Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Oct. 3 will go down in American history as the first time a speaker of the House was expelled from Congress by his own peers. Kevin McCarthy, a man consumed of blind personal ambition and self-interest, was shown the exit door by his congressional colleagues. Eight Republicans – Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz, Bob Good, Nancy Mace and Matt Rosendale – joined all Democrats (who were unanimous) in voting out McCarthy. The American public witnessed Rep...
Those of us who work in academia understand that academic freedom represents the cornerstone of successful colleges and universities. It epitomizes the right of freedom to teach, discuss, engage in research and freely publish your findings. It also means the ability to dictate one’s own teaching and scholarship agenda, the security of academic positions and shared governance to ensure independence. Despite such facts, the mission of academic freedom is under severe attack f...
Get your popcorn ready, because a gut-wrenching level of drama has gripped the House of Representatives. To quote Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, "The Republican party is currently in a civil war." Speaker Kevin McCarthy slid over to a lectern and called for an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. After rabidly weaponizing the term "corruption," he turned around and walked away, assuming he had performed another crucial task required of him, regardless of...
Malcolm X said it best in a 1962 speech: “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is a black woman…” More than 60 years later, these words still ring true. Recently, it’s an apt description as it relates to footage of a horrific incident that occurred recently in Houston. Ro Bashe, a Somali immigrant, took to social media to show viewers her badly injured...
It appears some Republican donors are really concerned that presidential candidate Tim Scott, South Carolina’s junior senator, is a 57-year-old bachelor — and whatever implications that may entail. Top party donors are raising concerns about the fact the conservative Black senator has never been married. and want some of their concerns about the matter addressed before they decide to become committed to his candidacy, according to Axios. Scott has never been known to talk abo...
After whipping themselves into a frenzy, conservatives have tried to do a rapid U-turn of their embrace of YouTube sensation Oliver Anthony and his hit song, “Rich Men North of Richmond.” The flip-flop comes after Anthony (real name Christopher Anthony Lunsford) derided Republican politicians, radio hosts, and conservative news outlets for brazenly adopting his song. “It was funny seeing that (Republican) presidential debate,” Anthony said. “I wrote that song about those peo...
Voracious popular culture connoisseur that I am, I have been avidly following the drama surrounding pop icon Lizzo. As an academic who teaches race, gender and sexuality studies, the story has all the intersectional elements that make for a riveting story. Over the past couple of weeks, the Grammy award winning artist known for her hits “Truth Hurts,” “Jerome,” and “Exactly How Feel” has been embroiled in controversy and legal drama. Three of Lizzo’s tour dancers – Ari...
The evolution of Black Lives Matter, the election of Donald Trump, and a growing fear of immigrants have led to deep levels of resentment and hostility among a sizable segment of white Americans. Many Americans of European descent misguidedly see the nation they grew up in as infested with hordes of non-white people, threatening to resign the country as a potpourri of foreign languages, multiple religions and mass confusion. Not all white Americans harbor such deplorable...
There are probably many Americans who thought this day would never come. More than a few people, myself included, were skeptical that Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice possessed the strength and courage to overcome their traditional habit of risk aversion. Instead, the criminal justice system is going to do battle against one of the most devious and horrendous conspiracies in the history of the nation. The latest indictment of Donald Trump, brought by special...
Despite the Republican Party’s routine claims it wants to increase its appeal with non-white voters, it often seems to find a way to impede any progress made. Such supposed attempts encountered a series of roadblocks last month when two GOP lawmakers made racially offensive comments, resulting in fierce condemnation from civil rights groups and further weakening the party’s message that it is a large and politically diverse tent. Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Arizona Rep...
Last month, an Indiana chapter of Moms for Liberty, a nonprofit organization that advocates for “parental rights” in education, ended up apologizing and condemning Adolf Hitler after previously using a quote from the racist and anti-Semitic Nazi leader in its newsletter. “We condemn Adolf Hitler’s actions and his dark place in human history,” read a statement from chapter chair Paige Miller on the cover of the revised newsletter. “We should not have quoted him in our newslet...
After conducting tense research and holding public hearings for more than two years, a California task force determined that payments as part of a reparations initiative could surpass $1 million in certain cases. The proposal is aimed at targeting historical injustices faced by Black residents who are descendants of enslaved people and have battled against racism and discrimination for generations. Assembly Member Reginald Jones-Sawyer, a member of the reparations task force,...
After decades of aggressive and strategic efforts from influential right-wing forces the Supreme Court outlawed race conscious admissions at universities throughout the nation. It dismantled decades of progress and crippled the potential of racial diversity and pluralism at our nation’s institutions of higher education. Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking for the majority, argued that “the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual — not on th...
Black Americans are a community of people that have endured abominable levels of trials, abuse and tribulations. Our experience in this country includes rivers of blood, mountains of sweat and countless numbers of anguished tears. As a Black American, I am descended from a people for whom the history of slavery, lynching, segregation, black codes, poll taxes, oppressive sharecropping systems and Jim Crow laws are historical facts deeply etched in the fabric of history. My...
As if his political career wasn’t perverse and horrid enough, Donald Trump now holds the distinction of being the first former president in U.S. history to face federal criminal charges. Trump was arraigned last week on 37 separate counts over his handling of classified information, including willfully retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements. Predictable, some high-profile Republicans have...
Last month, the NAACP made waves for issuing a travel advisory for Florida in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ruthless efforts to whitewash Black history and severely curtail diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. “Once again, hate-inspired state leaders have chosen to put politics over people. Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida have engaged in a blatant war against principles of diversity and inclusion and rejected our shared identities to appeal to a dan...
Tina Turner, who died last month, was a pioneer and an artist who personified the word innovative. Like her contemporary, Little Richard, Tina Turner brought an uncompromised strand of Black Southern music, the sound of the Chitlin’ Circuit itself, into the lives of teenagers and adults around the globe. She garnered appeal across racial boundaries at a time when the nation was highly segregated, and she helped pave the way for future female artists including Gloria Gaynor, B...
The Jezebel of the Republican Party is at it again. Just when you thought she could not get any more disingenuous and despicable, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene engaged in some wild intellectual dishonesty by accusing New York Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman of calling her the equivalent of the N-word. She also accused him of being “physically threatening” and deviously concocted an entire slew of falsehoods. For those of who are unaware, this month both Bowman and Greene eng...
In the campaign commercial President Joe Biden released to announce his re-election campaign, there was one individual who was prominently displayed – Kamala Harris. Since the moment Biden selected her as his running mate in July 2020, there has been no shortage of commentary about Harris and her role as vice president. No honest person can dismiss the fact that being a woman of color has been a political handicap for her. As a woman of color and a biracial one at that, Harris...
A spate of recent shootings serve as a depressing reminder that accidentally ringing the wrong doorbell, driving to an incorrect residence, or mistakenly getting into the incorrect vehicle can be deadly. In Kansas City, 16-year-old honors student Ralph Yarl mistakenly arrived at the wrong home while looking for his younger siblings. There he was shot and severely wounded by 84-year-old Andrew Lester, a chain of events that shocked residents and sent citizens and the country on...
Amen to Cornell University President Martha Pollack and Provost Michael Kotlikoff for rejecting a proposal introduced by the student senate to mandate trigger warnings into syllabi and course content. In a statement, Pollack and Kotlikoff said such a mandate “would infringe on our core commitment to academic freedom and freedom of inquiry, and are at odds with the goals of a Cornell education.” Over the past decade, trigger warnings have been a topic that has dominated aca...
By now, most Americans have heard and seen the callous and malicious manner in which two Tennessee lawmakers were expelled from their house seats. The GOP-controlled Tennessee House voted to expel two of the “Tennessee 3.” That trio of Democratic lawmakers had committed the transgression of presiding over protests at the capital — with one wielding a bullhorn — demanding action on guns after the horrific mass shooting in a Nashville school that left six people dead, includi...
Now that Donald Trump has officially been indicted, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and others have been targeted by disturbed protestors threatening retribution and even death. Even Trump warned of “potential death and destruction” once he was charged in a probe of hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. “The political Rubicon has been crossed. There’s no going back from this,” Charlie Kirk, a right-wing talk show host, wrote on Truth Social, T...
What is going on with Tucker Carlson? In private messages unearthed by lawsuits against Fox News, the fiery host was a fierce critic of former President Donald Trump, even as he continued to praise and defend him on television. “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,” Carlson wrote in one message, adding, “I truly can’t wait.” “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest....
It’s been a few weeks since Dilbert creator Scott Adams was canceled by hundreds of newspapers across the nation, as well as Canada, for racist tirades he unleashed on his own YouTube show. Adams, who is white, suggested that white people “get the hell away from Black people,” referring to Black Americans as a “hate group.” “It makes no sense whatsoever as a white citizen of America to try to help Black citizens anymore,” Adams said. “White people trying to help black Amer...
