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EFOC 2024: Your voice is your voice. Use it to shape the future and drive change – Essence

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Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

During the “Our Voice, Our Vote, Our Power” panel during the Global Black Economic Forum at ESSENCE 2024, the discussion focused on the critical importance of voting, engaging communities, and the motivation behind exercising this fundamental right.

The panel featured a distinguished group of speakers, including Nikole Hannah-Jones, founding father of the 1619 Project and Knight Professor of Race and Journalism at Howard University; Brittany Packnett-Cunningham, activist and founding father of Campaign Zero; Flau’jae Johnson, LSU women’s basketball national champion; and Reyna Roberts, rapper/songwriter.

EFOC 2024: Your Voice is Your Voice. Use It to Shape the Future and Drive Change
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 6: Nikole Hannah-Jones (right) speaks onstage during ESSENCE Festival Of Culture™ Presented By Coca-Cola® 2024 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 6, 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

Addressing key issues in the upcoming election, the panel highlighted why voting is crucial, especially for the Black community. Hannah-Jones emphasized the power and responsibility of voting in a democracy. She highlighted the ongoing historic struggle between pursuing a multiracial democracy and maintaining a system that primarily serves one group.

“When we found out 60 years ago that we were finally as close to a democracy as we were with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, that set in motion a fundamental struggle about whether we wanted to be a multiracial democracy or continue to be a democracy for one racial group, which is white people,” Jones said.

The conversation then moved on to strategies for engaging communities around elections. Brittany Packnett-Cunningham emphasized the importance of standing in our power, even when it’s uncomfortable, as a catalyst for change and inspiration for others. She emphasized the need for transparency in the voting process and managing expectations about the pace of change.

EFOC 2024: Your Voice is Your Voice. Use It to Shape the Future and Drive Change
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 6: (L-R) Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Flau’jae Johnson, Reyna Roberts and Beth Lynk attend ESSENCE Festival Of Culture™ Presented By Coca-Cola® 2024 at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 6, 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for ESSENCE)

“Sharing with people the why, reading the 900 pages of Project 2025 together and recognizing that when we tell people the why, we have to help them understand voting in a way that we haven’t been talking about,” Cunningham said. “Telling everyone that one vote, one election will save and fix everything is a lie that we have to stop telling. The truth is that your vote is a strategic weapon in setting the terms of your next battle,” she said.

The youngest panelists, Flau’jae Johnson and Reyna Roberts, shared their motivations for leading and discussing the election, fueled by a desire to create a greater future for younger relations. Johnson, specifically, has channeled her personal loss to gun violence into advocacy, transforming the recording studio where her father was killed right into a community resource center.

“I try to use my voice for the voiceless because I have the confidence to speak up and face the consequences,” Johnson said.

From highlighting the historical context of suffrage to advocating for community engagement and transparency, a panel discussion at the ESSENCE 2024 Festival highlighted the power of collective motion and the critical importance of voting in shaping the future.

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Politics and Current

Woman flashes breasts and kicks sheriff’s deputy in face after calling police to report her son was kidnapped

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Body-worn camera footage that recently surfaced online shows a girl behaving erratically during an encounter with three officers after she called 911 to report a kidnapping.

The video shows two male and one female officers responding to a call at a house in Indian River County, Florida, on June 15, 2022, where they encounter a girl who appears to be upset.

Body camera footage shows a girl kicking a sheriff’s deputy in the face after he called 911 to report an alleged kidnapping. (Photo: YouTube/Blue Mast)

The woman begins by saying she called 911 earlier this week and spoke with a sheriff’s deputy, Tea De Leon, and her “eyelashes,” but De Leon claims she never spoke to the girl.

When officers attempt to query the girl in regards to the nature of her report, a lot of her answers are inconsistent and difficult to understand.

“I can’t handle this! You’re not invited!” the girl screams before trailing off incomprehensibly.

When the police ask her if she had been drinking alcohol or taking any medications that day, she says no and begins making accusations that her ex-husband had kidnapped her son.

“I’m taking care of my son. I haven’t seen my son in a month. I’m taking care of my fucking job, I’m taking care of my fucking son, my son’s father won’t give him his phone,” the girl said after telling officers she was working to resolve the custody dispute.

The conflict escalates when officers try to query the girl, but she begins to argue.

At one point she shows De Leon her chest, saying she just had “surgery,” and begins accusing the officers of touching her.

After refusing to obey the officers and continuing to get in De Leon’s face, all of the officers restrain her and handcuff her. She continues to speak incoherently after being detained.

“I always talk to someone, I don’t f***ing lie about shit,” the girl says. “Can you let her go, because this is a f***ing lot for her?”

A moment later, she begins to scream loudly and cry, then dramatically falls to the bottom.

As the officers help her off the bottom and lead her to the patrol automotive, they’ve trouble getting her to sit in the back seat. Things escalate again when she loudly demands that they stop touching her, then kicks De Leon.

The police try to force her into the automotive and she kicks De Leon again, this time in the face.

The men eventually help her into the automotive, then check on their friend as he leans down and massages her nose.

“I’m fine,” De Leon assures his partners. “I’m not bleeding, am I?”

The recording ends with one in every of the officers telling the girl she shall be charged with against the law.

“Why?” the girl asks.

“For kicking her in the face,” the deputy replies.

“I never kicked her in the face,” the girl shouts.

“Yes. I saw you do it. It’s all on video,” the deputy says.

As reported, the girl was charged with serious assault on an officer.

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This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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Politics and Current

During the NABJ-WHYY panel, Harris showed us once again that she won’t let Trump define the conversation.

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Kamala Harris, NABJ-WHYY conversation, theGrio.com

“Sometimes your adversaries will try to turn your strength into weakness,” she said. “Don’t let them. Don’t let them.”

In that moment, she’s portrayed her joy and laughter as strengths, and Trump as someone who would attempt to idiot her and all of us into pondering they weren’t strengths. She’s portraying Trump as a thief of joy — almost a cartoonish Grinch-like villain — but without actually or overtly saying anything provocative. The Trump campaign is filled with attempts to attract Harris into ridiculous conversations, corresponding to whether immigrants eat pets in Springfield, Ohio. Harris has been steadfast throughout her campaign in refusing to let Trump frame the conversation or select the setting of the moment. She’s not here to reply to his madness. She’s running her own race.

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She then responded to Gaynor’s query by adding more commentary on the subject of joy. “I find joy in the American people,” she said. “I find joy in the optimism… I find joy in the ambition of the people.” She listed several places where she found joy, poetically linking each with the words, “I find joy in…” It was the type of repetition you would possibly expect from a black preacher. She ended the list with, “I find joy in believing that the true measure of a leader’s strength is not who you knock down, but who you lift up.”

All of this jogged my memory that it is a campaign based on optimism, not pessimism, regret, anger and fear-mongering.

At one point she was asked about Springfield, Ohio, home to immigrants Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance falsely accused of eating pets. She didn’t let Trump lead the conversation. When asked about the city, she modified the subject to people. She said it was school picture day they usually needed to evacuate the kids. She began talking about the kids. Harris again insisted on fascinated by people and refused to follow Trump’s conversation. Watch her do that during the race — it’s clearly her selection. Harris is deliberate in avoiding responding to Trump. She doesn’t follow the conversation into the mental gutter he wants to guide her to. Instead, she comes across as a babbling old geezer, and she’s above the argument and above him.


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Politics and Current

Stevie Wonder Hits Tour in Battleground States for Election

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Stevie Wonder, new track, unity, DNC


Stevie Wonder is embarking on a 10-city U.S. tour to coincide with the upcoming presidential election.

The “Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” tour, titled after Wonder’s latest politically themed single, will happen it stops in key states, reports. The 25-time Grammy Award winner will kick off the tour on October 8 on the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with stops in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Greensboro, Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee and Minneapolis, before wrapping up on October 30 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The official announcement says the tour calls for “joy over anger, kindness over resentment, peace over war.” It also notes that “as a special thank you,” Wonder will offer quite a lot of free tickets to “those in our communities who are already working tirelessly to mend the broken heart of our nation.”

The tour announcement comes a month after Wonder gave an electrifying performance and speech on the Democratic National Convention on “the importance of action.”

“It’s time to understand where we are and what it’s going to take to win: win the broken hearts, win the disappointed, win the angry souls — now is the time,” the legendary singer told the group.

“This is the moment to remember, when you tell your kids where you’ve been and what you’ve done… We have to choose courage over complacency. It’s time to stand up!” he said, changing his tone to an appeal, “and go vote!” He then launched into his 1973 classic, “Higher Ground.”

Stevie Wonder’s “Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” tour dates are listed below:

  • October 8: Pittsburgh, PA, PPG Paints Arena
  • October 10: New York, New York, Madison Square Garden
  • October 12: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wells Fargo Center
  • October 15: Baltimore, Maryland, CFG Bank Arena
  • October 17: Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensboro Coliseum
  • October 19: Atlanta, Georgia, State Farm Arena
  • October 22: Detroit, Michigan, Little Caesars Arena
  • October 24: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Fiserv Forum
  • October 27: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Target Center
  • October 30 Grand Rapids, Michigan, Van Andel Arena


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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