Dr. Edith P. Mitchell is widely known for her work in fighting cancer disparities. In 2015, she was elected the president of the National Medical Association, which has a membership of over 30,000 African American physicians, and was named to EBONY Magazine’s Power 100 List.
Category: African-American
156 Civil and Human Rights Groups Call for Stronger Response to Hate Incidents
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 155 civil and human rights groups today called upon the Executive Branch to respond more quickly and forcefully to hate-based incidents, which have been occurring at an alarming rate in recent months. The statement follows: “Our diversity is part of what makes America great, and incidents motivated by hate are an affront to the values we share.
Two unsatisfying articles about the 2016 Democratic sweep in Harris County
The Democratic sweep in Harris County has drawn some national attention, as writers from the left and right try to analyze what happened here last year and why Hillary Clinton carried the county by such a large margin. Unfortunately, as is often the case with stories about Texas by people not from Texas, the results are not quite recognizable to those of us who are here.
Housing a Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson speaks
Ben Carson just referred to slaves as ‘immigrants’ Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson referred to slaves as “immigrants” while speaking Monday to department employees. Check out this story on jacksonsun.com: http://usat.ly/2mxkV0Q “That’s what America is about, a land of dreams and opportunity,” Carson said.
High court ruling could reshape Virginia political map
A U.S. Supreme Court decision reviving a challenge to several Virginia legislative districts could send lawmakers back to the drawing board, but Republicans say they are confident the state’s current electoral map will withstand further scrutiny. The justices on Wednesday tossed out a ruling that upheld 11 districts in which African-Americans made up at least 55 percent of eligible voters and ordered the lower court to re-examine the boundaries.
African Americans to Democratic Party: We’re still here
In this Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013 file photo, from left, President Barack Obama, former President Jimmy Carter, first lady Michelle Obama, and former President Bill Clinton wave after a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. As an African-American Democrat, I share the core values of my political party.
Conservative North Carolina laws spur NAACP call for boycott
An economic boycott by the NAACP is the latest fallout over North Carolina’s so-called bathroom bill and other conservative policies. The civil rights organization urged religious conferences, athletic events and musicians Friday to take their business elsewhere.
Trump praises new African American museum during first visit
President Donald Trump denounced “bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms” during his first visit to the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History on Tuesday. Trump, in remarks after his tour, called the museum “truly great” and said he would be back to see more of the 3,000 objects illustrating African-American history.
These Republicans didn’t like Trump at first. They do now.
Yet like nearly nine out of 10 Republicans nationwide, Searles, Meyer and Francioli supported Trump in the general election. And like the vast majority of Republicans, they support him still.
Continue reading Trump and the Black Caucus Plan to Meet for the First Time a ‘
Following a bizarre exchange with American Urban Radio Networks White House Correspondent April Ryan, the Congressional Black Caucus is in talks with President Donald Trump to set up a meeting. Trump asked, Ryan, a veteran Black journalist, if she could set up a meeting with him and the CBC, as if Ryan was an employee of the White House or a special assistant to the CBC.
Meet the woman who broke barriers as a a hidden figurea at the US Navy
The Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures celebrates the true story of three African-American women who helped propel the U.S. space program to new heights. While Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan and Katherine Johnson were breaking barriers at NASA, another hidden figure, Raye Montague, was making history at the U.S. Navy.
Meet the woman who broke…
The Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures celebrates the true story of three African-American women who helped propel the U.S. space program to new heights. While Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan and Katherine Johnson were breaking barriers at NASA, another hidden figure, Raye Montague, was making history at the U.S. Navy.
Keeping African American culture vibrant in Mount Pleasant
Betty Mullen fixes a bowl of gumbo Feb. 11 at the Second Baptist Ministries’ 22nd annual Black History Month celebration in Mount Pleasant. Mullen has been a member of the church for more than 40 years and helps coordinate the celebration.
License to discriminate?
Many discussions about unequal justice in the United States focus on the disproportionate number of African Americans – particularly young black men – who end up in our jails and prisons. Our review of 5.5 million state court records showed that same pattern in Oregon.
FLOD Spotlight Magazine: Artwork of Ajamu Walker, Social Canvas – Black Wall Street
Ajamu Kojo is an artist based in New York who recently kicked off his first exhibit called Black Wall Street: A Case For Reparations. A centerpiece of Kojo’s exhibit is a painting called Black Gold which features Dr. Olivia J. Hooker, the first African-American woman to join the U.S. Coast Guard.
Conservatives sure love progressives and radicals – at least after they’re dead
The right loves to lay claim to legends like Martin Luther King and Susan B. Anthony. Historians beg to differ Sen. Mitch McConnell’s ill-advised silencing of Sen. Elizabeth Warren during the debate over confirming Jeff Sessions as attorney general read as a blatant act of sexism from a man who can’t handle backtalk from a woman.
‘Hidden Figures,’ Henson among top NAACP Image Award winners new
“Hidden Figures” and Taraji P. Henson had a big night at the NAACP Image Awards, where Hollywood glamour shared the stage with somber remarks from the director of Washington’s new African-American museum. “Hidden Figures,” the fact-based drama about the contributions of black female mathematicians to the U.S. space program, won the award for best movie Saturday, while star Henson was honored as best actress.
Protesters mass outside Mitch McConnell’s Louisvillehome to recite Coretta Scott King letter
Protesters recited Coretta Scott King’s decades-old letter opposing newly confirmed Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday evening outside the Louisville home of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican. Nearly 400 demonstrators gathered outside Mr. McConnell’s residence Friday night to read aloud King’s 1986 critique of Mr. Sessions, the Huffington Post reported.
Massachusetts Democrats waging resistance to President Trump
Beacon Hill is replete with images of Massachusetts’ revolutionary past – a past that is feeling much closer to Democrats waging their own resistance to Republican President Donald Trump . Since the election, state Democrats have passed through several stages of political grief before landing on the up-in-arms stage.
COMMENTARY: What Milo Yiannopoulos and Elizabeth Warren have in common
The term refers to what happens when an attempt to censor information backfires and instead unintentionally draws more attention to the censorship target. Its namesake is Barbra Streisand, who in 2003 sued a photographer for including a photograph of her Malibu home among a series of 12,000 aerial images documenting California coastal erosion.
Inward-looking House Democrats seek best way to make gains
House Democrats are united against President Donald Trump , but as they wrap up a somewhat painful, inward-looking retreat, they are still trying to figure out how to turn that opposition into a winning strategy. They agree that they need a stronger message about helping working-class Americans who propelled Trump to a surprising win and a better way to communicate that message, especially amid the daily cacophony that has so far characterized Trump’s presidency.
Let Liz speak: removing the tape
Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke out Tuesday night during a debate of the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions to Attorney General and was met not with respect, but with a disturbing slap across the face to women everywhere. Warren read an excerpt from a letter Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King Jr., wrote to Sen. Strom Thurmond.
King letter and statement criticize Sessions prosecution
This photo provided by Armstrong Williams shows Senate Judiciary Chairman Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., posing for a photo with Coretta Scott King, widow of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. and then Thurmond staffer Armstrong Williams, right, in this undated photo. A letter sent by Coretta Scott King saying Jeff Sessions would be a bad choice for a lifetime federal judgeship is receiving new attention after Sen. Elizabeth Warren was rebuked Feb. 7, 2017, for quoting King’s letter on the Senate floor.
Congress approves Sen. Jeff Sessions to lead Justice Dept.
The 52-47 vote broke largely along party lines and capped weeks of divisive battles over Sessions, an early supporter of Donald Trump and one of the Senate’s most conservative Republicans. Democrats laced into Sessions over his ties to Trump and his record on civil rights and immigration.
Silencing of Warren throws Senate into turmoil
Democratic senators fighting to derail Jeff Sessions’ nomination as attorney general repeatedly challenged Republicans Wednesday by reading aloud from a critical letter from Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow, a day after the Republicans silenced Sen. Elizabeth Warren for doing the same. Warren was ordered to sit down Tuesday night, throwing the Senate into turmoil as it headed for Wednesday night’s vote on the Alabama senator.
Darrin Bell’s ‘Candorville’ a Comics-Page Commentary on Trump Policies
President Trump says he has a “running war with the media,” and that might as well include the funny pages. Comic strip artists have authored some of the sharpest political commentary directed against the President and his policies.
Read Coretta Scott King’s Letter That Got Sen. Elizabeth Warren Silenced
One day after Senate Republicans invoked a conduct rule to end Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s speech against the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general, a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King urging the Senate to reject Sessions’ nomination as a federal judge is gaining new prominence. Warren was reading aloud from the letter by King, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, when she was interrupted by the presiding chair of the Senate, who warned her of breaking Rule 19 , which forbids members from imputing to a colleague “any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.”
Senate GOP silences Warren over criticism of Sessions
Senate Republicans silenced Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren for criticizing colleague and Attorney General-nominee Jeff Sessions with the words of Coretta Scott King from three decades ago challenging his record on race. Warren, whose name has been prominent in speculation about the 2020 presidential race, was given a rare Senate rebuke Tuesday night for impugning a fellow senator and she was barred from saying anything more on the Senate floor about Sessions, R-Ala.
Silenced on the Senate floor, Elizabeth Warren goes to Facebook Live
On Tuesday night, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invoked ” Rule XIX ,” censuring Senator Elizabeth Warren for her attempt to read a letter critical of fellow senator and attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions. The section of the rule used says that “No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.”
Republicans Tried to Suppress The Words of Coretta Scott King. Bad Idea.
Senate Republicans banded together Tuesday night to block Sen. Elizabeth Warren from reading a letter Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, wrote to oppose a judicial appointment for Sen. Jeff Sessions more than 30 years ago. But the move ignited a firestorm of resistance from Democrats, ensuring widespread attention to the letter itself.
This Is the Coretta Scott King Letter That Elizabeth Warren Was Prevented From Reading in the Senate
American civil rights campaigner, and widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King stands behind a podium covered in microphones at Peace-In-Vietnam Rally, Central Park, New York, April 27, 1968. over the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General after she quoted a letter written by Coretta Scott King in which King spoke out against Sessions' character, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that Warren had “impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama,” referring to Sessions; the Republican-held Senate then voted 49 to 43 to uphold the objection that she had breached the rules of debate.
Warren Violates Arcane Rule, Sparking Senate Dustup
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has earned a rare rebuke by the Senate for – believe it or not – quoting Coretta Scott King on the Senate floor. The Massachusetts Democrat ran afoul of the chamber’s arcane rules by reading a 30-year-old letter from Dr. Martin Luther King’s widow that dated to Sen. Jeff Sessions ‘ failed judicial nomination three decades ago.
Mitch McConnell tells Elizabeth Warren (and Coretta Scott King) to sit down and shut up
Donald Trump has won the presidency after narrowly carrying a few states to put him above 270 electoral votes.But according… **NOTE: THE FORM LETTER IS BLANK. WE WILL ACHIEVE MAXIMUM IMPACT WITH UNIQUE LETTERS.
40 percent approve of Supreme Court pick, want confirmation
A plurality of Americans approve of Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, and say the Senate should confirm him, according to a new poll. A survey of 1,000 adults by the Huffington Post and YouGov found that 40 percent of the public either strongly or somewhat approve of Gorsuch, while only 28 percent somewhat or strongly disapprove of the nomination.
2/04/2017
Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves. – James Baldwin, from The Fire Next Time Last month, we celebrated the life of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., whose incredible example is unique in American history.
Things to know about Black History Month
Carter G. Woodson in an undated photograph. Woodson is a founder of the Association for the Study of African American History, who first came up with the idea of the celebration that became Black History Month.
Disclosure Push Threatens Non-Profit Donors’ First Amendment Protections
California elected officials are leading a courtroom charge to bulldoze the 1958 NAACP v. Alabama Supreme Court decision that guarantees anonymity for non-profit donors who might otherwise be subjected to death threats and other forms of intimidation.
Paying Tribute To Congressman John Lewis In The Face Of Trump’s Travesty
Not long after we sang, “If I Had a Hammer” and “Blowing In the Wind,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took the stage to deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech. Mary took my hand and whispered to me, “Peter, we are watching history being made.”
Trump returns bust of ‘real ally’ Sir Winston Churchill to Oval Office
President Donald Trump has hailed Sir Winston Churchill as a “real ally” after returning a bust of the wartime leader to the White House’s Oval Office. In a nod to the “special relationship”, Mr Trump appeared to make good on an agreement to return the former prime minister’s likeness to the famous office within hours of being sworn in.
‘Women’s March’ Occupies Washington Day After Donald Trump’s Inauguration
Roughly half a million people of all ages, backgrounds and genders crammed into the nation’s capital a day after President Donald Trump took the oath of office-a demonstration that called itself the “Women’s March,” but protested the GOP agenda on healthcare, immigration and the rights of racial and sexual minorities. Participants packed the center of the city so densely that little actual marching occurred.