Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 9-9-22

Political
Commission Discovers West Point Academy Is Displaying Kkk Plaque
President Biden Discusses Marijuana With Senate Candidate At Labor Day Meeting
President Joe Biden and Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) briefly dis- cussed marijuana policy reform during a meeting near Pitts- burgh on Monday, two cam- paign spokespeople told Marijuana Moment.
Fetterman, a U. S. Senate candidate and longstanding cannabis legalization advocate, called on Biden to take execu- tive action to decriminalize cannabis days ahead of the meeting. His campaign initially said that he intended to discuss marijuana reform with Biden when they were expected to cross paths at a Labor Day pa- rade. The president did not end up attending the march, but the two met before Biden’s speech at a union hall later in the day.
The Fetterman staffers con- firmed to Marijuana Moment that the two elected officials dis-
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
cussed potential changes to mar- ijuana’s status under the Con- trolled Substances Act.
Fetterman Communications Director Joe Calvello said in a statement that, during their talks, Fetterman “continued to advocate for the President to use
his executive authority to begin the process of rescheduling mar- ijuana, so that people convicted of nonviolent offenses can go on with their lives.”
Biden did not move to fed- erally decriminalize marijuana before Monday’s meeting.
“He’s going to continue to evaluate further uses of this clemency powers,” the press sec- retary said last week, echoing a point she’s made at previous briefings. “And as it relates to marijuana decriminalization, we just don’t have anything at this time.”
Biden made his first public comments on marijuana issues since taking office after being pressed last month on whether he plans to follow through on his campaign pledge to release peo- ple who are incarcerated over non-violent federal cannabis of- fenses.
Barack Obama Becomes Second U.S. President To Win Emmy
Former U. S. President Barack Obama won his first Emmy for his narration of Netflix’s five-part documen- tary series, Our Great National Parks.
Grammy-winner Obama becomes the second President to win an Emmy, after Dwight Eisenhower, who was awarded a prize in 1956 while still in office, and the first to
win a competitive award for a specific television project.
Obama nabbed the Out- standing Narrator award at tonight’s Creative Arts Emmy ceremony, beating Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Black Patri- ots: Heroes of the Civil War), David Attenborough (The Mating Game), W. Kamau Bell (We Need to Talk About Cosby) and Lupita Nyong’o
(Serengeti II) in a star-studded category.
He was also previously nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy in 2016 for David Attenborough Meets President Obama.
Obama wasn’t present at the awards and the Academy accepted on his behalf after RuPaul presented the cate- gory.
A new report from the Con- gressional Naming Commission (C.N.C.) says the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, has a plaque with Ku Klux Klan written on it and a hooded figure displayed at the entrance to its science center known as Bartlett Hall.
CNN reports the Commis- sion, which Congress estab- lished to provide recommendations to the De- partment of Defense on renam- ing Confederate markers at U. S. military bases, released its second of three reports focused on Confederate markers at West Point and the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Mary- land.
The marker, which displays the words Ku Klux Klan, is part of a larger piece of artwork ap- pearing at the entrance of Bartlett Hall. The artwork, ded- icated in 1965, was “originally dedicated to West Point gradu- ates who served in World War
II and Korea,” according to CNN.
The marker was part of 12 assets the Commission found with Confederate name associ- ations on West Point’s campus. Another three were found at the U. S. Naval Academy.
Confederate veterans formed the KKK after losing the Civil War and are still considered a hate group by many. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of KKK groups has declined over the last two years due to COVID-19 and continuous infighting.
The Commission is now urg- ing the Secretary of Defense “to address DOD [Department of Defense] assets that highlight the KKK” and “create a stan- dard disposition requirement for such assets,” the report states.
“The marker falls outside the remit of the Commission; how- ever, there are clearly ties in the KKK to the Confederacy.”
Biden To Host Obamas For Portrait Unveiling
President Joe Biden is set to host former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama for the unveiling of their official White House portraits on Wednesday.
In recent tradition, current U. S. leaders have hosted their pred- ecessor as a new portrait is added to the White House collection.
Former President Donald Trump did not continue the practice during his term, leaving Biden, who served as Obama’s vice president, to preside over the reveal of the Obama portraits.
The White House collection dates back to the country’s first leader, President George Washington, and includes every president since. Many are displayed in hallways and rooms at the White House.
The White House Historical Association, which has funded the portraits since 1965, says re- cent leaders and first ladies have picked the artists for their por- traits before leaving office and
Former President Barack Obama walks with his wife Michelle Obama.
then approved the works before they are added to the collection.
“The portrait artists aim to cap- ture each unique appearance and personality, piecing together our presidential history through these individual works of art,” ac- cording to the association’s web- site.
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2022