January 15, 2017

The Tears
By Dr. E. Faye Williams

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Where has the time gone?  Eight years have gone by much too soon. As the days pass, the more I find myself filled with regret that time moved so fast.

It’s easy to remember "The Tears." The first time they visited me was 11:00 pm on 11/04/08. It's easy to remember the exact time because that was the time that the polls closed in the West and political announcers felt free to deliver the great historic news. I vividly remember the announcer saying, "We’re free now to announce that Barack Obama has won 270 electoral votes and has been declared the 44th President of the United States.” I’d never felt that type of emotion before.

I watched many celebratory demonstrations of euphoria broadcast on television from locations in every corner of the nation. The celebration in Chicago's Grant Park dwarfed those in every other city. Chicago's own Barack Obama had just been elected President of the United States and it was Chicago's turn to "represent.”

Full of indescribable joy, I watched as the Obamas appeared on stage. The President-Elect began thanking those who supported him and reassuring those who didn't that they all would be recipients of the Hope and Change on which he’d campaigned.

Then “The Tears” came again. I didn't invite them, but they came anyway. They came because in the state of my raw emotions I juxtaposed the image of the New First Family against the memories of all of the struggles that preceded their election. In my joy of the moment I remembered Dr. King, Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X, Ida B.Wells, Denmark Vesey, Crispus Attucks, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, etc. I thought of the sacrifices of Black vets who fought and died in every war this nation waged from the Revolution to Iraq and Afghanistan.

I remember smiling as, through my tears, I saw Rev. Jesse Jackson with cheeks wet with tears and the hundreds of others who shared our emotions and tears.  With immeasurable joy and complete sadness, I reflected on those who went to their graves hoping for a day like that or doubts that one would ever come.  For the remainder of that night and the next day “The Tears” were my companion, a fitting escort for my emotions and me.  Like all uninvited guests, they eventually left.

They came again on 1/20/09 and again on 1/21/13. These visits were more along the order of Tears of Joy.  “The Tears”that came in 2013 served to confirm the confidence and trust that My President had earned from his fellow citizens.

On the evening of 1/10/17, I watched as My President gave his Farewell Address.” The Tears” came once more to cloud my vision of the television screen. They didn’t prevent me from hearing the message and resolve of My President to continue to influence the forward progress of our nation. As he enumerated the achievements of his administration, I more clearly understood the personal sacrifice and the depth of his efforts to accomplish what he had.

“The Tears” didn’t prevent the pride I felt for My President who reset the standard for civil discourse and model behavior in his administration. Neither he nor any member of his family engaged in conduct that would discredit the office or the nation. Beyond stewards of the national interests, Michelle and he were the exemplary couple and parents.

I know that another visit by “The Tears” is imminent. On 1/20/17, as we say farewell to one of the greatest presidents on record, “The Tears”will not blind me from continuing the work of preserving the Obama legacy. As he said in his farewell, our efforts to continue the work he began now rests in our individual effort and commitment. YES, WE CAN!

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

Jan. 10, 2017

NNPA’s Chavis Receives Promise of First Press Interview with President Trump
Move would signal departure from Obama years of ignoring requests from Black newspaper reporters
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Omarosa Manigault, recently named assistant to the president and director of communications in the Office of Public Liaison for the Trump Administration, has promised the first press interview with President Trump to Benjamin Chavis, president/CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, according to sources who attended a private meeting with the Trump transition team last week.

Manigault’s promise of the interview was disclosed after a representative of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) stressed the importance of Black reporters interfacing with the president. Both Chavis and NABJ representatives participated in the closed door meeting held Jan. 4 at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in North West DC.

“When NABJ said we need to make sure that somebody Black interviews the President first, [Omarosa] said, ‘Oh no.  Ben Chavis and I have already spoken and he’s going to be the first interview,’” recounted veteran civil rights leader Barbara Arnwine, president/CEO of the Transformative Justice Coalition, in an interview this week. Arnwine said Chavis then “acknowledged that that was correct - that they had already been in touch with him about it.”

No working press was allowed inside the meeting, described as “off the record” for those in attendance. The meeting, billed as a “listening session” with Manigault and other senior members of the Trump transition team, drew dozens of Black leaders representing approximately 30 different mostly non-partisan and non-profit organizations.

This reporter and CNN’s Betsy Klein staked out the meeting for more than three hours standing outside the building on the sidewalk. Some organizational leaders spoke guardedly after the meeting while others declined comment.

Leaving the meeting, Chavis gave no details on what happened inside. However, reached by phone this week, he gave a general statement.

“2017 marks the 190^th year of the Black Press in America. And the tradition of the Black press has been to engage whoever is in the White House on behalf of Black America. There are issues that affect our quality of life and we cannot afford to be excluded from the position and the power that would impact the quality of life of Black people,” Chavis said.

Manigault and Trump team members departed after the meeting without making any comments to the media.

If Chavis is awarded the interview, it would mark a departure from the Obama treatment of Black newspaper reporters. Despite numerous requests, no one-on-one interviews were awarded to NNPA representatives after this reporter interviewed Obama as president-elect on Jan. 19, 2009, the eve of his first inauguration. However, Obama did grant interviews to Black radio talk show hosts Al Sharpton and Joe “The Black Eagle” Madison. Journalist and communications specialist Jeff Johnson also interviewed the president on BET amidst racial unrest following police shootings of Black people two years ago.

It remains to be seen whether Chavis’ interview with Trump will reveal what sensitivities Trump may have to African-American issues. So far, the President-elect has only spoken of dealing with the high homicide rates in Black communities and building the infrastructure in “inner cities”. But he has said little or nothing in favor of civil rights agendas.

Since his election, Trump has also called for America to unite across divisive political and racial lines. Yet, he has simultaneously made nominations and appointments of people who are racial lightning rods after his campaign, which was marked by racial animous. His appointments include Steve Bannon, former head of the alt-right, White supremacist voice Breitbart News, as a chief advisor and his controversial nomination of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general whose Senate confirmation hearings are underway this week.

Civil rights leaders and more than 1,000 law professors are protesting Sessions’ confirmation because of his history of racial insensitivity. This includes an expressed affinity for the Ku Klux Klan and his past prosecution of voting rights advocates. He is former attorney general of Alabama. 

According to multiple sources who were inside the meeting, some civil rights representatives expressed strong opposition to the controversial nomination Sessions. However, based on interviews, the Trump team remained in “listening” mode on that topic, simply nodding without comment.

Arnwine, widely known for her passion on civil rights and social justice issues, said she told the Trump team that the President-elect needed to “withdraw the nomination of Sessions and that there would be no real rapport with the African-American community until that was done. And that no matter what they did, that would be something that they could not overcome.”

Manigault was joined by a number of transition colleagues, including Ken Blackwell, Trump’s domestic policy chair, and Katrina Pierson, a chief advisor.

The team did not respond, except Manigault explained to her colleagues who Arnwine is and her reputation of outspokenness in the civil rights community, Arnwine said, “There was chill in there. You could tell they were pissed off.”

Meanwhile this week, President-elect Trump himself appeared to dismiss the concerns of the civil rights leaders. On Monday, he told a CNN reporter that Sessions is a “high quality man” who would be “good” as attorney general.

Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington Bureau of the NAACP, said it was “good for them to have an opportunity like this for organizations like ours… The election is over. Now we have to talk about how we get things done that affect our communities and the people we serve. So in essence, just being able to lay the issues out on the table and address them is what’s happening here.”

Shelton said it is a “tough thing to gauge” where the relationships between the Trump Administration and Black leaders will go from here. He quoted Sessions as having described the NAACP as “‘one of the most un-American organizations in the United States of America’ because we’ve been trying to, quote, ‘shove civil rights down the throats of the American people.’”

Conservative pastor, Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church, praised the administration for “giving significant grass roots leaders an opportunity to state what they’re about, what their agenda is, and what they’d like to see happen.” He called Manigault a “great leader.”

Most of the organizations represented in the meeting were non-partisan, with Black Republicans and Democrats participating. Among others observed by this reporter leaving the meeting were Melanie Campbell of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation; Dr. Barbara Skinner of the Skinner Leadership Institute; Deana Bass of Bass Public Affairs; Dr. Elsie Scott of the Ron Walters Leadership and Public Policy Center at Howard University; Ron Busby of the U. S. Black Chambers Inc.; Harry Alford of the National Black Chamber of Commerce; Dr. E. Faye Williams of the National Congress of Black women; Rev. Charles Steele of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Lezli Baskerville of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, and Janice Mathis of the National Council of Negro Women. Journalist and communications specialist Jeff Johnson was also seen leaving.

Other organizations listed on the emailed invitation, obtained by the Trice Edney News Wire, were the National Association of Blacks in Broadcasting; the American Association of Blacks in Energy; the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; the National Action Network; and the National Urban League. Sources said several sororities and fraternities, the Concerned Black Men and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives were also represented.

In the emailed invitation they were told that the meeting “will allow for an opportunity to briefly share your priority issues with the official Transition Team.”

According to interviews with Arnwine and other organizational representatives, the Trump team mostly just listened, but appeared overtly interested in the organizations’ positions on school choice and vouchers. Some civil rights leaders say school vouchers siphon money away from public schools.

“They asked every single group what’s your position on vouchers,” Arnwine said, describing the Trump team as “laser focused” on that issue. “They were really trying to get the optics of how the groups would react to school choice and voucher initiatives. That was very clear.”

They also seemed overtly interested in the funding of Historically Black Colleges and Universities as well as building up the infrastructure of the nation, sources said.

Shelton, of the NAACP, praised Manigault for her handling of the meeting, saying he has known her for years.

“It will be fascinating to see how things move ahead with her. I have a lot of respect for her,” he said. “The question is how affective will Omarosa be able to be in an administration like this one.”

Jan. 11, 2017

In Final Address: President Obama Says 'Post Racial' America Was 'Never Realistic'
By Hazel Trice Edney

PHOTO: Paulette Singleton/Trice Edney News Wire

First Lady Michelle Obama and the President embrace as he ends his final national address. PHOTO: Paulette Singleton/Trice Edney News Wire

President Barack Obama is joined by First Lady Michelle Obama, their oldest daughter Malia, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, after his farewell speech and final national address Jan. 10 in Chicago. Sasha Obama, the youngest first daughter, was home studying for an exam. PHOTO: The White House

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - In a tearful televised address before a passionate and exuberant Chicago audience, President Barack Obama gave his departing speech Tuesday night, imploring African-Americans and others of diverse races and backgrounds to empathize with each other for a “more perfect union.”

Amidst the pains of racism and discrimination for Blacks and other minorities, the president’s departing message was that among the clearest strategies for progress is the ability for all people to change their hearts toward each other.

“For Blacks and other minority groups, it means tying our own very real struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face - not only the refugee, or the immigrant, or the rural poor, or the transgender American, but also the middle-aged White guy who, from the outside, may seem like he’s got advantages, but has seen his world upended by economic and cultural and technological change.  We have to pay attention, and listen,” the President said to applause. “For White Americans, it means acknowledging that the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didn’t suddenly vanish in the ‘60s - that when minority groups voice discontent, they’re not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness.  When they wage peaceful protest, they’re not demanding special treatment but the equal treatment that our Founders promised.”

With thousands in the audience at the McCormick Place convention center in his adopted home town of Chicago and millions more watching by TV, President Obama came full circle, discounting any notion of the so-called “post-racial” America that was discussed when he was first elected eight years ago. They have been years marked by some of the worst racial strife since the civil rights movement of the 1960s, largely due to the rise in hate and White supremacy groups in response to his election and to the increase in videotaped police shootings of Black people.

“After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America.  And such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic.  Race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society.  Now, I’ve lived long enough to know that race relations are better than they were 10, or 20, or 30 years ago, no matter what some folks say,” he said.  “But we’re not where we need to be.  And all of us have more work to do,” he said to applause.

The incoming Republican President-elect Donald Trump is among those who exacerbated racial tensions during the Obama years. During his candidacy, which was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, Trump never apologized for his long-held contention that Obama was born in Kenya, though he did finally acknowledge his birthplace of Hawaii.  Trump’s public mockery of the handicapped, women, prisoners of war, Muslims, Hispanics and others fanned fumes that hate experts, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, now credit for more than a thousand race hate incidents since his election.

But, Trump appeared to change his tune after his election and his first meeting with Obama. He publicly called President Obama a “great man” and said he would seek his counsel after a victory speech in which Trump called for the country to unite. Likewise, Obama, taking the high road after campaigning vigorously for his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has repeatedly said his greatest desire now is a “peaceful transfer of power” - a tenet of American democracy.

Eroding race relations was one of three :threats to democracy" that President Obama focused on in his final speech to the nation. Though some pundits expected him to boast on his record of accomplishments, he mainly dealt with those issues that represent those threats and outlined ways to progress.

The other two threats he outlined were the mixtures of terrorism and economic deprivation, such as during the season of Sept. 11, 2001 and the separation of ideas without compromise.

“Understand, democracy does not require uniformity.  Our founders argued.  They quarreled.  Eventually they compromised.  They expected us to do the same.  But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity - the idea that for all our outward differences, we’re all in this together; that we rise or fall as one,” he said.

He described Sept. 11, 2001: “A shrinking world, growing inequality; demographic change and the specter of terrorism - these forces haven’t just tested our security and our prosperity, but are testing our democracy, as well.  And how we meet these challenges to our democracy will determine our ability to educate our kids, and create good jobs, and protect our homeland.  In other words, it will determine our future.”

First Lady Michelle Obama looked on from the audience with their older daughter, Malia, beside her. Sasha, the younger daughter, was home studying for a test, the White House reported.

Obama’s most emotional moment appeared to be when he looked out into the audience and spoke of his family. It was a moment punctuated by applause just about every other sentence.

“Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, girl of the South Side for the past 25 years, you have not only been my wife and mother of my children, you have been my best friend. You took on a role you didn’t ask for and you made it your own, with grace and with grit and with style and good humor.  You made the White House a place that belongs to everybody.  And the new generation sets its sights higher because it has you as a role model.  So you have made me proud.  And you have made the country proud,” he said to fervent applause.

“Malia and Sasha, under the strangest of circumstances, you have become two amazing young women.  You are smart and you are beautiful, but more importantly, you are kind and you are thoughtful and you are full of passion. You wore the burden of years in the spotlight so easily.  Of all that I’ve done in my life, I am most proud to be your dad.”

First Lady Michelle has said she will continue to work to improve the education of girls around the world as well as continue her nutrition and health projects. The President has not been specific, but promised that he will continue to work for America’s democracy. Meanwhile he appealed to all Americans to look within.

“Hearts must change.  It won't change overnight.  Social attitudes oftentimes take generations to change.  But if our democracy is to work in this increasingly diverse nation, then each one of us need to try to heed the advice of a great character in American fiction - Atticus Finch - who said “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” he said.

He concluded, “My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve you.  I won’t stop.  In fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my remaining days.  But for now, whether you are young or whether you're young at heart, I do have one final ask of you as your President - the same thing I asked when you took a chance on me eight years ago.  I'm asking you to believe.  Not in my ability to bring about change - but in yours. I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written:  Yes, we can.”