Dec. 8, 2025

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The headlines this month about white men, college admissions, and the fallout from ending affirmative action startled a lot of people. Stories of declining enrollment and shrinking opportunity for young white men were treated as if they had materialized out of nowhere.

Many found it surprising.

I didn’t.

It reminded me of a conversation I had a little over a decade ago on a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to Memphis—one of those brief moments in transit that stays with you because it tells the truth long before the data catches up.

A white man in a bright red shirt with a Confederate flag over his heart sat down next to me. He stuck out his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Bill.” As he introduced himself, I looked more closely at his shirt and realized that under the flag it said “Ole Miss Football.” It was a booster shirt. We chatted. He asked what I did. I told him I led the NAACP. He blinked, then leaned in with a sincerity I recognized.

“Ben,” he asked, “what’s the purpose of affirmative action?”

I told him the truth: its purpose is to help dismantle nepotism as the operating system of this country.

He slapped his knee. “Sign me up for that. But tell me this—what good does that do for the boys in my family?”

Then he told me what he meant. The men in his family had been, as he put it, “in and out of prison since we came here on the wrong side of the Georgia penal colony.” He was the lone exception—a gifted high school football player who earned a scholarship to Ole Miss. A coach introduced him to business leaders in Memphis. That was his way out. The booster shirt wasn’t a provocation. It was a keepsake from the only open door his family ever had.

Bill’s story is not the one America tells about white men. But it is the story millions are living. And it mirrors something larger happening across this country.

For years now, researchers have documented serious headwinds facing working-class American men: wages that stagnate or fall, especially for men without college degrees; fewer men in college even as women’s enrollment rises; more men detached from the labor force; rising suicide and overdose deaths in many hard-hit communities; and marriage becoming less common and less stable for men with the weakest economic prospects.

White working-class men feel this acutely. But they are not alone.

White men may have made the headlines, but similar trends are affecting Black, Latino, Native, and Asian men—especially those from poor and working-class backgrounds. In today’s economy, class and education now do as much work as race in deciding whether a man will be seen as “marriageable,” employable, and likely to climb beyond the station of his birth.

So if you’re wondering why a Black civil rights leader cares about the struggles of white men, the answer is simple: In a democracy, you cannot fix poverty for anyone unless you fix it for everyone. Every major leap forward in opportunity in this country has depended on multiracial coalitions. Progress comes when we face the full truth—not when we ignore parts of it.

Which brings us to the conversation we are actually having.

Or rather, not having.

It’s time to readjust our thinking about white men, college admissions, and DEI. The left and the right have both turned this into a culture war when what we really need is a reality check.

On the right, the headlines became a grievance weapon—proof, some claim, that diversity efforts were out to “replace” white men. On the left, the reaction was defensive, as if acknowledging hardship among white families would somehow undermine the fight for racial justice.

Neither response had much to do with the truth.

And if we’re wondering why we can’t seem to have a real conversation about opportunity, we should start where political scientist Martin Gilens warned us decades ago. By portraying poverty disproportionately with Black faces, American media helped make the white poor—and much of the working class—invisible. That distortion robbed us of the ability to see the full picture of suffering and the full map of shared struggle.

When entire communities are invisible, their pain doesn’t get counted. Their boys don’t get counted. Their decline doesn’t make the front page until it shows up as a political shock.

That invisibility hurts everyone.

It hurts white families like Bill’s.

It hurts Black and brown families navigating the same broken ladders.

It hurts the communities trying to build stable futures for their children.

Before we talk solutions, we need full visibility—a willingness to see all who are struggling, not just the ones who fit our old narratives.

And yes, part of that conversation may involve something like affirmative action for working-class families—including white men. Not the caricatured version people argue about on cable news, but the real kind colleges have long used: giving a boost to students from low-income families, high-poverty neighborhoods, under-resourced schools, and overlooked rural counties—from Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta to remote parts of Alaska. Race-based affirmative action sat alongside these class- and place-based efforts; it never replaced them. And even after the Supreme Court’s decision, colleges can still use class-based affirmative action because it recognizes a basic truth: A child’s chances in life are shaped powerfully by zip code, wealth, and opportunity.

The headlines surprised many because they showed only one part of the story. It’s time we tell the whole one. Only then can we rebuild opportunity—for Bill, for the boys in his family, and for every family fighting for a fair shot.

Ben Jealous is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and a former national president and CEO of the NAACP. His latest book is Never Forget Our People Were Always Free.

New Generation of Black Church Leadership Rising to Continue Battle for Freedom

Installation of Pastor Kevin Lamár Peterman at Historic DC Church Indicates Next Power Move for Social Justice in America

By Hazel Trice Edney

Pastor Peterman, on front row (center) in suit and tie, stands in front of Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, surrounded by guest clergy who attended to support and celebrate.

Pastor Peterman speaks to the congregation after being robed by his mother, Mrs. Donna Holley-Nelms.

Pastor Peterman receives laying on of hands and prayer by attending clergy during the installation service.

Pastor Kevin Lamár Peterman

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - It was on Nov. 24, 2014, when then Howard University student Kevin Lamár Peterman first felt a sermon rise from his belly.

That was the same day that a grand jury decided not to indict a white Ferguson, Missouri police officer, Darren Wilson, in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Mike Brown, an unarmed Black teenager walking down the street in his neighborhood. It was a police killing that sparked historic protests across America; including fiery demonstrations in Ferguson that were met with military force.

Having returned from the uprisings in Ferguson, Peterman was leading a community and student protest on the steps of Howard’s Douglass Hall when the announcement came that Wilson would not be indicted.

“I remember giving a speech that night that I felt turn into a sermon. And it was really social justice that led me to ministry,” Peterman said in a recent interview. “I felt that the best way to advance the cause of Black people in America was through the church and through education. And so that’s kind of how my ministry began.”

A little more than 10 years later, the stirring that Peterman felt that night has now come full circle. On Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, at the age of 32, he was installed pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, the oldest and most historic Black Baptist congregation in Washington, DC, dating back through enslavement more than 180 years.

Today, as issues of racial justice continue to simmer – and grow - across the nation, the pastoral installation of Peterman and other young men and women in his age group is being viewed as a resurgence of sorts, part of a spiritual uprising of a new generation of civil rights leadership in the Black church.

“What you’re seeing is that there are a number of young Black preachers who are taking over historic Black churches in historic cities, who are doing this work of social justice and also doing the work of social impact while also preaching salvation,” Peterman said. “Every generation of ministers is called to move the thermometer one notch, one pace forward. It’s like a race. The baton has been passed to the next generation to run our leg of the race.”

Among those who have risen to church leadership from coast to coast – during what Peterman describes as the “Black Lives Matter” era is Melech Thomas, who led protests alongside him after the Baltimore police custody death of Freddie Gray. Thomas was installed pastor of Baltimore’s Payne Memorial AME Church earlier this year.

Also, the Rev. Devon Jerome Crawford, pastor of the Third Baptist church in San Francisco, the home church of former Vice President Kamala Harris; the Rev. Art Gordon is pastor of the oldest Black Baptist church in New England, the People’s Baptist church in Boston; the Rev. Malcolm J. Byrd is senior pastor of the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the oldest Black Church in New York State, founded in 1796; the Rev. Marissa Farrow has been named senior pastor-elect of Baltimore’s Mt. Calvary Church & Ministries; and the Rev. Rodney Carter is pastor of the Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church, the largest Pentecostal congregation in D.C.

“So, you’re seeing a new generation of pastors coming into the pulpit and taking over historic churches and many of us are trying to do the work that was being done 60 years ago, prior to the civil rights movement,” Peterman says. “It’s not a new vision. It’s a continuum. And hopefully, when we die, life in America will be better than it was when we were born.”

Therefore, during the services surrounding Peterman’s installation, it was made clear that his generation will not carry the mantle alone. As they rise to leadership, they join their mentors, their fathers and mothers in ministry who remain alongside them in the preaching of salvation, the battle for social justice, and the sharing of wisdom and experience.

The three services celebrating Peterman as the new pastor included preachers, known nationally for their leadership. Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, senior pastor of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va, preached a one-night revival. The installation service was led by Rev. Lawrence E. Aker, III, lead pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York; and the events were culminated during a Sunday service preached by the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, senior pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Peterman served as a pastoral intern.

Aker, the pastor who ordained Peterman at Cornerstone, where he served as young adult and social justice minister, preached from the scripture, II Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” The title of the message was “A Divine Assignment.”

Peterman listened intently, preparing to be ceremoniously robed by his mother, Mrs. Donna Holley-Nelms. He recounted that he was raised by a “single parent mother and grandmother in Vauxhall, New Jersey with the church as the center of our life.”

Essentially, Aker elaborated that Peterman has been called to preach in a time that has been described as the “fourth industrial revolution,” which, in part, means the world’s rise to 21st century technology; including AI, (artificial intelligence) and that the multi-generational Black church must not be afraid.

Greater Mount Calvary Pastor Rodney Carter, 34, gave a charge to the congregation that appeared strongly in agreement with Aker. “There are some who are going to grieve the past. I want to encourage you to follow the vision. Don’t fight the vessel,” Carter said.

Aker’s message likely heartened Peterman, who, in the pre-installation interview, expressed that the Black church must use maximum technology and social media in order to communicate its Gospel and social justice messages.

“We have to communicate our story. We have to communicate the work that we’re doing at Nineteenth Street. We have to embrace technology one hundred percent. We have to communicate what we’re doing and the work that we’re doing in 21^st century ways. Social media for us has been on the back burner,” Peterman said. “The reality is that nobody is looking for or most people under the age of 50 are not looking for something to come in the mail to them. Most people now under the age of 70 want to be online, want to be digitized, want it to be on their phone. We have to embrace multiple platforms. I want people to know that I’m on a mission. I’m on a mission for God. And I am on a mission for my people.”

The fact that Nineteenth Street Baptist is located in the heart of the nation’s capital, is crucial to his national leadership in social justice, Peterman said.

“As goes Washington goes the rest of the country. The country is always looking to Washington, DC for leadership in every industry and in every sector. The same for the church,” he said. “I think the churches across the country are going to be asking the question, 'What are the churches in the nation’s capital doing to advance the efforts of marginalized people, of Black people, of Brown people?’ So that will be an example for churches throughout the rest of the country.

He concludes, “We particularly have a great opportunity because we eat at the same restaurants where the lawmakers eat. We are literally in proximity of and can go to the Supreme Court and demonstrate and make our voices known in ways that a congregation in Kentucky or Los Angeles or in Houston or Chicago cannot easily do. So, for us, our proximity to power comes with great responsibility and a privileged burden. Our proximity to power comes with a responsibility to speak truth to power on behalf of everybody else as loud as we can speak it.”

To Be Equal 
Dec. 30, 2025

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “Trump’s reasons for boycotting the event are ridiculous, to be polite … The claim that white people are more affected by criminal acts in the country is not only a mistaken belief but also a manufactured lie designed to invoke the emotions of white racists across the globe. The argument that black economic empowerment, affirmative action and other transformative laws are racist is simply an attempt to protect the privilege of white people.” – Sowetan editor Sibongakonke Shoba
 
Traditionally, each meeting of the Group of Twenty, more commonly known as the G20, ends with the leader of the host country ceremonially handing the gavel to the leader of the next year’s host country.

Not this year.

The United States absence was not just symbolic. In boycotting the summit, the Trump administration has chosen to relinquish our nation’s leadership on global economic and social policy, preferring instead to promote discredited conspiracy theories rooted in racial prejudice.

The boycott is part of an ongoing diplomatic attack on South Africa dating back to Trump’s first term, when he began disseminating baseless claims of widespread killing of white South African farmers and land seizures.  The administration has used these lies as a pretext to withdraw financial assistance to South Africa, to give white South Africans priority for refugee status in the U.S., and to boycott the G20 summit that just concluded.

Trump’s confrontation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with misleading and mislabeled racist propaganda in the Oval Office in May was embarrassing.  The consequences of the boycott will be far more damaging.  As the United States surrenders its role in shaping the global economic future, the vacuum will be filled by nations like China and Russia who are only too happy to see our status and influence diminished.

Africa, home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, is increasingly central to global growth. Conversations about trade, technology, and climate change rely on these young, dynamic voices and the United States has a responsibility and shared interest in being a part of these conversations.

The Trump administration has clung to the mantra of “America first.” But boycotting the G20 is “America sidelined.”  In presenting a false choice between domestic and global concerns, the administration betrays its failure to grasp how the two are intertwined. American jobs depend on trade deals that were negotiated without our input. Our public health depends on agreements forged in our absence.

America cannot lead if we don’t show up. We cannot be a beacon of truth while spreading lies. We cannot promote American ideals if we abdicate our leadership to nations that are hostile to our goals. Walking away from the G20 was an epic failure of leadership. Continuing down this path would be an even greater one.

Nov. 25, 2025

Kevin Harris

Cleve Mesidor

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Congress is actively working on groundbreaking legislation that would provide much needed regulatory clarity. The Digital Assets Market Structure legislation being developed by the U.S. Senate Agriculture and Banking committees can be better positioned to foster economic growth, promote financial education, and support guard rails for the early and vibrant segments of Americans who actively leverage digital assets.

In Washington, debates over crypto are too often conflated with tensions with Wall Street incumbents, entrenched regulatory turf wars, and the race for global competitiveness. As a result, a critical voice is often absent from deliberations: small financial institutions that have long been the backbone of underserved rural and urban neighborhoods. As Congress considers legislation governing digital assets, it has an opportunity to take a simple transformative, bipartisan step to ensure they are not once again left behind and left out. Lawmakers should include a federal study examining how Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) can safely and compliantly offer digital asset products. The time for this level of regulatory clarity is now!

Ensuring Access To The Future of Digital Finance

This is not a niche concern. It is a matter of financial inclusion, U.S. competitiveness, and necessity for a market structure framework that fuels innovation across rural and mainstream America.

Whether policymakers embrace or resist them, digital assets—from tokenized deposits to stablecoins to blockchain-based payment rails—are increasingly shaping the financial landscape. Large institutions and fintechs are already experimenting with tokenization, on-chain identity solutions, and blockchain-enabled lending. As these technologies become part of mainstream financial transactions, millions of Americans could be locked out if their local community institutions are not part of policy considerations.

CDFIs and MDIs serve precisely the communities most vulnerable to being excluded from transformative financial shifts. If legislation ignores their needs and capacities, we risk repeating a familiar pattern: innovation benefiting the well-resourced first, leaving everyone else to catch up later—if at all.

Including a federal study is not a radical act. It does not endorse any particular digital asset product, mandate their adoption, or loosen regulatory standards. Instead, it offers something essential: clarity!

While banks are receiving regulatory guidance regarding decentralized finance, this clarity does not extend to this unique subset of the financial system.

Data show that CDFIs support more than 1,400 smaller lenders operating in rural and urban areas that aren’t adequately served by larger banks. Of the roughly 5,900 headquarters and branches of these community lenders, 60 percent are in Republican congressional districts and 55 percent are in states with two Republican senators.

A Federal Study of CDFIs & MDIs Whose Time Has Come

A well-designed federal study would explore important questions. This could include examining how digital asset services could responsibly expand financial access in underserved communities; the regulatory and technical barriers that prevent CDFIs and MDIs from piloting or adopting these tools; ways digital assets lower costs for remittances, small-dollar lending and community development financing. Additionally, federal research could offer insights into safeguards for market participants and new entrants that offer protections, while also enabling innovation. This is a smart approach as policymakers continue crafting balanced rules that reduce uncertainty for small institutions, and prevent a bifurcated financial system where only large players can innovate.

CDFIs and MDIs have been asking for guidance to better understand regulations, compliance and how to best protect their clients and institutions. Including this federal study in Senate digital assets market structure legislation will serve to ensure they won’t be left navigating this new terrain alone or disadvantaged relative to larger, better-resourced competitors.

Economic Equity Cannot Wait Any Longer

This is a unique moment in policymaking and rulemaking. If we want a financial system that works for everyone, we must ensure that the institutions closest to underserved communities are prepared—not sidelined—as digital assets evolve.

Congress has an opportunity to take a bipartisan, low-cost step toward ensuring that the next generation of financial innovation is inclusive from the start. A study supporting CDFIs and MDIs in the digital asset space is not just good policy—it is smart policymaking. It acknowledges that responsible innovation and increasing access are not competing goals but mutually reinforcing ones.

Kevin R. Harris is an entrepreneur and Former Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus and Cleve Mesidor is Executive Director of Blockchain Foundation.