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CNN’s Ashley Allison Talks New Venture and Need to Protect Kamala Harris

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Ashley Allison, Watering Hole Media, theGrio.com

For Ashley Allison, community is all the pieces. The CNN political analyst and former Obama alum had Black and brown communities in mind when conceptualizing her recent media company, Watering Hole Media.

Much just like the hundreds of campaign employees and volunteers who worked together to elect America’s first black president, Barack Obama — knocking on countless doors and talking to neighbors — her recent effort, outreach to black, brown and indigenous people, goals to unite everyone for the common good.

The political pundit initially launched Watering Hole as a news and opinion blog when President Obama took office in 2009. However, due to his law school background and lack of entrepreneurial experience on the time, the enterprise didn’t pan out. But after recording a live segment on CNN in August 2023 in regards to the Montgomery Riverboat Brawl, Allison decided to revisit her desire to create a media company for marginalized voices.

In an incident in Alabama last summer, a bunch of white men physically attacked a black boat crewman who informed them their dinghy was docked improperly. A gaggle of black men stepped in to defend the employee, leading to a viral brawl that reignited a national conversation in regards to the South’s dark history of racism.

CNN panelist Allison described the Montgomery brawl as a case of lynching. But Allison understood the incident to be far more visceral and cultural — as any scroll through black Twitter on the time showed.

“This isn’t a lynching issue. This is a protection issue,” Allison explained to her friend, sharing the reactions of black people on social media platforms. “The conversation on CNN that night was different because people were using the microphones that they had on social media.”

Now, Allison takes the conversations happening on Timelines and amplifies them with Watering Hole Media, an organization that gives curated digital content led by voices that higher reflect the various voices of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.

“Wait a Minute” hosted by Ashley Allison, political strategist Alencia Johnson, and comedian and actress Joyelle Nicole Johnson. Produced by Watering Hole Media. (Photo: Watering Hole Media/YouTube)

“We wanted to create something that was rooted in the community so that people would feel comfortable bringing it to their communities,” said Allison, who worked for Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, the Obama White House and the Biden-Harris 2020 campaign.

“You don’t take things with you to your community that you don’t think are rich, that don’t have integrity, that aren’t helpful,” she added. Allison said it’s about “getting the information and then taking that information and… talking to your neighbors.”

To date, Watering Hole Media has launched three programmes, each aimed toward a unique audience.

Hosted by Allison, political strategist Alencia Johnson, and comedian and actress Joyelle Nicole Johnson, “Wait a Minute” is a living room-style conversation from the angle of a Black woman.

“Tap In” contains a panel of black men gathered around a poker table to discuss politics and social issues, like mental health, which can be often under-talked about amongst black men.

“Everything’s Fine,” a series aimed toward Gen Z, brings together a various range of cultures, including attorney and activist Preston Mitchum, journalists Sylvia Obell and Josie Duffy Rice, and communications expert Annie Wu Henry.

Tap In, Watering Hole Media, Ashley Allison, theGrio.com
“Tap In” contains a group of black men gathered around a poker table to discuss politics and social issues, similar to mental health, which can be rarely discussed amongst black men. (Photo: Watering Hole Media/YouTube)

“We built our programming around specific types of audiences and people and their practices,” said Allison, who added that she and her team relied on research to determine “audience segmentation to really make sure we were creating content that would resonate with people.”

It was necessary to create an area where participants could freely express their opinions and “counter” one another when needed.

Allison has also been known to occasionally resist appearances on CNN.

“When people say things on TV, sometimes they say it like it’s a fact, and it’s not always a fact,” she said. “I say, ‘Wait a minute, this is what you think. I’ll tell you what I think. And so do 15 of my friends.”

Allison recognizes it’s her privilege to sit on CNN as a Black woman, but she makes it clear she doesn’t speak for all Black people.

“I think I am part of the representation of black people on TV and I have a responsibility to be part of the representation, but not as a representative,” she explained.

While she doesn’t speak for all black people, she has repeatedly defended Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, from racist and misogynist attacks by her political opponents.

Kamala Harris, theGriio.com
Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris answers questions during a moderated conversation with members of the National Association of Black Journalists hosted by WHYY on September 17, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Since Harris became a presidential candidate, her opponents, former President Donald Trump, and his Republican allies have called her a “DEI worker,” “stupid” and even questioned her identity as a Black woman.

“I think it’s the media’s responsibility. I think it’s the elected officials’ responsibility. I think it’s the responsibility of anyone who wants to consider themselves a leader to not allow for bad behavior, bad faith attacks, and just unequal standards to be applied to her,” Allison said.

“Telling someone to go to hell” and wanting to lead the country is “inappropriate,” she said. “We shouldn’t tolerate that.”

Allison said she was “completely leaning” toward having a Black woman at the highest of the presidential ticket.

“As a country, we should have had a woman president a long time ago,” she said. “I pinch myself every day that this is happening.”

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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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

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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
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We need to have an uncomfortable conversation about America

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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
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Politics and Current

Trump chooses first black cabinet member, not Byron Donalds

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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
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