75 years ago, my friend Ronald McNair was born.
Denied books as a child at his segregated South Carolina library, he later became the second Black American in space. And today, that library bears his name.
Happy Birthday, Ron. Your legacy continues to inspire us.
Senator Ted Budd refused to hear from Sloan yesterday, but you can make sure everyone hears what he had to say about cuts to Medicaid at yesterday’s Moral Monday pray-in in Raleigh.
BREAKING: Federal judge in Boston orders the Trump administration to unfreeze nearly $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard. https://t.co/Q4xc9UvPBg
Designer Ann Lowe became the quintessential style maven and influencer of the fashion industry. Her Madison Avenue boutique showcased exceptional design and tailoring, welcoming prominent clients including Jacqueline Kennedy and the Rockefellers during her 50-year career.
BREAKING: Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been released from prison, where he’s been held since his return to the U.S. in June after he was wrongfully deported to El Salvador. https://t.co/fhSIzPh7JJ
In this issue…
- CA PPC fall organizing campaign
- New resource: 10 Terrible Ways the Congressional Budget Causes Harm
- Recap: A Southern Call to Conscience
- Recap: Vigil for the Taken
- Bishop Barber on the president’s D.C. takeover
https://t.co/2NnjVqFFFn
A judge has ruled that the Trump administration cannot deny funding to Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and 30 other cities and counties because of policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration efforts. https://t.co/n1hztAKfnb
BREAKING: Famine determined in parts of Gaza, with 500,000 experiencing "catastrophic" hunger, report from U.N.-backed body says. https://t.co/EDv7VEkWIa
#OnThisDay in 1964, Fannie Lou Hamer drew national attention when she testified before the Democratic National Convention’s credentials committee, challenging Mississippi’s all-white delegation. She detailed violence against Black Americans in Mississippi, including her own beating in the Winona jail.
“All of this is on account of we want to register, to become first-class citizens,” she said. “And if the Freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America. Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?”
Before she could finish, President Lyndon Johnson’s office got the networks to cut away from her testimony for an impromptu press conference at the White House. But later that night, Hamer’s testimony ran on all the networks.
Asked why she kept pushing for the civil rights of Black Americans, she replied, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party failed to unseat the all-white delegation, but four years later, Hamer returned in triumph, receiving a standing ovation as the first Black delegate from Mississippi since Reconstruction.
https://t.co/4DQCIO7P57
Vivian Ayers Allen — Pulitzer Prize–nominated poet, cultural activist, and mother of Debbie Allen & Phylicia Rashad — has died at 102. Her poem “Hawk,” written about freedom & space flight just weeks before Sputnik helped shape the understanding of space exploration. Hawk was later honored by NASA and displayed at the Johnson Space Center. A visionary who linked art to exploration, her legacy soars beyond measure! Rest In Power.
Being homeless isn’t a crime. But under Trump, it might as well be. 205,000+ homeless people are jailed yearly—and now the police misconduct database that tracked violent officers is gone.https://t.co/W19C7CDRtH
A federal judge ruled Mississippi’s Supreme Court map violates the Voting Rights Act & silences Black voters. It hasn’t been redrawn since 1987. This decision is a step toward fair representation, but now we must ensure fair maps that reflect all voices. https://t.co/Lr9XHXQzVL