• Moe Factz with Adam Curry for May 4th 2020, Episode number 35

• "Take That, Take That"

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• Executive Producers:
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• Associate Executive Producers:
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  • Connor Lawrence
  • Anonymous
  • Dame Sheila Damodaran
  • Daniel Hollingsworth
  • Nadia Borg

• Description
  • Adam and Moe deconstruct Diddy's latest political controversy. Does he mean it this time?

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  • Vernon Jones - Wikipedia
    • Link to Article
    • Archived Version
    • Mon, 04 May 2020 23:46
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    • American politician
    • Vernon Jones (born October 31, 1960) is an American Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Georgia. Jones was chief executive officer of Dekalb County, Georgia, from 2001 until 2009, and in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1993 to 2001. As Dekalb County CEO, Jones presided over the Board of Commissioners, oversaw a 7,000 employee county workforce, and managed a $2.6 billion county operating budget.[3] He unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2008.[4] After unsuccessful runs for the U.S. House of Representatives (2010) and DeKalb County Sheriff (2014), Jones was elected to the Georgia House in 2016.[5] In April 2020, Jones announced his endorsement of President Trump for reelection and said he would resign.[6] However, one day after the announcement, Jones withdrew his resignation, announcing that he would stay in office and complete his term.[7]
    • Early life and business career [ edit ] Born in Laurel Hill, North Carolina, Jones grew up on a farm in rural North Carolina.[8] His father was a veteran of World War II who worked in a mill; his mother and siblings worked on the family farm. Jones was the fifth of six children, with four brothers and a sister.[9] He attended North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC and became a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity there, before graduating with a B.A. in business administration in 1983.[8] Jones also completed the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Executive Program.[3]
    • Jones began his career in the telecommunications industry, first working with MCI Communications (now MCI Inc.) and later BellSouth Corporation.[8] At BellSouth, he was part of a team that established wireless communications in Montevideo, Uruguay.[3] Jones served on the DeKalb Board of Health, the Atlanta Regional Commission, the DeKalb Library Board, the DeKalb Pension Board, and the Board of Visitors for Emory University and North Carolina Central University.[10]
    • Political career [ edit ] Political positions [ edit ] During his 2008 Senate campaign, Jones described himself as a "conservative Democrat" who favors "tough immigration laws and fiscal responsibility" as well as "supporter of gun rights and a staunch environmental advocate".[11] During his 2008 campaign, he stated that he opposed same-sex marriage.[12] OnTheIssues.org rated Jones as a "Moderate Libertarian Conservative".[13] Jones stated that he voted for George W. Bush in 2004, and supported Barack Obama in 2008.[14] Jones donated $2,464 in two separate donations to the Georgia Republican Party in 2001.[15][16] In a 2014 press release, Jones characterized himself as an "advocate for limited government, security and protections for all citizens, balanced budgeting, ethical and efficient elections, [and] job creation".[17] Jones was the only Democratic cosponsor of the bill to legalize the concealed carry of firearms on Georgia's college campuses. [18]
    • Georgia House of Representatives [ edit ] Jones was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1992, representing District SH 071, succeeding Sidney Pope Jones, Jr..[19] Jones served from 1993 to 2001, during which time he was a member of the Appropriations Committee, the Insurance Committee, and the Health & Ecology Committee,[20] as well as the Banking Committee, and a special Judiciary Committee.[11] Jones also chaired the Chairman of the Health Professions Subcommittee. Among the proposals Jones sponsored or co-sponsored in the Georgia House was a bill to remove the Confederate battle flag emblem from Georgia State flag, and a bill that would have banned minors from purchasing music with explicit lyrics.[9] Jones did not stand for reelection in 2000, instead running for DeKalb County CEO, and was succeeded in the Georgia House by Ron Sailor[21]
    • DeKalb County CEO [ edit ] He was elected as chief executive officer of Dekalb County, Georgia in 2000, winning 64% of the vote, and was re-elected in 2004 with 54% of the vote. Jones is the first African American to serve as CEO of the county, and the youngest ever elected in the county.[8] In April 2001, shortly after Jones became CEO, he voted, along with five other DeKalb County Commissioners, to offer life and health insurance benefits to the domestic partners of gay and unmarried County employees. DeKalb was the first county in Georgia to offer such benefits.[22] During his administration, Dekalb County established the first local Homeland Security Office in 2001.[23] Under Jones, DeKalb County approved creation of a new senior center, increased funding for roads, libraries, and park improvements while maintaining a balanced budget, and increasing the County's credit rating to AAA. As CEO, Jones promoted and achieved passage of a $125 million bond referendum that allowed for the acquisition of 2,735 acre expansion of the DeKalb County's green space, increasing the county's parks and green space by 70%.[8][23] He requested and received Congressional designation of Arabia Mountain as a National Heritage Area.[8] Jones was also primarily responsible for creation of Dekalb County's first economic development department, which generated $4 billion in new investments.[9]
    • However, Jones term as DeKalb County CEO was also known for controversies and accusations of improprieties. Shortly after taking office Jones went back on campaign pledge to keep the homestead exemption sales tax in place.[24] Jones was criticized for vetoing pay raises for police officers.[25] In January 2005, the Georgia State Ethics Commission sanctioned Jones for campaign contribution limit violations in 2004 reelection campaign. Under a Consent Order, Jones returned all excess contributions and personally paid a $7,500.00 civil penalty.[26] Jones apologized and stated that changes in campaign finance laws between the initial election and the run-off election the reason for his acceptance nineteen improper campaign contributions.[9] He was also accused of illegally using campaign funds to promote the 2005 bond referendum, but the State Ethics Commission "found no reasonable grounds" for the complaint.[27]
    • Jones was also accused excessive spending, questionable real estate transactions, and was sued for racial discrimination (see Controversies section below).[28]
    • 2008 United States Senate campaign [ edit ] Jones ran for the U.S. Senate in 2008, but was defeated 60% to 40% in the 2008 run-off for Georgia's Democratic U.S. Senate primary.[4]
    • On March 23, 2007 Jones announced he was running for the United States Senate against incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss. Jones was criticized by his chief rival Jim Martin over his more conservative politics and past support for George W. Bush.[14] Jones' campaign was also marred by two new controversies. Jones sent out a flier in which he appeared in a digitally altered picture next to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama with the words "Yes We Can." However, Obama himself stated he not only never posed with Jones, he did not endorse Jones or any other candidate for the Democratic nomination for Senate.[29] In response, Jones blamed his "liberal opponents backed by the liberal media" for trying to ruin his campaign.[28] Jones also received criticism for the appearance of the tagline "Vote Vernon Jones for GA Senate" on tickets, produced using county funds, for the Dekalb County Blues and Jazz Festival. The company who printed the tickets, supporters of Jones' campaign, took responsibility for the incident; saying that they were unaware campaign finance laws made such an action illegal.[30]
    • In the July 15, 2008 Democratic primary election, Jones won a plurality of votes in the Democratic primary. However, Georgia law requires a majority; if no majority is reached by a candidate, the two top vote-getters must face one another in a runoff. On August 5, 2008 Jones lost the run-off election to Jim Martin by a margin of 20 points. Jones unexpectedly lost to Martin in his home base of Dekalb County.[31] Jones had lost support within the black community before the runoff election, and only captured two-thirds of the black vote in the head to head match up against Martin. The black turnout in the run-off was also substantially lower than the initial primary election, further hurting Vernon Jones' chances in the runoff.[32]
    • Unsuccessful races [ edit ] In 2010, Jones launched an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Congress in Georgia's 4th congressional district.[35] In 2014, Jones ran unsuccessfully for Sheriff of DeKalb County, GA. He was defeated by incumbent Sheriff Jeff Mann, 76% to 24%.[36]
    • Return to the Georgia House [ edit ] In March 2016, Jones filed to run for Georgia House of Representatives, this time in House District 91, an open seat vacated by Dee Dawkins-Haigler.[37] In the May 2016 Democratic primary election, Jones came within sixty votes of an outright victory, but was forced into a runoff election with Rhonda Taylor.[38] Jones won the July runoff election[39] and in November 2016, once again won election to the Georgia House, defeating Republican Carl Anuszczyk.[5]
    • Endorsement of Donald Trump [ edit ] On April 14, 2020, Jones became the first state elected Democratic official in Georgia to endorse President Donald Trump's re-election bid.[40] Jones said he has no plans to switch political parties and gave his reasons for the endorsement by saying "It's very simple to me. President Trump's handling of the economy, his support for historically black colleges and his criminal justice initiatives drew me to endorse his campaign."[41] Due to backlash from his endorsement of Trump, he announced his resignation on April 22, 2020.[6] On April 23rd, 2020, Jones announced on his Twitter account that he was in fact not resigning.[42]
    • Controversies [ edit ] Official spending and real estate [ edit ] Two grand juries found Jones $250,000 per year taxpayer funded security detail excessive, and recommended it be decreased, but found no violations of the law.[9] Jones was accused of a questionable real estate transaction involving a house and a 55-acre tract of land near Arabia Mountain that he purchased for $550,000 in 2003 in anticipation of a then active quarry becoming part of county green space project that he initiated. In summer of 2007, Jones sold the site and made a $220,000 profit.[43] On January 20, 2013, a special purpose grand jury, enpaneled to investigate corruption in DeKalb County, found widespread "incompetence, patronage, fraud and cronyism" dating to the beginning of the administration of Vernon Jones.[44] The report, which was not released until August 21, 2013, recommended further investigations of possible illegal acts by Jones, along with a number of other current and former senior DeKalb County officials.[45]
    • Accusations of racial discrimination [ edit ] On August 24, 2004, four senior current and former employees of the Parks Department, Becky Kelley (former Parks Department Director), Michael Bryant (a Deputy Director of Revenue Management and Support), John Drake (an Assistant Director), and Herbert Lowe (former Deputy Director of Strategic Management and Development), filed suit against DeKalb County, Vernon Jones (as CEO of the county) and three of Jones' subordinates (Marilyn Boyd Drew, Richard Stogner, and Morris Williams) alleging either racial discrimination, or in the case of Lowe, retaliation for refusing to assist in racial discrimination. Kelly, Bryant, and Drake were white; Lowe was African-American.[46]
    • Attorneys for the DeKalb County defendants moved for summary judgment on the grounds of qualified immunity as state officials. On November 10, 2006, District Court Judge William Duffey rejected their summary judgment petition, holding that the law does not allow "a public official defendant to engage in calculated racial discrimination costumed in a racially neutral garb of administrative actions so it can masquerade as a qualified immunity defense".[46] On November 21, 2006, Duffey ruled that the case could go forward to a jury trial.[47] Jones and his fellow defendants then appealed the denial of their summary judgement motion. On July 31, 2009, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the District Court judge's rejection of the Defendants' motion for summary judgment on the grounds of qualified immunity. Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat, writing for the court, stated in the ruling that "DeKalb County, Georgia [had] embarked on a wholesale plan to replace its white county managers with African Americans" and that Vernon Jones had "devised the plan and monitored its execution".[46]
    • In March 2010, the case was finally heard by a jury. During the trial plaintiffs' attorneys called witnesses from across county government in an attempt to demonstrate a countywide policy of discrimination. Jones denied any discrimination against white employees. He testified that "I wanted the best and the brightest. That meant blacks, whites, Asians, Latinos, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, gay, straight, anybody who wanted to work for DeKalb County. I wanted everybody to have a seat at the table".[48] Other testimony revealed that during the first five years of Jones' term in office, the number of white senior county managers had dropped from 61 to 57, and the number of African-American senior county managers had risen from 33 to 61.[49]
    • After seven days of testimony, on April 2, 2010 the jury awarded damages to two of the four plaintiffs, Michael Bryant (who had died before the trial) and John Drake. The jurors found that Jones, his former executive assistant, Richard Stogner, and a former parks director, Marilyn Boyd Drew were liable only for $185,000 in damages, much less than the $2 million requested by plaintiffs. While DeKalb County was found liable for racial discrimination, the jury rejected those claims against Jones, but held that he had "created and maintained a hostile work environment".[48] Jones was ordered to personally pay $27,750[50] of the damages, but DeKalb County's $50,000 liability insurance policy on its employees covered the part of the award personally assessed against Jones.[51]
    • While, Jones and his attorneys initially hailed the verdict as a victory for the county because of the relatively low damages award,[51] after the judge awarded the plaintiffs an additional $1.9 million in legal fees, DeKalb County ultimately agreed to pay the plaintiffs a total of $1.3 million for legal fees and damages in April 19, 2011 post-trial settlement.[52]
    • Involvement with Earl Paulk [ edit ] Jones was accused (in a lawsuit brought by Mona Brewer against Earl Paulk of Chapel Hill Harvester Church) of using money from a $125 million green space bond sale to purchase a Decatur, GA church building from Paulk for $2.4 million, a sum claimed to be unjustifiably in excess of the land's actual value. The County made no use of the property, and the building was later leased to a start-up cable network for a token sum of a dollar per year. During the ensuing court case, the plaintiff alleged that, as part of a questionable relationship, Paulk arranged for a sexual encounter between Jones and one of Paulk's former mistresses. When deposed, Jones refused to answer questions relating to that incident, as well as a number of other questions involving his dealings with Paulk. That case was ultimately withdrawn by the plaintiff's attorney, Louis Levenson, who felt that the judge in the case was biased against his client. The case was subsequently refiled and drew a different judge.[53]
    • References [ edit ] ^ "Liane Levetan: A Guide to Her Papers at Georgia State University Library". Georgia State University Library. August 2013 . Retrieved April 24, 2015 . ^ Stuart, Gwynedd (November 4, 2010). "DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis isn't your typical politician: That's part of his problem". Creative Loafing . Retrieved April 24, 2015 . ^ a b c "CivicMakers: Venon Jones". The History Makers. August 13, 2003 . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . ^ a b Williams, Dick (August 8, 2008). "Jones Humble in Defeat". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Atlanta, GA . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . ^ a b Niesse, Mark (November 9, 2016). "DeKalb County election results". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Retrieved November 17, 2016 . ^ a b Olson, Tyler (April 22, 2020). "Democratic Georgia rep who endorsed Trump resigns after backlash: report". Foxnews . Retrieved April 22, 2020 . ^ Jones, Vernon (April 23, 2020). "Yesterday, I announced my intentions to resign from my office. But shortly thereafter, the outpour of support I received was too great for me to ignore. I will not allow the Democrats to bully me into submission. I will not let them win. I will NOT resign. #MAGApic.twitter.com/gR2MsU5Rb3". @RepVernonJones . Retrieved April 23, 2020 . ^ a b c d e f "Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones; CEO Biography". Dekalb County, Georgia. Archived from the original on July 30, 2008 . Retrieved August 2, 2008 . ^ a b c d e Thomas, Chandra R. (July 2006). "Mr. Big: Love him or hate him, no one has lukewarm feelings about Vernon Jones [...]". Atlanta Magazine: 92''107. ^ "Vernon Jones' Biography". Project Vote Smart . Retrieved April 24, 2015 . ^ a b McCaffrey, Shannon (August 3, 2008). "Vernon Jones: 'Look at my record ' ". Savannah Morning News. Savannah, GA . Retrieved April 26, 2015 . ^ Andre in Atlanta (June 29, 2008). "Democrats Debate: Jim Martin Opposes Gay Marriage". Peach Pundit . Retrieved April 26, 2015 . ^ "Vernon Jones (Democratic Senate challenger) On the Issues". OnTheIssues.org. OnTheIssues.org & The SpeakOut Foundation. July 2008 . Retrieved April 25, 2015 . ^ a b "More on Vernon Jones and Dale Cardwell". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. May 1, 2008. ^ "FEC Individual Contributions". Federal Election Commission. January 12, 2001 . Retrieved July 30, 2008 . ^ "FEC Individual Contributions". Federal Election Commission. January 12, 2001 . Retrieved July 30, 2008 . ^ Donahue, J. M. (December 9, 2014). "Press Release: Democratic Politician and Former CEO of DeKalb County, Georgia, Vernon Jones to appear on The Art Rocker Radio Show". Operation People for Peace, Inc . Retrieved April 26, 2015 . ^ http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20172018/HB/280 ^ "General election and constitutional amendments, November 6, 1990". State of Georgia. November 1990. p. 200 . Retrieved April 24, 2015 . ^ "Hon. Vernon Jones (GA SH 071)". Georgia House of Representatives. June 26, 2000 . Retrieved April 24, 2015 . ^ "State Representative '' District 71". Georgia Election Results: Official Results of the November 7, 2000 General Election. Georgia Secretary of State. November 17, 2000 . Retrieved April 24, 2015 . ^ Anderson, Will (April 27, 2001). "DeKalb approves giving benefits to domestic partners". Atlanta Journal Constitution. Atlanta, GA. Archived from the original on 2001 . Retrieved April 26, 2015 . ^ a b "Agenda: Versus". Atlanta: 38. May 2008. ^ Henry, Scott (July 7, 2005). "Tyrannosaurus Jones, Magnetic leader or monster: Will the real Vernon please stand up?". Creative Loafing Atlanta. Atlanta, GA. p. 3 . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . ^ King, Michael; Leslie, Jennifer (March 12, 2008). "DeKalb Public Safety Raise Vetoed". 11 Alive Atlanta. Atlanta, GA . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . ^ Nicholson, Sam G.; Farrow, Steve; Williams, Jack; Bowers, Emmett; Moskowitz, David (January 7, 2005). "Minutes of the State Ethics Commission Meeting Held January 7, 2005" (PDF) . Georgia State Ethics Commission . Retrieved April 25, 2015 . ^ Jordan, William H.; Bowers, Emmett; Pollard, Griffin B., Jr.; Gatewood, James C. (November 29, 2007). "Meeting Minutes November 29, 2007; In the Matter of Vernon Jones, Case No. (2005-0107)" (PDF) . Georgia State Ethics Commission. pp. 5''7 . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) ^ a b "Vernon Jones vs. Dale Caldwell". Atlanta. Emmis Communications: 38. May 2008. ISSN 0004-6701. ^ Mccaffrey, Shannon (July 4, 2008). "Obama says Jones mailer is not an endorsement". Associated Press . Retrieved April 24, 2015 . ^ Jim Galloway (July 22, 2008). "Political Note on Tickets Cause Stir". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ^ Rachel Kapochunas (August 5, 2008). "Martin Wins Georgia Dem Runoff, Will Challenge Sen. Chambliss". Congressional Quarterly. ^ "What's Next for Vernon Jones?". Atlanta Journal Constitution. August 10, 2008. ^ "Georgia Election Results; Official Results of the Tuesday, July 15, 2008 General Primary Election". Georgia Secretary of State. September 25, 2008 . Retrieved April 25, 2015 . ^ "Georgia Election Results; Official Results of the Tuesday, August 05, 2008 Primary Election Runoff". Georgia Secretary of State. August 15, 2008 . Retrieved April 25, 2015 . ^ Shin, Hyosub (July 20, 2010). "Election 2010: Vernon Jones". CBS News . Retrieved April 24, 2015 . ^ Chidi, George (July 23, 2014). "Vernon Jones And The Politics of Drinking Clorox". Peach Pundit. Tanalach Media, LLC . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . ^ Niesse, Mark (March 9, 2016). "Former DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones enters race for Ga. House seat". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Retrieved November 17, 2016 . ^ Niesse, Mark (July 20, 2016). "House runoff features Vernon Jones and challenger Rhonda Taylor". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Retrieved November 17, 2016 . ^ Marbaugh, Wade (July 27, 2016). "Vernon Jones wins State House District 91 runoff". The Newton Citizen . Retrieved November 17, 2016 . ^ Bluestein, Greg. "Georgia Democratic lawmaker endorses Trump's presidential bid". ajc . Retrieved April 14, 2020 . ^ Bluestein, Greg (April 14, 2020). "State Democrats quickly disown Vernon Jones". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Retrieved April 15, 2020 . ^ Jones, Vernon (April 23, 2020). "Twitter.com" . Retrieved April 23, 2020 . ^ "DeKalb CEO Jones Defends Arabia Mountain Land Deal". WSB-TV 2 Atlanta. Atlanta, GA. July 1, 2008 . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . ^ Trujillo, Albert; Mensah, Katharyne Fowlkes; Scheffer, Catherin O.; Horton, Janet; et al. (January 20, 2012). "Presentment of the Special Purpose Grand Jury, 2012''2013, Civil Case# 12CV1000" (PDF) . State of Georgia . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . ^ Cauthen, Andrew (August 22, 2013). "UPDATE: Special report details years of corruption in DeKalb County". The Champion. Decatur, GA . Retrieved April 27, 2015 . ^ a b c United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (July 31, 2009). "Bryant v. Jones (No. 06-16591) Decision". Leagle, Inc . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . ^ "Discrimination lawsuit against DeKalb County to go to trial". Dalton Daily Citizen. Dalton, GA. Associated Press. November 25, 2006 . Retrieved April 26, 2015 . ^ a b Scott, Jeffry (April 2, 2010). "DeKalb discrimination suit: Jones ordered to pay". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta, GA . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . ^ Dewan, Shaila (April 1, 2010). "Georgia: Award in Reverse Discrimination Suit". The New York Times. New York, NY . Retrieved April 23, 2015 . ^ Belcher, Richard (April 1, 2010). "Vernon Jones Loses Discrimination Case In Split Verdict". WSB-TV Channel 2. Atlanta, GA . Retrieved April 26, 2015 . ^ a b Ffrench-Parker, Jennifer (April 9, 2010). "Jones: Discrimination lawsuits outcome a victory for county". CrossRoads News. Decatur, GA . Retrieved April 26, 2015 . ^ "DeKalb County To Pay $1.3M In Race Discrimination Lawsuit". Georgia Newsday. Germantown, MD. Associated Press. April 19, 2011 . Retrieved April 26, 2015 . ^ John F. Sugg (April 2, 2008). "Vernon goes to church". Creative Loafing . Retrieved June 26, 2009 .
  • (302) Blowfly - First Black President - YouTube
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  • BYP100 - Wikipedia
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    • Mon, 04 May 2020 23:35
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    • Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) is an African American youth organization in the United States.[1] Its activities include community organizing, voter mobilization, and other social justice campaigns focused on black, feminist, and queer issues.[2] The national director is D'Atra "Dee Dee" Jackson.[3]
    • BYP100 was founded in 2013, and was motivated by the response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in his trial for the killing of Trayvon Martin.[4] Founding members include Charlene Carruthers.
    • As of 2019, the group has chapters in Chicago, New York City, the District of Columbia, New Orleans[5], Detroit, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Durham, and Jackson.
    • History [ edit ] The group's origins begin with the Black Youth Project, a project set up by black activist and feminist Cathy Cohen, a political scientist at the University of Chicago. Cohen created an online hub to study African American millennials with the goal of empowering them. In 2013, Cohen met Charlene Carruthers, then a youth activist in Chicago, and the group was created that summer.[4]
    • Views and membership [ edit ] BYP100's membership is limited to those between 18 and 35.[4][6] In Chicago, many are students, while "others are artists, poets, service workers, media makers, and musicians."[4] Many of the organization's leaders and members are queer women.[2]
    • The organization's national co-director in 2019 described its focus on black, feminist, and queer issues as ''radically inclusive and vigilant about bringing folks from the margins to the center.''[2] A profile in Chicago Magazine described the group as "decidedly radical," noting "In the short term, they want an elected group to replace the appointed Chicago Police Board, but in the long term, they advocate the outright abolition of the police department and the prison system. Among their other goals: reparations, universal childcare, a higher minimum wage, the decriminalization of marijuana, and the repeal of other laws that disproportionately land black youths in the criminal justice system."[4]
    • Cohen, writing an op-ed in the Washington Post with political theorist Danielle Allen, described the group's goals as organizing "against state violence directed at black youth."[5] Cohen and Allen write:
    • BYP100 promotes a leadership model at odds with the male charismatic leader made famous by Malcolm X and King. These activists also look to black feminism and "queer" political analysis, again focusing on multiple forms of marginalization, to guide their organization and campaigns. They underscore that the civil rights movement, too, was built with the strength of women and queer activists (think Ella Baker and Bayard Rustin), not merely charismatic, heterosexual men.[5]
    • Activities [ edit ] In September 2014, BYP100 released Agenda to Keep Us Safe, a policy document called for the "demilitarization" of law enforcement, the creation of civilian review boards to address accusations of police misconduct, an end to the War on Drugs, requirements for police to wear body cameras, and the increase in the enforcement of existing civil rights laws.[7]
    • In December 2014, BYP100 members were among the organizers of a series of traffic disruption protests in Washington, D.C., in support of protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.[1]
    • They worked closely with Chicago Black Lives Matter to defeat the reelection bid of Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, of whose response to the shooting of Laquan McDonald they disapproved.[8][4]
    • In April 2015, BYP100 activists criticized D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser for detailing 34 Metropolitan Police Department officers to Maryland to assist in responding to civil disturbances in Baltimore in accordance with the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. The group called upon Bowser to recall the officers.[1]
    • On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January 2016, the organization launched their Black economic justice policy platform, the Agenda to Build Black Futures with a series of actions and events around the country under the banner of the hashtag #reclaimMLK. The group described the campaign as inspired by King's Poor People's Campaign.[9]
    • Influence [ edit ] The group has overlapping membership with the Chicago-based black activist group Assata's Daughters,[4] which credit BYP100 for "establishing the legitimacy of black only spaces."[10]
    • References [ edit ] ^ a b c Aaron C. Davis, Black youth group demands D.C. mayor recall officers from Baltimore, Washington Post (April 29, 2017). ^ a b c MacArthur Foundation (July 18, 2019). " ' Radical Inclusion' to Combat Racial Injustice". MacArthur Foundation | Grantee Stories | Chicago Commitment . Retrieved 2020-01-30 . ^ Stasio, Katy Barron, Frank. "There's No Ignoring Dee Dee Jackson: Book Spotlights Youth Activists Igniting Change". www.wunc.org . Retrieved 2020-04-24 . ^ a b c d e f g Holliday, Darryl (22 February 2016). "The New Black Power". Chicago Magazine. ^ a b c Danielle Allen & Cathy Cohen, The new civil rights movement doesn't need an MLK, Washington Post (April 10, 2015). ^ "About". BYP100 . Retrieved 2020-01-30 . ^ "BYP100 Agenda to Keep Us Safe". BYP 100. 2014-09-30 . Retrieved 2016-05-12 . ^ Rankin, Kenrya (24 February 2016). "Young Activists Disrupt Anita Alvarez Fundraiser". ColorLines . Retrieved 14 March 2016 . ^ "MLK Day 2016: Black Economic Justice Agenda Inspired By Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign Lives On". International Business Times. 2016-01-18 . Retrieved 2016-05-12 . ^ The Zed Collective; May, Page (19 October 2016). "We're Assata's Daughters". Zed Books . Retrieved 7 March 2017 .
  • REVOLT Summit: Learn, Network, Celebrate
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    • Thanks for an incredible year of REVOLT Summit! See the highlights below, and sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know about REVOLT Summit 2020.
    • See the Full HighlightsWatch On REVOLT
  • Get Your Share Of The SBA PPP Loans & Cares Act - Our Fair Share
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    • Our goal is to educate and guide minority small business owners, non-profits, independent contractors and churches through the SBA PPP loan programs available to you through the recently passed CARES Act.
    • The CARES Act bill has made available $659 Billion Dollars for Small Businesses.
    • Loans are available for up to 2.5 times of your average monthly payroll during the year preceding the application.
    • Up to 100% of the loan amount can be forgiven if funds are being used for qualified expenses.
    • Check ReadinessGo through our PPP loan checklist to find out if you are ready to apply.
    • The BasicsThis is a really short process to make sure you meet the basic requirements so we can get your application moving forward as fast as possible.
    • Answer Some QuestionsAnswer a few basic questions to get the loan process started.
    • Start The ProcessOnce you know that your business meets the basic requirements, it's time to start the application by filling out the Our Fair Share get started form.
    • Fill ApplicationComplete the application using the information you gathered using the checklist.
    • Complete The ProcessOnce you complete the application, your information goes directly to a partner SBA lender. There they will review everything and get any additional information required to get your loan approved.
    • Get FundingGet approved for funding and start growing your business.
    • Start GrowingOnce your application is approved, funds become available in 7 to 10 business days.
    • It is time for us to get our fair share. Don't wait, apply now before the money runs out.
  • Tour(C) (journalist) - Wikipedia
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    • Tour(C)
    • Tour(C) in 2014
    • BornTour(C) Neblett ( 1971-03-20 ) March 20, 1971 (age 49) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.[1]OccupationTelevision host, novelist, journalist, criticNationalityAmericanSpouseRita Nakouzi (m. 2005)
    • Children2Tour(C) (born Tour(C) Neblett; March 20, 1971) is an American writer, music journalist, cultural critic, and television personality. He was a co-host of the TV show The Cycle on MSNBC. He was also a contributor to MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show, and the host of Fuse's Hiphop Shop and On the Record. He serves on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committee.[2] He taught a course on the history of hip hop at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, part of the Tisch School of the Arts in New York.[3]
    • Tour(C) is the author of several books, including The Portable Promised Land (2003), Soul City (2005), Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means To Be Black Now (2011) and I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon (2013). He is also a frequent contributor at The Daily Beast.[4]
    • Early life [ edit ] Tour(C) was born Tour(C) Neblett in Boston on March 20, 1971.[5][6]
    • He attended Milton Academy,[7] and then Emory University but dropped out after his junior year.[8] In 1996, he attended Columbia University's MFA writing program for one year.[9]
    • Career [ edit ] Writing career [ edit ] While a student at Emory University, Tour(C) founded a black student newspaper, The Fire This Time.[10] Tour(C) began his writing career as an intern at Rolling Stone in 1992.[11] He has contributed essays and articles to Rolling Stone,[12][13][14][15] Essence,[16] The New Yorker,[17] The New York Times,[18] Playboy,[19] Time,[20] The Village Voice,[21] Vibe, The Washington Post[22] and Ebony.[23] His Rolling Stone article, "Kurt is My Co-Pilot," about Dale Earnhardt Jr. was included in The Best American Sports Writing 2001.[15][24] His writing has also been featured in the collections Best American Essays of 1999, the Da Capo Best Music Writing of 2004 and Best American Erotica of 2004.[25]
    • Tour(C) has written five books. In 2002, his short story collection Portable Promised Land was published. He also wrote a novel, Soul City (2004),[26] set in an African-American utopia, according to The Washington Post.[27] His 2006 essay collection, Never Drank the Kool-Aid, included the personal essay, "What's Inside You, Brother?", which was considered for inclusion in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Best American Essays of 1996.[28] In 2012, Tour(C) published Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?: What it Means to be Black Now, a book on race in modern America based on a collection of interviews Tour(C) conducted with over 100 prominent African-American icons.[29][30] Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? was named one of the most influential books of 2011 by both The New York Times and The Washington Post, and the book earned Tour(C) a nomination for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Non-Fiction.[31] In 2013, Tour(C) published I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon, a biography of Prince that discusses the pop artist's works and legacy in a religious context.[32] The book is based on a series of lectures Tour(C) delivered at Harvard University in 2012.[33]
    • Television [ edit ] In 2002, Tour(C) appeared opposite Paula Zahn on CNN's American Morning[34] and was later featured three times a week on a panel called "90-Second Pop."[35] He was subsequently hired as CNN's first pop culture correspondent.[36] In 2005, BET hired Tour(C) to cover BET News and Public Affairs programming.[37]
    • He also hosted the series Community Surface on Tennis Channel[38] and MTV's Spoke N' Heard,[39] and was interviewed on the life of Eminem for the rapper's A&E Biography episode. In 2008, he hosted the reality show I'll Try Anything Once, in which he tried a variety of jobs and activities, including rodeo clowning and lumberjacking.[40]
    • From June 25, 2012, to July 31, 2015, he co-hosted The Cycle on MSNBC with former congressional candidate Krystal Ball, moderate Republican Abby Huntsman, and The Nation correspondent Ari Melber.[41] The Cycle's key demographic was initially made up of Generation X viewers, and its success in this age bracket was attributed to the engaging personalities of its unusually young hosts.[42] Tour(C) often introduced race theory into political discussion on the show.[43] On July 24, 2015, media outlets reported that MSNBC was restructuring its television lineup to eliminate shows such as The Cycle due to disappointingly low ratings.[44] MSNBC confirmed the cancellation on July 30.
    • Tour(C) criticized and debated with Piers Morgan over the latter's March 2012 interview with George Zimmerman's brother, particularly over what Tour(C) saw as Morgan's lack of response to Robert Zimmerman's problematic replies.[45][46]
    • In August 2012, as part of a discussion on The Cycle, Tour(C) claimed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had engaged in racial coding by calling President Barack Obama "angry," and referred to this as "niggerization." Tour(C) apologized for using the word the next day.[47]
    • In May 2014, Tour(C) drew criticism from the Simon Wiesenthal Center for implying Holocaust survivors succeeded in the U.S. after the Second World War because they were white: a blogger from the website Yo, Dat's Racis'!! tweeted at Tour(C), "My family survived a concentration camp, came to the US w/ nothing, LEGALLY, and made it work" to which Tour(C) replied, "the power of whiteness." Tour(C) later apologized for his comment, saying, "In an attempt to comment on racism in post World War II America, I used a shorthand that was insensitive and wrong."[48][49]
    • Personal life [ edit ] On March 19, 2005, Tour(C) married Lebanese American novelist and pop culture commentator Rita Nakouzi.[50] Rev. Run from Run-DMC was the officiant and Nelson George served as the best man. Tour(C) and his wife live in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.[51] They have a son named Hendrix and a daughter named Fairuz.[50] On January 11, 2019 Tour(C) was accused of workplace sexual harassment by a former colleague.[52]
    • Bibliography [ edit ] The Portable Promised Land: Stories. New York: Back Bay Books. 2003. ISBN 978-0-316-73836-1. Soul City: A Novel. New York: Macmillan. 2005. ISBN 978-0-312-42516-6. Never Drank the Kool-Aid: Essays. New York: Macmillan. 2006. ISBN 978-0-312-42578-4. Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means to Be Black Now . New York: Simon and Schuster. 2011. ISBN 978-1-4391-7756-3. I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon . New York: Atria Books. 2013. ISBN 978-1476705491. References [ edit ] ^ Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, 2006, s.v. "Toure." "Personal Information: Born March 20, 1971, in Boston, MA; married Rita Nakouzi, March 19, 2005." ^ Menz, Wonders, Petey E., Jeannie Sui (March 27, 2012). "Critic Tour(C) Reveals Prince's Religious Roots". The Harvard Crimson. ^ Toure, Faculty directory, Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. Retrieved April 12, 2013. ^ "Author Page Tour(C)". thedailybeast.com. The Daily Beast . Retrieved October 23, 2017 . ^ "Target Entertainment launches over 100 hours of new programming at MIPTV" Archived 2012-04-05 at the Wayback Machine. Target Entertainment Group. March 21, 2011. Quote: "...renowned music journalist Tour(C) Neblett talks with some of the most provocative players in music today...." ^ Lewis, Miles Marshall (August 25, 2011). "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Black". HuffPost. Retrieved March 19, 2015.Quote: "Tour(C) Neblett is the cultural critic folks love to hate." ^ "Tour(C) BIOGRAPHY: Writer, Journalist, Critic and Television Host" Archived 2012-02-03 at the Wayback Machine, bigcitypix.com, February 1, 2008. ^ Toure. Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?. Simon & Schuster . Retrieved November 17, 2014 . ^ Mondella S. Jones (July 1, 2002). "BIBR spotlight: Toure: a charmed life". Black Issues Book Review . Retrieved November 26, 2014 . ^ Loftus, Mary J. (Autumn 2009). "News Makers: Minority voices speak in Black Star magazine". Emory Magazine . Retrieved April 25, 2012 . ...a successor to Emory's black student newspaper, The Fire This Time (which was founded by Emory alumnus, journalist, and novelist Tour(C) and ceased publication in 2003). ^ Williams, Kam. "Tora! Tora! Tour(C)!: The "Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?" Interview". Pittsburgh Urban Media . Retrieved October 10, 2014 . ^ Petey E. Menz (March 27, 2012). "Critic Toure Reveals Prince's Religious Roots". The Harvard Crimson . Retrieved October 15, 2014 . ^ "The Book of Jay". Rolling Stoneauthor=Tour(C). 2006. Archived from the original on 2006. ^ "Adele Opens Up About Her Inspirations, Looks and Stage Fright in New Rolling Stone Cover Story". Rolling Stone. April 13, 2011 . Retrieved July 5, 2012 . ^ a b Mattei, Al. "Book Review: Visionary Choice Mark 2001 Edition". www.topofthecircle.com . Retrieved May 7, 2012 . ^ Lewis, Miles Marshall (August 25, 2011). "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Black". The Huffington Post. ^ Tour(C) (March 23, 2014). "Black and White on Martha's Vineyard". New York magazine. ^ Tour(C) (August 5, 2011). "Preconceptions", The New York Times. Retrieved March 19, 2015. ^ Tour(C) (April 2014). "How the Central Park Five Still Haunt America." Playboy. pp. 54-58, 126-127 ^ Tour(C) (April 11, 2013). "Viewpoint: You Can't Be An 'Accidental' Racist". Time. Retrieved March 19, 2015. ^ Tour(C) (January 24, 2006). "Platinum Reputation". The Village Voice. Retrieved March 19, 2015. ^ Toure (August 22, 2014). "Black America and the burden of the perfect victim". The Washington Post . Retrieved October 20, 2014 . ^ "Culture Critic Tour(C) to Discuss 'Post-Blackness' Dec. 1", Duke University, November 28, 2011. ^ "Best American Sports Writing Index 1991-2012". indiepro.com . Retrieved May 7, 2012 . ^ "Tour(C) Speaker Bureau Bio". Simon & Schuster . Retrieved 10 October 2014 . ^ West, Abby. "Soul City". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . ^ Neate, Patrick. "Over the Top in a Hip-Hop World". The Washington Post. Book Report . Retrieved November 19, 2014 . ^ "Never Drank the Kool-Aid". Picador. Kirkus Reviews . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . ^ Pierre, Brittny (March 7, 2013). "Tour(C) Tackles Prince in New Book, Finds Jesus, Discovers They're One in the Same". The Village Voice . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . [permanent dead link ] ^ Patterson, Orlando (September 22, 2011). "The Post-Black Condition". The New York Times. ^ Finn, John (August 27, 2013). "Wooster Forum to Examine the Complexity of Race". The College of Wooster . Retrieved October 10, 2014 . ^ Hampton, Howard (May 31, 2013). "Pop Life Tour(C)'s 'I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon ' ". The New York Times. ^ Pierre, Brittny (March 19, 2015). "Tour(C) Tackles Prince in New Book, Finds Jesus, Discovers They're One in the Same", villagevoice.com; accessed May 11, 2015. ^ "Does 'The Rising' touch the sky?". American Morning. CNN. July 30, 2002 . Retrieved October 20, 2014 . ^ Williams, Kam. "Tora! Tora! Tour(C)!: The "Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?" Interview". Pittsburgh Urban Media . Retrieved November 3, 2014 . ^ Dionne, Evette. "The Love-Hate Complexities of Tour(C) and What it Teaches Us About Blackness". Clutch . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . ^ "Pop Culture Personality Toure Headed to BET News" (Press release). PR Newswire . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . ^ "Community Surface". Tennis Channel. Retrieved April 12, 2013. ^ "Brooklyn Writers for Brooklyn Readers - Toure". Brooklyn Public Library . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . ^ MacIntyre, April. "Review and Interview: 'I'll Try Anything Once' on Treasure HD a no miss". Smallscreen Reviews. M&C . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . ^ Lauerman, Kerry (June 21, 2012). "Kornacki an MSNBC host, too". Salon Magazine. Salon Media Group . Retrieved June 22, 2012 . ^ Nissenson, Mary (March 29, 2013). "How MSNBC's 'The Cycle' Won Me Over". TheWrap. ^ Rothman, Noah. "Why MSNBC's The Cycle Will Shape the Future of Cable News". Mediaite . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . ^ Grove, Lloyd (July 24, 2015). "Tanking MSNBC Gets a Serious Shakeup". The Daily Beast. ^ Samuels, Allison. "Piers Morgan vs Tour(C): How the CNN Host Blew It". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . ^ Christopher, Tommy. "Update: Piers Morgan Books MSNBC's Tour(C) in Real Time to Settle Twitter Feud". Mediaite . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . ^ Wemple, Erik (August 17, 2012). "MSNBC's Tour(C) apologizes for 'niggerization' remark". The Washington Post. ^ Chasmar, Jessica. "MSNBC's Tour(C) says 'power of whiteness' benefited Holocaust survivors". The Washington Times . Retrieved March 19, 2015 . ^ Ross, L.A. (May 27, 2014). "MSNBC Host Apologizes for 'Power of Whiteness' Tweet About Holocaust". TheWrap; retrieved March 19, 2015. ^ a b Copage, Eric V. (May 22, 2009). "Rita Nakouzi and Tour(C)". The New York Times. Retrieved March 19, 2015. ^ Navas, Judy Cantor (March 27, 2005). "Rita Nakouzi and Tour(C)". The New York Times. ^ Yesha, Callahan. (January 11, 2019). ".Essence. Retrieved January 11, 2019. External links [ edit ] Tour(C) on TwitterTour(C) on FacebookTour(C) on Typepad blogThe Career Cookbook Tour(C) profile
  • Citizen Change - Wikipedia
    • Link to Article
    • Archived Version
    • Mon, 04 May 2020 22:40
    •  
    • Citizen Change is a political service group, founded in 2004 by musician P. Diddy, and backed by Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey and 50 Cent.[1] The stated aim was to get young people and minorities to vote.[2]
    • History [ edit ] The campaign's message, promoted on t-shirts and other things, is "Vote or Die!", a phrase adapted from Join, or Die, a well-known cartoon by Benjamin Franklin.
    • 2004 presidential election [ edit ] P. Diddy said at the time that its mission was to make voting "hot" and "sexy."[3][4] The 2004 campaign included a line of "Vote or Die" t-shirts, an album, a voter registration push in cities and campuses nationwide, and commercials on such outlets as MTV and BET.[2]
    • 2008 presidential election [ edit ] P. Diddy invoked the phrase, "Obama or Die", at the BET Awards 2008.[5]
    • In pop culture [ edit ] Many American television shows (most notably South Park and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) have parodied this campaign as laughably hyperbolic, unnecessarily violent, and its ironic presentation of a false choice. In a South Park episode entitled "Douche and Turd", P. Diddy and his associates chase Stan Marsh around with weapons and literally threaten to kill him if he doesn't vote. In 2012, the "Vote or Die!" t-shirt concept was resurrected for the Democratic National Convention in the form of parody "Vote Obama" t-shirts.
    • References [ edit ] ^ "All aboard P. Diddy's political party plane". Today . Retrieved January 18, 2019 . ^ a b Silverman, Stephen P. "P. Diddy to Kids, Minorities: Vote or Die". People . Retrieved January 18, 2019 . ^ Quart, Alissa. "They're Not Buying It". New York Times . Retrieved January 18, 2019 . ^ Vargas, Jose Antonio. "Vote or Die? Well, They Did Vote". Washington Post . Retrieved January 18, 2019 . ^ Elsworth, Catherine. "P Diddy leads rapper 'shout out' for Barack Obama". The Telegraph . Retrieved January 18, 2019 .
  • Tavis Smiley - Wikipedia
    • Link to Article
    • Archived Version
    • Mon, 04 May 2020 22:31
    •  
    • Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author.[1][2] Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles.
    • Smiley became a radio commentator in 1991 and, starting in 1996, he hosted the talk show BET Talk (later renamed BET Tonight) on Black Entertainment Television (BET). After Smiley sold an exclusive interview of Sara Jane Olson to ABC News in 2001, BET declined to renew his contract that year. Smiley then began hosting The Tavis Smiley Show on National Public Radio (NPR) (2002''04) and hosted Tavis Smiley on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on weekdays and The Tavis Smiley Show on Public Radio International (PRI) from 2004 until 2017, when he was dismissed for having sexual relationships with subordinates.
    • From 2010 to 2013, Smiley and Cornel West worked together to host their own radio talk show, Smiley & West. They were featured together interviewing musician Bill Withers in the 2009 documentary film Still Bill.[3] He was the new host of Tavis Talks on BlogTalkRadio's Tavis Smiley Network.
    • Early life [ edit ] Tavis Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, the son of Joyce Marie Roberts, a single woman who first became pregnant at age 18.[4] On September 13, 1966, his second birthday, his mother married Emory Garnell Smiley, a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force.[5] A few years later Tavis learned the identity of his biological father, whom he identifies in his autobiography, What I Know For Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America, only as "T".[6]
    • Smiley's family soon moved to Indiana when his stepfather was transferred to Grissom Air Force Base near Peru, Indiana. On arriving in Indiana, the Smiley family took up residence in a three-bedroom mobile home in the small town of Bunker Hill, Indiana.[7] The Smileys had three more children and added four more after the murder of Joyce's sister. Initially, four of her five children were cared for by their grandmother (known as "Big Mama"), but ill health impaired her ability, and Joyce and Emory took them in. The trailer home sheltered thirteen, including Tavis and his seven brothers and two sisters and the three adults.[8]
    • Smiley's mother was a very religious person, and the family attended the local New Bethel Tabernacle Church, part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.[9] The Smiley children were forbidden from listening to secular music at home or going to the movie theater, and could watch only television shows their parents felt were family-friendly.[10]
    • When he was in seventh grade, New Bethel pastor Elder Rufus Mills accused Smiley and his siblings of "running wild, disobeying their teacher, disrespecting their teacher, disrespecting the sanctity of this building, and mocking the holy message being taught" during Sunday School.[11] According to Smiley's account of the incident, his Sunday School teacher became confused as she was answering questions about the Book of John, and other students "responded by giggling and acting a little unruly," although he and his sister Phyllis "remained quiet".[12] Garnell whipped Tavis and Phyllis with an extension cord, wounding the two children.[13] The next day at school, administrators found out about the children's injuries.[14] The local newspaper in Kokomo, Indiana reported on the beating and the legal proceedings against Garnell; Tavis and Phyllis were sent to foster care temporarily.[15] Garnell told his children that the judge decided that he had "overreacted" and found he and Joyce were "concerned parents who were completely involved in [our] children's lives and well-being".[16]
    • Smiley became interested in politics at age 13 after attending a fundraiser for U.S. Senator Birch Bayh.[9] At Maconaquah High School in Bunker Hill, Indiana, a school that Smiley described as "98 percent white,"[17] he was active in the student council and the debate team, even though his parents were "skeptical of all non-church extracurricular activities".[18]
    • Career [ edit ] College and political career [ edit ] In 1982 Smiley enrolled at Indiana University Bloomington (IU). Because his parents refused to complete financial aid papers, Smiley entered the university with only $50 and a small suitcase.[19] Administrators let Smiley complete the paperwork to become a full-time student.[20] The summer after his first year, Smiley worked, attended summer classes, and lived off campus with Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players, then being coached by Bob Knight.[21] Smiley was accepted into the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity during his second year, and became business manager of his dormitory, a member of the student senate, and director of minority affairs.[22] After his friend Denver Smith was killed by Indiana police officers who claimed to have acted in self-defense, Smiley helped lead protests to defend Smith, who he believed had been wrongfully killed.[23] Those protests led him to a work-study internship at the office of Bloomington Mayor Tomilea Allison, where he was paid $5 an hour. Smiley wrote letters to local residents, researched for Mayor Allison, and helped write position papers on local issues.[24] In his autobiography, Smiley says that a deputy mayor caught him systematically adding extra hours to his time sheets, illegal behavior that could have seen him charged with a felony and expelled from college, but instead of pressing charges, Mayor Allison allowed him to work all of the hours for which he had already been paid, and did not tell other people what he had done.[25]
    • During the first semester of his junior year, Smiley was under academic probation; he blamed his extracurricular activities for interfering with his studies.[26] When Smiley visited Los Angeles to attend a national student leaders' convention, the cousin of his roommate introduced Smiley to football star Jim Brown. Brown introduced Smiley to fellow football player George Hughley, who worked for Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley and connected Smiley to Mayor Bradley's staff.[27] Every week after meeting Bradley's staff, Smiley wrote a letter to the mayor's office asking for an internship, and once flew to Los Angeles to appeal. However, by summer he received a letter from the city stating that all internship positions were filled.[28] Smiley then handwrote a letter to the mayor that he said represented his feeling "from the heart," and Bradley called Smiley to say that he had a position available for him.[29] Although it counted for college credit, the internship was unpaid, so the Bloomington Community Progress Council funded Smiley with $5,000 for living expenses in Los Angeles, and Brown allowed Smiley to live as a houseguest in September 1985. Starting the following month, Smiley lived in the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity house at the University of Southern California. At City Hall, Smiley worked at the Office of Youth Development on the 22nd floor.[30]
    • Smiley twice considered quitting college, first during his junior year,[31] and then after finishing his internship with Mayor Bradley. Bradley persuaded Smiley to return to college.[32] He took the LSAT twice because, he thought he "didn't do great the first time," and he "did a little better" the second time; he intended to apply to Harvard Law School.[33] Instead, Smiley did not graduate from college at all, because he failed a required course in his senior year, and "did poorly in several other courses," which meant he could not complete his degree on time; rather than stay for an extra term, he chose to leave IU and move to Los Angeles, where he had been promised a job.[34] Following a hiring freeze by the government of Los Angeles, Smiley served as an aide to Mayor Bradley until 1990.[35] A 1988 article in the Los Angeles Times identified Smiley as "a Bradley administrative assistant who works in South Los Angeles".[36] In 2003, Smiley officially received his degree from Indiana University in public affairs.[37]
    • Radio and television career [ edit ] Campaigning for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council in 1991 against incumbent Ruth Galanter, Smiley finished fourth among 15 candidates. He became a radio commentator, broadcasting one-minute daily radio segments called The Smiley Report on KGFJ radio.[9] With Ruben Navarrette Jr., Smiley co-hosted a local talk show in Los Angeles where his strongly held views on race and politics, combined with his arguments regarding the impact of institutional racism and substandard educational and economic opportunities for inner-city black youth, earned him attention at the Los Angeles Times. His commentaries focused on local and national current-affairs issues affecting the African-American community.[38] For six months, Smiley worked on a community news program on a local cable network, and spent six more months working on television in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[39]
    • Radio beginning [ edit ] In 1996 Smiley became a frequent commentator to the Tom Joyner Morning Show, a nationally syndicated radio show broadcast on black and urban stations in the United States.[40] He developed a friendship with host Joyner.
    • Launch of TV talk show BET Talk/ BET Tonight [ edit ] Also in 1996 Smiley began hosting and executive producing BET Tonight (originally BET Talk when it first premiered), a public affairs discussion show on the Black Entertainment Television (BET) network. He interviewed major political figures and celebrities, and discussed topics ranging from racial profiling and police brutality to R&B music and Hollywood gossip.
    • Firing at BET Tonight [ edit ] Smiley hosted BET Tonight until 2001 when, in a controversial move, the network announced that Smiley's contract would not be renewed. This sparked an angry response from Joyner, who sought to rally his radio audience to protest BET's decision. Robert L. Johnson, founder of BET, defended the decision, stating that Smiley had been fired because he had sold an exclusive interview to ABC News without first offering the story to BET, even though Smiley's contract with BET did not require him to do so. Smiley countered with the assertion that he had offered the story'--an interview with Sara Jane Olson, an alleged former member of the Symbionese Liberation Army'--to CBS, which, along with BET, was owned by Viacom. Smiley ultimately sold the interview to rival network ABC, he said, only after CBS passed on the interview, and suggested that his firing was payback for the publicity he gained as a result of providing an exclusive interview to ABC.[41] Ultimately BET and Viacom did not reverse their decision to terminate Smiley's contract.
    • Move to C-SPAN [ edit ] In 2000 they began hosting annual town hall meetings called "The State of the Black Union," which were aired live on the C-SPAN cable television network. Each of these town hall meetings focused on a specific topic affecting the African-American community, featuring a panel of African-American leaders, educators, and professionals, assembled before an audience, to discuss problems related to the forum's topic, as well as potential solutions.[42] Smiley also used his commentator status on Joyner's radio show to launch several advocacy campaigns to highlight discriminatory practices in the media and government, and to rally support for causes such as the awarding of a Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights icon Rosa Parks. Smiley also began building a national reputation as a political commentator with numerous appearances on political discussion shows on MSNBC, ABC, and CNN.
    • Radio talk show and firing [ edit ] Smiley was then offered a chance to host a radio talk show on National Public Radio. He served as host of The Tavis Smiley Show on NPR until December 2004, when he announced that he would be leaving his show, citing the network's inability to reach a more diverse audience.[43] Smiley launched a weekly version of his radio program The Tavis Smiley Show on April 29, 2005, distributed by NPR rival Public Radio International (PRI), until terminated by PRI on January 1, 2018, due to "troubling allegations".[44] On October 1, 2010, Tavis Smiley turned the second hour of his PRI program into Smiley & West co-hosted by his longtime collaborator Dr. Cornel West, which lasted until December 2013.[citation needed ]
    • Move to PBS [ edit ] Smiley also hosted Tavis Smiley, a late night talk show televised on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network and produced in association with WNET in New York.[45]
    • Smiley moderated two live presidential candidate forums in 2007: a Democratic forum on June 28 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.,[46] and a Republican forum on September 27 at Morgan State University in Baltimore.[47]
    • Smiley appeared on the Democracy Now! show.[48]
    • On June 25, 2013, Smiley partnered with BlogTalkRadio, the world's largest social broadcasting network with more than 18 million visitors and 40 million listens per month, to launch the Tavis Smiley Network (TSN): Smart talk. Online.
    • On September 4, 2014, it was announced that Smiley would be competing on the 19th season of Dancing with the Stars. He paired with professional dancer Sharna Burgess.[49] They were eliminated on the second week of competition and finished in 12th place.[50]
    • Controversy over presidential candidate Barack Obama [ edit ] On April 11, 2008, Tavis Smiley announced that he would resign in June 2008 as a commentator on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. He cited fatigue and a busy schedule in a personal call to Joyner. However, Joyner, referring to several commentaries in which Smiley was critical of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, indicated otherwise on his program, stating: "The real reason is that he can't take the hate he's been getting regarding the Barack issue'--hate from the black people that he loves so much."[51] Prior to the public controversy and being elected president, Obama had been on Smiley's PBS show six times.
    • In 2012, Smiley participated in a "Poverty Tour" with Princeton University professor Cornel West to promote their book The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto. The stated aim of the tour was to highlight the plight of the impoverished population of the United States prior to the 2012 presidential election, whose candidates Smiley and West stated had ignored the plight of the poor.[52][53][54][55]
    • The Covenant with Black America [ edit ] In March 2006, The Smiley Group and Third World Press published The Covenant with Black America, a collection of essays by black scholars and professionals edited by Smiley. The book covers topics ranging from education to healthcare, and was a New York Times Bestseller.[56]
    • Sexual misconduct allegations [ edit ] On December 13, 2017, PBS indefinitely suspended Smiley. PBS issued a statement saying that it had hired a law firm to conduct an investigation "immediately after learning of troubling allegations regarding Mr. Smiley" and that this investigation "uncovered multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS."[57] It was reported by Variety that Smiley was let go due to multiple relationships with subordinates, some of whom felt the relationship was connected to their employment. It was also alleged that Smiley created an environment that was "verbally abusive and threatening."[58] Smiley's suspension followed PBS' decision to part ways with Charlie Rose.[59] Smiley is accused of having "had sexual relationships with multiple staff members, some of whom reportedly felt that their relationship with the TV host was connected to their employment status."[60]
    • On December 14, Smiley described the PBS investigation as "biased and sloppy" and said he would fight the allegations and the damage to his reputation. He released a statement saying, "I have the utmost respect for women and celebrate the courage of those who have come forth to tell their truth."[61] "To be clear, I have never groped, coerced or exposed myself inappropriately to any workplace colleague in my entire broadcast career, covering six networks over 30 years",[61] he also said.
    • Soon after the suspension, Smiley went on a country-wide tour to defend his innocence while also supporting the #MeToo movement and denouncing workplace harassment.[58][62]. In 2018, Smiley sued PBS for wrongful termination while PBS countersued claiming a breach of a morals clause in his contract. On March 4, 2020, a jury in Washington, D.C. agreed with the television network recommending to the judge that Smiley pay PBS $1.486 million.[63]
    • Awards and contributions [ edit ] Smiley was honored with the NAACP Image Award for best news, talk, or information series for three consecutive years (1997''99) for his work on BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley.[64] Smiley's advocacy efforts have earned him numerous awards and recognition including the recipient of the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award from the National Association of Minorities in Communications.[65]
    • In 1999, he founded the Tavis Smiley Foundation, which funds programs that develop young leaders in the community. Since its inception, more than 6,500 young people have participated in the foundation's Youth to Leaders Training workshops and conferences.[66]
    • His communications company, The Smiley Group, Inc., serves as the holding company for various enterprises encompassing broadcast and print media, lecturers, symposiums, and the Internet.[citation needed ]
    • In 1994, Time named Smiley one of America's 50 Most Promising Young Leaders.[67] Time would later honor him in 2009 as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World". In May 2007, Smiley gave a commencement speech at his alma mater, Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana (the university recently honored Smiley by naming the atrium of its School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) building, The Tavis Smiley Atrium).
    • In 2005, Tavis Smiley donated and raised thousands of dollars for Texas Southern University; the School of Communication was temporarily named after him.[68]
    • In May 2008, he gave the commencement address at Connecticut College, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate.[69] On December 12, 2008, Smiley received the Du Bois Medal from Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.[70]
    • In May 2009, Smiley was awarded an honorary doctorate at Langston University after giving the commencement address there.[71] He was also awarded the 2009 Interdependence Day Prize from Demos in Istanbul, Turkey.[72]
    • Smiley was named No. 2 change agent in the field of media behind Oprah Winfrey in EBONY Magazine ' s POWER 150 list.
    • In 2014, Smiley received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring his contributions to television.[73]
    • To date, Smiley has received 16 honorary doctorates.[citation needed ]
    • Smiley is referenced in the KRS-One song "Clear 'Em Out."[74]
    • Bibliography [ edit ] Just a Thought: The Smiley Report (ISBN 0-9636952-3-1)Doing What's Right: How to Fight for What You Believe'--And Make a Difference (ISBN 0-385-49931-0)Hard Left (ISBN 0-385-48404-6)Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing, and Hope from Black America (ISBN 0-385-72169-2)How to Make Black America Better: Leading African Americans Speak Out (ISBN 0-385-72087-4)On Air:The Best of Tavis Smiley on the Tom Joyner Morning Show (ISBN 1-890194-33-6)The Covenant with Black America (ISBN 0-88378-277-4)What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America (ISBN 978-0-385-50516-1; ISBN 0-385-50516-7)Accountable: Making America As Good As Its Promise (ISBN 978-1-4391-0004-2)Fail Up (ISBN 1-4019-3390-4)The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto (with Cornel West) (ISBN 1-4019-4063-3)Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Final Year (ISBN 0-316-33276-3; ISBN 978-0-316-33276-7)My Journey with Maya (with David Ritz) (ISBN 978-1-4789-5829-1)Covenant With Black America: Ten Years Later (ISBN 978-1-4019-5149-8)50 For Your Future: Lessons From Down the Road (ISBN 978-1-4019-4839-9)Before You Judge Me: The Triumph and Tragedy of Michael Jackson's Last Days (with David Ritz) (ISBN 0-316-25909-8; ISBN 978-0-316-25909-5)The Covenant with Black America - Ten Years Later (ISBN 1-40195-149-X)References [ edit ] ^ Boehm, Mike (October 25, 2009). "Tavis Smiley's exhibit 'America I Am: The African American Imprint' comes to L.A." Archived from the original on November 5, 2011 '' via Los Angeles Times. ^ "Tavis Smiley wants his chair -- now". Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. ^ Hale, Mike (January 26, 2010). "A Documentary Looks at Bill Withers". Archived from the original on December 18, 2015 '' via NYTimes.com. ^ Smiley 2006, p. 1 ^ "Harrison '' Guflport District, MS". Marriage License Link. Harrison County Mississippi. January 9, 1997. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011 . Retrieved December 27, 2009 . ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 49''50 ^ Smiley 2006, p. 17 ^ Unselfish Love. Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing, and Hope from Black America (Google eBook). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. 2009. ISBN 9781400075935. ^ a b c "Tavis Smiley". Contemporary Black Biography. Gale. 2006. Archived from the original on May 16, 2011. ^ Smiley 2006, p. 48 ^ Smiley 2006, p. 63 ^ Smiley 2006, p. 62 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 64''65 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 66''67 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 72''82 ^ Smiley 2006, p. 83 ^ Smiley 2006, p. 94 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 95, 98 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 128''131 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 136''138 ^ Smiley 2006, p. 149 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 149''150 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 151''153 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 159''162 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 163''164 ^ Smiley 2006, p. 165 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 167''170 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 170''174 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 177''180 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 184''186 ^ Boyer, Edward J. (July 22, 1996). "Fast Track, Left Lane". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012 . Retrieved July 17, 2010 . ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 190''191 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 195''196 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 195''198 ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 205''207 ^ Baker, Bob (September 6, 1988). "Partners Make Watts Market a Meaty Venture". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012 . Retrieved July 17, 2010 . ^ "Tavis Smiley". Rootwords. Indiana University. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012 . Retrieved August 14, 2011 . ^ Puig, Claudia (November 6, 1994). "What's The Frequency, Gen X?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012 . Retrieved July 17, 2010 . ^ Smiley 2006, pp. 214''215 ^ "Tavis Smiley". Current Biography. TavisTalks.com. 2003. Archived from the original on May 16, 2006. ^ Smiley's termination from BET Archived July 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine ^ Smiley 2006, p. 252 ^ Farley, Christopher John (December 13, 2004), "10 Questions For Tavis Smiley", Time, 164 (24), p. 8, archived from the original on February 19, 2006 ^ Simpson, April, "PRI Terminates Relationship with Tavis Smiley", in Current: News For People in Public Media (December 15, 2017, as accessed Dec. 17, 2017). ^ Collins, Scott (November 23, 2010). "Tavis Smiley-KCET relationship ending badly". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. ^ Nagourney, Adam (June 29, 2007). "Domestic Issues Frame Democratic Debate in a Mostly Minority Setting". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 24, 2009 . Retrieved July 17, 2010 . ^ Cooper, Michael (September 28, 2007). "Advertise on NYTimes.com 4 Top G.O.P. Candidates Skip Debate With Minority Focus". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 10, 2012 . Retrieved July 17, 2010 . ^ "Tavis Smiley on the State of the Black Union, Economic Inequality and the Obama Administration's Boycott of the World Conference Against Racism". March 2, 2009. Archived from the original on October 26, 2010. ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth; Wagmeister, Elizabeth (September 4, 2014). " ' Dancing With The Stars': Season 19 Celebrity Contestants Revealed". Archived from the original on April 28, 2016. ^ "DWTS Spoiler Alert! Who Was Eliminated in Week 2?". Archived from the original on September 24, 2014. ^ Farhi, Paul (April 12, 2008). "Tavis Smiley Will Cut Ties With Joyner Radio Show". Archived from the original on November 6, 2012 '' via washingtonpost.com. ^ "Cornel West & Tavis Smiley on Obama: "Many of Us Are Exploring Other Possibilities in Coming Election " ". Democracy Now!. August 9, 2011. Archived from the original on April 17, 2012 . Retrieved April 21, 2012 . ^ Stelter, Brian. " ' Tavis Smiley' on Poverty Tour". Archived from the original on August 9, 2012. ^ " ' Poverty tour' fuels debate on Obama's policies and African Americans". Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. ^ "Tavis Smiley and Cornel West release book on poverty". Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. ^ Weeks, Linton (April 7, 2006). "The Volume That's Making a Loud Noise". Archived from the original on February 16, 2016 '' via washingtonpost.com. ^ Holloway, Daniel (December 13, 2017). "PBS Suspends 'Tavis Smiley' Following Sexual Misconduct Investigation (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Los Angeles: Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved December 14, 2017 . ^ a b Farhi, Paul (February 1, 2018). "Most famous men accused of sexual misconduct have been lying low. Not Tavis Smiley". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved February 2, 2018 . ^ Gonzales, Richard (December 13, 2017). "PBS Host Tavis Smiley Suspended After Sexual Misconduct Investigation". Washington, D.C.: NPR . Retrieved December 14, 2017 . ^ Zwirz, Elizabeth (December 13, 2017). "Tavis Smiley's show suspended by PBS after sexual misconduct accusations involving staffers emerge". Fox News. New York City: Fox Entertainment Group . Retrieved December 14, 2017 . ^ a b Allen, Karma (December 14, 2017). "Suspended PBS host Tavis Smiley plans to 'fight back' against sexual misconduct allegations". ABC News. New York City: ABC . Retrieved December 14, 2014 . ^ "Tavis Smiley takes on #MeToo movement". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved January 31, 2018 . ^ Maddaus, Gene (March 4, 2020). "Jury Finds That Tavis Smiley Violated PBS Morals Clause". Variety. Los Angeles: Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved March 4, 2020 . ^ "About the Show". pbs.org. Archived from the original on June 13, 2017 . Retrieved July 11, 2017 . ^ "Tavis Smiley Show from NPR". npr.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016 . Retrieved July 11, 2017 . ^ "Tavis Smiley Foundation". guidestar.org . Retrieved July 11, 2017 . ^ Tavis Smiley, Hard Left, p. 11 ^ Kever, Jeannie (October 23, 2009). "TSU drops broadcaster's name after dispute" Archived March 30, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Houston Chronicle. Accessed January 15, 2015. ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients - Connecticut College". conncoll.edu. Archived from the original on May 29, 2017 . Retrieved July 11, 2017 . ^ "W. E. B. Du Bois Medalists". hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on March 9, 2017 . Retrieved July 11, 2017 . ^ "Today in Black History, 9/13/2012". thewright.org. Museum of African American History. Archived from the original on July 28, 2016 . Retrieved July 11, 2017 . ^ "Tavis Smiley Public Radio International". pri.org. Archived from the original on June 19, 2017 . Retrieved July 11, 2017 . ^ "Tupac Shakur to get Walk of Fame star". Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 2, 2017 . Retrieved January 25, 2017 . CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Sources [ edit ] LaRue, William. "Tavis Smiley: NPR Host Brings Latenight Talk to PBS". The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York), February 1, 2004, STARS section, pp. 4''6.Slade, Scott. "Author Issues Wakeup Call". Kokomo Tribune (Indiana), June 20, 1996, p. 7.Smiley, Tavis (2006), What I Know For Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America, New York City, United States: Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-50516-7 External links [ edit ] Official website Tavis Smiley on IMDbTavis Smiley on WNET/PBSAppearances on C-SPANInterview with Smiley on Doing What's Right, Booknotes April 9, 2000C-SPAN Q&A interview with Smiley, October 29, 2006Tavis Smiley on Charlie RoseTavis Smiley at NPRTavis Smiley: The State of the Black Union InterviewTavis Smiley on Rev. Martin Luther King and His Opposition to the Vietnam War '' video by Democracy Now!
  • (300) Diddy's SHOCKING message to Biden on behalf of Black Voters: 'I will hold vote HOSTAGE' - YouTube
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  • Krystal Ball - Wikipedia
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    • American progressive journalist and TV host
    • Krystal Marie Ball (born November 24, 1981) is an American political pundit and journalist who co-hosts Rising with the Hill's Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti,[2] produced by The Hill. She has appeared on Fox News, CNN, CNBC and Real Time with Bill Maher. She was previously a contributor under contract for MSNBC and a regular contributor to the HuffPost.
    • Ball was the Democratic Party nominee for Congress in Virginia's 1st congressional district in the 2010 election, losing to Republican incumbent Rob Wittman. She co-hosted the MSNBC show The Cycle from June 2012 to July 2015. In May 2017, she created the People's House Project, a political action committee working on behalf of Democratic causes.
    • Early life and education [ edit ] Ball was born on November 24, 1981.[3] Her father Edward Ball is a physicist and mother Rose Marie Ball, a teacher. The name Krystal came from her father, a physicist who wrote his dissertation on crystals.[4] She has two older sisters, Holly and Heidi.[5]
    • Ball graduated from King George High School in King George, Virginia and then attended Clemson University for a year before transferring to the University of Virginia, where she received a bachelor's degree in economics.[6]
    • Career [ edit ] Ball is a business owner and a certified public accountant.[7] She previously worked for the federal contractor CGI Group[8] and traveled to Louisiana to assist in the courts' efforts to recover after Hurricane Katrina. She was a columnist for The Atlantic.[9]
    • In 2012, Ball launched a website calling for a boycott of advertisers on The Rush Limbaugh Show after Limbaugh's comments about Sandra Fluke.[10][11] Thinkprogress reported on March 2, 2012 that over 50 advertisers were confirmed to have dropped the show.[12][13]
    • 2010 U.S. House campaign [ edit ] In 2010 Ball ran to represent Virginia's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives and was defeated by Republican incumbent Rob Wittman. She was defeated by a margin of 63.90% to 34.76%.[14] Despite her loss, she was listed by Forbes as number 21 on the magazine's "The Top 25 Most Powerful Women of the Midterm Elections".[15]
    • During the campaign, Ball supported education reform, including charter schools, using technology, alternative certification of teachers, and paying teachers six figure salaries.[16] She also called for a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress, banning lobbyist gifts, increasing disclosure, and establishing a new Independent Ethics Commission to investigate and audit influence by special interests.[17] Of Ball's fundraising, 72 percent was from out-of-state donors, and 28 percent in-state.[18] In total, she raised $1.06 million which was 20% less than her opponent.[19]
    • [ edit ] In May 2017, Ball created the People's House Project, a political action committee (PAC) working on behalf of Democratic causes.[20] It was among the largest contributors to Richard Ojeda's campaign for the West Virginia Senate.[21]
    • In May 2018, McClatchy wrote of her PAC:
    • But thus far, nobody has benefited more financially from the group than Ball herself. Of the $445,000 Ball raised for the group, she paid herself more than a third of that'--$174,000'--in salary, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission. The majority of her salary'--$104,000'--came in the first three months of this year alone. That's nearly eight times more than the nearly $22,000 the PHP has used to support its dozen endorsed candidates, some of whom have received just a single $1,000 contribution. Political groups with a glaring discrepancy between personal salaries and candidate contributions are often deemed so-called ''Scam PACs,'' a type of organization that enriches its founders while doing little to assist the cause or candidate they purportedly support.[20]
    • Ball responded to McClatchy's claims, stating because the PAC receives money in fits and starts, she paid herself a lump sum in the first months of 2018 as backpay for what she should have earned in 2017, and that her pay "was comparable to what other Pac directors typically make".[20] She also stated that her PAC does not operate in the same way as a typical PAC in that it is not a "direct conduit" of funds, and that she herself is effectively a manager for each of the candidates she works with.[22] McClatchy wrote that candidates and campaign officials that she had assisted had said that Ball "was a go-to adviser for all manner of problems and questions. Her help was especially valuable, they added, because most of them couldn't afford the kind of high-priced consultants who usually guide campaigns, especially for first-time candidates...There's no doubt that Ball and Moffett, the group's executive director, actually help the candidates they endorse. They've just backed a very different kind of candidates, and unlike most groups, they've prioritized political advice over direct financial assistance."[20]
    • Media [ edit ] Ball has appeared on Fox News, CNN, and CNBC, and was a contributor under contract for MSNBC.[23][24][25] She was a regular contributor to the HuffPost.[26] From June 25, 2012 to July 31, 2015, Ball co-hosted the MSNBC show, The Cycle, with Tour(C), Steve Kornacki, and S. E. Cupp.[27] Interviewed by Jill Filipovic she explained how she launched into a new career as a political commentator on television.[28] One of her most discussed monologues on the show was a 2014 critique of Hillary Clinton which urged her not to run for President.[29]
    • Ball's first book Reversing the Apocalypse: Hijacking the Democratic Party to Save the World was published in 2017, in which she argued that the Democratic Party needed to return to its New Deal roots by emulating Franklin D. Roosevelt and advocating a more economically interventionist agenda than it has done in recent decades.[1]
    • In 2018, Ball started hosting a webcast called Rising on The Hill. She originally co-hosted the webcast with Buck Sexton, but Sexton was later replaced by Saagar Enjeti.[30] Ball's second book, co-authored with Enjeti, is The Populist's Guide to 2020: A New Right and New Left Are Rising, released on February 8, 2020.[31][32]
    • Ball supported Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign.[33][34][35][36] During the 2020 impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump she speculated, without evidence, that Democrats were using the Senate trial to keep Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in Washington D.C. when they would otherwise be campaigning.[37]
    • Personal life [ edit ] Ball is married to Jonathan Dariyanani, and they have three children.[8][38] She was a Senior Fellow of the New Leaders Council.[39] Interviewing Jamie Kilstein about masculinity in crisis she described herself as a feminist.[40]
    • Bibliography [ edit ] Reversing the Apocalypse: Hijacking the Democratic Party to Save the World (Pelican Media, 2017, eBook)The Populist's Guide to 2020: A New Right and New Left Are Rising (with Saagar Enjeti; Strong Arm Press, 2020, ISBN 978-1947492455)References [ edit ] ^ a b Craig, Berry (April 6, 2017). "Krystal Ball book: Dems must rekindle the spirit of FDR to reverse the 'apocalypse' of Trumpism". Daily Kos . Retrieved April 26, 2017 . ^ "Rising". TheHill . Retrieved October 11, 2019 . ^ "Player Bio: Krystal Ball '' Clemson University Official Athletic Site". Clemsontigers.cstv.com. Archived from the original on October 17, 2010 . Retrieved August 29, 2010 . ^ Hunley, Jonathan. "Krystal Ball hopes for good fortune come November". InsideNoVa. Rappahannock Media LLC . Retrieved February 7, 2020 . ^ Krystal Ball on Why Centrism Sucks | Useful Idiots , retrieved September 27, 2019 ^ Cook, Phyllis (May 27, 2009). "Krystal Ball is running for Congress". The Journal. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014 . Retrieved January 9, 2014 . ^ "Candidate Biography and Q&A: Krystal M. Ball". articles.dailypress.com. Daily Press. October 10, 2010 . Retrieved November 7, 2010 . ^ a b Chelyen Davis (June 28, 2009). "Krystal Ball gets started early in bid for Rob Wittman's seat". The Free Lance''Star. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. ^ "Krystal Ball". The Atlantic. 2012 . Retrieved February 1, 2020 . ^ Palmeri, Christopher (March 6, 2012). "Limbaugh Radio Show Faces Backlash from Social Media as Advertisers Flee". BusinessWeek . Retrieved April 29, 2012 . ^ Yakas, Ben (March 4, 2012). "Politicians, Advertisers Unimpressed With Rush Limbaugh's Apology". Gothamist. Archived from the original on November 6, 2017 . Retrieved April 29, 2012 . ^ "Rush Limbaugh's Advertisers Facing Social Media Firestorm" . Retrieved January 15, 2020 . ^ Siegel, Robert (March 8, 2012). "As Advertisers Flee, Is Limbaugh Losing That Much?". All Things Considered (audio and transcript). NPR . Retrieved May 23, 2013 . ^ "General and Special Elections Unofficial Results". voterinfo.sbe.virginia.gov. November 2, 2010. Archived from the original on November 3, 2010. ^ Casserly, Meghan (October 26, 2010). "Most Powerful Women in the Mid Term Elections". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 6, 2011 . Retrieved September 2, 2017 . ^ Stabley, Matthew. "Krystal Ball -- the Future of The Hill's Most Beautiful". NBC4 Washington. ^ "Issues". Krystal Ball for Congress. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. ^ "Congressional Elections: Virginia District 01 Race: 2010 Cycle". OpenSecrets. April 25, 2011 . Retrieved August 7, 2011 . ^ "Virginia District 01 2010 race". OpenSecrets. 2010 . Retrieved January 21, 2020 . ^ a b c d "Is Krystal Ball's PAC a fresh approach or a get-rich scheme?". McClatchyDC . Retrieved May 9, 2018 . ^ Stuck, Taylor (October 29, 2018). "Ojeda outraises Miller with out-of-state donations". Associated Press . Retrieved December 22, 2019 . ^ " " Ask The Candidates" '-- Krystal Ball Fires Back At Reporter, Defends People's House Project". www.youtube.com. ^ Pershing, Ben (September 11, 2011). "Krystal Ball: From scandal star to professional pundit". The Washington Post . Retrieved October 1, 2011 . ^ "Super Tuesday Gives No Definite Result". CNBC. March 7, 2012 . Retrieved April 28, 2012 . ^ "Krystal Ball: Yang's MSNBC boycott shows network has 'officially lost the left ' ". The Hill. November 25, 2019. ^ "Krystal Ball". Huffington Post . Retrieved April 28, 2012 . ^ Stelter, Brian (June 21, 2012). "New MSNBC Show Will Feature a Panel of Political Pundits". The New York Times . Retrieved June 27, 2012 . ^ Filipovic, Jill (January 26, 2015). "Get That Life: How I Started My Own MSNBC Show". Cosmopolitan . Retrieved February 14, 2020 . ^ Simon, Johannes (January 30, 2020). "Schluss mit der proletarischen Scham!" (in German). Neues Deutschland . Retrieved February 1, 2020 . ^ "Rising with The Hill's Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton". The Hill . Retrieved June 14, 2018 . ^ Palmer, Anna; Sherman, Jake (January 7, 2020). "Popping the Bolton bubble". Politico Playbook . Retrieved January 8, 2020 . ^ Hartmann, Thom (February 3, 2020). "Will 2020 Election Be A Story of Populism?". Free Speech TV . Retrieved February 11, 2020 . ^ "Krystal Ball: Why MSNBC is to blame for Joe Biden". The Hill: Rising. The Hill . Retrieved March 28, 2020 . ^ Ball, Krystal. "Krystal Ball: Is this how Bernie Sanders will break the establishment?". The Hill: Rising. The Hill . Retrieved March 28, 2020 . ^ Kilpatrick, Connor. "Krystal Ball Is the Anti''Rachel Maddow Bernie Fans Have Been Waiting For". Jacobin. Jacobin Magazine . Retrieved March 28, 2020 . ^ "Krystal Ball: The left doesn't owe Joe Biden their vote". Rising. The Hill . Retrieved March 28, 2020 . ^ Chait, Jonathan (December 23, 2019). "Tulsi Gabbard and the Return of the Anti-Anti-Trump Left". Intelligencer . Retrieved March 15, 2020 . ^ "Krystal Ball and Jonathan Dariyanani hold daughter Ida Rose at Politicon in Pasadena, California". upi.com. July 29, 2017. ^ Angueira, Lauren (November 30, 2016). "South Florida activists prepare for life under Trump". Miami New Times . Retrieved December 23, 2019 . ^ Rising (January 4, 2020). Jamie Kilstein: Is there a crisis in masculinity? on YouTube. External links [ edit ] Krystal Ball on IMDb Profile at Vote SmartFinancial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
  • Lift Every Voice: The Biden Plan for Black America - Joe Biden - Medium
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    • Mon, 04 May 2020 18:48
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    • Among the greatest honors of my life was a trip I took to Memphis in October of 2018 to visit the National Civil Rights Museum and receive the institution's annual Freedom Award. While I was there, I had a chance to stand on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was assassinated half a century earlier, and reflect on all of the progress we'd made '-- and that which we hadn't '-- in the years since that unbearable day.
    • The motel balcony leads back into Dr. King's room '-- a room preserved just as it was on the night he was taken from us. The bed is unmade. Coffee cups are scattered on the table. There is a restless spirit in that room '-- of a dream deferred; of unfinished business.
    • The night before Dr. King was assassinated, he stood at the pulpit at Mason Temple and delivered what turned out to be his final sermon '-- a call to support sanitation workers who were striking for better pay. He commanded the congregation: ''Let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge, to make America what it ought to be.''
    • Fifty-two years later, his charge remains as vital as it was that night. We have made extraordinary strides along so many fronts '-- but for African American families, we have not yet made America what it ought to be. The truth is, African Americans can never have a fair shot at the American Dream so long as entrenched disparities are still allowed to chip away at opportunity. You don't have an equal chance when your schools are substandard, when your home is undervalued, when your car insurance costs more for no good reason, or when the poverty rate for African Americans is more than twice what it is for whites.
    • I believe that the moral obligation of our time is to rebuild our economy in a way that finally brings everyone along. That goal has always been the core of my candidacy '-- it's the very reason that I am running for President. And achieving it starts by rooting out systemic racism from our laws, our policies, our institutions, and our hearts.
    • This mission is more urgent now than ever before, as the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 have exposed '-- and cruelly exacerbated '-- the disparities long faced by African Americans. In April, I called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to collect more data that would shed light on how COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting communities, including breaking down its impacts by race. The data we've seen so far suggests that African Americans are dying from COVID-19 at a far higher rate than whites. African Americans represent an especially high percentage of the front-line workers putting themselves at greater risk to sustain the economy and keep the rest of the country safe and fed '-- and are less likely to have a job they can do from home, forcing them to make the difficult choice between their health and a paycheck. Long-standing systemic inequalities may also be contributing to this disparity '-- including the fact that African Americans are more likely to be uninsured. While there's a lot we don't yet know about COVID-19, we do know that equitable distribution of resources '-- like testing and medical equipment '-- can make a difference in fighting the virus. We must make that a priority and take action now.
    • The virus is also having a disproportionate economic impact on African American families. African American small businesses have been hit hard, and over 90% of African American-owned businesses are estimated to be shut out of the initial relief program due to preexisting, systemic disparities in lending. This is especially dire given that African American families have less of a financial cushion to fall back on in hard times. Since the onset of this crisis, I have been calling for the nation's relief and recovery efforts to be equitable and just, including by designing relief programs in ways that steer clear of methods we know lead to disparate outcomes '-- so that funds can actually reach African American families, communities, and small businesses. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has failed to listen or act. If I were President today, I would make it a top priority to ensure that African American workers, families, and small businesses got the relief they need and deserve.
    • This is not a new priority for me '-- tackling systemic racism and fighting for civil rights is what brought me to public service as a local councilman in the years just after Dr. King's death, and it has been a driving force throughout my career ever since. I was proud to fight against discriminatory school district funding and housing practices in my own community as a young man '-- and prouder still of the work I did in the U.S. Senate, co-sponsoring the Civil Rights Act of 1990 to protect against employment discrimination, leading efforts to reauthorize and extend the Fair Housing Act, and spearheading multiple reauthorizations of the Voting Rights Act to protect African Americans' right to vote.
    • This moment demands an overwhelming moral response. We need a comprehensive agenda for African Americans '-- a plan with the ambition to match the scale of the challenge, and one that recognizes that race-neutral policies are not a sufficient response to race-based disparities.
    • Today, I'm releasing a new plan to achieve equity for the African American community and take us one step closer to making America what it ought to be. The six pillars of my plan are as follows:
    • Advance the economic mobility of African Americans and close the racial wealth and income gap by investing in African American workers, businesses, and communities, and expanding African American homeownership and wealth building;Expand access to high-quality education and tackle racial inequity in our education system by investing in universal preschool, closing funding gaps by race, making college affordable, and tackling the student debt crisis;End health disparities by making far-reaching investments, expanding access to affordable health care, improving the quality of care African Americans receive, and making health equity a reality for African Americans;Strengthen America's commitment to justice by ending incarceration for drug use alone, reducing the number of people incarcerated, reinvesting those savings in communities affected by mass incarceration, and addressing systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors' offices;Make the right to vote and the right to equal protection real for African Americans by dramatically expanding the Department of Justice's ability to fight voter suppression and gerrymandering, bringing the full force of the federal government's authority to confront voter disinformation efforts targeting African Americans, and appointing a federal judiciary that looks like America;Address environmental justice by making historic investments, enforcing environmental justice legislation, and ensuring that African Americans are dealt in on the country's clean energy future.This plan will tackle some of the most stubborn and pervasive issues '-- including those that often go unnoticed '-- that hold back African Americans from receiving an equal shot.
    • African American entrepreneurs seeking capital are rejected at a rate nearly 20 percent higher than white entrepreneurs, and receive far less support when they do get funding. We're going to fix that by doubling the State Small Business Credit Initiative, doubling funding for a program that supports mission-driven lenders in low-income communities, expanding the New Markets Tax Credit to draw tens of billions of dollars to invest in communities that need it, and shoring up the Small Business Administration's budget and expanding the agency's programs that have proven most effective at helping African American-owned businesses get off the ground.
    • The first installment of the Paycheck Protection Program created in response to COVID-19 largely left out minority-owned businesses. We're going to fix that by providing entrepreneurs with technical assistance and legal and accounting support to ensure that they can apply for funding, producing a weekly dashboard to track exactly which businesses are receiving economic relief, and reserving half of all new relief funds for small businesses with 50 or fewer employees '-- a category that includes 98 percent of all minority- and women-owned businesses.
    • The gap between African American and white homeownership is larger today than it was when the Fair Housing Act was first passed in 1968 '-- a key contributor to the unacceptable racial wealth gap that persists between American households. We're going to fix that by investing $640 billion over ten years to ensure that every American has access to housing that is affordable and accessible, stable and safe, energy-efficient, and located near good schools. We'll create a tax credit of up to $15,000 for first-time homebuyers available at the moment they make their purchase, establish a new homeowners' and renters' bill of rights to bar deceptive and discriminatory practices and bring more accountability and oversight to mortgage brokers and landlords, end discrimination in credit reporting by creating a new public credit reporting agency to catch and eliminate racial disparities, and establish national standards for housing appraisals to put an end to the undervaluing of homes in African American neighborhoods.
    • The typical African American family holds about one-tenth the wealth of a typical white family '-- and the disparity has grown worse, not better, over the last fifty years. We're going to fix that by implementing Congressman Jim Clyburn's ''10''20''30'' Plan to ensure that federal programs are reaching persistently impoverished communities, and targeting new green infrastructure projects '-- and the good-paying jobs that come with them '-- to historically marginalized neighborhoods. In conjunction with that work, we'll expand on the Obama-Biden Administration's efforts to increase federal and state contracting opportunities for African American-owned businesses '-- including by increasing funds for the Minority Business Development Agency and expanding the work of its landmark Federal Procurement Center. We'll also close the digital divide by investing $20 billion in broadband infrastructure to reach underserved communities and passing the Digital Equity Act. And we'll make it easier for African Americans to retire with dignity by revamping employer retirement plans and putting them within reach of far more workers '-- and by making Social Security benefits more generous and equitable.
    • For too long, African Americans have not been adequately dealt into the middle class. We're going to fix that by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act and ending unequal pay, getting our essential workers the pay, protections, and dignity they deserve, strengthening public and private sector unions, and raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. We'll provide high-quality, universal pre-K for every three- and four-year old in America, so that every child gets off to a good start '-- and close the funding gap between white and non-white school districts to ensure that African American families can thrive across generations. We'll tackle the student debt crisis '-- which disproportionately burdens African Americans '-- make public colleges and universities tuition-free for families with incomes below $125,000, and invest more than $70 billion in HBCUs and minority-serving institutions to equip the next generation of African American professionals to succeed.
    • There is much, much more to my plan '-- after all, the roots of inequity are sprawling, and touch nearly every corner of American policy and society. We need to take serious steps to reduce racial health disparities, and we need to put an end to forces that profit off of our criminal justice system. We need to restore the Voting Rights Act, and we need to ensure that every community has access to safe drinking water. Building a more equitable nation will require a broad and coordinated push across the full scope of our government and society '-- but it can, and must, be done.
    • I encourage you to read the full details of my plan here. And I look forward to making it a reality with the help of lawmakers, community leaders, and families across the country who aspire to the dream of Dr. King. In his words: ''Let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge, to make America what it ought to be.''

• Music in this episode
  • Intro: Notorious B.I.G. - Warning
  • Outro: Junior Walker - What does it take

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