Connect with us

Politics and Current

Sen. Summer Lee’s primary could test progressive Democrats critical of Israeli attacks in Gaza

Published

on

Lee, a lawyer who represented Pittsburgh in her first term, says she helped bring calls for a ceasefire in Gaza to mainstream Democrats

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Elections this month in Pittsburgh and a few of its suburbs look like an early test of whether Israel’s war with Hamas poses a political threat to progressive Democrats in Congress who’ve criticized the handling of the conflict.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a first-term lawmaker who aligned with the “squad,” faces a primary challenge from Bhavini Patel, and the war has develop into a flashpoint in the race.

Patel frames Lee’s criticism of Israel as part of a broader pattern of left-wing politics that’s extreme in the district and potentially harmful to Democratic President Joe Biden in a state crucial to his re-election bid against Republican Donald Trump. Lee responds that she helped bring calls for a ceasefire in Gaza into the mainstream of the Democratic Party.

The war shook Democratic politics across the United States. It divides traditionally progressive groups, including Pittsburgh’s sizable Jewish community, in ways in which don’t all the time fall along ethnic and cultural lines. But it’s an especially pressing issue in the Lee District, home to a synagogue where in 2018 a gunman killed 11 congregants in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, R-Pennsylvania, stands in front of a portrait overlooking Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

The April 23 primary could make clear whether the war itself will likely be enough to show a critical mass of Democrats against Lee.

“Clearly it’s big enough for a certain group in this district,” said Sam Hens-Greco, the party’s chairman in Allegheny County, which incorporates Pittsburgh. “Whether it will be big enough for the entire population, we will find out.”

If Lee is defeated, she will likely be the primary Democratic congressional candidate to lose a primary this yr. Other progressive Democrats, including Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri, Jamaal Bowman of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, will face primary challengers this summer.

Lee has raised significantly extra money than Patel and has the support of Pennsylvania’s Democratic establishment, including Sen. Bob Casey, and a constellation of progressive groups that include each Jewish and Muslim organizations.

Lee, 36, the primary Black woman elected to Congress from Pennsylvania, is a Howard University law school graduate and community activist who began her political profession in 2018 with a successful challenge from the left against an entrenched Pittsburgh state legislator.

In this yr’s campaign, Lee promoted herself as a hard-working representative who advocates for voters and speaks in Congress on behalf of marginalized communities on issues starting from fighting inequality to climate change and bigotry, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

Regarding the Israel-Hamas war, Lee condemned the Hamas attack, but additionally accused Israel of committing “war crimes” in Gaza, demanded an end to American military aid to Israel, and called for a ceasefire inside days of the beginning of the war as the most effective technique to end cycle of violence and dealing for peace.

That sets her aside from the position of Biden and most House Democrats, though dozens of others have now joined her in calling for a ceasefire. Lee during Biden’s State of the Union speech founded kaffiyeh, a checkered scarf that has develop into a logo of solidarity with the Palestinians.

Patel, 30, a small-town city councilor who worked in the administration of former Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, announced her candidacy days before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Patel, who’s Indian and has Indian roots, has cultivated a Jewish community by opening a campaign office in the Jewish enclave of Squirrel Hill, which he attended after October. 7 vigils and rode a bus with community members to a pro-Israel rally in Washington, D.C. in November.

Patel recently sharply criticized Lee for aligning himself with supporters of the “unaligned” campaign, which inspires Democrats to protest Biden’s treatment of the war vote in the primaries as “unaligned.”

This, Patel suggested, is dangerous.

“I would say that every Democrat in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District should take note that my opponent is equivocal about her support for President Biden and has not condemned the ‘non-aligned’ movement,” Patel said in an interview. “I think this is an issue that is of great concern to Democrats in this district.”

Lee defended the “disengagement” movement, saying it was unsuitable to discourage people from voting and potentially lose a key portion of the electorate that Democrats want to influence to support Biden in November’s presidential election. Biden sees that, too, Lee said.

Lee said she had met with people on all sides of the war, including the families of the hostages and the families of Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza, and that her calls for a ceasefire reflected the bulk in the district.

Lee also accused Patel of aligning herself more with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than with Biden.

“Joe Biden is getting closer and closer to us, which means that no, we weren’t wrong, that we came out early and came out stronger, because as we see now, this was always where we needed to get to,” Lee said in an interview. “It has always been the only path to peace.”

For now, the sharpest questions on the war are largely confined to the exchanges between Lee and Patel.

The case barely made it onto the airwaves, and the pro-Israel groups that had spent heavily to defeat Lee in the 2022 primary – the Democratic Majority for Israel and the US Israel Public Affairs Commission, higher often called AIPAC – didn’t step in ​​discussion. race.

In Pennsylvania, a possible boost for Lee could be students who, unlike the elementary school in 2022, will likely be on campus this time. At the University of Pittsburgh, the war has been a “commanding” presence on campus, with most students favoring a ceasefire, said Will Allison, president of Pitt’s College Democrats.

The group unanimously supported Lee, although the war has caused some division amongst members, with College Democrats campaigning for Lee.

One possible sign of a shift in politics across the war is the 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club, a nonpartisan organization based around Squirrel Hill, which voted to endorse Patel after endorsing Lee in 2022.

Sue Berman Kress, a Patel supporter who’s Jewish, said she knows several Jewish Democrats who will not vote for Lee. They imagine she has abandoned the Jewish community and that her policies could open the door to a Trump victory and an increase in anti-Semitism.

“These things are divisive in a very scary way,” Kress said.

!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||(),g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){ g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“film-recommended-film”,”true”)})}();

Featured Stories

The article Sen. Summer Lee’s primary could test progressive Democrats, critical of Israeli attacks in Gaza appeared first on TheGrio.

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Politics and Current

Distraught mother of 13-year-old Texas boy who died on gymnasium floor – questions why school didn’t immediately get him help when he had trouble breathing

Published

on

By

A grieving family is questioning the actions of administrators at a Texas middle school where their son died after falling during basketball practice.

According to KTRKXavier Thompson died at Thornton Middle School in Katy on November 15. His mother said he suffered an asthma attack that day, and immediately after her son’s fall, they immediately received calls from concerned teammates.

“I had to call a panicked student who kept asking me what to do,” said 13-year-old Xavier’s mother, Brittany Thompson. “It saddens me that no one called 911 when they saw my baby was having trouble breathing.”

According to his family, 13-year-old Xavier Thompson died at Thornton Middle School in Katy, Texas, after an asthma attack. His parents said the school called them immediately, but not 911. (Photos: KTRK screenshot, Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District)

Xavier coaches also quickly contacted Thompson and her husband, and the couple insisted that they call emergency services to the school. The family also noticed that there was a hearth station right round the corner.

When Xavier’s father arrived at school, his son was not breathing. Family members claim that he was the one who resuscitated their son, however the actions taken didn’t bring him back to life.

Xavier’s mother said that just the day before his asthma attack, her son was dancing within the lounge, thrilled to make the school’s basketball team. The next day he died.

“I don’t understand,” said the Thompsons’ lawyer, George Powell. “Without medical personnel present, calling parents will not help anyone who has been injured or has some form of respiratory distress.”

The family told KTRK that Xavier had suffered from asthma his entire life, but his condition was well controlled. They established an motion plan regarding his condition with the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District. The middle school also had two inhalers reserved for the teenager in case he needed medication.

“They have medical exams, we have medical insurance on file and they have all their emergency contacts,” Thompson said. “What’s the point if kids have to name it and say, ‘What do we do?’”

Thornton Middle School officials sent a letter to oldsters of all students notifying them of Xavier’s death and offering students counseling.

“I just want my son back. I’d give my life for him in a heartbeat. I’d go and breathe for him if I could,” Xavier’s mother said with tears in her eyes.

Xavier’s family said an autopsy was performed to find out the precise cause of death and is currently awaiting the outcomes.

A district spokesperson told KHOU 11 that Xavier’s death was asthma-related and there was no information on the medical treatment he received.

Another Houston-area family also experienced the same tragedy to the Thompsons three months ago when a student died at the center school.

Landon Payton collapsed and lost consciousness Aug. 14 at Marshall Middle School. Unlike young Xavier, the 14-12 months-old didn’t suffer from any breathing problems and was in good health, in response to his father, Alexis Payton.

Payton raised questions concerning the school’s response to Landon’s fall within the school gym after learning that the school nurse didn’t know how one can perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation or use the school’s automated external defibrillator (AED), a tool that emits an electrical shock to revive normal function. heart rhythm when someone suffers sudden cardiac arrest.

Two teachers’ unions later said the school’s defibrillator was defective or outdated.

A Southern California family can be questioning the moments surrounding the death of their 12-12 months-old son at middle school last 12 months. Yahshua Robinson collapsed during gymnastics practice at Canyon Lake Middle School during a heat wave when temperatures reached 107 degrees. Robinson’s parents learned that a teacher had told him to run away as punishment for wearing inappropriate clothes to class. His family says he collapsed at school and died of cardiac arrest.

This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
Continue Reading

Politics and Current

We need to have an uncomfortable conversation about America

Published

on

By

2024 elections, theGrio.com

We need to talk about cockroaches.

According to renowned entomologist Karlous Miller and John Whitfield Jr. (known for his groundbreaking research on a young fly): everyone has them. Although the mosquitoes could have killed more people throughout history than all of the wars, open borders, and Black Lives Matter protests combined, people they’re biological programmed to hate cockroaches greater than every other insect. Housefly it’s much dirtierbut cockroaches symbolize uncleanliness and misery. For many, a single dead cockroach on the lounge floor is more embarrassing than a fly within the kitchen, a mosquito in your skin, or a dead body within the basement.

Not I.

It’s not that I’m just not ashamed of them. I understand that there may be nothing I can do to erase the bulk those that survived prospered from the surface of the planet. The only thing I can do is solve the issue and forestall it from getting worse. Nobody really eliminates cockroaches, you only have to fight them every single day. But apparently there’s just one thing more embarrassing than being a cockroach hunter:

Being a part of a monoracial coalition.

According to experts, political analysts and folks who just say things, the 2024 election was a results of many aspects. For some, Trump’s genius was a matter of religion – proof of what can’t be seen. Wind bags stuffed with political opposites Joe Scarborough AND James Carville blamed Kamala Harris’ loss on the “woke era.” Others blamed the Democrats’ defeat on the party’s inability to attract white women, Latinos switching sides and the party’s lack of messaging. These may sound like different political theories, but they’re all based on the identical unspoken hypothesis. It is an unkillable pest that crawls out of its hiding place every election season. Even essentially the most progressive, outspoken experts are reluctant to address this. This shouldn’t be a theory. It is a fact hiding within the deepest, darkest recesses of each post-election postmortem. But in some way it’s

White can’t be defeated…

The unspoken concept of an invincible coalition of white voters is the breeding ground from which all political opinions are hatched. Experts not only base their analyzes on the existence of this hidden nest of Caucasian voters, but assume its inevitability… Progressive candidates will lose. A black woman cannot turn into president… it doesn’t deal with race… it doesn’t admit that trans people exist. It’s as if white persons are biologically programmed to vote against everyone else. And apparently the one way to defeat the good white cockroach of electoral politics is to pool our voting power through Black, indigenous, people of color washing their feet, eating spicy food, and playing tambourines in church, just like the BIPOCLGBTQIAvengers trying to stop white supremacist Thanos from straight finger snaps.

The tacit acceptance of white invincibility is the rationale and reason for the existence of the phrase “multi-racial coalition.” race is a greater predictor of electoral politics than sex, education and even religion. That’s why the information showing that Spanish male voters support Trump is even noteworthy. White invincibility explains why 53% white women I voted for a white woman opponent in 2016 and why 19% black men vote for white supremacist in 2020.

But what in the event that they’re fallacious?

What should you discover about it? most white women he didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 and never got anywhere near that result 20% of the vote by Black men? What if Latinos hadn’t moved toward Trump? What if black voters didn’t stay home? What if that is all exit polls as fallacious as ever?What if there have been no “unless”? What if sometimes in some elections you only cannot beat white people?

Does this make you are feeling uncomfortable?

When 8 out of 10 white Georgians crawled out of their hiding places to vote, Trump’s victory was inevitable. The rappers who showed up to twerk at Harris rallies didn’t matter. The pantomime guy on the Trump microphone was irrelevant. The discussion about black male voters has turn into moot. More again. Harris has greater than Biden. But even when every non-white voter in Georgia voted for Kamala Harris, she would still lose the state.

Harris winning Georgia was mathematically inconceivable.

There are no “Black jobs” in the Trump administration, despite the cadre of Black Republicans who canvassed for him

Another example comes from the much-discussed Berks County, Pennsylvania. Everyone was shocked once they came upon about it Trump won essentially the most Latino county within the state of Pennsylvania. However, when comparing the outcomes from 2024 counting votes in individual districts down 2020 election results and the US Census shows that Harris’ campaign won more votes than Biden in each of them majority-Hispanic census tract tract within the district. Harris lost because Trump simply accrued votes and increased turnout within the whitest areas and throughout the county 74% white.

Because few states release this sort of data, we cannot have a more complete picture of what happened across the country until we see more accurate data from studies like Verified Pew Voters or A study of cooperative elections. But explaining the 2024 election is awkward. The point is that 2020 was an anomaly. It is kind of possible that the person who won second essentially the most votes within the history of American presidential politics can only be surpassed by a nationwide pandemic that gave voters unfettered access to the ballot. It may simply be that they desire a lying, corrupt white supremacist as their leader, and there may be nothing the democracy can do to stop it.

As uncomfortable as it might be to admit, possibly that is what America wants and democracy has actually won. Maybe white supremacy is like cockroaches. It’s actually inconceivable to do away with it…

You have to fight it every single day.


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
Continue Reading

Politics and Current

Trump chooses first black cabinet member, not Byron Donalds

Published

on

By

Byron Donalds, Trump, Scott Turner


President-elect Donald Trump has chosen the first African-American cabinet member. Scott Turner, shall be SSecretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Trump announced Turner’s placement in a press release. Highlights Turner’s past achievements. The future HUD secretary is an NFL veteran who also supported Trump during his first term. The former House Representative from Texas served because the first executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council (WHORC).

The release said Turner: “Put an unprecedented effort that has transformed our nation’s most vulnerable communities. These efforts, undertaken in collaboration with former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, were maximized by Scott’s guidance in overseeing 16 federal agencies that implemented greater than 200 policy actions to support economic development.

Turner thanked President-elect Trump and his mentor Ben Carson in X’s post.

The nomination seems to come back at the fitting time. Many media outlets and social media users are questioning the shortage of Black representation in the subsequent administration’s cabinet. Especially since many black surrogates sided with Trump through the presidential campaign.

Trump’s most significant vocal deputy was Florida Congressman Byron Donalds. CNN’s Laura Coates spoke with Donalds and asked if Trump had really useful him for a cabinet position. Donalds denied feeling disrespected and continued to support the GOP’s election. The Congressman believes that achievement trumps diversity. He argues that the Biden administration has sacrificed progress for diversity, despite the fact that it has many victories on economic and social policy.

“The election of Donald Trump is approaching bringing competence and reality back to DC. within the White House, ensuring that the work gets done on behalf of the American people, no matter race, no matter religion or creed,” he said.

Turner’s nomination could decelerate the conversation concerning the lack of Black people entering the White House. The conversation is interesting since the Republican Party is not known for supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in any workplace. Attacks on DEI in Republican legislatures across the state may lead one to imagine that diversifying current mandates is the ultimate piece of a really broad conservative agenda.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
Continue Reading
Advertisement

OUR NEWSLETTER

Subscribe Us To Receive Our Latest News Directly In Your Inbox!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Trending