The board overseeing an Atlanta area park that has centuries-old ties to the Ku Klux Klan and contains the largest Confederate monument ever crafted will be headed for the first time by an African American.
David G. Brown Editorial Cartoon (March 18-24)
House Resolution 1 – the “For the People Act of 2021” – counts as a strong rebuke and counterbalance to voting restrictions considered or enacted in various Republican-led states across the country. It restricts partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts and nullifies obstacles for voters.
“Today, the Senate passed the American Rescue Plan bringing us one step closer to delivering much-needed relief,” President Biden said from the White House shortly after the measured passed along party lines. “When I took office, I promised help was on the way. Thanks to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Senate Democrats, we’ve taken one more giant step forward in delivering on that promise. I hope the American Rescue Plan receives quick passage in the House so it can be sent to my desk to be signed,” the president continued.
Both Stacey Abrams and the Black Lives Matter movement have been nominated to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
January 15: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a leader in the Civil Rights era was born in Atlanta, GA, 1929
Now that Donald Trump’s baseless lies about voter fraud have been summarily dismissed by the courts, perhaps some attention can be paid to the true threat to free and fair elections: systemic and massive voter suppression.
Congresswoman Karen Bass is what American leadership should look like – a changemaker, a bridge-builder, an effective legislator — Bass comes to this moment as chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, with nine years experience representing the people of the 33rd and currently the 37th Congressional District in addition to decades of community organizing.
Kamala’s win is a “dancing in the street” victory for Black women, for all women, for our nation.
On Jan. 5, Georgia will hold a run-off election for both of its Senate seats. The races capture national attention because control of the Senate is at stake. If the two Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, both win, the Senate will be effectively split 50-50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris breaking the tie. If one or both lose, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell will retain his ability to obstruct the incoming president.
As the final days of the 2020 election season drew to a close, major media across the nation focused on polls and prospects for the presidential candidates. At the same time, scant news coverage reported on a development affecting 68 million consumers: debt collection regulation.
The year 2020 has been a whirlwind of events. With all of the disarray in the nation, one thing has been proven true; that Black votes matter.
In such a historic election, Black voters came out in some of the largest numbers ever seen, delivering President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to the White House. Cities with heavy Black populations like Detroit, Philadelphia, and most historic of them all, Fulton County, G.A., managed to turn their states as poll workers counted each mail-in ballot. In any case, the community worked as a team, following the lead of several key players who helped usher registration forms and voters to the polls nationwide.
“Indiana has some incredibly restrictive voter laws, and currently we only have one early voting site in all of Indianapolis,” stated Robert Shegog, CEO at the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper and Indiana Minority Business Magazine. “A few more will open Oct. 24, but significantly more are needed given the size of the city. However, it is very refreshing to see so many people voting early. This has been a trend in Indianapolis for over ten years now, and the numbers keep increasing,” Shegog noted.
One of America’s leading Black conservative political action committee has instituted a national effort to help Black-owned businesses earn some of the billions of dollars spent during America’s political campaigns as the 2020 election year hits the home stretch.
“Yet even today, with all those credentials and as one of the leading executives on Wall Street,” wrote Raymond J. McGuire, Citi’s Vice Chairman and Chair of its Global Banking and Capital Markets, “I am still seen first as a six-foot-four, two-hundred-pound Black man wherever I go — even in my own neighborhood. I could have been George Floyd. And my wife and I are constantly aware that our children could have their innocence snatched away from them at any given moment, simply for the perceived threat of their skin color.”