Feb. 8, 2026

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - There are moments in American history when cruelty is not accidental—it is strategic.

Recent reports that the president circulated or endorsed a video depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, followed by a refusal to apologize or disavow the imagery, belong to a long and poisonous tradition in this country. It is the  deliberate dehumanization of Black people to justify harm, exclusion, and control.

Why monkeys?

Because in America, likening Black people to animals has never been random. It has been a tool. Enslavers used it to argue Africans were less than human. Scientists distorted it into “race science.” Politicians weaponized it to excuse chains, whips, lynch mobs, Jim Crow, and voter suppression. When you deny someone’s humanity, you can deny their rights—and eventually their lives.

This is not isolated behavior. This is pattern.

The same political figure launched his national career by pushing the birther lie—that Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen, not legitimate, not truly American. Since then, we have heard immigrants from African nations dismissed as coming from “shitholes,” Somalis described as “garbage,” and Black-led initiatives branded as “tainted” under the attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—programs that were never about favoritism, but about access long denied.

Words matter. Images matter more.

Psychologists will tell you that repeated dehumanizing imagery does measurable harm—especially to children. When a president traffics in such symbolism, it gives permission for bullying, for employment discrimination for unfair massive incarceration.  Young Black people do not experience these moments as abstract politics; they experience them in hallways, online spaces, classrooms, and workplaces—where being called a “monkey” is not satire, but threatening dehumanization.

I have seen this damage up close.

In 2017, while teaching journalism and training Black students to excel in a profession that has rarely made room for them, my class discovered online images of the Obamas—and even their daughters—grotesquely depicted as monkeys. My students were shaken. I was shaken. And yet, I did what Black elders have always done: I taught history, resilience, brilliance. I reminded them that Black Americans survived slavery, Jim Crow, lynching, redlining, and voter suppression—not alone, but alongside White Americans who refused to surrender their conscience.

But survival should not be the standard. Dignity should be.

The real scandal is not just the imagery—it is the silence surrounding it. Where is the outrage from business leaders who break bread with power while families struggle to afford food? Where is the sustained pressure from media institutions that soften coverage in pursuit of access, contracts, or future ventures? Where are politicians—of all parties—who understand that democracy cannot survive when hate is normalized at the top?

Scripture warns us plainly: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21) In modern America, that tongue includes images, policies, budgets, and omissions.

Dehumanization is never just rhetoric. It is rehearsal.

History teaches us that once a group is portrayed as less than human, violence—economic, psychological, or physical—soon follows. Jobs are stripped. Contracts are canceled. Protections are erased. And the public is told this is efficiency, not cruelty.

Actions speak louder than words—but silence speaks, too.

This is a moment that demands more than statements. It demands refusal. Refusal by media to normalize hate. Refusal by corporations to profit from proximity to power while communities suffer. Refusal by citizens to accept that this is just “politics as usual.”

America has seen this road before. We know where it leads. The question is whether we will once again pretend we don’t.

Nov. 19, 2025

Ghazala Hashmi, Abigail Spanberger and Jay Jones, newly elected lieutenant governor, governor and attorney general of  Virginia. 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - After more than 40 days, the US government shutdown is over, air travel is returning to normal, and people are less worried about being able to put Thanksgiving dinner on their tables. Yet families across the country will have to make significant decisions and choices around the spiraling costs of healthcare because Republicans have refused to extend Obamacare subsidies.

Yet the Democratic sweep of the Nov 5 off-year elections has given hope to the masses of Black people as the country contends with the party in power and many of its most fervent supporters who are content to watch ICE agents arbitrarily stop, harass, detain and deport immigrants and US citizens; cruelly block the issuance of SNAP benefits to 42 million needy families; and as inflation batters Americans.  

Election officials said turnout was high, with Democrats snatching up wins and voters in different parts of the country voting in favor of important ballot questions centered on free school meals, redistricting, and governors’ races.

Sweep. Those words, set against a black background on Facebook, is what met anyone who follows Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever or who happened to scroll by her Facebook page on the Wednesday morning after national off-year elections.

DeWeever, a political strategist and content creator, said she felt a great deal of satisfaction following Democrats shellacking of MAGA Republicans in nearby Virginia, New Jersey, New York and California.

By the end of the night Tuesday, Democratic Party candidates had secured gubernatorial wins in New Jersey and Virginia; saw the surprise election of a young, Democratic Socialist candidate, Zohran Mamdani, elected mayor in New York City, powered by young, multi-ethnic, disaffected voters; passage of Proposition 50, a measure that gives California legislators the room to redistrict electoral lines and give Democrats the opportunity to potentially capture five additional seats in the House of Representatives; the defeat of a measure in Maine that would have restricted voting; and the reelection of three Pennsylvania Supreme Court judges to retain the Democratic majority.

Just about all the races revolved around affordability issues, experts said.

“These wins were critical because it showed that people will fight back even if the Democratic Party appears spineless. It was a powerful rejection in multiple states in multiple ways. It was a full-fledged rejection of (the Trump administration’s) autocratic ways,” said Jones-DeWeever.

She said the comprehensive wins across the country illustrates that “we are still a two-party system. We can’t allow these criminals to maintain power.”

DeWeever said she’s struck by the Virginia results, where voters elected the state’s first woman governor, Abigail Spanberger; the first Muslim lieutenant governor, Ghazala Hashmi,  and a Black man, Jay Jones, as attorney general. In addition to these gains, the Dems picked up 13 seats, giving them much more room to legislate.

“The legislature will be able to redistrict, counteract Trump efforts,” she said. “What’s most important to me is Mamdani’s win. It is based on turnout and expansion of the electorate. He ran the type of campaign Democrats could have run if they had a spine.”

Mamdani, a former New York state assemblyman and a Muslim immigrant from Uganda, electrified voters in New York, while terrifying Republicans, billionaires and corporatist, right-leaning Democrats.

Billionaires, and political action committees tied to former Mayor Andrew Cuomo, poured more than $40 million into an effort to derail Mamdani’s race to grab the seat. Trump endorsed Cuomo the day before the race, inaccurately characterizing Mamdani as a communist and threatening to without federal funds to New York City if he won.

That was all for nought, because by the time the race was called 35 minutes after polls closed, Mamdani had secured more than 1 million votes and 50 percent of votes cast.

Democrats are celebrating after the decisive victories in several high-profile contests, the nation’s first major elections since Trump’s second term in office. Political pundits and other experts said these crucial wins are an early barometer of the public reaction to Trump’s policies and programs and will provide fuel for Democrats before the 2026 mid-term elections.

Trump admitted Wednesday that Republicans had “a bad night,” and met with fellow Republicans the next day to discuss the fallout and implications of the win. DeWeever said the public also are angry and concerned about Trump policies such as burgeoning inflation, high consumer prices, the suspension of SNAP payments and the administration’s antagonistic and aggressive tactics on the immigration front.

Dr. Malik Sekou, a longtime politics and history professor at the University of the Virgin Islands, said he expected Mamdani to come out on top in New York.

“Yes. If you look at my (Facebook) posts for the past few months, I saw this. I thought he was going to win because certain times determine leadership,” said Sekou, an acknowledged Pan African who said he sits far-left politically and supported Rep. Bernie Sanders over Joe Biden. “The way the US is today is that we’re confronted by with a far-right offensive which is on the march in every aspect of American life and which has been taken international. No one can be confused with what’s in front of us. It’s either fight back or surrender. You have to do it Trump’s way or surrender.”

Sekou said anyone who carries the principle of social consciousness in them, they have to fight.

“You have to fight, you have to fight,” he asserted.

It is not lost on him, Sekou said, that Mamdani is taking over leadership in New York City.

“New York City is the cultural capital of the USA. It is the cultural driver and has a large immigrant population, so they have to oppose the policies against them,” said Sekou, who said both of his parents were born in NYC.

But both DeWeever and Sekou cautioned Democrats to enjoy the wins but to temper their excitement and tread carefully.

“I think we have to be very careful. We are still a two-party system,” DeWeever said. “We should celebrate for one day. The only thing we should be very careful of is that we should not let this win allow us to coast into the midterms. The fight for the midterms starts today. We have to fight, make significant investments in organizing and campaigning, getting people ready to vote and prepping for the midterms.”

Like Sekou, DeWeever said she feels that current Democratic leadership is not equipped to fight effectively or successfully against Trump and MAGA Republicans.

“Mamdani won and will serve as a Democrat. It makes sense to utilize this structure. It offers the best chance of winning,” she said. I think we have to be strategic but also be bold in pulling and pushing the party. We must work behind the scene and come out to vote.”

• Advised staff that fair housing work was “not a priority” but an “optics problem”; and encouraged reassignment within the agency as fair housing staff was cut by 70 percent.

• Implemented a gag order that prevented its Office of Fair Housing (OFH) from communicating with external parties both within and outside of HUD “without express approval from political leadership.” This single directive resulted in closing over 100 housing discrimination cases.

• Reassigned 75 percent of the OFH staff assigned to its Violence Against Women’s Act, leaving the office unable to serve or support survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault. 

Kevin Harris

Richard McDonald

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Last week marked national voter registration day and Democrats sure could use the help. Between 2020 and 2024, Democrats lost 2.1 million registered voters while Republicans gained 2.4 million across the 30 states that track party registration. That’s a net swing of 4.5 million voters—adding to Democrats bleeding as more Americans already have negative impressions about our brand. 

Democrats’ approval ratings have dropped below 35 percent among white men, Hispanic men, and working-class voters across the board. The party’s advantage among Black adults has shrunk to its smallest margin since 1999, while Donald Trump nearly doubled his support among Black voters and drew even with Democrats among Hispanic voters in 2024.

These numbers hold strong implications for the Democratic Party’s ability to win national elections. In the battleground state of Pennsylvania our voter registration lead has collapsed from over 500,000 to just 53,000 today. Similar trends exist across several other key battlegrounds needed to recapture Congress and the White House. 

Like our brand, the key infrastructure Democrats need to win is crumbling. 

Democrats have made fatal assumptions about voter loyalty among key groups. For too long, we assumed working class white, Black and Brown voters would always be there. We stopped meaningfully organizing these communities. Our engagement is relatively tepid, simply investing resources late in the game just before an election. Voters are right to ask where have we been? 

To win again, Democrats must re-engage the working class from the ground up 365 days a year. Democrats need permanent staff conducting monthly drives at community centers, churches, barbershops, and college campuses—not just during campaign season. 

We need year-round organizing that connects our policies with the daily struggles working class voters are experiencing. Registering voters without educating them about Democratic policies is political malpractice. 

We have to remember that politics is relational and not every objective can be achieved through a splashy advertising campaign alone. Democrats need consistent presence supporting local causes and community events that build trust over time across communities. 

And Democrats must make digital organizing and texting a permanent fixture, particularly in reaching young working class voters. 

Regular town halls and listening sessions must happen year-round to maintain coalitions, not just when Democrats need votes.

The bottom line is that 4.5 million voters didn’t swing away from Democrats overnight. This resulted from years of Democratic neglect while Republicans methodically engaged in voter manipulation and intimidation to lock in a governing majority. 

Trump’s attacks on the democratic process and integrity of our elections are well documented. He’s pressuring red states to redraw congressional maps before the 2026 midterms to ensure a GOP majority before a single vote has been cast. 

When Republicans control redistricting, they eliminate competitive districts. When they suppress civic engagement through intimidation, they reduce Democratic turnout. All of this adds up to the working class losing more and more ground and Democrats falling farther behind. 

The only counter to systematic voter suppression is systematic voter engagement—infrastructure that works 365 days a year.

Republicans are playing the long game while Democrats play election to election. The GOP is investing in permanent infrastructure while Democrats rely on temporary and transactional mobilization. Republicans are building sustained relationships while Democrats send texts every two years asking for votes.

Democrats are treating voters as numbers instead of building genuine relationships. The path forward requires admitting the old model failed and committing to year-round organizing—showing up consistently, investing in communities, and earning trust through sustained presence must be central to how Democrats regain relevancy in the lives of working class voters. 

Democracy isn’t a spectator sport, and neither is voter engagement. Democrats must stop analyzing our problems with working class voters and start acting to bring those voters back into the fold block by block and one registration at a time. 

Kevin Harris and Richard McDaniel are veteran Democratic strategists with over 100 political campaigns between them including the last five presidential elections and several congressional races. They co-host “Maroon Bison Presents: The Southern Comfort Podcast.”