Tag: African Americans

With two weeks left before the midterm elections, Trump is amplifying a dark vision of what the country could look like if Democrats gain control in Congress. At campaign rallies, on Twitter and in his public commentary, he has issued urgent – if groundless – warnings about terrorists at the border, a socialist takeover and rampant crime. The so-called caravan has swelled to more than 7,000 Central Americans, many of whom have said they are fleeing poverty and violence in their native countries and dream of a better life in Mexico or the US. Yet without citing evidence, Trump has claimed the caravan is embedded with criminals, gang members and “unknown Middle Easterners”, an apparent attempt to exploit fear of terrorism and immigration. Are Donald Trump's claims about the caravan of 7,000 migrants accurate? Read more “That is an assault on our country and in that caravan you have some very bad people and we can’t let that happen to our country,” Trump said at a rally in Houston on Monday night. And then declared himself a “nationalist”, a term he typically avoids using directly about himself at such events. But in a sign that he wants to escalate the rhetoric, he shouted “use that word” to the cheering crowd. “Both in the Republican primaries and in the general election, white voters’ attitudes about African Americans, Muslims and immigration were more closely associated with how they voted than were any strictly economic concerns”. In an ad by the same name, Hunter accuses Campa-Najjar of trying to “infiltrate” the US government and accuses him of being supported by the Egyptian Islamist organization the Muslim Brotherhood.

4 key takeaways from the Florida governor debate Former congressman Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a Democrat, just squared off at a one hour-debate in Tampa. The candidates talked about race: DeSantis was about a controversial remark in which he said voters would "monkey this up" if they elected his African-American Democratic opponent. The two candidates were asked tonight if they think President Trump is a good model for the children of Florida. The Tallahassee mayor then went after Trump. Ron DeSantis was just asked about his controversial remark in which he said voters would "monkey this up" if they elected his African-American Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum, to be governor, immediately drawing accusations of racism. He added: "The truth is, I've been black all of my life. Watch more: There is an ongoing federal investigation into public corruption in Tallahassee, where Andrew Gillum is mayor. What this is all about: The FBI is investigating public corruption in Tallahassee, Florida — the city where Gillum is mayor. Gillum's has said publicly that the FBI told him he was not a focus of the investigation. When Gillum is elected, he said, the people of Florida are "going to have a governor who believes in science."

It was the week identity politics ate itself. It was the week we learned that US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is between 1/1,024th and 1/64th Native American Indian. It was also the week that Harvard University — universally acknowledged as a bastion of American liberalism — was taken to court for discriminating against Asian-American applicants. Similar calculations were being made by Ivy League admissions offices as they sought ways to increase the diversity of their traditionally very white student bodies. Since the mid-1990s, Unz pointed out, Asians had consistently accounted for around 16 percent of Harvard enrollments. Now the advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions, which opposes affirmative action, is suing Harvard for discriminating against Asian applicants. Ninety-nine percent of “progressive activists” believe that “many white people today don’t recognize the real advantages they have.” But 82 percent of “devoted conservatives” reject this, maintaining that “nowadays white people do not have any real advantages over others.” It’s the same polarized story for the whole suite of identity politics issues: immigration, sexual harassment, Islamophobia, feminism. Eighty percent of all Americans, and an even higher proportion of the exhausted majority, believe that political correctness has gone too far. Only 30 percent of progressive activists agree. Only 40 percent of progressive activists agree.

I wrote about how the kind of political rage that we take seriously is the rage of powerful white men. In this past couple of weeks, during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, we’ve seen all kinds of examples of the rage of the powerful white man, not just Kavanaugh but also Lindsay Graham, Donald Trump, and other members of the Republican party, all of them powerful white men, representing the interests of a white capitalist patriarchy. JW: Dr. Ford wasn’t angry, but there were some other women who were: to start with, the two women in that elevator, Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher. RT: The two women in the elevator, and the protesters who’d taken over Washington. RT: I think there’s a lot of value in the ability to express anger without fear of censure and recrimination. Since 1952, when they began measuring this, white women have voted for Republicans in presidential elections every year but two: 1992 and 1996—the Bill Clinton elections. JW: We’ve been talking about white women. What about women who are not white? She says something like, “I’m going to go get Trump,” and people in the media ask her, “Are you talking about killing the president?,” which of course she wasn’t. JW: Let’s talk about tears of rage.

But the Democratic nominee for governor, who later served a decade on the city commission before being elected mayor, has long hinged his political identity on his humble roots far from the state's capital city. There, as one of only two African-American male students in his AP-level classes in high school, he met and befriended the son of a state legislator who — long before Gillum went to college — helped open some of Gillum's first doors to Tallahassee politics. "At that time it seemed something major to have Skittles, Snickers and real Doritos, not generic taco chips, in the vending machines," Gillum told the paper in 2003. But it wasn't until he entered Gainesville High School in the fall of 1994 that he would meet and befriend Christopher Chestnut, the son of two local politicians. "When you saw one you'd see the other," said Cynthia Chestnut, who still lives in Gainesville. Those early trips, Gillum said, were the first time he had ever been to the Capitol or to Tallahassee. Cynthia Chestnut "was the gateway for me," he said. "I could see the influence of exposure to government" on Gillum," Christopher Chestnut recalled. Gillum eventually graduated as student body vice president his senior year of high school. The lawyer, who used to practice law in Gainesville but moved his firm in Atlanta, also has two disciplinary actions against him still pending with the Florida Bar.)

The answer, apparently: he was fundraising in Washington, D.C. Gillum's political committee had a banner week from Sept. 8 through Sept. 14, hauling in over $1.75 million from 196 different contributions. The DeSantis campaign noted that the Republican nominee has raised over $4.5 million between his campaign and political committee since election day. Sharon Lettman-Hicks Sharon is a longtime advisor to Mayor Gillum and a nationally recognized political strategist, and like Mayor Gillum, a proud FAMU alum. Sharon serves as CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition, and previously served in senior leadership roles at People For the American Way Foundation. In 2014, President Barack Obama named her to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans Sean Pittman Sean Pittman is the Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Pittman Law Group. Zach Learner, Deputy Campaign Manager for Operations Zach managed Chris King's gubernatorial campaign, served as director of voter protection for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign in Florida and served on both Obama presidential campaigns. Carlie Waibel, Deputy Communications Director Carlie served on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign in Florida, Charlie Crist's 2014 governor's campaign, for Senator Bill Nelson, and previously managed public affairs for Uber in New England. Kevin Cate, CATECOMM, Paid Media Kevin is a veteran of Florida politics and media consultant for some of the largest corporations, associations, and campaigns in the country. He has served as senior advisor to the Democratic National Committee, senior advisor to Sen. Chris Van Hollen, lead spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, senior aide at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, traveling press secretary for Gov. His experience includes Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, as well as successfully guiding and advising senators, governors, and members of Congress, including Rep. Patrick Murphy (2014 & 2016) and Amb.

Identity politics segregates minority groups and individuals who don’t have a strong national identity are more easily influenced by political propaganda that continues promoting identity groups. Let’s face it, we are all born into a world of circumstances we don’t control. Some of us are born into wealth, never worrying about money; some poor, never experiencing the luxuries of their counterparts. Some people grew up in two-parent households, some in one and others never knowing anything but the foster care system. Privilege exists with everyone in some capacity, but there isn’t one single defining feature or factor that makes someone exclusively inclined to succeed in modern America, least of all race. But equating institutionalized discrimination of the pre-1960s with the climate of America today is nonsensical. “We basically look to government to protect us from a variety of harms,” said Michael Salamone, a WSU judicial process professor. “That’s not specific to any ideology and we can disagree on what those harms are and what the solutions are, but both left and right believe this.” The chief principled idea of America above party politics has always been that you should be the architect of your own future. What makes America exceptional and identity politics so regressive are the values we place in our group identity over our national identity. We should respect the distinctions between one another but embrace the values that allow us to live together.

But the U.S. working class actually has a higher percentage of people of color than our population overall. And black and Latino household income and wealth still lag well behind whites — gaps that didn’t arise by chance. More recently, Fox News has peddled feverish nonsense about the tiny New Black Panther Party, “illegal immigrants” and more. From spreading hysteria about MS-13 to making dishonest claims that football players who kneel during the national anthem “don’t respect the flag,” the president has aggressively pushed the most divisive form of identity politics: white identity politics. Many black, brown and young voters turned out for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 but stayed home in 2016. As the Pew Research Center reported, black turnout tanked in 2016, dropping seven percentage points from 2012. As the record Florida primary turnout for Andrew Gillum showed, millions of new and occasional voters stand ready to support candidates who call out the discrimination at the heart of Trump’s policies and show they’ll fight it. Orson Aguilar is president of The Greenlining Institute. No one covers what is happening in our community better than we do. And with a digital subscription, you'll never miss a local story.

Its next stop is as the first show at the newly refurbished SHN Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco, where it will run from Tuesday, Sept. 11, through Oct. 7, before moving on to San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts from Oct. 9 to 14. We’re immigrants, but at some point it could be anybody starting a new life or wanting to do something that people don’t believe in. I thought, “OK, this will be a great combo because you have this amazing writer who’s really deep and can go to those dark places, but then we have this director who is a song-and-dance man, who knows choreography and knows how to move a show along.” So Emilio and I thought, this is the perfect combo. Q: What I like about this story is that it humanizes your life. Because I love music. I always did music for the love of it, not because I want to be famous. And it became a goal to show people, OK, everybody goes through these things. Q: Since the show first hit Broadway in 2015, the political climate in America has dramatically changed. Do you still feel the same sense of love and optimism for this country? Gloria: I mean, we did not plan the show.

Not even an early-morning insult from Donald Trump could wipe the smile from Andrew Gillum’s face as he embraced his first full day as the newly elected and rather unexpected Democratic party candidate for Florida governor. “Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are both scraping from the bottom of the barrel,” he said on CNN. He was responding to the US president’s tweet praising Gillum’s freshly minted Republican opponent and blasting the Democrat as “a failed Socialist Mayor… who has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city”. Gillum continued: “I actually believe that Florida and its rich diversity are going to be looking for a governor who is going to bring us together, not divide us. Not misogynist, not racist, not bigots, they’re going to be looking for a governor who is going to appeal to our higher aspirations as a state.” It was a strong statement of unity that has served the progressive liberal well, not only in his run for the nomination, backed by George Soros and Bernie Sanders, but throughout his political career. As a 23-year-old student at the historically black Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (Famu), Gillum championed a people-first approach to politics and more funding for education during his successful campaign to be the youngest person ever elected to Tallahassee’s city commission. When in office he pushed forward a number of community- and education-focused projects including providing technology for schools and opening a support and activities center for the city’s vulnerable youth. Play Video 0:56 During this year’s campaign he spoke often of his working-class roots and being the fifth of seven children born in Miami to a father who was a construction worker and a mother who drove school buses. Gillum also won eight of the 10 counties with Florida’s highest proportion of black residents. “My mother said the only thing in life you should ever ask for is a chance,” he said in a pre-election tweet.