Greene County Democrat

Tag: Congressional Black Caucus

  • Newswire: Civil Rights leaders and Congressional Black Caucus unite to challenge Trump Administration policies

    Newswire: Civil Rights leaders and Congressional Black Caucus unite to challenge Trump Administration policies

    During a recent gathering on Capitol Hill, lawmakers and advocacy leaders sharply criticized a series of policy decisions implemented since Trump’s return to the White House, as well as the president’s rhetoric and governing approach. While participants outlined broad areas of concern, they provided limited specifics regarding immediate tactical responses.

    Representative Yvette Clarke of New York, chair of the CBC, accused the administration of pursuing policies that undermine civil rights protections, restrict voting access, weaken social safety programs, and concentrate economic and political power among elite interests at the expense of marginalized communities.

    Throughout a series of strategy sessions, activists and legislators coordinated outreach plans and policy priorities spanning education, historical curriculum standards, healthcare access, immigration enforcement, and anti-discrimination protections. Participants described the discussions as both sobering and motivating, emphasizing the urgency of collective action ahead of upcoming elections.
    Several meetings focused on safeguarding voter access during the midterm elections, amid growing concerns among activists following a federal law enforcement raid at an elections facility in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Lawmakers also examined potential legislative and legal responses to an anticipated Supreme Court ruling that could weaken a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

    House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled that a wide range of responses remains under consideration, including public demonstrations, organized boycotts, and expanded legal challenges. “It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment, and every tool available to the leadership collectively has got to be deployed to get this thing turned around,” Jeffries said following a press conference.

    The renewed mobilization comes as the administration continues efforts to curtail diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across federal agencies, higher education institutions, and segments of the private sector. Early in his second term, Trump signed executive orders prohibiting what his administration described as “illegal DEI” programs within government entities and organizations receiving federal support, alongside threats to withhold funding from institutions that fail to comply.

    Administration officials have also advanced initiatives aimed at reshaping how American history and national culture are presented in schools, museums, and public institutions. Concurrently, federal agencies have increased scrutiny of civil rights complaints alleging discrimination against white individuals.
    In response, civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have launched numerous lawsuits challenging anti-DEI measures. Recent legal developments included the administration’s decision to abandon an appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked attempts to deny funding to educational institutions over DEI-related policies.

    With Democrats currently lacking majority control in either chamber of Congress, oversight options remain limited, prompting advocacy groups to focus on litigation, state-level action, and grassroots organizing ahead of the midterm elections. Many leaders acknowledged that the rapid pace of policy changes over the past year has forced civil rights organizations into a period of strategic recalibration.

    Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, argued that the administration’s agenda repurposes legal frameworks originally designed to advance equality. “This is about how this administration is using the tools we built as a Black community to ensure that all of our people are protected,” she said.

    Parallel efforts are emerging at the state level, where a coalition of civil rights organizations and Democratic attorneys general from fourteen states and the District of Columbia has launched a legal initiative to defend DEI and accessibility policies. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the campaign aims to ensure that fundamental civil rights protections remain enforceable through coordinated legal action.

    The effort unfolds amid an evolving judicial landscape. Federal courts remain divided over race-conscious policies in hiring and workplace protections, while the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has already curtailed the use of race in college admissions and signaled skepticism toward race-based considerations in public policy.
    Despite acknowledging the scale of the challenge, civil rights leaders framed the moment as a defining political and legal struggle. Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, underscored the movement’s resolve, declaring: “We commit today to fight and fight and fight until hell freezes over, and then, I can assure you, we will fight on the ice.

  • Newswire : From Civil Rights to ICE Raids, Trump’s unchecked power puts every community at risk

    ICE raid in Chicago

    By Stacy M. Brown
    NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    Donald Trump’s presidency has long carried a familiar weight for Black America. What feels different now is that the force once aimed primarily at Black and brown communities is no longer contained there. With the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old white mother of three, by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, the unchecked power of the federal government has moved into spaces many Americans once believed were insulated.
    Good was killed during an immigration operation after her vehicle moved forward as agents blocked a roadway. Federal officials quickly labeled the shooting self-defense and branded Good, a “domestic terrorist,” even as video and eyewitness accounts raised questions and Minnesota officials accused the Trump administration of weaponizing immigration enforcement. Protests spread across the state, and Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul sued the federal government, calling the deployment of immigration agents a “federal invasion.”
    As the unrest grew, Trump responded with a Truth Social post aimed at Minnesotans that read less like a call for calm and more like a threat. He warned that a “DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING,” while painting entire communities as overrun by criminals and praising ICE for removing “thousands of criminals,” claims local leaders sharply disputed.
    For many Black Americans, the moment felt grimly familiar.
    “This is what unchecked power looks like,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of National Action Network. “Donald Trump sent up his latest test balloon for erasing Black history with his twisted, alarming claims that white Americans were discriminated against from the civil rights protections that many fought, bled, and in many cases died for.”
    Sharpton’s remarks came after Trump told The New York Times that white people were “very badly treated” by laws adopted during the Civil Rights Movement. The president framed civil rights protections as a form of “reverse discrimination,” echoing a broader administration effort to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.
    “The facts simply don’t match up to the reality Donald Trump has chosen to live in,” Sharpton said. “Even more than 60 years after the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act, many Black Americans continue to lack access to equitable education, capital dollars, or even their right to exercise democracy.”
    Under Trump, those disparities have widened. His administration has eliminated DEI programs, curtailed civil rights enforcement, and backed legal efforts that have weakened affirmative action and pushed the Voting Rights Act closer to irrelevance. Civil rights leaders say the policies are not abstract. They translate into lost jobs, closed pathways, and communities left unprotected.
    The timing of Trump’s comments struck another nerve.
    “That he made these statements on the eve of the King federal holiday is perhaps the most telling,” Sharpton said. “The Trump administration has already made attempts to minimize this holiday, as well as Juneteenth, while propping up his own birthday.”
    At the same time Trump has elevated claims of discrimination against white Americans, his administration has expanded aggressive immigration enforcement that critics say operates with little transparency or accountability. Investigations have documented immigration agents using banned chokeholds, detaining U.S. citizens, and conducting masked operations that leave communities fearful of leaving their homes.
    The consequences now extend beyond immigrant communities. Good’s killing, and the administration’s rapid defense of the agent involved, has jolted Americans who once viewed federal force as distant or theoretical.
    Members of the Congressional Black Caucus say the pattern is unmistakable. In a separate statement, caucus leaders condemned Trump for bypassing Congress to carry out an unauthorized military operation in Venezuela, calling it a grave abuse of power and warning that the president is increasingly willing to act without legal restraint, whether abroad or at home.
    “While Nicolás Maduro is, in fact, an illegitimate leader, the deployment of U.S. military power to impose political change in a sovereign nation without the consent of Congress threatens to draw the United States into an indefinite conflict,” the caucus said in its statement.
    For Black institutions, the pressure has been economic as well as political. The Black Press of America, founded nearly two centuries ago to give voice to people denied access to mainstream media, has seen corporate advertisers and sponsors retreat under the Trump era’s hostility toward racial equity. Newsrooms have shrunk. Resources have dried up. The mission has grown harder just as the stakes have risen.
    What Black America has warned about for years is now playing out in real time. A presidency that treats civil rights as disposable, dissent as criminal, and federal power as personal authority does not stop at one community.

  • Newswire : A week later: a dire need in Jamaica

    Water rushing through the streets of Jamaican towns from Hurricane Melissa; Melissa ripped roofs off houses and buildings; “wooden houses in Negril, Jamaica”

    By April Ryan, NNPA

    The United Nations reports that Hurricane Melissa has scattered nearly 5 million tons of debris across Western Jamaica, hindering crews from delivering aid and restoring critical services promptly.
    According to reports, crews are still working to clear roads, attempting to reach 27 communities cut off by landslides and flooding. Many of those communities are still without power and Wi-Fi. The category five storm killed at least 32 people in Jamaica and another 43 in nearby Haiti, where 13 people remain missing. Here in the United States, the head of the Congressional Black Caucus, New York Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, is working feverishly with the State Department to ensure help is coming from the United States to the affected Caribbean nations, particularly Jamaica.
    Both of the New York Congresswoman’s parents immigrated to the United States from Jamaica. Clarke has been a strong advocate for Caribbean issues and serves as co-chair of the Congressional Caribbean Caucus. According to a State Department website, “Within hours, Secretary [Marco] Rubio deployed a regional Disaster Assistance Response Team, including urban search-and-rescue teams, to assess needs and provide search and recovery assistance.
    The State Department also indicates it “is collaborating with UN agencies, NGOs, and host governments to deliver food, water, medical supplies, hygiene kits, temporary shelter, and search and rescue support.”
    Iconic and award-winning actress, activist, and Jamaican native Sherly Lee Ralph said on The Tea with April, “It is exactly one week later, and there are some people who have not had anybody come to help them, nobody!”
    Ralph emoted,” It’s rough. We need help there now.” She is calling on all the people who have “enjoyed the beaches in Jamaica” to help by finding trusted places you know and making a donation, as the storm’s destruction has halted the normalcy of life on the island.” Ralph provided an update on some areas that hold personal significance for her. “The school that my parents helped build lost their roof.  They’re trying to figure out where we’re going to put these kids, how we’re gonna get them back into school, all of these things, and it’s like I can see where we’re going afterwards, but how do we start to get the help there now?”
    The actresses’ children have also started a donation center at their facility, Walk Good LA, to help address some of the dire needs in Jamaica. Her family used the same space for donations to help the victims of the L.A. fires earlier this year.
    Relief efforts coordinated by Jamaican government
    Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness vowed that his government would devote “all our energy” to a strong recovery. On Facebook, Holness said recently: “Yesterday, In Manchester, I met with residents whose lives were upended by Hurricane Melissa. Many have lost homes and belongings, yet their strength and faith remain unshaken. In every story shared, I saw courage, the kind that defines us as Jamaicans. We will not leave anyone behind. Recovery has already begun, and we will rebuild stronger.”
    Holness, who visited devastated areas to meet residents and assess the damage up close, declared the entire island a disaster area while noting that the destruction is particularly difficult on communities in Saint Elizabeth and elsewhere which rely significantly on farming.
    The prime minister announced that the government launched supportjamaica.gov.jm to coordinate relief which will accept for donations, allow for people to report emergencies, and help those in need locate shelters.

    Holness said Jamaica is resilient and will recover but Baker Brown said sometimes resilience comes at a cost.
    “Resilience is often celebrated as our superpower, but despite the resilience we are noted for, our souls are gone. This is beyond resilience. I must admit that this is emotional fatigue and exhaustion,” she said. “True resilience is not just about surviving adversity. It’s also about having access to resources, investment and psychological care, that will allow individuals and communities recover and thrive without having to carry the weight alone.”
    The United Nation’s World Food Program announced that it had received 2,000 boxes of emergency food assistance shipped from Barbados which will be distributed to shelters and in the most-affected communities in the St. Elizabeth area.
    And UNICEF said it is sending water, sanitation and hygiene kits for about 14,500 people and nutritional supplies for more than 4,000 children had been sent before the hurricane hit. Another $1 million was allocated to support immediate emergency response.
    The UN Population Fund has provided up to 5,000 reproductive health kits and 4,000 dignity kits alongside significant emergency relief support from the United Kingdom and Canada.  A further $4m from its Central Emergency Response Fund has also been allocated to affected people in Jamaica. Medical kits for about 11,000 people were provided by the Pan American Health Organization.

    NNPA reporting supplemented by Barrington M. Salmon, Trice Edney Newswire

  • Newswire : Rep. Al Green is censured by The U.S. House after protesting Trump on Medicaid

    Texas Congressman Al Green points cane at President Trump during speech to Joint Session of Congress

    By Lauren Burke, NNPA Newswire


    In one of the quickest punishments of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the modern era, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was censured by a 224-198 vote last week in the House. His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question. Of the last three censures of members of the U.S. House, two have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus under GOP control. In 2023, Rep. Jamal Bowman was censured.
    On the night of March 4, as President Trump delivered a Joint Address to Congress, Rep. Green interrupted him twice. Rep. Green shouted, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicare and Medicaid, and you need to raise the cap on social security,” to President Trump. In another rare event, Rep. Green was escorted off the House floor by security shortly after yelling at the President by order of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson.
    Over the last four years, members of Congress have yelled at President Biden during the State of the Union. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene was joined by Republican Rep. Lauren Bobert (R-CO) in 2022 in yelling at President Biden. In 2023, Rep. Greene, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) yelled at Biden, interrupting his speech. In 2024, wearing a red MAGA hat, a violation of the rules of the U.S. House, Greene interrupted Biden again. She was never censured for her behavior. Rep. Green voted “present” on his censure and was joined by freshman Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures of Alabama who also voted “present”.
    All other members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against censuring Green. Republicans hold a four-seat advantage in the U.S. House after the death of Texas Democrat and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner yesterday. Ten Democrats voted along with Republicans to censure Rep. Green, including Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who is in the leadership as the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I respect them but, I would do it again,” and “it is a matter of conscience,”
    Rep. Green told Black Press USA’s April Ryan in an exclusive interview on March 5. After the vote, a group of Democrats sang “We Shall Overcome” in the well at the front of the House chamber. Several Republican members attempted to shout down the singing. House Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the House out of session and into a recess. During the brief recess members moved back to their seats and out of the well of the House. Shortly after the vote to censor Rep. Green, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee quickly filed legislation to punish members who participated in the singing of “We Shall Overcome.” Earlier this year, Rep. Ogles filed legislation to allow President Donald Trump to serve a third term, which is currently unconstitutional. As the debate started, the stock market Dow Jones average fell by 500 points, 1% of it value by the close.

  • Newswire : A forward march for MLK In the new Trump era

     MLK monument in Washington, D. C.

    By April Ryan, BlackPressUSA.com Washington Bureau Chief and Chief White House Correspondent

    “Today hits differently,” says Democratic Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett who decided to observe the National Martin Luther King Jr. holiday away from the 60th Presidential inauguration of Donald John Trump.

    A large swath of the 62 members of the Congressional Black Caucus who were invited to the ceremonies chose to observe the National King Day away from the nation’s capital. “Today, unlike any King Day before, I’ve truly searched my soul for his strength and praying for an ounce of his political prowess,” according to the outspoken Texas lawmaker who was a co-chair of the Kamala Harris Presidential campaign last year. The Harris presidential campaign ended in defeat on November 5, 2024, with Donald Trump being named the 47th President of the United States.

    If Dr. King, a civil rights icon, had lived; he would have been 96 years old on January 15th of this year. The irony of the day honoring the civil and human rights leader is that it is shared with the 60th presidential inauguration ceremony in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building. 

    Historically, the second inaugurations of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama took place on MLK Day in 1997 and 2013. There were some democratic hopes that Kamala Harris could be a repeat of today’s swearing-in history. A few months ago, some Kamala Harris campaign staffers believed the then-Democratic presidential candidate would have been sworn in today by Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on this King Day.

    Since the 15th of this month, there have been many celebrations honoring the life and civil rights history of Dr. King. One was at Riverside Church in Harlem, New York Rev. Mark Thompson, host of “Make It Plain,” and NNPA Global Digital Transformation Director, remembered Dr. King by saying, “his memory calls us to transcend all of the things we are most concerned about today.” Dr. King, who was killed in 1968 by an assassin’s bullet, challenged authority at the highest levels to achieve equality for African Americans in this nation like voting rights and civil rights. Thompson warns in this new political era, “rather than relax or be discouraged we should…continue to hold the Office of the President accountable.”

     

  • Newswire : VP Kamala Harris honors Shirley Chisholm with historic Congressional Gold Medal bill signing

    Vice President Kamala Harris, joined by U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-12) and U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler (D-CA), signs the Shirley Chisholm Congressional Gold Medal Act at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, December 9, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson) and photo of Shirley Chisholm in 1972, announcing her candidacy for the Presidency.

    By Gerren Kieth Gaynor, The Grio

    Vice President Kamala Harris signed a bill bestowing the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm with a Congressional Gold Medal, a symbolic and historic moment in Washington for America’s first Black female vice president. 

    Harris’ signature instructed the United States Congress to posthumously award Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and first African American to run for president in a major party, with Congress’s highest civilian honor.

    Vice President Harris said she “proudly” and “humbly” signed the Shirley Chisholm Congressional Gold Medal Act on Monday while on Capitol Hill, where she also swore in Senators-designate Andy Kim, D-N.J., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Senator-elect Pete Ricketts, R-Neb. The bill will now go to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

    As vice president, Harris serves as president of the U.S. Senate, which grants her the authority to sign bills before they go to the president’s desk for final signature. Typically, the president pro tempore of the Senate — currently U.S. Senator Patty Murray — signs such bills. However, the vice president felt it necessary and meaningful to personally sign the Shirley Chisholm Congressional Gold Medal Act, theGrio learned from a source with knowledge of the vice president’s decision.

    The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., is years in the making. Congresswoman Lee and Senator Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., stood beside Vice President Harris as she signed the legislation. Lee, a mentee of Chisholm, told theGrio in a recent interview, “This Congressional Gold Medal is part of not only her legacy but part of reminding people who she was and the contributions that she made to this country and to the world.”

    Throughout her 20 years in Congress, Lee also worked to have a portrait of Chisholm commissioned and hung in the hall of Congress, create a U.S. postal stamp in tribute to her, and a resolution honoring her contributions to American politics.

    Chisholm, who died in 2005 at 80, made history in 1968 as the first African-American woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York’s 12th Congressional District. After only two terms in Congress, she made history again as the first Democratic woman, first African American and first Black woman to seek a major party’s nomination to run for president in 1972. 

    During her political career, Chisholm championed racial and gender equality, early education, and child welfare. She is also a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and, at its founding, was the caucus’ only female member. 

    Vice President Harris has long acknowledged how Chisholm inspired her political career. As Lee pointed out to theGrio, Harris used the colors of Chisholm’s presidential campaign in her 2019 presidential campaign. During that presidential run, during an interview with theGrio, Harris said, “I stand, as so many of us do, on her shoulders.” She added, “Her strength as an individual, as a woman, as a Black woman, was so powerful and resonated in such an incredible way … even today.”

    While campaigning for president in October, the vice president named Chisholm as one of five people, dead or alive, she would have dinner with on the “All The Smoke” podcast. “I would love to sit with her. I feel that I know her because I have studied her life,” Harris said. The Vice President also emphasized that her own historic run for president was “a path that she created.”

    Though Harris was unsuccessful in her 2024 presidential bid, Lee told theGrio Shirley Chisholm would be “applauding” the vice president. “Kamala picked up that baton, and she’s still running. I think Shirley is pleased and happy and smiling and saying, keep at it because sooner or later we’ll have a woman of color, a Black woman specifically, as our president,” said Congresswoman Lee.

  • US lawmakers push for federal holiday honoring Rosa Parks on the anniversary of her arrest

    RIKKI KLAUS, CNN

    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.

  • Newswire: Cory Booker announces Federal bill that bans discrimination against natural hair

    By: Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton

    woman with natural hair


    Presidential hopeful Senator Cory Booker has announced the first federal bill that bans natural hair discrimination.
    The Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act makes clear that discrimination based on natural hairstyles associated with people of African descent is a prohibited form of racial or national origin discrimination. This includes hair that is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros.
    “Discrimination against black hair is discrimination against black people,” Senator Booker said in a press release. “Implicit and explicit biases against natural hair are deeply ingrained in workplace norms and society at large. This is a violation of our civil rights, and it happens every day for black people across the country.
    You need to look no further than Gabrielle Union, who was reportedly fired because her hair was ‘too black’ — a toxic dog-whistle African Americans have had to endure for far too long. No one should be harassed, punished, or fired for the beautiful hairstyles that are true to themselves and their cultural heritage.
    Our work on this important issue was enhanced by the tireless advocacy of my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus, Crown Coalition advocate Adjoa B. Asamoah, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.”
    U.S. Representative Cedric Richmond (D-LA) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives and is joined by Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Marcia Fudge (D-OH), and Barbara Lee (D-CA).
    “For too long, black women and girls have been told that their hair is too curly, too unprofessional, too distracting,” Rep. Pressley said. “As a Congresswoman, I choose to wear my hair in twists because I want to intentionally create space for all of us to show up in the world as our authentic selves – whether it’s in the classroom, in the workplace or in the halls of Congress. I am proud to support the CROWN Act, which is a bold step towards ensuring that people can stand in their truth while removing the narrative that black people should show up as anything other than who they are.”
    “It is disheartening that, in 2019, hair discrimination creates additional barriers for people of color in education and places of employment,” Rep. Fudge said. “Traditional hairstyles worn by African Americans are often necessary to meet our unique needs, and are a representation of our culture and ethnicity. To require anyone to change their natural appearance to acquire educational resources or a job is undeniably an infringement on their civil rights.
    I’m proud to be a co-sponsor of the House companion of the C.R.O.W.N. Act which protects against discrimination based on hair in federally funded institutions and in the workplace.”
    This year, California and New York passed laws banning hair discrimination, and at least six more states, including New Jersey, are considering similar laws.

  • Newswire : Former Congressman John Conyers has died at 90

    .
    By Frederick H. Lowe
    Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

    Cong. John Conyers

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – John Conyers, Jr. the longest serving African American member of Congress and co-founder in 1969 of the Congressional Black Caucus, died Sunday in Detroit. He was 90 years old. The cause of death has not been revealed.

    Mr. Conyers served 53 years in Congress and was once fondly known as the dean of the Congressional Black Caucus which he helped found in 1971. He was the sixth longest serving member of Congress before he resigned in 2017 amid sexual harassment allegations. During his tenure, he represented the 1st, 14th and 13th Congressional Districts in Detroit and the suburbs.

    A graduate of Wayne State University and Wayne State University School of Law, voters elected Conyers to Congress in 1964. He took the oath of office in 1965 during the Civil Rights struggle. He befriended Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and he hired Rosa Parks to work in his Detroit congressional office when no one else would give her a job. Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the great civil rights victories, when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a White man. Her refusal sparked the more than one year long Montgomery Bus Boycott that ended segregated seating on the city’s buses.

    Conyers introduced the 1965 Voting Rights Act under President Lyndon Johnson, and he succeeded in establishing a national holiday honoring the birthday of Dr. King.

    Conyers was chair of the House Judiciary Committee from 2007-11. As the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, he joined other committee members in 1974 submitting Articles of Impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon. However, Nixon resigned from office before he could be impeached.

    Conyers was also chair House Oversight Committee from 1989 to 2004. The late Elijah Cummings held the same position when he died.

    In addition, Conyers introduced in every Congress starting in 1989, legislation that would set up a commission to examine the institution of slavery in the nation and its colonies. The legislation recommended appropriate remedies.
    He also pushed for a single-payer or government-directed health care system.

    Conyers was the son of John Conyers, Sr., a labor lawyer. He was born in Highland Park, Michigan, on May 16, 1929. He served in the Korean War.He is survived by his widow and two sons.

    Tributes from civil rights and Democratic leaders had begun to pour out this week.

    “From co-founding the Congressional Black Caucus, to advocating for the creation of Martin Luther King Day, some of the most important civil rights victories of the last half-century would not have been possible without the enduring leadership of Rep. Conyers in Washington,” said Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP. “As a Detroit native, I can attest to what John Conyers meant to his beloved Detroit community, and we are eternally grateful that he fought for justice on behalf of the entire nation with the same commitment and perseverance he showed his beloved hometown. Today we have lost a trailblazer for justice, a titan of the movement, and a true friend and ally to the NAACP.”

    Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said, “Congressman John Conyers was a civil rights warrior, a lifelong public servant, and a stalwart Democrat. Over the course of his public service career, which spanned more than half a century, Rep. Conyers led groundbreaking fights that advanced the course of history, including introducing the first bill to establish the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. As a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, he changed the face of leadership in the halls of Congress and blazed a trail for future leaders of color.”
    The Trice Edney News Wire contributed to this article.

  • Newswire : CBC Chair Karen Bass responds to Trump’s new offer to reopen the government

    Rep. Karen Bass
    WASHINGTON – Sunday, the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), issued the following statement after President Trump announced a new offer in exchange for $5.7 billion for a border wall.
    “The President’s proposal is yet another example of his willingness to use the well-being of Black and brown communities as a political pawn. DACA recipients deserve a permanent solution and Black Americans, who are disproportionately impacted by this shutdown, need to have the government immediately reopened.
    “There are federal workers without paychecks, businesses unable to provide services for the government, and millions of families that depend on food stamps that don’t know when they’ll be able to afford their next grocery trip. That’s the crisis this shutdown has caused. The President could end it if he wanted to but unfortunately, today, he made it clear that he doesn’t.”