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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is working against the grain to push for a vote on the unpopular Obamacare repeal. Within the GOP’s own ranks, there are five members (and counting) who are against the bill. In the House, members will be voting on a few immigration bills this week. We’ll have more on that tomorrow. Donald Trump is tweeting this morning accusing President Obama of … wait for it ... “colluding” or “obstructing” in the Russia probe. We can’t decipher these tweets. Read them for yourself. Worth a read: the NYT’s Helene Cooper reports that the White House is pushing for military spending in Africa over humanitarian and development assistance. Over the weekend, VP Mike Pence officiated the wedding of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and actress Louise Linton. You may not recognize Linton from any theatrical work but she did embrace her inner drama queen in a work of fiction she penned under the guise of a “truthful” account of her time in Zambia. The book was so ridden with stereotypical white-savior-in-the-jungle narratives that there was a global backlash against her account prompting #LyntonLies to trend on twitter. Last night in LA, the BET awards mixed entertainment and politics with calls for social justice as Michelle Obama honored Chance the Rapper. The countdown to July 4th recess begins! We’re kicking off the week with this:
- The Senate has their eyes on Loretta Lynch.
- Michelle Obama honors Chance the Rapper.
- Jimmy Gómez gets delayed in LA.
- Planned Parenthood has a message for you.
- The Obamas land in Indonesia.
- Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) wants to create tech jobs for coal miners.
- Straight Outta the White House ... Barack Obama is forever Crenshaw.
- There's Crosstalk below. Check it out!
- RTDNA honors Lester Holt.
- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra introduces his own travel ban.
- Black Lives Matter responds to Buzzfeed's Darren Sands.
- Navajo candidate ends bid against Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT).
- Black publishers elect a new leader.
- We're in the thick of summer conferences. The Beat will be hitting the road soon. Check out that happenings below in FOMO.
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NALEO's Arturo Vargas with Labor Secretary Alex Acosta at the annual conference over the weekend in Dallas. | |  |
Deray McKesson with Tracy Ellis Ross during BET's Genius Talks in Los Angeles on Saturday. | |
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Senators Question Loretta Lynch
Senators on the Judiciary Committee are pressing former AG Loretta Lynch to respond to allegations that she tried to interfere with the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) last week sent a letter to Lynch as part of the committee's investigation into the Justice Department under both the Trump and Obama administrations. The four senators point to a pair of articles alleging that Lynch wouldn't let the FBI's investigation "go too far" and want the former attorney general to respond by early July so they can "assess the situation." More here.
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Jimmy Gómez DC Arrival Delayed
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus may have to wait a little longer before welcoming their newest member, California state Rep. Jimmy Gómez. Gómez’s swearing in has been delayed because he is needed at the California state Capitol for a vote to expand the Golden State’s cap-and-trade program.The earliest he could get sworn in could be the week of July 10, according to reports. The LA Times reported Gómez asked House leadership to delay his swearing in until after June 15 as the state’s outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown is working for a two-thirds majority of the Assembly to approve the extension in order to fend off legal challenges. More here.
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The Senate is considering legislation that would “defund” Planned Parenthood. "Defunding" Planned Parenthood would prevent millions of people with Medicaid coverage from accessing basic health care including birth control and cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health centers. Hear from people who would be hurt most.
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Michelle Obama’s Tribute to Chance The Rapper Literally Moved Him to Tears
It’s one thing to be honored with BET’s Humanitarian Award -- it’s another to be praised by Michelle Obama and to have her call you a friend -- but Chance The Rapper has accomplished both at the ripe old the age of 24. “We are so incredibly proud of you, Chance,” the former FLOTUS began (cilck image to play video). “We have known Chance and his family since he was a wee little baby rapper and it has been a thrill watching him come into his own in so many ways … Chance is showing our young people that they matter, they have something inside of them that is worthy of being expressed.” After the first lady’s touching words, cameras caught Chance with tears in his eyes. During his acceptance speech, Chance made an impassioned plea to the federal government, juries and courts and a number of other institutions to deliver justice to Black people. Barack and JAY-Z. Michelle and Chance. The Obamas roll deep. See Chance's remarks here.
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Obamas Land in Indonesia
The Obamas roll hard. On Friday, they landed in Indonesia. Barack and Michelle Obama, along with Sasha and Malia, flew to the popular tourist destination on Friday evening before heading straight to the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan, Ubud. On Sunday, the family took a walk through the lush, green Jatiluwih rice terrace, one of UNESCO's World Heritage sites. On Thursday, Barack Obama was spotted in Hawaii, where his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, lives with her husband and two kids. She also accompanied the Obamas on their trip to Bali on Friday. More here.
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Stand Up West Coast: Barack Obama is Forever Crenshaw
Barack Obama will soon have a street named after him in Crenshaw. Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson has put forth a motion requesting the city engineer to start the process in which Rodeo Road (row-DEE-oh, not row-day-oh) in South LA will be renamed as Obama Boulevard. The name change would apply to an approximately 3.5-mile stretch that runs through Crenshaw between Arlington Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard. Obama has ties to the LA area, so the move isn't so out of the blue. He went to Occidental College from 1979 to 1981, and it is where he delivered his first-ever political speech while a student there. Wesson says he aims for the Council to vote on the proposal within a week. There are also plans to rename a section of the Ventura Freeway after the former president. The proposal, introduced by state Senator Anthony Portantino back in December, would rename a stretch of the freeway where it passes by Eagle Rock, where the Occidental campus is located. More here.
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The Beat DC: Crosstalk
Jamal Simmons and Chuck Rocha have some Crosstalk with Tiffany D. Cross discussing the CBC declining the WH invitation penned by Omarosa. Stay tuned for the podcast with Chuck Rocha which drops tomorrow. Subscribe here.
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Ro Khanna Wants to Create Tech Jobs to Coal Miners and Other Workers
Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) says he wants to create new tech jobs for coal miners and other displaced and disillusioned workers, not by resuscitating the coal industry, as Trump has vowed to do. Khanna says the country needs to get moving on rebuilding its economic engine. “We’re going through a transition from an industrial to a digital economy, and a lot of people are getting left behind,” Khanna said. Addressing that transition, he said, will take government investment in universities, training programs, and internet infrastructure. It will also take the tech industry “stepping up and making the commitment to hire -- to look beyond the typical four, five, six typical universities, to make the investments in the country,” he said. More here.
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Congressman Lewis and Other Leaders to Rollout Initiative Remembering Iconic Time
On Tuesday, Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) will join labor, religious, and other civil rights leaders to launch a major 18-month initiative marking the 50th anniversary next year of the historic Memphis, TN sanitation strike and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1968, sanitation workers in Memphis went on strike to demand fair wages and safe working conditions, and Dr. King joined the strikers and delivered his iconic “I Have Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It turned out to be his final speech, as Dr. King was assassinated the following day. The goal of the initiative is not only to honor past events but to also connect the legacy of the strikers and Dr. King to current issues facing the United States, and it will include community organizing and several events leading up to the anniversary. The rollout of the initiative will take place at 10A at AFSCME headquarters in downtown DC. Hear MLK’s entire “Mountaintop” speech here.
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Look who conservative commentator Ana Navarro ran into on the golf course in Florida. | |  |
Kirby Bumpus joins the fam as she cheers on her brother, William, who graduated from Stanford Business School last week. | |
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Xavier Becerra Introduces His Own Travel Ban
On Thursday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that his state would prohibit state-funded and state-sponsored travel to Alabama, Kentucky, South Dakota and Texas due to discriminatory legislation enacted in those states that targets LGBTQ Americans. “While the California DOJ works to protect the rights of all our people, discriminatory laws in any part of our country send all of us several steps back. That’s why when California said we would not tolerate discrimination against LGBTQ members of our community, we meant it,” said Becerra. A state bill prohibits state-funded and state-sponsored travel to states with laws that authorize or require discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expressions, or against same-sex couples or their families. Under Becerra's predecessor in the AG post, now-Senator Kamala Harris, the state had already banned travel to Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Kansas for similar reasons. More here.
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Trump Will Not Host Celebration of Ramadan
Donald Trump issued a statement Saturday greeting Muslims as they celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, breaking with nearly two decades of tradition of holding an iftar dinner to commemorate Ramadan. “On behalf of the American people,” Trump said in the statement, “Melania and I send our warm greetings to Muslims as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr.” He’ll greet the Muslim community via statement ... just not at his house. More here.
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Omarosa Says CBC is Not Serious
In an interview with Fox News, Omarosa accused members of the Congressional Black Caucus of "showboating" and refusing to serve their constituents, after the lawmakers refused an invitation to meet with Trump. "Coming to the table over and over again to work through these issues is the only effective way to get where they wanted to go," she said. "And instead, they're showboating and they're actually shorting out their constituents that they committed to represent by not coming to meet with the president," she continued. There was no mention on the 139- page policy recommendation the CBC left with the president. Nor did she address the policies the president has introduced that run contrary to their recommendations. Last week Omarosa, taking after her boss, tweeted out “If you’re not on the table, you’re on the menu.” Having orchestrated a few meetings and photo ops, it remains to be seen how Omarosa has used her position to move any policy that impacts the Black community in a positive manner. More here.
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Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) appearing on MSNBC on Sunday to talk healthcare reform. | |  |
Debra Langford, Stephanie Young, Alix Dejean, Debra Lee, Janet Rolle, and Deon T. Jones at a YouTube reception in LA on Saturday. | |
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RTDNA Honors Lester Holt
The Radio and Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) announced Lester Holt as the winner of the 2017 Paul White Award, which recognizes a lifetime of achievement and service to the profession of electronic journalism. “At a time when journalism has faced unprecedented challenges, Lester Holt remains a trusted and steady voice," said RTDNA Chairman Vincent Duffy. “We're proud to recognize his work, his decades of dedication to our profession and his commitment to seeking and speaking the truth.” The award will be presented on Friday, September 8th at the Anaheim (CA) Marriott. More here.
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Study Finds that News Media Perpetuates Negative Imagery of Muslims
In an analysis of the newscasts of three major networks CBS, Fox, and NBC, Meighan Stone, a fellow at Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy has found that during a two-year period from 2015-2017, there was not a single month where positive stories about Muslims outnumbered negative stories. Stone found that war and terrorist activities were the major focus of news reports, with ISIS serving as a protagonist 75 percent of the time, while positive coverage, such as human interest stories or those depicting Muslims as productive members of society, were overlooked. In reports where Muslims were the focus, only three percent of the voices heard were those of Muslims, while Trump spoke about them 21 percent of the time. Stories about refugees were also negative in tone; more than half of the global refugee population is Muslim. More here.
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Black Newspaper Publishers Elects New Leader
Dorothy Leavell, Publisher of the Chicago Crusader and Gary Crusader newspapers, defeated incumbent Chairwoman Denise Rolark Barnes on Friday to become chairperson of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the trade association for Black press publishers. Leavell has not only been a great soldier for the NNPA, but she’s also a veteran of the civil rights movement, said NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. Leavell said she would immediately go after companies like General Motors and Ford to bring in advertising dollars to member newspapers. More here.
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Lawmakers and civil rights leaders on Capitol Hill on Thursday speaking about restoring full power to the Voting Rights Act. | |  |
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) with Lucas, an intern and rising high school senior, in her district on Sunday. | |
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Navajo Candidate Ends Candidacy Against Hatch
James Singer, the Democrat who launched a bid in April to unseat seven-term Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ended his campaign for Senate last week, citing fundraising as his campaign’s primary shortcoming. While Singer said it would have been possible to continue his campaign as a “'principled protest’ rather than a winning campaign,” since he wasn’t able to raise “the millions of dollars needed to challenge an established politician like Orrin Hatch,” he did not want to “waste the time, money, and energy of my friends and supporters in this matter.” More here.
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Richmond Mayor Vows to Confront Confederacy
Richmond, VA Mayor Levar Stoney vowed Thursday to confront his city’s towering tributes to Confederate figures with words instead of wrecking balls. He said he would not seek to remove the monuments lining the city’s most famous boulevard. Instead, he announced the formation of a commission to find other ways -- new signage and perhaps additional monuments -- to correct the “false narrative” conveyed by the statues that give Monument Avenue its name. “Equal parts myth and deception, they were the ‘alternative facts’ of their time -- a false narrative etched in stone and bronze more than 100 years ago -- not only to lionize the architects and defenders of slavery, but to perpetuate the tyranny and terror of Jim Crow and reassert a new era of white supremacy,” Stoney said in a news conference at City Hall. More here.
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Congresswoman Michelle Luján Grisham (D-NM) showing her support for the Chibok Girls last week. | |  |
Congressman Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) met with California’s 29th District Congressional Gold Medal Winner Austin Noll last week. | |
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Black Lives Matter Groups Respond to Buzzfeed’s Darren Sands
Last week, we highlighted Darren Sands' Buzzfeed piece where he took a deep dive into the Black Lives Matter movement. Leaders of the movement have since responded saying the article contains multiple inaccuracies and they are seeking corrections or a retraction. In an op-ed for Mic, the leaders say that the collective organizations that make up BLM are of varying sizes and take different approaches. “Individually, we are a spectrum of gender identity, sexuality, region, age, class and political belief. We are not always in full agreement, we have competing ideas and we will undoubtedly upset each other in the process of making difficult decisions. We are here because we believe that our victories in service of Black people are bigger and better when we win together.” Read the full piece here.
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Judge in Detroit Weighs Halting Deportation of Iraqis From Across the Country
The LA Times reports that a federal judge in Detroit will consider today whether to put a temporary hold on the deportation of scores of Iraqi nationals swept up in immigration enforcement raids around the country in recent months. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith on Thursday issued a 14-day stay of removal for more than 114 Iraqis -- most of them Chaldean Christians -- detained in Detroit on or around June 11th, saying he needed time to weigh whether he has jurisdiction over the case. Lawyers with the ACLU and other immigrant rights groups are now asking Goldsmith to extend his order nationwide to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting people they say could face persecution, torture, or death in Iraq. More here.
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CNN commenator Angela Rye at the Power TV premiere Saturday night in LA. | |  |
Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill ran into rapper Christopher Martin aka Play of Kid 'N Play on a flight back from LA Friday evening. | |
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Energy Department Official’s Racist Tweets Uncovered
Before William C. Bradford was appointed by the Trump administration to run the Energy Department’s Office of Indian Energy, the WaPo reports that he tweeted a slew of disparaging remarks about the real and imagined ethnic, religious, and gender identities of former President Barack Obama, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, TV news host Megyn Kelly and Japanese Americans during World War II. He called former President Obama a “Kenyan cream puff,” said Japanese internment camps were “necessary,” and called Mark Zuckerberg a “self-hating Jew.” In his current position, Bradford is in charge of assisting Native American and Alaska Native tribes and villages with energy development. Before joining the department, he was the attorney general of the Chiricahua Apache Nation. More here.
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Kamala Harris Tells Latino Press She’s Not Backing Down
In a wide-ranging interview with the Spanish-language daily La Opinión, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) said that when the American people realize “how much it’s really going to cost to lose healthcare benefits (if Trumpcare is enacted), along with paying for tax cuts for the rich, and the expense of Trump’s immigration plan, ‘that border wall (proposal) will come tumbling down.’” Harris also spoke about the president’s decision to leave DREAMers alone for now, the Democrats plan to fight to keep the Affordable Care Act -- Obamacare -- in place, and about critics who said she was too aggressive and “hysterical” during the recent hearings with AG Jeff Sessions and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, where she was interrupted repeatedly by male Republican colleagues. “Some people don’t want the truth to be told, but the people deserve it,” Harris said, saying she is not backing down. See the entire interview (in Spanish) here.
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Congressman Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) hosting his seventh annual Pride Parade over the weekend. | |  |
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) celebrated the 45th anniversary of Title IX, the empowerment of women, on Saturday. | |
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Poll Finds Majority Want Net Neutrality Rules
A Morning Consult/Politico poll asked: "As you may know, net neutrality is a set of rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which say Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, and Verizon, cannot block, throttle or prioritize certain content on the Internet. Knowing this, do you support or oppose net neutrality?" Sixty percent of respondents support net neutrality rules that would prevent ISPs from blocking, throttling and "prioritizing certain content." Those are the rules the FCC is reconsidering under chair Ajit Pai. There was essentially no political divide over that, with 59% of Republicans and 59% of Democrats supporting such rules. More here.
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CNN political contributor Cornell Belcher with BET's Jeanine Liburd at the BET Awards Saturday night in LA. | |  |
NUL's Marc Morial with NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Miami on Saturday. The group elected New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu as their next president. | |
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NJ Passes Bill to Teach Students How to Interact with Police
A bill made it through the New Jersey General Assembly on Thursday, requiring schools to teach kids how to interact with police “in a manner marked by mutual cooperation and respect.” Assembly Bill A1114 passed unanimously, 76-0 and will now make its way to the Senate. The bill mandates that school districts begin teaching kids how to talk to law enforcement officers, starting in kindergarten, and the instruction would continue as part of the social studies curriculum all the way through grade 12. Given the innumerable examples of police encounters, this bill begs the question -- what is the proper course of action for a Black man to take when being stopped by police that would not result in his death? More here.
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|  | Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) meets with MD congressional candidate Julie Wang (on Chu's right) and other young women from Running Start. | |  |
Congressman Joaquín Castro (D-TX) joined his interns in his DC office for pizza last week. | |
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| FOMO Tuesday, June 27th, 12P: Capitol Hill Ramadan Eid Luncheon, with remarks by Congressmen Keith Ellison (D-MN) and André Carson (D-IN). 2043 Rayburn. RSVP@irusa.org
Wednesday, June 28th, 8A: The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center sponsors a rally in front of the White House in support of immigrants and refugees and their families. Click here for more information.
Thursday, June 29th - July 4th: Amnesty International holds a fast and vigil in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in support of abolishing the death penalty. Click here for more information.
Monday, July 4th - 8th: The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) holds its 88th annual national convention and exposition. San Antonio, TX. Click here for more information.
Thursday, July 6th, 6:30P: Join the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers in DC, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute - DC Alumni Chapter for a STEM policy panel on the Hill. Speakers will discuss current legislative efforts aimed at STEM Education, STEM Careers, STEM diversity and inclusiveness, and STEM innovation. Click here to RSVP.
Thursday, July 6th - 9th: The Japanese American Citizens League holds its 48th annual national convention. Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert Street, N.W. Click here for more information and to register.
Friday, July 7th, 12:30P: The Congressional Hispanic Staff Association holds its monthly lunch meeting at the Longworth Cafeteria.
Thursday, July 13th, 5:30P: The Congressional Hispanic Staff Association co-hosts the Hispanic Employee Council for Foreign Affairs Agencies' (HECFAA) State Department and USAID Chapters Happy Hour. Mackey's Pub, 1306 G Street, N.W.
Wednesday, July 26th - Friday, July 28th: ColorComm, Women of Color in Communications, holds its 2017 conference in Miami, FL, featuring keynote speaker Whoopi Goldberg. Click here to register. Saturday, August 5th, 3P: The Congressional Hispanic Staff Association hosts a tailgate before the DC United v. Toronto FC game. For more info, email James Hauser at iph86@georgetown.edu
Friday, August 18th: The deadline to apply for the Poynter Institute and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) 2017 Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Media, to be held Dec. 3rd - 8th in St. Petersburg, FL. The tuition-free program trains journalists of color to work in digital media. Click here for more information and to apply.
Thursday, September 7th - 9th: The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), the Native American Journalists Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) sponsor the Excellence in Journalism 2017 conference in Anaheim, CA. Click here for more details and to register.
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