Jan. 29, 2917

The Grit and Grace of Corretta King
By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Every day that he holds the Presidency, Donald Trump does something outrageous.  He blusters, he just plain lies, and he bullies.  He pushes his decisions, his executive orders, down the throats of a Congress that he dominates.  Why not let the democratic process work and let them vote to build a wall and pay for it, instead of insisting, by executive order, that the wall will be built.  In just one short week as President, he has demeaned our democracy and our voters, caused international turmoil, and more.  But he is doing exactly what he said he would do.

We’ve been here before.  Remember Ronald Reagan, the President who cut school lunches and declared ketchup a vegetable?  Remember warmonger George W. Bush?  Remember Richard Nixon and his coldness toward Coretta Scott King?  Remember history!

Journalist Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds offers us the opportunity to remember history in the Coretta Scott King memoir, My Life, My Love, My Legacy. Reynolds took copious notes and made extensive recordings in the decades that she worked and travelled with Coretta King, and she has turned them into a memoir.  Completed in 2007, it has taken a decade for the book to be published, largely because of complications with the King estate.  But Reynolds chooses not to talk about the complications, instead choosing to talk about the many ways her life was enriched and enhanced by her association with Mrs. King.  She also chooses to illuminate the leadership roles that Mrs. King embraced, both while her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was living, and after his death.

The book is a great and inspirational read, especially now, when so many have despaired at the irrational-seeming leadership of Donald Trump.  It is a reminder that it took 15 years of persistence to establish the King holiday that we now all take for granted.  It is easy to forget that Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) introduced the King Holiday legislation in 1968, just days after Dr. King’s assassination.   He introduced it again and again, year after year.  According to Coretta King, the bill was rejected more than seventy times.  But she, and Conyers, persisted in their efforts to create a national holiday.   Coretta King met with the reformed segregationist Senator Robert Byrd.  She says she would have been “anxious” to meet with a man who filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Bill, but was assured that his views had changed.  Indeed, Byrd supported the effort to establish the King holiday, but through a rules change, a two-thirds vote was needed to establish a holiday instead of a simple majority.  In 1979, the bill lost by a mere five votes.

Agitation continued after this loss.  A petition drive yielded six million signatures.  Stevie Wonder released his Happy Birthday song that advocated for a King holiday. Senator Jesse Helms opposed the holiday, introducing a 300-page document that detailed King’s “Communist activities”.  Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was so outraged by the document that he threw it to the ground, describing it as a “packet of filth”.   On October 19, 1983, the Senate passed King holiday legislation 78-22, following a House vote of 338-90.  President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law on November 3, 1983, establishing the King holiday on the third Monday of January, beginning in 1986.  Of course, some states dragged their feet.  Arizona did not acknowledge the holiday until the NFL moved a Super Bowl in protest in 1992.  South Carolina waited until 2000 to acknowledge the holiday.

We often see Coretta Scott King as a stoic, dignified lady, and a graceful partner to civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King.  This memoir shows her from another perspective, as a leader in her own right, as a dedicated pacifist, as a persistent adherent to principles of nonviolence, as a gritty fighter for her husband’s legacy through the holiday and the establishment of the King Center.  We also see her as a mother, and can read her assessment of her children, their strengths and their challenges.  While I had the privilege to be in Mrs. King’s company on many occasions, and to speak with her personally and at length more than once, this book adds a depth to my knowledge of her and makes me wish I’d had the opportunity to know the side of her that laughed with Betty Shabazz and Myrlie Evers (I laughed with both of those women, but never Coretta), enjoyed opera, and let her hair down.

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

Jan. 23, 2017

President Trump Assures Unified America as Protests Abound
Civil Rights Leaders Maintain Wait and See Posture
By Hazel Trice Edney

President Donald Trump speaks to crowd standing on the steps of the U. S. Capitol. PHOTO: Roy Lewis/Trice Edney News Wire

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45^th President of the United States Jan. 20, during a peaceful exchange of powers with America’s first Black President Barack Obama. Trump assured a unified America despite never apologizing for leading one of the most hate-filled campaigns in recent history.

“We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people. Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come,” Trump told the crowd. The Bible tells us, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.’ We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When America is united, America is totally unstoppable.”

The speech was met with applause and chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” by the vastly White audience – a reversal from the two inaugurations of eight and four years ago, when throngs of Black people packed in to witness the historic inaugurations of President Obama. The Trump inauguration, though well attended with crowds stretching from the steps of the U. S. Capitol back to the Washington Monument, did not draw as many people as the Obama inauguration, based on close observations of the crowd by this reporter and Black press photographers who attended all three ceremonies.

More than 50 Democratic members of Congress decided to skip the inauguration; including Black Caucus members U. S. Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). Lewis contends he does not see Trump as a legitimate president given the involvement of Russian email hacking in order to help him get elected, according to confirmation by intelligence agencies. Lee and others refused to attend because of protest for Trump’s vitriolic conduct during the election.

Still President Obama had promised a “peaceful exchange of powers”, a tenet of American democracy. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, were also in attendance with their wives. Former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who battled Trump vigorously to win the presidency, smiled a lot and appeared stately during the procession and ceremony.

“Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent,” Trump said. He repeated promised to “make America first” in his proposed national and international policies, legislations and executive orders. He also promised to uplift “inner cities”, a well-known euphemism for the Black community.

“Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are the just and reasonable demands of a righteous public,” Trump said. “But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now. We are one nation – and their pain is our pain.  Their dreams are our dreams; and their success will be our success.  We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny.”

Trump’s words are lofty, but his actions have not matched what he has said. So far, he has nominated an all-White cabinet; except Dr. Ben Carson who will head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has also appointed former White supremacist advocate Steve Bannon as a top advisor and nominated former Klan sympathizer Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general. He has appointed Omarosa Manigault to assist him with public liaison, but it remains to be seen what will come from a meeting she and other aids had with Black organizational representatives.

Meanwhile on Saturday, the day after the inauguration, more than a million women packed the streets of Washington and other major cities around the U. S. making demands on a string of key issues important to women, Blacks and other minorities. Civil rights leaders have taken a wait and see posture while putting pressure on the Trump administration through protest.

Led by Rev. Al Sharpton, they started that pressure during a march one week before the inauguration. On Inauguration Day, National Urban League President/CEO Marc Morial emailed a statement essentially promising to continue marching to correct social ills that were prevalent 50 years ago.

“My own predecessor as head of the National Urban League, the legendary Whitney M. Young, was one of the organizers of that march and delivered his own stirring speech that day. He spoke of the need for Black Americans to do “some more marching:” ...from dangerous ghettos to safe, unrestricted neighborhoods…from poverty wages to skilled, family-sustaining jobs...from the cemeteries of early graves to health centers from overcrowded, inadequate classrooms to fully-equipped, professionally staffed and integrated schools,” wrote Morial. “And there we were, marching for those same things a half-century later, marching under the motto, “We shall not be moved.”

January 24, 2017

Women’s March Inspire Millions to Demand Justice in the Trump Era
By Brittany Webb 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A sea of pink hats, signs proclaiming “Black Lives Matter”, gay-rights flags and posters with all sorts of demands of justice filled the crowd at the Women’s March on Washington Jan. 20.

Millions of women of all races and nationalities were joined by men in the nation’s capital and around the world to defend the human and civil rights, honor and dignity of people - and some to protest the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, which many view as a threat to human rights progress.

“We march to declare we are ready for the fight. We are here to declare that we are America. We will stay awoke and we will not be moved,” said Black Women’s Roundtable Convener Melanie Campbell in her speech to the DC crowd, which was so packed that they could not march to the White House as planned. “We march for Black women who voted 94 percent for Hillary Clinton, who by the way won three million votes over her opponent…We march, even for the 53 percent of White women who voted for that other guy, to reflect and join us, all of us, moving forward to break that glass ceiling to elect the first woman president of America and to select a Black Woman to the Supreme Court in our lifetime.”

Celebrities like Madonna, Alicia Keys, Maxwell, Janelle Monae and Jidenna joined political figures, commentators and activists like Campbell, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, CNN’s Van Jones; NAACP Chair Roslyn Brock and activist Angela Davis to support and energize women who are determined to fight for equality.

The DC crowd was vastly White. But a strong contingency of Black women participated and spoke during the rally. “We stand in solidarity,” said Brock of the NAACP. “To declare that women’s rights are human rights. We send a message to our new government that we will not stop until women enjoy equal status. Throughout the history of this nation, women have worked to enjoy full civil rights. In 2008, 2012 and 2016 Black women exercised the right to vote larger than any other group in this nation,” she said as the crowd cheered.

Because the marches, which also took place in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston and other cities in the U. S. around the world the day after the Trump inauguration, activist Angela Davis declared the demonstration to be a part of American history.

“At this very challenging moment in our history, let us remind ourselves that we, the hundreds of thousands, the millions of women, trans people, men and youth who are here at the women’s march, we represent the powerful forces of change that are determined to prevent the dying cultures of racism, heteropatriarchy from rising again,” Davis said.

Despite the march being geared towards the rights of woman, Davis left the mark of Black people on the hearts of the crowd when she addressed the roots of the nation.

“The freedom struggles of Black people that have shaped the very nature of this country’s history cannot be deleted with a sweep of a hand,” Davis said. “We cannot be made to forget that Black lives do matter.”

Amongst the sisters were men who were present in the name of their sisters, mothers, wives, girlfriends and women alike. One of those men was CNN commentator Van Jones.

“With every breakdown, a breakthrough is possible, and today, because of you, something beautiful is being reborn in America,” Jones said. “Something beautiful is being reborn right here, and right now.”

For some women, it was refreshing to see men standing in solidarity with the people who society deems to be less than compared to them.

“To see men fighting the good fight alongside us is humbling,” Alyssa B. of Philadelphia said. “It gives us hope and a sense of us not having to do it alone. It’s the definition of humanity.”

Though the D.C. women could not march to the White House as planned, President Trump still got the message. He tweated the next day, "Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly."

Actually, there were few celebrities spotted in the crowd of marchers, except entertainers on the stage. As protesters gathered from cities across the nation, one D.C. native took to the stage to demand one thing from government on behalf of women.

“The best thing the federal government can do for us is to leave use alone,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in the closing remarks of her speech.

R&B singer Maxwell serenaded the crowd with his hit single “This Woman’s Work,” dedicating it to the late Sandra Bland, who was found hanging in July 2015 in a Waller County, Texas jail cell three days after a contentious arrest that started with a stop for an alleged traffic signal violation. Authorities ruled her death a suicide, but the family disputed that claim. Her family was awarded a settlement of $1.9 million in the case.

Black women who joined in the march said the need for solidarity between women activities at the point in history is clear.

“Black women benefit when a women's rights agenda - equal pay, affordable child care and health care, and access to education, among other things - is embraced,” said columnist and economist Dr. Julianne Malveaux, former president of Bennett College for Women. “It was refreshing to see so many White people carrying Black Lives Matter signs.”

While the Woman’s March on Washington is over, the fight for women’s rights, human rights and religious rights continues. And while fear keeps some from standing on the front lines, singer Janelle Monae urges protestors to keep choosing to fight for freedom.

“Continue to embrace the things that make you unique even if it makes others uncomfortable,” Monae said. “You are enough, and whenever you feel in doubt, whenever you want to give up, you must always remember to choose freedom over fear.”

The NAACP’s Brock concluded in her remarks, “We must [also] fight to ensure that the rights gained by women, minorities, the LGBTQ community and immigrants are not destroyed by an administration who seems determined to take this nation back to a place where we are a house divided against ourselves … My sisters, I ask you today as we face the rising sun of a new day begun, let us boldly declare to this administration and this nation that we will organize. We will fight, and we will march on until victory is won because courage will not skip this generation.”

Jan. 23, 2017

Kevin Hart to Host “The Black Man’s Guide to History”