By Hazel Trice Edney TriceEdneyWire.com — Michael A. Grant, who has gained a national reputation for his advocacy for Black economic empowerment for nearly a quarter of a century, has announced that he is resigning from the presidency of the National Bankers Association (NBA) effective Dec. 31. “After nine years, I feel like I have taken this organization as far as I can take it,” Grant said in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire this week. “I used the NBA as a platform to promote Black economic empowerment because I feel honestly that that is where we are…
Author: Hazel Trice Edney
Denise Rolark-Barnes and Dorothy Leavell are contending for chair of NNPA this week. By Hazel Trice Edney TriceEdneyWire.com — As civil rights and racial justice enthusiasts observe the 190th birthday of the Black press, the premier federation of Black-owned newspapers is holding its first leadership election in which publishers are permitted to vote absentee this week. During its 2017 Annual convention at the posh Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center June 20-24, the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) is allowing each of their more than 200 member publishers to vote absentee for their preferred chairperson, NNPA’s highest office. Publishers expressed…
Former NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, also former Black press executive, is now launching a political career. Perhaps recently best known as a surrogate for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, Jealous confirmed this week that he is running for governor of Maryland. He cited his long record of civil rights and the diversity of the state of Maryland as being matched to his favor. “When I was president of the NAACP I learned just how quickly my neighbors here were prepared to move forward on civil rights. In one year, we abolished the death penalty, we passed marriage equality,…
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Omarosa Manigault, President Donald Trump’s director of communications for public liaison, walked out of a breakfast meeting she had requested to attend, hosted by the National Newspaper Publishers Association last week after disputing the accuracy of a story written by this reporter in January. The sudden move by the minister and reality star clearly shocked NNPA members and their guests in the March 23 meeting; especially since Manigault had called the chair of the historic group the night before and “asked to attend”, according to NNPA Chair Denise Rolark Barnes. Plus, during opening remarks, Manigault had praised Black…