Latest news with #Dixie
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Carol Moseley Braun, first black female senator: 'Sexism is harder to change than racism'
'Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton … ' Carol Moseley Braun was riding a lift in the US Capitol building when she heard Dixie, the unofficial anthem of the slave-owning Confederacy during the civil war. 'The sound was not very loud, yet it pierced my ears with the intensity of a dog whistle,' Moseley Braun writes in her new memoir, Trailblazer. 'Indeed, that is what it was in a sense.' The first African American woman in the Senate soon realised that 'Dixie' was being sung by Jesse Helms, a Republican senator from North Carolina. He looked over his spectacles at Moseley Braun and grinned. Then he told a fellow senator in the lift: 'I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing Dixie until she cries.' But clearly, Moseley Braun notes, the senator had never tangled with a Black woman raised on the south side of Chicago. She told him calmly: 'Senator Helms, your singing would make me cry even if you sang Rock of Ages.' Moseley Braun was the sole African American in the Senate during her tenure between 1993 and 1999, taking on legislative initiatives that included advocating for farmers, civil rights and domestic violence survivors, and went on to run for president and serve as US ambassador to New Zealand. In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian from her home in Chicago, she recalls her history-making spell in office, argues that sexism is tougher to crack than racism and warns that the Democratic party is 'walking around in a daze' as it struggles to combat Donald Trump. As for that incident with Helms, she looks back now and says: 'I had been accustomed to what we now call microaggressions, so I just thought he was being a jerk.' Moseley Braun was born in the late 1940s in the post-war baby boom. Her birth certificate listed her as 'white' due to her mother's light complexion and the hospital's racial segregation, a detail she later officially corrected. She survived domestic abuse from her father, who could be 'a loving advocate one minute, and an absolute monster the next', and has been guided by her religious faith. In 1966, at the age of 19, she joined a civil rights protest led by Martin Luther King. She recalls by phone: 'He was a powerful personality. You felt drawn into him because of who he was. I had no idea he was being made into a modern saint but I was happy to be there and be supportive. 'When it got violent, they put the women and children close to Dr King in concentric circles and so I was close enough to touch him. I had no idea at the time it was going to be an extraordinary point in my life but it really was.' Moseley Braun was the first in her family to graduate from college and one of few women and Black students in her law school class, where she met her future husband. In the 1970s she won a longshot election to the Illinois general assembly and became the first African American woman to serve as its assistant majority leader. But when she planned a historic run for the Senate, Moseley Braun met widespread scepticism. 'Have you lost all your mind? Why are you doing this? But it made sense to me at the time and I followed my guiding light. You do things that seem like the right thing to do and, if it make sense to you, you go for it.' Moseley Braun's campaign team included a young political consultant called David Axelrod, who would go on to be a chief strategist and senior adviser to Obama. She came from behind to win the Democratic primary, rattling the party establishment, then beat Republican Richard Williamson in the general election. She was the first Black woman elected to the Senate and only the fourth Black senator in history. When Moseley Braun arrived for her first day at work in January 1993, there was a brutal reminder of how far the US still had to travel: a uniformed guard outside the US Capitol told her, 'Ma'am, you can't go any further,' and gestured towards a side-entrance for visitors. At the time she did not feel that her trailblazing status conferred a special responsibility, however. 'I wish I had. I didn't. I was going to work. I was going to do what I do and then show up to vote on things and be part of the legislative process. I had been a legislator for a decade before in the state legislature so I didn't at the time see it as being all that different from what I'd been doing before. I was looking forward to it and it turned out to be all that I expected and more.' But it was not to last. Moseley Braun served only one term before being defeated by Peter Fitzgerald, a young Republican who was heir to a family banking fortune and an arch conservative on issues such as abortion rights. But that did not deter her from running in the Democratic primary election for president in 2004. 'It was terrible,' she recalls. 'I couldn't raise the money to begin with and so I was staying on people's couches and in airports. It was a hard campaign and the fact it was so physically demanding was a function of the fact that I didn't have the campaign organisation or the money to do a proper campaign for president. 'I was being derided by any commentator who was like, 'Look, this girl has lost her mind,' and so they kind of rolled me off and that made it hard to raise money, hard to get the acceptance in the political class. But I got past that. My ego was not so fragile that that it hurt my feelings to make me stop. I kept plugging away.' Eventually Moseley Braun dropped out and endorsed Howard Dean four days before the opening contest, the Iowa caucuses. Again, she had been the only Black woman in the field, challenging long-held assumptions of what a commander-in-chief might look like. 'That had been part and parcel of my entire political career. People saying: 'What are you doing here? Why are you here? Don't run, you can't possibly win because you're not part of the show and the ways won't open for you because you're Black and because you're a woman.' I ran into that every step of the way in my political career.' Since then, four Black women have followed in her footsteps to the Senate: Kamala Harris and Laphonza Butler of California, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. Moseley Braun says: 'I was happy of that because I was determined not to be the last of the Black women in the Senate. The first but not the last. That was a good thing, and so far the progress has been moving forward. But then we got Donald Trump and that trumped everything.' Harris left the Senate to become the first woman of colour to serve as vice-president, then stepped in as Democrats' presidential nominee after Joe Biden abandoned his bid for re-election. Moseley Braun comments: 'I thought she did as good a job as she could have. I supported her as much as I knew how to do and I'm sorry she got treated so badly and she lost like she did. You had a lot of sub rosa discussions of race and gender that she should have been prepared for but she wasn't.' Trump exploited the 'manosphere' of podcasters and influencers and won 55% of men in 2024, up from 50% of men in 2020, according to Pew Research. Moseley Braun believes that, while the country has made strides on race, including the election of Obama as its first Black president in 2008, it still lags on gender. 'I got into trouble for saying this but it's true: sexism is a harder thing to change than racism. I had travelled fairly extensively and most of the world is accustomed to brown people being in positions of power. But not here in the United States. We haven't gotten there yet and so that's something we've got to keep working on.' Does she expect to see a female president in her lifetime? 'I certainly hope so. I told my little grandniece that she could be president if she wanted to. She looked at me like I lost my mind. 'But Auntie Carol, all the presidents are boys.'' Still, Trump has not been slow to weaponise race over the past decade, launching his foray into politics with a mix of false conspiracy theories about Obama's birthplace and promises to build a border wall and drive out criminal illegal immigrants. Moseley Braun recalls: 'It was racial, cultural, ethnic, et cetera, backlash. He made a big deal out of the immigration issue, which was racism itself and people are still being mistreated on that score. 'They've been arresting people for no good reason, just because they look Hispanic. The sad thing about it is that they get to pick and choose who they want to mess with and then they do. It's too destructive of people's lives in very negative ways.' Yet her fellow Democrats have still not found an effective way to counter Trump, she argues. 'The Democratic party doesn't know what to do. It's walking around in a daze. The sad thing about it is that we do need a more focused and more specific response to lawlessness.' Five years after the police murder of George Floyd and death of Congressman John Lewis, there are fears that many of the gains of the civil rights movement are being reversed. Over the past six months Trump has issued executive orders that aim to restrict or eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He baselessly blamed DEI for undermining air safety after an army helicopter pilot was involved in a deadly midair collision with a commercial airliner. Meanwhile, Washington DC dismantled Black Lives Matter Plaza in response to pressure from Republicans in Congress. None of it surprises Moseley Braun. 'It should have been expected. He basically ran on a platform of: 'I'm going to be take it back to the 1800s. Enough of this pandering and coddling of Black people.'' But she has seen enough to take the long view of history. 'This is normal. The pendulum swings both ways. We have to put up with that fact and recognise that this is the normal reaction to the progress we've made. There's bound to be some backsliding. More than 30 years have passed since Moseley Braun, wearing a peach business suit and clutching her Bible, was sworn into the Senate by the vice-president, Dan Quayle. Despite what can seem like baby steps forward and giant leaps back, she has faith that Americans will resist authoritarianism. 'I'm very optimistic, because people value democracy,' he says. 'If they get back to the values undergirding our democracy, we'll be fine. I hope that people don't lose heart and don't get so discouraged with what this guy's doing. 'If they haven't gotten there already, the people in the heartland will soon recognise this is a blatant power grab that's all about him and making a fortune for himself and his family and has nothing to do with the common good. That's what public life is supposed to be about. It's public service.'
The Guardian
20-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Carol Moseley Braun, first black female senator: 'Sexism is harder to change than racism'
'Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton … ' Carol Moseley Braun was riding a lift in the US Capitol building when she heard Dixie, the unofficial anthem of the slave-owning Confederacy during the civil war. 'The sound was not very loud, yet it pierced my ears with the intensity of a dog whistle,' Moseley Braun writes in her new memoir, Trailblazer. 'Indeed, that is what it was in a sense.' The first African American woman in the Senate soon realised that 'Dixie' was being sung by Jesse Helms, a Republican senator from North Carolina. He looked over his spectacles at Moseley Braun and grinned. Then he told a fellow senator in the lift: 'I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing Dixie until she cries.' But clearly, Moseley Braun notes, the senator had never tangled with a Black woman raised on the south side of Chicago. She told him calmly: 'Senator Helms, your singing would make me cry even if you sang Rock of Ages.' Moseley Braun was the sole African American in the Senate during her tenure between 1993 and 1999, taking on legislative initiatives that included advocating for farmers, civil rights and domestic violence survivors, and went on to run for president and serve as US ambassador to New Zealand. In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian from her home in Chicago, she recalls her history-making spell in office, argues that sexism is tougher to crack than racism and warns that the Democratic party is 'walking around in a daze' as it struggles to combat Donald Trump. As for that incident with Helms, she looks back now and says: 'I had been accustomed to what we now call microaggressions, so I just thought he was being a jerk.' Moseley Braun was born in the late 1940s in the post-war baby boom. Her birth certificate listed her as 'white' due to her mother's light complexion and the hospital's racial segregation, a detail she later officially corrected. She survived domestic abuse from her father, who could be 'a loving advocate one minute, and an absolute monster the next', and has been guided by her religious faith. In 1966, at the age of 19, she joined a civil rights protest led by Martin Luther King. She recalls by phone: 'He was a powerful personality. You felt drawn into him because of who he was. I had no idea he was being made into a modern saint but I was happy to be there and be supportive. 'When it got violent, they put the women and children close to Dr King in concentric circles and so I was close enough to touch him. I had no idea at the time it was going to be an extraordinary point in my life but it really was.' Moseley Braun was the first in her family to graduate from college and one of few women and Black students in her law school class, where she met her future husband. In the 1970s she won a longshot election to the Illinois general assembly and became the first African American woman to serve as its assistant majority leader. But when she planned a historic run for the Senate, Moseley Braun met widespread scepticism. 'Have you lost all your mind? Why are you doing this? But it made sense to me at the time and I followed my guiding light. You do things that seem like the right thing to do and, if it make sense to you, you go for it.' Moseley Braun's campaign team included a young political consultant called David Axelrod, who would go on to be a chief strategist and senior adviser to Obama. She came from behind to win the Democratic primary, rattling the party establishment, then beat Republican Richard Williamson in the general election. She was the first Black woman elected to the Senate and only the fourth Black senator in history. When Moseley Braun arrived for her first day at work in January 1993, there was a brutal reminder of how far the US still had to travel: a uniformed guard outside the US Capitol told her, 'Ma'am, you can't go any further,' and gestured towards a side-entrance for visitors. At the time she did not feel that her trailblazing status conferred a special responsibility, however. 'I wish I had. I didn't. I was going to work. I was going to do what I do and then show up to vote on things and be part of the legislative process. I had been a legislator for a decade before in the state legislature so I didn't at the time see it as being all that different from what I'd been doing before. I was looking forward to it and it turned out to be all that I expected and more.' But it was not to last. Moseley Braun served only one term before being defeated by Peter Fitzgerald, a young Republican who was heir to a family banking fortune and an arch conservative on issues such as abortion rights. But that did not deter her from running in the Democratic primary election for president in 2004. 'It was terrible,' she recalls. 'I couldn't raise the money to begin with and so I was staying on people's couches and in airports. It was a hard campaign and the fact it was so physically demanding was a function of the fact that I didn't have the campaign organisation or the money to do a proper campaign for president. 'I was being derided by any commentator who was like, 'Look, this girl has lost her mind,' and so they kind of rolled me off and that made it hard to raise money, hard to get the acceptance in the political class. But I got past that. My ego was not so fragile that that it hurt my feelings to make me stop. I kept plugging away.' Eventually Moseley Braun dropped out and endorsed Howard Dean four days before the opening contest, the Iowa caucuses. Again, she had been the only Black woman in the field, challenging long-held assumptions of what a commander-in-chief might look like. 'That had been part and parcel of my entire political career. People saying: 'What are you doing here? Why are you here? Don't run, you can't possibly win because you're not part of the show and the ways won't open for you because you're Black and because you're a woman.' I ran into that every step of the way in my political career.' Since then, four Black women have followed in her footsteps to the Senate: Kamala Harris and Laphonza Butler of California, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. Moseley Braun says: 'I was happy of that because I was determined not to be the last of the Black women in the Senate. The first but not the last. That was a good thing, and so far the progress has been moving forward. But then we got Donald Trump and that trumped everything.' Harris left the Senate to become the first woman of colour to serve as vice-president, then stepped in as Democrats' presidential nominee after Joe Biden abandoned his bid for re-election. Moseley Braun comments: 'I thought she did as good a job as she could have. I supported her as much as I knew how to do and I'm sorry she got treated so badly and she lost like she did. You had a lot of sub rosa discussions of race and gender that she should have been prepared for but she wasn't.' Trump exploited the 'manosphere' of podcasters and influencers and won 55% of men in 2024, up from 50% of men in 2020, according to Pew Research. Moseley Braun believes that, while the country has made strides on race, including the election of Obama as its first Black president in 2008, it still lags on gender. 'I got into trouble for saying this but it's true: sexism is a harder thing to change than racism. I had travelled fairly extensively and most of the world is accustomed to brown people being in positions of power. But not here in the United States. We haven't gotten there yet and so that's something we've got to keep working on.' Does she expect to see a female president in her lifetime? 'I certainly hope so. I told my little grandniece that she could be president if she wanted to. She looked at me like I lost my mind. 'But Auntie Carol, all the presidents are boys.'' Still, Trump has not been slow to weaponise race over the past decade, launching his foray into politics with a mix of false conspiracy theories about Obama's birthplace and promises to build a border wall and drive out criminal illegal immigrants. Moseley Braun recalls: 'It was racial, cultural, ethnic, et cetera, backlash. He made a big deal out of the immigration issue, which was racism itself and people are still being mistreated on that score. 'They've been arresting people for no good reason, just because they look Hispanic. The sad thing about it is that they get to pick and choose who they want to mess with and then they do. It's too destructive of people's lives in very negative ways.' Yet her fellow Democrats have still not found an effective way to counter Trump, she argues. 'The Democratic party doesn't know what to do. It's walking around in a daze. The sad thing about it is that we do need a more focused and more specific response to lawlessness.' Five years after the police murder of George Floyd and death of Congressman John Lewis, there are fears that many of the gains of the civil rights movement are being reversed. Over the past six months Trump has issued executive orders that aim to restrict or eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He baselessly blamed DEI for undermining air safety after an army helicopter pilot was involved in a deadly midair collision with a commercial airliner. Meanwhile, Washington DC dismantled Black Lives Matter Plaza in response to pressure from Republicans in Congress. None of it surprises Moseley Braun. 'It should have been expected. He basically ran on a platform of: 'I'm going to be take it back to the 1800s. Enough of this pandering and coddling of Black people.'' But she has seen enough to take the long view of history. 'This is normal. The pendulum swings both ways. We have to put up with that fact and recognise that this is the normal reaction to the progress we've made. There's bound to be some backsliding. More than 30 years have passed since Moseley Braun, wearing a peach business suit and clutching her Bible, was sworn into the Senate by the vice-president, Dan Quayle. Despite what can seem like baby steps forward and giant leaps back, she has faith that Americans will resist authoritarianism. 'I'm very optimistic, because people value democracy,' he says. 'If they get back to the values undergirding our democracy, we'll be fine. I hope that people don't lose heart and don't get so discouraged with what this guy's doing. 'If they haven't gotten there already, the people in the heartland will soon recognise this is a blatant power grab that's all about him and making a fortune for himself and his family and has nothing to do with the common good. That's what public life is supposed to be about. It's public service.'
Axios
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Dixie officially enters District 7 congressional race
State Rep. Vincent Dixie officially entered the race to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Mark Green. Why it matters: Dixie, who has served in the legislature for eight years representing portions of north and northwest Davidson County, is another viable Democrat in an increasingly crowded field. State of play: Fellow Democratic state Reps. Aftyn Behn and Bo Mitchell also announced bids. What he's saying: Dixie, a 51-year-old small-business person, tells Axios he "didn't see anybody just fighting for the everyday person." "I'm running because too many working families feel like no one in Washington has their back," he says. "I'm stepping up to make sure people who cook our meals, teach our kids and who care for our loved ones are really being taken care of." Zoom out: Because the seat will be filled with a special election with lower turnout, Democrats feel they have a puncher's chance. The district includes parts of Nashville and stretches from Williamson County to Clarksville. "This is a chance to change the direction of politics in Tennessee," Dixie says. "I think I'm the only one who can build a coalition it'll take to win the seat. Black and brown voters in Nashville feel overlooked, and rural voters want someone with common sense and real-world experience."
Business Insider
07-07-2025
- Climate
- Business Insider
From the LA fires to the Texas floods, consumer drones keep getting in the way of rescue operations
Search and rescue operations continue in central Texas, where catastrophic flooding on Friday has killed more than 80 people. Dozens are still missing. During a Sunday press conference, after the usual updates, officials made what has become a familiar request during recent natural disasters: Don't fly your personal drones over the disaster area. "We know that people want to volunteer, but what we are starting to see is personal drones flying," Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice told reporters. "These personal drones flying is a danger to aircraft, which then risks further operations." The Kerrville Police Department echoed Rice's remarks on Sunday. "Media-operated drones are interfering with official search and rescue drones. There is a no-fly zone in Kerr County for private drones," the department said on its Facebook page. "We need cooperation in this matter. Let our first responders do their job." During a press conference hosted by Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday, Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer of the Texas National Guard said the department had launched an MQ-9 Reaper drone to perform assessment operations. "It's truly an eye in the sky for our search and rescue people," Suelzer said. Though drones are now commonly used in military and law enforcement operations, they are also popular among civilians, mostly for photography and shooting video but also for those looking to help search after disasters. During several recent disasters, however, officials have said those civilian drone operators have hindered rescue operations. The Dixie fire In 2021, the Dixie fire spread across Northern California. The flames ripped through communities, displacing residents and burning nearly a million acres of land. That July, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said an unauthorized drone had impeded emergency operations. "Yesterday, aircraft assigned to the #DixieFire were forced to land due to an unauthorized drone flying over the fire traffic area," the agency said on its official Facebook page. "Drones restrict firefighters' ability to protect lives, property, and natural resources. Remember, if you fly, we can't!" Hurricane Helene Hurricane Helene battered the southeastern US in late 2024. After making landfall in Florida, it traveled up the coast through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Heavy rainfall, strong winds, and flooding demolished homes and submerged vehicles. Amid the search and rescue efforts, the US Department of Transportation shared an X post asking consumer drone operators to stay clear. At the time, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a temporary flight restriction in certain areas. "Do not fly your drone near or around rescue and recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene," the agency said. "Interfering with emergency response operations impacts search and rescue operations on the ground." The FAADroneZone, the agency's site for drone services, said in a separate X post that "interfering with emergency response efforts may result in fines or criminal prosecution." At the time, some online observers thought volunteer drone operators were being barred from assisting in relief efforts, which sparked a backlash. The DOT later clarified that the FAA didn't ban consumer drones from providing assistance and relief. "These restrictions occur at the request of local authorities or law enforcement. FAA does not put these into place without requests," a spokesperson told Fox News. The agency added that "anyone looking to use a drone or other aircraft to assist in Hurricane Helene disaster relief and recovery efforts should coordinate with first responders and law enforcement on scene to ensure they do not disrupt life-saving operations." Los Angeles wildfires In January, a series of wildfires erupted across the Los Angeles region, causing widespread damage and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate their homes. In addition to emergency firefighting efforts on the ground, officials deployed two Super Scoopers, which are amphibious aircraft that collect water to drop on wildfires. An unauthorized civilian drone struck one Super Scooper, forcing it out of service. "We would like to remind everyone that flying a drone in the midst of firefighting efforts is a federal crime and punishable by up to 12 months in prison or a fine of up to $75,000," a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson said at the time. The incident prompted an investigation by the FAA, which said in a statement that "flying a drone near a wildfire is dangerous and can cost lives." The Department of Justice said the drone operator agreed to plead guilty to one count of unsafe operation of an uncrewed aircraft. The plea agreement included the drone operator paying full restitution to the Government of Quebec, which supplied the aircraft, and completing 150 hours of community service.
USA Today
30-06-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Supreme Court declines appeal from White Texan claiming racial harassment at school
The Austin school district said the case has 'devolved into a publicity stunt.' But a lower court judge said racism against white people had become 'edgy and exciting.' WASHINGTON – A White Texan says he was targeted by classmates and teachers at his predominantly Hispanic school district because of his race, including being called 'Whitey' by a math aide and being asked by a principal if he was listening to Dixie music. In middle school band class in 2018, two students brought up 'the evils of the white race in American history,' Brooks Warden said in his years-long lawsuit. The Supreme Court on June 30 declined to decide if Warden can sue for racial harassment under the Civil Rights Act. More: Supreme Court sides with straight woman in 'reverse discrimination' case The Austin Independent School District said Warden failed to show the alleged hostility was based on race, rather than his political views. 'This case has devolved into a publicity stunt fueled by partisan rhetoric and political opportunism,' lawyers for the school district told the Supreme Court. 'Austin ISD does not condone harassment or bullying of any kind, and it regrets that Brooks had negative experiences with its students and staff members, but this is not a Title VI case.' A federal judge dismissed the complaint. But the Louisiana-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals evenly divided over the issue. One of the appeals judges who sided with Warden said the culture increasingly accepts – it not celebrates – racism against White people. 'Racism is now edgy and exciting—so long as it's against whites,' Circuit Judge James Ho wrote. Warden said the bullying began after he wore a MAGA hat on a middle school field trip in 2017. His lawyers said he should not have to prove that race was the main reason he was targeted instead of just one of the reasons. The school district said Warden never complained that he was mistreated because of his race while he was a student there. That allegation came nearly a year after he sued and after a local judge had dismissed his multiple amended complaints against the school, lawyers for the district said. The court, the lawyers said, should not 'open the proverbial floodgates to civil liability by allowing students to sue their schools for race-based harassment every time they hear a political viewpoint about race that they do not share.'
