October 29, 2020
By Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson (D-FL)
In 2016, then-candidate Donald J. Trump asked African Americans, “what the hell do you have to lose,” by supporting his campaign. Nearly four years later, the answer is painfully clear: a hell of a lot.
In the past eight months alone, a majority of Black businesses have closed, Black families are experiencing high unemployment and facing economic insecurity. Most tragic of all, Black people have died from the novel coronavirus at double the rate of whites.
It didn’t have to be that way, but thanks to President Trump’s desire to not cause Americans to panic, he and his administration withheld information about the damage that the COVID-19 pandemic would ultimately have on our nation’s physical and economic health. To this day, rather than taking this public health crisis seriously, Trump has chosen to not only spread lies about the virus, but also actually spread it at White House events and campaign rallies across the nation.
Black Americans, millions of whom were already struggling before the pandemic struck, cannot afford to lose anything else and we absolutely cannot afford another four years of President Donald J. Trump. That is why it is more imperative than perhaps at any other period in many of our lifetimes that we vote at record numbers this year.
It is an unfortunate truth that Black voters have long felt undervalued by both the Republican and the Democratic party, and as a result, it’s hard for them to believe that their vote matters. But believe me, it does. We will never know what kind of leader former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have been, but if more Black voters had turned out in 2016, we might never have experienced the kind of president that Trump has been.
In addition to his egregious mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, he has demonstrated an unwillingness to condemn white nationalists and a propensity to encourage them. Rather than uplift low income and minority communities, he has sought to dismantle health, education and other programs that they depend on. He called people who’ve served in the military losers and suckers. For the past few months, he has worked overtime to stoke fears about us among white Americans in a callous, self-serving attempt to secure their votes.
As someone who has for decades fiercely fought for and advocated on behalf of Black men and boys, I am appalled by his refusal to acknowledge and address the police violence and racist attacks that have prematurely shortened the lives of too many. Black males in our nation have always been an endangered species, but the Trumps of this world threaten to make them nearly extinct, yet I am afraid that they will either not vote this year or may perhaps vote for Trump, who has never addressed the nation or expressed remorse for the killings of George Floyd, Ahmed Aubrey, and so many others. He not only doesn’t care, but frequently blows dog whistles to the kind of people who see no value in Black men.
More than 11.4 percent of African Americans under the age of 65 are uninsured. Former Vice President Joe Biden’s plan to create a public option for the Affordable Care Act will ensure that millions of African American men who have been left out will now be able to seek care for themselves and their families. Biden is keenly aware of the how costly college has become, making it almost unattainable for all but the wealthiest families. His plan would make HBCUs and public colleges and universities tuition free for families making less than $125,000 a year. That policy alone could help send millions of Black men and their children to college who previously thought it was beyond their reach.
Biden also is committed to reducing student loan debt for millions of Americans. His plan would cancel your student debt if you attended a public college or university or an HBCU and met other criteria. That would free millions of Black men who currently are saddled with student loans to make choices about starting a business or changing careers without the financial pressures of debt repayment. Finally, Biden understands that Black-owned small businesses need capital and access to markets on an equal basis to be competitive and grow. That’s why he plans to increase funding for lending and investing in Black-owned small businesses and increase access to federal contracts for Black-owned businesses.
In a recent interview, presidential advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner suggested that Blacks are only as successful as we want to be and dismissed the Black Lives Matter movement as “virtue signaling.” This is the kind of person Trump surrounds himself with. An attorney general who thinks he’s the president’s personal attorney and has failed to protect the voting rights of minority groups and abdicated its oversight of police misconduct. An education secretary who consistently undermines or rolls back key civil rights protections and Obama-era guidance that promoted racial equity in the classroom. A postmaster general who actively sought to suppress mail-in voting.
Joe Biden is an imperfect man and has in the past made his own missteps on race, but he is a caring man who has personally experienced first-hand what it’s like when a family faces illness, loss and financial insecurity. He will serve as president to everyone in America, including those of us who are not wealthy or white. And if his historic choice of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate tells us anything, it’s that Black lives do indeed matter to him.
Every Black voter in America who has not yet cast their ballot needs to head to the polls or ballot drop-off sites and make sure their voices are heard. We cannot afford another four years of Trump.
October 22, 2020
By Joe Biden
There is injustice in America. There is discrimination. There is a legacy of racism and inequality that lives still in our institutions, our laws, and in too many people’s hearts that makes it harder for Black people to succeed. These are facts in the United States of America in 2020, and we must all do more to move our nation closer to the ideals inlaid at our founding—that all women and men are created equal.
This year has also brought us too many examples of the dangers Black people can face in the course of going about their lives. With grieving hearts, we learned to say the names of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and many more. I’ve spent time with the families of George Floyd and Jacob Blake, sharing their grief and anger and seeing the incredible resilience of communities that for too long have had a knee on their neck. And I was inspired by their commitment to turn their pain into purpose.
Today, there are Americans all across this country, especially Black Americans, who are exhausted and hurting. Who are disappointed by a system that never seems to deliver for your communities. Who are sick and tired of a cycle where, in good times, Black communities lag behind, in bad times they get hit first and hardest, and in recovery, they take the longest to bounce back.
We’re in the midst of four simultaneous crises—a pandemic that has claimed more than 200,000 lives, a disproportionate number of whom were Black; an economic crash that has hit Black workers and Black business owners especially hard; a long overdue reckoning on racial justice; and a climate crisis that is already hurting Black and Brown communities the most.
It is our job to do everything in our power to rip out systemic racism across our society, root and branch. It will be hard work in any case. But we will not succeed without a leader who understands our history and is ready to grapple with our challenges.
President Trump wants to paper over the living wound of racism. He’s issued Executive Orders and established a new national commission designed to whitewash our history—and deny the daily reality of being Black in America. He actively appeals to white supremacists and fans the flames of hatred and division in our country, because he thinks it benefits him politically. He ignores the most basic job of every president: the duty to care for all of us, not just those who voted for him.
It’s the polar opposite of what I will do as president. I was proud to serve for eight years alongside President Obama. I watched up close how he filled the Oval Office with dignity and compassion for others. And, together with Senator Kamala Harris as my vice president, we will restore honor, integrity, and competence to the White House.
We will build an administration that looks like America, including nominating the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
We will work to unite the country around solutions that will push our country forward, and most importantly, I will listen to those impacted by the long-standing inequities in our system—especially Black Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Native Americans.
That’s how we will work together to deliver real, lasting change. Criminal justice and policing reforms, but also economic opportunity and financial stability. Building wealth for families of color and passing it down.
Closing the racial wealth gap is one of the most powerful ways we can build real equity in our society, and it’s going to require a full-court press. That’s what my Lift Every Voice plan is—a comprehensive agenda to take on the range of issues that drive inequality in Black America.
We’ll tackle student debt and invest more in our HBCUs, so higher education is a pathway to wealth and opportunity instead of to debt that prevents you from owning a home or starting a small business.
My plan will empower Black-owned small businesses, with short-term relief to get you through this tough time and long-term investments to help you build back better — with access to new capital and financing and government contracts.
Critically, we’re going to tackle the racial homeownership gap head on. There is no greater vehicle for wealth creation than homeownership. That’s why my plan will restore the steps President Obama and I took toward eradicating housing discrimination, including redlining; end racial bias in how we judge which families are credit-worthy; and provide a $15,000 down payment tax credit to help millions of young Black families buy their first home.
We’ll fix our upside-down tax system to finally reward work, not wealth. Trump thinks billionaires deserve more tax cuts. But under my plan, I’ll make sure the super wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, while ensuring that no one making less than $400,000 a year sees their taxes go up.
And I’m going to fight like hell to defend your family’s health care, just like I would my own. Right now, in the midst of a pandemic, Donald Trump is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare—all of it. He wants to overturn the very law that expanded coverage to an additional 3 million Black Americans. If he succeeds, more than 20 million Americans will lose their coverage, and more than 100 million people with preexisting conditions will no longer be protected against their insurance companies charging them more, or denying them coverage all together.
I’ll defend Obamacare and build on it—adding a public option that will automatically enroll 4 million more people that Republicans shut out by refusing to expand Medicaid in their states. We’re going to get to universal coverage and lower health care costs. We’re going to give working families a bigger subsidy to lower their premiums. And we’re going to take on pharmaceutical companies, bringing down the cost of your prescription drugs by 60 percent.
As my friend John Lewis used his final words to remind us: “Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America.” We cannot be tired. We cannot be hopeless. The choice in this election couldn’t be more stark, and we must vote for the future we want for every single one of our children. I’m ready to fight for you and your families, and I hope to earn your vote.
September 17, 2020
By Danny J. Bakewell, Jr.
Executive Editor
Noted activist, playwright and novelist, James Baldwin, wrote “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” His words are as relevant today as they were when Baldwin first wrote them.
The world is out of sync. The economy is on the brink of collapse, businesses are failing at an unprecedented rate, and unemployment is at an all-time high. Schools are forced to be session virtually, and while COVID-19 has already killed over 200,000, unfortunately Black and Brown people have died at far higher and disproportionate rate than others. No matter what the current presidential propaganda is, we are not likely to see a vaccine for at least another 6 to12 months and the realistic perspective of what it will take to get life back to a “new normal,” is like trying to figure out who has the coronavirus and who doesn’t?
Whether you are a political junkie, a Black Lives Matter activist, or just working every day to do the best of your abilities for yourself and your family, this election will set the course for your life and the life of future generations for years to come! Our reality is that November 3, 2020, will be our day of reckoning; a day that we as Black men and women will come to reckon with the simple fact that the Black community, not only here in Los Angeles, but across the country, will either rise up and let our voices be heard or we will stay home and passively allow others to decide what our destiny and future will be.
Voting is a sacred right. Many of our ancestors fought and died for us to have this right. Many have been beaten, jailed and died to ensure that our vote and our voices would someday be heard. We have all seen and heard of the attacks from the current White House Administration to weaken and or water down our right to vote. We cannot and we will not let these actions occur. Whether you intend to vote by mail or show up to the polls, we must make sure that our votes and our voices are heard loud and clear.
It is easy to focus on the Presidential election, and for many of us, the answer is clear and simple. Do we continue forward with the current Presidential Administration, an administration that cares nothing about our community, that cares nothing about our issues and cares nothing about our quality of life. Or, do we embrace change, do we vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and begin to find a way out of the misery and nightmarish state we have suffered through for the past four years? Do we continue ignoring the devastation that America has been under from COVID-19? Do we watch passively as a government moves forward and the rich get richer, while the Black community, communities of color, women, and all good people of good will, concern and compassion for one another, continue to suffer? 
Los Angeles, we must show up to vote in mass; we must make it our responsibility to not only vote, but we must ensure that our family and friends also vote. We must create phone banks of people and check-ins with our family and friends in other states to see to it that they too have cast their votes. The truth is, that California is a very Democratic state and most likely, California and its 55 electoral college votes will go to the Biden/Harris ticket. But, what about the other states? What about those swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan or those bubble states like Arizona, Nevada and even Texas? We can be the swing that tips the scales of righteousness in our favor. Just think, if we show up in mass and vote, like we never have before, how strong the Black vote could be. We can make the difference on who will lead this country out of the pandemic and into the future ... that would be real power.
MONEY CAN’T BUY OUR LOVE
But, there are other elections at hand that we must pay equal attention to. The Republican Party has put millions of dollars into the campaign to support agent provocateur Joe Collins for Congress in an attempt to defeat Congresswoman Maxine Waters. We, as Black voters can play a major role in sending a message, loud and clear, that some things and some people are afraid, and that no one is allowed to try and distract or twist our loyalty by agent provocateurs disguised as change agents attempting to do other people’s bidding. First, question is who is Joe Collins? Where did he come from and who is funding his multi-million-dollar campaign against our Congresswoman, our member of congress who has not been afraid to ask the tough questions when the tough questions weren’t popular, and who is never afraid to stand up for US. In this election, we must say NO! We must show up and let our voices be heard. Let every and anyone know that there is no amount of money that they can spend that will compromise our allegiance to those who have stood with us when others turned their backs. Our pride, our opinion and our loyalty will not be bought and cannot be compromised, and we will take issue with anyone who sells us out and chooses dollars over dedication.
SUPERVISOR
While this race has two strong African American candidates, both vying to replace Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who is leaving office because of term limits, it is Los Angeles Councilman and former Council president, Herb Wesson, who has become the clear choice to become the newest member of the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, representing the 2nd Supervisorial District.
The Second District is the home to the largest population of African Americans within the County of Los Angeles and Wesson has been able to garner a large and broad supporter base from across the district. He has been endorsed by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the Los Angeles Federation of Labor and the Los Angles Sentinel. Wesson has also received the support and endorsement of mayors from across the 2nd District, including Mayors Eric Garcetti (Los Angeles), James Butts (Inglewood), Tasha Cerda (Gardena), Luis Solache (Lynwood) Alex Vargas (Hawthorne). He has also received the endorsement of former 2nd District Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke, who is the first woman and first African American ever elected to the Board of Supervisors.
Black Votes Matter
No race in Los Angeles creates more debate than the race for Los Angeles District Attorney.
The current District Attorney, Jackie Lacey, is not the most popular candidate (even though she barely missed out on securing over 50 percent of the vote in the March primary to avoid a runoff), and not everyone is excited or confident about her effectiveness as District Attorney. 
However, her opponent, George Gascon, has an equally questionable background. Many of the allegations that Lacey has been accused of here, in Los Angeles, Gascon has also been accused of during his time as District Attorney in San Francisco. In addition to the allegations that Gascon was not an effective district attorney in the Bay area, we must also not forget that Gascon is a former LAPD officer who rose up and through the ranks as a loyal officer under former Police Chief Darryl Gates. Yes, the same Darryl Gates who pulled LAPD out of South Los Angeles during the Rodney King Verdict Rebellion; the creator of the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit, the same police chief who created and believed in the “Chokehold,” which Sentinel Publisher and civil rights activist, Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., former Urban League president, John Mack, First AME Pastor Cecil “Chip” Murray, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters, successfully fought to have banned as a permittable use of force by LAPD. The Chokehold was responsible for the deaths of countless Black men and women by the police long before the cell phone camera brought police brutality into the light of the public eye.
EXPERIENCE COUNTS
In 1963, former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley broke through the glass ceiling to become the first African American elected to represent the 10th Council District of Los Angeles. Bradley held this seat for 10 years, until he was elected mayor of the city in 1973. Following in Bradley’s footsteps, the seat has been one of only three seats considered by most as an African American seat. The 10th District covers some of the most diverse parts of the city, but the district is also home to some of the most sacred parts of the Los Angeles African American community. Now, former Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas is running to replace Herb Wesson as the councilman for the district.
Ridley-Thomas is no newcomer to Los Angeles or California politics and has a track record second to none. He was first elected to the City Council, representing the 8th District in 1991, then went on to serve in the California Assembly and the California State Senate before replacing Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, representing the Second District.
Ridley-Thomas narrowly avoided a runoff and almost won the seat outright, but a field of five candidates vying for the office in the runoff made garnering the 50 percent +1 an almost mathematical impossibility. Ridley-Thomas has the track record, experience and expertise necessary to help guide the 10th Council District through the challenging times that the district and the City face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the drastic losses in City revenue and the need for experienced leadership as Los Angeles works to both socially and economically recover from the devastation of 2020.
To add to Ridley-Thomas' ability to assist the City in moving forward, his knowledge of how the County of Los Angeles and the resources they possess and can provide, will be a critical element as the County and the State will all need to work together to help the entire city recover.
SERVICE REMAINS THE PRIORITY
Reggie Jones-Sawyer has been the Assemblyman for the 59th Assembly District for the past eight years.
During his time in the legislature, he has been one of the leading proponents in prison reform and re-entry assistance.
He has advocated for housing and job training for those formerly incarcerated, as well as been of the State’s leading advocates for creating programs to deter the school-to-prison pipeline for underserved communities.
Jones-Sawyers 59th Assembly seat has been the target of outside influencers who see the seat as a “Latin Seat.” However, Jones-Sawyer sees the seat and the office he holds as a seat of the people.
He has actively been working throughout the community ensuring that his district has all of the resources his constituents need to navigate through the challenges and obstacles created by COVID-19 and the effects of the pandemic.
Jones-Sawyer is and remains and effective leader, deserving of the community’s support and VOTE.
We need to reward good and steady leadership and experience during these trying times and there is not a more effective leader in Los Angeles representing our community in Sacramento than Reggie Jones-Sawyer.
WE MUST VOTE, OUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT
This election has numerous candidates and issues that can and will affect our community, both in the short and long run. The candidates we elect can and will change the narrative for our community for the next several years and we must make sure our vote and our choices are loud and clear.
The challenges that face our community and our people are tough and we need to make sure that we show up and vote for those leaders who will represent us and our issues to the fullest.
This article is but a small glimpse into why certain races and certain candidates need our support and our vote now, more than ever, and we hope that you all take these thoughts into careful consideration as you show up and vote on November 3, 2020.
September 10, 2020
On Monday, August 31, 2020, two Los Angeles County Sherriff deputies shot and killed Dijon Kizzee, a 29-year-old African American man from Lancaster, CA, visiting friends and family in the Westmont neighborhood of Los Angeles. Shortly after Mr. Kizzee was pronounced dead, community activists gathered at the sight of the shooting.
They marched to the local Sheriff's station to protest the unnecessary murder of another Black man by those pledged to protect and serve. Protesters are rightfully outraged, and the family deserves answers and transparency.
The following day, Sheriff Alex Villanueva expressed his frustration with the murder, but for another reason. The Sheriff criticized the activists for not protesting other homicides.
Sheriff Villanueva expressly pointed out a recent murder in which the victim "was beaten to death in the restroom of a supermarket in Lancaster about a month ago," Villanueva said. "That name is already forgotten by people. The people on the streets are not saying his name."
Sheriff Villanueva, please know that we mourn every death, we abhor every murderous act, and we detest the criminal who committed the murder that you chose to mention.
But understand this--that murderer did not take an oath to protect us; we did not pay taxes to recruit, train, and arm that murderer, we did not give that murderer special rights in the event of an investigation; that murderer does not work for us.
On the other hand, you, Sheriff Alex Villanueva, and each of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's sworn deputies has taken an oath to protect the citizens of Los Angeles County, not kill us.
Yes, we mourn every death, and we decry every murder, but we cannot quietly mourn the senseless murders that take place at the hands of the men and women employed by and sworn to protect us.
We protest because you and the Sheriff's Department's men and women are accountable to us, the citizens of Los Angeles County. Sheriff Villanueva, if you do not understand the difference, you are not worthy of the title "Sheriff."
On behalf of the Los Angeles Urban League's men and women, I extend our deepest condolences to the Kizzee family and the entire Westmont community, which has endured too much violence over these past months.
We mourn with you. We stand with you.
With you in the movement,
Michael A. Lawson
President & CEO
Los Angeles Urban League