By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has greenlit two revolutionary cell-based gene therapies, Casgevy and Lyfgenia, marking a significant leap forward in treating sickle cell disease (SCD) for patients aged 12 and older. The approval by the FDA signifies the commencement of a novel epoch in managing sickle cell disease, providing optimism to individuals whose lives have been significantly disrupted by the arduous condition. Sickle cell disease, a group of inherited blood disorders, affects around 100,000 individuals in the United States and is predominant among African Americans. Health officials said the root cause of SCD is a mutation affecting hemoglobin, a crucial protein in red blood cells responsible for oxygen delivery. The genetic problem causes red blood cells to have a unique “sickle” shape, which can lead to vaso-occlusive events (VOEs) or vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs), which are very painful and damage organs. The recurrence of these crises poses life-threatening risks and potential disabilities. “Sickle cell disease is a rare, debilitating, and life-threatening blood disorder with significant unmet need, and we are excited to advance the field,” said Nicole Verdun, M.D., director of the Office of Therapeutic Products within the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Casgevy, a groundbreaking cell-based gene therapy, is the first FDA-approved treatment employing CRISPR/Cas9, a revolutionary genome editing technology. The therapy is for individuals 12 years of age or older who have recurrent vaso occlusive crises. It changes the patient’s hematopoietic stem cells using CRISPR/Cas9, a technology that can precisely edit DNA. The edited cells are then transplanted back into the patient, enhancing the production of fetal hemoglobin and preventing the sickling of red blood cells. Lyfgenia is another cell-based gene therapy that uses a lentiviral vector to change genes. The FDA approved it for those 12 years of age or older who have SCD and a history of vaso-occlusive events. Lyfgenia changes blood stem cells to make HbAT87Q, gene-therapy-derived hemoglobin that looks like adult hemoglobin and makes it less likely that red blood cells will sickle. Both therapies utilize the patients’ blood stem cells, administered through a one-time, single-dose infusion following myeloablative conditioning. “These approvals represent an important medical advance with the use of innovative cell-based gene therapies to target potentially devastating diseases and improve public health,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. The Casgevy and Lyfgenia applications received Priority Review, Orphan Drug, Fast Track, and Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designations. Casgevy was granted approval to Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Lyfgenia to Bluebird Bio, Inc. The FDA said its approval of Casgevy was based on a single-arm, multicenter trial evaluating its safety and effectiveness in adult and adolescent SCD patients. Of the 44 treated patients, 93.5% achieved freedom from severe VOC episodes for at least 12 consecutive months. Common side effects included low platelet and white blood cell levels, mouth sores, nausea, and musculoskeletal pain. Lyfgenia’s approval was based on a 24-month multicenter study, with 88% of patients achieving complete resolution of VOEs between 6- and 18-months post-infusion. Side effects included stomatitis, low blood cell levels, and febrile neutropenia. A black box warning highlighting the risk of hematologic malignancy accompanies Lyfgenia’s label, emphasizing the need for lifelong monitoring in patients. “Today’s actions follow rigorous evaluations of the scientific and clinical data needed to support approval, reflecting the FDA’s commitment to facilitating the development of safe and effective treatments for conditions with severe impacts on human health,” Dr. Marks asserted.
Rosa Parks’ refusal to move to the segregated section of the bus sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.
Gene Herrick/AP On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a city bus after work in Montgomery, Alabama, and sat down. As the bus filled with passengers, the driver demanded the 42-year-old seamstress move further back into the segregated Black section of the bus so a White man could have her seat. Parks famously refused. She was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. But that bold decision is widely credited with launching the Montgomery Bus Boycott and ultimately the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. This week, members of the Congressional Black Caucus marked the 68thanniversary of Rosa Parks’ arrest by urging Congress to support a bill that would declare December 1, “Rosa Parks Day,” a federal holiday. “This is not just about Black history. It’s about American history,” said Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell at a news conference Wednesday. Sewell, an Alabama Democrat, introduced H.R. 308 which would establish the federal holiday, in January. The bill is backed by 31 co-sponsors, all of whom are members of the Congressional Black Caucus. “I know that all of us, this whole nation, has benefited from the courage and bravery of this one woman,” Sewell said. The proposed holiday, Sewell added, would ensure Parks’ sacrifice is remembered. It would also establish the first federal holiday honoring a woman, according to the lawmakers. “By simply refusing to give up her seat, Rosa Parks stood up for the values that this nation holds dear. With her quiet, dignified courage, she took a stand against a city steeped in segregation, and in doing so, she sparked the beginning of a movement that changed the very fabric of our nation,” she said. Parks’ defiance sparked the 13-month Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. The nonviolent mass protest ended with the Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. “Rosa Parks is a martyr for equality, an icon to all, a crusader for justice. And truly, she was a phenomenal Black woman whose legacy should be revered as a hero in American history books and well beyond our borders,” Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty said at the news conference. “It is past time to give Rosa Parks the national recognition she deserves.” Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford, a Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, said the bill is important, particularly amid what he described as “the rise in efforts to erase and rewrite history – Black history.” “That is why it’s important for us to reclaim our history, to honor our history, to promote our history,” he said. Sewell said she wants both Republicans and Democrats to back the bill. She said she hopes personal discussions with colleagues and speaking on the House floor about the significance of Rosa Parks Day will help move the legislation forward.
Congresswoman Terri Sewell at Congressional hearing
By: Patrick Darrington, Alabama Political Reporter
U.S. Congresswoman Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Selma, has signed onto a letter calling for a bilateral ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine war. Rep. Troy Carter, D-LA led the letter, and it calls on President Joe Biden to use his power to broker a bilateral ceasefire as Israel continues its offensive in Gaza. Along with Sewell, 10 other Democratic House members also signed onto the letter. Sewell’s communication director, Christopher Kosteva, talked to APR and clarified Sewell’s position. According to Kosteva, Sewell believes in a bilateral pause that would lead to a bilateral ceasefire. The congresswoman does not believe in a unilateral ceasefire on the part of Israel or calls for Israel to stop fighting Hamas without a bilateral deal. Sewell supports Israel’s “right to self-defense” against Hamas, Kosteva stated. Sewell is the first, and only, Alabama congressperson to publicly support a call for a pause or potential ceasefire of any kind. “This pause in violence is set to expire tomorrow, and it is our fervent hope that negotiations can continue and extend the current pause in hostilities and continue the release of those held hostage by Hamas,” the letter to Biden read. “We urge you to use your immense influence and the full power of your office to continue negotiations and extend the bilateral pause beyond tomorrow so that both sides can build towards a bilateral ceasefire and, ultimately, a two-state solution.” On Nov. 23 a temporary ceasefire was agreed to that halted the bombing and fighting so that a hostage exchange could take place between Israel and Hamas. The ceasefire was extended until two days ago as negotiations fell apart and Israel has resumed its bombing campaign. Despite the Biden administration claiming to be using its power behind the scenes to fuel an extended pause in fighting and stress civilian casualties, they continue to supply Israel with more arms and weapons.
On Oct. 7, the militant wing of Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed hundreds of civilians including women and children. The approximate death toll is around 1,200 and Hamas has been accused of committing war crimes during the attack. Since Israel’s indiscriminate bombing campaign began in Gaza over 15,200 Palestinian people have been killed including 6,150 children. Hospitals, schools, refugee camps and ambulances have been deliberately targeted with airstrikes by Israel. Israel has been accused by human rights organizations of committing collective punishment, a war crime.
WVTM reported, a few days prior to Sewell signing onto the letter, that students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham were calling for the congresswoman to support a permanent ceasefire during a temporary pause in fighting. Included in the article is a Palestinian student, Rozana Kafineh, who said she was heartbroken to see her country go through the war. “A temporary [ceasefire is not enough],” Abdo Mutlaq told WVTM. “You can pause a video game. You can pause the video, but you can’t pause genocide.” The full letter can be read on line.
Actor Colman Domingo who plays Bayard Rustin in movie
By Max Gao, NBC News
Six decades after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech in front of an estimated 250,000 people on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a new Netflix film is shining a spotlight on one of the architects of the March on Washington who has largely been left out of the history books. Directed by George C. Wolfe (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) and written by Julian Breece and Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”), “Rustin” revisits a crucial chapter in the life of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin (played by Colman Domingo), who is best known for being a key adviser to King and organizing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Executive produced by Michelle and Barack Obama, who posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013, the buzzy biopic dramatizes the weeks leading up to the historic march and explores Rustin’s identity as an openly gay Black man torn between love and duty in the 1960s. “I love the fact that, even the way the script is written, we don’t leave his sexuality out of it at all. It’s infused with every part of who he is,” Domingo told NBC News in a recent video interview. “He’s messy in many ways, even with his relationship dealings. He’s a real, flawed human being who’s trying to do something extraordinary, but he’s just an ordinary man. He’s trying to figure out the systems in which he lives and trying to move the needle a little bit on our humanity.” Wolfe, an acclaimed theater director and playwright who won multiple Tony Awards for directing Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America” and his own “Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk” in the 1990s, has long been interested in telling stories about ordinary people who do extraordinary things. Wolfe was asked to curate an exhibit more than a decade ago at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, where he had an opportunity to delve into the life and accomplishments of Rustin, who died in 1987. That treasure trove of research has proven invaluable in the five years that it has taken for “Rustin” to reach the big screen. In 2018, Black, the screenwriter, and film producer Bruce Cohen approached Tonia Davis at the Obamas’ newly launched production company, Higher Ground, about making a feature film centered around Rustin’s role in the March on Washington. Wolfe was attached early on as the director and worked closely with the writers to refine the screenplay and before long, he said, they could not imagine anyone other than Domingo, with whom he had just worked on “Ma Rainey,” to play the titular character in “Rustin.” Domingo said he likely encountered Rustin’s story for the first time as a footnote in a college textbook but it wasn’t until years later, in the ’90s, that the actor learned about the extent of Rustin’s impact on the civil rights movement. For the better part of the last two decades, Domingo recalled, people would regularly tell him, “Oh, that’s a role that you should definitely play when they do the movie of his life,” perhaps because they shared so much in common. (Like Rustin, Domingo is Black, gay, tall, left-handed and born in Pennsylvania.) So, when the time came to step into his shoes, Domingo voraciously consumed every piece of media he could find about Rustin — reading biographies, watching documentaries, visiting museums, listening to interviews — but he admitted that he was able to glean the most insight from his personal conversations with those who knew the man behind the movement. “I think one of the most beautiful things that I love to do, especially with playing a real-life character, is to find out from people who knew and loved him all these personal ticks or things about them that you cannot find in Wikipedia,” Domingo said. For example, the actor — who grew up in Philadelphia, about an hour away from Rustin’s hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania — could not understand the origin of Rustin’s idiosyncratic, mid-Atlantic accent until Rachelle Horowitz, one of the activist’s comrades, revealed that Rustin simply made it up and used it as a kind of “flourish” in group meetings. Rustin was always looking for new ways to reinvent himself and challenge the limits that others attempted to place on him, Domingo said. “He created himself in a very joyfully defiant way: being an athlete, playing the lute, singing Elizabethan love songs, actually cutting an album of Elizabethan love songs and hymns, being a conscientious objector, being part of the young communist groups. He was just doing what made sense to him in every single moment. That’s what I thought was fascinating.” While some filmmakers have chosen to depict civil rights icons with almost the quality of a saint in the past, Wolfe felt strongly about depicting Rustin in all his complexity — a decision that he hopes will make this story as accessible to the masses as possible. Part of Rustin’s struggle, both in real life and in the film, stemmed from the issue of whether his sexuality could hinder other people’s beliefs in his ability to lead the March on Washington and beyond. The activist, after all, faced resistance not only from the white populace but also from members of the Black community, including NAACP executive Roy Wilkins (Chris Rock) and Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (Jeffrey Wright). That dilemma “was always his internal crisis,” Domingo said. “How can you be exactly who you are and do what you know you are gifted to do, but then there’s parts of yourself that are not wanted in rooms? How can you do it? That’s a dance that I think many of us can understand, whether we’re people of color, whether you’re LGBTQIA. But he was extraordinary, saying, ‘I want to bring all of me into this.’” Wolfe noted that, given the time period, Rustin was a remarkably “out homosexual” who “claimed and owned all of who he was” in 1963. For this retelling of the leader’s life story, Wolfe and his creative team decided to create the character of Elias Taylor (Johnny Ramey), a fictionalized pastor on the NAACP board, who acts as a kind of foil and closeted love interest to the more free-spirited Rustin. “Elias becomes a really interesting person in contrast” to Rustin, who was raised by Quaker grandparents in the North, because Elias “is Southern, he’s Baptist, he’s married. He has done all the things that are expected for him to do,” Wolfe explained. “There’s a line in the film which Bayard uses called ‘the suffocating chains of Negro respectability,’ and Bayard has liberated himself largely from those suffocating chains, and Elias is very much so imprisoned by those chains.” That liberation, however, doesn’t mean Rustin is not haunted by his own past. As the march draws closer, Strom Thurmond, a segregationist senator from South Carolina, exposes Rustin’s arrest in 1953 when he was found having sex with two men in a parked car in Pasadena — a real-life charge that was pardoned by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020. In that pivotal scene, where Rustin and his team of fellow march organizers are listening to Thurmond speak about Rustin’s arrest record on the radio, Rustin is “trying to hold onto the only thing he knows how to do while they’re trying to destroy him,” Domingo explained. “For me, that’s what I wanted to play — that complexity where he’s completely disintegrating in front of our eyes while he’s trying to stay on task.” The film carries a special professional significance for Domingo, one of the most versatile actors of his generation. After more than 30 years of working as a self-described “journeyman” actor and receiving acclaim for playing supporting roles in “Fear the Walking Dead,” “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Euphoria” (for which he won a guest actor Emmy), “Rustin” is Domingo’s first major leading role. “I think the chickens have come home to roost in a way where people can see the scope of what I’ve been doing and what I’ve been creating for years, and it’s being met with such loving, celebratory arms that if I sat in or really thought about it, I would never stop crying, because I think it’s really beautiful,” Domingo said, with a glint in his eye. “It feels like people are giving me my flowers — not that I’ve asked for them, but because I’ve always, I guess, like Bayard Rustin, always kept my head down and just went to work.”
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
Donald Trump is “the most dangerous man ever to inhabit the Oval Office,” and a large swath of Republicans have proven that they’re nothing more than enablers and collaborators willing to “violate their oath to the Constitution out of political expediency and loyalty” to the twice-impeached former president. That scathing assessment, first reported by CNN, came from former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who has penned “Oath and Honor,” a detailed exposé about Trump’s four years in the White House and how many of her colleagues cowered to the whims of an out-of-control wannabe dictator. Cheney appeared to have left no stone unturned in the memoir that hits shelves on Dec. 5, including her takedown of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his successor, Mike Johnson. Of McCarthy, Cheney said he knew Trump lost the 2020 election to President Biden but went along with Trump’s lies. She referred to Johnson as a fanboy who “appeared especially susceptible to flattery from Trump and aspired to being anywhere in Trump’s orbit.” Trump currently faces 91 felony counts in four jurisdictions; much of the charges stem from his alleged attempt to steal the 2020 election. Earlier this year, a civil jury found him responsible for sexually assaulting the writer, E. Jean Carroll. Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages. Despite four indictments, his loss in the sexual assault civil trial, and his promise of retribution against his political enemies, Trump is the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Several polls also show him leading Biden in the general election. “As a nation, we can endure damaging policies for a four-year term,” Cheney declared. “But we cannot survive a president willing to terminate our Constitution.” Cheney’s 384-page “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning” is already the top-selling book on Amazon.com. In one passage, Trump is referred to as “Orange Jesus,” a term regularly used by Black Press journalist Barrington Salmon to deride the former president. Using text messages, emails, calls, and meetings, as well as personal conversations, Cheney rails against her GOP colleagues and reams them for being complicit in threats against democracy. “So strong is the lure of power that men and women who had once seemed reasonable and responsible were suddenly willing to violate their oath to the Constitution out of political expediency and loyalty to Donald Trump,” Cheney writes in the book, which hits shelves on Dec. 5. Cheney unveils a hitherto undisclosed conversation with McCarthy, happening a mere 48 hours after the ballots were cast, where McCarthy spilled the beans that he had a tête-à-tête with Trump. According to the book, McCarthy spilled, “He knows it’s over… He needs to go through all the stages of grief.” Cheney dryly muses that, in Trump’s world, those stages appear to involve “tweeting in all caps.” When McCarthy declared on Fox News that “President Trump won this election,” Cheney notes, “McCarthy knew that what he was saying was not true.” The book further uncovers how other Republicans, like House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, brushed aside legal processes in a GOP conference call, with Jordan underscoring, “The only thing that matters is winning.” Cheney also took shots at Johnson, narrating how he pressed Republicans to back an amicus brief challenging the election result. Despite highlighting flaws in the legal arguments, Johnson reportedly insisted, “We just need to do this one last thing for Trump.” Before Trump’s followers stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Cheney described a scene in the GOP cloakroom where members signed electoral vote objection sheets, acknowledging that most were aware it was a “farce” and merely a symbolic gesture of allegiance to Trump. Republican Congressman Mark Green reportedly quipped, “The things we do for the Orange Jesus.” Cheney accuses McCarthy of repeated falsehoods and a “craven” embrace of Trump, detailing his post-Jan. 6 visit to Mar-a-Lago. McCarthy claimed Trump’s staff summoned him, citing concerns about Trump’s well-being. Cheney incredulously responded, “You went to Mar-a-Lago because Trump’s not eating?” Cheney revealed her unintentional inclusion in a White House surrogate call on Jan. 4, where Trump allies mapped out plans to overturn the election through Pence. She left with a “terrible feeling,” unsure if Pence would withstand the pressure, disclosing that Paul Ryan also harbored doubts. Despite warnings from her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, about her safety on Jan. 6, Cheney remained unwavering. She voted for impeachment on Jan. 13, receiving private support from former President George W. Bush, who hailed her courage.
On Tuesday, Dec. 5, Vice President Kamala Harris broke the previous record set by John C. Calhoun in the 19th century for the most tie-breaking votes cast in the U.S. Senate. Harris has now cast 32 tie-breaking votes, eclipsing Calhoun’s record of 31 during his tenure as vice president from 1825 to 1832. The latest tiebreaker occurred during the confirmation of Loren Alikhan as a U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia. As vice president, Harris serves as the president of the Senate, granting her constitutional authority to break ties. Harris’s accomplishment is noteworthy not only for its historical significance but also in the context of the current political landscape. The U.S. Senate has been narrowly divided throughout the Biden administration, comprising 48 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and three independents. Of the independents, Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine caucus with Democrats, while Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema left the Democratic Party in 2022 to register as an independent. The surge in tie-breaking votes contrasts with previous administrations, as former Vice President Mike Pence cast 13 tie-breaking votes, while President Joe Biden did not cast any during his vice presidential tenure in the eight years of the Obama administration. In a speech on the Senate floor earlier this year, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised her historic achievement. Schumer emphasized the circumstances of Harris’s tenure, characterized by a closely divided Senate and a highly partisan environment. He acknowledged the weighty responsibility placed on the vice president as president of the Senate, noting that Harris has played a crucial role in passing pivotal legislation. From the American Rescue Plan to the Inflation Reduction Act and the confirmation of federal judges, Schumer commended Harris for her contributions to the functioning of the Senate. “When it’s mattered most, Vice President Harris has provided the decisive vote on some of the most historic bills of modern times,” Schumer asserted. “All of us thank her for making the work of the Senate possible.”
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Nearly 5.5 million borrowers have applied for the newest federal program for student loan debt relief since it was announced about three months ago. Nearly 3 million borrowers who enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan completely eliminated their monthly loan payments. “Under President Biden, the Department created the SAVE Plan so that young people and working families can climb the economic ladder without unaffordable student loan debt weighing them down,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “I’m thrilled to see that in less than three months, nearly 5.5 million Americans in every community across the country are taking advantage of the SAVE Plan’s many benefits, from lower monthly payments to protection from runaway student loan interest.” The bulk of these loan savings benefit students with the greatest financial need – those eligible for federal Pell grants – including Black, Latino, Native American and Alaskan Native borrowers. Most SAVE borrowers will see their lifetime loan repayments cut in half. As long as SAVE participants maintain their regular payments, their loan balances will go down due to the Education Department no longer charging interest. Further, the SAVE program creates lower payment rates for both undergraduate and graduate loans. Required payments for undergraduate loans will be cut in half to five percent from the previous 10 percent. Borrowers who incurred both undergraduate and graduate loans, under SAFE, will now pay a weighted average of the original principal balances on their loans. The payment range for the combination borrowers is from 5-10 percent of income. The $0 payment remains available for borrowers who earn less than $32,800 per year or those in a family of four making less than $67,000. Borrowers earning more than these annual amounts also benefit with an estimated savings of $102 a month ($1,224 a year), compared to earlier income-driven repayment programs. Geographically, every state and congressional district has SAVE participants. California and Texas each have more than 450,000 borrowers enrolled in SAVE, while congressional districts in Missouri, Ohio, and Michigan have the highest identified enrollment. Consumer advocates are emphasizing the program’s targeted reach. For example, this October, the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research and policy organization noted, “Payment reductions and larger loan forgiveness benefits under the SAVE plan will occur broadly across racial and ethnic groups but are skewed toward programs enrolling more Black and Hispanic students.” Even earlier this year, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) stressed to the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development how the escalating costs of higher education surpassed the financial capabilities of many Americans. “Education was sold to working-class families as the great equalizer, giving unlimited opportunity to those who would seize it” wrote CRL. “Yet, according to the Federal Reserve, every $1,000 increase in student loan debt lowers the national homeownership rate by about 1.8 percentage points for public 4-year college students.” “Between 2009 and 2022, median household income grew from $63,011 to $70,784, or about 12 percent,” CRL continued. “Comparatively, the average student loan debt grew nearly 32 percent, from $27,874 to $36,096, during that period.” Student loan borrowers who have financially struggled to keep up with monthly payments may still enroll online at: https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/save-plan. “The SAVE Plan will significantly cut monthly bills for most borrowers, reduce loan default, and ensure that students loans don’t need to come before life necessities,” said Under Secretary James Kvaal. “With nearly 5.5 million people enrolled after only two months, it’s clear how much borrowers need a plan like SAVE. President Biden and our Administration remain committed to giving borrowers breathing room on their monthly payments and ensuring student loans aren’t a barrier to opportunity.” Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
By: Hansi Lo Wang, National Public Radio, as heard on All Things Considered
A federal appeals court has struck down a key path for enforcing the Voting Rights Act. The new ruling in an Arkansas redistricting lawsuit may set up the next U.S. Supreme Court fight that could further limit the reach of the Voting Rights Act’s protections for people of color.
The legal dispute is focused on who is allowed to sue to try to enforce key provisions under Section 2 of the landmark civil rights law, which was first passed in 1965.
Private individuals and groups, who did not represent the U.S. government, have for decades brought the majority of Section 2 cases to court. Those cases have challenged the redrawing of voting maps and other steps in the elections process with claims that the voting power of people of color has been minimized. U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, ruled in February 2022, however, that only the head of the Justice Department, the U.S. attorney general, can bring Section 2 lawsuits and dismissed an Arkansas redistricting case brought by advocacy groups representing Black voters in the state.
On Monday, that lower court ruling was upheld in a 2-1 vote by a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose rulings apply to Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. “For much of the last half-century, courts have assumed that [Section 2] is privately enforceable. A deeper look has revealed that this assumption rests on flimsy footing,” wrote Circuit Judge David Stras, a Trump appointee, in the majority opinion joined by Judge Raymond Gruender, an appointee of former President George W. Bush. Chief Circuit Judge Lavenski Smith, another Bush appointee, dissented.”Until the [Supreme] Court rules or Congress amends the statute, I would follow existing precedent that permits citizens to seek a judicial remedy. Rights so foundational to self-government and citizenship should not depend solely on the discretion or availability of the government’s agents for protection,” Smith wrote. The full 8th Circuit Court could be asked to review the panel’s decision. Ultimately, many legal watchers say this Arkansas case may be appealed to the Supreme Court This latest ruling comes after the Arkansas State Conference NAACP and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel filed a Section 2 lawsuit over Arkansas’ state House map, arguing that it dilutes the voting power of Black people. According to the 2020 census, 16.5% of the state’s population is Black. But only 11 out of Arkansas’ 100 state House districts in the redistricting plan drawn by Republican politicians are majority-Black districts, where Black voters have a reasonable chance of electing a representative of their choice. In the trial court ruling dismissing the case, Rudofsky noted “there is a strong merits case that at least some of the challenged districts” in the GOP politicians’ plan are “unlawful” under Section 2. Attorneys for the Arkansas State Conference NAACP and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel have said they’re prepared to use another route for continuing this lawsuit under a federal statute known as Section 1983, which allows people to sue state government officials when their civil rights under federal law are violated.
“This decision is a devastating blow to the civil rights of every American, and the integrity of our nation’s electoral system,” said Barry Jefferson, political action chair of the Arkansas State Conference NAACP, in a statement. Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project, who is representing the Arkansas State Conference NAACP and other challengers of the Arkansas state legislative map, called the panel’s ruling “a travesty for democracy.” “By failing to reverse the district court’s radical decision, the Eighth Circuit has put the Voting Rights Act in jeopardy, tossing aside critical protections that voters fought and died for,” Lakin added in a statement. But Arkansas state Attorney General Tim Griffin, whose office is defending the Republican politicians on Arkansas’ apportionment board and the map they approved, said Monday’s decision by the panel is “a victory for our citizens and for the rule of law.”
“For far too long, courts across the country have allowed political activists to file meritless lawsuits seeking to seize control of how states conduct elections and redistricting. This decision confirms that enforcement of the Voting Rights Act should be handled by politically accountable officials and not by outside special interest groups,” Griffin said in a statement. In a June ruling for a closely watched Alabama congressional redistricting case — which was filed by a group of Black voters in Alabama and other private groups — a majority of the Supreme Court justices reaffirmed the court’s earlier rulings on how Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits racial gerrymandering in crafting political districts.
Since then, a federal judge has struck down Georgia’s congressional and state legislative maps and a 5th Circuit panel has concluded Louisiana’s congressional map likely diluted Black voters’ power — both in similar Section 2 lawsuits originally filed not by the U.S. attorney general, but by individuals and groups who do not represent the federal government.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth formally gave the greenlight to overturn the court-martial convictions of 110 Black soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, popularly known as the Buffalo Soldiers. The Army said in a news release that officials made the decision based on a suggestion from the Board for Correction of Military Records and to atone for the unfair treatment of soldiers after the 1917 Houston Riots. “After a thorough review, the Board has found that these Soldiers were wrongly treated because of their race and were not given fair trials,” Secretary Wormuth stated. “By setting aside their convictions and granting honorable discharges, the Army is acknowledging past mistakes and setting the record straight.” The Houston Riots, which erupted on August 23, 1917, stemmed from racial tensions and provocations against members of the 24th Infantry Regiment. The catalyst for the riots was the violent arrest and assault of two Black Soldiers, leading to a group of 110 soldiers seizing weapons and marching into the city. Clashes ensued, resulting in 19 deaths. The subsequent trials of the soldiers were marred by irregularities, according to historians, culminating in the largest mass execution of American Soldiers by the U.S. Army. The Army’s immediate regulatory change, prohibiting future executions without proper review, followed the initially secretive executions. The South Texas College of Law, in October 2020 and December 2021, petitioned the Army for a review of the court-martial. Retired general officers also submitted petitions requesting clemency for the soldiers. “We cannot change the past; however, this decision provides the Army and the American people an opportunity to learn from this difficult moment in our history,” Under Secretary of the Army, Gabe Camarillo, said in the release. At the Secretary’s request, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records meticulously reviewed records related to the court-martial cases, officials affirmed. The unanimous decision was that significant deficiencies permeated the proceedings, rendering them fundamentally unfair. The board recommended setting aside all convictions and characterizing the soldiers’ military service as “honorable.” Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Review Boards Michael Mahoney, overseeing the review, agreed with the decision. “With the support of our experts, our dedicated Board members looked at each record carefully and came up with our best advice to Army leaders to correct a miscarriage of justice,” Mahoney added. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said it actively supports family members affected by the correction of records, offering assistance upon receipt of the amended documents. “It is a long time coming, but it is justice that is finally achieved,” John Haymond, a historian, told the New York Times, which reported that the Army acted after it received a petition requesting clemency for the soldiers that had been written by Haymond and Dru Brenner-Beck, a lawyer. The duo cited trial transcripts and other records to show that the soldiers had been denied due process and other basic rights. “This isn’t a political action. This is the Army internally fixing a problem that was the Army’s problem 106 years ago,” Haymond asserted. Family members of the 110 Soldiers may be entitled to benefits, and guidelines for applying to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records can be found at https://arba.army.pentagon.mil/abcmr-app.html. Online applications can be submitted at https://arba.army.pentagon.mil/online-application.html or through mail to Army Review Boards Agency (ARBA), 251 18th Street South, Suite 385, Arlington, VA 22202-3531. Applications should include documentation proving a relationship to one of the 110 formerly convicted soldiers. Family members and interested parties can request a copy of the corrected records from the National Archives and Records Administration, following the NARA Archival Records Request procedures at https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records.
Nov. 20, 2023 (GIN) – “It is time that Africa, whose sons and daughters had their freedoms controlled and were sold into slavery, also received reparations.”
“No amount of money can restore the damage caused by the transatlantic slave trade … But surely, this is a matter that the world must confront and can no longer ignore.”
With those words, Ghanaian President Nana Addo Akufo-Addo launched a four-day reparations conference in Accra, the Ghanaian capital.
The event is expected to produce an African-led action plan to push for reparatory justice, establish an African committee of experts to oversee the plan’s implementation, and boost collaboration with the broader diaspora, according to the meeting website.
Attending the Accra Reparations Conference have been senior government officials from across the continent as well as members of the diaspora community.
In his opening speech, the President called out British and other European countries for enriching themselves during the slave trade while “enslaved Africans did not receive a cent”.
“The entire period of slavery meant that our progress, economically, culturally, and psychologically, was stifled. There are legions of stories of families who were torn apart,” Akufo-Addo said. “You cannot quantify the effects of such tragedies, but they need to be recognized.”
Ghana’s president said he welcomed a similar call from Caribbean nations for reparations.
“We in Africa must work together to advance the cause,” he said to applause from the audience that included other African, Caribbean and other high-level delegates.
In response, the delegates agreed to establish a Global Reparations Fund to seek compensation owed to millions of Africans enslaved during the transatlantic slave trade.
The delegates did not specify how such a reparations fund would work. But Gnaka Lagoke, assistant professor of history and Pan-African studies, said it should be used to “correct the problems” the continent faces in all sectors of its economy.
Togo’s Prime Minister Victoire Tomegah Dogbé also attended the conference. She listed the “scars of exploitation, dispossession and cultural erasure persist, manifesting themselves in contemporary challenges such as economic inequality, political instability and cultural disintegration.”
Activists say reparations should go beyond direct financial payments and also include development assistance to countries, restitution of colonized resources, and systemic correction of oppressive policies and laws.
