As we get ready for the season finale of this presidential election cycle, what happens after the polls close Tuesday night is anyone’s guess. But what we know for sure is that the countdown to whether Vice President Kamala Harris or Trump becomes our 47th president all hinges on the Electoral College. It’s that slow […]
Politics & Policy
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
At a North Carolina HBCU, Black Students Get Out the Vote
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Standing in a manicured field near the edge of Johnson C. Smith University — an HBCU in Charlotte where his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, and others display some of the symbols associated with their organizations – Kevin Napier explained just how large the election has loomed on campus in recent weeks. In […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Black Voters Prepare for Backlash Ahead of Election Day
Activist Camille Bennett never backs down from a fight, despite her life being in danger. She’s endured racist and violent threats in rural Alabama, a part of a life she’s known since moving there as a teenager. She’s in Florence, her father’s hometown in the northwest part of the state known as The Shoals. In […]
Posted inCulture, Politics & Policy
The Fight for ‘Freedom’
This time around, the rumors were true. Houston native Beyoncé Knowles-Carter returned to her hometown Friday and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. The campaign’s anthem, Beyoncé’s 2016 song “Freedom,” played as Harris took the stage. Back in August, rumors had circulated that the global music phenomenon was scheduled to perform at the Democratic National Convention […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics & Policy
Ignored for Years, Black Milwaukee Voters Hold Power in 2024
MILWAUKEE — When Diane Blaylock’s parents migrated to Milwaukee from Lena and Canton, Mississippi, they immediately went to work. Her father was employed by Rex Chain Belt, a manufacturing company that produced chain links for agricultural equipment. Donning a knit Green Bay Packers cap, she reminisced about a time when Black people had more opportunities […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Defying Intimidation, Black Voters in Arizona Head to the Polls
PHOENIX — Arizona and its biggest city, Phoenix, can be intimidating places to voice political opinions if you don’t subscribe to MAGA Republicanism. Since the 2020 election — and as recently as this summer — white Republican elected officials who have refused to buy into the false claim that former President Donald Trump won the […]
Posted inCourts, Housing, Policing, Politics & Policy
Black Unhoused Communities Targeted After Supreme Court Ruling
LOS ANGELES – On a dirt pocket between a sidewalk and freeway in the Wilmington neighborhood in South Los Angeles, roughly half a dozen people lived in tents for most of the summer. But by 7 a.m. on Sept. 24, three police SUVs and a bright orange truck lined the street next to the freeway […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues, Voting
The Powerful, Unsung Role Black Rural Voters Can Play in Our Elections
For years, Garrett Snuggs questioned why the predominantly white town council of Wadesboro, North Carolina, didn’t reflect its population — 69% of which is Black. In the rural town of 5,000, about 52 miles away from Charlotte, he noticed that many Black folks, particularly youth and men, were disengaged from the political process. That changed […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Was Obama Right About Black Men’s Support for Harris?
Former president Barack Obama said that Black men are “coming up with all kinds of reasons” to avoid turning out for Harris. Things came to a head last week when a pretty heated Barack Obama attempted a bit of “tough love” at a Pittsburgh campaign office for Vice President Kamala Harris. The former president said […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
How a Black Furniture Factory Worker Became a Face of the MAGA Movement
Mark Robinson has been North Carolina’s lieutenant governor since 2021 and its Republican gubernatorial nominee. He said that he wants to serve on behalf of all North Carolinians, and has sketched out plans for the economy and education. Over the course of a few years, Robinson has become a recognizable face of Trump’s MAGA movement, […]
