National

Americans More Pragmatic Than Trump on Border Security

THE TENNESSEE TRIBUNE — It’s “xenophobic rhetoric” and “fear mongering,” but most Americans are more pragmatic about border security, according to NAACP leaders.

Published

7 years ago

January 13, 2019

Oakland Post

By Clint Confehr

It’s “xenophobic rhetoric” and “fear mongering,” but most Americans are more pragmatic about border security, according to NAACP leaders and friends commenting on President Trump’s first televised Oval Office speech.

“There is a growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border [with] thousands of illegal immigrants trying to enter our country,” Trump said. “All Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration. It strains public resources and drives down jobs and wages.

“Among those hardest hit are African Americans and Hispanic Americans,” Trump said.

NAACP Nashville Branch President Keith Caldwell asked, “How has he arrived at this conclusion that African Americans are being adversely affected by immigration trends?”

An attitude about ability is exposed; “We know,” Caldwell said, “he’s talking about the jobs that no one wants, that are reserved for African Americans and migrants in the fields.”

Trump said the partial government shutdown should end with Democrats’ compromise on a wall.

Deidre Malone, president of the NAACP branch in Memphis, said, Trump “needs to work with the Democrats and get the government back open. A wall is not needed … He’s saying those from Mexico are terrorists and his own government is saying terrorists are coming in through airports.”

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis said Trump’s “reality and most Americans’ reality are at odds … Fear mongering … does not create a crisis… Few beyond his core acolytes will accept that the country needs to spend $5.7 billion to build an ineffective wall to keep asylum seekers out.”

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville sees “better” and “cheaper ways to secure our borders…”

Better policing Laredo, El Paso, and San Diego will stop thousands of trucks, often hiding drugs and people. Stop paying Congress and White House negotiators until the shutdown ends.

Gloria Jean Sweet-Love, president of the Tennessee State Conference NAACP, said, “We need better border security, but we don’t need a wall… He’s used the same rhetoric he’s used all along… I don’t think he’s changed anyone’s opinion.” Trump was “talking to his base [and] mixing up the facts to his advantage.”

Immigration is down, Sweet-Love said. “It’s not a “growing … security crisis,” but humanitarian issues exist.

Roan County’s NAACP branch President Joe Eskridge, a vice president to the state conference, said Trump’s speech was “just more rhetoric to his base.”

The wall, Trump said, “would very quickly pay for itself [because] the cost of illegal drugs exceeds $500 billion a year.”

A former Jackson Madison County Narcotics Unit deputy commander, Harrell Carter, president of the Jackson, Madison County branch, said, “We need security, but it comes from a well-thought-out strategy, not from this knee jerk reaction to people of color…

“Back in the day, we had a problem with planes flying [across the Gulf of Mexico] as far north as they could [and] in several occasions, local officials were involved in the drug trade.” Now, most illegal drugs come through airports and cargo ships.

Trump is “clouded by his views” Carter said. “He … doesn’t represent the majority of the American people.”

Murfreesboro NAACP Branch President Katie Wilson looked at “photos of children with plastic sheets over them;” concluding, “The money for the wall could be spent on immigration reforms, and to support people coming to the border, and the officers who address their needs…. They’re coming to America … because they couldn’t continue to live in their homeland because of the crime.”

This article originally appeared in The Tennessee Tribune.

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

2 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

3 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

5 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke