OpEd

Double Victory, Always

The African American quest for social equality and protection in America continues to fuel a similar desire for others across the globe. Once known as the Double Victory (or Double V Campaigns), Black servicemen and women risked their lives to courageously protect and liberate the dispossessed. Black men and women have served valiantly in every conflict in American history in the nation’s pursuit of both independence and global power. Their service has helped define the personhood of Africans in America and actualize the belief in the inalienable rights upon which the nation would later be founded.

For instance, roughly 8,000 Africans in the colonies served in the Patriots (British) Army with valor during the Revolutionary War. Among them were Crispus Attucks, Peter Salem and James Armistead Lafayette, who were promised freedom in exchange for fighting on behalf of the Crown.

Their commitment to the cause of freedom and personhood came as colony leaders, victorious in their pursuit of independence, tabulated their political and social value with the 3/5ths Compromise (1787). This agreement allowed the enslaved to be counted as 3/5 of a person for both representation and taxation. The Compromise also decreed the end of the international slave trade -- after two decades (until 1808) and charged the federal government with returning runaway slaves (fugitive laborers) throughout the country.

Black enlisted faced discrimination and racism from within as documented by U.S. Major General H.E. Ely’s assessment of Black ‘manpower’ in 1925. Ely stereotyped Blacks as an incapable sub-species who were inherently weak in character, natural cowards, and disloyal – making them poor servicemen. Still, Black soldiers proved their bravery and might, receiving honors stateside and abroad.

Despite social obstacles, African Americans eagerly answered the call to serve: More than 180,000 in the Civil War, over 700,000 registered for military service to fight in World War I, more than 1 million during WWII, 600,000 African Americans served in the armed forces during the Korean War, an estimated 300,000 served in the Vietnam War – totaling 31 percent of the ground combat battalions in Vietnam, and according to the Department of Defense, active-duty service members numbered 1,319,283; of those, 227,974, or 17.3 percent, were African American, as of December 2021.

The Washington Informer honors those who served our nation so courageously and thank them for their service.

WI

TO THE EDITOR

Voting on You

A new national poll heading into the election season found that Black women voters made up a demographic of particularly eager voters. In addition to being anxious to cast their votes in the 2022 midterm elections, they approached the ballot box as a means of toppling concerns over rising food, housing, and medical care costs. But while running to the polls, that same energy is not being expensed on caring for themselves.

Chronic stressors have been associated with Black women developing disproportionate cases of mental and physical ailments and diseases. The Soujorner syndrome and the Superwoman Schema (SWS) concepts are used to explain the phenomenon of early onset of morbidity among African American women in response to persistent chronic stress and active coping associated with meeting day-to-day demands and having multiple caregiver roles.

In the shadows of Black Girl Day Off -- yes, it is a bona fide national holiday – (held Oct. 11), few Black women recognize the stressors that are leading to their burnout. Black Girl Day Off, recognized annually on the day after World Mental Health Day, was designated “to encourage Black women to take a mental day off to focus on their emotional well-being.”

“A day like Black Girl Day Off brings awareness to the ‘Superhuman’ ideals that come with being a ‘Strong Black Woman,’ which is an expectation/stereotype/assumption that many women of color have to continue to perform because of pressures to manage several roles,” Valessa Gray, assistant director of counseling and diversity and inclusion initiatives for Ohio University’s Counseling and Psychological Services told The Athens Post. “Having multiple marginalized identities increases the likelihood of experiencing day-to-day stressors.”

Irrespective of the election outcomes, the time has come for Black women to vote on themselves by setting necessary boundaries and achievable goals before crafting those New Year’s resolutions for 2023. Some things require immediate attention. Stress is not new among Black people – particularly Black women who traditionally lumber themselves with the burdens of their households, families, jobs, and larger society. What can be different going forward, is turning off the mobile phone, disconnecting from the world around you, and casting a ballot for your own wellbeing. WI

I am not surprised that this Supreme Court is now taking aim at Affirmative Action. First, reproductive rights, now this, and I’m willing to bet same-sex marriage is next. The election of Donald Trump set all of these unfortunate events in motion. If people don’t see the consequences of elections from this situation, I don’t know what will.

Tomasina P. Dorsey Washington, DC

I still think about Relisha Rudd and the tragedy of her kidnapping. It truly breaks my heart of the evil that lurks in our communities and the children who have no protection or covering and become victims. The District has to do better to protect our children, but most of all, we must protect ours, whether we know them or not.

Tina Albach Washington, DC

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Guest Columnist

Julianne Malveaux

Race Neutrality is Anti-Blackness

During this Supreme Court session, the justices will tackle affirmative action in two cases brought by Students for Fair Admissions opposing affirmative action policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. According to its website, this group represents "20,000 students, parents and others who believe that racial classifications and preferences to college admissions are unfair, unnecessary and unconstitutional." Where were these people when African Americans were explicitly excluded from college admissions? Where were they when Black folks had to sue to be admitted?

Consider the George McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents case, where McLaurin, an African American man, was denied admission to a graduate program at Oklahoma University solely because of his race. In 1950, it was illegal in Oklahoma to attend, teach at or operate an educational institution that admitted both white and Black students. Taxpayers, including Black citizens, funded this university. This was affirmative action for white folks, but no "Students for Fair Admissions" challenged the racist policy. Anti-blackness was acceptable historically, and it is alive and well today. The bizarre concept of race neutrality in a racist society is nothing more than historical denial. Anti-blackness is woven into the fabric of our nation, and affirmative action, minority set- asides, and other race-conscious remedies are merely the antidote to historical structural racism. These "Students for Fair Admission" have embraced the absolute unfairness of how national public policy is tilted against Black people. Enslavement was not race-neutral. Jim Crow laws were not race-neutral. Fair Housing redlining was not race-neutral. But these Students for Fair Admissions want race neutrality. They need the education in American history they missed since they did not study how so-called race neutrality has harmed Black people.

Once admitted to Oklahoma University, George McLaurin was segregated in the library, classrooms, and cafeteria. The lower court ruled that his "inconvenience" was minor. The Supreme Court found for McLaurin, but only after a multi-year battle. Meanwhile, Oklahoma University found his classroom presence so onerous that he was forced to listen to lectures in a closet that was separate from the classroom space for other students.

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Guest Columnist

Ben Jealous

Tell the Supreme Court: We Still Need Affirmative Action

One of the great joys of my life is teaching. I'm fortunate to teach classes on social justice at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the most respected schools in the country. Penn has a longstanding commitment to affirmative action, and I have seen first-hand how diversity in the classroom benefits all my students. There's just no question that diversity is a core piece of a vibrant academic community and a critical part of the learning experience — for all of us. Bringing together students with different lived experiences forces students to think critically about their assumptions, which is an essential goal of a university education.

That's why I, like so many of us, am deeply concerned about two affirmative action cases argued at the Supreme Court just a few days ago. Opponents of affirmative action have been trying to destroy it for years. And now it looks like they just might get their chance.

Two universities, Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC), are defending their admissions programs against opponents who want them declared unconstitutional. (The university where I teach, Penn, and the organization I lead, People For the American Way, have both joined briefs supporting the universities' positions.) Considering race as one of many factors in admissions has been upheld by the Supreme Court for decades. The court has said repeatedly that diversity in higher education is a "compelling interest."

But today's Supreme Court is different. It's dominated by far-right justices who have made it clear they don't share this view. Chief Justice John Roberts' famous quote, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race," sums it up: conservatives believe affirmative action is at best unnecessary and at worst just another type of discrimination. Some conservatives would like to retire affirmative action because they claim it's accomplished everything it set out to do. But it hasn't. Not even close.

In Texas and Michigan, applications and enrollments of Black and

Guest Columnist

David W. Marshall

Idle Words Can Lead to Political Violence

We should never take for granted the power of a person's spoken words. At times, they may appear idle and harmless, but those words' subtle and indirect messages can ultimately prove deadly. A clever person, when they speak, understands the hearts and minds of his listeners. A clever and insensitive person will take that understanding and use it for malice and ill will. If I mention the name George Wallace, many people may immediately think of the comedian. Others would remember the former governor of Alabama who Martin Luther King Jr. once called the "most dangerous racist in America." Gov. Wallace was dangerous because of his spoken words. While many remember him as a segregationist, most people never knew that the NAACP once endorsed Wallace.

In 1958, during his first run for governor of Alabama, Wallace was a moderate Democrat who rejected the idea of making race an issue while declining a formal endorsement from the Ku Klux Klan. By welcoming Klan support, his opponent overwhelmingly defeated Wallace in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. But Wallace was a shrewd politician who adjusted well and developed a deep insight into the mindset of the Southern white working class. He understood the reasons behind their hate, their anger and their disenchantment. He understood their distrust of the federal government while encouraging the need to stand up against it. Driven by political ambition and the thirst for power, he redefined himself as a segregationist with a strong, authoritative persona. Four years later, he ran again for governor, this time as a vocal champion for segregation and states' rights. He won by a landslide. In his inauguration address, written by leaders of the Latino students plunged after state politicians banned the consideration of race in admission to their public universities. That's a huge red flag. Nationally, there's a big gap between the percentage of white and Black students who earn a bachelor's degree. And that perpetuates all kinds of harm and inequities in income, health, family wealth, and more. We still have a long way to go in building a fair society in which all our children can thrive.

And here's an important point

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Ku Klux Klan, Wallace followed the cultural influence of his base supporters by vowing "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." In four years, George Wallace transformed from a moderate gubernatorial candidate supported by the NAACP into an "angry man's candidate" who played upon the fears, grievances and hatred of white Southerners.

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Guest Columnist

Rep. James Clyburn

Joe Biden's Great Recovery

One definition of recovery is "a return to a normal state of health, mind or strength." Another is "the action or process of regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost." I can't think of any more appropriate descriptions of the first 20 months of President Joe Biden's administration. History records President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the creator of the New Deal, President Harry S. Truman as the initiator of the Fair Deal, and President Lyndon Johnson as the mastermind of the Great Society. I believe historians will one day recognize President Joseph R. Biden as the engineer of the Great Recovery.

When President Biden took office on Jan. 20, 2021, the country was in the grip of a global pandemic that was killing more than 3,000 people per day. Businesses were shuttering, schools were closing, and the nation's unemployment rate was 6.4%. The American people were losing faith in their government and its elected officials.

The bombastic style of the previous administration was wearing thin on the American public and their lack of substance was visiting hardships on the American people, their families and their communities. Our nation's long pursuit of "a more perfect Union" seemed to be coming to an unceremonious end. In short, our democracy was at peril.

President Biden and congressional Democrats are engineering a "Great Recovery" of, for and by the American people. From day one, we have focused on shoring up the shaky foundation left by the previous administration. On March 11, 2021, less than two months after he took office, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) putting in place the first pillar of the foundation upon which he would jump-start a great recovery. The ARP put money in people's pockets, got children back in school and lifted nearly half of those children living in poverty out of poverty. We reopened businesses, kept workers on their jobs and stemmed the deadly rampage of COVID-19 by expanding testing and access to vaccines.

The second pillar of Biden's foundation came on Nov. 15, 2021, when he signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Joe Biden's historic investment in our crumbling and outdated infrastructure is putting people to work repairing roads and bridges, expanding high-speed broadband, cleaning our drinking water and creating a resilient electric grid. It is replacing lead pipes, making a down payment on clean energy transmission and erecting charging stations

Guest Columnist

Is Brown Next?

"It is the policy of the Government of the United States to … promote the full realization of equal employment opportunity through a continuing affirmative program in each executive department and agency." — President Richard M. Nixon, Executive Order 11478 (Aug. 8, 1969)

Resulting from the concerted efforts of civil rights activists, this executive order was issued to remedy the systemic, pervasive and traditional discrimination — institutional discrimination – that had governed and shaped federal government employment practices for decades. From that time forward, federal employment practices were to be conducted without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin. With the exception of HBCUs, advanced education was singularly available to whites, while fewer opportunities existed for non-whites. Soon after the executive order and assessing the similarities of past discriminatory policies and practices within their ranks, colleges and universities began to acknowledge the need to adjust admission policies to reverse and eliminate practices of institutional discrimination.

At the urging of civil rights activists, increased numbers of Black students were admitted. These increased numbers of admissions were logically justified as remedial, but were also recognized as an enhancement to the academic environment. The resulting intellectual, cultural and social diversity realized by these "affirmative" admissions created a learning and demographic environment that more closely reflected the general society and provided improved opportunities for positive interpersonal interactions. Although not immediate or without challenges, these bilateral goals of eliminating discrimination practices and expanding intellectual diversity were set in motion. Since being placed into practice, these "affirmative" admission policies have faced legal challenges alleging "reverse discrimination."

Resulting court decisions in high profile cases involving highly ranked institutions have directed modifications to admission policies, but current challenges face a more reactionary social mindset and a more dogmatic Supreme Court. At this writing, the Supreme Court of the United States is entertaining challenges to the admission policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. In this immediate case, Asian American students allege that "race-conscious" admissions have prevented the admission of more qualified Asian American applicants.

According to The Washington

E. Faye Williams

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Guest Columnist

Marc H. Morial

The Ghost of Lee Atwater Haunts the 2022 Midterm Elections

"It is not new to see antisemitism or overt racism in politics. What is new is after years … in which it was clear that to be credible in public life politicians had to reject prejudice, it's now been normalized in ways that are really quite breathtaking." — ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt

Violent crime, which fell during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has returned to a level last seen in 2016. A majority of the perpetrators of violent crime are white. And undocumented immigrants are far less likely than native-born Americans to commit violent crimes.

Political ads flooding the airwaves, however, paint a starkly different and wildly misleading picture, "portraying chaos by depicting Black rioters and Hispanic immigrants illegally racing across the border," the New York Times reports.

These ads aren't really about crime or immigration, however. They're about race.

The effort was especially pronounced in the effort to defeat candidates of color. In Wisconsin, opponents of Mandela Barnes, the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, distributed a mailer in which the color of Barnes' skin was darkened. Another ad brands Barnes as "different" and "dangerous" while flashing the images of three Congress members of color, none of whom has campaigned with him.

In Georgia, images of gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams have been darkened by her opponent's campaign.

It's not just the candidates whose images are being darkened: An ad distributed in several House districts in New Mexico shows a barber with darkened hands and suggests that he is a sex offender.

Research shows that people subconsciously associate darker skin with negative personality traits and crime. This bias is linked to deadly consequences like police shootings and substandard medical care. Responsible public servants should work to counteract it. Instead, far too many are all too happy to exploit it for political gain.

Racism has always been present in American political campaigns, but the

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