Mary C. Curtis: Businesses Struggling with Staff Shortages

CHARLOTTE, NC — As the economy opens back up businesses in our area and across the country are struggling to find help.

WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis talks about what’s leading to the shortage and if it will get better.

Righting economic wrongs of the past

Cecilia Rouse is the first Black woman to chair the Council of Economic Advisers, a White House think tank of sorts on economic policy. Yes, she has an impressive background — dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and a member of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.

But her mandate seems near impossible. She’s been charged by President Biden to steer the nation out of the economic wreckage from the pandemic with equitable policies for all races — all at a time when the Black community has been hit harder than most. Mary C. Curtis speaks one-on-one with Rouse.

POLITICAL WRAP: Biden Address to Joint Session of Congress Happening Wednesday

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Nearly 100 days after taking office, President Joe Biden is finally set to give his first formal address to a joint session of Congress.

Wednesday’s speech will give the President an opportunity to make the case for his $2 trillion infrastructure plan and other legislative priorities.

One Black life mattered, this time

Remember when three Black women proclaimed that Black Lives Matter? It was in 2013 after a jury found George Zimmerman not guilty in the fatal shooting of unarmed Black teen Trayvon Martin in Florida. It seemed so essential and overdue for Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi to found a movement to defiantly claim what America had too often denied.

Yet it was controversial. The willfully blind countered with “All Lives Matter,” as though saying that would make it so. Then, there were suggestions: “Don’t you think it would be less divisive if the signs read ‘Black Lives Matter, Too?’”

In all honesty, anyone who did not get it was not going to with the addition of one three-letter word. But then the world witnessed Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin press his knee on the neck of George Floyd for nine minutes and 29 seconds. That the doubters needed video evidence was infuriating, when Black and brown Americans had been bearing witness for hundreds of years. But communities craving visibility and justice welcomed the opened eyes and protests by all ages and races.

It was certainly never a sure thing that Chauvin would be found guilty on all murder and manslaughter charges, as he was. There was also video of the killings of Philando Castile in Minnesota in 2016 and Walter Scott in North Charleston, S.C., in 2015. Yet in Castile’s case, police officer Jeronimo Yanez was found not guilty. And in Scott’s case, after the first prosecution ended in a hung jury, it took a federal prosecution to gain a plea from former police officer Michael Slager — despite the evidence a brave citizen recorded of Slager shooting Scott in the back, taking aim while standing 15 to 20 feet away, and then throwing his Taser down to concoct a false story for his department to swallow and regurgitate as truth. (Another bit of mild relief this week as Slager’s 20-year sentence was upheld.)

No wonder so many were holding our collective breath.

Unique circumstances

The Chauvin Trial: A Black Issues Forum Special

A jury convicted ex-police officer Derek Chauvin of murder on three counts. A special panel weighs in on what this decision means for Black communities, policing, and the future of equal justice. Deborah Noel is joined by journalist Mary C. Curtis, UNC-CH scholar Erica Wilson, and community activist Greear Webb.

Mary C. Curtis: Derek Chauvin Verdict

CHARLOTTE, NC — Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is found guilty on all counts of murder and manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd.

In the rare case of a police officer brought up on charges and found guilty in the killing of a Black person, the prosecutors mounted a strong case: video evidence, witness testimony, police officers including the police chief testifying that Chauvin did not follow policy.

What happens next on the issue of police reform and Black Lives Matter?

You can catch Mary C. Curtis on Sunday nights at 6:30 PM on WCCB Charlotte’s CW discussing the biggest issues in local and national politics and also giving us a look at what’s ahead for the week.

POLITICAL WRAP: Biden Administration & Justice Department Efforts on Police Reform

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Closing arguments are expected this week in the Derek Chauvin trial. It comes as protests continue over the killing of Daunte Wright. And tensions are high in Chigago with the video release in the police killing of a 13-year-old.

All this coming as the Biden administration and Attorney General Merrick Garland promise more federal oversight of local police departments

If corporations are people, they just might have an opinion

That Pepsi bottle on the counter looks so out of place. My husband has always been a Diet Coke man. It’s a matter of principle, he tells me, even as he admits he prefers “The Real Thing.” Coca-Cola’s statement disapproving of Georgia’s new voting restrictions was too little, too late, and that’s that, he says. All of that puts the Atlanta-based soft drink giant in a bind, since even its belated critical stand was too much for backers of the bill, who are also banishing Coke from their own fridges, they say.

What’s a company to do?

I can’t feel too sorry for Coca-Cola, Delta and the rest, though, since they’ve been playing the political game forever while pretending to be above it all. And I have to stifle a laugh at the Republican politicians who are admonishing corporations and sports leagues now that the bills the GOP instigated aren’t getting a pass. These are the same pols who eagerly accepted campaign donations and good PR in days past.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is astute enough to recognize why his furrowed brow and outraged words are landing with a thud. It’s why his story is constantly changing. He told companies to stay out of politics, was called on it, then said he meant to only offer advice that business leaders read the fine print before opening their mouths and closing their pocketbooks.

POLITICAL WRAP: President Biden’s $2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The definition of infrastructure in the spotlight.

Critics say much of President Biden’s $2 Trillion plan… funds other things.

So what are the chances the President’s agenda makes it through Congress?

Our political contributor Mary C. Curtis has more in the video above.

Mary C. Curtis: North Carolina Expands Vaccine Rollout, Pres. Biden Steps Up National Goal

CHARLOTTE, NC — President Joe Biden says all adults will be eligible to receive a covid-19 vaccine by April 19.

The date is almost two weeks earlier than the previous deadline may first.

The news comes as North Carolina makes vaccinations available to anyone 16 and older starting Wednesday, April 7.

WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis has more.

You can catch Mary C. Curtis on Sunday nights at 6:30 PM on WCCB Charlotte’s CW discussing the biggest issues in local and national politics and also giving us a look at what’s ahead for the week.