#NNPA BlackPress

Mobilization and Resistance: Chavis Outlines Plan for Black Leadership While Promoting Book on the Transatlantic Slave Trade

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Dr. Chavis also spoke on the power of the Black press and the necessity for collective mobilization. On February 7, the Black Press of America will convene a public meeting, bringing publishers, editors, writers, and supporters together.

Published

1 month ago

February 5, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., a lifelong civil rights leader and president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), delivered a call to action during an appearance on the Black Press’ Let It Be Known News Live Morning Show. He focused on the need for unity and mobilization in the fight against systemic racism and oppression. His remarks also highlighted the significance of his latest book, The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Overcoming the 500-Year Legacy, co-authored with NNPA Senior National Correspondent Stacy M. Brown and published by Select Books, Inc.

Public Enemy’s legendary leader Chuck D wrote the book’s forward. “This book does not simply chronicle history; it challenges readers to face the lasting consequences of the transatlantic slave trade,” Dr. Chavis said. “The blood, sweat, and tears of enslaved Africans laid the very foundation for the American experiment in democracy, yet their descendants are still fighting for equality and justice in every facet of American life.” The book examines the ongoing impact of slavery’s legacy, from police brutality and mass incarceration to economic disparities and educational inequality. Dr. Chavis, who was unjustly imprisoned as part of the Wilmington Ten, has long fought for equal justice, drawing on his decades of activism to address both historical and modern injustices. Speaking about the need for immediate action, Dr. Chavis laid out a ten-point plan to confront the challenges facing Black Americans and the African diaspora that have been greatly exacerbated by Donald Trump’s dictatorship-like rule over the United States. “We are not playing,” he said. “We need an action list of what we’re going to do—not what Trump is doing, not what Elon Musk is doing, not what the white supremacists are doing, but what we are doing as righteous people.”

Dr. Chavis said the fight for justice is not limited to African Americans but is a global struggle. “Every inch of progress that Black people have made benefits people all over the world,” he said. “This is Black History Month. Nobody can take that away from us.” One of the major initiatives he announced includes distributing The Transatlantic Slave Trade to school systems nationwide. “They’re talking about dismantling the Department of Education. We’re talking about erecting a new Department of Education that includes the books of all our heroes and sheroes,” he said. “We should never put the education of our children in the hands of those who want to destroy us.” Dr. Chavis also spoke on the power of the Black press and the necessity for collective mobilization. On February 7, the Black Press of America will convene a public meeting, bringing publishers, editors, writers, and supporters together. “We’re going to break the Zoom call—we’ll have so many people on it,” he said. “This is about leadership. The public needs this gathering.”

A private meeting of Black leaders will follow on February 8, where strategy discussions will take place away from the eyes of those who seek to divide the movement. “We are not going to tell the people who oppose us what we’re getting ready to do so they can plant seeds of division,” Dr. Chavis said. Further mobilization efforts will take place on March 2, when thousands are expected to gather in Selma, Alabama, for a reaffirmation of voting rights. “This is not about Democrats or Republicans,” he said. “This is about our fundamental human right to have a way to express ourselves politically, economically, socially, and culturally.” Dr. Chavis also announced a major event in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4 to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and strategize the next steps in the civil rights movement. “We are the richest, exploited people in the world,” he said, noting that Black Americans spend nearly $2 trillion annually. “We’re going to have to stop spending with people who do not respect us. We are no longer going to fund apartheid in America.”

A convening with the African Union is also in the works to address global Black unity. “When you attack South Africa, you attack the whole African continent,” he said. “This is not about short-term reactions to executive orders. We need a proactive, long-term engagement strategy.” In discussing the book, Dr. Chavis pointed to the cover, which features enslaved African women in chains. “It is out of the womb of the African woman that all of civilization came,” he said. “The wealth of Europe and America today comes from the enslavement, genocide, and exploitation of our people.” He also addressed the importance of reclaiming Black-owned land. “Own some land. Don’t rent it. Buy it,” he said. “Families are leaving thousands of acres of land, and people are not using wills. Don’t let your property stay as our property—make sure there is intergenerational ownership.”

The book has already received support from figures such as NBA legend Isiah Thomas, hip-hop icon Chuck D, and Arikana Chihombori-Quao, the former African Union Ambassador to the United States. “The chains of slavery may have been broken, but the shackles of systemic racism are still very much intact,” Chuck D wrote in the book’s foreword. “If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention.” Dr. Chavis said those who seek to suppress historical truths will not succeed. “This is one book that DeSantis is not going to be able to ban i2n Florida,” he said. “If you burn it, if you steal it, we’re going to print some more.”

The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Overcoming the 500-Year Legacy is available now from Select Books and major book retailers nationwide.

Stacy M. Brown

Posts by Stacy M. Brown

Up Next

W A T C H Michael Steele Joins April Ryan and Rev. Mark Thompson LIVE on “Make It Plain”

Don't Miss

OP-ED: Like Physicians, U.S. Health Institutions Must ‘First, Do No Harm’

Stacy M. Brown

Click to comment

#NNPA BlackPress

Fighting to Keep Blackness

BlackPressUSA NEWSWIRE — Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 7, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

As this nation observes the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, the words of President Trump reverberate. “This country will be WOKE no longer”, an emboldened Trump offered during his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Since then, Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter this morning that “Elon Musk and his DOGE bros have ordered GSA to sell off the site of the historic Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery.” Her post of little words went on to say, “This is outrageous and we will not let it stand! I am demanding an immediate reversal. Our civil rights history is not for sale!” DOGE trying to sell Freedom Rider Museum

Also, in the news today, the Associated Press is reporting they have a file of names and descriptions of more than 26,000 military images flagged for removal because of connections to women, minorities, culture, or DEI. In more attempts to downplay Blackness, a word that is interchanged with woke, Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C. Mayor Morial Bowser is allowing the name change to keep millions of federal dollars flowing there. Black Lives Matter Plaza was named in 2020 after a tense exchange between President Trump and George Floyd protesters in front of the White House. There are more reports about cuts to equity initiatives that impact HBCU students. Programs that recruited top HBCU students into the military and the pipeline for Department of Defense contracts have been canceled.

Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing back against this second-term Trump administration’s anti-DEI and Anti-woke message. In the wake of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, several Congressional Black Caucus leaders are reintroducing the Voting Rights Act. South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn and Alabama Congresswoman Terry Sewell are sponsoring H.R. 14, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Six decades ago, Lewis was hit with a billy club by police as he marched for the right to vote for African Americans. The right for Black people to vote became law with the 1965 Voting Rights Act that has since been gutted, leaving the nation to vote without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Reflecting on the late Congressman Lewis, March 1, 2020, a few months before his death, Lewis said, “We need more than ever in these times many more someones to make good trouble- to make their own dent in the wall of injustice.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

Rep. Al Green is Censured by The U.S. House After Protesting Trump on Medicaid

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

In one of the quickest punishments of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the modern era, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was censured by a 224-198 vote today in the House. His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question. Of the last three censures of members of the U.S. House, two have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus under GOP control. In 2023, Rep. Jamal Bowman was censured.

On the night of March 4, as President Trump delivered a Joint Address to Congress, Rep. Green interrupted him twice. Rep. Green shouted, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicare, and you need to raise the cap on social security,” to President Trump. In another rare event, Rep. Green was escorted off the House floor by security shortly after yelling at the President by order of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson. Over the last four years, members of Congress have yelled at President Biden during the State of the Union. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene was joined by Republican Rep. Lauren Bobert (R-CO) in 2022 in yelling at President Biden. In 2023, Rep. Greene, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) yelled at Biden, interrupting his speech. In 2024, wearing a red MAGA hat, a violation of the rules of the U.S. House, Greene interrupted Biden again. She was never censured for her behavior. Rep. Green voted “present” on his censure and was joined by freshman Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures of Alabama who also voted “present”.

All other members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against censuring Green. Republicans hold a four-seat advantage in the U.S. House after the death of Texas Democrat and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner yesterday. Ten Democrats voted along with Republicans to censure Rep. Green, including Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who is in the leadership as the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I respect them but, I would do it again,” and “it is a matter of conscience,” Rep. Green told Black Press USA’s April Ryan in an exclusive interview on March 5. After the vote, a group of Democrats sang “We Shall Overcome” in the well at the front of the House chamber. Several Republican members attempted to shout down the singing. House Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the House out of session and into a recess. During the brief recess members moved back to their seats and out of the well of the House. Shortly after the vote to censor Rep. Green, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee quickly filed legislation to punish members who participated in the singing of “We Shall Overcome.” Earlier this year, Rep. Ogles filed legislation to allow President Donald Trump to serve a third term, which is currently unconstitutional. As the debate started, the stock market dove down over one-point hours from close. The jobs report will be made public tomorrow.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

Trump Moves to Dismantle Education Department

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The department oversees programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), serving 7.5 million students. Transferring IDEA oversight to another agency, as Trump’s plan suggests, could jeopardize services and protections for disabled students.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

The Trump administration is preparing to issue an executive order directing newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education. While the president lacks the authority to unilaterally shut down the agency—requiring congressional approval—McMahon has been tasked with taking “all necessary steps” to reduce its role “to the maximum extent permitted by law.” The administration justifies the move by claiming the department has spent over $1 trillion since its 1979 founding without improving student achievement. However, data from The Nation’s Report Card shows math scores have improved significantly since the 1990s, though reading levels have remained stagnant. The pandemic further widened achievement gaps, leaving many students behind.

The Education Department provides about 10% of public-school funding, primarily targeting low-income students, rural districts, and children with disabilities. A recent Data for Progress poll found that 61% of voters oppose Trump’s efforts to abolish the agency, while just 34% support it. In Washington, D.C., where student proficiency rates remain low—22% in math and 34% in English—federal funding is crucial. Serenity Brooker, an elementary education major, warned that cutting the department would worsen conditions in underfunded schools.

“D.C. testing scores aren’t very high right now, so cutting the Department of Education isn’t going to help that at all,” she told Hilltop News. A report from the Education Trust found that low-income schools in D.C. receive $2,200 less per student than wealthier districts, leading to shortages in essential classroom materials. The department oversees programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), serving 7.5 million students. Transferring IDEA oversight to another agency, as Trump’s plan suggests, could jeopardize services and protections for disabled students.

The Office for Civil Rights also plays a key role in enforcing laws that protect students from discrimination. Moving it to the Department of Justice, as proposed in Project 2025, would make it harder for families to file complaints, leaving vulnerable students with fewer protections. Federal student aid programs, including Pell Grants and loan repayment plans, could face disruption if the department is dismantled. Experts warn this could worsen the student debt crisis, pushing more borrowers into default. “With funding cuts, they don’t have the materials they need, like books or things to help with math,” Brooker said. “It makes learning less fun for them.”