Black History

Colin Powell: ‘Not Allowed to Fail’

Via jobs as military assistant to high-level government officials and a stint as national security adviser to then-President Ronald Reagan, Powell rose quickly through the ranks. He became the youngest and first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He was instrumental in the 1991 Persian Gulf War victory but struggled over the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003—at which time he was serving as secretary of state under then-President George W. Bush, Powell’s most difficult assignment.

Published

3 years ago

November 5, 2021

Oakland Post

Gen. Colin Powell Public domain photo.

By Tamara Shiloh

Gen. Colin Powell (1937–2021), born in Harlem to Jamaican immigrant parents Luther and Maud Powell, rose to the highest reaches of the U.S. military: four-star general. He would go on to become the country’s first Black Secretary of State. His successes weren’t without support and the foundation set early on.

Propelling Powell to exceed his own expectations were those of his parents: “We were not allowed to fail,” he said during a 2006 New York Daily News interview. Powell said those words “didn’t mean you had to be a general or a doctor or a lawyer. In fact, that was the furthest thing from my mind when I was a kid in New York City. But you had to stay in school, and you had to do well, and you had to meet (their) expectations: ‘We didn’t come to this country for the next generation to blow it.’”

Powell’s childhood was storied. Raised in a four-bedroom, third-floor apartment on Kelly Street in the South Bronx, Powell came from modest means. His father worked in Manhattan’s Garment District, and his mother was a seamstress. He often said that he loved his tenement neighborhood.

Surrounded by a large extended family as well as people of varied cultures, Powell described his childhood experiences in New York City as being exposed to “every type of person you could imagine,” and that it “meant so much to me as I grew up and learned the importance of diversity.”

Powell attended New York City’s public schools before enrolling at City College of New York and later earning an MBA from George Washington University. It was at City College that he found his calling: The Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He began to build relationships that later led him to the U.S. Army—a move that would eventually direct his future.

As the Pentagon’s top officer, Powell, who viewed himself as a problem-solver, called for “applying military might only with overwhelming and decisive troop strength, a clear objective, and popular support,” the Washington Post reported. Journalists later dubbed this method “the Powell Doctrine.”

Interestingly, throughout his career, Powell avoided racial activism. He believed “race factored much less in his professional success than his ability to work within institutions, where he competed with whites on their own terms,” according to the Washington Post. “My race is somebody’s else’s problem … It’s not my problem,” he had said.

After retiring from public service, spending time on the lecture circuit, and becoming founding chair of America’s Promise, Powell died Oct. 18, 2021. He was 84.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

Published

1 day ago

December 20, 2024

Oakland Post

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‘Donald Trump Is Not a God:’ Rep. Bennie Thompson Blasts Trump’s Call to Jail Him

“Donald Trump is not a god,” U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told The Grio during a recent interview, reacting to Trump’s unsupported claims that the congressman, along with other committee members like vice chair and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, destroyed evidence throughout the investigation.

Published

4 days ago

December 18, 2024

Oakland Post

Congressman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he not intimidated by President-elect Donald Trump, who, during an interview on “Meet the Press,” called for the congressman to be jailed for his role as chairman of the special congressional committee investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Donald Trump is not a god,” Thompson told The Grio during a recent interview, reacting to Trump’s unsupported claims that the congressman, along with other committee members like vice chair and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, destroyed evidence throughout the investigation.

“He can’t prove it, nor has there been any other proof offered, which tells me that he really doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said the 76-year-old lawmaker, who maintained that he and the bipartisan Jan. 6 Select Committee – which referred Trump for criminal prosecution – were exercising their constitutional and legislative duties.

“When someone disagrees with you, that doesn’t make it illegal; that doesn’t even make it wrong,” Thompson said, “The greatness of this country is that everyone can have their own opinion about any subject, and so for an incoming president who disagrees with the work of Congress to say ‘because I disagree, I want them jailed,’ is absolutely unbelievable.”

When asked by The Grio if he is concerned about his physical safety amid continued public ridicule from Trump, whose supporters have already proven to be violent, Thompson said, “I think every member of Congress here has to have some degree of concern, because you just never know.”

This story is based on a report from The Grio.

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Biden’s Legacy Secured with Record-Setting Black Judicial Appointments

His record surpasses previous efforts by his predecessors. President Jimmy Carter appointed 37 Black judges, including seven Black women. In stark contrast, Donald Trump’s first term resulted in only two Black women appointed out of 234 lifetime judicial nominations. The White House said Biden’s efforts show a broader commitment to racial equity and justice.

Published

4 days ago

December 18, 2024

Oakland Post

iStockphoto.

By Stacy M. Brown
WI Senior Writer

President Joe Biden’s commitment to diversifying the federal judiciary has culminated in a historic achievement: appointing 40 Black women to lifetime judgeships, the most of any president in U.S. history.

Biden has appointed 62 Black judges, cementing his presidency as one focused on promoting equity and representation on the federal bench.

The White House said Biden’s efforts show a broader commitment to racial equity and justice.

Meanwhile, Trump has vowed to dismantle key civil rights protections, including the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“Having the Black woman’s experience on the federal bench is extremely important because there is a different kind of voice that can come from the Black female from the bench,” Delores Jones-Brown, professor emeritus at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told reporters.

Lena Zwarensteyn of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights told reporters that these district court judges are often the first and sometimes the final arbiters in cases affecting healthcare access, education equity, fair hiring practices, and voting rights.

“Those decisions are often the very final decisions because very few cases actually get heard by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Zwarensteyn explained.

Biden’s nomination of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court further reflects his commitment to judicial diversity. Jackson became the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.

Patrick McNeil, spokesperson for the Leadership Conference, pointed out that over half of Biden’s Black female judicial appointees have backgrounds as civil rights attorneys and public defenders, experience advocates consider essential for a balanced judiciary.

Meanwhile, Congress remains divided over the expansion of federal judgeships. Legislation to add 66 new judgeships—approved unanimously by the Senate in August—stalled in the GOP-controlled House until after the election. House Republicans proposed distributing the new judgeships over the next decade, giving three administrations a say in appointments. President Biden, however, signaled he would veto the bill if it reached his desk.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., argued the delay was a strategic move to benefit Trump’s potential return to office. “Donald Trump has made clear that he intends to expand the power of the presidency and giving him 25 new judges to appoint gives him one more tool at his disposal,” Nadler said.