Black Women Will Decide the Next President

Oct. 10, 2016

Black Women Will Decide the Next President
By Wylecia Wiggs Harris

Wylecia Wiggs Harris, executive director,
League of Women Voters

Special Commentary

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Without a doubt, women will play a critical role in the presidential election this year. In 2012, women overall had a higher voting rate (64 percent) than men (60 percent),according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, the most powerful group of voters will be African-American women. In both the 2012 and 2008 presidential elections, Black women voted at the highest rate of any racial, ethnic or gender group. Four years ago, 74 percent of eligible Black women went to the polls.

The next president cannot win without the support of Black women. But despite our political power—or because of it—our voting right is under siege. Today, more than 30 states have introduced voter suppression legislation, with laws passing in 14 states and laws pending in 8. For example, in North Carolina, where Black women made up more than 23 percent of registered women voters in 2012, a League of Women Voters-led lawsuit successfully resulted in a federal appeals court overturning a controversial law that sought to restrict early voting and eliminate same-day registration. Other voter suppression laws enacted by states make it significantly harder for millions of eligible voters to cast their ballots by requiring that voters present government-issued photo IDs in order to vote, cutting early voting hours, taking away the voting rights of ex-criminal offenders, and requiring proof-of-citizenship documents in order to vote. While there have been several key victories to overturn these challenges in recent months, the struggle for full voting rights remains.

Rather than become discouraged, we must use these voting restrictions as motivation. Recently National Voter Registration Day was observed nationwide as an nonpartisan effort to register thousands of voters in a single day in communities and online. When millions of women head to the polls in November, they will elect the entire U.S. House of Representatives, decide who will fill one-third of the seats in the U.S. Senate, and determine many gubernatorial races. Nationwide, thousands of races and ballot initiatives will be decided. But nearly a quarter of all eligible Americans are not registered to vote, including disproportionately high numbers of young adults, minorities, low-income Americans and those who have recently moved. These are the groups most at risk of being affected by voting restrictions. With so much at stake for all of us this election year, now is the time to ask our family, friends, neighbors and coworkers if they are registered to vote and if their voter registration is up-to-date.

The stakes in this election are especially high for Black women and political candidates that want to earn our votes must address the issues that matter most to us: affordable health care, living wage jobs, college affordability and criminal justice reform.

To me, voting is a key form of taking action on the issues that affect our lives. It was the tragic events on June 17, 2015 that awakened my inner activist. On that day, my mother was sitting in church in Columbia, S.C., when a shooter walked into a church two hours away and systematically murdered nine people.

The Charleston shootings awakened my commitment to standing up for the rights of others and the underserved. And it awakened my desire to engage in the important conversations on the issues that define our society. That commitment is also what led me to the League of Women Voters.

For nearly 100 years, the League of Women Voters has worked tirelessly, day in and day out, to ensure that all eligible voters—particularly those from traditionally underrepresented or underserved communities—have the opportunity and the information to exercise their right to vote. For many Americans, the League is synonymous with candidate forums, voter guides and election protection.

There is still work to be done. Regardless of party affiliation, now is not the time for us to rest on our laurels. Now is the time to make our voices heard, to awaken the activist inside each of us, and the most powerful way to do that is to vote. The next president cannot win without Black women.

Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE, is the Chief Executive Officer of the League of Women Voters of the U.S.Visit www.VOTE411.org to register to vote and get information on early voting options, voter ID requirements and candidates running for state house office or higher in every state. This article originally appeared on Huffington Post Black Voices on Sept. 27, 2016.

Joint Center Report Confirms Blacks Wait Longer to Vote

Oct. 9, 2016

Joint Center Report Confirms Blacks Wait Longer to Vote

Spencer Overton, President/CEO, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Louisiana Weekly

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Black voters wait longer to cast ballots, discouraging them from voting, according to a study released by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C.

The report, titled “Reducing Long Lines to Vote,” reported African-Americans waited an average of 23 minutes to vote compared with 19 minutes for Hispanics, 15 minutes for Asians, 13 minutes for Native Americans and 12 minutes for whites.

The Joint Center, led by Spencer Overton, a George Washington University law professor, has released its report just prior to the 2016 presidential election and President Barack Obama encouraging African-Americans to vote for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.

During the Congressional Black Caucus Dinner Sept. 17 in Washington, D.C., President Obama told the black-tie audience that it would be a personal insult to his legacy if the Black community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in the election.

There is a push to get a strong Black-voter turnout for Clinton. The New York Post released a recent poll showing that a growing number of African-Americans prefer Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, to Clinton, but Clinton still holds an overwhelming lead among African-American voters, according to a CNN poll that has her at 90 percent.

Clinton, in 1996, called Black teens super predators in a speech supporting the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. That act, signed by her husband, President Bill Clinton, was a tough-on-crime legislation that sent a lot of Black men to prison. President Clinton also pushed through the North American Free Trade Agreement that has cost Black workers thousands of good-paying jobs.

Until recently, Trump said President Obama was not born in the United States to delegitimize Obama’s presidency.

The Joint Center said one study estimated that long lines deterred at least 730,000 from voting in the 2012 presidential election.

In Florida, a key state in the presidential election, wait times averaged 42 minutes compared with wait times of six minutes in New Jersey.

Florida’s Miami-Dade County had the highest percentage of people of color. In Miami-Dade, 85 percent of voters had voting wait times that averaged 73 minutes after the polls closed.

Citrus, the Florida county with the lowest percentage of people of color, had no lines when the polls closed, the Joint Center reported.

Why Trump Mustn't Win By Julianne Malveaux

Oct. 9, 2016

Why Trump Mustn't Win

By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - House Majority Leader Paul Ryan (R-WI) is anticipating a Trump win in November. Or, at least, he is preparing for it. He says that if Republicans hold sway in the White House, the House and the Senate, he plans to use budget reconciliation to repeal the American Care Act (also known as Obamacare) and to impose tax cuts on the wealthy. Ryan says he will not even attempt any bipartisanship as he shoves his regressive agenda down the throats of our people. Instead, he says that he can make it work, especially if he has a Trump White House.

This is, perhaps, why Republicans who appear to have at least a little bit of good sense are going for the nonsense. They know that Mr. Trump, with his head in the cloud and his rhetoric in the gutter, will let them get away with anything they want. He will agree to their tax cuts because they coincide with his agenda to reward the wealthy. Trump will go along with cuts to Obamacare because he wasn’t loving it in the first place. He will let conservative Republicans hold sway, especially if they reward him with their votes in November.

Paul Ryan calls his plan a “Better Way” policy agenda. It is an aggressive move that assumes that Republicans will control both the House and the Senate. They might not – if people vote, and vote down ballot, there is a real chance that Democrats can control the Senate. The House is a much bigger challenge, and it is likely that Republicans will continue to hold sway in the house. But there are too many folks who say they won’t vote, and their votes could make a real difference. In Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida (among other states), those who choose to refrain from voting are really voting for a Trump-Ryan agenda.

The attack on Obamacare is especially problematic. While the President’s Affordable Care Act is clearly flawed, it expanded health insurance for more than 20 million people. It isn’t the desired single payer care, but it provides opportunity and takes the first step in expanding the social contract since the Roosevelt years. The American Care Act can be used as a foundation to expand health insurance coverage and, in my mind, single-payer is the ultimate goal. But legislators rejected the single-payer plan that Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Ma) proposed for decades. The Affordable Care Act is a compromise. We need to move forward in improving the ACA, not backward in repealing it. Trump and Ryan would restrict rights instead of expanding them.

According to Politico, Paul Ryan thinks that a divided government contributes to gridlock. He’d be happy if the Presidency, the Congress, and the Senate were all Republican. What about the rest of us? Does he see our voice in this? Not according to Ryan. He tells Politico “I’m tired of divided government. It doesn’t work very well.” He seems to ignore the fact that there are legitimate differences among legislators and that these differences need to be worked out. He is uninterested in compromise. Instead, he wants to shove his position down the throats of other people.

Paul Ryan has explicitly called Donald Trump a racist. He has eschewed many of his policies. Other Republicans have been openly repulsed by their bellicose standard bearer, disturbed by his racist bluster and his wacky wildness. But they have thrown their discernment to the wind, embracing the man they have described as a rabid racist because they prefer him to an embrace of integrity.

As we count down to the November 8 election, people are coming forward to say they are undecided, conflicted, and have to vote for third parties because they can neither tolerate Clinton nor Trump. But the bottom line is that either Clinton or Trump will win the Presidency. Really. Those Republicans who support Trump are openly supporting evil. They will dance with the devil to their detriment.

African Americans, especially, need to look at that which Mr. Trump has promised. He has promised discrimination. He has described our lives as hell. He has been a bully and a documented discriminator. He has been too much. He should be enough to repel us. Paul Ryan has called Trump a racist, but he is willing to dance with the devil because it serves his purposes. What about you?

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

Civil Rights Groups Launch Voter Protection Program by Zenitha Prince

Oct. 9, 2016

Civil Rights Groups Launch Voter Protection Program

By Zenitha Prince

A flyer from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law outlining ways to protect your vote. (Courtesy photo)

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Against a backdrop of changing voting laws, incendiary campaign rhetoric and diminished federal election oversight, efforts by civil rights and civic engagement groups to protect the rights of voters are more important than ever, activists said this week.

A coalition of more than 100 organizations, led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, officially launched its Election Protection initiative Oct. 4, noting the treacherous political and legal landscape many Americans will have to traverse on their way to the polls this election season.

“Based on what we observed during the primary season, we anticipate a greater number of calls than we have ever received, relative to prior presidential election seasons,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, during a press call.

The Election Protection hotline, a multi-lingual resource where voters can call and ask for voter registration and polling information and log complaints, has received more than 30,000 calls so far and, by the end of the election season, is expected to hear from 250,000 to 300,000 voters.

The volume of calls, the coalition leaders said, is being driven by legal and political factors that could impact access to the ballot box, particularly among voters of color. Among those factors, is the clarion call by untamed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, urging his overwhelmingly White supporters to gather at the polls in “certain areas”—read urban, predominantly non-White communities—to ensure things were “on the up and up,” civic engagement leaders said.

“We are very much aware of calls have been made by a presidential candidate to activate law enforcement and private, untrained individuals to watch and look for problems at polls in November,” said Clarke, adding that there is and has been little to no evidence that voter fraud exists. “We are concerned about the intimidating effect that this mass call for police officers and untrained individuals can have on minority voters.”

And there are other legal concerns.

“This is the first presidential election cycle we’ve conducted in more than 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act in place,” said Clarke. She added, “Congress went into recess last week without taking action to restore the Voting Rights Act, and [it] did this despite clear evidence that voter discrimination and voter suppression is alive and well across the country.”

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which called for federal clearance of election law changes in jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination, was gutted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby v. Holder decision, in which the high court called on Congress to recalibrate the formula used to determine the jurisdictions that would fall under federal oversight.

“Voter protections were basically sacrificed” by the decision, said Mee Moua, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

The ruling prompted several states to race forward with new laws that made voting more difficult, such as fewer early voting days and stricter voter identification rules. The changes—and the legal back-and-forth that followed, including successful challenges to the laws—will be a source of great confusion for voters, the coalition said.

“[For example,] we estimated that 875,000 Latino adult U.S. citizens are at the risk of being prevented from voting because of the changes in laws and procedures in the 19 states that enacted restrictive voting changes since 2012,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund about a study released earlier this year.

Those challenges were most likely to present themselves in Texas, whose restrictive voter ID law—the most stringent in the country—has since been overturned by an appeals court ruling; and in North Carolina, who had passed one of the more far-reaching omnibus voter suppression law in the nation.

“Even where courts have ordered changes to the voter ID procedures, we are concerned that the quality of assistance to Latino voters with navigating the new and changing rules is insufficient,” Vargas added. “We’re concerned about the lack of adequate outreach to voters, which is why our Election Protection efforts this year are so critical.”

In addition to the fallout from the Shelby ruling, protecting American voters this year will be complicated by the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to terminate core components of its federal observer program, which was an “important safeguard,” particularly for voters of color, activists said. Under the program, the department would deploy specially trained personnel inside polling places in communities covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. And, without the program, voters in some communities will be more vulnerable.

Additionally, in states such as Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona, the Election Protection team said they have noted voter suppression efforts at the state and local levels, including cutbacks in early voting hours and the elimination of polling places, resulting in long lines during the primaries. And, Clarke said, those efforts are likely to get worse.

“In the final week before an election, we historically tend to see efforts to make voting more difficult by way of 11th-hour polling site changes and purging of the voting rolls, among other actions,” she said.

In addition to its pre-election voter education outreach, Election Protection will be available to assist affected voters via its hotlines—1-888-OUR-VOTE (general), 1-888-VEY VOTA (for Latino voters) and 1-888-API-VOTE (for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders)—where trained legal volunteers and experts will be available to answer questions and otherwise address concerns.

Volunteers, who are trained in the laws of the specific state they are assigned to, will also be deployed into the field in 26 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Africans vs. African-Americans - A White Supremacist Success - Part I By A. Peter Bailey

Oct. 9, 2016

Reality Check

Africans vs. African-Americans - A White Supremacist Success
By A. Peter Bailey

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - I had a recent conversation with a young, intelligent, hardworking African-American during which he expressed deep hostility towards Africans. When asked why he felt that way, he told me of two incidents that occurred when he dated a young African woman from Nigeria and another from Ethiopia.

The Nigerian’s father exploded when she brought the young brother to her home. He demanded that the young man leave immediately since he didn’t want his daughter involved with any African-American.

When the young Ethiopian woman took him to an Ethiopian club, she was angrily pulled aside by an Ethiopian male and asked loudly, “Why you bring him here?” Again, he had to leave immediately.

I told him that I understood his feelings, having myself had several run-ins with Africans who spoke with hostility and contempt about African-Americans. However, I continued, African-American are not innocent when it comes to dealing with Africans. On numerous occasions I have heard some African-Americans speak with contempt about Africans, even going so far as to call them “jungle bunnies.”

The image of Africa for too many African-Americans comes from Hollywood films and from American television, newspapers and magazine reporting. The Hollywood films often depict Africans either as scantily clad villages or providing some kind of service to “superior” White folks. The journalistic reporting much too often can lead readers to believe that one third of Africans are living in dire poverty, another third are sick or dying from AIDS and the final third are killing each other in endless conflicts. I have actually heard some African-Americans wonder if there are cities or universities in the continent.

I told the young man that such attitudes as mentioned above by Africans and African-Americans are among the most unfortunate victories of the proponents of White supremacy. I also told him that when the average person of European descent sees a Black man or woman, he doesn’t care if he or she are from Lagos, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Harlem, USA, Kingston, Jamaica or Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All that person sees is a Black person who he has been told is inferior to him or her.

White politicians, educators and business persons also see a Black man, but they are clever enough to know that one of the best ways to keep the upper hand over all Black people is to discourage unity among them by any means necessary. So they use psychological toxins to encourage Africans to believe that they are better than African-Americans and African-Americans to believe that they are more civilized than Africans. Way too many Black people have been infected by these toxins.

It is time for serious Black folks from throughout the the world to develop a psychological inoculation against this insidious, debilitating infection. It can be done, we just have to put our time, energy and resources into it. If we don’t, the temporary success of the proponents of White supremacy will become permanent.

A. Peter Bailey, whose latest book is Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the Master Teacher, can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..