Citing Trump’s “attacking our democracy,” the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will not invite President Donald Trump to its national convention this year. The decision marks the first time that America’s oldest civil rights organization will exclude a sitting president at its convention. In a statement on the evening of June 16, the reasons were made clear. “Donald Trump is attacking our democracy and our civil rights. He believes more in the fascist playbook than in the U.S. Constitution. This playbook is radical and un-American. The president has signed unconstitutional executive orders to oppress voters and undo federal civil rights protections; he has illegally turned the military on our communities, and he continually undermines every pillar of our democracy to make himself more powerful and to personally benefit from the U.S. government,” the statement from the NAACP read in part. The NAACP’s statement referred to President Trump’s recent decision to send the National Guard to Los Angeles after protests against ICE detentions and abductions sent fear through parts of the Los Angeles community. The White House responded to the NAACP’s June 16 statement. “The NAACP isn’t advancing anything but hate and division, while the President is focused on uniting our country, improving our economy, securing our borders, and establishing peace across the globe. This is the same vision for America that a record number of Black Americans supported in the resounding reelection of President Trump,” stated White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a written statement. Since he took office in January 2025 for his second term in The White House there has been a clear anti-Black policy focus pushed by the Trump Administration. Trump and members of his cabinet have constantly attacked diversity and inclusion since taking office. The Trump Administration has also fired without cause several Black officials in top roles such as General CQ Brown, who was Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Dr. Carla Hayden, who served as the Librarian of Congress. It was reported in early April that books on racism, civil rights and the Black experience have been removed from the library at the U.S. Military Academy in Annapolis. The reason was the stated policy by the Trump Administration against “diversity” and “inclusion.” “For 116 years, the NAACP has invited the sitting president of the United States to address the NAACP National Convention — regardless of their political party. There is a rich history of both Republicans and Democrats attending our convention — from Harry Truman to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and beyond. We’re nonpartisan and always welcome those who believe in democracy and the Constitution,” the organization led by Derrick Johnson, also stated. Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush addressed racism during their speeches to the NAACP. The organization’s annual convention is one of the largest gatherings of Black leadership in the U.S. each year.
Photo No. 1 (cutline) : John Zippert, Co-publisher of the Greene County Democrat and Chair of the Board of the Greene County Health Sysytem speaks about healthcare issues at
Photo No.2 (Cutline). From right to left: Allison Hamilton, executive director of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice; Faya Touré, American civil rights activist and lawyer; John Zippert, board chair of Greene County Hospital/Greene County Health System; Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP; Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43).; Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families; Juan Proaño, chief executive officer of the League of United Latin American Citizens; Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center; and Martha Morgan, professor emerita of law at the University of Alabama School of Law.
As our nation commemorated the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, national and state leaders, civil rights organizations, and community advocates convened in Selma, Alabama, for a powerful and urgent discussion about protecting democracy and advancing civil rights in the face of unprecedented threats.
The event, “Saving Democracy: Our Civil Rights Strategies for this Unprecedented Moment,” was co-hosted by Hank Sanders and Faya Rose Touré (The Bridge Crossing Jubilee), The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and a coalition of national and local organizations. The convening reaffirmed the movement’s commitment to defending democracy and mobilizing against voter suppression, attacks on civil rights, and systemic barriers to justice.
Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights: “As we confront an onslaught of attacks from our own federal government on the very civil and human rights it is obligated to protect and uphold, we are working united and unwavering against the attacks on our freedom and potential. This regime is abusing power — violating laws and dismantling its role as a shield — to turn the government into a weapon against us. They are stripping resources from our schools, our health care, and kids who can’t afford college, all while trying to discourage us from using our voice to make demands of the government.
These efforts to erase our progress and dismantle our civil rights are direct attacks on our power to shape our future and ensure opportunities for our families. The promised land is not a promise, and democracy is a demand. Real power starts in our communities. When we organize locally, build coalitions, and mobilize for change, we create the foundation for national progress. Our coalition knows this is a fight for the promise of America and a multiracial democracy that works for all of us, not just a powerful few. Just as those who marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge 60 years ago showed us, when we organize and join together, we can face anything. Our coalition will continue that fight until freedom is won.”
Hank Sanders, Founder of the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee: “We have to know our strengths if we are to engage effectively in this great struggle to maintain and improve this imperfect democracy. We know that we have been through greater struggles with less resources and triumphed. We must remember that we are not just in a terrible storm but going through the storm. There is something better on the other side. Know your strengths!”
Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center: “At a time when our nation’s president incredulously tries to undo baseline civil rights protections and stoke fear in anyone fighting for justice, it is critical we double down on our commitment to gender and racial equality. We must not turn our backs on decades of progress secured by people who risked their lives fighting for equality, freedom and a fair shot for all. Diversity, equity and inclusion are not dirty words — and we will continue to challenge a president desperate to normalize racism and misogyny throughout his administration.”
Derrick Johnson, president & chief executive officer of the NAACP: “Selma is a physical reminder of the history that must inform our future. No matter who occupies the Oval Office or holds the gavel on Capitol Hill, the NAACP will not accept regression as our reality. I was proud to stand alongside our colleagues in the fight for civil rights to remind us that race is merely a tool to distract from the perils of power, hungriness, and greed. We cannot be distracted. We must remain determined. Let’s continue the work to ensure democracy truly works for everybody.”
Juan Proaño, chief executive officer of the League of United Latin American Citizens(LULAC): “LULAC’s fight for voting rights and immigrant justice is a fight for our democracy. On the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, we’re reminded that the same forces that once attacked Black Americans’ votes now target the Latino vote and vilify immigrants. LULAC stands strong, ensuring minority voices and power are felt in every election. We will not stand by as ICE and Border Patrol invade our schools, hospitals, and places of worship. The SAVE Act and attacks on sensitive locations are tools of intimidation meant to silence us. We will not back down. We’ll fight these policies in court, protest in the streets, and hold those responsible accountable. Our right to vote, learn, earn, heal, and pray is non-negotiable. The time to act is now.”
Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families: “The ability to access high quality, affordable health care shapes every aspect of our lives, from our physical wellbeing to our economic security to our sense of personal freedom and dignity. Yet, the Trump administration is systematically attacking our health care system by enacting massive cuts to federal agencies, making it harder to collect information on health disparities, targeting programs like Medicaid that provide care to those in greatest need, and undermining abortion access. Our calls to action — to consistently make clear that health care is a civil rights issue; lift up the stories of the people who are harmed when they cannot access much-needed care; push policymakers to mandate the collection of data that can show racial, gender, and other disparities and to make infrastructure investments for more health care facilities; and proclaim that health care should never be treated as a precious resource that is only available to the privileged and the wealthy.”
Martha Morgan, professor emerita of law at the University of Alabama School of Law and member of the steering committee of SOS (Saving OurSelves Movement for Justice and Democracy): “In Alabama, the attacks on democracy and justice are ongoing and groups like SOS are issuing calls to action to continue defending our rights in the field of education. In 2024, the Republican controlled legislature enacted laws aimed at the heart of both higher education and K-12. First, it banned public funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and restricted the teaching of so-called ‘divisive concepts’ at all public colleges and universities. Public colleges and universities responded by ending or recasting their DEI programs and closing campus spaces for student groups. The ACLU of Alabama and the Legal Defense Fund have filed a lawsuit on behalf of several courageous professors and students at University of Alabama campuses, and the NAACP and the legal battle is underway. A second 2024 law guts funding for K-12 education by allowing families to receive $7,000 to send their children to private school and $2,000 for children who are homeschooled.”
John Zippert, board chair of the Greene County Health System in Eutaw, Alabama and SOS Steering Committee member: “For the past ten years we have been struggling with the Governor and the Alabama Legislature to expand Medicaid to provide health insurance to 300,000 low-income working people. Now our small rural hospital, nursing home and physician’s clinic faces the Trump Administration’s plan to cut $880 billion from Medicaid. This will further reduce our facility’s income. Every one of the 38 people we currently have in our Nursing Home is supported by Medicaid. Will we have to put these aging Americans, Black and White, into the streets? A reduction in the Medicaid and Medicare already low reimbursements will likely force us to close our facility, creating greater healthcare hardships for rural people in our communities.”
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.
“We are dealing with a vicious adversary,” according to Rev. Al Sharpton, the head of the National Action Network speaking of President Donald Trump and his hate diatribe Thursday morning. President Trump blamed DEI, the Obama and Biden administrations along with former Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg for the deadly midair crash over the Potomac last night. 67 people died after an accident between an American Airline Plane and an Army Helicopter.
When asked why President Trump thought diversity had something to do with the crash, he said,” I have common sense and most people don’t.” Reverend Al, who is investigating the impact of the Trump anti-DEI efforts in retail believes Trump is “obsessed with race” and he is a “raw, insensitive, uncaring man.”
Former Secretary Buttigieg immediately went to social media making a statement saying, Trump should be leading, not lying.” Buttigieg also fact-checked Trump saying we grew Air Traffic Control and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.” Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) / X
During Trump’s rant on DEI at the White House briefing room podium, he asserted, “the FAA’s diversity push includes a focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing. And then it says, the FAA says, people with severe disabilities, the most underrepresented segment of the workforce, and they want them in, and they want them. They can be air traffic controllers. I don’t think so.” Trump went on to say the prior administrations felt those departments were “too white.”
According to reports FAA staffing has been an issue since Inauguration Day January 20, 2025. Also, Elon Musk, the head of the White House Office of Government Efficiency is reported to have asked the head of the FAA to resign, Former Black Obama Administration Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx exclusively told this reporter after the Trump statements,” I would caution against any definitive conclusions until that work [investigation] is done by trained, experienced professionals.”
Foxx, who also worked as a transportation consultant in the Biden administration admonished the Trump address saying, “There is no sugar-coating the tragic midair collision that occurred last night. In my experience, safety has always been the number one focus of the Federal Aviation Administration.” Foxx says there is a safety mission to be completed after this tragedy. “There is a well-practiced root cause process that has been taken in the past. It should be used now with competent professionals. A comprehensive, fact-based investigation will answer the many questions we all have. It would also help guard against future accidents of this type,” according to the transportation expert.
Before the completed investigation officially began, President Trump laid the blame for the accident on the Army helicopter. He felt it should have been flying at a different altitude, higher or lower, than the jet.
When it comes to the president’s corrosive comments, reaction has been swift from the civil rights community. In a statement from the President and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Derrick Johnson, “The NAACP is disgusted by this display of unpresidential, divisive behavior.” Johnson told this reporter in a text message, “The President has made his decision to put politics over people abundantly clear as he uses the highest office in the land to sow hatred rooted in falsehoods instead of providing us with the leadership we need and deserve.”
As Trump worked to distract with his words on DEI, the questions still abound as to what caused the deadly plane crash. Former Sec. Foxx, immediately following the fatal crash last night said. “My worst fear is that something happened with the avionics. I hope and expect that this is not the case. But most aircraft these days run in a form of GPS. Could a warning system have failed? But then, how can two systems fail? That leads to some even more grave concerns about interference with the systems. There are many other potential causes.”
Descendants of families involved in historic Supreme Court decision, along with NAACP President, Derrick Johnson, address school desegregation
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
On the 70th anniversary of the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, President Joe Biden emphasized his administration’s commitment to educational equity by announcing new funding and resources aimed at enhancing school diversity and tackling racial segregation. The landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling declared racially segregated schools unconstitutional, but recent data reveals persistent inequities in U.S. education.
“Every student deserves access to a high-quality education that prepares them to be the next generation of leaders,” President Biden stated. To further this goal, the Biden-Harris Administration introduced several initiatives, including a $20 million investment through the Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP). This funding will support magnet programs in states such as Arkansas, Colorado, and Florida, designed to attract students from diverse backgrounds.
Additionally, the administration’s 2025 budget proposal seeks $139 million for MSAP and $10 million for the Fostering Diverse Schools program. Moreover, a new Technical Assistance Center on Fiscal Equity will assist states and districts in developing fair resource allocation strategies. The initiative aims to address the stark resource disparities that exist between racially and economically segregated schools.
Stephen Benjamin, senior adviser to Biden and former mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, acknowledged the ongoing challenges. “There’s an acknowledgment every day with our president that we’re not where we ought to be, but we’re certainly not where we used to be. Still a lot of work to be done,” Benjamin declared.
The research underscores the strong correlation between school segregation and racial achievement gaps. The desegregation following Brown significantly boosted graduation rates for Black and Latino students. However, recent decades have seen a reversal, with segregation between white and Black students increasing by 64% since 1988, and economic segregation rising by 50% since 1991. According to the Department of Education’s State of School Diversity Report, racially isolated schools often lack the critical resources necessary for student success.
To combat these trends, the Department of Education announced the release of new data on access to math and science courses, highlighting ongoing racial disparities. The administration said it also plans to launch an interagency effort to preserve African American history, ensuring that students and the public have access to essential historical and cultural resources.
Officials noted that the American Rescue Plan has directed $130 billion to the nation’s schools, with a focus on underserved institutions. This includes nearly $2 billion in additional Title I funding, and a five-fold increase in funding for Full-Service Community Schools, which provide essential services to students and families in need.
Recognizing the importance of teacher diversity, the administration has prioritized efforts to increase the number of educators of color. Competitive grant programs have awarded $450 million to support teacher recruitment and retention, with a particular focus on diversity. Additionally, the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Grant program has provided over $23 million to HBCUs, TCCUs, and MSIs for teacher preparation.
The president met with family members of the plaintiffs from the Brown v. Board case. Cheryl Brown Henderson, daughter of lead plaintiff Oliver Brown, expressed the ongoing struggle for educational equity. “We’re still fighting the battle over whose children do we invest in. Any time we can talk about failing underfunded public schools, there is a problem,” Henderson said. NAACP President Derrick Johnson, also in attendance, affirmed, “We must continue to fight on all fronts.”
As the nation reflects on seven decades since Brown v. Board of Education, the White House said that the Biden Administration’s initiatives signal a renewed effort to fulfill the promise of equitable education for all. Schools “remain divided along racial, ethnic, and economic lines,” according to a 2022 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. “With around 18.5 million children attending schools where 75 percent or more of students were of a single race or ethnicity.”
The Florida Board of Education approved a new set of standards for how Black history should be taught in the state’s public schools, but the head of the NAACP denounced the move, saying that it should not eliminate slavery, Jim Crow laws, police brutality, and the problems many Blacks face every day, including, for example, instances like the White woman who recently received probation for spitting in a Black’s woman face.
“Our children deserve nothing less than truth, justice, and the equity our ancestors shed blood, sweat, and tears for,” Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement.
“Today’s actions by the Florida state government are an attempt to bring our country back to a 19th century America where Black life was not valued, nor our rights protected. It is imperative that we understand that the horrors of slavery, and Jim Crow laws were a violation of human rights and represent the darkest period in American history. We refuse to go back,” Johnson said.
The new standards come after the state passed new legislation Thursday under Gov. Ron DeSantis that bars instruction in schools that suggests anyone is privileged or oppressed based on their race or skin color.
The standards require instruction for middle school students to include “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,” a document listing the standards and posted on the Florida Department of Education website said.
Some things are being left out including a number of massacres, including the Atlanta race massacre, the Tulsa race massacre in which whites murdered 400 Blacks, and the Rosewood race massacre and bloody summers in Chicago.
When high school students learn about events such as the 1920 Ocoee massacre the new rules require that instruction include “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”
The massacre is considered the deadliest Election Day violence in US history and, according to several histories of the incident, it started when Moses Norman, a prominent Black landowner in the Ocoee, Florida, community, attempted to cast his ballot and was turned away by White poll worker.
More than 250 White people, among them members of the Ku Klux Klan, torched rows of houses where African Americans lived and set fire to other community buildings.
The Rosewood massacre was a racially motivated massacre of Black people and the destruction of a Black town that took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida.
At least six Black and two White people were killed, but eyewitness accounts suggested a higher death toll of 27 to 150.
The Chicago race riot of 1919 was a violent racial conflict between White Americans and Black Americans that began on the South Side of Chicago on July 27 when Blacks drifted into parts of Lake Michigan reserved for Whites.
It begin on July 27 and ended on August 3, 1919. During the riot, 38 people died (23 Blacks and 15 Whites). Over the week, injuries attributed to the episodic confrontations stood at 537, two-thirds Black and one-third white; and between 1,000 and 2,000 residents, most of them Black, lost their homes.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at foot of Edmund Pettus Bridge in SelmaSpiver W. Gordon walks with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
Special to the Democrat by John Zippert, Co-Publisher
Vice-President of the United States, Kamala Harris, was the keynote speaker at a rally at the foot of the Edmond Pettus Bridge, in Selma, Alabama on Sunday March 6, 2022, to mark the 57th anniversary of the ‘Bloody Sunday’ March, which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Harris and many other civil rights and U. S. cabinet officials said it was critical to commemorate this anniversary because Black, Brown, poor and young people had a better chance to vote in 1965, after passage of the Voting Rights Act, than they have today, when the right to vote is under challenge, as part of a larger attack on democracy.
“In 2020, despite the pandemic, we had a record turnout of voters, which helped to elect President Biden and myself. As a result, the Republicans have launched an assault on the freedom to vote. They have passed and are working on passing legislation in over 30 states to make it more difficult to vote.
“Every Republican Senator voted against passage of the John Lewis Freedom to Vote Act, when it came up for a vote earlier this year. We have no choice, we must stand and fight for the right to vote and we must fight with determination, even in the face of arcane rules, like the filibuster,” said Harris.
The Vice-President was accompanied to Selma by her husband, Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, and five Biden Administration cabinet members, including: HUD Secretary, Marcia Fudge, Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, Michael Regan, Environmental Protection Agency head and Donald Remy, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
After her talk, she joined a group of three hundred civil rights leaders, local foot-soldiers, public officials, cabinet members and others at the front of the march across the bridge. Over 10,000 or more other marchers, who had started from Browns Chapel Church, followed behind a line of Secret Service, law enforcement and other security officials protecting the Vice-President and five cabinet officials, who traveled to Selma with Harris and also spoke at the rally.
Sunday’s march re-enactment and protest for revitalizing the Voting Rights Act came at the end of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee weekend, which featured more than 30 activities including a parade, banquet, several breakfasts, many workshops, a golf tournament and other related events.
“The Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee is the largest civil rights and voting rights activity in our nation. Some of our activities were virtual and others were curtailed and impacted by the pandemic, but we still had large crowds of engaged people, which was our goal,” said Hank Sanders, cofounder with his wife Faya Rose Toure (Sanders) of the Jubilee, more than 30 years ago.
Many of the speakers, related the struggle for voting rights in our country, to the struggle to defeat the Russian invasion of Ukraine and preserve democracy in that eastern European country. Sherrilyn Ifill, Director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, after recounting the attacks on voting rights by the Supreme Count and state legislatures, said, “What we do in Selma, in Washington, D. C., Fulton County, Georgia, will have global implications. Black people must save democracy and we must make our country better.”
Latosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter said, “We are winning, we voted in record numbers in 2020. The turnout was younger, browner and more diverse than ever. This is what generated the attacks on voting rights and this is why we must continue to fight.”
Rev. Jesse Jackson, assisted by his son Jonathan Jackson, Bishop William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign, Barbara Arnwine of the Transformative Justice Coalition, Derrick Johnson, NAACP, Melanie Campbell of the Black Women’s Roundtable, Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, Charles Steele of SCLC, Congresswoman Terri Sewell and many other members of the Black Congressional Caucus were present and gave remarks.
Many of the civil rights leaders were in town for the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, because they agreed to work jointly to continue the march from Selma to Montgomery, this week (March 7-11). They felt the necessity to illuminate the challenges to the Voting Rights Act and engage people in the 2022 mid-term elections to work for passage of the John Lewis Voter Advancement Act, in future sessions of Congress.
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – In recent years, many people of different races and ethnicities have fought against rollbacks to hard-won racial progress. From health disparities exposed in the COVID-19 pandemic, to voting rights, criminal justice, fair housing, and more, much of Black America has suffered in ways that harkened back to Jim Crow and its separate, but never equal status. But since a new Administration began this January, there have been a series of hopeful signs that regressive and harmful practices will be challenged in the name of justice. On May 25, the U.S. Senate confirmed Kristen Clarke as the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Never before has a Black woman led this division that guides the federal government’s commitment to civil rights for all. Nominated by President Joe Biden on January 7, his remarks noted both its significance and opportunity. “The Civil Rights Division represents the moral center of the Department of Justice. And the heart of that fundamental American ideal that we’re all created equal and all deserve to be treated equally,” said President Biden. “I’m honored you accepted the call to return to make real the promise for all Americans.” Soon thereafter, a tsunami of support for Clarke’s confirmation exposed national and diverse support for her service. The list of supporters included labor unions, environmental activists, law enforcement officials, along with legal colleagues and civil rights leaders. Perhaps one of the earliest and most poignant expressions came from the son of the nation’s first Black Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall. Penned on behalf of his family, the February 9 letter to U.S. Senate leadership drew a key historic connection. “Ms. Clarke is a pathbreaking lawyer, like my father, who built her career advancing civil rights and equal justice under the law, and breaking barriers through her leadership for people of color while making our nation better for everyone,” wrote Mr. Marshall. His letter also shared an eye-opening example of Ms. Clarke’s groundbreaking work in civil rights. “Ms. Clarke has successfully utilized the law as a vehicle for advancing equality, as my father did. For example, she successfully represented Taylor Dumpson, who was targeted for a hate crime after her election as American University’s first female Black student body president.” Similarly, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, the NAACP, advised Senate leadership before its scheduled confirmation hearing of its support for Ms. Clarke as well. On April 12, Derrick Johnson, its President and CEO wrote, “The NAACP believes that Ms. Clarke is exceptionally suited to oversee the Civil Rights Division at a time when people of color have suffered devastating harm at the hands of law enforcement. She is the leader we need to ensure local police agencies are complying with civil rights laws and advancing public safety by maintaining positive relationships with the communities they serve. Ms. Clarke has prosecuted police misconduct cases and has worked to make the criminal justice system fairer for people of color.” “As President of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Ms. Clarke has been an important partner working to curb predatory lending and in the fight for fair housing, including campaigns to stop the debt trap of payday lending and efforts to protect important fair housing/lending rules, noted Nikitra Bailey, an EVP with the Center for Responsible Lending. “Ms. Clarke’s experience as a Justice Department lawyer and as executive director of a leading civil rights organization not only qualifies her, but makes her the best candidate for this urgently needed position.” The vote was taken mid afternoon on Tuesday was 51-48 along party lines. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican to vote for her confirmation. Black women-led and civil rights organizations, including People for the American Way, had fought vehemently for her confirmation alongside the April 21 confirmation of Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general. Gupta is Indian-American. “These women are ready to make change happen—the change we voted for,” wrote People for the American Way President Ben Jealous, in a column. “They represent the kind of inclusive multiracial and multiethnic society we are building together—and the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to building one of the most diverse governing teams in our nation’s history.”The vote by the Senate comes during an escalation of hate crimes, visible police killings of Black people and voting rights attacks by state legislatures across the nation. “Kristen is very experienced in dealing with these issues and how to overcome them,” said Dr. Mary Frances Berry, professor of American social thought, history and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “With the legislation being passed in the states to implement more voter suppression, she will be on the cutting edge of finding ways to try and keep it from happening.” Ms. Clarke’s legal career takes on even more significance when one considers that this daughter of Jamaican immigrants grew up in Brooklyn New York’s public housing. Although financial resources were limited; the family’s teachings of discipline and hard work were not. From public schools, her collegiate studies took her to the prestigious Ivy League. In 1997, she received her Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. Three years later in 2000, Clarke completed her Juris Doctor at Columbia University. Her first job as a new attorney was as a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice, working on voting rights, hate crimes, and human trafficking cases. In 2006, she joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund until then New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman appointed her as director of the state’s Civil Rights Bureau. In this state role, Clarke led enforcement actions spanning criminal justice, voting rights, fair lending. housing discrimination, disability rights, reproductive access and LGBTQ rights. As recognition of her legal acumen grew, so did the number of honors she received: the 2010 Paul Robeson Distinguished Alumni Award from Columbia Law School; 2011 National Bar Association’s Top 40 Under 40; the 2012 Best Brief Award for the 2012 Supreme Court term from the National Association of Attorneys General; and the New York Law Journal’s 2015 Rising Stars. Months later, the August 2016 edition of the American Bar Association (ABA) Journal featured a Q&A interview with Ms. Clarke. In part, she reflected on her childhood and how it influenced her career aspirations. “I’ve experienced what it’s like to be underprivileged, and I’ve experienced very privileged settings as well. I feel a deep sense of responsibility to use the opportunities that I have been given to help those less fortunate. We live in a nation that’s divided along lines of race and class. I have a personal sense of what life is like on both sides of that divide, and I want to figure out how we close some of those gaps and level the playing field.” At the April 14 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on her nomination, Clarke recalled her legal career journey and the principles that guided her work. “I began my legal career traveling across the country to communities like Tensas Parish, Louisiana and Clarksdale, Mississippi,” testified Clarke. “I learned to be a lawyer’s lawyer – to focus on the rule of law and let the facts lead where they may.” “When I left DOJ,” she continued, “I carried the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall as my guide: ‘Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on’. “I’ve tried to do just that at every step of my career.” Ms. Clarke will now return to the Department of Justice at a time when the agency is recommitting its focus on serving the entire nation equitably. Since early this year, a series of actions reflect the agency’s renewed commitment to civil rights. Here are a few examples:
• This February and following an FBI investigation, a Michigan man was indicted on a charge of hate crimes after confronting Black teenagers with racial slurs and weapons for their use of a public beach.
• In March, two former Louisiana correctional officers were sentenced for their roles in a cover-up of a 2014 prisoner’s death at the state’s St. Bernard Parish that followed a failure to provide medical treatment while incarcerated.
• In April DOJ and the City of West Monroe, Louisiana reached a consent agreement following a lawsuit alleging violation of the Voting Rights Act. Although nearly a third of the city was Black, the at-large election of city aldermen resulted in all white local officials. With the consent decree, the method of aldermen selection will change to a combination of single district representatives and others elected at-large.
• On May 7, DOJ issued a three-count indictment
• In federal civil rights charges in the death of George Floyd. Additionally, convicted former officer Derek Chauvin faces an additional two-count indictment for his actions in 2017 against a 14year old teenager. The indictment charges Chauvin with keeping his knee on the youth’s neck and upper back, as well as using a flashlight as a weapon. Additionally, DOJ is currently investigating police practices in both Louisville, and in Minneapolis. Readers may recall that Breonna Taylor was killed in her Louisville home during a late-night, no-knock warrant police entry. “Our nation is a healthier place when we respect the rights of all communities,” advised Ms. Clarke in her confirmation hearing remarks. “In every role I’ve held, I have worked with and for people of all backgrounds…I’ve listened deeply to all sides of debates, regardless of political affiliation. There is no substitute to listening and learning in this work, and I pledge to you that I will bring that to the role.”
Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
Ruins of Greenwood District after Race Riots, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, American National Red Cross Photograph Collection, June 1921. (Photo by: GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Aftermath of the 1921 Tulsa massacre (Universal Archive/Getty)
By: Charise Frazier, Newsone
President Joe Biden layed out a series of ventures aimed towards reversing the wealth gap between Black and white Americans on Tuesday during a speech to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. He is also visited the historic site and spent time with survivors and descendants. Biden is the first sitting president to visit the Greenwood, Oklahoma, neighborhood, home to the descendants of Black Americans who were slaughtered in one of the largest race-fueled hate crimes, claiming the lives of over 300 Black community members while also abolishing a prosperous economic Black business district. The Tulsa Race Massacre is the greatest act of racial terror committed by whites in a United States city against an African descended community. It is a stark example of the failure of the U.S. democracy to provide justice for race-based terroristic violence – to require reparative justice – thus, condoning it. It is one of many instances where state, local and federal governments failed to acknowledge and repair the injuries wrought by terroristic violence against Black people. The failure to repair these historic injuries that have present-day consequences increases the urgency for passage of H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African-Americans Act, and like state bills. Passage of H.R. 40 is one of the policy demands from the Movement for Black Lives’ Vision for Black Lives policy platform. The Tulsa Race Massacre was promulgated by an angry, white mob that included city police and aided by the Oklahoma National Guard that flattened much of the Greenwood District, an all-Black community. The result was the death of at least 300 Greenwood residents, the exile of many including leaders of the community and the loss and destruction of real and personal property. Estimates of the total property damage have amounted to approximately $4 million at 1921 rates; $58 million at 2020 rates. On Tuesday Biden’s address covered several initiatives which include redirecting federal purchasing power to distribute aid to minority-owned businesses, allocating $10 billion to help rebuild disenfranchised communities which often house majority Black populations. Biden also plans to direct $15 billion to help boost transportation in areas that have historically faced difficulty with access to public transit. In 2019, the median wealth gap of Black households in the United States amounted to $24,100, compared with $189,100 for white households, according to a report by the Center for American Progress. “The average Black household had $142,330 in 2019 compared with $980,549 for the average white household.” One last initiative Biden plans to take is to target the detrimental effects of the housing appraisal market which routinely assigns low-cost values to Black-owned homes. By establishing an interagency to address the inequality, along with the assistance of the Office of Housing and Urban Development, the Biden-Harris administration hopes to counter these harmful practices which in totality aid in maintaining the disparities found in the national wealth gap “The Federal Government must reckon with and acknowledge the role that it has played in stripping wealth and opportunity from Black communities,” Biden stated in a proclamation released on Memorial Day. “The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to acknowledging the role Federal policy played in Greenwood and other Black communities and addressing longstanding racial inequities through historic investments in the economic security of children and families, programs to provide capital for small businesses in economically disadvantaged areas, including minority-owned businesses, and ensuring that infrastructure projects increase opportunity, advance racial equity and environmental justice, and promote affordable access.” However, Biden still faces criticism over his refusal to set forth a comprehensive effort to eliminate the student debt, an important tenant in reversing the wealth gap for millions of Black Americans. Lawmakers have urged Biden to cancel $50,000 worth of student debt for individuals saddled with burdensome loans. On the campaign trail Biden voiced he supported the number but voiced that through executive order, $10,000 would be the likely target. “Components of the plan are encouraging, but it fails to address the student loan debt crisis that disproportionately affects African Americans,” said Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP during a call with administration officials regarding Biden’s appearance in Tulsa. “You cannot begin to address the racial wealth gap without addressing the student loan debt crisis.”
BALTIMORE — With the country showing increasing signs of reopening each day, the tendency exists among some to forget the most devastating impacts of COVID-19. In many of our most vulnerable communities, the battle against the disease continues to rage on as Americans contend with not just high infection rates, but also the pandemic’s long term health implications and unprecedented economic setbacks. The NAACP, the nation’s largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization, in seeking to ensure that our communities continue to stay informed and get the facts they need to make best decisions for their families and communities, today announced the creation and launch of an essential and exciting new national initiative, ‘COVID. KNOW MORE.’ The campaign, which kicked-off this morning, has been conceived with the intent of providing to Black Americans the most comprehensive suite of relevant information and resources on COVID-19 available, curated specifically for them. The mainstay of the NAACP’s ‘COVID. KNOW MORE’ effort is a now live, multifaceted online information hub housing a broad array of features designed to empower African Americans’ decision making as they navigate the pandemic—at their own convenience. The hub, which can be accessed at naacp.org/covidknowmore, stands as one user-friendly, central place for individuals, community groups, partners and NAACP branches alike to find the latest news and information, research, resources, science-based guidance and updates from medical experts. The platform further reinforces the NAACP as the most visible and trusted resource for African Americans on the health crisis. “The NAACP is continuing its work to help our most vulnerable citizens and communities safely navigate back to normalcy while countering the ongoing devastation of COVID-19,” said Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO. Through our pioneering ‘COVID Unmasked’ virtual town hall series, local mask distributions and other COVID education efforts, the NAACP has been dedicated to fighting this pandemic from the outset. COVID. KNOW MORE is the natural evolution to continue to expand not only the information provided to our communities, but also to address the long-term implications and impacts of the pandemic and systemic disparities.” The NAACP has commissioned proprietary research, which will be featured and updated bi-monthly, taking a consistent pulse of Black America’s status and progress as we collectively progress toward full recovery. African Americans surveyed have expressed ongoing concerns about the vaccines, the rise of COVID-19 variants, public adherence to guidelines, jobs availability, safely returning to work and other factors affecting their daily lives. The key learnings from this exclusive polling will serve to fill in the information gaps, and further strengthen our communities as they build back given the expressed need for reliable updates on the factors impacting their daily lives over the coming year. Other specific highlights to be found on the branded site are a running news feed, infographics illustrating proprietary NAACP COVID-19 research, an information-rich video series, public service announcements and testimonials plus a customizable messaging toolkit which partners, NAACP branches and units can use to pique awareness of the ‘COVID. KNOW MORE’ initiative in the organization’s key regions across the country. Among the partners who will be engaged in facilitating the rollout of the national campaign are J.P. Morgan Chase and international rideshare operator Lyft.
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Civil rights leaders are alternating between sadness over the death of Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and deep concern about what her death could mean to the composition of the US Supreme Court – and ultimately what it could mean for freedom, justice and equality for Blacks, women and other historically oppressed people. Ginsburg reportedly told her granddaughter on her deathbed, Sept. 18, that “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.” But shortly after news of Ginsburg’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced his intention to try to confirm Ginsburg’s replacement before the presidential election in 44 days. And within minutes of learning of the open seat Arizona Sen. Martha McSally jumped out as the first senator to declare that she will vote for whoever McConnell and Trump instruct her to as soon as possible. “Justice Ginsburg performed a great sacrifice by not allowing herself to rest and selflessly stay and fighting to the very end,” said Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever, a political commentator, public speaker and author. “Her dying wish was for her seat to not be filled. It was on her mind. What this means largely, is that we’re up the creek without a paddle. We know this because Trump is unscrupulous, has no principle, no integrity.” She added, “We’re in perfect storm. We have the most unscrupulous president that we’ve known in recent history. The very same things can be said about McConnell who is even more dangerous. These two individuals are in power and have the power to shape the court. I would expect them to go ahead and try to put another conservative Republican on the court.” As legal minds expressed some of their worst fears, national civil rights representatives recalled the contributions of Ginsburg and what might now be lost. “Justice Ginsburg’s 27-year tenure on the Supreme Court was marked by a passion for justice and the rule of the law,” said Derrick Johnson, president/CEO of the NAACP in a statement. “Her long, remarkable record includes her legendary opinions involving disability rights in Olmstead v. LC, and gender equality in the military, the United States v. Virginia. She was also known for her powerful dissents, many of which she delivered from the bench. These include dissents in the voting rights decision of Shelby County v. Holder, the gender equity case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire Company Co., and the affirmative action case of Ricci v. Stefano…Our nation has lost its north star for justice tonight. As we move forward in the weeks and months ahead, we must honor Justice Ginsburg’s memory and extraordinary contributions and remember that the Supreme Court is the ultimate guardian of all of our civil rights and liberties.” Melanie Campbell, president/CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and convenor of the Black Women’s Roundtable, pointed out how Ginsburg’s arguments will remain alive and provide groundwork for future civil rights battles. “Justice Ginsburg’s powerful and foretelling dissent in Shelby County v. Holder laid bare the majority’s flaws in the decision that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was no longer needed as a deterrent to voter suppression,” Campbell wrote in a statement. “In her dissent, Justice Ginsburg warned that ‘Race-based voting discrimination still exists’ and cautioned that gutting the Act’s protections against voting discrimination was like ‘throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.’” Campbell concludes, “As a result of the Court’s decision, voter suppression tactics have escalated in states across the country. The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation will honor the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by continuing the fight for civil rights, social justice and equity for all.” The National Bar Association (NBA), with its membership of thousands of Black lawyers, called Ginsburg “A truly great American” and “one of the most outstanding, compassionate crusaders for justice to ever sit on the Supreme Court of The United States.” Florida-based Attorney Kelly Charles-Collins fears that a far-right court which would boast a 6-3 majority is going to tear down established law in the form of Brown v Board and the Voting Rights Act. Civil Rights and LGBTQ issues are not their favorites either, she said; also expressing concern for abortion rights. “There’s a balancing, a cost-benefit analysis,” Charles-Collins said. “It’s power versus their word. Do you think McConnell cares? They play chess all day long every day. We have to respect them for that.” The Rev. Graylan Hagler said he thinks it’s not a certainty that McConnell will have the room to execute his plan to get another Republican on the high court. But if McConnell is successful, Hagler theorizes, it will also be “bad news” for immigration and labor unions, which will suffer as will American workers who the Supreme Court already votes against routinely. Critics say a 6-3 conservative court would further eviscerate voting rights by turning its back on extreme partisan gerrymandering, erasing corporate and environmental regulations and further bolstering the rape of the economy and American lives by plutocrats who are benefiting by the removal of limits to the role of dark money and the avalanche of cash that has overwhelmed campaigns and American politics. McConnell has earned Democrats’ ire because of the stunt he pulled in March 2016 when he blocked Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia who had died one month earlier. McConnell’s argument then was that he would not allow any of consideration of Obama’s pick because Americans should be allowed to vote and the president choose. So he placed a blockade around the vote but now he’s rushing to push the vote through, a move that some view as the ultimate hypocrisy. Attorney Elva Mason of Charlottesville sa“We have lost a warrior and I don’t think a lot of people realize it,” she said. “She had a very shy demeanor but was tough as nails.” Mason reflected on an what she views as an important scenario outlined by political analyst and pollster Dr. Larry Sabato of UVA. He said if Republicans push this, the best scenario for those who oppose the move is a Biden win. And then Democrats could expand the court by two to offset the far-right members of the Court. “There are just all kind of ideas. Minds are already running at 100 miles an hour,” Mason said. “The thing that always bothers me is Republicans have always been motivated in terms of elections and who’s on the Supreme Court. It’s always second for Democrats. Now we see consequences. These nine people can make decisions to affect our children and children’s children.”
