Rex Richardson is a Long Beach City Councilmember and regional leader with a proven track record of collaboration and problem solving that has helped improve the lives of Long Beach residents.
Today, Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Joyce Beatty (OH-03) and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are standing for the American people and will continue to demand justice for voting rights.
Sen. Booker, who served two terms as Newark mayor before his election to the Senate, will receive the 2021 National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) National Leadership Award for excellence and innovative leadership in Black America. Drs. James Hildreth and Ebony Hilton, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-Missouri), and Olympic record-setter Allyson Felix also will receive National Leadership Awards from the NNPA, the trade association of more than 230 African American-owned newspapers and media companies.
On the 58th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, marchers focused on voting rights. Voting rights have reemerged as a somewhat unexpected political battlefield as Republicans across the country pass new laws placing barriers in front of the ballot box.
This week, the California Senate and the Assembly passed an unprecedented budget. While Governor Gavin Newsom has yet to sign Assembly Bill 129: the Budget Act of 2021, this measure does represent a three-party agreement between the Senate, Assembly, and the Newsom Administration.
While about 37,000 workers were laid off or furloughed at media companies like the Los Angeles Times, Condé Nast, The Dallas Morning News, Gannett, McClatchy, National Public Radio, and VOX, the NNPA added staff and expanded services to NNPA member publishers across the nation.
Republicans opposed the nomination, but Clarke won confirmation because Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) used the chamber’s “Discharge Petition” to move her candidacy forward and vote.
Once again, the idea of Statehood for the District of Columbia has not only come before the U.S. Congress but has also passed the House of Representatives.
“For too long, we have endured the pain of watching or seeing the deaths of people of color, particularly Black men and women, at the hands of rogue police officers who operate with impunity and take it upon themselves to be the arbiters of life and death,” Congresswoman Maxine Waters declared. “The trauma that our communities feel is only made worse by the ways in which we are forced to reckon with the reality that Black people are over 3.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white people, and Black teenagers are 21 times more likely to be killed by police than white teenagers.”
“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.
Holly Mitchell was sworn-in to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Sunday, December 6, 2020. However, she says that between moving out of her Senate office, moving into her new Supervisors office, hiring a full staff, getting brought up to speed on exactly what’s going on in the 2nd Supervisorial District, thanking voters and supporters and the holidays, all while remaining socially distant, she really didn’t get down to business until January 1, 2021.
Former State Senator and now Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell has left Sacramento. While her ascension to the Board of Supervisors has pleased so many of her supporters, it has left a crucial vacancy in the halls of the State Capitol. Not only for a Senator to represent the 30th Senate District with one of the most racially and economically diverse districts in the state, Mitchell’s vacancy also leaves the entire State of California with no African American woman in the California Senate and currently, State Senator Steve Bradford is the only African American Senator representing the entire state.
The symbolism was stunning, but it was far more critical that President Biden hit the ground running, and he did. He signed 17 executive orders, reversing some of the most onerous declarations of his predecessor. He dissolved the 1776 Commission, an odious truth-erasing propaganda body charged with developing “patriotic education.” Replete with lies, peppered with quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln, neither of whom would have cosigned the report, the previous administration had the utter audacity to release this madness on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday holiday. One of the final slaps in the face from the deranged “leader.”
“I pledge to fight hard to rid our ranks of racists and extremists,” Gen. Austin pronounced during his confirmation hearings. He also pledged to overturn several discriminatory bans on military service put in place by the previous administration. The confirmation vote cleared by a 93-2 margin – Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) were the lone no-votes.
Kamala’s win is a “dancing in the street” victory for Black women, for all women, for our nation.