thing that we can do in the 21st century for rural America, for what I would call low-income communities, is to have internet in every home,” Clyburn told the participants on the Zoom call. Journal-isms Roundtable is a monthly gathering of journalists discussing race, journalism and current events, with more watching on Facebook Live. 

Indications are that Clyburn will continue his influential walk with Biden during the administration. “One of the things I sat down and discussed with Joe Biden the Sunday night before my endorsement was what we need to do to make sure that health care is efficiently and effectively delivered to everybody. It cannot happen unless we have telehealth and telemedicine, to make sure that we have education adequately applied to every community. Cannot happen without online learning. We’re not going to have developments in rural communities of businesses and entrepreneurs without the internet.”

Further, Clyburn warned about infiltration of the Black Lives Matter movement, pointing to vandalism targeting the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate over the holiday weekend. The attackers blighted “their homes with graffiti and in one case a pig’s head as Congress failed to approve an increase in the amount of money being sent to individuals to help cope with the coronavirus pandemic,” as the Associated Press reported.

“How sophisticated it was, that’s somebody trying to start something,” Clyburn said of the vandalism. “That’s what that is.

“We have to be careful that we do not allow an infiltration of this movement. Ask the attorney general of Minnesota what they found out . . . in Minneapolis when people started breaking out windows and breaking down buildings. It was an infiltration there.

“In Columbia, S.C., we had a very peaceful march in Columbia in support of Black Lives Matter. Their timing was wrong, and when the folks got there to infiltrate the movement, we had terminated the march, had come to an end, but they still went around Columbia, breaking out windows. And we did an investigation and it had nothing to do with the movement. I wonder where they came from. I don’t know why they came, but we knew that they went to work and arrested them for having done it.

“So all I’m saying to you is, just because it’s being done in the name of the movement doesn’t mean it’s a part of the movement. That’s a part of what your job is going to be going forward.

“That’s why you’re going to be so important.” Journalists of color have “had the life experiences” to know when certain assumptions don’t pass the smell test.

At one point in his talk, Clyburn referred to what he called the “kicking out” of the late Rep. John Lewis from the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee “because he refused to adhere to a philosophy in the soundbite of “Burn, Baby Burn.” Clyburn was making a point about the dangers of a “sound bite culture.”

However, leaders of SNCC disputed this account. Courtland Cox, president of the SNCC Legacy Project, messaged Journal-isms, “Jim Clyburn has NO knowledge of what and why anything happened in SNCC.”

Clyburn's Sunday afternoon conversation with the journalists was on the same day that members of the House of Representatives were sworn in. Clyburn joined the Zoom shortly after the noon swearing-in.

Clyburn is also chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. In that capacity he invoked the power of journalists to get beyond sound bites about the COVID vaccines.

“When it comes to COVID, my big job now, we’ve got two vaccines out there — There’s a third and fourth on the horizon — I do believe there’ll be six or seven.” he said. “Vaccines available in the not-too-distant future. My job is to make sure that these vaccines are distributed in an efficient manner, in an effective manner, and in an equitable manner.

“Those are the three E’s that I’m going to be working with. I tell people all the time that I remember the polio vaccine. There were two polio vaccines. One was a shot in the arm, and one was a drop of serum on a lump of sugar. Can I tell you which communities got the shots, and who got the lump of sugar? That’s going to be our job.

“That you make sure that this vaccine is equitably distributed when it’s made available. I’m going in to get my second shot on Friday, and that’s going to be another problem.

“And that’s why I say that you all are so important! ‘Cause I do believe . . . I know about the Tuskegee experiment. And I’ve lived a lot of inequities. I know what it is to have appendicitis, and then have to go through the back door of a doctor’s office to go through a segregated wing of a hospital. They have your appendix removed. . . .

“But you’re going to be an integral part of educating the public on this vaccine. Because we are not going to get rid of this pandemic until we get beyond it, which we cannot get beyond until we have organized and scientifically imposed herd immunity. Not Trump’s herd immunity, but the herd immunity that comes with sufficient distribution and utilization of the vaccine.

“If you don’t do the vaccine, we’re not going to get to where we need to be, and we’re not going to get there until the public is sufficiently educated on the fact that this is not an experiment. This — this time — is real, and you got to have faith and confidence in the process.”

 

 

 

Jan. 5, 2021

Clyburn Concerned About Safety of Vice President Kamala Harris
By Dr. Barbara Reynolds

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Amidst post-election strife that has reached historic levels, U. S. Rep. James Clyburn, (S.C.) says he is deeply concerned about the safety of President Elect Joe Biden and even more so Vice President Elect Kamala Harris.

"We have to be more concerned about Harris than any of the other vice presidents in our nation's history," Clyburn said during a Zoom conference with journalist Richard Prince's Journal-isms Roundtable. "That Kamala is the first woman and the first black vice president is an issue that cannot be avoided."

The question, posed by this reporter, was in response to reports that Biden is expected to receive Secret Service protection with a new team that is more familiar to him; replacing some agents amid concerns that they may be more politically aligned with outgoing President Donald Trump. Biden's protection was also heightened after he was elected in the wake of credible threats to both him and Harris. However, it is not clear whether her protection will be strengthened more than usual for a vice president. 

President Obama began receiving unprecedented levels of Secret Service protection as a candidate due to threats on his life. He was reportedly assigned a Secret Service detail at the presidential level a year and a half before his 2008 election. 

Secret Service alliances with Trump may be extreme. For example, some members of Trump’s detail reportedly urged their colleagues not to wear protective masks during trips in order to please Trump, despite the massive numbers of deaths and infections due to Covid 19.

Clyburn's concerns come at a time of heightened tensions where thousands of Trump supporters are expected to gather in Washington on January 6 to challenge the Electoral College certification of Biden and Harris as president and vice president.

Trump has encouraged the Proud Boys among other White Supremacists groups to join the protest. Recently, these groups were engaged in violence in the District. This included several knife attacks, arrests and the defacing of Black churches where Black Lives Matter posters were ripped from their buildings.

December 17, 2020

 

Biden Nominations Broaden Black Women’s Leadership Roles:

1^st Black Woman to Chair Council of Economic Advisers, 2^nd in 40 Years to Head HUD

By Charlene Crowell

Congresswoman Marcia Fudge

 

Cecilia Rouse

 

 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The selection of California Senator Kamala Harris to join and then win the nation’s Vice-Presidency gave unprecedented hope to Black women across the nation. Not only had a woman broken a glass ceiling in professional development; she was also Black and a graduate of Howard University, one of the nation’s premier Historically Black Institutions.

 

In recent days, however, two more significant nominations by President-Elect Joe Biden signal that the presence of Black women in the new administration is expanding in other ground-breaking roles. If confirmed by the Senate, Cecilia Rouse, a renowned economist will become the first Black woman to chair the nation’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) and Ohio’s Rep. Marcia Fudge, a former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus will become the second Black woman in 40 years to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

 

Never before in the nation’s history have three Black women served in these three key posts. Moreover, as Black America seeks more fairness, inclusion, and equity with a new White House, these appointees are well-respected and ably qualified to serve in their respective roles.

 

Nominated on November 30 to serve as CEA’s Chair, Cecilia Rouse is the current Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), and a former CEA member during the Obama Administration. Earlier. she additionally served as a Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton, serving in his National Economic Council.

 

As the Ivy League school’s Katzman-Ernst Professor in Economics and Education and public affairs, she is also the founding director of the Princeton Education Research Section, a member of the National Academy of Education, the Brookings Institution, and a member of the editorial board of the American Economic Journal, focusing on economic policy.

 

Rouse joined Princeton in 1992, after earning her undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees in economics from Harvard University, and has led SPIA since 2012.

 

Princeton’s President offered his best wishes for her new role.

 

“Ceci Rouse is a distinguished economist and an outstanding dean for the School,” noted Christopher L. Eisgruber, Princeton University’s President. “For more than eight years she has led the School of Public and International Affairs with integrity and a steadfast commitment to scholarly excellence, diversity, and the free exchange of ideas. The School is stronger and better because of her contributions.”

 

“I am proud that she has once again been called to serve our country, this time in one of its most important leadership roles,” added Eisgruber.

 

In a recent Twitter post, Ms. Rouse wrote, "This job is about advising the President on how to rebuild and revive our economy. The planning for a fairer economy, grounded in facts and evidence, begins now."

 

Similarly, on December 11, President-Elect Biden nominated Ohio’s Rep. Marcia Fudge to lead HUD. Also subject to Senate confirmation,Rep. Fudge will lead housing efforts to make bold investments in homeownership and access to affordable housing for low-income consumers, many of whom are Black, Brown and Native Families, according to the Biden-Harris transition. This effort will also mirror the over-arching Biden-Harris pledge to create “[a]n economy where Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), and Native American workers and families are finally welcomed as full participants.”

 

On her December 11 remarks, Rep. Fudge reflected on the responsibilities she would assume as HUD Secretary.

 

“[O]ur task at the Department of Housing and Urban Development will be to stand up for the dignity of all Americans and deliver the promise of our nation to all those left out in the cold… We will fight for housing in every community that is affordable, decent, and safe. We will help more Americans the secure dream of home ownership, to close the gaps of inequity, build wealth and pass it onto their children...But perhaps most importantly of all, we will help people believe once again, that their government cares about them no matter who they are. That we understand their problems.”

 

Elected to Congress in 2008, Rep. Fudge has represented Ohio’s 11^th District that includes 32 cities, suburbs and towns in Ohio’s Cuyahoga and Summit Counties, including Cleveland, Akron, and Euclid. She is also a past Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

 

Prior to her election to Congress, she served in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, and broke racial and gender barriers as the mayor of Warrensville Heights. As its mayor, she focused on revitalizing both a sagging retail base and new residential construction.

A lawyer by training, Congresswoman Fudge is a graduate of Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall School of Law, and earlier earned her bachelor’s degree in business from The Ohio State University. She is a Past National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and a member of its Greater Cleveland Alumnae Chapter.

Numerous housing stakeholders also expressed support for the Fudge nomination including top industry leaders like the Mortgage Bankers Association, and the National Association of Home Builders. This corporate support is matched by that of lawmakers, consumer and affordable housing advocates as well.

 

“An unflagging advocate for civil rights, Fudge brings decades of experience as a public servant and a strong commitment to ensuring equitable access to credit, education, healthy food, clean environments and other resources, which go hand-in-hand with access to housing,” noted Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance.

 

“Having served as mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, Fudge will bring a unique understanding of how HUD programs are implemented on the ground locally,” Rice said. “We are further encouraged by the incoming administration’s indication that its Day One priorities for HUD will include reinstating the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing and 2013 Disparate Impact rules.”

 

Sharing that same concern on the Trump-era HUD rollbacks and the future of the Fair Housing Act is Nikitra Bailey, Executive Vice President with the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL).

 

“The 2015 AFFH rule was a step toward fulfilling that law’s mandate of breaking down segregation and the inequity it created. In quashing the rule, the Trump administration has taken our nation backwards, denying people the freedom to choose where they live and exacerbating the issues that we struggle with as our nation reckons with racial injustice today,” said Bailey. “The administration should reverse this action and take the necessary steps to ensure that all people, including Black Americans, can fairly participate in the American Dream.”

 

Following the 1968 enactment of the Fair Housing Act, Black America’s rate of homeownership grew consistently until 2007 and the disproportionate foreclosures borne by Black and Brown consumers.  By 2019, only 40.6% of Blacks were homeowners, a record low. Even in 2020 and a Black homeownership rate of 44%, Black America lags behind other races and ethnicities. By comparison, White homeownership stands at 73.7%, according to the Census Bureau.

 

These low rates of homeownership are a significant part of why racial wealth gaps continue to grow. For the average person, a home is the largest, single investment of a lifetime, bringing not only stability for families but the opportunity to build wealth through equity and inter-generational transfers of wealth.

 

CRL’s federal policy agenda for President-Elect Biden’s first 100 days in office addresses both legislative and administrative remedies for housing.  A new HUD Secretary could enact several of these items including but not limited to full enforcement of fair housing and lending laws, requiring financial institutions to fulfill their Community Reinvestment Act mission that targets low-and-moderate income consumers, and creating a home ownership program that provides down payment assistance grants for those now underserved in the housing market – low-income, Black, Latino and other communities of color.

 

As Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, California’s Rep. Maxine Waters explained the current housing challenges in specific dollars and cents.

 

“According to recent reports, $70 billion in back rent will be due by the end of the year and 20 million renters could face eviction by January 2021, while 2.8 million homeowners are in forbearance and 3.8 million are estimated to be in some stage of delinquency,” Waters said. “It is clear that in order to meet the scale and scope of this crisis, swift action must be taken.”

 

“The last four years consisted of a Trump Administration intent on doing everything in its power to diminish, rather than promote, fair access to housing; rescind, rather than strengthen, bedrock rules that prevent discrimination in housing; and ignore, rather than address, the housing and homelessness crisis our country faces amid an unprecedented global pandemic”, concluded Rep.  Waters.

 

Charlene Crowell is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..