Politics and Current
What Would a Kamala Harris Presidency Mean for Black Women? – Essence
(Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)
President Biden sent shockwaves through Washington by abruptly ending his campaign on Sunday and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.
Influential Biden supporters like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez anxious that eliminating Biden wouldn’t routinely donor support for Kamala Harrisblack woman. But Harris’ entry into the race injected a shot of energy and money into what had develop into a demoralizing Democratic presidential campaign.
As many as 44,000 Black women joined the Win With Black Women Zoom call, and in only three hours, it raised greater than $1 million for Harris. ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platformhe tweeted that $46.7 million flowed into Kamala Harris’ campaign in 7 hours, making Sunday “the largest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle.”
There are many issues that Black women face, from challenges to reproductive freedom to staggering student loan debt and aggressive policies that disrupt our families and communities. So what would a Harris presidency mean for Black women?
Reproductive rights
Harris has been a staunch advocate for reproductive rights. On the 51st anniversary of Roe earlier this yr, Harris launched into a multi-city tour in support of reproductive freedom. In her first stop on the tour, in swing state Wisconsin, she explained in Interview for CNN that Trump was happy with what he had done to decimate women’s rights, and there was so far more at stake if he were reelected. “The motion is proud that women have been stripped of their basic freedoms to make decisions about their own bodies; the motion is proud that doctors are being punished and criminalized for providing health care; proud that women are suffering in silence because they don’t have access to the health care they need,” Harris added. “So let’s understand that the stakes are so very high.”
Harris also highlighted measures the Biden administration has taken to guard reproductive freedom, including increased access to contraceptives for federal staff and a rise within the variety of approved drugs available for free under the Affordable Care Act, in line with US News and World Report.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, praised Harris as a champion of reproductive rights: “I actually have had the extraordinary privilege of working and most recently campaigning with Vice President Kamala Harris. I actually have been proud to observe her develop into some of the vocal voices within the fight for sexual and reproductive rights.
“As a lawyer, attorney general, senator, vice president, and as a Black woman, Vice President Harris understands what lies ahead. She knows what it means for Black women to have less reproductive freedom in a country where we are more vulnerable to everything from maternal mortality to criminalization, and she is fighting back,” McGill said in a statement to ESSENCE.
Economic policy
Harris can also be a fighter with regards to creating economic opportunity for middle- and lower-class families. For example, during her first presidential campaign, she proposed a $6,000 tax break for married couples earning lower than $100,000, to be financed by reversing the tax cuts enacted within the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and taxing certain financial institutions, in line with PBS reports. In addition, she has championed the Biden administration’s economic policies, which include a bipartisan infrastructure bill, funding for small businesses, capping insulin costs at $35 and limiting prescription drug out-of-pocket costs to $2,000 for Medicare enrollees. Inflation Reduction ActAdditionally, Harris has advocated for student loan forgiveness, which might have a significant impact on the black community, as blacks graduate from college at a high rate. more student loan debt According to PBS reports, they’re wealthier than their white counterparts and take for much longer to repay their debts.
Rose Pierre-Louis, executive director of NYU’s McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, said that is a crucial moment that goes beyond politics and shows Black women and girls what is feasible. “This is a historic moment—not just in politics, but for Black women and girls across the country. At the McSilver Institute, we support communities empowered by generations of Black women who have worked tirelessly to lift and create opportunities for success despite ongoing histories of oppression, violence, and neglect,” Pierre-Louis told ESSENCE. Vice President Harris embodies countless years of individual and community effort within the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. We have long assured Black girls that they’ll at some point be president of the United States. This is the primary time we now have a real opportunity to deliver on that promise.”
Gun control
Vice President Harris has been an energetic advocate for increased gun control, dating back to her time as California attorney general, when she spearheaded a statewide effort to confiscate guns from those that illegally possessed them. As a senator, she co-sponsored laws ban assault weapons and high-capability magazines (those who can fire greater than 10 rounds before reloading). And as a part of the Biden administration, she worked to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), probably the most significant piece of gun control laws in 30 years. Among its provisions are funding for red flag law programs (which permit a judge to temporarily confiscate a gun from someone who’s having a mental health crisis and appears to be a danger to themselves or others), expanding access to mental health services, and expanding community violence intervention programs. Vice President Harris also took the lead in White House Office on Gun Violence Preventionwhich closed the gun show loophole by requiring all gun sellers to conduct background checks, no matter where the products are sold.
Racial Justice and Diversity (DEI)
Harris was one among several senators to introduce the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act. As Essence reports, the bill would end qualified immunity for cops, mandate de-escalation training for officers, create a national database of police misconduct and make it easier for the Justice Department to prosecute officers for civil rights violations.
Citing the disproportionate impact of the criminal justice system on black people, Harris has also called for an end to mandatory minimum sentences, money bail and the death penalty for the reason that murder of George Floyd. However, in her previous role as prosecutor wasn’t at all times so progressive and once pushed for higher money bail and refused to support independent investigations into police shootings, as reported by the NY Times. Asked about her evolution, she said, “I was swimming against the tide, and thankfully the tides have changed; the winds are in our sails. And I’m riding it out like everybody else — because it’s long overdue.”
Black women, the backbone of the Democratic Party, are largely supporting Harris’ historic run, and Democratic leaders are following her lead. Not only are all 50 states Democratic Party chairs have endorsed Harris, but previous Biden supporters like Bill and Hillary Clinton and James Clyburn (who resurrected Biden’s dying 2020 campaign) have endorsed Vice President Harris.
Bernice King, daughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King and CEO of the King Center, also wholeheartedly supported Harris, publishing on X: “We urgently need a president who will ensure that the civil rights that my parents and so many others have fought so bravely to advance our Beloved Community are not destroyed. For that reason, I consider this presidential election a legacy vote. We must protect our legacy of perseverance in the fight for civil rights and stop efforts to restrict them.”
She continued, “With these beliefs in mind, I endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president and I call on all of my AKA sisters, HBCU alumni, Divine Nine members, and democracy advocates to join me in this goal.”
This spirit of camaraderie and collective support for Harris was reflected on social media. On Instagram, political strategist Alencia Johnson posted a photo of herself standing proudly next to Vice President Harris, with the caption: “So, it’s clear. Absolutely the only choice, and that’s Vice President Kamala Harris for president. I will do everything possible to ensure the inauguration of our first Black woman president.”
Despite the passion of the Democratic base, black women are well aware of the sexist and racist attacks Vice President Harris will face on the campaign trail. Still, women like Johnson consider Harris can beat Donald Trump.
“Hours after announcing she’s running, the energy from Black women voters is palpable. It means something that the backbone of the Democratic Party is already forming — ready to rally around the vice president and keep her spirits up as she faces a difficult but winnable fight,” she said.
Now that Vice President Harris’ presidential bid is all but certain—with grassroots support reaching all of the solution to the White House—the actual work begins to defeat Donald Trump, be certain that no a part of Project 2025 is realized, and preserve and expand the rights that Black women have fought so hard for. From Shirley Chisholm’s “Unbought and Unbossed” campaign as the primary Black woman to run for president in 1972 to Kamala Harris today, American democracy owes a debt of gratitude to the efforts of Black women, and let’s hope the remainder of the nation joins us within the fight.
Politics and Current
Missouri police officer fatally shot 2-month-old baby and her mother after relative called police for help, family says
A Missouri family and community are mourning the tragic death of a 34-year-old woman and her infant daughter who were killed in an officer-involved shooting earlier this month.
Family members say Maria Pike and her 2-month-old daughter, Destinii Hope, were shot to death on November 7 after police were called to an apartment in Independence, Missouri, in response to a domestic disturbance.
In the weeks for the reason that shooting, local law enforcement has released few details, but eyewitnesses have provided local media with their accounts of what happened.
said Talisa Coombs, the baby’s grandmother Kansas City Star that she was the one who called the police after a physical altercation with the kid’s mother. Family members say Maria Pike has had mental health issues, anger issues and most recently suffered from postpartum depression.
Coombs said that when she called the police, she thought authorities would arrive, arrest Pike and get her the assistance she needed. She told her son and Destinia’s father, Mitchell Holder, that she desired to press charges against Pike for assault.
When police arrived, Holder initially refused to allow them to inside, however the apartment constructing’s assistant manager persuaded him to let two officers inside.
Assistant manager Gavin Delaney told The Star that when police entered the apartment, Pike was sitting within the bedroom closet, holding Destinia, not doing or saying anything.
Destinia’s father, who witnessed the shooting, recounted the moments leading as much as the shooting to his sister, Ashley Greenfield.
Greenfield told The Star that when officers entered the apartment, she and Holder tried to take the baby from Pike as she moved from the closet to the bed. Greenfield stated that when Pike reached for an object on the nightstand, the officer shot the baby in the top while he was still in his mother’s arms.
Holder later recalled his horrified response to the shooting of “The Kansas City Defender.”
“They shot my baby,” Holder said outlet. “It looked like her head had exploded. Her blood splattered throughout my glasses and throughout me. All I could do was scream. I just kept repeating three words – the identical three words – “You killed her!” I screamed it. Time and time again.”
He added that Pike jumped after the primary shot and the officer opened fire on her.
Accounts vary as as to if Pike had a gun when officers entered the apartment.
Local news outlets reported that among the many few details police have released up to now concerning the shooting is that Pike was armed with a knife.
“When we arrived, officers encountered a woman who was ultimately armed with a knife,” said Independence Police Chief Adam Dustman. “As a result of this encounter, two people died, one was an armed woman and the other was a child.”
However, family members say otherwise. Before calling the police, Destinia’s grandmother stated that there have been no weapons in the home. Holder also said he never saw Pike holding a knife in the course of the encounter with police.
“Yes, I was in the room when it all happened,” Holder he said. “From what I saw, I never once saw Maria armed with anything. Honestly, I do not even know where that got here from. I heard crazy things like she held a baby hostage in a closet, that she had a knife, and all this crazy stuff that is not true. I mean, all I can say is that it’s possible she had a knife and I didn’t see it, but all I do know is that I never saw her holding anything – and I used to be there within the room.
Independence police said the investigation has been turned over to the Jackson County Police Involvement Investigative Team (PIIT), a team of detectives that investigates police shootings and use of force incidents.
Chief Dustman said just one officer, a “long-time law enforcement veteran,” fired in the course of the incident. The officer and two other people on the scene were placed on administrative leave.
Capt. Kyle Flowers, who heads the PIIT team investigating the shooting, said last week that investigators had reviewed body camera footage and planned to interview witnesses. According to KMBCthe team will turn over the findings of the investigation to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, but Flowers didn’t specify exactly when that will occur.
Family members have called on authorities to release the body camera footage, which is able to hopefully reveal once and for all whether Pike was armed with a knife on the time of the shooting. They also call for punishment of the officers involved within the shooting.
“Why hasn’t the body camera footage been released?” Amber Travis, cousin of the victims, he said at a community vigil for Pike and her daughter. “Give my family a break.”
“It means a lot that the community feels the same way we do,” Holder he said. “It means the world. It won’t bring her back, but no less than we all know now we have loads of support here.
AND GoFundMe page was created to assist pay for Destinia’s funeral. As of Wednesday afternoon, greater than $3,000 had been raised.
On November 22, Destinii would have turned 3 months old.
Politics and Current
Jasmine Crockett blasts Republicans for so-called white “oppression” over anti-DEI bill
On Wednesday, during a passionate speech before the committee, Sen. Jasmine Crockett, R-Texas, chided her Republican colleagues for the content of an anti-DEI bill that calls for eliminating all diversity, equity and inclusion programs and offices within the federal government.
Crockett, a 43-year-old congressional student who has change into a star within the Democratic Party because of her quite a few viral committee appearances, condemned the Dismantle DEI Act of 2024. The bill, H.R. 8706 – first introduced by Republican Vice President-elect J.D. Vance – essentially prohibit all DEI-related activities within the federal government, including all related positions, offices, training, and funding. Strikingly, the bill also prohibits federal employees working in DEI positions from transferring to a different federal position.
During a House Oversight Committee hearing wherein she responded to Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who repeatedly called DEI policies “oppression” — seemingly aimed toward white people, as many Republicans suggested — Crockett used the committee’s speaking time to criticize the suggestion that white individuals are oppressed in consequence of efforts to shut racial disparities in sectors resembling business, education, and health.
“You don’t understand the definition of oppression… I would ask you to just Google it,” said Crockett, who moments later read the dictionary definition of the word, adding: “Oppression is long-term cruel or unfair treatment or control, that’s the definition of oppression.” The congresswoman emphasized: “There was no oppression of the white man in this country.”
Referring to the history of chattel slavery and racial segregation within the US, the Texas lawmaker said: “Tell me which white men were dragged from their homes. Tell me which one was dragged across the ocean and that you will go to work. We will steal your wives. We will rape your wives. It didn’t happen. This is oppression.”
Attempting to further explain the importance of DEI, Crockett noted that she is barely the fifty fifth Black woman elected to Congress in its 235-year history, unlike the 1000’s of white men who’ve served on Capitol Hill.
“So if you want to talk about history and pretend it was that long ago, it wasn’t,” Crockett said, citing data showing that corporations perform higher and are more profitable after they are more diversified.
The anti-DEI movement, championed exclusively by Republicans, has led to several lawsuits invalidating federal programs, including debt forgiveness for Black farmers and business loans to Black and other disadvantaged businesses. Many states led by Republican governors have indicated that DEI – especially teaching about slavery and racism – is harmful to students, namely white students. In response, they banned such topics from public classrooms.
Jamarr Brown, executive director of Color of Change PAC, the political arm of the civil rights organization, said Congresswoman Crockett’s statements on DEI were “poignant and necessary.”
While the Dismantling DEI Act actually won’t be passed while Democrats control the Senate and President Joe Biden stays in office, it signals what may very well be a priority for Republicans next yr, as outlined within the pro-Trump “Project 2025” political manifesto “.
“According to Project 2025, diversity, equity and inclusion is synonymous with ‘White lives don’t matter,’” Brown noted. “Now more than ever, we at Color Of Change PAC, as well as advocates and activists across the country, must work to protect Black people and other people of color from harm resulting from anti-DEI attacks.”
Brown continued, “Civil rights protections have helped reduce mortgage discrimination, increase the number of Black physicians to counter problems such as Black maternal mortality, and provide financing for Black-owned businesses.”
He added: “Our country thrives and everyone benefits when diversity, equality and inclusion are valued rather than stifled.”
Politics and Current
Why is Trump delaying signing the ethics agreement?
The campaign’s legal department reports that President-elect Donald Trump is stalling the presidential transition process by refusing to sign an ethics pledge that is legally required of each sitting president
Under the Presidential Transition Act, Trump and his transition team must sign a document ensuring he avoids any conflicts of interest once he takes office. Only after the document is signed and sent to the General Services Administration (GSA) can the incoming administration gain access to federal agencies.
The transition, which President Joe Biden has promised will likely be “orderly and peaceful,” sets the tone for the Trump-Vance administration’s approach to transparency, accountability and earning the trust of Americans, all of that are seen as essential to making sure the administration fulfills its responsibilities to the U.S. people mean .
The reasons for withholding Trump’s documents are unknown, but some speculate it has to do along with his latest financial disclosure reports and for one reason particularly. Many of his holdings might be considered conflict of interest red flags, equivalent to his latest cryptocurrency business, a majority stake in his social media platform Truth Social, real estate, books and licensing deals.
It’s not only the GSA that the president-elect is avoiding. According to , Trump also refused to make use of the State Department’s secure phone lines and interpreters and kept away from using the FBI’s security clearance system. That’s why House Democrats issued latest laws on November 19 requiring Executive Office employees to have FBI security clearances. If not, Congress will likely be warned.
Democratic lawmakers and powerful Trump opponents like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are baffled by his transition team’s refusal to sign an ethics agreement.
“Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law. I would know because I wrote the law myself,” Warren wrote in X on November 11. “Future presidents are obliged to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement. This is what illegal corruption looks like.”
Skepticism towards the bill, presented by Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA)persists. The upcoming GOP-controlled Congress is seemingly leaning toward Trump. Once back in office, Trump will give you the chance to issue security clearances to anyone he wants, no matter the FBI’s objections or whether the person faces legal charges. This latest situation involves two of Trump’s Cabinet picks – Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, each of whom have faced allegations of sexual misconduct.
-
Press Release8 months ago
CEO of 360WiSE Launches Mentorship Program in Overtown Miami FL
-
Business and Finance6 months ago
The Importance of Owning Your Distribution Media Platform
-
Press Release7 months ago
U.S.-Africa Chamber of Commerce Appoints Robert Alexander of 360WiseMedia as Board Director
-
Business and Finance8 months ago
360Wise Media and McDonald’s NY Tri-State Owner Operators Celebrate Success of “Faces of Black History” Campaign with Over 2 Million Event Visits
-
Ben Crump7 months ago
Another lawsuit accuses Google of bias against Black minority employees
-
Fitness7 months ago
Black sportswear brands for your 2024 fitness journey
-
Theater8 months ago
Applications open for the 2020-2021 Soul Producing National Black Theater residency – Black Theater Matters
-
Ben Crump8 months ago
Henrietta Lacks’ family members reach an agreement after her cells undergo advanced medical tests