Commentary by Black Kos editor JoanMar
I thought of Barack Obama as a once-in-a-generation politician. He epitomized everything I wanted to see in someone who’d seek public office. His speeches often moved me to tears; he was/is that inspiring. But yet, I’ve turned off the TV in disgust during certain of his speeches — like that first time he addressed AIPAC, or the time he used his speech to the NAACP to lecture Black men about fatherhood, and still another was when he addressed African leaders in what I thought was a particularly condescending fashion. Despite those disappointments, my support for him remained unwavering. He will forever be one of my all-time favorite politicians… one of my all-time favorite people.
When Obama had to make the crucial decision of choosing a running mate, he aced it. Biden was a loyal and effective VP and did not at any time try to overshadow his president (unlike Hillary Clinton who as Secretary of State often used “I” when she should have used “President Obama,” or “The President and I.” What can I tell you, I notice small things.) By any objective measure, Biden has been a phenomenal president. He’s gotten things done, he’s carried himself with quiet dignity, he’s honored his campaign promise to nominate Black individuals to prominent positions, and more than anything else, he’s restored honor to the office he now holds and which was so defiled by its former occupant.
And then the Middle East erupted and his response to it left me feeling betrayed. I was actually shook to my core by one particular response to a shouted question from a reporter. I could not believe his response. It was so cold, so utterly devoid of empathy, and so unbelievably callous that I was momentarily stunned. I refused to believe what my ears were transmitting to my brain. I could not reconcile that response with the man I believed him to be. So, where do I go from here? I asked myself. It was, ultimately, an easy answer. At his worst, Biden is a million times better than the stinky traitor on the other side. It is a stark binary choice. Case closed.
A tweet from @notcapnamerica hits the nail on the head.
Here’s a tiny sample of a slew of excellent responses:
And so, it has got to be Biden. There’s really no debate necessary in my mind. We just cannot make the perfect be the enemy of the good.
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Schele Williams is making her Broadway directorial debut this spring with both “The Notebook” and the revival of “The Wiz” ― an artistic achievement she describes as “a milestone that I wish never happened.”
As numerous outlets have pointed out, Williams, who starred in Elton John and Time Rice’s musical “Aida,” is the first Black woman to direct a full-fledged musical on Broadway since Vinnette Carroll, who in 1972 staged “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” at the now-defunct Playhouse and Edison theaters.
There have been other trailblazers, of course, including Camille A. Brown, who directed and choreographed “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf,” Broadway’s experimental “choreopoem” billed as a “play with music,” in 2022.
But given the scope and popularity of musicals like “Dreamgirls” and “The Color Purple” that highlight Black women’s experiences, Williams’ achievement is noteworthy.
“There have been so many huge, epic musicals about Black women, and the fact that none of them ― none of those teams, none of those producers ― ever went, ‘Oh, you know it would be great to have a Black woman’s voice behind the table guiding this,’ blew me away,” Williams told HuffPost. “It’s been a real reckoning for me as a director and an artist on Broadway to say, ‘You know what? No longer am I going to walk into a room and reduce myself to what I believe the room can accept of me.’”
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Each year, ABFF showcases Black talent from across the diaspora, and this year’s lineup features diverse genres, including action, psychological thriller, romance, biography, drama, comedy, and coming-of-age stories that also shine lights on “culturally relevant themes such as mental health, trafficking, homelessness, gang violence, gentrification and LGBT advocacy,” according to its press material.
“The 2024 American Black Film Festival is back to continue the celebration of both artists and attendees through our robust presentation of diverse filmmaking that spotlights Black culture,” Nice Crowd President Nicole Friday shared in a statement alongside the lineup release. “We are excited to return to Miami and invite all to come take part in a momentous week of highlighting emerging filmmakers and bringing a wide-range of empowering stories to our community.”
The fest lineup includes “The Lost Holliday,” directed and co-written by Jussie Smollett, who stars alongside Vivica A. Fox. “After losing her estranged son, Cassandra must deal with grief and guilt while getting to know her son’s daughter and husband, who she knew nothing about,” the official synopsis reads.
“The Waterboyz,” from filmmaker Coke Daniels and produced by Ben Crump, takes viewers to the “streets of ATL,” where, “two young men cross paths, one trying to make a legit living, the other trying to create mayhem and rule the streets,” according to the synopsis. Akil McDowell, Alani “La La” Anthony, Quavo Omar Dorsey and Rockmond Dunbar star.
This year’s documentary features also include an array of exciting entries, including “Luther: Never Too Much” — the highly anticipated Luther Vandross project from Dawn Porter that theGrio previously covered at Sundance — along with “King of Kings: Chasing Edward Jones” from European filmmaker Harriet Marin Jones and produced by Quincy Jones, Debbie Allen, and more.
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Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, has formally resigned and a new provisional government has been sworn in during a secret ceremony at the presidential palace, nearly two months after a criminal insurrection plunged the capital into chaos.
The nine-person “transitional council” was officially established on Thursday during an event at the national palace in Port-au-Prince. As its members took their oaths, Henry, who is in the US having been locked out of Haiti by the gang uprising, announced in a letter that he was stepping down.
“We have served the nation during difficult times,” wrote Henry, a neurosurgeon turned politician who came to power after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Henry had announced last month that he was quitting.
Thursday’s early morning ceremony was cloaked in secrecy and was not publicly announced because of the threat of violence. On the eve of the event, reports suggested it would take place in another government property, a mansion on the outskirts of town.
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Africa must take greater control in the industries it supplies with raw materials to lift its people from poverty and seize its own destiny in a low-carbon world, one of the continent’s leading environmentalists has urged.
Wanjira Mathai, the managing director for Africa and global partnerships at the World Resources Institute thinktank, said much more of what the continent produced must be processed and made use of close to where it is produced, if the world is to shift to a low-carbon footing.
Africa’s vast resources are vital to the global economy, in sectors spanning agriculture, forestry and fisheries to minerals and metals. But most of these are extracted to be processed and turned into finished products elsewhere, sometimes with dire environmental consequences.
Products such as cobalt, copper and gold are used in increasing quantities in renewable energy production and low-carbon technology such as electric vehicles. But if the processing is nearly all done overseas, few of the economic and social benefits will come to Africans themselves, said Mathai.
“How do we activate value chains in food and agriculture that build wealth for small farmers?” she asked. “Not commercial agriculture [that just means getting] bigger, bigger, bigger. But how do we get really good at building these sorts of economies for small farmers that are fairer, more equitable, that are about wellbeing?”
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Dozens of American personnel will leave the Central African nation, at least temporarily, as the two governments negotiate their security agreement. Washington Post: U.S. troops to leave Chad, as another African state reassesses ties
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Dozens of American military personnel are expected to withdraw from Chad in coming days, three senior U.S. officials said Thursday, amid a broader, involuntary reconfiguration of Washington’s security policy in a volatile part of Africa.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said the repositioning could be temporary as the United States intends to negotiate with Chad about their security relationship — including potentially returning the troops who departed — following the country’s presidential elections May 6.
It marks the second time in a week the Biden administration has acknowledged it will comply with a host-nation directive to remove deployed forces from an African country deemed integral to U.S. counterterrorism operations in the region. On Friday, officials said the United States had agreed to pull out more than 1,000 military personnel from neighboring Niger.
The shake-up in Chad affects fewer than 100 Army Special Forces soldiers who are stationed at the French base in N’Djamena, the capital. They had been on a six-month rotation that is ending, according to one of the U.S. officials. A small number of U.S. service personnel working with a regional joint task force focused on Lake Chad — where the extremist group Boko Haram and its affiliates are active — will remain in the country, this person said.
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