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Joe Biden Needs To Find His Mojo Again With Black Voters

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It feels a bit cliché to say that the 2024 Presidential Election will be the most important election in my lifetime. I also felt that way in 2016. I had the same feeling in 2020. I feel that way now because, well you know, it is the most important election in my lifetime. I must admit though that the anxiety I feel about this year’s election is worse than ever. Like most Americans, I’m not excited about a rematch between Biden and Trump. Neither paid attention to calls for them to step aside for a new generation of candidates. And neither faced a serious primary challenge. In other words, it is what it is. I do not have a problem with Biden or Trump’s ages – 78 and 81 years old by Election Day. I just reject the idea that they are uniquely qualified to lead because of their age and experience. There is a generation or two of very capable people in our country that could be effective leaders. So why am I feeling so anxious these days (so much so that I have been practicing the Canadian

Letter to the Editor in Hartford Courant - Government slow to act, sending it to High Court

State Sen. Rob Sampson and House Republican leader Vincent Candelora are both wrong about the Supreme Court’s recent affirmative action ruling and their belief that these kinds of issues should be decided in the legislature. When it comes to ensuring the rights of historically marginalized racial and ethnic minorities, elected representative bodies have been notoriously slow to take action if they take any action at all. It is safe to say that throughout much of our nation’s history, elected officials, especially at the state level, have more likely been the problem rather than the solution when it comes to dealing with racial discrimination and inequality. Racial and ethnic minorities have turned to state and federal courts precisely because lawmakers — historically, both Democrats and Republicans at all levels of government — have often failed to protect the most basic and fundamental rights guaranteed or belonging to a person by the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment was introduc

The Press Protects Democracy By Making Government Transparent and Accountable To The People

As a member of a historically oppressed group, without a doubt, my favorite Amendments to the U.S. Constitution are the 13th (freed the slaves), 14th (introduced equal protection under the law) and the 15th (guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race). Along with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, they form the foundation of not only my freedom as a Black man living in a nation shaped since its founding by White Supremacy, but the freedom of all Americans either directly or indirectly. Close behind those three post-Civil War Amendments and seminal pieces of legislation passed during the century-long Black Freedom struggle, my next favorite is the 1st Amendment:   Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The press clause ackn

Black Freedom is Freedom for Everyone

The black freedom struggle has entered a more radical phase ever since the murder of George Floyd and the thousands of street-level protests that followed. According to Gaye Theresa Johnson and Alex Lublin, in their edited book,   Future of Black Radicalism , “Black radicalism refers to demands and articulations of freedom by Black activists, artists, and intellectuals on behalf of everyone’s freedom.”   Radical protests by blacks have centered on demands such as paying poverty wage workers a living wage, defunding the police, reinvestments in education, urban infrastructure, black communities, and local economies, guaranteeing access to quality and affordable housing, healthcare for all, environmental justice, and ending food insecurity.   In response to black radicalism, the right has intensified its long-standing opposition to the black freedom struggle through denying the reality of systemic racism and opposing the expansion of social safety net programs such as Obamacare that blac

The Mar-a-Lago Club: Trump, Conspiracies, and the Cult

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After centuries of preaching to the masses and proselytizing people, once small, fringe pagan cults, evolved into the largest religions in the world – Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. These religions now have billions of followers. America has been home to a lot of religious fringe groups/cults over the years: The Branch Davidians, the Mansion Family, Children of God/Family International, Heaven’s Gate, and People’s Temple are a few of the most notorious. Add Donald Trump to the list of famous American cult leaders and QAnon to the list of homegrown religious fringe movements. Let’s give this new cult a name: The Mar-a-Lago Club. Through both preaching at his massive political rallies and proselytizing daily over social media, Trump managed to win control of the hearts and minds of the base of the Republican Party and establish himself as a cult-like figure with millions of mostly-white followers, men and women, young and old, rich and poor. To the faithful, the Mar-a-Lago Club leade

It’s Time For More, Not Less Pressure Now That Joe Biden Is President

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It’s hard to describe with words the relief I felt when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took their oaths of office. Like most black people in America, I live with a constant sense of vulnerability, heightened of course, during the last four years by the presence of a white supremacist in the White House, Donald J. Trump. I listened closely to the words of the newly elected President, Joe Biden, during his inauguration address. I was quite moved by his speech, especially when he talked about the need to heal the nation by defeating white supremacy: “A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us," Biden said. "The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer… And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront, and we will defeat. To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words.” “With unity,” he added, “we can do great things. Important things… We

A Steady Habit of Segregation: History of Segregation in Hartford County - Panel Discussion I Moderated

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