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Student claims Dwight Boykins made inappropriate comments at event

DEFENDER NEWS NETWORK — A heated exchange was recorded at a recent event held by the Youth Advocacy Summit between the group and Houston mayoral candidate Dwight Boykins, who is also a City Council member. While he was there, he spoke to student attendees. Students said they were outraged over what they say were inappropriate comments made to them by Boykins.

Published

7 years ago

July 7, 2019

Defender News Service

By Defender News Service

A heated exchange was recorded at a recent event held by the Youth Advocacy Summit between the group and Houston mayoral candidate Dwight Boykins, who is also a City Council member.

While he was there, he spoke to student attendees. Students said they were outraged over what they say were inappropriate comments made to them by Boykins.

One student reached out to KPRC to express her discomfort regarding comments he made.

“You’ve singled out some of the girls. You told us to keep our legs closed,” one of the female students said to Boykins.

Among the students in attendance was 16-year-old Chloe, who was taken aback by the councilman’s introductory comments.

“It was just not appropriate for a young group of men and woman who are there to talk completely different things,” Chloe said.

Boykins responded on Facebook on Saturday afternoon, stating that he only meant to “inspire” the group of students.

The hashtag #BoycottBoykins appeared on Twitter.

A tweet with a video appeared in the same thread. In it, Boykins can be seen calling an attendee up to the area where he was speaking and pulling her in closely.An audio recording of the end of the speech was sent to KPRC. In it, students tell Boykins that they were made uncomfortable by some of his comments made at the event such as, “Women should keep their legs closed,” though the full context of the original comment was not given.

“He pulled up another student very, very close to him and gave a hypothetical example and said that if those two were in a sexual relationship, then other guys wouldn’t want to be with the girls, advising women to stay away from this,” the student wrote in an email to KPRC.

Chloe said Boykins’ conversation just kept getting progressively worse, and she says Boykins started giving them examples on how young women should behave by jokingly pretending a 13-year-old was his girlfriend.

“He was holding her side by side and telling her that if she and him were to do something, in the future, that boy won’t want you,” said Chloe.

Chloe said Boykins used the example twice, using two different girls as an example.

Following the students’ angry reaction to Boykins, he was heard over the recording apologizing to students.

“Please, that’s really important for me to know that you understand that it wasn’t personal. I was trying to warn you guys of what’s out there,” Boykins said.

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Chloe’s mother, Tanaz, said the councilman’s comments were violating and unwarranted.

Chloe said she and her group of friends want to spread awareness by starting #BoycottBoykins.

“We don’t want him in a position of power or to represent us,” Chloe said.

Boykins issued the following statement on his Facebook account Saturday:

“Over the course of my career, I have always been plain-spoken and have always spoke from my heart, especially where it involves laying a positive path forward for our youth. That was my sole objective recently when I was asked to speak to a group of students about their future hopes and dreams. During the discussion, I shared my perspective on life and the importance of staying focused while avoiding some of the pitfalls that far too often plague many of our youth, a message I have delivered to groups around the city. My words were met to inspire and I deeply regret the extent to which they caused anyone hurt or discomfort. That was never my intention, and to anyone who may have taken offense by what I said, I apologize.”

This article originally appeared in the Defender News Network.

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

3 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

4 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

6 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke