OpEd

No, Not Trump Again

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for President in 2024. Yes, he believes American voters will grant him a second term.

Never mind his behavior when he ran for office in 2017, or the insulting attacks on people, including some of his closest associates, while serving in office. His misrepresentations of facts and false statements were beyond belief. His alliances with white supremacists and Black apologists are disgraceful. And, the most unbelievable assertion he wants Americans to believe is that he is capable of making America great again.

Trump’s inaction to the January 6 insurrection he instigated by being a sore loser demonstrates his threat to democracy. The theft of secret documents he took from the White House shows the danger he represents to U.S. security. The blind eye he insists on keeping to the risks associated with climate change is dangerous to future generations. And, his lies about supporting police, when several lost their lives at the hands of his bullies who launched an attack on the Capitol, is indefensible. He said in his speech that he took quick action when Americans faced a killer virus. He joked about Biden’s missteps, but does he not remember his own when he refused to believe the science about the dangers of COVID-19 or when he questioned whether drinking bleach would protect one from getting the virus?

Where has he been over the past few days as his party leaders analyze and accept that he stood in the way of the Red Wave on November 8? And, how dare he mention Nancy Pelosi’s name without acknowledging the violent attack on her husband that was undoubtedly politically motivated and inspired by his actions and words.

Last week’s voter turnout showed that Americans are optimistic and believe there are reasons to be proud of who we are. The outcome of a midterm election was historic, proving that Trump’s effect on voters is waning. It’s too bad that he wants to send the entire country through another two years of his same old mess. Few have the stomach for it. For now, voters will have to wait and see who their choices will be when they go to the polls again in 2024.

WI TO THE EDITOR

Black Friday Blues

As we approach Black Friday, it is imperative that Black shoppers take stock of themselves and their budgets rather than running head-first into “bargains of the moment.” Every year, the day following Thanksgiving opens the floodgates to year-end shopping and promotion of price-slashed goods just in time for the Christmas.

The term ‘Black Friday’ maintains several rumored origins, but most believe it is derived from the businesses operating at a financial loss, or “in the red,” until the day after Thanksgiving, when massive sales finally allow them to turn a profit, or put them “in the black.” While the most profitable day for major retailers remains the Friday before Christmas, the “in the black” story remains most popular.

There were 155 million shoppers in the United States on Black Friday in 2021 and shoppers spent $8.9 billion online during Black Friday in 2021. In 2014, Black consumers were predicted to lead all holiday spending by shelling out 17 percent more than other racial groups, and 42 percent of shoppers say they regret buying at least one item during Black Friday.

Historically, Black Friday was first believed termed so in 1869 when Wall Street financiers Jay Gould and Jim Fisk attempted to corner the nation’s gold market at the New York Gold Exchange by buying as much of the precious metal as they could. They intended to send prices skyrocketing, and become wealthy in the process. On Friday, September 24, President Ulysses S. Grant intervened, collapsing their plans and the stock market.

The lesson learned from both origin stories: most sure things and bargains are too good to be true. With political and economic insecurity rising, this year African Americans may need to err on the side of caution and resist unnecessary purchases. If you purchase a product you do not need, is it really a bargain? If the holiday is to celebrate the birth of Jesus for you, try focusing on serving the poor or others in need. Consider writing your spouse a love poem or “gifting” a Saturday of alone-time where you take the kids, pets, phones, and potential distractions away. Corny? Perhaps, but the energy bills for this winter arrive just days after Black Friday.

WI

Congratulations to Wes Moore for becoming the first Black governor in Maryland’s history, and here is to more to come!

Linda Gentry Silver Spring, Md.

Shout out to the Washington Informer for such a phenomenal issue last week covering D.C., Maryland, and Virginia elections. I loved everything about it, from the pictures to the bevy of information on our newly elected officials and what’s what on the political scene. Keep up the great work!

Mozine McVay Washington, DC

Readers' Mailbox The Washington Informer welcomes letters to the editor about articles we publish or issues affecting the community. Write to: lsaxton@washingtoninformer. com or send to: 3117 Martin Luther King Jr Ave., SE, Washington, D.C. 20032. Please note that we are unable to publish letters that do not include a full name, address and phone number. We look forward to hearing from you.

Guest Columnist

Julianne Malveaux

Election Reflections — Ignore the Pollsters, Challenge the Democrats

To let the pollsters tell it, Democrats were going to get a "drubbing" or a "shellacking" just like the one President Barack Obama experienced in 2010 when Dems lost 63 Congressional seats and 6 Senate seats. In contrast, Democrats seem to have gained one Senate seat, and the Georgia runoff may push the number up to two. There was no "red wave," hardly even a red puddle. Despite President Biden's tepid ratings and economic uncertainty, Democrats did not do badly. As of this writing, the partisan makeup of the House of Representatives is up in the air, but even if Republicans take the House, they'll hold onto it only narrowly. Republican control of Congress will, of course, be a blow to the African American community as key committees are chaired by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Rep. Bobby Scott (Va.) in Education and Labor, Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) in Financial Services, Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.) in Homeland Security, and others.

The 2022 midterm elections remind us that pollsters spew nonsense and raise questions about the very nature of polling. It makes me wonder if the corporate media collaborates with pollsters to maintain the status quo. The pollsters take to the airwaves predicting, among other things, a red wave. Does it encourage people to stay home or to get out to challenge the polls? When the drip, drip, drip of negative polls is reported as "breaking news" almost every hour on the hour, what impact does it have on the electorate? Who are these pollsters talking to anyway? How many people? What demographic? What methodology? Are they doing internet polls? Are they properly sampling Black people? Are they stuck in the dark ages of landline phones (many people don't have landlines)? Polling methodology is replete with possible errors, and the voters highlighted those. No red wave, just a red puddle. The whole polling enterprise needs to be reexamined.

The Democratic Party also needs to be examined. It relies on African American people as its base, yet it is expert in ignoring Black people when distributing resources. Organizations like the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, Black Voters Matter, and other independent organization get less support for the Democratic Party than they should. Further, Democratic indifference or belated focus on Black candidates has affected the outcome of the midterm elections.

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Guest Columnist

Ben Jealous

Seven Top Takeaways from This Year's Midterms

As the dust settles on the midterm elections and the warnings of a "Red Wave" evaporate, it's time to take a deep breath and take stock of what we've learned. There are many takeaways from the elections this year — and here are a few that top the list for me.

If there's one thing that's crystal clear by now, it's that elections don't end on Election Night. With more mailin ballots to count and plenty of close races, it's normal to wait a few days for final results. So don't listen to folks who say there's something suspicious about vote counts that take a while. There isn't. We have to be patient and make sure every vote is counted.

Another development is that early voting is here to stay. One day before the election, nearly 41 million Americans had cast early ballots. Georgia broke its all-time record for early votes. Again, there have been some fearmongers out there throwing shade on early voting, as if it's somehow not the norm. Ignore them too. Early voting is totally legitimate and a great idea. Do it if you can.

By now we've all seen the attempts by far-right activists in Arizona to scare people away from early voting, by camping out fully armed near drop boxes. We have to recognize that the Right may become more aggressive in its efforts to suppress the vote. The Justice Department stepped in this time to protect the vote and it will have a role to play in protecting it in the future; we should expect and welcome that.

These are all aspects of the new normal in our election process. But what about the issues? What are the takeaways there?

There's no question that Americans came out in force to support reproductive freedom. In state after state where measures on abortion rights were on the ballot, people voted to uphold those rights. In California, Michigan, Vermont, Montana, and even deep-red Kentucky, voters came out for the freedom to control their own bodies.

Abortion rights were also among the top issues motivating voters to go to the polls. Exit polls show inflation topped the list with abortion second — and way ahead of crime, which the Far Right had hoped to use as a winning issue against progressives. Of course,

Guest Columnist

David W. Marshall

Making History with Wes Moore

Maryland is unique in many ways. While it is one of the smallest states in the nation, it is also the wealthiest state in America for 2022. It has the highest median household income in the country at $86,738. While Maryland is the second state with the highest percentage of millionaires per capita, the state's wealth is not just exclusive to white communities. For decades, Prince George's County has carried the unique distinction of being the country's wealthiest majority-Black county. Data shows that the title of affluence now belongs to neighboring Charles County.

Many people may disagree totally with Republican Gov. Larry Hogan on policy, but there is a sense of relief that Hogan has shielded the state from the full impact of the MAGA movement and spared Maryland from the type of toxic and racially divisive politics usually associated with the current state executives in Florida and Texas.

During a speech earlier this year, Hogan, who has always been a critic of former President Donald Trump, said he thinks Trump's potency would wane if candidates backed by the former president start losing in primaries and the midterms in November. We are now in November, and that is exactly what we are seeing. Hogan argued that voters want someone who offers "a hopeful, positive vision" because they are "completely disgusted with the toxic politics and they're sick and tired of all the lies and excuses."

Unlike Florida and Texas, Maryland is a deep-blue state with a 2-to-1 margin of Democrats. For Hogan to have won the election in 2014 and then reelection in 2018, the moderate Republican was able to put together a coalition of Republicans, independent voters, suburban women and crossover Democrats. Many of those crossover Democrats were Asian, Latino and Black voters.

Hogan, who is term-limited, refused to support the Republican candidate in this year's governor's race to succeed him. He described the Trump-endorsed Republican guberthe Right's spin — that progressives' only answer is to "defund" police — was never accurate anyway, and we shouldn't ever let that argument about public safety stand. Progressives have plenty of alternatives to offer when it comes to public safety and ending police violence. We need to be more clear and more forceful in making that case.

As for election deniers on the ballot, it comes as a relief that some of the loudest and potentially most dangerous ones were defeated. Yes, it's true that a significant number of them won or

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natorial nominee as "a QAnon whack job" unfit for office. Many Maryland voters agreed, instead electing Democrat Wes Moore, who became the state's first Black governor.

The governor-elect had a resounding victory, winning 60% of the vote. He is also the third Black person ever elected governor of a U.S. state since Reconstruction. Doug Wilder of Virginia and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts were the first two. As a Democrat, Moore assembled a similar

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Guest Columnist

Charlene Crowell

When Student Loan Repayments Resume, Will Problems Return, Too?

Remembering Rev. Calvin O. Butts

Although a college education is strongly believed to be the bridge to a better life, building financial security is a long way off for millions of graduates beginning their careers with heavy student loan debt. Fortunately, a near two-year pause on federal student loan payments has enabled many borrowers to diminish other debts in the interim. But the amount of time it will take to eliminate the combined $1.6 trillion of student loan debt weighs heavily on the nation's 44 million borrowers.

New research by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) finds that the disproportionate level of debt incurred by students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) is delaying the pursuit of wealth-building options, despite federal programs specifically designed to ensure that student loan repayment will not be akin to a 30-year mortgage. "HBCU students receive less institutional aid and are more likely to take out loans than their peers at non-HBCU institutions," said Christelle Bamona, researcher at CRL and co-author of the report. "While President Biden's recent historic student loan relief plan will benefit millions of federal student loan borrowers, including HBCU borrowers, policymakers must now work to reverse the systemic underfunding of HBCUs and increase the purchasing power of the Pell Grant, among other reformative measures."

To capture this stark financial dilemma, CRL utilized a combination of data analysis and focus groups comprised of HBCU borrowers that together depict how nationwide HBCU attendees and alumni collectively owe a record $40 billion dollars in student debt, with an average debt load at graduation of $32,373 – 19% higher than their peers at non-HBCU institutions. This research was completed prior to President Biden's announcement of loan forgiveness.

According to the new report, "Paying from the Grave," among the nearly 280,000 HBCU students enrolled in more than 100 institutions, 70% are eligible for Pell Grants. Although the maximum $6,500 Pell Grant has remained the same since 1980, the percentage of its actual financial assistance shrinks with every passing year due to decades of rising college costs.

For example, during the 2019-2020 academic year, the average Pell Grant was only $4,491 while the average tuition, fees, room and board at a four-year institution that same year was $29,436. Due to a lack of family wealth, 60% of HBCU families have no means to contribute any funds at all toward a student's college expenses.

As a result, the financial pressure to begin post-graduation loan repayment

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Guest Columnist

Marian Wright Edelman

When I was about 7 years old, my family and I were visiting New York City and attending a large worship service at historic Abyssinian Baptist Church when I let go of my mother's hand in the bustling crowd on the way to the balcony and suddenly became separated from her. I was overwhelmed with panic and fear. But friendly people summoned an usher who took me down to the pulpit, where the preacher embraced me and asked the congregation if anyone knew this child. My mother, who was frantically searching for me in the balcony, stood and said yes, and another usher quickly reunited us. I can still remember how terrifying it felt to be lost. But I also remember how adults at Abyssinian Baptist Church immediately surrounded me with care and concern, reassured me they would take care of me, and did not let go until I was safe.

Adults at Abyssinian Baptist Church have been a haven of care and safety for children in their Harlem community for generations. They have done so under the leadership of giants like Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Sr., Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Rev. Samuel DeWitt Proctor, and, for the past 33 years, Rev. Calvin O. Butts III. Rev. Butts was a good friend, a powerful preacher, a leader devoted to positively uplifting the Black community, and an effective voice for civil rights. When he passed away on Oct. 28, we lost a champion for justice who had a transformative impact on his city and community.

Rev. Butts understood what it meant to grow up in New York City. As a child he lived in public housing in Manhattan's Lower East Side and then in Queens before attending Morehouse College on a scholarship. After graduating from Morehouse, he returned to New York to pursue a master's degree in divinity from Union Theological Seminary, followed later by a doctor of ministry degree from Drew University. It was shortly after he entered seminary at Union that he was first hired by Rev. Proctor to serve at Abyssinian. He served first as a youth minister and then as assistant and executive minister before succeeding Rev. Proctor as Abyssinian's Senior Pastor in 1989.

Social outreach, social uplift, and neighborhood involvement had been priorities for Abyssinian since its founding, and by the late 1980s the needs in its Harlem community were obvious and great. Some of Rev. Butts' most significant impact came through the Abyssinian Development Corporation, which was created the same year he became pastor as a not-for-profit community and economic development corporation that would help the church respond to his call to "rebuild their community brick by brick and block by block," with a mission to "increase the availability of quality housing to people of diverse incomes; enhance the deliv-

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Guest Columnist

Michael Kim

Ensure Access to Pharmacist Services in D.C. to Improve Health Equity

The worst public health crisis in a century has focused a harsh light on the inequities in our nation's health care delivery. Washington, D.C., is a prime example. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the District’s racial and ethnic minorities, elderly, and low-income communities have experienced more severe health effects and difficulty accessing health services.

Fortunately, a vital lifeline has helped fill these needs: local pharmacies, where many find services to protect themselves from the deadly virus and other health complications. But that very resource could be threatened when health authorities lift the COVID-19 public health emergency as soon as early January. Congress should take immediate action to ensure patients have longterm access to essential services provided by pharmacists, such as testing and vaccination for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

Here in D.C., income, housing, and transportation tell much of the story about the gaps in health access and equity. The median income for the District’s white households is $50,000 greater than that of Hispanic households and $40,000 more than that of Asian Americans. Over the past three decades, the city’s African American population has dropped nearly 20 percent as families move to more affordable areas. A larger percentage of Hispanic (34 percent) and African American residents (27 percent) than whites (14 percent) rely on public transit to commute to and from work, however, Hispanics and African Americans are underrepresented in neighborhoods near rail stops. These factors help explain why Hispanics and Asian Americans in D.C. show a significantly higher infant mortality rate and why African Americans in D.C. have the lowest life expectancy and highest prevalence of chronic disease conditions.

The prevailing disparities in our city have impacted health outcomes throughout the pandemic. Although African Americans comprise 45 percent of the D.C. population, they make up 75 percent of its COVID-19 deaths. Hispanic and Asian American people are at one and a half times greater risk of COVID-19 infection than White people, and Asian American, Hispanic, and Black people are about twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as their White counterparts. The largest proportion of African Americans in D.C. live in wards 7 and 8, which respectively have the highest and second highest area deprivation index, a multidimensional measure of socioeconomic conditions linked to health outcomes. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of the District’s elderly residents identify as African American,

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