Greene County Democrat

Tag: Marcia Fudge

  • Vice-President Kamala Harris joins thousands to commemorate 57th. Anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’ and calls for the resurrection of the Voting Rights Act and end to voter suppression

    Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at foot of Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma
    Spiver 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.

  • Newswire: Biden taps Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge for HUD Secretary post

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    Marcia Fudge


    Marcia Fudge, the Democratic Representative from Ohio and former Congressional Black Caucus Chair, will serve as the Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary under the incoming Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration.
    If confirmed, Fudge, 68, would count as only the second Black woman to lead HUD. Patricia Harris served in that role under President Jimmy Carter.
    “We are relieved knowing that the same determination Rep. Fudge brought to defending hungry families from cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be brought to tackle one of the biggest looming threats facing Americans during this economic crisis: evictions and housing insecurity,” The CBC offered in a statement.
    Fudge, who currently serves on the House Committee on Agriculture, has a long history of championing civil and human rights. Her selection again shows that President-Elect Biden is keeping his campaign promise of a diverse cabinet and staff.
    On her December 11 remarks, Rep. Fudge reflected on the responsibilities she would assume as HUD Secretary.
     
    “Our task at the Department of Housing and Urban Development will be to stand up for the dignity of all Americans and deliver the promise of our nation to all those left out in the cold… We will fight for housing in every community that is affordable, decent, and safe. We will help more Americans the secure dream of home ownership, to close the gaps of inequity, build wealth and pass it onto their children…But perhaps most importantly of all, we will help people believe once again, that their government cares about them no matter who they are. That we understand their problems.”
     
    Elected to Congress in 2008, Rep. Fudge has represented Ohio’s 11th District that includes 32 cities, suburbs and towns in Ohio’s Cuyahoga and Summit Counties, including Cleveland, Akron, and Euclid. She is also a past Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
     
    Prior to her election to Congress, she served in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, and broke racial and gender barriers as the mayor of Warrensville Heights. As its mayor, she focused on revitalizing both a sagging retail base and new residential construction.
    A lawyer by training, Congresswoman Fudge is a graduate of Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall School of Law, and earlier earned her bachelor’s degree in business from The Ohio State University. She is a Past National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and a member of its Greater Cleveland Alumnae Chapter.
    Numerous housing stakeholders also expressed support for the Fudge nomination including top industry leaders like the Mortgage Bankers Association, and the National Association of Home Builders. This corporate support is matched by that of lawmakers, consumer and affordable housing advocates as well.
     
    “An unflagging advocate for civil rights, Fudge brings decades of experience as a public servant and a strong commitment to ensuring equitable access to credit, education, healthy food, clean environments and other resources, which go hand-in-hand with access to housing,” noted Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance.
     
    “Having served as mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, Fudge will bring a unique understanding of how HUD programs are implemented on the ground locally,” Rice said. “We are further encouraged by the incoming administration’s indication that its Day One priorities for HUD will include reinstating the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing and 2013 Disparate Impact rules.”