#NNPA BlackPress

2020 Democratic National Convention Rewind Featuring BlackGirlMagic

Published

5 years ago

August 21, 2020

Kiki

Michelle

The overall theme for the 2020 Democratic National Convention was “Uniting America.” It ran four days from Monday, Aug. 17th to Thursday, Aug. 20th.

It was, of course, mostly virtual and originating from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The kickoff and Monday’s program theme was “We the People.”

There was a video that included Dolores Huerta, Donna Hylton, Daniel Dae Kim, Jeynce Pointdexter, Transgender Advocate.

In a segment titled, “We the People Demand Racial Justice” Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd spoke live from Houston, Texas, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, and author Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner were in a discussion with Joe Biden.

The highlight and closer for the opener was former First Lady Michelle Obama.

She uttered the names of both George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and made reference to “. . . a never-ending list of innocent people of color continue to be murdered, stating the simple fact that a Black life matters is still met with derision from the nations’ highest office. . . . going high is the only thing that works because when we go low when we use those same tactics of degrading and dehumanizing others, we just become part of the ugly noise that’s drowning out everything else. ”

She added: “[s]o let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.”

“You know I hate politics. But you also know that I care about this nation.”

“So if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this: If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can; and they will if we don’t make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it.”

Referencing Kanye West, ” . . . this is not the time to withhold our votes in protest or play games with candidates who have no chance of winning. We have got to vote like we did in 2008 and 2012. . . We’ve got to vote early, in person if we can. We’ve got to request our mail-in ballots right now, tonight, and send them back immediately and follow-up to make sure they’re received. And then, make sure our friends and families do the same.”

And finally, she advises “[w]e have got to grab our comfortable shoes, put on our masks, pack a brown bag dinner and maybe breakfast too because we’ve got to be willing to stand in line all night if we have to.”

Tuesday night’s them was “Leadership Matters”.

Video clips of the late Barbara Jordan: “We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future.”

Stacey Abrams said “America faces a triple threat: a public health catastrophic, an economic collapse, and a reckoning with racial justice and inequality… In a democracy, we do not elect saviors. We cast our ballots for those who see our struggles and pledge to serve; who hear our dreams and work to make them real: who defend our way of life by protecting our right to vote. Face with a president of cowardice, Joe Biden is a man of proven courage. He will restore our moral compass by confronting our challenges, not by hiding from them or undermining our elections to keep his job.”

“In a time of voter suppression at home and authoritarians abroad, Joe Biden will be a champion for free and fair elections, for a public health system that keeps us safe, for an economy that we build back better than before, and for accountability and integrity in our system of justice.”

“We stand with Joe Biden because this isn’t just about defeating Donald Trump. We are in this to win for America. So let’s get it done.”

Tracee Ellis Ross introduced the night with remarks from Caroline Kennedy, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Dr. Jill Biden, and a performance by John Legend.

Tracee Ellis Ross

Wednesday’s theme was “A More Perfect Union”. Kerry Washington introduced “A More Perfect Society” “A More Perfect Union . . . Means Ending Gun Violence”

“A More Perfect Union . . . Means Tackling Climate Change.” Performance by Billie Ellish.

“A More Perfect Union . . . Means Keeping Immigrant Families Together”. Performance by Prince Royce.

“A More Perfect Union . . . Means Women Lead”. Remarks by Hilary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Mariska Hargitay, Ruth Glenn, and Carly Dryden.

A More Perfect Economy included remarks by Elizabeth Warren.

More Perfect Leadership, included remarks by Barack Obama and the Nominating Speech by Maya Harris, Meena Harris, and Ella Elmhoff and Kamala Harris with a performance by Jennifer Hudson.

Barack Obama said: “[t]onight, I am asking you to believe in Joe and Kamala’s ability to lead this country out of dark times and build it back better.”

Kamala in accepting the nomination for Vice President of the Democratic Party, evoked the names of women who inspired her including her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, Mary Church Terrell, Mary McCleod Bethune, Fannie Lous Hamer, Diane Nash, Constance Baker Motley, and Shirley Chisholm.

She gave a shout out to the Divine 9, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and her HBCU brothers and sisters. She graduated from Howard University.

She too spoke of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and ” . . . the lives of too many others to name.”

The DNC concluded on Thursday, August 20 with a theme of “America’s Promise”.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms spoke and said: “People often think they can’t make a difference . . . every person in the movement mattered — those who made the sandwiches swept the church floors, stuffed the envelopes. They too changed America. We have cried out for justice, we have gathered in our streets to demand change, and now, we must pass on the gift John Lewis sacrificed to give us, we must register and we must vote.”

Joe Biden accepted the nomination and quoted Ella Baker: “[g]ive people light and they will find a way.”

Biden said: “One of the most important conversations I’ve had this entire campaign is with someone who is too young to vote. I met with six-year-old Gianna Floyd, a day before her Daddy George Floyd was laid to rest. When I leaned down to speak with her, she looked into my eyes and said “Daddy changed the world.”

He ended with “[f]or love is more powerful than hate. Hope is more powerful than fear. Light is more powerful than dark. This is our moment. This is our mission.”

To see videos for each night go to the DNC YouTube page.

Kiki

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#NNPA BlackPress

Chavis and Bryant Lead Charge as Target Boycott Grows

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Surrounded by civil rights leaders, economists, educators, and activists, Bryant declared the Black community’s power to hold corporations accountable for broken promises.

Published

5 days ago

April 23, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent

Calling for continued economic action and community solidarity, Dr. Jamal H. Bryant launched the second phase of the national boycott against retail giant Target this week at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. Surrounded by civil rights leaders, economists, educators, and activists, Bryant declared the Black community’s power to hold corporations accountable for broken promises. “They said they were going to invest in Black communities. They said it — not us,” Bryant told the packed sanctuary. “Now they want to break those promises quietly. That ends tonight.” The town hall marked the conclusion of Bryant’s 40-day “Target fast,” initiated on March 3 after Target pulled back its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) commitments. Among those was a public pledge to spend $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by 2025—a pledge Bryant said was made voluntarily in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.“No company would dare do to the Jewish or Asian communities what they’ve done to us,” Bryant said. “They think they can get away with it. But not this time.”

The evening featured voices from national movements, including civil rights icon and National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) President & CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., who reinforced the need for sustained consciousness and collective media engagement. The NNPA is the trade association of the 250 African American newspapers and media companies known as The Black Press of America. “On the front page of all of our papers this week will be the announcement that the boycott continues all over the United States,” said Chavis. “I would hope that everyone would subscribe to a Black newspaper, a Black-owned newspaper, subscribe to an economic development program — because the consciousness that we need has to be constantly fed.” Chavis warned against the bombardment of negativity and urged the community to stay engaged beyond single events. “You can come to an event and get that consciousness and then lose it tomorrow,” he said. “We’re bombarded with all of the disgust and hopelessness. But I believe that starting tonight, going forward, we should be more conscious about how we help one another.”

He added, “We can attain and gain a lot more ground even during this period if we turn to each other rather than turning on each other.” Other speakers included Tamika Mallory, Dr. David Johns, Dr. Rashad Richey, educator Dr. Karri Bryant, and U.S. Black Chambers President Ron Busby. Each speaker echoed Bryant’s demand that economic protests be paired with reinvestment in Black businesses and communities. “We are the moral consciousness of this country,” Bryant said. “When we move, the whole nation moves.” Sixteen-year-old William Moore Jr., the youngest attendee, captured the crowd with a challenge to reach younger generations through social media and direct engagement. “If we want to grow this movement, we have to push this narrative in a way that connects,” he said.

Dr. Johns stressed reclaiming cultural identity and resisting systems designed to keep communities uninformed and divided. “We don’t need validation from corporations. We need to teach our children who they are and support each other with love,” he said. Busby directed attendees to platforms like ByBlack.us, a digital directory of over 150,000 Black-owned businesses, encouraging them to shift their dollars from corporations like Target to Black enterprises. Bryant closed by urging the audience to register at targetfast.org, which will soon be renamed to reflect the expanding boycott movement. “They played on our sympathies in 2020. But now we know better,” Bryant said. “And now, we move.”

Stacy M. Brown

Posts by Stacy M. Brown

#NNPA BlackPress

The Department of Education is Collecting Delinquent Student Loan Debt

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — the Department of Education will withhold money from tax refunds and Social Security benefits, garnish federal employee wages, and withhold federal pensions from people who have defaulted on their student loan debt.

Published

5 days ago

April 23, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

Trump Targets Wages for Forgiven Student Debt

The Department of Education, which the Trump administration is working to abolish, will now serve as the collection agency for delinquent student loan debt for 5.3 million people who the administration says are delinquent and owe at least a year’s worth of student loan payments. “It is a liability to taxpayers,” says White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at Tuesday’s White House Press briefing. She also emphasized the student loan federal government portfolio is “worth nearly $1.6 trillion.” The Trump administration says borrowers must repay their loans, and those in “default will face involuntary collections.” Next month, the Department of Education will withhold money from tax refunds and Social Security benefits, garnish federal employee wages, and withhold federal pensions from people who have defaulted on their student loan debt. Leavitt says “we can not “kick the can down the road” any longer.”

Much of this delinquent debt is said to have resulted from the grace period the Biden administration gave for student loan repayment. The grace period initially was set for 12 months but extended into three years, ending September 30, 2024. The Trump administration will begin collecting the delinquent payments starting May 5. Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, president of Talladega College, told Black Press USA, “We can have that conversation about people paying their loans as long as we talk about the broader income inequality. Put everything on the table, put it on the table, and we can have a conversation.” Kimbrough asserts, “The big picture is that Black people have a fraction of wealth of white so you’re… already starting with a gap and then when you look at higher education, for example, no one talks about Black G.I.’s that didn’t get the G.I. Bill. A lot of people go to school and build wealth for their family…Black people have a fraction of wealth, so you already start with a wide gap.”

According to the Education Data Initiative, https://educationdata.org/average-time-to-repay-student-loans It takes the average borrower 20 years to pay their student loan debt. It also highlights how some professional graduates take over 45 years to repay student loans. A high-profile example of the timeline of student loan repayment is the former president and former First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama, who paid off their student loans by 2005 while in their 40s. On a related note, then-president Joe Biden spent much time haggling with progressives and Democratic leaders like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer on Capitol Hill about whether and how student loan forgiveness would even happen.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

VIDEO: The Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. at United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

https://youtu.be/Uy_BMKVtRVQ Excellencies: With all protocol noted and respected, I am speaking today on behalf of the Black Press of America and on behalf of the Press of People of African Descent throughout the world. I thank the Proctor Conference that helped to ensure our presence here at the Fourth Session of the […]

Published

5 days ago

April 23, 2025

Oakland Post

https://youtu.be/Uy_BMKVtRVQ

Excellencies:

With all protocol noted and respected, I am speaking today on behalf of the Black Press of America and on behalf of the Press of People of African Descent throughout the world. I thank the Proctor Conference that helped to ensure our presence here at the Fourth Session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.

The focus on AI and digital equity is urgent within the real time realities today where there continues to be what is referred to as the so called mainstream national and international media companies that systematically undergird racism and imperialism against the interests of People of African Descent.

We therefore call on this distinguished gathering of leaders and experts to challenge member states to cite and to prevent the institutionalization of racism in all forms of media including social media, AI and any form of digital bias and algorithmic discrimination.

We cannot trust nor entertains the notion that former and contemporary enslavers will now use AI and digital transformation to respect our humanity and fundamental rights.

Lastly we recommend that a priority should be given to the convening of an international collective of multimedia organizations and digital associations that are owned and developed by Africans and People of African Descent.

Basta the crimes against our humanity!

Basta Racism!

Basta Imperialism!

A Luta Continua!

Victory is certain!