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Mckenzie Ushers in Juneteenth, Highlighting Nation’s Difficult History at National Cathedral
THE AFRO — McKenzie led the audience on a whirlwind historical “roll call” of efforts to revise the narrative of cultural events around the globe, including in Hungary, China, and the United States. She reminded the audience of efforts to ban books and restrict the rights of Jews.
The post Mckenzie Ushers in Juneteenth, Highlighting Nation’s Difficult History at National Cathedral first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
By Deborah Bailey | AFRO Contributing Editor
Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the retired and first female bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, used the pulpit of The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., to render a searing sermon calling the faithful to “put feet to our prayers” as she set the stage for America’s celebration of Juneteenth on June 19.
McKenzie, president of the National Churches of Christ, delivered the morning message at the Cathedral on June 16 and went straight into dissecting the rationale behind America’s cultural wars in the form of book banning, and laws passed restricting how history is taught in schools across the U.S.
According to the Black Education Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, 18 states have imposed restrictions and bans on teaching race and gender since 2021. At least 32 states have jurisdictions that have passed some form of book ban.
“If we are a truly great nation, the truth cannot destroy us,” McKenzie said, quoting from Nicole Hannah Jones’ Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project. She then asked the congregation: “If you could change the narrative to your liking, what would your truth look like? “
McKenzie led the audience on a whirlwind historical “roll call” of efforts to revise the narrative of cultural events around the globe, including in Hungary, China, and the United States. She reminded the audience of efforts to ban books and restrict the rights of Jews.
“Are you breathing?” she stopped and asked the congregation before reeling off a second roll call of U.S. riots, rebellions and mass shootings from 1863 to today, designed to restrict and destroy Black American institutions and communities.
“Here in the home of the brave and the land of the free, the New York City Massacre, the Memphis Massacre, the Camila Massacre, the Opelousas Massacre, the Danville Riot, Springfield Massacre, Tulsa Black Wall Street Massacre, the Orangeburg Massacre, Charleston South Carolina Mother Bethel Massacre, Massacre at Tops Market, the Jacksonville Dollar Store Massacre…,” McKenzie said in the space of two minutes.
“That’s here,” she added as the audience became silent.
“Are you breathing? Are you still in the room?” McKenzie asked as she moved on quickly to share more.
“Remembering Juneteenth serves as a historical reminder of what did happen,” she said before taking the audience through a vivid tour of brutal historical events characterizing slavery and the disenfranchisement of Black people.
Reflections from the audience were varied.
Longtime parishioner Jim Fulton thought McKenzie’s sermon was needed at the National Cathedral.
“This is the kind of message I want to hear, and I want other people to hear,” he said.
Others added that the sermon was so packed with information, they needed to do a second take.
“For some of our audience, people may be hearing the historical references for the first time. But this is an audience that will listen carefully to the sermon, go back, study the transcript, and ask questions,” said the Rev. Jo Owens, pastor for digital ministry.
Owens said National Cathedral is considering an online community for people who want to ask follow-up questions and reflect more deeply after messages like McKenzie’s.
Grace Matthews was one of those parishioners who was ready to ask the deeper questions right away. Matthews admits she has political positions on most issues and wants to ensure her views are consistent with her faith and values.
As she listened to McKenzie’s description of the often bloody and brutal history leading up to Juneteenth and continuing today, she has questions about how America moves forward with its troubling past and present divisions.
“Where is the line between forgiving and forgetting when you’ve turned the cheek so many times that you’ve run out of cheeks?” Matthews reflected after the sermon.
The post Mckenzie Ushers in Juneteenth, Highlighting Nation’s Difficult History at National Cathedral first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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PRESS ROOM: MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN-RECORDER TO CELEBRATE IN STYLE IN 2024
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Founded on August 10, 1934, by local entrepreneur and legendary Civil Rights activist Cecil E. Newman, the MSR has chronicled local, state, national, and global history for generations and has long been revered as the “voice of Black Minnesota.”
The post PRESS ROOM: MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN-RECORDER TO CELEBRATE IN STYLE IN 2024 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
This Twin Cities Cultural Treasure to turn 90 years old in August, and
will Commemorate the Occasion with Two First-Class Events
Minneapolis, MN – This August, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR), the North Star State’s oldest African American newspaper, officially marks 90 years of impact in the Twin Cities and beyond. Founded on August 10, 1934, by local entrepreneur and legendary Civil Rights activist Cecil E. Newman, the MSR has chronicled local, state, national, and global history for generations and has long been revered as the “voice of Black Minnesota.”
“The history of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder is synonymous with the history of African Americans in the State of Minnesota,” wrote the late Matthew Little, longtime President and Chairman of the Minneapolis NAACP, “Not only have they documented and archived the Black presence and mobility in the state, but over the years they have played a central advocacy role in African American progress.” Ahead of the festivities, shortly after July 15, the historic publication will be honored with a proclamation from the city of St. Paul, citing August 10, 2024, as Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Day.
Legacy Yacht Cruise and 90th Anniversary Gala
On the weekend of August 16 and 17, 2024, the MSR will celebrate its extensive history and many accomplishments by hosting unforgettable evenings. The festivities kick off that Friday evening, August 16, from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm, with the MSR’s 90th Anniversary Legacy Yacht Cruise. Guests will sail down the St. Croix River on the historic Majestic Star, where they’ll experience live entertainment, an all-you-can-eat buffet, and four floors of activities, games, and prizes. For more information on the Legacy Yacht Cruise, including how to get your tickets, please visit https://tix.spokesman-recorder.com/e/legacy-yacht-cruise-on-the-majestic-star. Then, on Saturday night, August 17, at 6:00 pm, the scene will shift to downtown
Minneapolis for the MSR’s 90th Anniversary Gala. This elegant affair will take place along the Mississippi River at the iconic and newly renovated Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, The Depot. Tables and tickets for the gala, including VIP options, are available now. MSR also offers a “Community Supporter Package.” For more details and how to secure your seats for this one-of-a-kind event, visit our 90th Anniversary Gala webpage at https://cbo.io/tickets/msr/tix. A special group rate has also been reserved for those who would like to stay at the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel for the gala, and that link can be accessed here https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1702333862939&key=GRP&app=resvlink.
90 Years of Impact at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
The MSR’s influence has also spread well beyond the Twin Cities and the borders of the North Star State. Hubert H. Humphrey famously credited Newman with counseling him on the issue of Civil Rights, helping shape local policy throughout the former’s tenure as Mayor of Minneapolis and national policy during his time as Minnesota’s senior senator and the 38th Vice President of the United States. In addition to Newman, other journalistic icons who regularly contributed to and/or called the MSR home include Gordon Parks, Carl Rowan, and Nellie Dodson Russell.
“We are more than just a newspaper, “notes Tracey Williams-Dillard, Newman’s granddaughter and current CEO & Publisher, “Our legacy is rooted in the quest for justice, equity and human rights. The MSR has witnessed and captured the historical moments, trends, and events that have shaped the world over the last century. We’ve earned our rightful place as a trusted voice in media and the larger community through blood, sweat, and tears.”
In addition to the Legacy Yacht Cruise and the 90th Anniversary Gala, the MSR invites everyone to become part of its $90 for 90 Campaign, honoring nine decades of continuous publication. Those who contribute $90 in support of the MSR will have their names prominently displayed in the paper’s print editions through August 15, 2024. To learn how to participate, please go to https://spokesman-recorder.com/__90for90/.
For more information on the MSR, its 90th Anniversary celebration, and to schedule an interview with MSR Publisher and CEO Tracey Williams-Dillard, please contact Tony Kiene via email at tkiene@spokesman-record.com or by telephone at (651) 226-2513.
About the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR) enjoys a living legacy as the oldest Black-owned newspaper in Minnesota and one of the longest-standing, family-owned newspapers in the nation. Civil Rights activist and Twin Cities businessman Cecil E. Newman founded the MSR in 1934 as two separate papers: the Minneapolis Spokesman and the St. Paul Recorder, which merged into a single publication in 2000. Today, under the leadership of Newman’s granddaughter Tracey Williams-Dillard, the MSR continues in its time-honored tradition as a trusted voice for the diverse Black communities of Minnesota, championing the perspectives and stories that might otherwise go unread.
The post PRESS ROOM: MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN-RECORDER TO CELEBRATE IN STYLE IN 2024 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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CNN’s Shameful Spectacle: The First Presidential Debate of 2024
NNPA NEWSWIRE — CNN, which declined to provide Black-owned media with any of the more than eight hundred credentials it passed out, enabled a boatload of misinformation and flat-out lies to pass through their airwaves like bad wind.
The post CNN’s Shameful Spectacle: The First Presidential Debate of 2024 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
The first presidential debate of 2024 between President Joe Biden and criminally convicted former President Donald Trump was nothing short of a shameful display of unhinged and unchecked behavior. CNN, which declined to provide Black-owned media with any of the more than eight hundred credentials it passed out, enabled a boat load of misinformation and flat-out lies to pass through their airwaves like bad wind. “Absolutely disgraceful that the CNN moderators refuse to fact-check Trump on anything,” said human rights activist and attorney Qasim Rashid. “This is journalistic malpractice, and it is decimating our democracy.”
Writer and attorney Olayemi Olurin tweeted, “It is a failure on CNN not to fact-check Trump’s lies, but the thing is… if Joe Biden were performing the way he’s supposed to in a debate, his answers would be the fact check. So, three things are true: Trump is lying his [butt] off, the mediator isn’t doing their job, and neither is Biden.” Biden, whose campaign said he suffered from a cold during the debate, took some of his biggest shots at Trump after the former president refused to accept the results this fall regardless of who won. Trump said he would only accept the results “if it’s fair, legal, and good.”
“You’re a whiner,” Biden said. “When you lost the first time… you appealed and appealed to courts all across the country. Not one single court in America said any of your claims had any merit, state or local, none. But you continue to promote this lie about somehow, there’s all this misrepresentation, all this stealing. There’s no evidence of that at all. And I tell you what, I doubt whether you’ll accept it, because you’re such a whiner. The idea if you lose again, you accepting anything? You can’t stand the loss. Something snapped in you when you lost last time.” Without any rebuttal, Trump also incredulously asserted that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was primarily to blame for the violent uprising on January 6.
The moderators then cut to a commercial. And that was just a tiny part of CNN’s massive failure. Meanwhile, at the People for American Way reception and debate watch party at the Wharf in D.C., attendees sighed and expressed anger at their television sets as Trump told lie after lie. Despite having two anchors and a mute button, the host network failed to challenge him. “The debate turned into a 90-minute Trump rally,” said Alice Wilkes of Northeast. “I waited and waited for the moderators to say something, or, at least, cut him off,” Wilkes said. At Busboys & Poets on K Street in Northwest, where former lawmaker Nina Turner hosted a watch party, a packed house cheered as Biden called Trump “a sucker” and noted that he had “sex with a porn star” behind his wife’s back.
During the debate, Biden addressed questions about his age and stumbled when he tried to mock Trump’s fitness. “You can see he is 6-foot-5 and only 223 pounds or 235 pounds… well, anyway,” Biden said. Later, he agreed to Trump’s challenge of a golf match on one condition: “If you carry your own bag.” Several Black voters expressed disappointment in the way both candidates talked about Black people. “It’s like they forgot about Black people,” Byron Cooper of Southeast stated. “Trump commuted some sentences and pardoned some drug dealers. That’s supposedly what he did for the Black community,” Cooper remarked. “Unfortunately, to some Black people, that’s enough, which is ridiculous because the guy is a stark raving racist.”
During the debate, Trump revived attacks on Biden and Democrats over the 1994 crime bill that disproportionately harmed African Americans. Neither Biden nor CNN failed to mention Trump calling for the execution of five Black and Brown teenagers who were innocent of sexually assaulting a white woman in Central Park. Biden did mention how Trump has called skinheads and white nationalists “good people.”
In his two-minute closing argument, Trump personally attacked Biden’s record abroad. “They don’t respect you throughout the world,” he said. Trump claimed he had the largest tax cut and the largest regulation cuts in history, but the country is now “exploding.” “We’re a failing nation, but it’s not going to be failing anymore,” he said. We’re going to make it great again.” For his close, Biden noted, “We have made significant progress from the debacle President Trump left in his last term.”
Biden then summarized some of his signature policies. In terms of the economy, he vowed not to raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000 a year and to continue his work to reduce health care and childcare costs and give families financial breathing room. “We’re going to continue to fight to bring down inflation and give people a break,” Biden said in closing.
The post CNN’s Shameful Spectacle: The First Presidential Debate of 2024 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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Republican Adam Kinzinger Endorses Biden-Harris Ahead of First Presidential Debate
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Kinzinger, a self-described Republican moderate, served as an Illinois congressman from 2011 until last year. He gained prominence for his opposition to his party’s direction, particularly after the January 6 Capitol attack. “This is what putting your country before your party looks like,” Biden said.
The post Republican Adam Kinzinger Endorses Biden-Harris Ahead of First Presidential Debate first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger has announced his endorsement of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris just ahead of the first presidential debate in Atlanta. Kinzinger, a self-described Republican moderate, served as an Illinois congressman from 2011 until last year. He gained prominence for his opposition to his party’s direction, particularly after the January 6 Capitol attack. “This is what putting your country before your party looks like,” Biden said.
Kinzinger was one of only two Republicans, alongside former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, to serve on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack. He was also among the ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in 2021, subsequently deciding not to seek reelection. In his recent book, “Renegade,” Kinzinger reflects on his political career, the challenges of working within a fractured political system, and his growing disillusionment with the Republican Party after Trump’s presidency and impeachment trials. Kinzinger, a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, cited the “existential threat” Trump poses to American democracy as a critical reason for his endorsement. He referenced Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection and praised President Biden’s steadfast commitment to protecting and strengthening democracy.
Kinzinger’s endorsement sets the stage for a stark contrast at tomorrow’s debate. Trump’s election denialism and support for political violence will be starkly juxtaposed against Biden’s unwavering advocacy for democracy, law, and order, a contrast that will be hard to miss. Conversely, Biden has fostered a sense of unity in his coalition, welcoming Republicans like Kinzinger. His campaign has invested millions in outreach efforts targeting Nikki Haley’s primary voters and organizing Republican outreach with resolute staff, demonstrating a commitment to inclusivity.
“I’m a proud conservative. I always have been. As a proud conservative, I’ve always put democracy and our Constitution above all else,” Kinzinger asserted. “And it’s because of my unwavering support for democracy, that today, as a proud conservative, I am endorsing Joe Biden for reelection.” The former congressman said his life has been guided by the conviction that America is a beacon of freedom, liberty, and democracy. “So, while I certainly don’t agree with President Biden on everything – and I never thought I’d be endorsing a Democrat for president – I know that he will always protect the very thing that makes America the best country in the world: our democracy,” he insisted. “Donald Trump poses a direct threat to every fundamental American value. He does not care about our country. He does not care about you. He only cares about himself, and he will hurt anyone or anything in pursuit of power. We saw that when he tried to overturn an election, he knew he lost in 2020.
“He attacked the foundation of this nation, encouraging a violent mob of his supporters to march on the Capitol to prevent the peaceful transition of power. Now, he has become even more dangerous. He’s called for the “termination” of the Constitution. He wants to be a dictator on day one, he actually said that. And he is continuing to stoke the flames of political violence. There is too much at stake to sit on the sidelines.”
Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager, released a statement regarding Kinzinger’s endorsement:
“Our campaign is proud to earn the support of Congressman Kinzinger, a true public servant who is a model for putting our country and our democracy over party and blind concession to Trump. Congressman Kinzinger represents the countless Americans that Donald Trump’s Republican Party has left behind. Those Americans have a home in President Biden’s coalition, and our campaign knows we need to show up and earn their support.
“President Biden will always fight for American democracy, the rule of law, treating each other with decency, dignity, and respect, and working to find common ground—even when we disagree. Congressman Kinzinger’s endorsement does not just make our campaign stronger; it will better equip us to win the hearts and minds of voters committed to fighting for the future of our democracy and stopping Donald Trump.”
The post Republican Adam Kinzinger Endorses Biden-Harris Ahead of First Presidential Debate first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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