Greene County Democrat

Category: Health

  • Newswire : 27 religious groups sue Trump administration to protect houses of worship from immigration arrests

    Congregants at First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield in Ohio on Jan. 26.Luis Andres Henao / AP file

    By The Associated Press

    More than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans — ranging from the Episcopal Church and the Union for Reform Judaism to the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists — filed a federal court lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration move giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship.
    The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, contends that the new policy is spreading fear of raids, thus lowering attendance at worship services and other valuable church programs. The result, says the suit, infringes on the groups’ religious freedom — namely their ability to minister to migrants, including those in the United States illegally.
    “We have immigrants, refugees, people who are documented and undocumented,” said the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
    “We cannot worship freely if some of us are living in fear,” he told The Associated Press. “By joining this lawsuit, we’re seeking the ability to gather and fully practice our faith, to follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves.”
    The new lawsuit echoes and expands on some of the arguments made in a similar lawsuit filed Jan. 27 by five Quaker congregations and later joined by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh temple. It is currently pending in U.S. District Court in Maryland.
    There was no immediate Trump administration response to the new lawsuit, which names the Department of Homeland Security and its immigration enforcement agencies as defendants. However, a memorandum filed Friday by the Department of Justice, opposing the thrust of the Quaker lawsuit, outlined arguments that may also apply to the new lawsuit.
    In essence, the memo contended that the plaintiffs’ request to block the new enforcement policy is based on speculation of hypothetical future harm — and thus is insufficient grounds for issuing an injunction.
    The memo said that immigration enforcement affecting houses of worship had been permitted for decades, and the new policy announced in January simply said that field agents — using “common sense” and “discretion” — could now conduct such operations without pre-approval from a supervisor.
    One part of that memo might not apply to the new lawsuit, as it argued the Quakers and their fellow plaintiffs have no basis for seeking a nationwide injunction against the revised enforcement policy.
    “Any relief in this case should be tailored solely to the named plaintiffs,” said the DOJ memo, contending that any injunction should not apply to other religious organizations.
    The plaintiffs in the new lawsuit represent a vastly larger swath of American worshippers — including more than 1 million followers of Reform Judaism, the estimated 1.5 million Episcopalians in 6,700 congregations nationwide, nearly 1.1 million members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the estimated 1.5 million active members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church — the country’s oldest predominantly Black denomination.
    Among the other plaintiffs are the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with more than 3,000 congregations; the Church of the Brethren, with more than 780 congregations; the Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas, encompassing about 1,100 Hispanic Baptist churches; the Friends General Conference, an association of regional Quaker organizations; the Mennonite Church USA, with about 50,000 members; the Unitarian Universalist Association, with more than 1,000 congregations; the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, with more than 500 U.S. congregations; and regional branches of the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ.
    “The massive scale of the suit will be hard for them to ignore,” said Kelsi Corkran, a lawyer with the Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection who is lead counsel for the lawsuit.
    Prior to the recent Trump administration change, Corkran said immigration agents generally needed a judicial warrant or other special authorization to conduct operations at houses of worship and other “sensitive locations” such as schools and hospitals.
    “Now it’s go anywhere, any time,” she told the AP. “Now they have broad authority to swoop in — they’ve made it very clear they’ll get every undocumented person.”
    She cited a recent incident in which a Honduran man was arrested outside his family’s Atlanta-area church while a service was being held inside.
    The lawsuit includes details from some of the plaintiffs as to how their operations might be affected. The Union for Reform Judaism and the Mennonites, among others, said many of their synagogues and churches host on-site foodbanks, meal programs, homeless shelters and other support services for undocumented people who might now be fearful of participating.
    One of the plaintiffs is the Latino Christian National Network, which seeks to bring together Latino leaders with different traditions and values to collaborate on pressing social issues. The network’s president is the Rev. Carlos Malavé, a pastor of two churches in Virginia, who described to the AP what network members are observing.
    “There is deep-seated fear and distrust of our government,” he said. “People fear going to the store, they are avoiding going to church. … The churches are increasingly doing online services because people fear for the well-being of their families and children.”
    The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which leads the nation’s largest denomination, did not join the lawsuit, though it has criticized Trump’s migration crackdown. On Tuesday, Pope Francis issued a major rebuke to the deportation plan, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.”

  • “Target stores are the first target” NNPA Launches National Public Education and Selective Buying Campaign,

    Washington, DC: The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing the Black Press of America, has announced the planning and implementation of a national public education and selective buying campaign across the nation in direct response to those corporate entities that have dismantled their respective Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) commitments, programs and staffing. NNPA Chairman Emeritus Danny Bakewell Sr. explained, “Now is the time for the Black Press of America once again to emphatically speak and publish truth to power.”

    “We are the trusted voice of Black America, and we will not be silent or nonresponsive to the rapid rise of renewed Jim Crow racist policies in corporate America,” stated NNPA Chairman Bobby R. Henry Sr. “The Black Press of America continues to remain on the frontline keeping our families and communities informed and engaged on all the issues that impact our quality of life.”

    At a recent convening of NNPA member publishers and editors, a united resolve was reached that each member publication of the NNPA will begin a national public education campaign coupled with the release of research data on those America companies that are engaging in efforts to sanction racial injustice, inequitable polices, divisive leadership, and economic apartheid in America.

    “We note forthrightly that Black Americans spend $2 trillion dollars annually as consumers of products and services throughout the United States,” NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. emphasized. “We now must evaluate and realign to question why we continue to spend our money with companies that do not respect us,” Chavis continued. “This now must come to an end. These contradictions will not go unchallenged by 50 million Black Americans who have struggled for centuries to ensure equality, fairness and inclusion in our nation’s democracy.”

    A selective buying campaign involves exercising the right to select what we spend our money on and who we spend our money with. We are starting with targeting TARGET.

    The following are some of the major American companies that have publicly retreated from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:

    TARGET  Lowe’s  John Deere, Walmart  Meta  Tractor Supply, Amazon,  McDonald’s and  Ford

    The Greene County Democrat is a member of the NNPA and prints this notice,  from the Philadelphia Tribune, which has more details on the DEI deniers, as the start of a national campaign to educate the public and encourage a selective buying campaign to withdraw our support from these companies.

    In the interest of fairness, the Democrat prints this list of major companies that have
    decided to continue their ‘diversity equity and inclusion’ initiatives: COSTCO, JPMORGAN CHASE, GOLDMAN SACHS, DELTA AIRLINES, APPLE, MICROSOFT, PINTEREST, and elf Cosmetics.

    We are counting on you our readers to target TARGET, by not buying from them! Tell your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and others!

  • Greene County Commission holds routine meeting, still dealing with Water and Sewer Authority Board’s strike and request for $400 a month stipend

    Greene County Commission commends Eddie Austin for service on Greene County Hospital Board. L to R. Commissioners Summerville and Turner, Eddie Austin, commissioners Cockrell and Spencer

    By John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    This is a report on the Greene County Commission’s work session on February 5 and regular monthly meeting on February 10, 2025. The issue of payment of a $400 a month stipend to the board of the Greene County Water and Sewer Authority, although not on the agenda for either meeting, was a major issue of discussion.

    William Morgan, Chair of the Water and Sewer Authority, was present at both meetings pushing the proposal that the Greene County Commission allow the Water and Sewer Authority to pay its five members a $400 a month stipend, which would be an annual cost of $24,000.

    Commission Chair Garria Spencer pointed out that no other boards appointed by the Commission – Hospital, Industrial Development, PARA, Library and others – receive a monthly stipend. They serve on these boards as a public service. He also said the stipend proposal had been voted down in a previous meeting and could not be on the agenda unless three Commissioners approved placing it on the agenda.

    Morgan said, “Our Board has been doing its work. We have secured $14.2 million in grants from USDA Rural Development , ADECA and ADEM for the system. We have 1,451 paying customers. We are fiscally sound and can pay the stipend. We have been paid a small stipend ($500 a year for the chair and $250 for the members) which is in our bylaws since 1982.”

    When Commissioner Roshonda Summerville asked that the issue of the stipends and another issue of purchasing the Robert H. Young Community Center from the City of Eutaw for $200,000, be placed on the regular meeting agenda, Attorney Mark Pernell advised the Commission not to consider adding either item to the agenda.

    Parnell said since the Water and Sewer Authority payment was in its by-laws, they needed to change their by-laws before requesting a resolution for an increase in pay. A simple resolution approving the increase in pay from a nominal $1,500 a year to $24,000 a year, was not the proper way to do this. Parnell indicated that he had informed the Water and Sewer Board and their attorney Barrown Lankster of this procedure, when the issue first came up. Commissioner Turner asked that he inform them and their lawyer again.

    Parnell suggested to the Commission that they had not done the due diligence to make the purchase of the Robert H. Young Community Center from the City of Eutaw. You have not had an inspection or appraisal of the
    building. You need to do some more work before you commit the funds for this project. Commissioner Spencer said he thought that rather than buying the building, the Commission should partner with the City of Eutaw, to put the funds into improving the facility, as a joint partnership for a better facility.

    This led to a discussion of a special joint meeting of the Commission and the Eutaw City Council to partner on a plan to develop the Robert H. Young (former Carver School) Community Center. Commissioner Corey Cockrell, who had been discussing this project with Eutaw Council member Jonathan Woodruff agreed to work toward a joint meeting to discuss a joint plan for the needed facility.

    In its regular meeting on February 10, 2025, the Commission approved a ten percent match on a $500,000 CDBG grant for improvements to county facilities, recommended by the Highway Department. The Commission also approved purchase of a $56,073.79 Chevrolet Suburban for the Coroner. This van will need to be modified to meet the coroner’s request. The Commission said it would approve the modifications separately to be sure they met the coroner’s requirements.

    The Commission also approved a contract with Diversified Computer Service for the installation of trackers on four new tractors, at a cost of $100 for each tractor and $20 a month for maintenance and monitoring.

    In other business, the Greene County Commission:

    • Approved travel for the Board of Registrars to attend a training in Montgomery on February 20 – 22 , 2025.
    • Approved travel for the Assistant County Engineer for Bridge and Road training on March 4, 2025, in Clanton, Alabama.
    • Approved procedures for ABC Licensing and Compliance for the year 2025.
    • Accepted the resignation of Frank Smith from the PARA Board. Did not receive a second to accept the resignation of Andre Woods from the Water and Sewer Authority.

    The Commission heard and received a financial report from Macaroy ‘Underwood, CFO, which indicated the Commission spent $ 3,354,789.67 for claims, plus $115,453.64 in electronic payments for January 2025. Most department spending was within the budget of 67% per cent of funds remaining. The balance sheet showed $8,503,929 in Citizens Trust Bank of which $3,271,089 were unrestricted and $ 5,232,839 were restricted funds. Merchants and Farmers Bank had a total of $ 3,430,157 with $ 2,057,012 in restricted funds and $ 1,373,145 in unrestricted funds. The total in deposits is $11,934,087. There are also $1,898,291 in certificates as a reserve for bonds.

  • Newswire : Experts say Trump’s South African land stance exposes a deep hypocrisy

    Elon Musk and South African President Cyril Ramaposa


    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    President Donald Trump’s latest maneuver, an executive order to cut U.S. aid to South Africa while extending refugee status to white South Africans, is yet another calculated exercise in race-baiting and historical revisionism. Trump claims that Afrikaners, the white descendants of Dutch and French settlers who own the vast majority of South Africa’s farmland, are victims of persecution under President Cyril Ramaphosa’s land reform efforts. Yet, the reality of land ownership in South Africa tells a different story, and Trump’s feigned concern for land rights is made even more absurd when compared to the systematic land dispossession endured by Black Americans in the United States.
    South Africa’s land reform efforts aim to redress the racial inequities created by apartheid, a regime that systematically transferred land from the Black majority to the white minority. Despite the official end of apartheid three decades ago, white South Africans still control between 70 to 80 percent of the country’s arable land.
    Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) government has introduced expropriation policies to correct this historic injustice, ensuring that land reform is in the public interest and within the constitutional framework. Yet, Trump has chosen to distort the issue, parroting the narrative pushed by AfriForum, an Afrikaner lobby group that claims white South Africans face racial discrimination.
    South African President Cyril Ramaposa recently asked billionaire and South African citizen, Elon Musk, to speak with President Trump on the land policy. The law allows the government to take land which is idle and unused. It does not allow the confiscation of land that is in use by white farmers.
    The hypocrisy of Trump’s sudden interest in land rights is stark when viewed against the backdrop of America’s own history of racialized land theft. While Trump amplifies the supposed plight of white South Africans, his own country has a long and well-documented history of dispossessing Black Americans of their land through legal and extralegal means. According to Inequality.org, at the beginning of the 20th century, Black Americans owned at least 15 million acres of land. By the 21st century, 90 percent of that land had been taken through fraudulent legal schemes, intimidation, and outright theft. Today, African Americans own only 1.1 million acres of farmland and part-own another 1.07 million acres, a staggering loss of generational wealth that has never been addressed.

    Land theft from Black people in the United States was carried out through methods such as heirs’ property laws, tax sales, and the Torrens Act, which allowed white developers to seize Black-owned land under the guise of legal loopholes. Heirs’ property laws divided land among multiple descendants, making it difficult for families to retain ownership. Tax sales preyed on Black families with fixed incomes, forcing them to auction off land they had no intention of selling. The Torrens Act allowed land to be sold without notifying all co-owners, stripping Black families of their property without legal recourse.
    The impact of this systematic theft is immeasurable. In Mississippi alone, between 1950 and 1964, nearly 800,000 acres of Black-owned land were stolen, amounting to a present-day valuation of up to $6.6 billion. The wealth lost through land dispossession remains one of the most enduring factors in the racial wealth gap, where the typical white family still has eight times the wealth of the typical Black family.
    Trump’s selective outrage over land redistribution in South Africa stands in direct contrast to his administration’s complete disregard for the historical theft of Black land in the U.S. His policies consistently benefited white landowners while neglecting the Black farmers and families who had been systematically robbed of their property for generations. His administration dismantled the civil rights division of the USDA, an agency long accused of discriminating against Black farmers and ignored efforts to provide restitution to those who had suffered under racist policies.
    The irony deepens when one considers Trump’s well-documented hostility toward refugees. His administration slashed refugee admissions to record lows, imposed draconian immigration bans, and separated children from their families at the border. But now, white South Africans—who remain the most economically privileged demographic in their country—are suddenly deemed worthy of asylum. Black and brown refugees fleeing war, famine, and persecution were demonized as threats under Trump’s watch, yet white Afrikaners are welcomed with open arms.
    Ziyad Motala, writing in the Middle East Monitor, noted that Trump’s claim of white South African persecution “would be an amusing episode of alternate history if it were not so transparently false.” White South Africans continue to dominate the country’s economy, with the top earners and corporate executives overwhelmingly white. Motala further pointed out that Trump’s narrative is being bolstered by figures like Elon Musk, whose family directly benefited from apartheid’s racially engineered economic system. Musk’s political pivot toward white grievance politics aligns seamlessly with Trump’s latest efforts to manufacture a racial crisis where none exists.

    Moreover, South Africa’s judiciary, bound by constitutional supremacy, has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to legality and justice, something that Trump’s presidency consistently undermined. Unlike Trump, South Africa’s Constitutional Court has held former leaders accountable who openly flouted the rule of law and sought unchecked power. When former South African President Jacob Zuma ignored court orders, he was held in contempt and sentenced to prison. By contrast, Trump’s abuse of presidential pardons saw convicted war criminals and insurrectionists absolved simply for their loyalty.
    Trump’s real motivation in targeting South Africa likely has little to do with land reform and everything to do with South Africa’s stance on international justice. The country’s decision to bring Israel before the International Court of Justice over its actions in Gaza has drawn Washington’s ire, and Trump, ever eager to shield Israel from scrutiny, has now concocted yet another race-based distraction.
    The hypocrisy is glaring. Trump, who has spent his political career demonizing Black and brown asylum seekers, now fashions himself a humanitarian for white South Africans. The same man who dismissed systemic racism in America and worked to dismantle civil rights protections now suddenly professes concern for racial discrimination—so long as the supposed victims are white.
    “For all the talk of ‘America First,’ Trump’s policies have never been about national interest but rather about the consolidation of power through fearmongering and race-baiting,” Motala observed. “South Africa, in its commitment to legal accountability, human rights, and constitutional integrity, exposes precisely what Trump and his enablers despise: a legal order where power is constrained, the rule of law prevails, and privilege is not an eternal birthright.”

  • Newswire : Federal health workers terrified after ‘DEI’ website publishes list of ‘targets’

    By Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Erika Edwards, NBC News

    Federal health workers are expressing fear and alarm after a website called “DEI Watch List” published the photos, names and public information of a number of workers across health agencies, describing them at one point as “targets.”
    It’s unclear when the website, which lists mostly Black employees who work in agencies primarily within the Department of Health and Human Services, first appeared. “Offenses” for the workers listed on the website include working on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, donating to Democrats and using pronouns in their bios.
    The website, a government worker said, is being circulated among multiple private group chats of federal health workers across agencies, as well as through social media links.
    The site also reached Dr. Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association, who learned about it Tuesday evening when a federal health worker sent it to him. “This is a scare tactic to try to intimidate people who are trying to do their work and do it admirably,” Benjamin said. “It’s clear racism.”
    A government worker said they found out theirs was among the names on the website Tuesday afternoon after a former co-worker sent them the link on social media.  “It’s unnerving,” said the person, who requested anonymity because of safety concerns. “My name and my picture is there, and in 2025, it’s very simple to Google and look up someone’s home address and all kinds of things that potentially put me at risk.” “I don’t know what the intention of the list is for,” the person said. “It’s just kind of a scary place to be.”
    On Tuesday evening, the site listed photos of employees and linked to further information about them under the headline “Targets.” Later Tuesday night, the headline on each page had been changed to “Dossiers.” A side-by-side view of the word change “Targets” to “Dossiers.” Was obtained by NBC News
    The site lists workers’ salaries along with what it describes as “DEI offenses,” including political donations, screenshots of social media posts, snippets from websites describing their work, or being a part of a DEI initiative that has been scrubbed from a federal website.
    Benjamin suggested the acts of online harassment are criminal. “Law enforcement should look into them.”
    A person who isn’t on the list but works at a federal health agency called the website “psychological warfare.” The link, this person said, is being circulated in their private group chat of federal health workers, causing some to “freak out.”  It’s hard to gauge, the worker said, whether it’s a legitimate threat. “I don’t know anything about the organization doing this or their parent association. People are just paranoid right now.”
    A note at the bottom of the website says, “A project of the American Accountability Foundation.” That group is a conservative watchdog group.  It’s not the first time the group has created such a list. In December, it sent Pete Hegseth, then the nominee for defense secretary, a list of names of people in the military whom it deemed too focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, the New York Post reported at the time.
    Neither the American Accountability Foundation nor HHS immediately responded to requests for comment.  The website comes after a bruising two weeks for public health workers. Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they have received “threatening” memos from the Department of Health and Human Services directing them to terminate any activities, jobs and research with any connection to diversity, equity and inclusion — and turn in co-workers who don’t adhere to the orders. HHS oversees federal health agencies, including the CDC and the National Institutes of Health.
    “The tone is aggressive. It’s threatening consequences if we are not obedient. It’s asking us to report co-workers who aren’t complying,” said a CDC physician who wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters. “There’s a lot of fear and panic.”
    NBC News reviewed one of the memos, which directed employees to “review all agency position descriptions and send a notification to all employees whose position description involves inculcating or promoting gender ideology that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately.”The result, staffers said, is paranoia.
    “I know of people who have been put on administrative leave for perceived infractions related to these ambiguous memos. People are thinking if I put one foot wrong, I’m just going to be fired,” another CDC physician said.
    In one case, a potluck luncheon among co-workers was hastily canceled for fear it would be seen as a way to promote cultural diversity .Despite the harassment, public health employees said they remain committed to their work. “If I leave, who’s going to replace me?” a CDC physician said. “If nobody replaces me and enough of us leave, then who’s going to be doing the public health work

  • Newswire : Trump’s EEOC firings mark dangerous turn for Civil Rights and Workplace Protections

     
     Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, fired EEOC Commissioners


    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent


    As if Black America and other minorities needed a reminder that the United States is under a dictatorship, the country is barreling toward one of the darkest periods in its 248-year history.
    President Donald Trump fired two of the three Democratic commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a move that civil rights advocates warn is aimed at dismantling workplace protections for racial minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals. The Associated Press reported that Trump dismissed Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels late last Monday night, an unprecedented action that strips the bipartisan agency of its independence.
    The firings, which occurred before the expiration of their five-year terms, leave the agency with just one Democratic commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal, and one Republican commissioner, Andrea Lucas, whom Trump recently appointed as acting chair. Trump now has the power to fill three vacancies, effectively reshaping the EEOC into a weapon against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Another Republican commissioner, Keith Sonderling, resigned after Trump appointed him Deputy Secretary of Labor.
    Burrows and Samuels both indicated they would challenge their removal, calling it a brazen violation of the EEOC’s independent mandate. “This undermines the efforts of this agency to protect employees from discrimination, support employers’ compliance efforts, and expand public awareness and understanding of federal employment laws,” Burrows said in a statement.
    The EEOC, created by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, investigates workplace discrimination claims and imposes penalties on employers who violate anti-discrimination laws. It also issues critical guidelines on workplace protections, ensuring that companies comply with laws preventing discrimination based on race, gender, disability, and other protected characteristics.
    Trump’s latest move appears designed to position the EEOC to target employers with DEI policies, aligning with his administration’s broader attack on civil rights protections. Lucas, the new acting chair, signaled this shift last week, vowing to prioritize “rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination,” while also advancing anti-transgender policies.
    Burrows and Samuels had previously condemned Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI programs and protections for transgender workers, stating that anti-discrimination laws remain intact despite the administration’s aggressive rollback of protections. Samuels, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, called her removal illegal. “This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the EEOC as an independent agency—not controlled by a single Cabinet secretary but designed as a multi-member body,” she said.
    In a similarly alarming move, Trump also fired National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne A. Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the board since its founding in 1935, along with NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.
    Civil rights organizations and labor advocates condemned the firings as a direct attack on workers’ rights. “Today’s outrageous firings send a cruel message that not all workers can count on the EEOC,” said Gaylynn Burroughs, vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center. “Under the EEOC envisioned by Trump, the government will no longer have your back if you are a transgender or gay worker seeking fair treatment. And if you are a person of color or a woman, your success at work is evidence of ‘illegal DEI.’”
    Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called Trump’s decision another sign of his disregard for the law. “These are yet more lawless actions by a president who thinks he is above the law and clearly could not care less about the rights of workers,” she said.
    Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, warned that the firings severely undermine the agency’s mission. “Ensuring that the EEOC can carry out its vital work should not be a partisan issue. In the end, President Trump’s actions fundamentally hurt workers and undermine the civil rights laws of this nation,” Scott said.

  • Newswire : White House demands Rep. Hakeem Jeffries ‘Apologize’ for Non-Threat to ‘Fight’ Trump ‘in the Streets’

     

    Cong. Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Minority leader in the House of Representatives addresses the press

    By Zack Linly, NewsOne

    If President Donald Trump and the MAGA-fied GOP are nothing else, they are a bottomless open bar of white tears, hypocrisy, caucasity and Karen energy. For all of their tough talk about revolution, “civil war,” the weakness of “the left,” and big, bad MAGA alfa-males, all they need to hear is anything remotely aggressive coming out of a Black person’s mouth for them to go into full snowflake mode and start crying about “violent rhetoric.”
    Recently, white conservatives have lost their damn mind over relatively benign remarks made by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), which they have intentionally misconstrued as a threat to “fight” Trump and his MAGA goons “in the street.”
    First, let’s start with what Jeffries actually said.
    “Right now, we’re going to keep focus on the need to look out for everyday New Yorkers and everyday Americans who are under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda that is trying to cut taxes for billionaires, donors, and wealthy corporations and then stick New Yorkers and working-class Americans across the country with the bill,” Hakeem Jeffries said during a press conference, alongside Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke, where he criticized Trump’s handling of the recent air collision in Washington, D.C., including his short-lived freeze on federal funding and his absurd and factless suggestion that DEI practices had anything to do with the tragedy. “That’s not acceptable. We are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We’re going to fight it in the streets.”
    Now, the Trump administration’s whiney-ass response:
    “While President Trump remains focused on uniting our country and delivering the mandate set by the American people, the House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, incites violence calling for people to fight ‘in the streets’ against President Trump’s agenda,” White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai told Fox News Digital. “This unhinged violent rhetoric is dangerous. Leader Jeffries should immediately apologize.”
    “Will Minority Leader Jeffries apologize for this disgusting threat? Or will he double down on the same calls for violence that have plagued the country for years?” White House asked in a press release.

    Right-wingers up and down social media predictably followed suit in abandoning any semblance of logic, intentionally ignoring the “fight it legislatively” and “fight it in the courts” part of Jeffrey’s speech and deciding he was making some gangsta-ass pro-riot statement just because he used the words “in the street.”

    Again, the caucasity here is just overflowing. Let’s just set aside the fact that, in 2021, Trump told Jan. 6 rioters to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” just moments before they went to the Capitol and attacked police officers, broke through barricades, scaled walks, broke into offices and threatened legislators — all inspired by Trump’s baseless election fraud propaganda. Forget about all of that.

    Republican conservative leaders, including elected officials, spent the last two years making not-so-veiled threats of violence if Trump isn’t reelected and repeatedly insisting that any legal actions taken against their MAGA messiah could result in a second “Civil War.”

    It was only a few months ago that then candidate Trump was on stage at one of his rallies warning Kamala Harris supporters that they might get “hurt” if they happened to be in the crowd.

    Violent rhetoric has become a GOP love language since the party collectively bowed down to Trump, normalizing his childish tantrums, boorish behavior, bigoted remarks and propaganda that has proven to be dangerous. Speaking of which…
    In 2021, just a few months after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Republicans who had just gotten done protecting their MAGA cultist from being impeached for inspiring the riot, which they vehemently denied they did, tried the same white, fragile and Karen-esque nonsense with Rep. Maxine Waters that they’re trying with Jeffries now.
    Waters was speaking to protesters in Minnesota while attending a demonstration on behalf of Daunte Wright when she said she and the crowd are “looking for a guilty verdict” for Derek Chauvin, who was still on trial for the murder of George Floyd.
    “We’ve got to stay in the streets, and we’ve got to demand justice,” she said. “I am hopeful that we will get a verdict that says, ‘guilty, guilty, guilty,’ and if we don’t, we cannot go away,” she added. “We’ve got to get more confrontational.”
    Sen. Ted Cruz, one of Trump’s most passionate defenders during his second impeachment, joined other prominent Republicans in accusing Waters of “actively encouraging riots and violence,” as if it weren’t perfectly clear that she was talking about non-violent resistance.
    So, just to recap: Trump and his ilk baselessly suggest DEI caused the air collision, Hakeem Jeffries calls them out on it, Trump and his ilk disingenuously claim the angry Black man is encouraging violence — defaulting to their tried and true fearmongering against outspoken Black people — and now the White House is demanding an apology.
    Again — the real snowflakes are at it again and their caucasity continues to know no bounds. 

  • The Massive Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee is Upon Us!

    Celebrating and Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday,

    The Selma to Montgomery March and the 1965 Voting Rights Act

     

    For more information, contact: Hank Sanders at (334) 782-1651; hank23sanders@gmail.com and Faya Rose Toure at (334) 349-4494; fayarose@gmail.com

     

    SELMA, AL — The 60th Anniversary of some of the most momentous events in American History will be celebrated and memorialized in Selma, Alabama from Monday, March 3, 2025, through Friday, March 14, 2025. A key part of the celebrations and commemorations will be the world-famous Bridge Crossing Jubilee, which takes place from Thursday, March 6, 2025 through Sunday, March 9, 2025. This is the 33rd Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, and people come from all over the world to join in the celebrations, commemorations, memorials and marches.

    The events leading to Bloody Sunday, the Selma to Montgomery March and the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act were sparked by the shooting and beating of Jimmie Lee Jackson on February 18, 1965 in Marion, Alabama. He died eight days later from his injuries, and the outrage over his death prompted high profile, history changing events of the 1965 Voting Rights Moment.

    Marchers were beaten on March 7, 1965 as they first attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery. This became known as Bloody Sunday. Then the full Selma to Montgomery march took place from March 21, 1965 through March 25, 1965. The murders of Jimmie Lee Jackson, Reverend James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo as well as the brutal beatings on Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge horrified the nation. These events and the Selma to Montgomery March led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on August 6, 1965, This landmark legislation changed America in profound and positive ways and led to nearly all Americans finally having the right to vote.

    The Bridge Crossing Jubilee commences this year on Thursday, March 6th with a series of events including the Voting Rights History Bowl for students and a Ministers of Justice Roundtable with pastors and other religious leaders discussing spiritual leadership in community movements in the past and present. It ends that night with the Old Fashion Mass Meeting with songs and speeches and prayers at Selma Tabernacle Baptist Church where the first mass meeting in the Selma Voting Rights Movement was held.

    Friday’s events begin with an Education Summit followed by the Children’s Sojourn, the Invisible Giants Conference, the Voting Rights Mock Trial, and A Public Conversation as well as other events.

    Saturday’s Jubilee activities start with the Foot Solider Breakfast and continue with many events including a Voting Rights Parade, the Street Festival, the Hip Hop Summit and the Freedom Flame Awards Gala. The Freedom Flame Awards honor outstanding past and present contributors to history. There are many other events set for this day including arts and cultural events and the annual street festival.

    The final day of the Jubilee opens with the Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast on Sunday, March 9th. It then continues with special morning services at various churches, the Bloody Sunday March and a massive gathering at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. There are also other events scheduled for that Sunday.

    The official Bridge Crossing Jubilee has dozens of events, almost all of which are free to the public. Other groups hold unofficial events. These groups and events are not connected to the Jubilee, but some falsely claim they are Jubilee events.

    Each year the Bridge Crossing Jubilee is the largest annual Civil Rights gathering in the nation. But the Jubilee commemorations and celebrations every ten years are always massive. For the 50th Anniversary there were more than 115 thousand people in attendance on the Sunday alone. The 60th is also expected to be massive. At the Annual Jubilee, there is something for everyone – from the very young to the very senior. It is a pilgrimage that many make every year from across the country and around the world. See you in Selma for the 60th Anniversary and the Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee!

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  • Newswire : Top climate organizations react to Trump’s Executive Orders attacking health, environment, climate and clean energy jobs

    By Climate Action Campaign

    WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump wasted no time implementing the Project 2025 playbook. Within his first hours as the 47th President, he issued executive orders aimed at dismantling crucial climate, health, and economic protections, which could have dire consequences for the country and the environment. His actions of disservice to our communities on the first day of his presidency coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day which was meant for service and reflection.

    The policies introduced by President Trump, along with his new Environmental Protection Agency administrator, stand in stark contrast to the spirit of Dr. King’s commitments to service others and improve society.

    Climate Action Campaign (CAC), along with partners and allies, voiced strong concerns about the executive orders and the confirmation of Lee Zeldin as the 17th Environmental Protection Agency administrator. “The new administration has moved to undo hard-earned generational progress like Justice40 that was created to ensure every American has an opportunity to be healthy and thrive,” said Dr. Margo Browne, Senior Vice President of Justice and Equity, at Environmental Defense Fund.

    “These actions threaten the rights of tens of millions of Americans to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and use products free of toxic chemicals, particularly those people whose zip code or race add undue burdens.

    We must stay focused. Leaders change, but our work remains the same. And we will do everything we can to uphold the progress made with our partners and allies and to uplift the people on the frontlines fighting for equity every day.” “As we enter into an era of weaponized phrases and issues, we must remember that environmental justice means that all people should have equitable access to a healthy, sustainable, and resilient environment,” said Leslie Fields, Chief Federal Officer, WE ACT For Environmental Justice.

    “Trump’s day one acts – including rescessions of nearly 80 vital executive orders while adding dozens of new, anti-democratic orders – roll back popular policies that promote clean, renewable, and affordable energy. These actions also place vulnerable communities in even greater danger from pollution and the dire, real-time consequences of the climate crisis. In the face of these assaults, we will not stop pursuing justice.”

    “The President of the United States is elected to lead and protect all Americans,” said Ben Jealous, Executive Director, Sierra Club. “Donald Trump promised to be a president who fights for working families, but his bluster of action shows he’s fighting harder to protect corporate polluters and their profits, all at the expense of our health, our safety, and our jobs. The American people want cheaper energy bills, safe drinking water, and clean air. Donald Trump should listen and offer actual solutions instead of exploiting their pain for political gain while he further lines the pockets of the wealthiest instead of American workers.”

    On the Confirmation of Lee Zeldin, 17th administrator of the EPA:

    “Lee Zeldin’s confirmation as EPA administrator is a catastrophic blow to the health of Americans, the climate, and the economy,” said Margie Alt, Director, Climate Action Campaign. “Under Zeldin’s leadership, the Environmental Protection Agency will no longer protect the American people and our communities – it will protect polluters. Zeldin’s public statements and record make it clear he will implement Trump’s anti-science, anti-clean energy Project 2025 agenda, prioritizing the interests of oil and gas CEOs at the expense of the clean air, water, and energy that Americans overwhelmingly support and rely on.

    Americans deserve an EPA administrator who will prioritize the health and safety of families over polluter profits. Zeldin’s confirmation is a tragic failure for all Americans.”
    “The new head of the EPA must ensure that neither he nor the President denies vulnerable communities their most basic rights—the right to breathe clean air, drink water free from poison, and live on land that does not make them sick,” said Mustafa Santiago Ali, Executive Vice President, National Wildlife Federation. “

    Environmental Justice is not a privilege; it is the foundation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  To neglect it is to abandon the people who need protection the most.” “Confirming a director who normalizes baseless conspiracies, while failing to earnestly accept the facts of climate change, is a threat to the health of everyone in the United States and especially the most vulnerable Justice 40 communities,” said KeShaun Pearson, Executive Director, Memphis Community Against Pollution. “Lee Zeldin is the antithesis of environment and climate justice. We are amid a climate crisis that demands a protector, not a big oil pawn.”

    Climate Action Campaign is a vibrant coalition of advocacy organizations working together to drive ambitious, durable federal action to cut carbon pollution, address the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and accelerate the transition to clean energy.

  • Newswire : Trump Administration rescinds Federal Funding Freeze after Court ruling and backlash

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent


    President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday rescinded a Project 2025-inspired order that had abruptly frozen most federal grants and loans, a sweeping directive that threw social service programs like Head Start, student loans, and Medicaid into disarray.

    The initial order, issued earlier in the week, sparked widespread confusion and disruption, prompting a swift legal challenge. On Tuesday evening, a federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze, and by Wednesday, the White House pulled back the directive altogether. The order’s reversal came after mounting pressure from lawmakers, advocacy groups, and affected organizations.

    The White House insisted the move was intended to “end any confusion” following the court’s injunction, but critics called it a political miscalculation. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the administration backed down only because of public outcry. “Americans fought back, and Donald Trump backed off,” Schumer said in a statement. “Though the Trump administration failed in this tactic, it’s no secret that they will try to find another, and when they do, it will again be Senate Democrats there to call it out, fight back, and defend American families.”

    However, the administration made clear that its broader policies on federal funding remain intact. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X that this was “NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze,” but rather a rollback of the memo itself to “end any confusion” created by the court’s ruling. “The President’s executive orders on federal funding remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented,” she added.

    The initial freeze caused immediate uncertainty, particularly in Washington, D.C., and Republican-leaning states heavily reliant on federal funds. Throughout Tuesday, the White House attempted to clarify exemptions—such as Medicaid—but the damage had already been done. Reports surfaced by people and organizations unable to access critical federal resources, heightening concerns about the real-world impact of the freeze.
    The legal challenge that led to the order’s reversal was filed by Democracy Forward, a progressive nonprofit, which argued that the directive was an unconstitutional overreach that endangered millions of Americans. “While we hope this will enable millions of people in communities across the country to breathe a sigh of relief, we condemn the Trump-Vance administration’s harmful and callous approach of unleashing chaos and harm on the American people,” said Skye Perryman, the organization’s CEO. “Our team will continue to bring swift legal actions to protect the American people and will use the legal process to ensure that federal funding is restored.”

    The uncertainty caused by the administration’s actions drew sharp criticism from organizations that rely on federal assistance. Melicia Whitt-Glover, executive director of the Council on Black Health, warned that the confusion threatens health programs serving historically marginalized communities. “While the Council on Black Health is not fully reliant on federal funding, many of our partners are, and they now face disruptions that threaten their ability to continue their vital work. This impacts the communities we serve and exacerbates health inequities,” she said.

    The administration’s actions have drawn scrutiny given the financial reliance of Republican-leaning states on federal aid. A MoneyGeek analysis found that seven of the 10 states most dependent on federal funding lean Republican, receiving an average of $1.24 for every dollar contributed, while blue states receive $1.14. New Mexico, a Democratic-leaning state, saw the highest return on federal spending at $3.42 per dollar contributed, while Delaware had the lowest at $0.46. Public Citizen, a government watchdog group, called the original freeze an unnecessary crisis that harmed vulnerable Americans.

    “The incompetence and cruelty of this order caused nationwide confusion and anxiety, as across the country regular Americans spoke out about the human impacts—the loss of jobs, essential services, and harms to children among many other vulnerable populations,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the organization. “The White House overplayed their hand as they levied this Project 2025-inspired order and made it clear that they want to sow chaos and gut programs that help families. We will keep up the fight to make sure that does not happen.”