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Kamala Harris is the current Democratic presidential candidate and will face Donald Trump in the fall.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants who rose through the ranks of California politics and law enforcement to turn into the first woman to function vp in U.S. history, formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination Monday — becoming the first black woman to guide a significant party.

More than 4 years after her first presidential bid failed, Harris’s ascension as her party’s chair caps a tumultuous and frantic period for Democrats, sparked by President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in a June debate that shook his supporters’ confidence in his reelection probabilities and sparked a unprecedented intraparty war over whether he should remain in the race.

Once Biden abruptly ended his candidacy, Harris and her team worked quickly to secure the 1,976 party delegates needed to clinch the nomination in a proper roll-call vote. She reached that time at lightning speed, with an Associated Press survey of delegates nationwide showing she had closed the needed pledges just 32 hours after Biden’s announcement.

Harris’ nomination became official after Democratic National Convention delegates concluded a five-day round of online voting Monday night, with the party saying in a press release just before midnight that 99% of voting delegates solid ballots for Harris. The party had long considered early virtual voting to make sure Biden would seem on the ballot in every state. It said it will then formally certify the votes before holding a ceremonial vote at the party’s convention later this month in Chicago.

An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted after Biden withdrew found that 46% of Americans have a good view of Harris, while nearly the same share have an unfavorable view of her. Still, more Democrats say they’re satisfied along with her candidacy than Biden’s, energizing a celebration that has long resigned itself to having the 81-year-old Biden as its candidate against former President Donald Trump, a Republican they see as an existential threat.

Harris has already said she doesn’t intend to stray too removed from the themes and policies which have framed Biden’s candidacy, corresponding to democracy, gun violence prevention and abortion rights. But her message might be much fiercer, especially as she draws on her prosecutorial experience to sharply criticize Trump and his 34 convictions for falsifying business records in reference to financial fraud.

“Having this extraordinary voice of a new generation, a prosecutor, and a woman, when it comes to fundamental rights, especially reproductive rights, it’s almost as if the stars aligned for her at this moment in history,” said Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California, who was elected to succeed Harris in the Senate when she became vp.

Washington buzz ahead of 2020 primary collapse

Kamala Devi Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California, the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer researcher who emigrated to the United States from India when she was 19, and retired Stanford University professor Donald Harris, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Jamaica. Her parents were civil rights activists, which gave her, in her own words, “a walker’s perspective on the movement.”

She worked for a few years as a prosecutor in the Bay Area before becoming the state’s attorney general in 2010 and then being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016.

Harris arrived in Washington as a senator at the starting of the volatile Trump era, quickly becoming a reliable liberal opponent of the latest president’s staff and policies and stoking speculation about her own presidential bid. Securing a seat on the coveted Judiciary Committee gave her a national highlight that allowed her to query outstanding Trump nominees corresponding to current Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“I can’t be rushed that quickly,” then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions said during a 2017 confirmation hearing when Harris repeatedly pressed him about potential talks with Russian nationals. “That makes me nervous.”

Harris launched her 2020 presidential campaign with high hopes, drawing comparisons to former President Barack Obama and drawing greater than 20,000 people to a launch rally in her hometown. But Harris withdrew from the race before the primary nominating contest in Iowa, tormented by staff opposition that spilled into the highlight and an inability to lift enough campaign money.

Harris has struggled to deliver a consistent message to Democratic voters and has wavered on key issues like health care. She suggested she supported eliminating private insurance in favor of a completely government-run system — “Medicare for All” — before releasing her own health plan that may preserve private insurance. Now, as she heads into her campaign, Harris has already reversed a few of her earlier, more liberal positions, like a ban on fracking, which she supported in 2019.

While Harris has tried to make use of her law enforcement background as an asset in the 2020 presidential campaign, it has failed to achieve enough support inside the party, which has struggled to reconcile a few of her past tough-on-crime stances at a time of heightened concern over police brutality.

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Joining Biden’s Team — and Evolving as Vice President

Still, Harris was at the top of Biden’s list of running mates when he was considering his running mate, after promising in early 2020 to choose a Black woman as his running mate. Biden liked Harris, who developed a detailed friendship along with his late son Beau, who was Delaware’s attorney general when she was California’s attorney general.

Her first few months as vp have been removed from smooth. Biden asked her to guide the administration’s diplomacy with Central America on the root causes of migration to the United States, which has drawn Republican attacks on border security and stays a political weakness. Things haven’t improved when Harris has stumbled in high-profile interviews, corresponding to in 2021 during a sit-down with NBC News’ Lester Holt, when she dismissively replied that she “hasn’t been to Europe” when the anchor noted that she hadn’t visited the U.S.-Mexico border.

Harris spent her first two years in Washington, D.C., often to interrupt ties in the evenly split Senate. That helped Democrats win landmark victories on climate and health care, but it surely also limited Harris’ ability to travel the country and meet with voters.

Her visibility has turn into way more visible since the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, as she has turn into the administration’s lead advocate on abortion rights and a more natural messenger than Biden, a lifelong Catholic who has historically advocated for restrictions on the procedure. She is the first vp to go to an abortion clinic and has spoken about reproductive rights in the broader context of maternal health, particularly for black women.

Throughout her vice presidency, Harris has tried to stay loyal to Biden while emphasizing that she could be able to step in if needed. That dramatic shift began in late June after the first debate between Biden and Trump, in which the president’s missteps were so disastrous that he never managed to reverse the lack of trust from fellow Democrats.

Moved to the top of the ticket list

After Biden ended his candidacy on July 21, he quickly endorsed Harris. And in the first two weeks of her 2024 presidential campaign, enthusiasm amongst the Democratic base has surged, donations have flowed, dozens of volunteers have shown up at field offices and the variety of supporters has grown a lot that event organizers have had to alter locations.

Harris’ campaign now believes it has a brand new probability to compete in Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia — states that Biden has begun abandoning in favor of strengthening the so-called “blue wall” states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

“The country is able to see the Kamala Harris that we all know,” said Bakari Sellers, who was national co-chair of her 2020 campaign. “We really didn’t let the country see her” 4 years ago. Sellers said: “We had her in bubble wrap. People are seeing now that she’s real, that she’s talented.”

But Democrats predict Harris’s political honeymoon will end and she will inevitably come under greater scrutiny due to her positions in the Biden administration, the state of the economy and instability abroad, particularly in the Middle East. Harris also has not taken prolonged questions from reporters or sat down for a proper interview since her campaign launched.

The Trump campaign has been wanting to define Harris as she continues to pitch herself to voters across the country, releasing an ad blaming her for the high variety of illegal border crossings at the southern border during the Biden administration and calling her “Failed. Weak. Dangerously liberal.”

Supporters of the GOP nominee have also sneered at Harris, saying her hiring was a diversity effort, while Trump himself has made nasty racial attacks, falsely claiming that Harris has historically only promoted her Native American heritage and only recently embraced her black identity.

His comments follow a series of racist and sexist accusations against the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to function president.

“I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago when she became black and now she wants to be known as black,” Trump said, speaking at the annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists. “So I don’t know if she’s Native American or black?”

In her response, Harris called it “the same old spectacle – division and disrespect” and said voters “deserve better.”

“The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who doesn’t react with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts,” Harris said at a Sigma Gamma Rho sorority meeting in Houston. “We deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us.”

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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After second defeat for Model of the Year, Anok Yai tells British Fashion Council: ‘I don’t want it anymore’, sparking debate

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When Anok Yai was photographed in “The Yard” at Howard University’s 2017 homecoming ceremony, a fashion star was born. After agents began clamoring to find the identity of the then 19-year-old beauty and competing to sign her, Yai became a global sensation; inside the first six months of her profession, she became the first Sudanese model and the second black model, after Naomi Campbell, to open a Prada fashion show. In the seven years since then, covers and accolades have flown steadily, including her first American Vogue cover in 2020, which led to Yai being hailed as one of this generation’s “best.”New supers” — as in supermodels — via Models.com, who awarded her the title of “Model of the Year – Woman” in 2023.

Although Yai has enjoyed success on runways around the world, one accolade has eluded her, and now she says she now not wants it. On Monday as host of the British Fashion Council Fashion Awards 2024Yai was nominated again for the council’s Model of the Year award, her second nomination in as a few years. This is the second time Yai has been omitted from this honor, which recognizes “the global influence of a model who has dominated the industry over the past 12 months,” the organization explains. “With influence that extends beyond the runway, the Model of the Year has made an outstanding contribution to the industry, earning numerous editorial and advertising campaigns throughout the year.”

After losing in 2023 to Paloma Elsesser, the first full-size model to win the award, this 12 months the honor once more passed to Alex Consani, the first transgender winner in the award’s history. Heartily congratulating my friend and colleague from the industry on her groundbreaking achievement partially decided by audience votesYai didn’t hassle hiding her disappointment.

“Alex, I love you and I’m so proud of you,” she wrote X, early Tuesday morningadding: “British Fashion Council, thank you, but I don’t want it anymore.”

How Some she accused Yai of having sour grapes over her subsequent losses, others, etc Teen Vogue editor Aiyana Ishmael, they argue that the model’s disillusionment and self-defense should simply be considered a mirrored image of her humanity.

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“When we ask ourselves why we want Yai to accept her loss calmly, we must also ask ourselves if this is a response to society’s expectations for Black women,” Ishmael wrote, quoting writer and executive coach Janice Sutherland comment on stereotypes that deal with the “perceived strength and resilience” of Black women. “While these characteristics are undoubtedly empowering, they should not be used as a reason to deny Black women space to express vulnerability, pursue changing aspirations, or seek the support they need without judgment,” notes Sutherland.

“I remember in 2019 when a photographer called me a cockroach,” she said already deleted thread on X. Feeling unable to react while others on set treated the insult as a joke, Yai recalled feeling as if “I can not react the way I want because ultimately I’m young, I’m alone, I’m black… whatever I do , will impact me, my family and other black models.”

With this in mind, Yai’s disappointment at not being recognized for her achievements can simply be taken literally, relatively than interpreted as an try and undermine the achievements of Consani, the winner of Model of the Year. Yai said the same thing second postwriting: “If you saw the effort Alex put in; You’ll understand how proud I’m of her. But Alex may be proud and I may be exhausted at the same time. “It doesn’t diminish how much we love each other.”

Kerry Washington is celebrating a

As a member of a marginalized community, Consani undoubtedly empathizes. Actually, she she used her acceptance speech on Monday night to thank “black trans women who have truly fought for the space I am in today” and to thank “Dominique Jackson, Connie Fleming, Aaron Rose Phillips and many others” for enabling her own rise in the industry.

“Now, more than ever, there needs to be an important conversation about how to truly support and uplift each other in this industry, especially those who have been treated as nonessential,” Consani continued. “Because change is more than possible, it is necessary.”

Change is slowly but surely happening, as evidenced by the strong black representation amongst this 12 months’s Fashion Award winners. Winning designers included Grace Wales Bonner (British menswear designer) and Priya Ahluwalia (New establishment menswear), while special awards went to A$AP Rocky (BFC cultural innovator) and Issa Rae (Pandora change leader). Photographer Tyler Mitchell also received recognition, winning the Isabella Blow Award for fashion creator.

As for Yai, she may now not seek approval from the British Fashion Council, but she need look no further than The Yard to search out it. The supermodel returned to the spot where she was found during Howard’s 2024 “Yardfest” Homecoming celebration, much to the delight of students in attendance.

“I’m a black trans woman and there’s not a lot of representation,” McKenzie Cooper-Moore, a junior marketing major and emerging model, told Howard’s newspaper: Hill. “She is one of the top models today, she is a black woman and she or he is uncompromisingly black. That’s really cool. I actually admire her.


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Prince Harry downplays divorce rumors as he discusses the public’s fascination with his marriage to Meghan Markle

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Surprise – Meghan Markle and Prince Harry usually are not attached at the hip. Recently, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made separate public appearances.

This week, Markle made a rare solo appearance at the Paley Honors fall gala in Los Angeles to support the godfather of the couple’s daughter, Princess Lilibet, Tyler Perry, who was honored that evening. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, Prince Harry appeared at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit 2024, where he spoke about his fascination with the society surrounding his relationship.

During the conversation, moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Prince Harry how he deals with the constant attention on every thing he and his wife do, noting that articles about the couple’s separate appearances on each coasts have been circulating throughout the Internet.

“Is this normal for you? When the article comes out – she’s in California, you’re in New York – they say, “Well, what’s going on with these two, right?” In a way, is it good that he is so interested in you?” – Sorkin asked.

“No, this is certainly not a great thing. Apparently we now have bought or moved home 10 (or) 12 times. Apparently we have been divorced perhaps 10 (or) 12 times. So it’s just an issue of, “What?” – Prince Harry replied, laughing.

As the youngest child of Princess Diana and King Charles, the Duke of Sussex is not any stranger to life in the highlight. Having seen how the excessive media attention directly affected his mother and even played a task in her death in 1997, Prince Harry noticed how life in the public eye modified his relationship with the press.

“I have been experiencing something of life since I was a child. I have seen stories written about me that were not entirely based on reality. I saw stories about my family members, friends, strangers and all sorts of people,” he explained. “And I think when you grow up in that environment, you start to question the validity of the information, but also what other people think about it and how dangerous it can be over time.”

Ultimately, Prince Harry said he ignores false narratives online because he expects the media and social media trolls to twist and twist his words at any time.

I feel sorry for the trolls the most,” he continued. “Their hopes just get built and built they usually say, ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,’ after which it doesn’t occur. That’s why I feel sorry for them. Really.

“The Duke and Duchess have now developed as individuals – not just as a couple,” a royal source explained. according to People magazine. “The Duke seems focused on his patronage work and the Duchess seems focused on her entrepreneurship.”

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry help Tyler Perry celebrate his birthday

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Nia Long and Larenz Tate Have the ‘Love Jones’ Reunion We’ve Been Waiting For, But There’s an Elephant in the Room

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Those of us who’ve been waiting to seek out out whether Nina Mosley and Darius Lovehall, the black and sexy leads of the 1997 cult romantic comedy “Love Jones,” ended up together will finally get our wish this holiday season. Leading actors Nia Long and Larenz Tate – still black and still hot, we’d add – teamed up for Walmart’s “Love Jones”-themed holiday ad, featuring variations Dionne Farris’ now iconic song “Hopeless” as the opening soundtrack.

In the Walmart Holiday x Love Jones spot titled “Give a Gift That Shows You Get It,” the gift-giving begins early when Nina (Nia) finds a Walmart box on the steps of her house and unwraps it to seek out a record player. Confirming that the gift is indeed from him, Darius (Larenz) repeats certainly one of his lines from the hit movie in which he asks, “Do you mind if I play something for you?”

Whether the poet Darius (Larenz) remains to be attempting to be “the blue in (Nina’s) left thigh… trying to become the funk in (her) right” stays unknown, but nostalgia hits when the two start dancing to the Isley Brothers classic: ” Stay in the groove with you, part 1.” To ensure this moment doesn’t go undocumented, a young woman, presumably the daughter of the fictional couple, appears at the door to capture the moment on camera, clearly taking a cue from her photographer mother, Nina. It’s an uplifting return to a black cinema classic that a lot of us would love to revisit in the era of sequels.

That said, the elephant in the otherwise romantic room is Walmart. The big-box retailer dampened a number of holiday spirit this yr with its post-election announcement that it was “phasing out” most of its DEI initiatives, which is essentially being interpreted as a preview of comparable industry policies to return under the incoming Trump administration. Among the now abandoned initiatives are a $100 million racial equity center launched in 2020 in response to the police killing of George Floyd, in addition to prioritizing 51% of BIPOC, LGBTQ, veterans and women products. – reported the Houston Herald..

“It’s after the DEI programs end that the marketing department will definitely (know) how to change the narrative,” commented one YouTube viewer. “This ad won’t let me forget that Walmart discontinued all DEI efforts,” one other commenter said.

Walmart clearly still sees value in attracting black consumers, as evidenced by the Gen X-friendly spot starring Tate and Long (notably, the spot was produced likely months before the election and subsequent DEI rollback). The company was sensible to think about our annual purchasing power it’s estimated to eclipse $1 trillion by 2030, in response to McKinsey & Co.

“Serving Black consumers can help brands better serve customers, especially as the country’s increasingly diverse demographics continue to grow,” said Shelley Stewart III, McKinsey senior partner and global leader for repute and engagement.

To that end, while many viewers welcome the return of Darius and Nina (some have even called for an official, if long overdue, sequel), the dichotomy between promotion and Walmart practice has not gone unnoticed.

“Walmart needs to rethink its DEI policies,” a YouTube commentator said. “We play it in our faces, using characters and actors we love!”

Kerry Washington is celebrating a

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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