Beatrice Dupuy
Posted with permission from Newsweek
Klu Klux Klan members
White supremacists not only shed their masks in 2017 but unleashed one of the deadliest years for extremist violence in almost half a century. Over the past 12 months, white supremacists committed the largest number of domestic-extremist related killings, helping to make 2017 the fifth-deadliest year for extremist violence since 1970, according to a newly released report from the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.
The center counted a total of 34 people killed by domestic extremists, of which 18 were killed by white supremacists, more than double the number of the previous year. In the last decade, right-wing extremism made up 71 percent of extremist-related murders compared to 26 percent of murders by Islamic extremists.
The overall number of deaths attributed to domestic extremists has declined—from 71 people in 2016 and 69 in 2015. The report attributes the fall to a drop in extremist-related mass-shooting sprees like the one Omar Mateen carried out when he killed 49 people at the Orlando Pulse nightclub in 2016.
Even with the decline, the resurgence in white supremacy has politicians raising questions. Democratic Senator Kamala Harris tweeted out Tuesday that she was deeply troubled that the Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen “failed to mention” domestic acts of terror during a Tuesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on threats to the U.S.
Nielsen was testifying on a new report by the Department of Homeland Security that studied the number of immigrants taken into custody for terrorism-related activities. The report was part of President Donald Trump’s executive order to protect the nation from “foreign terrorist entry” to the U.S.
“It is deeply troubling that when talking about threats to our nation, Secretary Nielsen failed to mention a report that talks about some of the most rampant terror attacks that face our nation—domestic acts of terror, including white supremacist extremists,” Harris said in a tweet.
Experts say that the emphasis placed by the government on foreign-born extremists as opposed to domestic-related extremists is part of a larger problem. Anti-Defamation League’s Director of the Center on Extremism, Oren Segal, said the report was a skewed version of terrorism threats in the U.S. by leaving out domestic-terror incidents.
“In a time when the public discussion still tends to focus on foreign terrorist organizations, it is important to remember that white supremacists in particular still very much pose a threat in this country,” he said
The Anti-Defamation League report cites several incidents of white supremacist killings in 2017 including a school shooting in Aztec, New Mexico. William Edward Atchison, 21, entered his old high school by pretending to be a student and then killed two students before turning the gun on himself in December. Atchinson posted online in pro-Trump and alt-right forums, with usernames including Future Mass Shooter, and ranted about his racist ideology, according to The Daily Beast.
The report found that murders carried out by white supremacists in 2017 had ties to the alt-right, a movement that spread online and sprung into rallies and protests where supporters share views seen by many as anti-semitic and racist. The movement entered the mainstream in part thanks to the emergence of Donald Trump. The president’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon once called the publication he until recently ran, Breitbart News, ” the platform for the alt-right.”
Segal said white supremacists are now emboldened and their recent activity, including holding rallies and using social media to radicalize people, must be taken seriously to “mitigate and protect” Americans from next the next attack.
“We just don’t have the luxury to ignore any extremist threat in this country,” he said.
Tag Archives: Steve Bannon
Greene County votes: Jones 3,340 to Moore 462 Doug Jones wins U. S. Senate race with strong support and turnout of Black voters
The Black Belt had strong turnout and support for Jones, who won a bigger margin there than Clinton did last year.
Doug Election Result in Greene County_Layout 1
News Analysis
By: John Zippert Co-Publisher
Doug Jones won a tightly contested special election yesterday for a U. S. Senate seat in Alabama, vacated by Jeff Sessions, when he became U. S. Attorney General.
Based on unofficial statewide returns, Doug Jones the Democratic candidate received 671,151 votes (49.9%), to 650.436 (48.4%) for Republican Roy Moore. 22,819 voters (1.7%) wrote in another choice.
In Greene County, Doug Jones led with 3,340 votes (87.6%) to 462 (12.1%) for Roy Moore and 9 write-in votes. Jones carried every precinct box in Greene County.
In neighboring Sumter County, Jones received 3.527 votes (81%) to 814 votes (18.7%) for Moore. In Macon County, Jones received 5,780 (88.1%) to 758 (11.8%) for Moore. Across the Alabama Black Belt, which has a predominantly Black population, Jones scored overwhelming wins, in many cases exceeding the 2012 turnout for Barack Obama.
Doug Jones won in all the major cities of Alabama, including Birmingham, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Mobile and Huntsville, with strong Black voter support. Moore’s vote in rural and suburban parts of Alabama did not meet expectations and in some cases Moore underperformed his own vote totals and percentages in 2014, when he ran for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.
The election officials in each county will have 14 days to certify the official results, which includes counting military, provisional and other uncounted ballots. These officials will also have to certify that the write –in candidates, were qualified to hold the office of U. S. Senator, or these vote will be disqualified.
So votes for Mickey Mouse or someone residing in another state will not count, changing the percentages of the vote that each candidate received.
A mandatory recount of votes will be order only if Doug Jones margin of victory falls below one half of one percent (0.5%). Jones currently has a margin of 1.5%. If Moore wishes to pay for a recount, at his expense, he can request one, as soon as the results are officially certified.
National political observers view Doug Jones victory as an upset since Alabama was considered a deeply red Republican state that had not elected a Democratic U. S. Senator, in a quarter of a century, since 1992. Moore’s loss was attributed to his record of being dismissed from the Alabama Supreme Court twice for ethical violations, his opposition to gay and Muslim people, his theocratic view of political office and recent allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls, forty years ago.
Moore’s defeat was also a defeat for his major backers including Steve Bannon and President Donald Trump, who weighed in with a last minute rally in Pensacola, Florida and robocalls on election day. Trump, who like Moore, faces questions of sexual misconduct with many women and a difficult path forward on tax reform and other issues, faces dwindling support from his right wing conservative base.
Doug Jones campaign put together a coalition of Black voters, younger voters, college educated and women to overcome Moore’s assumed Republican voter majority in the state. Jones says, he wants to give fair representation to every zip code in the state and work together with Republicans on the “kitchen-table issues of healthcare, wages, education and criminal justice that affect all Alabamians.”
Jones also inherits the task of rebuilding the Democratic Party in Alabama from the uncoordinated efforts of his campaign with Black, young, educated and women voters to pull together a winning strategy and campaign for the upcoming 2018 races, which include the Governor and all constitutional offices as well as the full State Legislature.
Turnout is the key to victory in next Tuesday’s special election
Ballot Box Vote December 12
News Analysis By: John Zippert, Co-Publisher and Editor
Most Alabama political pundits agree that voter turnout will be the key to victory in next Tuesday’s special election between Doug Jones and Roy Moore for the U. S. Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions when he became U. S. Attorney General.
Because Alabama is a deep red state, in the Heart of Dixie, very few political observes gave Doug Jones, a progressive Democratic candidate much of a chance. The polls have been all over the place but most show a tied race or a close race within the margin of error.
Most of the commentary dwells on the lopsided white Republican vote in Alabama but does not take into account Moore’s extremist religious stands which contest the ‘rule of law’ and had him removed twice from the state’s Supreme Court for unethical and unconstitutional behavior.
All of this was before the recent revelations that Moore sexually abused young women in the Gadsden area, some as young as 14, when he was a 30 year old assistant district attorney. Moore, following the example of Donald Trump, has denied all of the accusations by the women despite their believability and corroborating evidence.
The pundits also overlook and discount the efforts of Black organizations to mobilize the Black vote for Doug Jones in the rural Black Belt counties and inner city urban areas of Birmingham, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery and Mobile.
Since Labor Day, Black voter organizations in Alabama have been mobilizing under the banner of the ‘Vote or Die Campaign’ to awaken, register and organize Black voters to turnout in support of Doug Jones on December 12th. Alabama New South Alliance, the SOS Coalition for Democracy and Justice, NAACP chapters, Alabama Democratic Conference and others have been working at the grassroots to enlighten and empower Black voters to take part in the special election.
In the first primary on August 15, Doug Jones won the Democratic primary by 109,000 out of 165,000 total votes. In the second primary between Luther Strange and Roy Moore, Moore received 262,204 votes to 218,000 for Strange.
The turnout in both of these races was below 20%.
Next Tuesday’s election will be held in the midst of the Christmas holiday shopping season. Many people in Alabama just don’t realize there is an election going on and this will contribute to a low turnout.
Statewide in Alabama there are 3.2 million registered voters with 2.1 million active white voters and 760,000 Black voters. There are 1.5 million Republican voters, 1 million Democrats and the rest Independents.
If Roy Moore receives a third of the Republican vote – 500,000, that roughly corresponds to the Evangelic Christian vote which is dedicated to voting for him, then Doug Jones must put together a turnout of over half of the Black vote say 400,000 and enough white Democratic and Republican votes to win over Moore. Putting this type of coalition together is within his grasp but it depends on a strong Black voter turnout together with white voters who feel and know that Moore is and will be a continuing embarrassment to the state.
President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon and other far right conservatives have jumped into this election on Moore’s side but they are late arrivals. Jones has outraised by Moore by $10 million to $2 million in election funds. Jones has been dominating the TV airwaves until recently.
Trump seeks to nationalize the election by portraying Doug Jones as a ‘liberal Democrat’ who win not vote for Trump’s tax cuts, immigration wall, military budget and other issues. Trump’s leaning in late may help solidify the opposition to Moore and support for Doug Jones as the more progressive reasonable candidate, who shares Alabama’s progressive views on these ‘kitchen table issues’.
When you get and read this paper, there will only be a few day left before the Special Election on Tuesday, December 12th, go and vote and show that turnout is the key and will be the difference in this election.
Roy Moore defeats Luther Strange in U. S. Senate Republican Primary Runoff; will face Doug Jones in Dec. 12 Special General Election
L to R: Doug Jones and Roy Moore
A chart showing voting by precinct in Greene County
Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice, Roy Moore, defeated appointed U. S. Senator, Luther Strange, in yesterday’s Republican primary runoff election. Moore will face Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate, nominated in the August first primary, in a Special General Election on Tuesday, December 12, 2017, which is 76 days from today.
Statewide unofficial returns show Moore with 247,553 (54%) and Strange with 203,435 (45%). In Greene County, Moore received 168 (57.3%) to 125 (42.7%) for Strange. . Statewide the turnout was 15%. This is part of a special election process to fill the U. S. Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions when he became U. S. Attorney General.
Moore has twice been removed, by the State Ethics Commission, from his position as Alabama Chief Justice. The first time for moving a two ton monument to the Ten Commandments into the vestibule of the Supreme Court building. The second time was early in 2016, when he instructed Alabama Probate Judges not to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples, in violation of a U. S. Supreme Court decision, which ruled such laws unconstitutional.
President Trump endorsed Luther Strange in the race and tweeted support for him on multiple occasions. As polls showed Strange in danger of losing, Trump visited Alabama to campaign at a rally in Huntsville attended by more than 7,000 people. At that rally, Trump said that he may have been mistaken in endorsing Strange and would support and campaign for Roy Moore if he was successful in the runoff. National TV reported this morning that Trump had deleted his tweets for Strange.
Roy Moore, propelled by evangelical voters, consolidated support from a number of anti-establishment forces, including the pro-Trump Great America Alliance and former White House strategist Steve Bannon, who spoke for Moore at a Monday rally in Fairhope, Alabama. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in a rally for Moore last week, said the judge was a better match for Trump’s “movement.” At the Fairhope rally, Moore reached in his pocket and pulled out a pistol saying, “ I fully support the Second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution and I am not afraid to show it.”
Democratic nominee Doug Jones issued a statement on Tuesday night saying: “Even though I was not on the ballot today, our campaign has been building momentum for weeks with hundreds of volunteers signing up to join our effort, Republicans reaching out to us throughout the state, and our campaign just finishing our strongest week of fundraising. We started our general election campaign more than a month ago and are seeing increased energy moving toward December 12.”
Jones who served as U. S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, prosecuted and convicted two of the Klansmen that were involved in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing of four young girls in 1963. He has also represented progressive organizations and causes as a Birmingham attorney.
Political observers in Alabama predict a close race between Doug Jones and Roy Moore. Jones has solid support from Black voters and will be campaigning for votes from whites, who may be embarrassed to have Roy Moore, with his ultra-right wing views, representing them in the U. S. Senate.
Emerson College conducted a poll in mid-September 2017, suggesting that Roy Moore would win the runoff. In the same poll, Republican voters were asked their choice in a General Election against Doug Jones. The poll showed, regardless of who wins the divisive GOP nomination it appears Democrat Doug Jones will start in a competitive position for the General election as he trails Strange 40% to 43%, and Moore 40% to 44%, well within the polls 4.8% margin of error.
The GOP primary may have left supporters of both candidates unwilling at this time to support their party rival. Of those voting for Moore in the primary, 25% said they would vote for Jones and 49% said they would vote for Strange in the General. Similarly, Strange supporters found 31% voting for Jones and 34% voting for Moore. The GOP will need to find a way to unite during the weeks until the General Election, or face the prospect of Jones pulling off an upset. If Jones were to win, Alabama could send their first Democrat to the U.S. Senate in over 20 years.
The Alabama Secretary of State’s office advises that you can register to vote for the December 12 General Election starting today until November 27, fifteen days before the election. Absentee ballot applications will be available, 45 days before the election, which is October 28, a Saturday, or no later than Monday, October 30.
Newswire : Steve Bannon, most controversial Trump advisor, leaves White House post
By Lauren Victoria Burke (NNPA Newswire Contributor)
Civil rights leaders and members of Congress praised the dismissal of Chief Strategist Steve Bannon from the White House; Bannon’s exit is just the latest departure from the chaotic Trump Administration, that has yet to win a major legislative victory.
Bannon seemed to be in good spirits after the White House announced that he would be leaving the coveted post.
In an interview with The Weekly Standard, Bannon said that he felt “jacked up.” “Now I’m free. I’ve got my hands back on my weapons,” Bannon told The Weekly Standard. “Someone said, ‘it’s Bannon the Barbarian.’ I am definitely going to crush the opposition. There’s no doubt. I built a f***ing machine at Breitbart. And now I’m about to go back, knowing what I know, and we’re about to rev that machine up. And rev it up we will do.”
He also told the magazine that he could be more effective without the constraints of the White House. “I can fight better on the outside,” Bannon said. “I can’t fight too many Democrats on the inside like I can on the outside.”
In a statement about Bannon’s dismissal, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) said that Bannon needed to go, but so do other White supremacists working in the Trump Administration.
“Firing Steve Bannon is not enough, because the issue of him working in the White House has never only been about him,” said Richmond. “It’s also been about the racist and discriminatory policies he’s helped draft and implement which hurt African Americans.”
The CBC released “A Top Ten List of the Trump Administration’s Racist and Discriminatory Policies.” The list included:
1. Voter Suppression Commission
2. Supporting Texas’ Discriminatory Voter ID Law
3. Reinstating the War on Drugs
4. Attacking Affirmative Action at Colleges and Universities
5. Rolling Back Consent Decrees that Keep Police Accountable
6. Muslim Ban
7. Mass Deportation
8. Rolling Back Civil Rights Enforcement Across Federal Agencies
9. Reinstating the Use of Private Prisons
10. Refusing to Protect Americans and the Nation from White Supremacists
In a separate statement on Bannon’s removal, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) called the ousted Breitbart chief the standard-bearer for the worst instincts in American society.
“Whether Bannon personally trades in violence, racism, and bigotry, he allowed Brietbart, his media organization, to become a platform for White nationalism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, and anti-immigrant sentiment of the worst kind,” said Conyers. Although Conyers said that he was pleased that Bannon was no longer serving in the White House, he added that Bannon’s removal will not undo the damage that has already been done and it will not reconcile the hate-filled agenda of the Trump Administration.
“President Donald Trump has shown us his true colors,” said Conyers. “He sided with un-American White supremacists, neo-Nazis, and all those who give racism and hatred a voice. Trump’s failure to reflect on his dangerous rhetoric continues to embolden these groups and ideals.”
Civil rights leaders also voiced their support of Bannon’s exit.
Kristen Clarke, the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said that Bannon was the driving force behind the racial turmoil that threatens to tear this country apart. “Such a divisive figure has no place in the White House,” Clarke said in the statement.
Vanita Gupta, the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said that Bannon’s departure was the right result, but not for the right reason. “The president, who continues to sow hate and division, clearly did not fire Bannon because of his White supremacist views and ties to the so-called ‘alt-right,’” said Gupta. “Someone like Bannon should have never worked in the White House to begin with.”
Gupta continued: “President Trump must address the deep wounds he has created by ridding his administration of Sebastian Gorka, Stephen Miller, and any other staffers who stoke bigotry, hate, and division. Unless and until the president calls out evil; disavows neo-Nazis, White nationalists, and White supremacists; fires these staffers; and abandons his administration’s anti-civil rights agenda, he will continue to have no moral credibility.”
White House insiders have claimed that Bannon submitted his resignation letter earlier this month, but the announcement was delayed, because of the violent White supremacists’ rally in Charlottesville, Va., that left one dead and 19 injured.
Since July 21, four senior staffers have departed the White House; Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Chief of Staff Reince Preibus, and Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.
Derrick Johnson, the interim president and CEO of the NAACP, said that the group was glad to see Bannon out of the White House.
“Ousting one key staffer, however, can’t erase the words used by President Trump this week in defense of domestic terrorists, neo-Nazis and White supremacists,” said Johnson, in the statement about Bannon’s dismissal. “President Trump provided permission for these hate groups to exist. Following the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia, numerous other rallies and White supremacist groups are being mobilized across the country.
Johnson continued:” These groups are not rallying for peace, or for the preservation of Confederate memorabilia. They exist purely to foment hatred and violence. And they march with the president’s blessing.”
Lauren Victoria Burke is the White House Correspondent for NNPA and a writer and political analyst. She appears on NewsOneNow with Roland Martin every Monday. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke
Peaceful exchange of power takes place as Trump prepares to take oath of office by shaking Obama’s hand.
President Obama shakes hands with President Trump on stage at inauguration. Roy Lewis/Trice Edney News Wire
| (TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States Jan. 20, during a peaceful exchange of powers with America’s first Black President Barack Obama. Trump assured a unified America despite never apologizing for leading one of the most hate-filled campaigns in recent history.
“We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people. Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come,” Trump told the crowd. The Bible tells us, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.’ We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When America is united, America is totally unstoppable.” The speech was met with applause and chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” by the vastly White audience – a reversal from the two inaugurations of eight and four years ago, when throngs of Black people packed in to witness the historic inaugurations of President Obama. The Trump inauguration, though well attended with crowds stretching from the steps of the U. S. Capitol back to the Washington Monument, did not draw as many people as the Obama inauguration, based on close observations of the crowd by this reporter and Black press photographers who attended all three ceremonies. More than 60 Democratic members of Congress decided to skip the inauguration; including Black Caucus members U. S. Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). Lewis contends he does not see Trump as a legitimate president given the involvement of Russian email hacking in order to help him get elected, according to confirmation by intelligence agencies. Lee and others refused to attend because of protest for Trump’s vitriolic conduct during the election. Still President Obama had promised a “peaceful exchange of powers”, a tenet of American democracy. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, were also in attendance with their wives. Former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who battled Trump vigorously to win the presidency, smiled a lot and appeared stately during the procession and ceremony. “Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent,” Trump said. He repeated promised to “make America first” in his proposed national and international policies, legislations and executive orders. He also promised to uplift “inner cities”, a well-known euphemism for the Black community. “Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are the just and reasonable demands of a righteous public,” Trump said. “But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now. We are one nation – and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams; and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny.” Trump’s words are lofty, but his actions have not matched what he has said. So far, he has nominated an all-White cabinet; except Dr. Ben Carson who will head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has also appointed former White supremacist advocate Steve Bannon as a top advisor and nominated former Klan sympathizer Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general. He has appointed Omarosa Manigault to assist him with public liaison, but it remains to be seen what will come from a meeting she and other aids had with Black organizational representatives. Meanwhile on Saturday, the day after the inauguration, more than a million women packed the streets of Washington and other major cities around the U. S. making demands on a string of key issues important to women, Blacks and other minorities. Civil rights leaders have taken a wait and see posture while putting pressure on the Trump administration through protest. Led by Rev. Al Sharpton, they started that pressure during a march one week before the inauguration. On Inauguration Day, National Urban League President/CEO Marc Morial emailed a statement essentially promising to continue marching to correct social ills that were prevalent 50 years ago. |