Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the Mayor of Baltimore MD
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake speaks out on Rand Paul
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
I made a response to Rand Paul's address at the Urban League Convention in Cincinnati, July 23-26, 2014 in which he dubbed himself a "minority", in "What not to say to black people when you are Rand Paul". I want to share this opinion piece with you from
Stephanie-Rawlings Blake, the mayor (D) of Baltimore MD.
Opinion: Blacks shouldn't be fooled by Rand Paul
While I applaud anyone's efforts to reach out to the black community and share ideas that would improve our families' lives, Paul doesn't understand a very important piece of the puzzle: earning our trust. For Paul to claim to stand up for our values while opposing policy after policy that advances our community is not the way to do this.
Paul's long and troubled history with civil rights issues is generally well known around Kentucky and in Washington, D.C., but for many Ohioans, it's time to take a closer look. Discussing the Civil Rights Act, Paul criticized the law, even emphasizing that he believes private businesses should be able to do whatever they want, including discriminate. He explained his opposition by saying, "I think it's a bad business decision to exclude anybody from your restaurant, but, at the same time, I do believe in private ownership."
This view goes against what the Civil Rights Act was put in place to correct, and I thought this law was settled 50 years ago. Apparently, Paul is ready to relitigate our nation's progress on civil rights. And last year, when the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act, how did Paul respond? He commented, "We have an African-American president." He also supports voter ID laws that disproportionately impact communities of color and women, saying, "There's nothing wrong with it. … I don't really object to having some rules with how we vote."
She concludes:
So as Paul spends time in Cincinnati today, don't let him fool you. To see what he really believes on issues critical to the black community, look no further than the actions he's taken, the agenda he pushes, and the offensive words he used for years before he decided to run for president.
Right on Ms. Mayor!
Rawlings-Blake is one of the few big city mayors in the U.S. who is female. She is the only one—currently—who is black.
...only a handful of black men and women serve as elected mayors of major cities in America. Of the 100 largest U.S. cities, only one has an African-American woman as mayor— Baltimore.
Baltimore is one of the
ten cities in the US with a population of over 100,000 with a majority black population - currently 64.3%.
Rawlings-Blake is no stranger to right-wing opposition and agendas. Her conservative opponents have taken issue with her stances on immigration enforcement, marriage equality and anti-choice so-called crisis pregnancy centers.
On immigration:
(2012)
In March, Rawlings-Blake signed an order prohibiting police and social agencies from asking anyone about immigration status. The order also says no city funds, resources, or personnel shall be used to investigate or arrest people solely for a civil violation of federal immigration law. And it asks U.S. immigration agents to tell people they arrest that they are from the federal government, not the city.
On marriage equality:
Hi, I am Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake, and I am a Marylander for Marriage Equality. I believe that all couples in Maryland, regardless of their sexual orientation, want their children protected under the law. Just as a straight couples commitment to family is legally recognized, so to should a gay couples commitment be recognized by our state government.
Marriage protects families, and couples regardless of sexual orientation deserves the same protection. It's only fair, it's only right, and our state must act to make it so.
Rawling-Blake's success is strongly rooted in her family. She is the daughter of
Dr. Nina Cole Rawlings, a pediatrician who was "among the first black women to graduate from the University of Maryland School of Medicine" and
Howard Peters "Pete" Rawlings,"the first African American to become chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee in the Maryland House of Delegates."
See the Baltimore Sun photo gallery of "Stephanie Rawlings-Blake through the years".
Her career in politics:
In 1995, Rawlings-Blake became the youngest person ever elected to the Baltimore City Council. She became President of the Council on January 17, 2007, when then-City Council President Sheila Dixon became mayor (after then-Mayor Martin O'Malley became Governor of Maryland). Under the Baltimore City Charter, the City Council President becomes mayor if the mayor dies, resigns or is removed from office.
...
On June 14, 2007, Rawlings-Blake announced that she would seek a full four-year term as Council president. Her platform included improving education and reducing crime in the city.
In a poll of likely Democratic voters released by the Baltimore Sun on July 17, 2007, Rawlings-Blake was in a virtual tie with Michael Sarbanes, son of former Senator Paul Sarbanes. The poll had Sarbanes getting 27% of the respondents and Rawlings-Blake 26% with Councilman Kenneth N. Harris, Sr. a distant third with 8%. The poll's margin of error was (+ or -)4%.[6] She won the Democratic primary—the real contest in heavily Democratic Baltimore—with 49% of the vote compared to 38 percent for Sarbanes. In the general election, Rawlings-Blake defeated her only opponent, Green candidate Maria Allwine, with 82 percent of the vote.
In February of 2010, the mayor of Baltimore, Sheila Dixon, was convicted for embezzlement. Dixon resigned and "Rawlings-Blake, as council president, automatically succeeded Dixon as mayor".
She ran for election for mayor in 2011, and "handily defeated Republican challenger Alfred Griffin, taking 84 percent of the vote".
In other B'More news, the 2016 NAACP Convention will be held in Baltimore. (2015 is in Philly)
Mayor Rawlings-Blake issued this statement
"We are honored that the NAACP has named Baltimore as the host for its 2016 Annual Convention! Baltimore's rich African American heritage and culture is celebrated and laced throughout the fabric of our city, and the NAACP's own proud legacy is thriving in Baltimore City today. Our NAACP branch is among the first established in the nation, and the NAACP's official headquarters on Mount Hope Drive has called Baltimore home since 1986. Events like this further showcase that Baltimore is truly a world-class destination, and prove that we are quickly becoming one of the nation's cornerstones for tourism. On behalf on my administration and the people of Baltimore, we're delighted to bring the 2016 NAACP Convention home!"
Look forward to seeing where she goes next in politics.
Stay tuned.
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News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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With about $500 million in sales last year, Doc McStuffins merchandise seems to be setting a record as the best-selling toy line based on an African-American character, industry experts say. New York Times: Race in Toyland: A Nonwhite Doll Crosses Over.
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Jade Goss, age 2, looks as if she just stepped out of the wildly popular “Doc McStuffins” cartoon.
“She has the Doc McStuffins sheets. She has the Doc McStuffins doll. She has the Doc McStuffins purse. She has Doc McStuffins clothes,” said Jade’s mother, Melissa Woods, of Lynwood, Calif.
“I think what attracts her is, ‘Hey, I look like her, and she looks like me,’ ” Ms. Woods said of the character, an African-American child who acts as a doctor to her stuffed animals.
With about $500 million in sales last year, Doc McStuffins merchandise seems to be setting a record as the best-selling toy line based on an African-American character, industry experts say.
Its blockbuster success reflects, in part, the country’s changing consumer demographics, experts say, with more children from minority backgrounds providing an expanding, less segregated marketplace for shoppers and toymakers.
But what also differentiates Doc — and Dora the Explorer, an exceptionally popular Latina character whose toy line has sold $12 billion worth of merchandise over the years, Nickelodeon executives say — is her crossover appeal.
Nathan Lipschik, 2, of Scarsdale, N.Y., with a Doc McStuffins set that lets him play he is a doctor. Disney executives and toy analysts say that the merchandise’s appeal has also extended to boys. Credit Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
“The kids who are of color see her as an African-American girl, and that’s really big for them,” said Chris Nee, the creator of Doc McStuffins. “And I think a lot of other kids don’t see her color, and that’s wonderful as well.”
Natalie Elisabeth Battles, 3, of Arkansas, with her Doc McStuffins toys. She sometimes wears a doctor’s coat to preschool. Credit Jacob Slaton for The New York Times
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The Cameroonian military says members of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram have abducted the wife of the country's deputy prime minister in the northern Cameroonian town of Kolofata. BBC: 'Boko Haram' abducts Cameroon politician's wife.
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A local religious leader and mayor was also abducted from the same town. Separately, at least five people in northern Nigeria were killed in a blast - residents suspect Boko Haram. Boko Haram has stepped up cross-border attacks into Cameroon in recent weeks, as the army was deployed to the region.
Militants have kidnapped foreign nationals in northern Cameroon before, including a French family and Chinese workers.
The wife of Deputy Prime Minister Amadou Ali and her maid were taken in "a savage attack" on his home by Boko Haram militants on Sunday, Information Minister Issa Tchiroma said.
But Mr Ali, who was breaking his fast for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan at the time of the attack, managed to escape to a neighbouring town, regional commander Col Feliz Nji Formekong told the Reuters news agency.
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The problem when outsourcing is done as a race to the bottom is there always a new bottom, even if (now now) it's to Africa's benefit. BusinessWeek: Turning Ethiopia Into China's China.
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Ethiopian workers walking through the parking lot of Huajian Shoes’ factory outside Addis Ababa in June chose the wrong day to leave their shirts untucked. The company’s president, just arrived from China, spotted them through the window, sprang up, and ran outside. Zhang Huarong, a former People’s Liberation Army soldier, harangued them in Chinese, tugging at one man’s polo shirt and forcing another worker’s into his pants. Amazed, the workers stood silent until the eruption subsided.
Zhang’s factory is part of the next wave of China’s investment in Africa. It started with infrastructure, especially the kind that helped the Chinese extract African oil, copper, and other raw materials to fuel China’s industrial complex. Now China is getting too expensive to do the low-tech work it’s known for. African nations such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tanzania want their share of the 80 million manufacturing jobs that China is expected to export, according to Justin Lin Yifu, a former World Bank chief economist who teaches economics at Peking University. Weaker consumer spending in the U.S. and Europe has prompted global retailers to speed up their search for lower-cost producers
Shaping up employees is one part of Zhang’s quest to squeeze more profit out of Huajian’s factory, where wages of about $40 a month are less than 10 percent of what comparable Chinese workers may make. Just as companies discovered with China when they began manufacturing there in the 1980s, Ethiopia’s workforce is untrained, its power supply is intermittent, and its roads are so bad that trips can take six times as long as they should. “Ethiopia is exactly like China 30 years ago,” says Zhang, 55, who quit the military in 1982 to make shoes from his home in Jiangxi province with three sewing machines. He now supplies such well-known brands as Nine West and Guess (GES).
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With the public art show “Art Everywhere U.S.,” everyday Americans will be exposed to the rich artistic history of the nation without ever having to step into a museum. The Root: Taking America’s Art History to the Streets
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Americans are going to start noticing something different about the public space in August, and their daily commute will get a lot more artistic and interesting.
That’s when “the largest outdoor art show ever,” “Art Everywhere U.S.,” is set to launch—displaying 58 pieces of American art across billboards and on buses, as well as in airports, malls, movie theaters and other public spaces, across all 50 states. The first such art show of its kind to appear in this country, “Art Everywhere U.S.” debuts after a similar public-space exhibition in the United Kingdom was launched last year.
“I think the point here is that it’ll be hard for [some] 300 million Americans to miss this campaign, because it will be in all 50 states and it will be in major cities and in rural communities on highways,” campaign spokesman Max Anderson—Eugene McDermott director at the Dallas Museum of Art, one of the contributing museums—told The Root. “I just don’t think it’s going to be possible, even for a very distracted commuter, kid going to school or family going on a shopping trip not to have a conversation about American art in August.”
Nightlife, 1943
ARCHIBALD JOHN MOTLEY JR./THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
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This storied panel has become an institution of established mentors and frank discussion about characters and culture. The Guardian: The Black Panel at Comic-Con: 'African American culture is American culture'.
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Of the hundreds of panels available at Comic-Con, which drew to a close on Sunday, none are more respected than the long-running Black Panel, hosted by the comic book creator and Milestone Media co-founder Michael Davis. Unlike most of the other panels at Comic-Con, the Black Panel has nothing to sell, and features guests who also have nothing to promote. Instead, it is a discussion between audience and panel members about black culture, a way for prominent figures in African American entertainment to reach out to those who hope to emulate their paths to success.
Davis started the panel in 1998, five years after he founded Milestone, a comic book entertainment company responsible for some of the most successful black superheroes of the 90s, like Icon, a 300-year-old alien whose first earthly encounter was with a slave woman in the American south, and Static, about a high school teenager who receives superpowers after being mistakenly caught up in a gang war.
Today, the Black Panel is an institution. It is given a 90-minute slot at Comic-Con, a rare honour for any panel, and the panel alum have included RZA, Shaquille O'Neal and Nichelle Nichols, aka Lieutenant Uhura of Star Trek. This year, the Black Panel played host to Ne-Yo, J August Richards, Kevin Grevioux, Cree Summer, Erika Alexander, Tatiana El Khouri and Orlando Jones.
"When I first started the panel," says Davis, during an interview that took 40 minutes to get to because he kept being mobbed by passersby, "There was a panel here at Comic-Con called Blacks in Comics, and that was a bitch fest, people saying 'Oh, Marvel won't hire me …' So I created the Black Panel, which is positive. We ask, 'How do we create our own heroes?'"
The Black Panel sometimes chooses a theme, says Davis, "You have to understand that the the audience is made up of all sorts of people. It's called the Black Panel but it's a diverse group of people. We agreed that we can't wait for Marvel and DC to make characters that look like us, that feature women in more than supporting roles,
DC Comics' Static Shock (AP Photo/DC Comics)
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Voices and Soul
by Justice Putnam
Black Kos Poetry Editor
The Song of America is harmonized by many diverse voices. Some of those voices sing America from an unbridled joy deep within them; while others sing America from the constant anguish brought by generation after generation suffering under the manacle and the lash; a sad refrain sung from that inner pain brought from the loss of ancestry and Home. The melodies of both interweave and play a coda on the landscape and the Soul of America.
It is on that landscape that the first faint strains of the Song that is America became the forceful tacet to an American Exceptionalism; a certainty of purpose and an almost religious devotion to save those not touched by our benevolence. It is the chorus singing that those not touched must be saved and it's for their own good. As when...
A Missionary Brings a Young Native to America
All day she heard the mad stampede of feet
Push by her in a thick unbroken haste.
A thousand unknown terrors of the street
Caught at her timid heart, and she could taste
The city of grit upon her tongue. She felt
A steel-spiked wave of brick and light submerge
Her mind in cold immensity. A belt
Of alien tenets choked the songs that surged
Within her when alone each night she knelt
At prayer. And as the moon grew large and white
Above the roof, afraid that she would scream
Aloud her young abandon to the night,
She mumbled Latin litanies and dream
Unholy dreams while waiting for the light.
-- Helene Johnson
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