Kamala Harris is the likely Democratic nominee —what does this mean for Black voters?

Featured at WFAE

On the next Charlotte Talks, we discuss the sea-change in enthusiasm among Democrats since President Joe Biden announced his decision not to run.

The ascension of Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket has been remarkable in the speed with which the party threw its support to her. But what impact has this had on a key Democratic constituency — Black voters?

Polls in recent months showed that Biden was losing support among Black voters, leaving Democrats worried. Would Democrats lose Black voters to third candidates or Donald Trump?

But Harris may be the key to keeping the support of Black voters with the Democratic Party.

We’ll hear from a panel of Black voters to learn about their thoughts and perspectives on a Harris presidential ticket, and what it means for women and people of color.

GUESTS:

Bakari Sellers, former S.C. lawmaker, attorney and author
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
Christine Edwards, founder and principal consultant of Civility Localized

Read the rest atWFAE
Jul302024 TAGS: , , ,

Women’s voices on justice for Black men

Featured at Roll Call

“We Refuse to Be Silent: Women’s Voices on Justice for Black Men” is a just-released collection of essays. Unfortunately, the need for such voices has been consistent and essential throughout America’s history. Thirty-five journalists, authors, scholars, ministers, psychologists, counselors and others raise their voices — now, and until solutions are in place.

Angela P. Dodson, the collection’s editor and the author of “Remember the Ladies: Celebrating Those Who Fought for Freedom at the Ballot Box,” is the guest on this episode of Equal Time; she is joined by New Orleans-based journalist Lottie Joiner, one of the book’s contributors. (Full disclosure: I’m also a contributor to the collection.)

Read the rest atRoll Call
Jun102024 TAGS: , ,

Equal Time: How Black women, America’s invisible ‘saviors,’ can rewrite the narrative

Featured at Roll Call

With Black women rising to prominence in politics, the arts and every field in between, it could be said that it is their moment in history. But dig deeper and the picture is far more nuanced. When expectations are high and mothers still counsel daughters to “work twice as hard” to succeed, what is the cost? Is there enough attention paid to the concerns of Black women all day, every day, and not just when they are called on to “save the world”? And does the current, sometimes toxic political climate create additional stress?

In this episode of Equal Time, host Mary C. Curtis talks with Inger E. Burnett-Zeigler, associate professor of psychology and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University, whose clinical interests include stress management and wellness. Based on her own experience, extensive work and research, she offers advice on resources and services that can help everyone, especially Black women, show up for community and family, while paying attention to their own needs.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Apr142023 TAGS: ,

Fighting unwinnable battles in an American culture war

Featured at Roll Call

As usual, Michelle Obama stole the show. The former first lady returned to the White House to unveil the official Obama portraits that will forever hang on its walls, and she used the special occasion to deliver remarks that hit the perfect tone.

“For me, this day is not just about what has happened,” she said last week. “It’s also about what could happen because a girl like me, she was never supposed to be up there next to Jacqueline Kennedy and Dolley Madison. She was never supposed to live in this house. And she definitely wasn’t supposed to serve as first lady.”

All over the world, you could hear young girls and women, particularly those of color, cheering.

She referenced the sentiments of her “hope and change” spouse in saying, “if the two of us can end up on the walls of the most famous address in the world, then, again, it is so important for every young kid who is doubting themselves to believe that they can, too.”

Now, whenever the former first lady speaks simple truths, a few trolls find fault with her words, seeing in them victimization, not the obvious celebration intended by the speaker. But then, those naysayers were the ones who never appreciated the style and class the Obamas brought to the people’s house while navigating the uncharted role of “the first.”

Michelle Obama’s speech was not about how bad we were but how far we’ve come, and isn’t that something Americans can point to with pride?

Apparently not.

The first Black president and first lady — an inspiration for so many who had felt left out — are merely ammunition for those who insist on fighting a “culture war” they feel they’re losing.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Sep162022 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How Serena Transcended Tennis

Featured at Slate.com

After winning 23 Grand Slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals, and over $100 million in prize money, this month Serena Williams announced the end of her professional tennis career. While her on-court accomplishments and longevity put her in the sporting pantheon, her cultural impact is just as remarkable.

Guest: Amira Rose Davis, assistant professor of Black studies at the University of Texas Austin and co-host of the feminist sports podcast Burn It All Down.

Read the rest atSlate.com
Aug252022 TAGS: , , ,

Black Issues Forum: The Overturn of Roe v. Wade and Open Season on Civil Rights

Featured at PBS

As Americans celebrate July Fourth, recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings restricting freedoms loom. Journalist Mary C. Curtis, Political Analyst Steve Rao and Professor La’Meshia Whittington comment on the high court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade regarding abortions, Miranda v. Arizona on suspects’ rights to sue and a New York law on gun regulation.

Read the rest atPBS
Jul032022 TAGS: , , , , ,

A Fourth of July tribute to those who love a country that won’t protect them

Featured at Roll Call

Just who deserves protection in America?

If you observe the folks this country chooses to protect and chooses to ignore, you may get an answer that doesn’t exactly line up with America’s ideals.

When Wandrea “Shaye” Moss bravely testified before members of the House Select Committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, I was enraged, though I know my rage slips me into the stereotypical category of “angry Black woman.” I refuse to give up a full palette of emotions because of fear of judgment.

When I heard her mother, Ruby Freeman, speak of the horrors she has had to endure, I was sad for her and for America. “Lady Ruby” was the moniker she proudly used to display on her shirt until racist political operatives dragged that earned good name through the mud.

At an age when she should be comfortably enjoying life, lauded for her community service, Lady Ruby’s life has been forever changed. “Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?” she asked. “The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American.”

She’s right, of course.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Jul032022 TAGS: , , , , ,

A balancing act that’s worth it

Featured at Roll Call

In a brief mention in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Joe Biden described his Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson as a “consensus builder” and touted her support from the Fraternal Order of Police, before moving on to other topics.

That was understandable in a time of war and division, overseas and closer to home. But that doesn’t mean that Jackson’s spot is guaranteed. As she makes the rounds this week, visiting with senators from both parties, it’s a reminder of the tightrope she must walk, the challenges she must overcome even as the rules in this high-stakes game keep changing.

As an African-American woman who has achieved much, she’s proved she is up to the task.

Understandably, many Black women in America celebrated when Biden fulfilled his campaign promise and nominated Judge Jackson to the Supreme Court. She would be the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court, though there have been many who were deserving, one of the most obvious being the first Black woman appointed to the federal bench, Constance Baker Motley, whose life and work are chronicled in the new book “Civil Rights Queen.”

Black women formed a strong part of the coalition that put Biden in the Oval Office and have been stalwart citizens throughout American history, on the forefront of human rights, civil rights and voting activism through icons such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Dorothy Height and Shirley Chisholm and so many others who never received the recognition they deserved.

I have a hunch that if former President Barack Obama had nominated Jackson, who reportedly was on his short list, instead of Merrick B. Garland to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the court, her almost-certain dis by Senate Republicans, led by then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, would have triggered a groundswell that would have carried Hillary Clinton into the White House.

Jackson, then and now, would have to be prepared for whatever might come her way during confirmation hearings, set to start March 21 before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

She’s already been subjected to a grilling from Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn. During her hearing last year for her spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Cornyn asked: “What role does race play, Judge Jackson, in the kind of judge you have been and the kind of judge you will be?”

Read the rest atRoll Call
Mar032022 TAGS: , ,

Black women are Americans, and representation raises the bar — legal and otherwise

Featured at Roll Call

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was shocked and, indeed, insulted that anyone would ascribe even a hint of racist intent to his recent statement that divided the electorate into African Americans and Americans: “If you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”

On the one hand, that outrage was pretty rich coming from the man who treated the first Black president of the United States as an annoyance to be dismissed or ignored, especially when that president attempted to appoint a Supreme Court justice, one of the duties of — the president of the United States.

On the other hand, the Republican senator from Kentucky was just doing what a whole lot of Americans do: Treat “white” as the default and everyone else as someone or something “other,” and, by statement or inference, someone or something “less.”

Of course, McConnell being McConnell, he “misspoke” while explaining his stand against the shrinking voting rights of Americans who only began to fully share in the franchise after a law passed by Congress in 1965 — one that came only after fierce debate and the bloody sacrifice of civil rights workers.

It’s Black History Month, Senate minority leader. Read a book, watch “Eyes on the Prize,” examine your own party’s Southern strategy. And do it before bills that would ban teachers from talking about race in a way that could make anyone uncomfortable make their way through the legislature in your home state of Kentucky.

It could be any month, though, as the pending appointment of the next Supreme Court justice by President Joe Biden has ushered in yet another round of “Let’s pretend that all those white, male judges were perfect and perfectly qualified and these Black women on the short list with long résumés and years of experience could never measure up.”

Only white men on the Supreme Court, well, that was the way it was. If merit and good character were criteria, Black women — and representatives of Americans of every race and gender and creed whose fate has been decided by the highest court in the land — would have been appointed to the court long ago. But in those days, years, decades and centuries, the “white” was silent, and understood.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Feb032022 TAGS: , , , ,

Conservatives Accuse President Biden of Playing Identity Politics

Featured at Black News Channel

Great discussion on Black News Channel with host Charles M. Blow and Rewire News Group’s senior editor of law and policy Imani Gandy on “identity politics” accusations toward #PresidentBiden and anticipated conservative opposition to Biden’s #SCOTUS nominee, on #PRIME.

Read the rest atBlack News Channel
Jan292022 TAGS: , ,
Next Page »