CBC lists 100 Trump actions in 100 Days — to the detriment of Black progress
8th May 2017 · 0 Comments
By Hazel Trice Edney
Contributing Writer
(TriceEdneyWire.com) — The Congressional Black Caucus has released a list of 100 actions taken by President Donald Trump during his first 100 days that the CBC says have been detrimental to the country — especially the Black community.
“People of all ages and races, including many young people of color, are standing up and speaking out about this Administration’s actions and how they will hurt our communities and the country,” says CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond in a statement. “President Trump says he wants to make America great again but in our view the programs and policies he’s implementing will do the opposite. We hope this list will help those who are engaged and those who aren’t stay woke because our democracy is at stake.”
“The list, titled ‘What Did Trump Do?: The First-100-Days, #StayWoke List,’ is a special edition of CBC’s ‘What Did Trump Do?’ rapid response documents and includes actions across issues areas such as education, healthcare, and justice,” says a statement. “The list is part of the CBC’s effort to listen, involve, and mobilize young leaders during the 115th Congress, an effort that began a few weeks ago with the launch of CBC’s tour of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, #CBCOnTheYard.”
The phrase #StayWoke or “stay awake” is often used by African Americans in the social media arena to “remind themselves and those around them to stay focused on what’s really being said and done to their community. As a result of the election of President Trump, the phrase has taken on new meaning; people of all ages and races are using it to remind themselves and those around them to stay focused on the programs and policies being implemented by this Administration.”
The following are among the items on the list:
• “After meeting with 70 HBCU presidents and the White House stating the he wanted to give HBCUs “the proper respect,” President Trump has proposed in his budget to give these institutions the same amount of money they received last year even though their operational costs are increasing. President Trump has also proposed to cut programs that support students served by HBCUs including federal work study, Pell, and campus-based aid.”
• “President Trump has said many hurtful things about President Obama, including accusing the first Black president of a felony. On March 4, President Trump tweeted that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election. President Trump has provided no evidence that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower even though he could easily provide it. In addition, on March 20, FBI Director James Comey told the House Intelligence Committee during a public hearing that the agency has ‘no information’ about the alleged wiretaps.”
• “After several sexual assault allegations and related legal settlements came to light about former veteran Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, President Trump defended the journalist. “I think he’s a person I know well — he is a good person,” said President Trump on April 5 during an interview with the New York Times in the Oval Office. “I think he shouldn’t have settled; personally I think he shouldn’t have settled. Because you should have taken it all the way. I don’t think Bill did anything wrong.” Days later Fox News canceled O’Reilly’s show and announced that he would not be returning to the network.”
• “President Trump’s proposed budget would eliminate the Minority Business Development Agency, “which funds a nationwide network of business centers to help minority-owned business stay competitive and create jobs.”
• “During a White House press conference on April 11, Press Secretary Sean Spicer suggested that the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, is guilty of war crimes that are worse than those committed by Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust. Spicer said that Hitler did not use chemical weapons like al-Assad even though gas chambers were regularly used to kill Jews and others at concentration camps during the Holocaust.”
• “President Trump appointed Candice E. Jackson as acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education. Ms. Jackson once said affirmative action ‘promotes racial discrimination,’ and claimed she was discriminated against for being white.”
• “On February 27, after meeting with more than 70 HBCU presidents, Secretary DeVos called Historically Black Colleges and Universities “pioneers” for school choice even though these institutions were founded because white colleges and university refused to admit Black students.”
• “President Trump’s proposed budget for the Department of Education hurts low-income students from pre-k through college by undermining public education through the elimination of after school and teacher support programs and diverting federal funds to private school vouchers, eliminating supports for college students, gutting federal-work study, and slashing critical funding for Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants and Pell Grants. All of these cuts would have severe consequences for our nation’s African-American students.”
• “President Trump’s proposed budget would cut Environmental Protection Agency grant programs that help states monitor public water systems, even though Flint, Michigan is still dealing with a water crisis.”
• “President Trump’s proposed budget would eliminate programs that help limit children’s exposure to lead paint. According to the CDC, African-American children are three times more likely to have elevated blood-lead levels.”
• “The FBI is investigating whether President Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.”
• “One of President Trump’s first actions was to appoint White House Adviser Steve Bannon to the National Security Council (NSC). Many politicians and pundits, including the CBC, called for Bannon to be removed not only from the NSC but from the White House entirely because of his white nationalist views. Bannon is the former chairman of the white nationalist news organization Breitbart News.”
• “President Trump has said little on the threat of domestic terrorism even though religious institutions and people of color have been targeted here at home in the wake of the 2016 election. For example, in Wellsville, N.Y., someone painted “Make America White Again” on a dugout wall, a statement based on President Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again”. Source In addition, Jewish community centers and cemeteries have received threats or been vandalized. In short, the threat of domestic terrorism is real but it is not prioritized by this Administration”
• “President Trump has proposed to eliminate funding for the African Development Foundation, which funds grassroots development projects in 30 African countries.”
• “More than 20 million people are facing famine in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Yemen and President Trump’s budget proposal would make the situation worse by cutting funding for humanitarian food aid and United Nations peacekeeping.”
• “On January 25, the White House announced that it would launch a major investigation into voter fraud event though it is essentially a non-issue. The White House decided to launch the investigation in response to President Trump’s false claims that 3 to five million illegal voters cost him the popular vote.”
• “On February 27, the Department of Justice, under the leadership of Attorney General Sessions, withdrew its longstanding claim that Texas enacted its 2011 voter ID law with the intent to discriminate. A few months later a federal judge ruled that the law was enacted with the intent to discriminate against Black and Latino voters.”
The full list of actions can be found here: https://cbc.house.gov/uploadedfiles/stay_woke_list.pdf.
According to a CBC release, the following committee and congressional offices led by CBC members contributed to the CBC list: House Committee on the Judi-ciary (Office of Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr.), House Committee on Financial Services (Office of Ranking Member Maxine Waters), House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (Office of Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson), House Committee on Education and the Workforce (Office of Ranking Member Bobby Scott), House Committee on Homeland Security (Office of Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson), House Committee on Oversight (Ranking Member Elijah Cum-mings), and Office of Congress-woman Robin Kelly (D-Ill.).
This article originally published in the May 8, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
