12 minute read
National
Congress Returns to Work as Election Results Remain Unsettled
Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer
As votes continued to pour in from the 2022 midterm elections, Democrats have retained control of the U.S. Senate and still cling to hope that the House will swing in their favor.
But whatever happens with the remaining count determining control of the House, the Republican Party’s anticipation of a red wave crashed into a resilient blue wall, even as members return to work.
“We are going to try to have as procontrol of the House, the investigation could stall or even cease.
A party must hold 218 seats to gain a majority in the House.
Officials continue to count votes from mail-in ballots in California, Oregon, and Arizona.
The GOP won 211 seats to 204 for Democrats as of press time.
In a significant victory for Democrats, CNN projected that Marie Perez would defeat Republican Joe Kent, a Donald Trump ally, in Washington state’s GOP-leaning 3rd District. In Colorado’s 3rd District, Trump loyalist Lauren Boebert remains locked in an unexpected battle with Democrat Adam Frisch.
If Frisch upsets Boebert, it will increase his party’s long-shot chance of holding the House.
Democrats also did surprisingly well in gubernatorial races, winning 23 seats.
In potentially the most stunning upset of the 2022 midterms, Republican Kari Lake, a 2020 election denier, trails Democrat Katie Hobbs in the Arizona governor’s race by 34,000 votes.
Officials still must count about 290,000 votes before declaring a winner.
Also, in Los Angeles, former Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass had widened her lead over developer Rick Caruso in the race for mayor.
A Bass victory would make her the first Black woman mayor in the history of Los Angeles. WI
ductive a lame-duck session as possible,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stated.
“I’m going to talk to my caucus. I’m going to talk to the Republican leadership and see what we can get done,” Schumer added.
There’s much on the agenda before Congress goes into recess on December 16.
At the top of the list is funding the government for 2023 and avoiding a shutdown.
Democrats also hope to get a bill to President Joe Biden’s desk to strengthen federal election laws surrounding counting and certifying electoral votes in presidential elections.
Many believe such a measure won’t stand a chance in a GOP-controlled House.
However, some Republicans are on record agreeing that reform of some kind is required.
Congress also must address the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which structures the Pentagon.
Additionally, the January 6 committee should release its final report next month, and members must decide what to do about former President Donald Trump’s fight against its subpoena.
The committee could move forward in recommending charges, but with the possibility of Republicans wresting
5 Democrat Karen Bass widens lead in California mayoral race. (Photo courtesy Karen Bass for Mayor)
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5 (L-R) Dr. Greg Carr, Maurice Mitchell and Melvin Foote. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)
Post-Midterm Election Town Hall Focuses on Effective Black Coalition Building
Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
The November 8 midterm election red wave predicted by political didn’t happen after all.
Instead, local and state-level voter mobilization efforts successfully secured substantial victories for Democrats, including women and people of color throughout the United States.
While still waiting for some congressional race results to be decided, a cadre of Black intellectuals, community organizers, political watchdogs and clergy gathered at Howard Universty to analyze the results’ impact on Black America.
Panelists agreed that the election results are a cause for celebration. Still, they recommended that Black voters unite and leverage their political power to successfully advance an agenda now while the Democrats control the White House and the Senate.
The town hall was organized by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century. The theme: “The 2022 Midterm Elections: Impact on the State of Black America and the Pan-African World,” included topics that ran the gamut, from voter mobilization and civic education, anti-Black immigrant sentiments, neoliberalism and imperialism, local and state-level organizing, engaging youth, and preventing the over-policing of communities.
Dr. Greg Carr, a panelist and associate professor of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, indicted past Democratic and Republican presidents for foreign policy decisions that destabilized Africa. He also called to task elected officials in the U.S. and abroad who support policies that negatively impact Black working-class people.
In his analysis, Carr highlighted the National Black Political Convention in Gary, Ind. in 1972 and Reverend Jesse Jackson’s subsequent presidential run as moments when Black people should have permanently consolidated their power.
“We don’t have to beg nobody. We organize,” Carr said.
“What scared the hell out of the Democratic Party is that we were going to make an independent Black party. The tactical error was that the whole apparatus was turned over to the Democratic Party,” Carr asserted.
Other panelists at HU’s Cramton Auditorium on Thursday evening included: Hilary Shelton, NAACP national advisor of policy and governance; Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation; Tamika Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom; Pastor Michael McBride, director of the LIVE FREE Campaign; Janice Mathis, Esq., executive director of the National Council of Negro Women;
TOWN HALL Page 46
Stay Informed!
www.washingtoninformer.com
TRAFFICKING from Page 1
Earlier this year, the U.S. Attorney General released the Department of Justice’s National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking. The Strategy laid out the Department’s multi-year plan to combat all forms of human trafficking, focusing on efforts to protect victims of trafficking, prosecute human trafficking cases, and prevent further acts of human trafficking. The Human Trafficking Institute estimates that there are 24.9 million victims of human trafficking globally.
In 2020, the Institute reported that federal courts in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories handled 579 active human trafficking prosecutions, 94% of which were sex trafficking cases and 6% forced labor cases.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, individuals prosecuted for human trafficking increased from 729 in 2011 to 1,343 in 2020, an 84% rise.
The number of persons convicted of a federal human trafficking offense increased from 2011 (464 persons) to 2019 (837 persons) before falling in 2020 (658 persons). Of the 1,169 defendants charged in U.S. district court with human trafficking offenses in the fiscal year 2020— 92% were male, 63% were white, 18% were Black, 17% were Hispanic, 95% were U.S. citizens, and 66% had no prior convictions.
By the end of 2020, for the 47 states that reported data, 1,564 persons were in the custody of a state prison serving a sentence for a human trafficking offense.
The District of Columbia reported zero new criminal human trafficking cases filed in federal courts in 2021.
The advocacy organization Hope for Justice defines human trafficking as modern slavery, where one person controls another for profit by exploiting a vulnerability.
Victims usually are forced to work or are sexually exploited, and the trafficker keeps all or nearly all the money. The control can be physical, financial, or psychological.
Childwelfare.com says the legal definition of trafficking involves “the exploitation of people through force, coercion, threat, and deception and includes human rights abuses such as debt bondage, deprivation of liberty, and lack of control over freedom and labor.”
The organization noted that trafficking could be for purposes of sexual exploitation or labor exploitation.
In 2004, officials formed the D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force to increase the prosecution of traffickers while identifying and serving the victims.
The task force’s primary goal is to “facilitate a more coordinated anti-trafficking effort in the D.C. area through protocol development, extensive community outreach, proactive investigations, law enforcement training, intelligence sharing, and more formalized partnerships between law enforcement organizations and non-governmental organizations.”
Additionally, while the holiday season counts as a time of joy, happiness, and fun, the nonprofit Shero Foundation said for human trafficking victims, the holidays are no different from any other day.
Law enforcement officials said traffickers typically increase their illegal activities during the holiday season.
“We let our guard down because you’re supposed to be joyful, and, you know, it’s a great time of year. And unfortunately, we have people out there that don’t care what time of year it is,” Tony Mancuso, a sheriff in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, told reporters in a pre-Christmas interview in 2021.
“California is home to some of the largest hubs for sex and labor trafficking in the United States, and it is beyond the time our state takes the necessary steps in combatting this criminal enterprise,” Democratic Assemblymember Tim Grayson insisted.
Grayson noted that human trafficking was a $150 billion-a-year global industry and introduced a bill to establish the California Multidisciplinary Alliance to Stop Trafficking Act (California MAST).
The bill aims to examine and evaluate existing programs and outreach for survivors and victims of human trafficking and provide recommendations to strengthen California’s response to supporting survivors and holding offenders accountable.
“In my search for a better life, I found myself exploited by various individuals similar to other child trafficking survivors,” said Jimmy Lopez, Survivor Advocate for the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. “Human trafficking is an invisible crisis plaguing our state and forcing thousands of children to grow up too fast; we must stop trafficking in its tracks, and we must hold offenders accountable,” Lopez said.
The Washington Convention and Sports Authority t/a Events DC Bid Opportunity
Lee Montessori Public Charter School (PCS) is seeking proposals froEvents DC is seeking a qualified contractor to perform on a as needed basis, installation of full glass aluminum door assemblies manufactured by Kawneer (“Task 1”), provide ad hoc repair and maintenance services on Kawneer (“Task 2”), and other doors at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center meeting the specifications/scope of work identified in this solicitation. Located at 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW, Washington, DC 20001 and at any of its Facilities owned and operated by Events DC.
To respond online, you need your company's user name and login ID. Go to the Events DC (Washington Convention and Sports Authority) site at https://www.wcsapex.com/bso/login.jsp. Enter your login and password information to sign into the system. Once logged in, open formal bids are listed in the Open Bids section of the home page. All formal bids can be accessed by clicking on Bids, then Open Bids.
The information from the request is below:
Key Dates
IFB Release Date: Monday, November 7, 2022 IFB Site Visit: Wednesday, November 23, 2022 IFB Questions Due Date: Friday, November 25, 2022 IFB Response Due Date: Monday, December 5, 2022
Primary Contact
Brittany Ryans, Contracts and Procurement Analyst II Email : bryans@eventsdc.com Phone : 202-336-9237
. . Black Lawyers for Justice (Dr. Attorney, Malik Zulu Shabazz)
All Roads lead to Bowling Green, Kentucky-December 3
Demanding authorities serve arrest warrant for
. Carolyn Bryant Donham
Carolyn Bryant Donham
Emmett Till
Activist are keeping up demand on an arrest warrant being served to Carolyn Bryant Donham. The warrant was found June 2022 in a basement in a Mississippi court house for her involvement in the gruesome murder of Emmett Till in 1955. Join us! 202-615-2139.
If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free hotline, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-888-373-7888 to speak with a specially trained Anti-Trafficking Hotline Advocate.
Support is provided in more than 200 languages. Hotline officials said they are there to listen and connect those in need with the help required to stay safe.
Callers can dial 711 to access the Hotline using TTY.
You can also email help@humantraffickinghotline.org.
To report a potential human trafficking situation, call the hotline at 1-888373-7888, or submit a tip online here.
All communication with the hotline is strictly confidential.
WI @StacyBrownMedia
Trump Formally Announces 2024 Presidential Bid
Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer
Six hundred and seventy-eight days after he inspired arguably the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history and almost single-handedly destroyed American democracy, Donald J. Trump formally announced that he’s running for president.
The twice-impeached former president made the announcement ostensibly at the scene of one of his more recent alleged crimes.
With a gaggle of American flags hanging in the background and dozens of family members and supporters looking on, Trump declared his 2024 candidacy at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida compound.
“Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens, America’s comeback starts now,” Trump told his cheering faithful.
With Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis seen as the early favorite to win the 2024 GOP nomination, Trump took a bow for “all the promises I’ve kept.”
However, most observers have noted that a border wall on the Southern U.S. border never occurred and Mexico, as Trump famously promised, never paid for such a project.
While in office, Trump never released his tax returns and a healthcare plan he continually promised that would usurp Obamacare, never happened.
In August, authorities searched the Mar-a-Lago residence and reportedly retrieved masses of classified federal documents that he allegedly and illegally removed from the White House after Joe Biden’s resounding victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump’s announcement comes even as several investigations continue.
Earlier in the day, Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, testified in a criminal tax fraud case that Trump himself “authorized” the scheme.
Weisselberg, 75, added that Trump knew compensation for executives included perks such as apartments and luxury cars instead of extra salary.
In April of 2021, Weisselberg and the company were both indicted. Authorities haven’t charged Trump with any wrongdoing.
In August 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James alleged in a civil suit that Trump and three of his adult children engaged in a decade’s worth of fraud, inflating Trump’s net
5 The Donald Trump inspired riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 ultimately resulted in the death of 5 people, including two police officers/NNPA via Wikimedia Commons
worth by billions of dollars.
“Our investigation uncovered the
TRUMP Page 36
