Politics. On Point.

  Is "the state of our union really strong? Are we really building back better than ever? President Biden unveiled his 2023 budget this week with a few familiar focused items. The president is again calling for those who make millions of dollars to pay their fair share of taxes. His 2023 budget makes it plain that billionaires should also do the same.  (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Outlining his budget plans the president makes the claim that, " The tax code currently offers special treatment for the types of income that wealthy people enjoy. This special treatment, combined with sophisticated tax planning and giant loopholes, allows many of the very wealthiest people in the world to end up paying a lower tax rate on their full income than many middle-class households. To finally address this glaring problem, the Budget includes a minimum tax on multi-millionaires and billionaires who so often pay indefensibly low tax rates. This minimum tax would apply only to the wealthiest...

Hundreds of civil and human rights groups have penned a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to "end his systematic assault on civil and human rights." Led by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 99 other such groups that include The Human Rights Campaign, the A. Philip Randolph Institute and the AFL-CIO, the groups maintain that the Trump administration has been making generous cuts to several civil rights organizations. “It’s clear that President Trump and his administration is attempting to roll back civil and human rights across the board. That will not stand,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference. The administration has vehemently cited his intent to "repeal and replace" Obamacare and what the administration deems as "high cost" health care. It has also promised an increase in spending for the following governmental agencies, as cited by OMB director Mick Mulvaney. In an off-camera briefi...

Members of civil rights groups met with Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice Tuesday with a list of concerns they say were meant to put Sessions “on notice.” "The meeting was two-fold", said Wade Henderson,  president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights .  We met with Sessions "to present the agenda of national civil rights organizations and to discuss with the AG our expectations for his responsibility to the American people to address issues of national concern regarding civil and human rights", he said. Civil rights groups met with the press after meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions Tuesday at the Department of Justice. Pictured are: Marc Morial, National Urban League. From left to right:  Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network; Wade Henderson,  Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund (hidden);   Kristen Clarke, president & exec...

President Obama met with Faith and Civil Rights leaders Thursday at the White House where the group discussed issues important to the African American community. Attendees included Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Attorney Benjamin Crump of the National Bar Association and members of Black Lives Matter. Representative John Lewis and civil rights activist C.T. Vivian, who received a  Presidential Medal of Freedom  from President Obama in 2013, also attended the meeting. The president said the group discussed criminal justice reform, the work of grassroots organizations like Black Lives Matter, and creating a schools-to-college-to-jobs-pipeline in an effort to eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline. (Today, the administration launched two campaigns, in partnership with MBK , to address and eliminate chronic student absenteeism).   After their meeting with the president a few attendees met with reporters along the White House driveway. Reverend Al Sharpton of The...

Civil rights activist Julian Bond died Saturday in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Reports indicate that Bond died from vascular disease. Julian Bond.   Getty photo. Bond was Chairman Emeritus of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).    “From his days as a young activist to his years as both an elder statesman and NAACP Chairman Emeritus, Julian Bond inspired a generation of civil rights leaders", wrote  current NAACP chairman  Roslyn M. Brock  in a statement Sunday.  “From my days as a youth board member of the NAACP to my present tenure as NAACP Chairman, like so many of my generation and before, I am yet inspired by the depth and breadth of Chairman Emeritus Bond’s exemplary service: activist, writer, historian, professor, public intellectual, public servant and an unrelentingly eloquent voice for the voiceless. The grateful citizen heirs of the civil and human rights legacy of Julian Bond can neither be co...

Former Kansas senator Bob Dole was honored at the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award ( civilrights.org ) dinner Wednesday night. Senator Bob Dole, awarded for his role in civil and human rights.  Photo CD Brown. Dole is also known for championing the rights of the disadvantaged and the disabled.  He spent thirty-five years in Congress beginning in 1960 and was chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 to 1972. Dole, 92, holds the record as the nation's longest serving Republican leader.  He is also known for his role and accomplishments in health care, foreign affairs and deficit reduction. Also honored was former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder was the 82nd, and first African American attorney general serving under the first African American U.S. president Barack Obama, since 2009.  Holder came under fire for his stance on  Benghazi , the  Ferguson investigation  and as of late, the so-called  war on...

President Obama has declared that December 5th Nelson Mandela Day, on the heels of the death of Nelson Mandela, who passed yesterday in South Africa.  Mandela was 95.   Picture of a young, vibrant Mandela.  A former boxer, perhaps it wasn't known then that he was training for one of his toughest fights yet.  Apartheid. Outpourings of respect, remembrance and honor have been shown worldwide for the tremendous leader, statesman, and friend.   In his younger years Mandela fought against the oppressive regime of Apartheid in South Africa that deliberately segregated and denied its people basic human and civil rights.   Leading the ANC (Africa National Council)  Mandela was labeled a terrorist, a trouble maker, (as his birth name suggested) and sentenced to life in prison.      Said Mandela on why he chose to stand against Apartheid,   " I saw that it was not just my freedom that was curtailed, ...

September 15, 2013 will mark the 50th anniversary of the tragic deaths of Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley in Birmingham, Alabama. The four girls, aged 11-14, were entering a Sunday school class when a planted bomb exploded at the city’s historically African American 16th Street Baptist Church. This act of racially-motivated violence galvanized the Civil Rights Movement and sparked a surge of momentum that helped secure the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.     To commemorate their lives, U.S. Representative Terri Sewell introduced H.R. 360 to posthumously award Addie Mae, Denise, Carole and Cynthia with the Congressional Gold Medal, which along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is considered one of the highest civilian honors bestowed in the United States. The bill required the Secretary of the Treasury – and by extension, the United States Mint – to strike the gold medal, as well as bronze duplicates. Afte...

WhiteHouseBlog: Securing the Vote for All Americans   By Valerie Jarrett | Whitehouse.gov   Yesterday, President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez met with civil rights leaders, and state and local elected officials at the White House to discuss how to safeguard every eligible American’s right to vote in light of the recent Supreme Court decision on Shelby County vs. Holder.   President Barack Obama meets with Civil Rights Leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, July 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)   The Supreme Court’s decision invalidating one of the Voting Rights Act’s core provisions, upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where voting discrimination has been historically prevalent.   President Obama acknowledged that for nearly 50 years, the Voting Rights Act has helped secure the right to vote for...

Speaking today at the US Chamber of Commerce, presidential candidate Mitt Romney told those attending the Latino Coalition Economic Summit he see to it that every child gets a good education. Blah. Blah. Blah. Bore. Bore. Bore. Why?   Because we've heard the promise before.   If everyone who said they're interested in seeing every child get a first-rate, quality education, kids East of the River in DC would have had more new text books, and less metal detectors by now.  Every politician promises a good education for all.   Yet we still, as Romney pointed out, see in America "one in four kids" fail to get a high school degree, and half that don't graduate. "Kids in America are getting a third-world education", Romney said, calling the education crisis "the civil rights issue of our era."   Gee, we thought gay marriage was.  (At least it was two weeks ago). In addition to creating jobs, saving the economy, finding alter...

Many have wondered if President Obama is on the side of  African Americans. What with the president seemingly promoting the agendas of Latinos, Muslims, Asians, Native Americans, while telling African Americans during the Black Caucus dinner this year to "stop whining" when African Americans lift their voices in protest of high unemployment, mass incarceration, health care and economic disparity, it may have been hard to tell if he was an ally. Seemingly, the before mentioned groups can voice their opinions about what is wrong in their population, and the president will speak to the issues specific to that group. When it comes to speaking on issues and making positive changes relative to the Africa American community, we get from the president something to the affect of, 'my policies will work for ALL Americans".  From African American 'leaders' we're led to believe that the president isn't the president of African Americans, he's the 'pe...