All Articles Tagged "african-american politics"
He Said What?? Herman Cain’s 7 Most Outrageous Statements
By Jay Anderson
With Chris Christie and Sarah Palin wisely choosing to sit 2012 out, there aren’t many “colorful” candidates left vying for the chance to unseat President Obama next year. One exception, literally and figuratively, is former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and radio talk show host Herman Cain. Seemingly left for dead once Tea Party favorites Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry ascended the ranks, Cain has recently seen his poll position improve dramatically. A recent string of straw poll victories has Cain back in the game, trailing only perpetual snooze/frontrunner Mitt Romney in most reputable polls. Of course, given the topsy turvy nature of the race and his frequent bouts of verbal diarheaa, Cain could very easily be back in single digits next week. So what better time to review some of his most infamous statements? After all, nobody will care come January when he finishes 8th in New Hampshire, so why let a perfectly good slideshow go to waste? Shall we?
1. Black Folks Are “Brainwashed”
For a guy who has shouted “I left the Democratic plantation!” to adoring Tea Party crowds, Cain’s black folks “have been brainwashed into not being open-minded, not even considering a conservative point of view” proclaimation during a CNN interview wasn’t exactly new news. In fact, it’s a pretty standard Black Republican talking point. What’s interesting is that Cain claimed he could salvage the “one-third to 50 percent of black Americans” who are open-minded. Yep, cause as we all know, insulting people’s intelligence is the best way to get them to vote for you.
Chicago Blacks Defending Political Map
(Chicago Tribune) — A coalition of African-American civil rights groups is seeking to join Illinois Democratsin defending a newly drawn legislative district map that Republicans are challenging in federal court. In a request to a special three-judge federal panel considering the GOP lawsuit, the organization African Americans for Legislative Redistricting asks to be added as a defendant because its members helped Democrats craft new boundary lines for the state’s 59 Senate districts and 118 House districts. The organization is made up of the Chicago Urban League, the Rainbow Push Coalition founded by Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the Woodlawn Community Development Corp. led by Rev. Leon Finney and the Cook County Bar Association, an African-American lawyers’ organization. The coalition said it offered testimony to legislative committees, consulted with groups that focused on minority rights relating to new boundary lines and created its own redistricting plan that was submitted to the General Assembly.
Black Illinois Dems to Defend New Voting Districts From GOP Attack
The GOP is gearing up to fight the enactment of a new map that redraws state assembly voting districts in Illinois. Republicans there, which are in a minority in the legislature, have filed a law suit questioning the new map that was created in response to demographic shifts revealed by the U.S. Census. The updated map seeks to preserve an accurate representation of the state’s communities, and has been approved by Illinois’ governor and legislative body. But because Republican state representatives are in the minority, the party has had little input into its boundaries.
The GOP is seeking to overturn the approved map in the hopes of gaining better political footing, in a move that has inspired a coalition of African-American groups to file a motion defending the document. The Chicago Tribune reports:
A coalition of African-American civil rights groups is seeking to join Illinois Democrats in defending a newly drawn legislative district map that Republicans are challenging in federal court.
In a request to a special three-judge federal panel considering the GOP lawsuit, the organization African Americans for Legislative Redistricting asks to be added as a defendant because its members helped Democrats craft new boundary lines for the state’s 59 Senate districts and 118 House districts.
The organization is made up of the Chicago Urban League, the Rainbow Push Coalition founded by Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the Woodlawn Community Development Corp. led by Rev. Leon Finney and the Cook County Bar Association, an African-American lawyers’ organization.
The coalition said it offered testimony to legislative committees, consulted with groups that focused on minority rights relating to new boundary lines and created its own redistricting plan that was submitted to the General Assembly.
Black Man in Running for Top Miss. Seat
(AP) – JACKSON, Miss. – Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree on Tuesday won the Democratic nomination for Mississippi governor, becoming the first black candidate in modern times to win a major-party nod for the state’s top job. DuPree defeated Clarksdale attorney and developer Bill Luckett in a Democratic primary runoff. DuPree, 57, advances to the Nov. 8 general election to face Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, 56, of Brandon. ”I’m just so proud of the fact that we had people who believed in us, believed in the message, believed in what we’re trying to accomplish. I’m so proud that people took a hold of that,” DuPree said in a phone interview from a Hattiesburg community center, where he celebrated with family and supporters.
Michigan’s ‘Emergency Managers’ Strip Black Officials of Power
(Black Voice News) — As a ballot petition to repeal Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager law, circulates throughout the state, a broad coalition of labor and civil rights attorneys has already initiated legal action to defeat the bill in court. Filed in Ingham County Circuit court June 22, the lawsuit states that Public Act 4 illegally establishes a new form of local government, violating the constitutional rights of Michigan residents. Attorney William Goodman of the Detroit Lawyers Guild told a National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) forum, held July last week at Fellowship Chapel, that putting together a legal strategy against a law so unjust proved challenging. “The courts are controlled by reactionary, right-wing train of thought,” Goodman said. “But we have drafted a lawsuit that is very strong and powerful.” In addition to legal aspects, over 100 in attendance heard testimony on what happens when an emergency manager takes over an entire city, such as Pontiac. Pontiac’s elected city officials have had their political power stripped completely since the state of Michigan appointed Emergency Manager Michael Stampfler to run the city of Pontiac March 19.
Debt Deal Has African-Americans Split
(News One) — While the full details of the recent debt ceiling deal signed by President Obama have yet to be released to the public, many pundits and political experts are claiming that the hardest hit groups will be the poor and minorities. Since the deal was signed, President Obama has been criticized by the Congressional Black Caucus and Rev. Jesse Jackson amongst others, for the concessions many believe he made in these talks that could cut the amount of funding many programs important to poor communities receive.
SCLC Leader Creecy Dies
(AJC) — The Rev. Howard Creecy Jr., a prominent Atlanta minister who was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference earlier this year, died suddenly Thursday, the civil rights organization said. Although the cause of death has not been determined, Creecy’s family suspects the pastor of the Olivet Church inFayette County died of an apparent heart attack at his Atlanta home around 12:30 a.m., according to the SCLC. The group said an autopsy has been commissioned. Isaac Newton Farris Jr., a nephew of SCLC co-founder the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., has been named interim president, the organization said.
In Maryland Race Complicates Redistricting
(Washington Post) — Few states’ delegations in the House of Representatives pack the political punch of little blue Maryland. Among its eight members is a Democratic juggernaut: the House minority whip and ranking members of the powerful budget, intelligence and oversight committees. The eight also stand out as collectively far more white than the Maryland they have come to represent, the 2010 Census showed. Just a quarter of the state’s representatives are African American even though minorities, most of them blacks, now make up nearly half of the state’s population. As Maryland’s redistricting process begins, African Americans in and out of state government are increasingly split over whether their top priority should be to push to redraw lines to ensure better representation for blacks or to protect Maryland’s white incumbents because of the coveted positions of power they have attained on Capitol Hill.
NAACP Regaining Relevance Through Diversity
(AP) — Jobs, education, health, housing — the issues driving the NAACP these days look much like the concerns of most Americans, and that’s by design. As the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People kicks off its 102nd convention this weekend in downtown Los Angeles, the venerable civil rights organization’s policy agenda shows how it has evolved from its decades-long role as a leading fighter against racial inequality to become a staunch advocate for social justice for all minorities. ”They’re doing a much better job by being seen as lobbying for poor, disenfranchised people of all colors,” said Peniel E. Joseph, a Tufts University history professor and author of a book on the civil rights and black power movements. The strategy has enabled the NAACP to bounce back after a decade in which many charged that the organization had lost its way, becoming irrelevant. In the 1950s and 1960s, the NAACP was a standard-bearer of the struggle for voting rights, desegregated schools, and equal access to everything from water fountains to bus seats. But by four decades later — with a black president in the White House — the NAACP’s prominence had trickled to a place in history books.
‘The GQ Candidate’: Pundit Keli Goff Pens Novel About Fictional Black President
by Ezinne Adibe
If you’re a political junkie chances are you’ve read her columns on The Huffington Post or TheLoop21, or seen her on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News offering commentary on the issues of the day. In Keli Goff’s 2008 book, “Party-Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Independence”, she explored the shifting perspectives and impact of young black voters on the electoral process, with particular focus on the last presidential election. Her latest book, “The GQ Candidate”, is a fictional peek into the lives of candidates and the multiple realities and expectations they face. But as the book illustrates, these situations weigh heavily not only on the candidates, but on their families as well.
TAP: What was the inspiration behind “The GQ Candidate”?
Goff: One of the things that stuck out to me during the election was that some of the people who I was most fascinated with were the people who were not running for President. I was completely fascinated by Michelle Obama and completely fascinated by Valerie Jarrett. I was even fascinated by the Palin family, and I remember there was this interview that some of Sarah Palin’s friends did shortly after she got pledged for the ticket. It was fascinating, because here you have these people who were just friends with someone and all of a sudden they’re on “Good Morning America”, or some other show like a week later. In one week their lives changed. So, I was really intrigued by that, and I had this idea of writing something about what it’s like to have your life completely change simply because someone that you’re friends with has their life change overnight.
TAP: How long did it take you to write it?
Goff: It felt like forever, but it was literally sold days after the president was elected. I had written only the first three chapters when we sold it. I had been writing off and on trying to finish it. So, it’s taken since that first week in November of 2008.
TAP: Luke Cooper, the main character, is a politician and family man who, although having achieved a great deal in the realm of politics, struggles to an extent with his identity. Did you draw on your personal experiences when writing?
Goff: I have worked on campaigns. That’s how I got my start in this whole political sphere. I definitely had some experiences. People don’t realize that an A-list celebrity is obviously under a lot of scrutiny, although the difference is that every person that they associate with is not. That’s what I really wanted to convey with this book, and the issue of identity is part of that.
If your best friend becomes Beyonce no one cares what religion you practice. If your boyfriend or girlfriend runs for office everyone cares about what religion you practice, your mom practices, your dad practices. Here is a story about someone who has this unique racial and religious identity, and then you have his wife, who is is just trying to live her life to the best of her abilities. But even she is pulled into this debate, if you will, about what it means to be black, what it means to be a Christian, and what it means to be an American, simply because she fell in love with someone. I really wanted to try to touch upon what that must be like.
