Despite “Racially Toxic” Statements Lone Black Republican Senator Reaffirms Support for Trump By Zenitha Prince

June 12, 2016

Despite “Racially Toxic” Statements Lone Black Republican Senator Reaffirms Support for Trump

By Zenitha Prince

U. S. Rep. Tim Scott

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Just days after Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the U.S. Senate’s sole African American Republican member, labeled Donald Trump’s criticism of the Mexican-American judge overseeing the Trump University case as “racially toxic,” the lawmaker reaffirmed his support for the divisive presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Trump has come under fire by many in the GOP for his racially-tinged criticism of federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s handling of the lawsuit against Trump University. Among other things, he has called the judge a “hater” who has been “very hostile” and biased in his rulings.

“I’ve been treated very unfairly by this judge. This judge is of Mexican heritage, OK? I’m building a wall between here and Mexico. I’m trying to keep business out of Mexico,” Trump told CNN’s Jake Trapper, citing the reasons he believes Curiel is prejudiced against him. “I think he needs to recuse himself.”

Scott was among the Republican leaders who sounded off on Trump’s racist language.

“I think they were racially toxic,” Scott said of Trump’s remarks earlier this week. “Obviously his comments were in line with his primary language, which is not in our best interest either.”

On June 7, Trump issued a statement saying his comments were “misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage” when he was only questioning Curiel’s handling of the case.

Scott seemed quick to accept Trump’s non-apology, saying to CNN on June 7: “I think he’s done a good job in the last 24 hours of realizing the impact of those comments. I think it shows real leadership when he takes responsibility and walks those comments back. I think that’s a good direction, a new direction frankly and one that I am pleased with.”

He later told The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier that while he might find Trump’s words troubling, he would continue to support the GOP nominee.

“I’m not living in a silo,” Scott said. “The reality of it is, we have the impact of Trump’s policies and positions compared to Hillary Clinton’s policies and positions, and I am entirely convinced the country is better off under the policies and positions of the Republican Party than they are under the Democratic Party.”

Not every Republican is as encouraged by Trump’s explanation, however—most notably Scott’s fellow South Carolina senator.

“The bar is low,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), told CNN of his fellow GOP senators’ acceptance of Trump’s latest apology.

“I think it shows a conscience on his part that he stepped in it. Whether or not this is a major correction or not, I don’t know,” said Graham, who abandoned his own presidential campaign last year. “His excuse that his statement was misconstrued—nobody believes that. But it is some recognition that he needs to be more disciplined.”

An Early Father’s Day for Children Whose Dads are in Prison By Frederick H. Lowe

June 12, 2016

An Early Father’s Day for Children Whose Dads are in Prison
By Frederick H. Lowe

dannydavis-fathers day
Congressman Danny Davis in the foreground with former Gary, Ind., Mayor Richard G. Hatcher.Illinois Congressman
Danny Davis in the foreground with former Gary, Ind., Mayor Richard G. Hatcher at the National Black Political Convention. PHOTO: Frederick H. Lowe

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Gary, Ind. —-Illinois Congressman Danny Davis, on Saturday, June 11, took 60 children to the Sheridan Correctional Center, a minimum security adult-male prison known for treatment of substance abuse problems, so they can celebrate Father’s Day early with their dads.

Two busloads of children, parents and chaperones traveled from Chicago to Sheridan Correctional Center, which is based in Sheridan, Il., an hour and a half southwest of Chicago. Including the parents and chaperones, 117 people made the trip.

“It’s being called a Father’s Day celebration even though it is being held in advance of Father’s Day,” Davis said. Father’s Day is June 19th.

The children were allowed to spend two hours alone with their fathers and later the entire group will hold a picnic before returning to Chicago. Davis started the program three years ago because, “Black children don’t have much interaction with their fathers.” The Illinois Department of Corrections approved the visit.

Davis announced the visit on Friday during the National Black Political Convention held June 9 and 10 in the Genesis Convention Center. Several panels at the sparsely attended convention discussed mass incarceration of Black men and the increased imprisonment of Black women. Sixty-three percent of Sheridan’s inmates are African-American, 24 percent are White and 13 percent are Hispanic.

Davis and U.S. Rep. Andre Carson (D., Ind.) are cosponsors of the Julia Carson Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2015, which a addresses a number of matters, including examining the important role fathers play in their children’s lives.

“Children with positive relationships with fathers—even if they do not live in the same household—have stronger mental health, economic success and academic achievement and lower rates of youth delinquency, school drop-out and teen pregnancy,” the bill states. It is in the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Human Resources.

The legislation is named in honor of the late Congresswoman Julia Carson, Andre Carson’s mother. She died in 2007.

Davis also is sponsoring another event to show the importance of African-American fathers. On June 17th Davis will host a Fatherhood Forum from 6-8pm at Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory High School, 5088 W. Jackson in Chicago, Ill.

Statement from President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on the Passing of Muhammad Ali

June 6, 2016

Statement from President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on the Passing of Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Period. If you just asked him, he’d tell you. He’d tell you he was the double greatest; that he’d “handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder into jail.”

But what made The Champ the greatest – what truly separated him from everyone else – is that everyone else would tell you pretty much the same thing.

Like everyone else on the planet, Michelle and I mourn his passing. But we’re also grateful to God for how fortunate we are to have known him, if just for a while; for how fortunate we all are that The Greatest chose to grace our time.

In my private study, just off the Oval Office, I keep a pair of his gloves on display, just under that iconic photograph of him – the young champ, just 22 years old, roaring like a lion over a fallen Sonny Liston. I was too young when it was taken to understand who he was – still Cassius Clay, already an Olympic Gold Medal winner, yet to set out on a spiritual journey that would lead him to his Muslim faith, exile him at the peak of his power, and set the stage for his return to greatness with a name as familiar to the downtrodden in the slums of Southeast Asia and the villages of Africa as it was to cheering crowds in Madison Square Garden.

“I am America,” he once declared. “I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me – black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.”

That’s the Ali I came to know as I came of age – not just as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for what was right. A man who fought for us. He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn’t. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today.

He wasn’t perfect, of course. For all his magic in the ring, he could be careless with his words, and full of contradictions as his faith evolved. But his wonderful, infectious, even innocent spirit ultimately won him more fans than foes – maybe because in him, we hoped to see something of ourselves. Later, as his physical powers ebbed, he became an even more powerful force for peace and reconciliation around the world. We saw a man who said he was so mean he’d make medicine sick reveal a soft spot, visiting children with illness and disability around the world, telling them they, too, could become the greatest. We watched a hero light a torch, and fight his greatest fight of all on the world stage once again; a battle against the disease that ravaged his body, but couldn’t take the spark from his eyes.

Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it. We are all better for it. Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family, and we pray that the greatest fighter of them all finally rests in peace.

Hillary Clinton Claims Historic Win in Democratic Primary by Hazel Trice Edney

June 8, 2016

Hillary Clinton Claims Historic Win in Democratic Primary
Sanders continues to fight as Obama attempts to make peace
By Hazel Trice Edney

FILE PHOTO: Paulette Singleton/Trice Edney News Wire

(TriceEdneyWire.com) — Former First Lady, former U. S. Senator and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has finally won enough delegates to make history as the first woman to become the presidential nominee of a major political party.

“Thanks to you we’ve reached a milestone,” Clinton told a wildly applauding and cheering crowd in Brooklyn, N.Y. Tuesday night. “The first time in our nation’s history that a woman will be a major party’s nominee. Tonight’s victory is not about one person. It belongs to generations of men and women who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible. We all owe so much to those who came before. And tonight belongs to all of you.”

She immediately offered an olive branch to her Democratic rival Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has vowed to stay in the race until the Democratic National Convention.

“I want to congratulate Senator Sanders for the extraordinary campaign he has run. He has spent his long career in public service fighting for Progressive causes and principles and he's excited millions of voters, especially young people. And let there be no mistake,” she continued. “Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that we've had about how to raise incomes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility, have been very good for the democratic party and for America. This has been a hard fought, deeply felt campaign. But whether you supported me or senator Sanders or one of the Republicans, we all need to keep working toward a better, stronger America. Now I know it never feels good to put your heart into a cause or a candidate you believe in and to come up short. I know that feeling well.”

Nearly eight years ago, it was Clinton who came up short in her Democratic primary race against then Sen. Barack Obama. This week, President Obama plans to meet with Clinton and Sanders in an attempt to begin healing between the two campaigns. He spoke to both candidates on Tuesday. An Obama endorsement of Clinton appears to be imminent.

Sanders knows what time it is.

“I am pretty good with Arithmetic and I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight,” Sanders said in California Tuesday night. “But we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get!”

But, that comment was made before Clinton’s sweeping win in California with at least 56 percent of the vote to Sanders’ 43 percent. Sanders then congratulated her on her win in California, but has still not conceded the nomination.

Clinton also won New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota on Tuesday. He won Montana and North Dakota.

The Associated Press reported that Sanders was “disappointed” and “upset” at the news of the Clinton win in California. The only primary left is the D.C. primary June 14. With only 46 D.C. delegates at stake, that’s not nearly enough for a Sanders nomination.

Clinton already has 2,740 delegates, 357 more than the 2383 needed to clinch the nomination. Sanders has only 1800. He had hoped to win over some of the powerful super delegates who will cast final votes at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 25-28.

Meanwhile, in her race against Republican nominee Donald Trump, Clinton appears to be reaching for a broad tent of voters, similar to the Rainbow Coalition established by the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1988. In a video championing her historic win, Clinton says, "Women and men, young and old, Latino and Asian, African-American and Caucasian, rich, poor and middle class, gay and straight, you have stood with me. And I will continue to stand strong with you, every time, every place and every way that I can!"

Meanwhile, Trump is being dogged by allegations of “racism” from his own Republican Party leaders - including House Speaker Paul Ryan - who are angry over his criticism of an America judge that he repeatedly says his “Mexican” heritage disqualifies him for presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University. However, Trump suddenly toned down his attacks this week and started using a teleprompter. He says he will no longer speak of Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, but will do a speech next week targeting Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

But, Trump also has a major hill to climb. So far, Clinton has received 15.2 million votes in Democratic primaries, 1.3 million more than Trump’s 13.9 million received in Republican primaries.

In a speech on Tuesday, Trump tried to welcome Sanders’ millions of supporters into his campaign: "This election isn't about Republican or Democrat, it's about who runs this country: the special interests or the people," he said.

But, Sanders indicated that he will persuade his supporters to remain under the Democratic tent: Speaking of Clinton, he said, "Our fight is to transform this country and to understand that we are in this together, to understand that all of what we believe is what the majority of the American people believe and to understand that the struggle continues.”

Senate Republican Leader McConnell Denies Voting Rights Problems Zenitha Prince

June 6, 2016

Senate Republican Leader McConnell Denies Voting Rights Problems

Zenitha Prince

mitchmcconnell

Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell ( R-Ky.)

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is praising the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act, dismissing concerns that the ruling has fueled laws that undermine the voting rights of minority voters.

In Shelby County vs. Holder the Supreme Court invalidated the formula that dictated which U.S. jurisdictions would be subject to federal pre-clearance before making election changes. The formula previously targeted jurisdictions with a history of discrimination against minority voters–many of them in the South.

“What was struck down were the provisions that absurdly treated the South differently,” McConnell told USA Today. “They don’t apply anymore. It’s 50 years later.”

The Kentucky Republican made the remarks while promoting his memoir, “The Long Game,” in which he lauded the 1965 passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act. McConnell attended the bill’s signing as a guest of then-Sen. John Sherman Cooper (R-Ky.).

“I was overwhelmed to witness such a moment in history, knowing that majorities in both parties voted for the bill,” McConnell writes in the book, according to USA Today.

In contrast, legislation meant to update the VRA–as mandated by the Supreme Court in Shelby–has only one Republican co-sponsor and is unlikely to be advanced. And that lack of support is despite the fact that since Shelby several states have passed restrictive laws that stymie voting access for many minority, poor and elderly voters.

“As a result of the Supreme Court’s dreadful ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, Americans across the country are now vulnerable to racially discriminatory voting laws that restrict the franchise without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act,” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and sponsor of the Voting Rights Advancement Act, has said. “We cannot sit by as the fundamental right to vote is systematically undermined.”

McConnell scoffed at such concerns, however, saying Democrats were simply trying to stack the polls with their supporters.

“A lot of this in my view doesn’t have anything to do with anything other than their estimation of what would give them an electoral advantage,” McConnell said. “It’s not really about knocking down barriers. There are no serious barriers to voting anymore anywhere in America."