Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 8-20-21

Political
Stacey Abrams And Michelle Obama Partner To Fight For Voter Rights
Biden Says 'Buck Stops With
Stacey Abrams and Michelle Obama have joined forces in a renewed push for federal voting rights legisla- tion, MSN reports.
As many Republican-led states continue to pass voter suppression laws that dispro- portionately impact low-in- come communities of color, the former Democratic guber- natorial candidate in Georgia and the former first lady re- leased a video on last week asking Americans to come to- gether to “protect our freedom to vote.”
Obama noted in the public service announcement that “dangerous legislation” is being proposed throughout the country that would limit voting rights. Abrams added that a majority of these bills would “disproportionately impact Black, Brown, young and working-class voters and vot- ers with disabilities.”
U. S. Troops Withdrawal
In this screengrab, Stacey Abrams accepts the Social Justice Im- pact Award during the 52nd NAACP Image Awards on March 27, 2021.
WASHINGTON — Presi- dent Biden said he stands "squarely behind his decision" to withdraw U. S. forces from Afghanistan on Monday but admitted that the swift col- lapse of the central govern- ment caught the U. S. off guard, telling the nation "the buck stops with me" as chaotic efforts to evacuate U.S. per- sonnel and Afghan allies from Kabul continue.
Addressing the nation for the first time since the Taliban took the capital on Sunday, the president did little to ad- dress pressing questions about why the U. S. failed to anticipate the rapid pace of the Taliban takeover or why the U. S. was not prepared to evacuate Afghans who aided U.S. efforts over the years. He claimed many Afghans who assisted the U. S. were not evacuated sooner because they didn't want to leave and because the Afghan govern- ment discouraged it. The pres- ident took no questions after
So far at least 18 states have enacted 30 laws that restrict access to voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice as reported by MSN.
Abrams and Obama stressed that this isn’t a parti- san issue, stating the fight “isn’t about who’s president or who’s in Congress,” but “about our families, our neighbor- hoods, our schools and our communities.”
Both women called on the public to reach out to their
members of Congress and de- mand that they “protect and strengthen our access to the ballot.”
As Colorlines previously re- ported, Senate Democrats are under pressure to “unite over a strategy to overcome Senate opposition to the For the Peo- ple Act, or Senate Bill 1.” The bill has been called “the most sweeping election overhaul in generations,” according to The New York Times.
PRESIDENT BIDEN
his remarks, and returned to Camp David on Monday after- noon.
"I stand squarely behind my decision," Mr. Biden said from the White House, de- fending his timeline for with- drawing U. S. troops. "After 20 years, I've learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U. S. forces."
Me’ And Defends Afghanistan
U. S. To Ship First Of The 500 Million Pfizer Doses Biden Pledged To Donate Globally
The Biden administration on Tuesday is shipping the first of the 500 million COVID-19 doses that Presi- dent Joe Biden pledged to share with countries around the world at the Group of Seven summit earlier this year.
The U. S. is sending 488,370 doses of Pfizer to Rwanda through the global vaccination
program called COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, or COVAX, a White House offi- cial told CNN. This batch in- cludes the first 188,370 doses of the 500 million Pfizer doses purchased by the Biden ad- ministration, the official said. The remaining 300,000 doses of Pfizer going to Rwanda come from existing U. S. sup-
ply.
"Today, we are shipping over
488,000 doses of Pfizer to Rwanda, including the first 100,000 doses from @POTUS' 500 million shots pledged and purchased this summer. This is just the beginning," assis- tant press secretary Kevin Munoz tweeted on Tuesday morning.
Feds Charge Man With Sending Racist Death Threat To Rep. Maxine Waters, Signed 'KKK'
Rep. Maxine Waters is seen in a 2019 photo.
SAN FRANCISCO — Fed- eral prosecutors here have filed criminal charges against a 71-year-old man who al- legedly sent Rep. Maxine Waters a death threat that included a racist slur and was signed on behalf of the Ku Klux Klan terrorist group, court records show.
Michael Anthony Gal- lagher was charged Wednes- day with mailing threatening communications, a federal of- fense that carries up to 10 years in prison. The charging records allege Gallagher sent
a postcard to Waters, D-Los Angeles, on Jan. 8, 2019 that contained a death threat.
The criminal complaint against Gallagher, filed last January, is still sealed seven months later. Details of Gal- lagher’s alleged death threat were only made public via Wednesday’s court filing.
“The Sheriff of Stanislaus County says you and your (ex- pletives) are (expletive),” Gal- lagher allegedly wrote, using a racist slur that refers to Lati- nos. “We will successfully put a bullet in your head. -+KKK.”
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