Rodney Robinson named 2019 National Teacher of the Year

HBCU graduate Rodney Robinson of Virginia has been named the 2019 National Teacher of the Year by the Council of Chief State Officers. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, the Bureau of Indian Education and the five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions.

Rodney Robinson is a 19-year teaching veteran. He became a teacher to honor his mother, who struggled to receive an education after being denied an education as a child due to segregation and poverty in rural Virginia. In 2015, Robinson started teaching at Virgie Binford Education Center, a school inside the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center, in an effort to better understand the school-to-prison pipeline.

Robinson uses the whole child approach to education to help the students who are most vulnerable. His classroom is a collaborative partnership between himself and his students and is anchored in him providing a civic centered education that promotes social-emotional growth. Robinson uses the knowledge he has gained from his students to develop alternative programs to prevent students from entering the school-to-prison pipeline.

Robinson has been published three times by Yale University and has received numerous awards for his accomplishments in and out of the classroom, most notably the R.E.B. Award for Teaching Excellence. He is a member of Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney’s Education Compact Team, which includes politicians, educators, business leaders, and community leaders, and is working with city leaders and local colleges to recruit underrepresented male teachers into the field of education. He has also worked with Pulitzer Award winning author James Foreman on developing curriculum units on race, class, and punishment as a part of the Yale Teacher’s Institute.

Robinson earned a Bachelor of arts in history from Virginia State University and a master’s in educational administration and supervision from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Owning a gun does not disqualify Kamala Harris from running for president

By George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com georgelcookiii@gmail.com

In the interest of full disclosure let me state that I am not a Kamala Harris supporter but I am a Democrat and as one I will support the winner of the Democratic primary. My purpose of writing this op-ed is to warn all Democrats, both progressive and moderate about ideological purity test hurting the party.

President Lyndon Johnson has been quoted as saying "You know the difference between cannibals and liberals? Cannibals only eat their enemies."

That statement is becoming even more true with upcoming 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary which is turning into a battle between moderate and progressives.

That brings me to a USA Today opinion piece written by Progressive Peter Funt who is a writer and host of "Candid Camera." Peter Funt writes that Kamala Harris should be qualified because she owns a gun. The argument he makes is that Harris' gun ownership somehow makes her less credible or hypocritical when it comes to gun control.

Harris owns a gun as someone who was a former prosecutor who had reason to worry about her safety. She keeps the firearm locked up and in a safe place in her home. Funt's arguments is another example of a purity test that doesn't help Democrats win the presidency in 2020.

The fact is many Democrats are okay with gun ownership but what common sense gun laws when it comes to who can own a gun, what types of firearms are legal, and how many guns one person can have. Most of us want laws that will prevent mass shootings and keep our children safe in schools.

Funt's rhetoric not only hurt Harris in this case but Democrats as a whole.

Here are three ways it hurts us Democrats:

1. The op-ed plays right into fringe right-wing fears that Democrats believe no one should own a gun and that the government wants to take their guns. A master charlatan like Trump would capitalize on that to remain, President of the United States.

2. This purity test will disqualify potentially good candidates like Harris, Beto O'Rourke, and Pete Buttigieg who also own guns. I don't think that what anyone wants as we want the best candidate up against Trump.

3. Fighting against gun ownership will hurt Democrats in swing states like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. All states that Trump won and that Democrats need to retake the presidency.

I think those are three important reasons to back off the gun purity test.

In closing I would like to state that we as Democrats have to be careful about how candidates and their supporters go after each other during the primary season. The reason being that the winner of the Democratic Party will need to bring the party together after the primary season.

One way to do that is to get former candidates to endorse, and that becomes much harder when people feel that their candidate of choice was unfairly attacked. It also becomes much harder when losing candidates are so damaged by attacks during the primary that they lose credibility to endorse anyone or that their supporters are so angry that they stay home or worse yet vote for a third party candidate.

I don't care if you label yourself as liberal, moderate, or progressive Democrat, at the end of the day we are all Democrats, and we have to stop cannibalizing ourselves, or we will hand Trump a second term.

What's it going to be?

Rep. Elijah Cummings Statement on Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh

FBI agents raided the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh amid accusations of corruption stemming from the sale of her children's book. Baltimore resident Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (MD-07) issued the following statement on Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh:

“I urge Mayor Pugh to put the best interests of the City and its residents first and foremost. Baltimore needs and deserves leadership that is above reproach and which can lead the City forward in ways that engender the trust and confidence of all essential stakeholders. No one questions Mayor Pugh’s passion for Baltimore City and its citizens. At the same time, the circumstances now require that she also provide an example of accountability for those same people. We all want her health to be restored and to now focus on these very grave matters that have everything to do with her personal business endeavors and nothing to do with the priorities of the City of Baltimore.”

Biden hires strategist Symone Sanders

Joe Biden has hired Symone Sanders, a prominent African American political strategist, as a senior adviser to his newly launched presidential campaign.

The move adds a younger diverse voice to Biden's cadre of top advisers, which has been dominated by older white men. It suggests Biden is seeking to broaden his appeal to a new generation of Democrats.

Sanders, 29, rose to prominence during the 2016 campaign as press secretary for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. She then became a high-profile political analyst on CNN and is likely to be a forceful Biden defender on television.

Democratic strategist and former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile called Sanders "battle-tested" and said the hire was "one of the best moves" the Biden campaign could make.

"She understands how to build a coalition, and that women of color are the backbone of the Democratic Party," said Brazile, who added that Sanders also helped her bridge the gap with millennials after the contentious 2016 primary elections.

Sanders was recruited by numerous 2020 candidates, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.

[SOURCE: ABC BEWS]

Cory Booker: I will have a woman running mate

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker promised that he would choose a woman as the vice presidential candidate on his ticket if he wins the Democratic nomination for president.

“I will have a woman running mate,” Booker, D-N.J., said at a presidential forum in Houston sponsored by She the People, a national network of women of color. “To me, it’s really clear that we do that.”

Booker was responding to a question asked at the event, which also attracted several other 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.

He previously said he would consider having a woman in the No. 2 slot on the ticket, but this is the first time he specifically committed to choosing a female vice-presidential nominee.

[SOURCE: NJ.COM]