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Posts published in “Politics”

Barack Obama Sworn In to Second Term as US President

By goodblacknews on January 20, 2013
President Barack Obama is sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. in the Blue Room of the White House during the 57th Presidential Inauguration January 20, 2013 in Washington, D.C. Obama and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden were officially sworn in a day before the ceremonial inaugural swearing-in. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski-Pool/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama is sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. in the Blue Room of the White House during the 57th Presidential Inauguration January 20, 2013 in Washington, D.C. Obama and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden were officially sworn in a day before the ceremonial inaugural swearing-in. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski-Pool/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stepping into his second term, President Barack Obama took the oath of office Sunday in an intimate swearing-in ceremony at the White House, the leader of a nation no longer in the throes of the recession he inherited four years ago but still deeply divided.

The president, surrounded by family in the ornate White House Blue Room, was administered the brief oath of office by Chief Justice John Roberts. With Obama’s hand resting on a Bible used for years by Michelle Obama’s family, the president vowed “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” echoing the same words spoken by the 43 men who held the office before him.

President Barack Obama's Profound Visual Argument for Gun Control

By goodblacknews on January 18, 2013

Barack Obama, gun control

President Barack Obama, accompanied by children who wrote to the president about gun violence following last month’s school shooting in the US, signs executive orders. Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP
Barack Obama signs a series of executive actions in favour of gun control, flanked by children who wrote to him after the killings at Sandy Hook. Their parents or guardians stand behind them. While the children reflect the president’s solemnity, the supervising adults are finding it hard not to grin with pride at their kids’ involvement in this historic occasion.
It might look cynical. It might seem a bit obvious. The imagery here is so crystal clear they might as well have had a big sign saying “Children! Future!” (as they sing at The Simpsons’ Springfield elementary school).
But if you think that you probably haven’t got a child. Or perhaps you rationalised the US’s horror at the shootings that led to this photograph as colossal hypocrisy in the face of alleged massacres of non-American children by military drones. For some on the left it seems Obama is little better than a child murderer himself, while for the gun-toting right, his desire to restrict gun access is an assault on freedoms defined in the 18th-century political discourse that is the Constitution of the United States:

“A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

And this is the point of Obama’s photo opportunity with America’s children. The debate about gun control is a debate about history and its burdens. When that amendment was added to the constitution in 1791, the authors surely did not think they were setting down the Ten Commandments of national identity, to be preserved unaltered forever. Or if they did, well … they are dead.

Michael Tubbs Becomes Stockton, CA’s Youngest-Ever City Councilman

By goodblacknews on January 17, 2013

mdtubbs-online1Michael Tubbs, a 22 year-old Stanford graduate, is the youngest-ever city councilman to be elected in his hometown of Stockton, C.A.
Born into poverty to a teenage mother and father who is in prison, Tubbs grew up determined to make a difference.
Upon graduating from high school, Tubbs attended Stanford, where he earned a bachelor’s in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and a master’s in Policy, Organization and Leadership Studies.
While in college, Tubbs interned for both Google and the White House.  With multiple high-paying job offers, Tubbs decided to turn them down and return to his hometown to run for city council.
The struggling city of Stockton, CA. is in need of serious change.  In June of 2012, Stockton became the most populous U.S. city to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.  The city also has a record high number of homicides in 2012 with 71.
Tubbs first made headlines last spring when he received a campaign endorsement form Oprah Winfrey after meeting her on campus at Stanford.  Winfrey donated $10,000 to the then-college senior.
article by Carrie Healey via thegrio.com

Bryan Stevenson's Masterful TED Talk Challenges America's Judicial System

By goodblacknews on January 16, 2013

[ted id=1378]

Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson

Human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson’s insightful TED speech from 2012 eloquently discusses the injustices of our current incarceration system and encourages us all to help change it.  If you haven’t seen it previously, GBN guarantees the above video is fully worth twenty three minutes of your time.  To learn more about Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, click here.  
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson; contributions by Gabriel Ryder

Medgar Evers' Widow to Deliver Inauguration Prayer

By goodblacknews on January 9, 2013

Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Medgar Evers (Michael Caulfield/Wire Image/Getty Images)
Medgar Evers’ widow to deliver inauguration prayer: President Obama has chosen Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights icon Medgar Evers, to deliver the invocation at his public swearing-in later this month, the Washington Post reports. This will be the first time a woman, and a layperson rather than a clergy member, has been chosen to perform the invocation.
item by Jenée Desmond-Harris via theroot.com

Ceremonial Swearing-In for New Black Caucus

By goodblacknews on January 4, 2013

 Members of the 113th Congress’ Congressional Black Caucus

On Thursday the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation hosted a ceremonial swearing-in for the 113th Congress’ 42 CBC members.
Incoming chair Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio took the gavel from Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), and Judge Benita Y. Pearson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio administered a ceremonial oath of office to the members. In addition to the formalities, the event was focused on urgent reminders about the caucus’s historic and still necessary role as the self-appointed “conscience of the Congress.”
In her remarks, Chairwoman Fudge reaffirmed the group’s commitment to advocating for policies that are not only in the best interest of people of color but also protect America’s most vulnerable populations. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer each echoed these sentiments when they took to the podium to welcome new members and thank the caucus for its legacy of service.

Obama's Immigration Reform Push To Begin This Month

By goodblacknews on January 4, 2013

Obama Immigration Reform

President Barack Obama promised swift action on immigration reform after the fiscal cliff deal passed the House. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON — Despite a bruising fiscal cliff battle that managed to set the stage for an even more heated showdown that will likely take place in a matter of months, President Barack Obama is planning to move full steam ahead with the rest of his domestic policy agenda.
An Obama administration official said the president plans to push for immigration reform this January. The official, who spoke about legislative plans only on condition of anonymity, said that coming standoffs over deficit reduction are unlikely to drain momentum from other priorities. The White House plans to push forward quickly, not just on immigration reform but gun control laws as well.

President Obama Recognizes 150 Anniversary Of Emancipation Proclamation

By goodblacknews on January 1, 2013

President Barack Obama views the Emancipation Proclamation with a small group of African American seniors, their grandchildren and some children from the Washington DC area, in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

January 1st, 1863, is the day that the 16th President of the United States of America, President Abraham Lincoln, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, proclaiming that all slaves in the Confederacy were “forever free” because these Southern states refused to rejoin the Union and were in “rebellion” against the United States of America.

Ironically, the Union states were allowed to maintain their slaves because President Lincoln did not want to risk friction among them. Subsequently, freedmen fled to the North to join the Union Army, and slavery became the pivotal focus of the Civil War. The initial conflict began over various other reasons regarding states’ individual rights, such as taxation, the South demanding control over their own political and socio-economic infrastructure, as well as states’ resources.

Obama and Congress Reach Fiscal Cliff Deal

By goodblacknews on December 31, 2012

obama & boehner (at table)

(Via CBS News) – As revelers in Times Square and cities and towns across the country wait for the ball to drop to ring in the new year, politicians in Washington have announced that a ball is not likely to drop on the average taxpayer. Negotiators have come to an agreement on the so-called “fiscal cliff” – and with less than three hours to spare, CBS News has confirmed.

Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Capitol Hill to brief Senate Democrats on the details of the deal; both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have signed off on the agreement, White House and congressional sources told CBS News’ Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett.

“Wilmington Ten” Pardoned by North Carolina Governor

By goodblacknews on December 31, 2012
Wilmington Ten

Members of the “Wilmington 10” hold a brief communion service before boarding a prison bus on Feb. 2, 1976 in Burgaw, North Carolina, as they surrendered to start prison terms on convictions growing out of 1971 racial disorders in Wilmington, N.C. Four of the group shown from left are Connie Tindall, Rev. Ben Chavis, Jerry Jacobs and Anne Sheppard. (AP Photo)

After decades of claims that they were wrongly convicted, nine African-American men and one white women who were imprisoned for an arson fire in North Carolina that stemmed from racial unrest over integrated schools have been pardoned.  North Carolina Gov. Bev Purdue, who is leaving office in just one week, issued the pardons Monday.

Purdue’s office issued a statement, saying she had spent “a great deal of time over the past seven months reviewing the pardon of innocence requests of the persons collectively known as the Wilmington Ten.”