politics

Golden Globe nominee Ben Affleck recently spoke to The Boston Globe about his nomination for the film The Tender Bar. During the interview, the 49-year-old actor was asked about his political aspirations to run for Congress. Affleck revealed his decision to seek an elected position was short-lived, and he said he would have lost to Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) had he pursued his political ambitions."[Pressley] probably would have beat my [expletive], so I'm glad I didn't run. Even though she's from Ohio, I have a feeling she would have cleaned my clock," he told The Boston Globe.The actor planned to campaign to represent Massachusetts' 7th Congressional District during the 2018 election. Instead, Pressley received the Democratic nomination and won the seat."People wanted me to run against [former Rep. Michael] Capuano in the, you know, the old Tip O'Neill district," Affleck said.After his experience campaigning for John Kerry, Affleck said the political lifestyle wasn’t for him."I did a lot of campaigning for John Kerry, because I liked him; the Democratic National Convention was in Boston; I felt strongly about gay marriage; and I felt George Bush and the war in Iraq was wrong," Affleck said. “I looked at the life of people in Congress and it was a constant process of glad-handing, begging for money and being beholden to people, '' the Oscar winner said. “It's so depressing. I thought it was miserable and corrupt and ugly," he added.Pressley made headlines in December after testing positive for COVID-19, CNN reports.In a statement, the lawmaker said "vaccines save lives" and they "are safe and effective." She added, "I encourage everyone to do their part by getting vaccinated, boosted and masking...

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris visited Atlanta on Tuesday and delivered remarks that included their strongest statements against Republican-led subversion of democracy, as well as their strongest push for federal voting rights protections. The president and vice president gave their remarks at the Atlanta University Center Consortium, a joint venture of several HBCUs including Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman College. The choice of location was symbolic, as the venue lies within the congressional district once represented by civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, whose name is on one of the voting rights protection bills being debated in Congress.Even before the president spoke, however, some activists saw Biden’s speech as too little, too late. Several voting rights activists and advocacy organizations purposely chose not to attend Biden’s appearance. According to CNN, Black Voters Matter co-founder Cliff Albright told a group of reporters on Monday that "we don't need even more photo ops.” Echoing calls that he and other activists have been making for months, Albright said, “We need action, and that action is in the form of the John Lewis Voting Rights (Advancement) Act as well as the Freedom to Vote Act, and we need that immediately."Despite these high-profile absences, Biden and Harris were joined by luminaries including the reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and the presidents of the NAACP and the Urban League. Martin Luther King III also attended with his wife, Arndrea Waters King; according to Politico, the Kings described the choice to attend as a “difficult decision,” noting the dissatisfaction that many voting rights advocates have concerning the president. The King family had previously called for this year’s MLK holiday to be devoted to voting rights activism, a call that Biden mentioned in his speech.Those in attendance or watching from elsewhere heard Biden and Harris use strong language to condemn Republican efforts to suppress and subvert votes while urging the Senate to pass voting rights protections. Vice President Harris spoke first, condemning laws passed in Georgia and other states that make voting more difficult, especially for Black and other minority communities. Harris warned that “there is a danger to becoming accustomed to these laws” a “danger of being complacent, complicit” as these laws are allowed to impact voting.“The assault on our freedom to vote will be felt by every American in every community in every political party, and if we stand idly by, our entire nation will pay the price for generations to come,” Harris said. Quoting Dr. King, Harris said that “the battle is in our hands” and urged the Senate to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Harris also attacked the Senate filibuster rules that Republicans and conservative Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have defended. “Senate Republicans have exploited arcane rules to block these bills,” Harris said, adding that when future generations ask about the fight for voting rights, “we cannot tell them that we let a Senate rule stand in the way of our most fundamental freedom.”Biden spoke next, speaking at length on both the problem and the proposed solution. He called out Republicans for following the agenda of a “defeated former president” to attack democracy on Jan. 6 and to undermine it through the various laws that have been passed. Repeatedly linking the Jan. 6 insurrection and the passage of voter suppression laws, Biden argued that “the battle for the soul of America is not over.” He cataloged a list of the restrictive measures that have been passed, including restrictions on vote-by-mail and early voting drop boxes, as well as rules that create long voting lines and, in Georgia, making it illegal to provide food or water to those waiting to vote. “What in the hell — heck are we talking about?” Biden asked to laughter and applause from the audience. Additionally, pointing out laws that allow for partisan officials to intervene in vote-counting procedures.“Jim Crow 2.0 is about two insidious things: voter suppression and election subversion,” the president summarized. “It’s no longer about who gets to vote; it’s about making it harder to vote. It’s about who gets to count the vote and whether your vote counts at all.”Pivoting to potential solutions, Biden echoed Harris’ calls to pass the two voting rights bills and to alter or eliminate the Senate filibuster rules if necessary to do so. Speaking to criticism that the president has not put enough pressure on legislators like Sens. Manchin and Sinema, Biden noted, “I've been having these quiet conversations with the members of Congress for the last two months.” He then exclaimed, “I'm tired of being quiet!” while banging his hand on the podium for emphasis in the most impassioned moment of the speech.Biden continued with his rhetorical push, again, evoking the legacy of John Lewis. “It isn’t enough just to praise his memory. We must translate eulogy into action.” Reminiscing on past bipartisan support for voting rights and calling out legislators of all parties to take a stand, he challenged his former Senate colleagues and how they will be remembered by history. “Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace?” Biden asked. “Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?”Reactions to Biden’s remarks from voting rights advocates have been mixed. Stacey Abrams, voting rights champion and Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, who cited a scheduling conflict for her absence from the event, thanked Biden and Harris for their visit and words.My statement: I thank @POTUS and @VP for returning to Georgia to continue their steadfast advocacy for passage of federal legislation to protect the freedom to vote. They made clear again today that they are committed to restoring the Senate to safeguard our democracy. #gapol🧵— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) January 12, 2022Albright expressed frustration with Biden’s implications that there were moderate Republicans in the Senate that might join Democrats in supporting voting rights legislation. “That kind of false hope kind of frustrated me,” Albright said in an interview with Peacock TV’s Zerlina Maxwell.Is Biden nostalgic for bipartisan Senates of old? “He started talking about these 13 Republicans who voted on the last voting rights bill extension,” @cliff_notes says. “Those 13 senators no longer exist.” “That kind of false hope kind of frustrated me.” pic.twitter.com/7ONW2BuJjV— Zerlina on Peacock (@ZerlinaShow) January 12, 2022Meanwhile, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund President Sherrilyn Ifill shared a clip of the “I’m tired of being quiet” portion of Biden’s speech and used it to further admonish senators who stand in the way of filibuster reform and voting rights legislation. “Today’s call-out is long overdue,” Ifill wrote.And no crocodile tears please from any Senator about being called out today. @POTUS Biden made clear that he has tried the “behind the scenes” quiet pressure approach for months. Today’s call-out is long overdue. https://t.co/0GCG9i86ts— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) January 11, 2022Overall, activist reactions coalesced around the opinion that the Harris and Biden speeches must be followed by action to achieve tangible voting rights protections. “It’s time for this administration to match their words with actions, and for Congress to do their job,” said the NAACP in a statement after the remarks.NAACP on Biden’s speech: “While President Biden delivered a stirring speech today, it’s time for this administration to match their words with actions, and for Congress to do their job. Voting rights should not simply be a priority — it must be THE priority.”— Rachel Scott (@rachelvscott) January 11, 2022It remains clear that voting rights organizations and activists will continue the campaign that they’ve been conducting for some time, fighting at the state and national levels to roll back restrictions and implement voting protections. They hope that the president and vice president will serve as effective allies, and will continue to pressure the administration to follow up on these words with meaningful action to protect voting rights and...

Legendary actor Sidney Poitier died last week at age 94. Poitier was a groundbreaking star, giving peerless performances, including his 1963 starring role in Lilies of the Field, for which he became the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor. Poitier was also a civil rights icon, supporting Black rights and acting as a friend and fundraiser for many of the movement’s most important figures; Martin Luther King Jr. once lauded him as “a man of great depth, a man of great social concern, a man who is dedicated to human rights and freedom."As stories about Poitier proliferated on social media after his death, one particular anecdote stood out. Several people, including journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, recounted a tale of Poitier and his best friend, Harry Belafonte, flying to Mississippi and escaping the Ku Klux Klan in order to deliver thousands of dollars to the organizers of the Freedom Summer to keep the campaign going.Many of you know Sidney Poitier as the barrier-breaking actor. But at his core, he was a RACE MAN. A few years ago I interviewed a veteran of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and he told me this amazing story about Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte and Freedom Summer.— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) January 7, 2022Taking place during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer was one of the signature campaigns of the movement. To counteract the especially violent and widespread suppression of Black voters in Mississippi, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and other organizations trained a thousand volunteers, mostly Northern white college students, and sent them to Mississippi to work with local Black activists to register Black voters in the state.  As the campaign was short on funds by August, famed entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte raised $70,000 and called up his friend Poitier to accompany him to Mississippi to deliver the cash. By this point, Poitier and Belafonte were well into their lifelong friendship and had engaged in various civil rights causes, including attending the 1963 March on Washington together. Belafonte was worried that he would be met with violence in Mississippi. He figured that the presence of two of America’s most famous Black men — Belafonte was a top-selling recording artist at the time and Poitier had won his Oscar only four months earlier — might make an attack less likely than if he went alone.  The two men had plenty of reasons to be worried. Historically, Mississippi had been a particularly dangerous place for Black people and those who supported Black rights; more lynchings took place in Mississippi than in any other state. Three young Freedom Summer workers — James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner — were murdered in June 1964.Poitier agreed to go with Belafonte and the two flew to Mississippi, where they were greeted by local SNCC activists. As they left the airport together in a car that night, with Poitier and Belafonte in the backseat, local KKK members began chasing their vehicle. At several points, a pickup truck with a wooden plank attached to its front bumper repeatedly attempted to ram their car off the road. Eventually, a convoy of SNCC vehicles showed up to escort them safely to the Black portion of Greenwood, Mississippi, where they met up with SNCC activists.One report of the evening said that Poitier was deeply moved by the welcome they received in Greenwood. Poitier reportedly remarked to the people gathered, “I am 37 years old. I have been a lonely man all my life. I have been lonely because I have not found love, but this room is overflowing with it.” He then turned to his friend Belafonte, who led the crowd in a rendition of his famous song “Banana Boat,” transforming the famous “Day- o, Day- o,  daylight come an’ me wan’ go home” lyrics to “freedom, freedom, freedom come an’ it won’t be long.”As Baylor Professor Robert F. Darden describes the incident in a recent article for The Dallas Morning News, Poitier and Belafonte did not object to sleeping in a single bed at a small house in Greenwood, with armed guards watching over them as Klan members lurked nearby that night. The two stars even jokingly bickered over who got to sleep furthest from the window in case the Klan tried to shoot them; Poitier insisted that he get the side away from the window. The two men left Mississippi the following day, but remained active in the Civil Rights Movement. Poitier, for example, was a public supporter of Dr. King’s Poor People’s Campaign.Belafonte has told the story of their trip to Mississippi several times over the years. Though very vocal about civil rights and Black uplift, Poitier rarely spoke of the Mississippi trip publicly, although both men discussed it in interviews for the 2011 documentary Sing Your Song.In Susanne Rostock's 2011 documentary Sing Your Song, Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier describe their trip to Mississippi in 1964 to assist the drive for voter registration. pic.twitter.com/puM05sv9HE— Dr Karen McNally (@hollywoodfilmtv) January 7, 2022Poitier's long life and career have left no shortage of memories, and his 1964 trip to Mississippi has rightly resurfaced as a testament to his legacy. His willingness to risk his life to serve the cause of Black freedom and to help a friend was emblematic of the life he lived. That he did this so soon after making history and receiving the highest honor in acting only enhances his legacy. As we honor the ways he impacted America in general and Black people in particular, the actor's mission to Mississippi endures as a real-life adventure as compelling as any...

The U.K.'s Home Office, the government department responsible for monitoring immigration, national security issues and law and order, has publicly endorsed a tracking app for women called Path Community. Now, according to the Guardian, the office is facing high levels of scrutiny and backlash. It’s here! Please download, share and review @PathCommunity app which helps you get home safely and uses your feedback to create safer spaces for everyone-giving power back to the community! https://t.co/c6zZzEb9v0 pic.twitter.com/O0VrhlAU3H— Nic Keaney (@NicKeaney) December 29, 2021“We need a whole-of-society approach to tackling violence against women and girls, and I welcome initiatives from the private sector that deliver on this aim,” Home Office Minister Rachel Maclean said of her decision to support the app, according to The Guardian. The app follows the routes of those traveling home late at night. If the traveler moves too far away from their route home, the app will send a notification to check on their safety. If they do not respond within a reasonable amount of time, the appointed "guardians" will receive a message on their phones. Upon which time, the guardian can also reach out to their loved one or contact police.“The underlying issue of men’s violence is the core problem and everyone has to help tackle it,” its creator Harry Mead told The Guardian. “The app is designed to help with immediate concerns and help users feel safer. Path is our attempt to do our bit.”Some, however, have found issues with the app for its alleged promise of "women's safety." As people question the purpose of the project, they're also concerned about future issues with the app."How did this app get past the proposal stage?! An app tracking women's movements 'for their safety'...what could go wrong," one Twitter user wrote.LBC radio host Shelagh Fogarty criticized the app, calling it a "failure" at protecting women and girls from violence. She also compared the design to that of a similar Saudi Arabian "woman-tracking" app offered through Google.According to Time, the government-backed app allowed men to grant or stop women from traveling. It also allowed men to input women's passport and ID numbers to monitor how many journeys they could take and how long they could be away for. The app was harshly condemned by critics for its pursuance to the country's male guardianship...

America is still trying to process what happened during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C. As the nation looks back on the riot a year later, lawmakers are answering how the event has affected the nation’s outlook on democracy. When supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, @AP had nine photographers on the scene. They shot hundreds of photos that were transmitted within minutes, giving the world front-row seats to the unfolding chaos.SEE MORE: https://t.co/gwv2mZXSKK pic.twitter.com/RQ4txcTGpj— The Associated Press (@AP) January 6, 2022President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered remarks Thursday morning, examining the reasons behind the insurrection and its ongoing effects. "On Jan. 6, we all saw what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful — the lawlessness, the violence, the chaos," Harris said in her speech, per CNN."What the extremists who roamed these halls targeted was not only the lives of elected leaders. What they sought to degrade and destroy was not only a building, hallowed as it is. What they were assaulting were the institutions, the values, the ideals, that generations of Americans have marched, picketed and shed blood to establish and defend," she continued. Both leaders discussed the current state of democracy, describing it as “fragile” and in dire need of protection as other countries like China and Russia look to America to watch its potential...

If you’re interested in sharing your opinion on any cultural, political or personal topic, create an account here and check out our how-to post to learn more.____One year after the violent assault of the capitol, America is still dealing with the aftershocks of the attempt to steal an election. I still remember the disbelief and eventual relief I felt in seeing the attempted coup fail. Unfortunately, there is still a disturbing lack of urgency in recognizing the depth of our crisis. There has been a false sense of security that the danger to our democracy is over. But the fact is that American democracy is still very much under threat, and there is a possibility that we are only a few election cycles from losing our democracy.The think tank International IDEA, in its report on the global state of democracy, identifies the U.S. as part of the growing trend of backsliding democracies. The report identified one area of particular concern was a decline in effective parliament. Gridlock in Congress contributes to the sense that government cannot deliver on its most basic tasks. It causes apathy because voters do not see their representatives actually delivering on the issues that matter to them.To be sure, this crisis of democracy has been a long time coming. It is the culmination of a decades-long effort to ensure minority rule through GOP voter suppression. As more and more marginalized groups gained the right to vote, there was a more significant effort to restrict political participation and limit whose votes are counted. In its 2013 Shelby v. Holder decision, the Supreme court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Chief Justice John Roberts glibly pointed to the election of the first Black president as proof that safeguarding voting rights was no longer needed. The decision should have been a wake-up call that democratic gains were being eroded.What would America look like without democracy? This thought experiment presents few good options. A likely possibility is an electoral autocracy under a strongman dictator. Countries with this style of government go through all the motions of a democratic process. Political parties exist and elections are held, but citizens can't influence the government, and political leaders are not accountable to the people. Minorities and marginalized groups are often ignored or outright persecuted. Russia, for example, has all the trappings of a democracy, yet no one doubts that Vladimir Putin rules the country with an iron fist. While our current democratic processes have not always delivered, it would be a mistake to assume that turning towards a more autocratic approach is the answer.Democratic erosion is not irreversible, and it requires recognizing that we have the power to effect change. We are not simply bystanders and have the power to influence the government. Politicians and the media might make it seem like our voices don't matter, but collectively we know that is not true. That collective action meant that we ousted a would-be dictator.We can start to rebuild our democracy by acknowledging the depth of the crisis. Carrying on with business as usual is not an option. We need to reject the “bothsidesing” that pretends the democrats are just as bad as the republicans. We need to clearly and unequivocally call out the republican party for its anti-democratic agenda: the gerrymandered electoral districts, the suppression of votes, the sabotaging of elections and, as we saw last year, the unwillingness to accept the results of free and fair elections and push of the Big Lie. We no longer live in a two-party country. We have one party that is committed to destroying democracy and one that is interested in governing. We need to react to their actions accordingly.Next, we need to massively improve civic education on the government. The need for better education on the government and its functions can be seen from the Annenberg Policy Center study, which found that one in four Americans could not name the three branches of government. It is not surprising that voters might feel disaffected by a government they don't understand. Civic education fosters democratic values and ensures citizens feel ownership in their community and government.Civic engagement alone won't do the job. Holding on to our democracy also means showing up and participating — voting every four years and tuning out until the next election is not enough. It means voting in the local and state elections that affect how state officials run elections. If we only show up for Presidential elections and check out again, is it a surprise that politicians don't pursue the issues they campaigned on?The attacks on the capitol last year were an unmissable wake-up call. The U.S. is following a worldwide trend towards democratic backsliding, and it's naive to assume that American exceptionalism can save us. A liberal democracy is not a fixed constant. No country is inherently democratic; it is an ideal that we are constantly working towards — imperfect as the current conditions may be.We don't have to sleepwalk into an autocratic takeover. We know the costs of resistance will only increase as more democratic norms and safeguards are eroded. Black and brown communities, especially, are most likely to bear the brunt of increased repression. There is still time to reverse some of the damage done, but it requires us to acknowledge the crisis and work hard to maintain our...

Last year, hundreds of people stormed Congress on behalf of former President Donald Trump and his false claims of election fraud.As the fallout from the Jan. 6 insurrection continues to impact the country one year later, the one-year anniversary presents an opportunity to recognize the police who fought insurrectionists on that day and the officers and politicians who have been pursuing justice ever...

Ida Nelson, a Black Chicago mother who was determined to stop hair discrimination in Illinois schools, now gets to see her efforts come to reality. Nelson's plan, which succeeded last summer when Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Jett Hawkins Law, is now in effect, The Chicago Tribune reports. The law not only bans hair discrimination, but schools will also be provided with resources to teach staff about protective hairstyles. "For decades, Black people have had too often their natural and protective hairstyles weaponized against them," Pritzker said in August, according to ABC 7. Nelson launched the effort after her 4-year-old son Gus “Jett” Hawkins was told that his braids were a violation of the dress code at his school. As she began an awareness campaign after the incident, the Chicago mother said stigmatizing children’s hair can negatively affect their educational development.When Pritzker signed the Jett Hawkins Law, Nelson said it was a "monumental" achievement. "I am excited for the children of Illinois to be able to go to school without having to be concerned about their hair," she said at the signing ceremony.Starting today Illinois schools can no longer ban cornrows, locs, afros and braids from school. Thanks to a West Side Chicago mom who fought for hair discrimination. pic.twitter.com/gvAm8603ZY— SAY CHEESE! 👄🧀 (@SaycheeseDGTL) January 3, 2022A similar law is also taking effect in Oregon as the new year begins. The Oregon bill, unofficially known as the “CROWN Act,” bans discrimination based on “physical characteristics that are historically associated with race.” The bill includes hairstyles such as braids, locs and twists.As Blavity previously reported, several states followed suit after California passed the CROWN Act in 2019. “Discrimination against Black hair is discrimination against Black people,” Sen. Cory Booker, who led the effort to pass the CROWN Act, said. “Implicit and explicit biases against natural hair are deeply ingrained in workplace norms and society at large. This is a violation of our civil rights, and it happens every day for Black people across the country.”Speaking with NBC Chicago in March 2021, Nelson said she was alarmed when she received a call from Providence St. Mel, a private, predominately Black school on Chicago's West Side. According to Nelson, the school informed her that boys are not allowed to wear braids.“I said, ‘Wow, I was not aware that we were still policing children's’ hair in 2021,'” Nelson said, adding that she was surprised to see such a rule at a predominately Black...

After only a few minutes into 2022, Eric Adams was sworn in as mayor of New York City. Adams is only the second Black person to ever hold that office, stepping into the legacy of David Dinkins, who ran the city in the early 1990s and who passed away in 2020. Adams election is part of a larger phenomenon in America’s most populated city and one with the country’s largest Black population. New York Times editor Mara Gay recently discussed the phenomenon in an article titled “The Rise of Eric Adams and Black New York.” Indeed, with more Black people in positions power in the city than ever before, New York appears to be experiencing a political Black renaissance. Here are five of the Black leaders who have taken high-ranking positions in New York...

This Saturday is New Year's Day, and after the extremely tumultuous 2020 and 2021, many of us are cautiously optimistic that Jan. 1 will bring a better year for our community, country and world. While looking toward the future, it is also helpful to remember the past and to reflect on how the beginning of the year has been an important day for Black people in America and around the world. Here are five of the most important events that have happened on New Year's...