Urban News Features

President Obama's Last 100 Days By Julianne Malveaux

Oct. 16, 2016

President Obama's Last 100 Days
By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The countdown to President Obama’s last one hundred days began on October 13. Already, the President has committed to spending his waning days in office by campaigning for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for President. Indeed, he has put his legacy on the line, telling Black people at a his last Congressional Black Caucus dinner that he will be personally insulted if folks don’t get out to vote for Hillary. Instead of staking his legacy, however, President Obama might be better advised to improve his legacy by taking bold actions in these last days of his presidency.

What might he do to positively affect the African Americans he far too frequently scolds? For one thing, he might step up the pace of the pardons and sentence commutations for nonviolent drug offenders, who are disproportionately African American. In 2011, then-Attorney General Eric Holder said there were as many as 10,000 federal drug offenders that could be released. While President Obama has offered pardons and commutations, only a fraction of those whose sentences could be commuted have been. For whatever reason, the Department of Justice has moved at a snail’s pace with commutations. President Obama could direct Attorney General Loretta Lynch to bring more pardon applications to his desk. He would make a tremendous impact if the number of nonviolent drug offenders with sentences pardoned or commuted were closer to 10,000 than 1000.

President Obama might also consider a posthumous pardon for Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican-born activist and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). At its peak, UNIA had millions of members in 1100 chapters in 40 countries. Garvey was wrongfully convicted of mail fraud and deported from the United States in 1923. Garvey was really only guilty of loving Black people and organizing us. President Obama could lift up an organizer, correct a historical wrong, and signal that he is not as indifferent to Black people as he sometimes seems. Such a small gesture would go a long way toward contributing to his legacy.

The President might also consider the Institute for the Black World request that he appoint a John Hope Franklin Commission on Reparations. He could do this by executive order, and the commission could potentially hold a couple of hearings in the month after the November election. This would be a small gesture, but it would go a long way toward continuing an important conversation about the origins of our nation’s wealth gap.

President Obama could also use the Executive Order to direct unspent Department of Education funds to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). What if he directed at least $1 million to each HBCU, pushing Dr. Kim Hunter Reed, Acting Executive Director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs to go to each federal department to release unspent funds for contracting and scholarship opportunities? These dollars would make a great difference, especially at our nation’s smallest, private HBCUs. The President made important points in his recent visit to North Carolina A&T State University at a gathering hosted by ESPN’s The Undefeated, and led by anchor Stan Verrett. He could combine talk with action by aggressively addressing HBCU issues as his term winds down, making amends for the ways his administration treated HBCUs earlier.

President Obama has lots of unfinished domestic and foreign policy matters, and there will be numerous demands, in these last 100 days, for him to address all manner of matters. As a lame duck, he has limited tools – the Executive Order and the bully pulpit. Congress may return after the November election chastened, especially if Republicans lose the Presidential race, and inclined to cooperate on some legislative matters. It is more likely, however, that they will continue their obstruction to anything President Obama proposes.

Still, President Obama has the power to do more both symbolically and substantively in these last days of his Presidency. I’d urge him to consider some of the things he can do to address the African American community that has steadfastly supported him, even when he has not been so supportive of us.

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 visitwww.juliannemalveaux.com

Hillary Clinton Should Not Endure Another Debate With Donald Trump by Dr. Barbara Reynolds

Oct. 14, 2016

Hillary Clinton Should Not Endure Another Debate With Donald Trump

By Dr. Barbara Reynolds

Dr. Barbara Reynolds

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Hillary Clinton should not endure another debate with Donald Trump. He has already shown himself as bigoted against immigrants, Mexicans, Muslims, Blacks, and prisoners of War, such a U.S. Senator John McCain. He is also a man who calls women "pigs" and gloats over his deftness at grabbing their private parts. This may be a titillating resume for a reality TV star, but certainly not for the president of the most powerful nation on the planet.

This entire year instead of being inspired as I watched the election debates, I have felt that the American public, politicians and the press have been dragged down into the depths of a dark, dank sewer with the manhole slammed shut. The stench has overshadowed real issues, such as the poisoned population of Flint, Michigan, the Black men murdered by police for walking or running while breathing, the carnage of murdered little children piling up in our bloody inner cities and the homeless families increasing because of builders like Trump pricing the poor and middle class out of the housing market.

As a shining example of what one group the Donald caters to is the new Trump hotel in the nation's capital where one night's lodging starts at $800 and soars into the thousands. If you are not a millionaire or someone who delights in demeaning, despicable conduct, why else would you follow Trump?

Historically our democratic system based on a living and expansive Constitution has allowed us through much toil and pain to rise above the base, selfish, ugly acts of dangerous extremisms. As shown in the recently released video tape, what Trump stands for we don't need; in fact, his values demean us here at home and in the world.

Groping women is not normal. It is unnatural. It is brutish. It is sexual assault. To pass this off as just "locker room" talk sends a message that the foulest vulgarity is fine as long as it is shared behind closed doors. Instead of encouraging the public to cleanse ourselves of hateful, demeaning behavior his solution is to offend and assault those you deem vulnerable and of little value.

The kind of language Trump uses provides comfort to tyrannical male supervisor, abusive husbands, those who delight in bullying girls and young boys who would see men like Trump as role models. Trump's words, however, are also demeaning to "normal" men-fathers, husbands, friends who value women as undeserving of scorn and do not find vulgar locker room talk as acceptable.

In the last debate Trump continued his race to the bottom by dragging into the debate hall, a cast of alleged participants in the sex life of ex-President Bill Clinton. Whether Clinton's accusers are right or wrong, Bill is not running for president. Hillary is and she should not be blamed because she happens to be in the midst of men who have or are acting badly.

In fact, maybe all this misplaced testosterone may be one more reason why we should elect a woman president. Yet, when I look at this pathetic muddy mess, I am inspired that when I look at President Obama, I see a man who honors his wife, dotes on fatherhood and whose life-both private and public-has not been touched by sexual scandals.

With me, I have been fired up and angry with Trump from the onset over his dogged determination of trying to prove that President Obama was unfit to be President by accusing him of not being born in America, even after Obama showed his birth certificates. This habitual actions of the privileged class trying to force Blacks to prove the obvious that water is wet and the sky is blue profiles us as outsiders, unworthy of belonging in whatever space we occupy, whether it is as a journalist, wife, or even president of the United States.

Yet, while president Obama has served his term with excellence as commander in chief, restoring the sick economy left by his GOP predecessors, the Trumpeters are still trying to tarnish his legacy...Days after the debate, Hillary is leading in some polls by double digits. I see no reason why she should allow Trump to rub more sleaze on her by participating with him in any more public forums.

We know enough about Donald Trump. Let Trump be Trump and stand alone and continue to embarrass himself while the rest of us prepare to elect someone to the White House who can bring us together and continue an honored career as a public servant. And that of course is Hillary Clinton.

From this point on, Hillary should stand on a stage by herself and let her experience, temperament, character and knowledge of the issues shine through. Let Trump star in his own X-rated series alone... The rest of us have had enough of him and we have better things to do like preparing to go to the polls Nov. 8 and taking someone with us.

The Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds, an award-winning journalist, author, and activist, is a freelance columnist and was a founding editor of USA Today.

Clinton Leads by 11 Points After Lewd Statements By Trump By Hazel Trice Edney

Oct. 11, 2016

Clinton Leads by 11 Points After Lewd Statements By Trump
African-American Get-Out-to-Vote Leaders Still Taking No Chances
By Hazel Trice Edney

clinton-trump second debate

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton is now leading her Republican opponent Donald Trump by 11 points, according to a national Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll this week.

On Monday, she was leading Trump 46 percent to 35 percent with the remaining portion divided between Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson with 9 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein with 2 percent.

Clinton doubled her lead from the previous week after the release of video and audio tapes of Trump having a vulgar conversation in which he implied that sexual assault of women is okay when you’re a celebrity. The conversation was between Trump and then Access Hollywood host Billy Bush as they arrived on a bus for a Trump appearance on the soap opera, Days of Our Lives.

Trump was on a hot mic, which has come back to haunt him. The 11-year-old recording from 2005 dominated the airwaves over the weekend and continued into this week.

During the town hall-styled debate at Washington University in St. Louis on Sunday, Trump apologized for the language he used but tried to down play the conversation as “locker room talk.” Trump has become known for outlandish statements, insults and bullying. But, this one reached a tipping point.

Despite his stated apology for the vulgarity and sexism, the language was so extreme that Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and senior Arizona Sen. John McCain, have withdrawn their support of Trump. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says the Party still supports its nominee. But dozens of other Republican representatives have also withdrawn their endorsements and condemned the lewd statements.

Some political scientists predict that the sudden slide in the polls is Trump’s undoing in the Nov. 8^th election. However Clinton has had issues of her own. A month ago, she apologized for having said half of Trump’s supporters are a “basket of deplorables”. She explained that she meant that many of them are racist, sexist and xenophobic. But, she apologized for having painted with a broad brush.

Trump has also tried to fight back by pointing to indescretions by former President Bill Clinton. He invited three women to the debate who have accused Clinton of sexual indecency with them. One accused Bill Clinton of rape. The women said the First Lady Hillary Clinton bullied them. But these accusations were played out in the mid to late 1990s while Clinton was president. Therefore, Trump's attempt appeared to fall flat.

Political scientist and talk show host Dr. Wilmer Leon says despite Trump’s spiral, nothing can be taken for granted.

“Under normal circumstances, I would say it’s over and it’s been over, but these aren’t normal circumstances,” said Leon. First, he said, because Clinton “keeps finding ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And also I believe there are still so many people – especially in mainstream media – who are trying to salvage Donald Trump saying, ‘If he just does one thing right he could hit the reset button.’”

The next and final Clinton-Trump debate takes place Wednesday, Oct. 19 at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. The Moderator will be Fox News Sunday Anchor Chris Wallace. The format will be the same as the first debate.

The outcome of the election is also contingent upon which candidate can get their supporters to the polls on Nov. 8. Voter registration, education, and African-American get-out-to-vote campaigns are at full blast around the nation. Despite Trump’s direct appeal to the Black community, Clinton still maintains at least 90 percent of the Black vote in the polls.

Leon concludes, “I don’t think it’s over until the 9^th of November” - the day after the election.

We the People Must Set the Political Agenda By Rev. Jesse Jackson

Oct. 11, 2016

We the People Must Set the Political Agenda
By Rev. Jesse Jackson

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Sexual boasting, emails, tax returns, deplorables — the second presidential debate Sunday featured insults wrapped up in put-downs. This debate was held within miles of Ferguson, Mo., but it was never mentioned. The citizens who offered questions asked about issues — health care, the Supreme Court, energy. The moderators peddled scandals — and elicited insults.

Some things are clear. Donald Trump has no clue how insulting he is when he makes his brazen appeal to black and Latino voters, promising to “do things that haven’t been done, including fixing and making our inner cities better for the African-American citizens that are so great, and for the Latinos, Hispanics, and I look forward to doing it.”

That’s great, but Trump has offered no plan to accomplish this. He asks us only to trust him. But someone who has fanned the flames of racial resentment in his campaign, trashed Mexicans and Muslims and insulted women is not exactly a person to gain a lot of trust.

Clinton promises to be the president of all of America. And she offers real plans. She would raise the minimum wage and make college tuition free for all but the rich. She calls for a major plan to rebuild America, investing in infrastructure and schools and water systems. That will put people to work in good jobs and make our cities better. And she’s embraced Rep. James Clyburn’s 10-20-30 pledge to invest 10 percent of federal contracting in communities comprising 20 percent of the nation’s population that have been below the poverty line for 30 years. That would help both white, rural communities and urban ghettos and barrios. Clinton isn’t just saying trust me; she’s laying out plans that could make a difference.

But what the debate made clear is how important it is for the people to set the agenda after the election. Voting is vital but not sufficient. What we do can change the national agenda and force action.

When Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president, he did not have any thought about using federal troops to desegregate schools in Little Rock. The movement forced that on his agenda. John F. Kennedy had no commitment to ending segregation of public accommodations; the civil rights movement forced that onto his agenda. Lyndon Johnson thought continuing the war in Vietnam would protect him politically. The antiwar movement changed that calculation.

Today, Black Lives Matter has forced criminal justice reform onto the agenda of both parties. The Fight for $15 has pushed that minimum wage hikes in cities across the country. Immigration reform is part of Clinton’s first 100-day plan because citizen movements have forced it there.

The next president will make fateful decisions about war in the Middle East, about how to get the economy moving, about Supreme Court nominees, about getting health care costs under control, about climate change, about growing, unsustainable and extreme inequality, about reviving the Voting Rights Act.

We can’t afford to leave these choices to the next president, no matter who is elected. We can’t let a Congress corrupted by big money and entrenched lobbies set the agenda. Citizens in motion must force the vital and the just onto the next president’s and the next Congress’ agenda. We will decide by what we do, or by what we decide not to do. One thing is clear from the debate Sunday night: It is time to organize.

Media Outlets Label Trump a Serial Liar, Racist, Misogynist, Birther, and Bully By Zenitha Prince

Oct. 11, 2016

Media Outlets Label Trump a Serial Liar, Racist, Misogynist, Birther, and Bully
By Zenitha Prince

trump_muslimban

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The New York Times’ Editorial Board, in a Nov. 24, 2015 editorial titled “Mr. Trump’s Applause Lies,” pointed out the candidate’s frequent racist assertions about African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Muslims—anybody non-White—and the responsibility of the Fourth Estate to call him to task on those untruths.

“History teaches that failing to hold a demagogue to account is a dangerous act,” the editorial stated, concluding, “It’s no easy task for journalists to interrupt Mr. Trump with the facts, but it’s an important one.”

Throughout this presidential election season, a wide array of news outlets have been doing that—calling out the Republican candidate’s lies, and his racist and misogynistic statements and behavior even when the candidate and his surrogates attempt to rewrite history by denying those facts.

For example, in July 2015, major online news source The Huffington Post began ending each of its stories on Trump with an editor’s note that reads: “Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims—1.6 billion members of an entire religion—from entering the U.S.”

The caveat was prompted by the Trump campaign’s metamorphosis from a “sideshow” to “an ugly and dangerous force in American politics,” Arianna Huffington explained in a July 12, 2015 post.

“We believe that the way we cover the campaign should reflect this shift. And part of that involves never failing to remind our audience who Trump is and what his campaign really represents,” she said. “So if Trump’s words and actions are racist, we’ll call them racist. If they’re sexist, we’ll call them sexist. We won’t shrink from the truth or be distracted by the showmanship.”

The editorial and commentary pages of major newspapers also have provided a steady counterbalance to Trump’s incendiary and mendacious remarks.

“Let’s not mince words: Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist,” the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote in his opening of a December 2015 opinion piece.

The Times, which is located in Trump’s backyard, has also kept up a steady drum beat, pointing out the candidate’s outrageous ideologies and behavior on its opinion pages.

Even on the pages of The Wall Street Journal, a traditionally conservative publication, anti-Trump sentiments have resounded, with columnist Dorothy Rabinowitz calling Trump the candidate of “white supremacists and swastika devotees.”

Perhaps most impactful, however, have been the endorsements from major publications—especially from those with little to no histories of endorsing candidates and from conservative-leaning outlets.

The Atlantic magazine, for example, endorsed Hillary Clinton in its November 2016 issue—only the third time it has endorsed a presidential candidate since its founding in 1857. In the piece titled, “Against Trump,” the editors call the Republican candidate “spectacularly unfit for office.”

“His affect is that of an infomercial huckster; he traffics in conspiracy theories and racist invective; he is appallingly sexist; he is erratic, secretive, and xenophobic; he expresses admiration for authoritarian rulers, and evinces authoritarian tendencies himself. He is easily goaded, a poor quality for someone seeking control of America’s nuclear arsenal. He is an enemy of fact-based discourse; he is ignorant of, and indifferent to, the Constitution; he appears not to read,” the indictment read.

USA Today, which has never endorsed a candidate, made headlines last month when it broke tradition by advising its readers that Trump was “unfit for presidency.”

The Dallas Morning News, broke from a 75-year tradition of endorsing Republicans to back Hillary Clinton.

“There is only one serious candidate on the presidential ballot in November…. Resume vs. resume, judgment vs. judgment, this election is no contest,” the paper wrote. The editorial board further said of Trump: “Trump’s values are hostile to conservatism. He plays on fear — exploiting base instincts of xenophobia, racism and misogyny — to bring out the worst in all of us, rather than the best.”

Other conservative newspapers like the Cincinnati Enquirer, Arizona Republic and the San Diego Union-Tribune put aside partisanship to denounce Trump, with the Enquirer declaring: “Trump is a clear and present danger to our country.”