President Joe Biden is establishing the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment with a mission to mobilize the federal government’s policies, programs, and practices to empower workers to organize and successfully bargain with their employers.
With our community facing a myriad of challenges as we begin the process of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, Los Angeles needs elected representatives who have both the lived experience and professional background to get desperately-needed resources into the hands of Angelenos as quickly as possible.
So, for me, 2021 is about hope and about working for a better life for all and a better nation together as we rise from the terrible test that 2020 has been. It is about recommitting to one another and to good works to help our brothers and sisters in need. And even before we voted for inclusion, we were already making good trouble. White, Black and Brown nationwide took to the streets this past spring and summer to ask our nation — to demand of our nation — that we address the systematic racism that has plagued this country since its founding. That has torn the very fabric of our country and created so much pain and loss. With one voice, all were saying: ‘Please, at long last, fix this.’” — Ray Curry, Secretary-Treasurer, UAW
Diane Edith Watson has lived a full life and shows no signs of slowing down. On the morning of our interview, the 87-years-young legendary political icon had already been on the phone with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was coordinating her pink and green wardrobe for the inauguration of her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sister, Kamala Harris, and had already spoken with a cadre of Washington D.C. leaders, all in the hopes that the retired congresswoman was feeling up to making the journey to the January Presidential Inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Heather Hutt, a former Senior Advisor & State Director for then-U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, who served as California’s first Black U.S. Senate State Director, officially launched her campaign for California State Assembly District 54.
America has seen true darkness; the COVID-19 outbreak catapulted the nation into a new way of operation, with many lives lost. The escalated climate during the leadership of the 45th president, Donald Trump, coupled with unjust behavior fueled by racism, created a hemorrhage in the country’s unity and applied pressure to a new awareness around the minds of society.
During President Obama’s administration, congressional leaders Mitch McConnell and John Boehner had fostered an atmosphere for the Tea Party, and the GOP became known as the “party of ‘no’.” It seemed everywhere Obama turned he was met with a brick wall when it came to bipartisanship. Because Obama was the first Black man to become president of the United States, it was hard for some White Americans to accept.
Howard University is proud to announce the Showtime Marching Band will escort Vice President Kamala Harris at the 59th presidential inauguration on Jan. 20. They will perform a special drum cadence for the parade.
This week, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, issued the following statement following the release of President Trump’s phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the President suggested, pressured, and encouraged Raffensperger to take various actions to help overturn President-elect Biden’s and Vice President-elect Harris’ victory in the state of Georgia.
Empowered by the jostle of her mother, Harris pushed through seemingly unbreakable boundaries. She holds the title as the first Black woman to have held district and general attorney roles in California’s history. From 2004 to 2011, Harris had a meteoric effect on many communities as district attorney, finding her essence in the initiative that gives first-time drug offenders the chance to earn a high school diploma and find employment in California.
Fair warning: this isn’t a traditional Christmas-week column. If we think of clarity as a kind of gift, though, we can be grateful that the effort to pass a much-needed COVID-19 relief bill in the waning days of this Congress makes one thing crystal clear: hurting families and small businesses will be abandoned if Republicans keep control of the U.S. Senate by winning Georgia’s January 5 runoff elections.
Top National Stories of 2020
Dr. Akilah Weber, the daughter of Dr. Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), has announced that she is running for the 79th Assembly District seat that her mom will soon vacate. If she wins, the younger Dr. Weber would have the opportunity to carry on a family legacy in California politics known for strategic consensus building at the state level that’s rooted in – and deeply connected to — local grassroots organizing at home.
Photo of the Day
David G. Brown Cartoon: December 17, 2020