|
Yes, we saw Bey's baby bump, her phenomenal performance, and Adele's amazing voice followed by her own homage to the queen. And yes, we saw Bruno's tribute to Prince--those of us old enough to remember thank you for sharing the stage with Morris Day. We clapped as Chance the Rapper made Grammy history and cheered as A Tribe Called Quest made their resistance clear. Now that the Queen, the Prince, and the Tribe have spoken, it's time to make the donuts. WH Senior Adviser Steven Miller doubled down on allegations of massive voter fraud despite offering no evidence. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn won't deny that he spoke about sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office. And whoever handles the Twitter account for the Department of Education can either use a lesson in spelling or Black history or both. But we begin this Monday morning read with this...
600 Deported
Federal immigration officials arrested more than 600 people across at least 11 states last week. Trump’s executive order vastly expanded the group of immigrants considered priorities for deportation, including those without criminal records. More here.
The Obamas are Booked
Less than one month after leaving office, the Obamas are getting back to work. The pair have signed DC attorneys Deneen Howell, an African American Yale University and Stanford Law graduate, and Robert Barnett to “manage contract negotiations with potential publishers for the former president and Mrs. Obama’s respective books,” said Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for the former president. More here.
Judge To Hear Arguments on Dakota Access Pipeline Work
A federal judge in DC is hearing arguments on whether to stop work on the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline until a legal battle with American Indian tribes is resolved. The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux argue the pipeline threatens drinking water and cultural sites. The tribes also say it threatens their freedom of religion, which depends on pure water. More here.
MoCs Demand Meeting with ICE Acting Director Following Raids
CHC Chairwoman Michelle Luján Grisham and fellow MoCs Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL), Judy Chu (CA-27), and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) are demanding a meeting with U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement Acting Director Thomas D. Homan to discuss the impact of recent nationwide immigration raids in communities across the nation. More here.
Sessions Rings Sharpton
Shortly after Attorney General Jeff Sessions was sworn in, he phoned Reverend Al Sharpton. The two spoke about civil rights and the ongoing Justice Department investigation into Eric Garner's death. According to reports, the tone of the call between Sharpton and Sessions appeared to be straightforward -- not cordial. More here.
Officers Cleared in Rep. Rush Racial Profiling Case
Last August, Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL) filed a complaint against two Chicago Police Department officer after a traffic stop in August 2016 after confusion over his license plates. At the time there had been a rash of car thefts in the part of Chicago in which he was stopped. The two offers subsequently offered their apologies and have been cleared. More here.
Pai v. Clyburn
Ajit Pai, the new chairman of the FCC and a Republican, is quickly making his mark on the agency, shaking up its operations and rolling back Obama-era initiatives. The changes include scrapping an FCC probe into mobile data plans that critics said violated net neutrality and retracting a report that touted E-Rate, a program funding broadband access in schools and libraries. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat, blasted those actions which came on a late afternoon as a “Friday news dump.” More here.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hires Travieso
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has named Amy Travieso as Director of Congressional and Public Affairs. Travieso was previously Deputy CoS for Congressman Henry Cuéllar (D-TX). She begins her work with the Chamber on February 21st. Congrats, Amy!
Bell Sworn in As Special Assistant to Tillerson
Last week, attorney Ashley Bell, a GOP strategist and former head of African American outreach at the RNC, was sworn in as a special assistant to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Bell also previously served on the Trump transition team to help recruit State Department staff. He will start off with up to 120 days as an emergency appointment with the opportunity to be reappointed by the president at the end of that time. More here.
Durán Heads to Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute’s Education and Society Program has named Maribel Durán as Assistant Director for Strategy and Operations. Durán, a longtime Obama appointee, previously served as Chief of Staff, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the Department of Education. Congrats, Maribel! Learn more about her here.
Young Heads to BET (and NY)
Stephanie Young, the former WH Senior Public Engagement Advisor for the Office of Public Engagement, is heading to New York where she will be Director of Communications for BET Networks. Stephanie has held several high-profile communications positions on the Hill, including a stint as Press Secretary for Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and as Communications Director for the Congressional Black Caucus. Best wishes at BET, Stephanie! Learn more about her here.
New AAJC President
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) announced the selection of nationally recognized attorney John C. Yang as the new president and executive director of the organization. Yang will start working immediately with outgoing president Mee Moua until mid-March to ensure a smooth transition for the organization. Congrats, John! More here.
Back to 270
Former director of states and political engagement for the HRC campaign, Marlon Marshall, returns to the organization he helped found--270 Strategies, a grassroots organizing firm. More about the firm here.
Zaidi Continues Work on Climate
Morrison & Foerster named former WH climate adviser and OMB senior official Ali Zaidi a senior adviser. There he focuses on climate, energy, and environmental policy, technology and markets. More here.
New Comms Manager at Leadership Conference
The Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights has named Karely Hernández as Communications Manager. She most recently served on the Hillary for America campaign where she worked closely with the press team as a national Hispanic media associate for the general campaign and as a Hispanic media spokesperson for the coordinated campaign in North Carolina. Congrats, Karely! Learn more about her here.
WH Comms Team on SCOTUS
Several White House aides are working on communications for Neil Gorsuch, Trump's Supreme Court nominee. Steven Cheung, one of the few faces of color on staff at the WH, is the primary point of contact for journalists.
First Black Female Three-Star General
Last week, Lt. Gen. Nadja West was honored in an official ceremony, formalizing her promotion to three-star general, making her the first African American woman to achieve that rank in the United States Army. She is also the highest-ranking woman of any race to have graduated from West Point. More here.
Muslim Groups Rejecting Federal Funding
At least four Muslim non-profit groups have rejected more than $2 million in federal funding to fight violent extremism, citing Trump’s rhetoric against Muslim Americans and Islam and the new administration’s policies that run counter to their agenda. The groups had been among the 31 recipients of the first round of Countering Violent Extremism grants, awarded by the Department of Homeland Security in the last week of Barack Obama’s presidency. More here.
Election Assistance Commission Faces Death Panel
While Trump is still perpetuating the alternative fact that millions of illegal ballots were cast in 2016 -- offering no evidence to support this argument -- the Republican-led House Administration Committee voted last week to shut down the federal agency set up to help states improve their election systems. In response, 43 civil rights organizations sent a letter to House Administration Committee Chairman Congressman Gregg Harper (R-MS), who said the Election Assistance Commission has “outlived" its usefulness. Read the letter here.
Baller-In-Chief
Barry O'Bomber is back and taking NBA superstars to the cup. A German gaming personality has put out an NBA 2K video with former President Obama starring as a digital player. Dressed in a No. 44 Charlotte Hornets uniform, Obama drives to the basket, dabs and dunks on players like Carmelo Anthony. More here.
FB Bans Ethnic Affinity Marketing
Last week, Facebook announced that it had finalized its prohibition of the use of ethnic affinity marketing that enables ad buyers to exclude racial minorities from ads offering housing, employment, or credit. Facebook will also require advertisers to affirm that they will not engage in discriminatory advertising on its platform. More here.
Paper Uses Photo of Alec Baldwin Instead of Trump
Dominican newspaper El Nacional on Friday printed a photo of Alec Baldwin doing his impression of Trump on "Saturday Night Live" in an article about Trump and Israel. The photo was used side-by-side with a photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. El Nacional later apologized, calling the error "unintentional." More here.
Geraldo Quits
This prompted Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera quit his position at Yale University. He tweeted, “Resigned yesterday as Associate Fellow of Calhoun College at Yale. Been an honor but intolerant insistence on political correctness is lame.” More here.
Man Files Lawsuit Against Trump Surrogate Sheriff Clarke
Remember David Clarke? The brash, unapologetic African American anti-Black Lives Matter Milwaukee Sheriff and Trump Surrogate? Well, this week, a Milwaukee man filed a lawsuit against Clarke alleging he had sheriff's deputies detain and question him after a flight from Dallas last month because, while boarding, the man shook his head at Clarke, who was wearing Dallas Cowboys gear on a day the team played the Green Bay Packers. Clarke said afterward that "he reserves the reasonable right to pre-empt a possible assault" and mocked his accuser on the sheriff's office's Facebook page, and writing, "if Sheriff Clarke were to really mess with you, you wouldn't be around to whine about it." There’s a campaign for this guy to challenge Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) in next year's Senate race. More here.
Espaillat and the CBC
The Washingtonian’s Rosa Cartagena says the Congressional Black Caucus should accept Congressman Adriano Espaillat (D-NY). He is the first formerly undocumented immigrant to become a MoC, the first Dominican American in Congress, and he identifies himself as Afro-Latino. And now he wants to be the first person to join both the Congressional Hispanic and Black caucuses. “Espaillat shouldn’t have to choose between two parts of his identity,” she writes. “ It might even look to Rangel, who was also an Afro-Latino. His father was Puerto Rican, and though he did not embrace that part of his heritage, no by-laws should have kept him from being able to join the Hispanic Caucus.” More here.
Richmond to Trump: Act Quickly
CBC Chair Congressman Cedric Richmond (D-LA) is urging Donald Trump to act quickly following devastating tornadoes that damaged hundreds of homes in New Orleans East Feb. 7. Trump's only public response to the disaster this week came from the @POTUS account: "Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in southeastern Louisiana affected by today's severe tornadoes." His more-active personal account hasn't mentioned it. More here.
Moving Day for Sen. Scott
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) changed offices last week. He is now 717 Hart Senate Office Building. “Out with the old, in with the new,” he tweeted as he changed digs. See here.
Soto Introduces First Bill
Congressman Darren Soto (D-FL) introduced his first bill in Congress which would reduce the burden for students who obtain degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines. The American Science Principal and Interest Reduction and Employment (ASPIRE) Act, calls for a “25 percent reduction in federal student loans for students who graduate with a degree in a STEM field, including loans taken out by parents.” More here.
Dept of Ed Botches Du Bois Tribute
The Department of Education misspelled W.E.B. Du Bois’ name in a tweet Sunday honoring the iconic civil rights activist and author. But that honor fell short when they misspelled Du Bois’ last name. Then they tweeted an apology which also had a spelling error. You can’t make up this stuff. More here.
Army Distinguished Civilian Service Medal
Acting Secretary of the Army Robert M. Speer has presented Congressman Sanford D. Bishop (D-GA) with the Army Distinguished Civilian Service Medal. The medal was awarded to the congressman for his work on the Fiscal Year 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill which, among its provisions, included full funding for military family housing construction. More here.
Mexican Presidential Hopeful Wins Support Blasting Trump
Leftist presidential hopeful Andrés Manuel López Obrador is gaining momentum in the race to lead Mexico, tapping into a nationalist backlash against Donald Trump who he calls an irresponsible bully. He spared his harshest words, however, for Mexico’s own president, Enrique Peña Nieto. “He didn’t have the guts to tell Trump, ‘You will respect the Mexican people,’” López Obrador said. “’You will respect our migrants.’” More here.
Trump Drops Defense of Obama Guidelines on Transgender Students
The Trump administration has dropped the federal government’s challenge to a nationwide injunction issued last year that blocked the fulfillment of Obama administration guidelines stating that transgender students’ access to bathrooms and other gender-segregated school facilities was protected under existing federal civil rights law. More here.
Green Card Holder Cast Ballot and Faces Deportation
A permanent U.S. resident living in Texas has been sentenced to eight years in prison for illegally voting, a punishment that will probably result in the woman’s deportation after she completes her sentence. Rosa María Ortega, a 37-year-old registered Republican, was brought to the U.S. as an infant. More here.
Historic Black Cemeteries Seeking Same Support VA Gives Confederates
The Evergreen Cemetery, a burial ground for some of the elite African American citizens of Richmond in the late 1800s and early 1900s, may be getting some much-needed funding. A bill working its way through the Virginia General Assembly would set aside money for Evergreen and East End -- just as the state already pays for the upkeep of thousands of Confederate graves statewide. More here.
Latino Victory Fund’s Disdain for Price
Cristóbal J. Alex, President of the Latino Victory Project, says “With the confirmation of Rep. Tom Price as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services, Senate Republicans just put primary health care services for over 4 million Latinos who depend on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in peril.”
Latino Support on Infrastructure
According to The Hill, an infrastructure bill could find Trump common ground with Dems. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 27.3 percent of all construction workers in 2015 were Hispanic. Comparatively, Hispanics make up about 17 percent of the total population of the U.S. “People are talking about infrastructure in different ways, some are talking about development projects, others about repairing the infrastructure that we have, and others are talking about digital infrastructure,” said Eric Rodriguez, vice president of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). More here.
Cummings Says Flynn Shouldn’t Have Clearance
Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) joins a long list of lawmakers calling on National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s security clearance to be revoked until the investigation into his conversations with Russia’s ambassador are complete. More here.
Spotted
DNC Future Forum
April Ryan moderated the DNC Future Forum in Baltimore on Saturday. Spotted: DNC staffers Donna Brazile, Julie Greene, Patrice Taylor, Leah Daughtry, DNC Members Joyce Brayboy, Marcus Mason, Lottie Shackelford, Janice Griffin, Tefere Gebre, Karen Carter Peterson, and Stephanie Rawlings-Blake were also there. Others spotted: Yolanda Caraway, Mariko Bennett Broz, Simone Ward, Chris Cobbs, Steve Walker, Nadia Garnett, Jamal Simmons, and Jewel James, Lottie Shackleford, Yvette Lewis, Paul Rivera, and all the DNC candidates. Witnesses say that DNC staffers Patrice Taylor and Julie Greene were running the show. Congrats ladies!
Voice of the Violin
Spotted: Michele Norris doing the narration on Sunday for the National Symphony Orchestra with violinist Joshua Bell for a new composition called The Man With The Violin, based on his children's book.
| |
|
Videos of the Day
(click images to play)
| |
 | A Tribe Called Quest was one of the many artists who delivered a political message during last night's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. | |
| | |
|
We asked and SNL answered. Melissa McCarthy returned to SNL as WH Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
| |
|
WH Correspondent April Ryan invokes Black History Month to squeeze in another question during Wednesday's press briefing with Sean Spicer.
| |
 |
Roll Call talks with Barry Black, the First African American Senate Chaplain. | |
| | |
Pics of the Day
(click image for more info)
| |
 |
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the White House on Saturday to speak out against the surge in the number of raids and deportations following Donald Trump’s anti-immigration executive order. | |
| | |
 | DNC Chair candidates pose with interim DNC Chair Donna Brazile during Saturday's Future Forum in Baltimore. | |
| | |
 | DNC staffers celebrate a job well done at the conclusion of Saturday's Baltimore Future Forum. | |
| | |
 |
DNC Vice Chair candidates debate at Saturday's forum. | |
| | |
 | DNC Vice Chair Candidate Michael Blake poses with team on Saturday at the Baltimore Convention Center. | |
| | |
 |
Congressman Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) takes a selfie before appearing on MSNBC on Saturday. | |
| | |
 |
CBC PAC ED Ben Branch witnessed last night's Grammy Awards in person. | |
| | |
 | The Grammys were not the only red carpet event taking place this weekend. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) pauses for a pic on her way to the NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday. | |
| | |
 | MSNBC's Joy Ann Reid works the red carpet with husband Jason during the NAACP Image Awards on Saturday. | |
| | |
 | Former NAACP Chief of Staff turned Silicon Valley government relations go-to Jotaka Eaddy poses with TV personality Judge Mathis. | |
| | |
 | NAACP Trustee Chaka Burgess is all smiles as he makes his way down the red carpet. | |
| | |
 | Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) poses with MSNBC Producer Traci Curry in Los Angeles over the weekend. | |
| | |
 |
Congressman Tim Scott (R-SC) snaps a selfie with Pat Locke, the first African American woman to graduate from West Point. | |
| | |
Top Five Despite modest gains, women and people of color see little change in representation on Fortune 500 boards. This multi-year study provides powerful metrics on the slow change of diversity in the boardroom.
Here are the Top Five findings:
| |
| |
Some progress has been made for African Americans/Blacks in securing/holding Fortune 500 board seats.
The bulk of the African American male increases occurred within the Fortune 100. There has been an increase in the Fortune 500 of African American women board members by 18.4% since 2012, while the total number of African American male board members in the Fortune 500 had only an increase of 1%.
| | |
| |
Asian/Pacific Islanders have shown continued growth.
However, their starting baseline was small -- thus their overall representation is still roughly three percent of all board seats, representing a total of 167 seats, with an additional increase (46.7%) in Asian/Pacific Islander women.
| | |
| | Small Hispanic Gains
Nominal gains have been accomplished Latinos, while we saw a loss of two Fortune 500 board seats for Latinas since 2012.
| | |
| |
Percentage of Boards with More than 30% Diversity
Currently, 65 percent of Fortune 100 boards have greater than 30 percent board diversity, compared to the Fortune 500 where that percentage drops to just under 50 percent of companies.
| | |
| |
African Americans Have Highest Rate of Representation on Multiple Boards
African Americans appear to have the highest rate of individuals serving on multiple boards -- indicating that companies are going to the same individuals rather than expanding the pool of African American candidates for board membership.
| | |
| Blah Blah Blog The Power of Disruption (Charles Blow/NYT)
| |
|
Thursday, Feb. 16th, 8:30A: Senators Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Representatives Bobby Scott, Gerry Connolly, Don Beyer, and Donald McEachin host a Commonwealth Coffee with Virginia's African American leaders in the Russell Senate Office Building, Room SR-253.
| |
|
|
