Hope for a United Future in America’s Divided Past

When you enter the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, you step into an elevator going down, and through its glass walls, the years flash by, with history moving backward, to the 1400s. Campaign 2016 has often resembled that kind of journey, not moving that far into the past, of course, but far enough to a time when no thin line of civility kept American citizens from lashing out at one another — loudly, and with anger and violence.

That has been the dispiriting price of the long slog to Election Day, Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton, with the country collectively collapsing at the finish line. Still, it would be wise for all Americans to acknowledge that there are miles to go, and that this path is one we have traveled since the beginning, often with one side celebrating and the other deflated — a future of cooperation and compromise downright impossible to imagine

 

Open Letter to My Congressman, Robert Pittenger: No, We Don’t Hate White People

The congressman’s statements to the BBC were shocking and the last thing needed in a taut atmosphere already filled with hurt. Perhaps a visit to the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture could help?

President Obama Is Nobody’s N-word, Despite Trump’s Putin Dog Whistle

PHILADELPHIA – Since the beginning of his presidency, Barack Obama’s opponents have tried to make him something he is not: an angry black man and/or some foreign “other” not entitled to claim the American story as his own.

President Obama, with his Democratic National Convention speech on Wednesday night, answered back. He both endorsed Hillary Clinton and defended America—and himself—against all the insult thrown in Cleveland by Republicans last week.

Again, he thwarted Republican nominee Donald Trump, who had commandeered all the headlines with his latest outrage, all with the simple act of repeating America’s founding principles and reminding listeners of its promise and triumphs in the face of challenges.

“That is America. That is America. Those bonds of affection; that common creed. We don’t fear the future; we shape it, we embrace it, as one people, stronger together than we are on our own,” Obama said.

Weighing In on the DNC From Philly

CHARLOTTE, NC — A new email scandal, angry Bernie supporters, and a historic nomination are all part of the roller coaster ride towards unity at this year’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis talks to us from Philly about the DNC and gives us the inside scoop on what’s going down.

Michelle Obama: Star of the RNC and, Perhaps, the DNC

PHILADELPHIA — When you want to put on a memorable show, you cast a superstar to get it started. Is anyone surprised to see a Michelle Obama speech scheduled for Monday, Day One of the Democratic National Convention?

Without even attending the convention the Republicans just wrapped up in Cleveland, the first lady found a way to dominate in the most visible way possible; her words anchored the prime time speech of Melania Trump. Like many women of all political persuasions I’ve interviewed through two terms of President Barack Obama and his family in the White House, the wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump found inspiration and something relatable in Michelle Obam

 

Spotlight Elections: What’s Next America?

When Barack Obama gave the speech that made him famous at the 2004 Democratic National Convention – and doesn’t that seem like a lifetime ago – it wasn’t just America that noticed. The words he spoke, the sentiment he expressed provided hope for the world: “Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy; our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over 200 years ago: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…’”

Obama’s campaign for president, with the message of “Hope and Change,” was felt not only in the US but was truly international. In Germany in 2008, Obama closed a main thoroughfare when he appeared. The French president all but endorsed him.

It was also what Barack Obama, who would become the first African-American U.S. President, represented. Obama was and is a man of the world. In his example and election, not once but twice, America set an example to aspire to, a country stumbling to find its better self – eventually. In travels, other countries marveled, and had to ask – with an obvious answer — if a member of a discriminated minority closer to home could rise so far.

What a difference eight years make.

Why Obama’s Vision of ‘One American Family’ Matters

President Obama rose to the occasion. In a Dallas speech that started with a joke about the first lady’s love of Stevie Wonder and quickly grew solemn, the president included everyone, and asked something of everyone, as well. He acknowledged his own humanity and imperfections and asked those on all sides to do the same.

And he reminded those listening, at least those with the “new heart” and “new spirit” the Lord promised Ezekiel, that he is a leader who cherishes the promise of America. For someone whose faith has been questioned, the president always reaches deep into Scripture for comforting messages.

 

A Call for a Collective Mourning

Yes, it is possible to be saddened by both the senseless attack that murderedDallas police officers and wounded police and civilians, and the killings of twoAfrican American men in incidents that did not need to end in death.

The fact that that very reasonable and obvious statement needed to be plainly said makes me sad, too – sad for a country that is so hardened into partisan camps that many have even compartmentalized their mourning.

Will ‘Campaign Trail Obama’ Energize Black Women for Hillary?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In his two successful presidential campaigns, President Barack Obama enjoyed the unequivocal support of black women—even those not named Michelle.

African-American women had the highest voter turnout rate than any other group in 2008 and 2012, and thus an outsized say in the result—and not just by flexing their influence at the ballot box.

Many African-American women did the tough work of registering voters,canvassing neighbors and relatives and making sure not to miss the beauty salons and barbershops, and those supporters included celebrities such as Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer, who made the rounds in Charlotte in 2012.

To win in 2016, the presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton cannot just rely on the gaffes of her apparent opponent Donald Trump. She needs to energize the Obama electorate, and, while the young people on that list flirted with her primary competition Bernie Sanders and have not historically been the most reliable voters, African-American women have already shown their historical dependability.

Hillary Clinton and Obama Together This Time in N.C.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – It was all good between these two this time, with President Barack Obama at first taking a literal back seat to Hillary Clinton onstage as she made her case. That also meant he was the closer, one who laced his Tuesday speech with endorsements, humor — much of it directed at “the other guy” — and repeated pleas for the crowd to get out and vote for the woman he said “won’t waver, won’t back down, won’t quit.” Obama said: “Those things matter.”

It mattered to an enthusiastic and diverse crowd of thousands in Charlotte that clearly loves this president and yelled exactly those sentiments to him from time to time. A line that wrapped around the Charlotte Convention Center started in the morning. He was the star who relished being back on the campaign trail, this time as cheerleader-in-chief, leading a chant of HILL-A-RY, HILL-A-RY for the first stop on the “Stronger Together” tour in the battleground state of North Carolina.