Black History
Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate, Stacey Abrams, Visits Arkansas
The Georgia gubernatorial race is becoming a national race with African Americans around the country rallying behind Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams, the first African American female nominee of a major party for governor.
Former Little Rock Mayor Lottie Shackleford hosted a reception for Abrams at Hearne Fine Art Gallery in Little Rock. Shackleford, the first female and African American mayor of Little Rock, is familiar with the expectations inherent in being “the first.”
“It’s a lot of excitement on our part as Black women,” Shackelford said. “I’m constantly saying, ‘When you look at the rungs of a ladder whether its politics or economics…White men are at the top, and Black women are on the bottom. The middle varies between Black men and White women. But, the constants are White men at the top, Black women at the bottom.’ But for us as Black women to have a black woman as a major party nominee for governor is a major accomplishment on Stacey’s part and the people of Georgia.”
At the reception, the Yale-educated lawyer and member of the Georgia state legislature, talked about her parents who worked hard to provide for their six children and stressed faith, education, and service.
“We’re running because we know we are all entitled to this dream called The American Dream,” Abrams told supporters. “We have an obligation in these days to speak truth to power.”
Voting Black in a Red State
President Donald Trump endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp , and former President Barack Obama endorsed Abrams.
“Her campaign is ignited by and connected to ‘Yes, We Can,’ the Obama campaign slogan,” Angela Burt pointed out. Burt is the president of the Dunbar Historic Neighborhood Association. “An African American female from the South…it has to be a ‘Yes, We Can.’”
Kemp, who has been Georgia’s Secretary of State since 2010, is currently under fire after several media outlets investigated and found that his official Secretary of State voter app is linked directly to the social media accounts for his campaign. The NAACP is calling for his resignation .
With 96 days until the election, Abrams and her campaign are focused on turning out the vote.
“I think it’s an indicator of the times for women,” said Bob Nash, who worked in the Clinton Administration. “She’s not just chasing windmills. She has a good chance of winning if the turnout is there, Black women and Hispanic women and men who see this as a positive for the state. The only people who will be opposed are the Trumpsters.”
Abrams defeated a White opponent, former state legislator Stacey Evans, to win the Democratic primary, and she did so with more than 70 percent of the vote ().
Abrams’ Little Rock Connection
In Little Rock, the 44-year-old recalled her first election. She ran for student body president at Spelman College and remembered the friends who believed in her. The mother of one of those friends, Dr. Annette Slater, wiped tears from her eyes as Abrams spoke.
“Hopefully, people will read her book, and she talks about her experiences,” Slater said. “She has the education, the economics, and the experience in politics. She writes about taking responsibility for the gifts God gave you.”
Abrams book, Minority Leader: How to Lead from the Outside and Make Real Change, shares insights from her years as the Minority Leader of Georgia’s House of Representatives. Representative Vivian Flowers, chair of the Arkansas Black Caucus stood among the supporters and used her cell phone to videotape Abrams’ remarks. Flowers said, “Thank you for setting a new standard, breaking barriers and creating a new normal for the country.”
Black History
First Black Manhattan District Attorney Wins Historic Felony Convictions Against Donald Trump
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg led the investigation that resulted in the first felony conviction of a former United States President, Donald Trump. Bragg’s case centered on the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, a porn actor who said she and Trump had sex in 2006. The trial involved charges that Trump falsified business records to cover up the payment to Daniels.
“While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today at this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes to the courtroom doors,” Bragg said during a press conference after the jury’s verdict was announced. “By following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favor.”
Trump and his Republican supporters have accused Bragg of “weaponizing” the judicial system.
“This was a disgrace,” Trump said. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt as a rigged trial, a disgrace. The real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people. And they know what happened here and everybody knows what happened here.”
Who is Alvin Bragg
In 2021, Bragg became the first African American elected as the District Attorney for New York County covering Manhattan. He graduated from Harvard Law School and has served as an Assistant Attorney General at the New York State Attorney General’s Office and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bragg is a former member of the Board of Directors of the New York Urban League and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and a Sunday School teacher at his church.
Political Science professor, Sekou Franklin, said, “Bragg took a big risk bringing the case against former President Donald Trump. Undoubtedly, this risk is both personal and political. Despite this challenge, his willingness to prosecute Trump took great courage.”
Trump’s litany of indictments started when he left office in 2020 after losing the White House to President Joe Biden. Charges of Trump’s attempts to overthrow the 2020 election continue to generate investigations and outrage. African American prosecutors have led three of the most significant cases.
In Georgia, Trump was indicted, along with 18 of his allies, for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis brought the charges; however, the case became overshadowed by controversy when Willis was accused of hiring Nathan Wade as the special prosecutor because she was in a romantic relationship with him. Judge Scott McAfee declined to disqualify Willis, a decision Trump and his team are challenging.
Earlier this year New York State Attorney General Letitia James handed Trump a defeat after a New York judge ordered him and his business trust to pay $453.5 million in penalties and interest as part of his civil fraud case. The judge ruled that Trump fraudulently inflated the value of his real estate holdings when applying for loans.
But the latest convictions on 34 felony counts against the former President known for his boundary-breaking is historic.
“Alvin Bragg represents the new wave of prosecutors who have strong ties to public impact and community lawyering,” said Franklin, a professor at Middle Tennessee State. “Many of these prosecutors were elected as a result of protests that targeted racialized violence by law enforcement.”
Trump has described James, Willis and Bragg as “racists” – a thinly veiled attempt to tap into a vein of ingrained racism in the nation. The Republican Party lamented the convictions, decrying the trial as a political attack and a “shameful” day in American history.
Democrats view the convictions as an opportunity to sharpen their arguments that Trump is unfit to lead the nation domestically or represent America globally.
Trump faces up to four years in prison. His sentencing is set for July 11 – days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
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