Black Americans

The Blue Flood: America Finds Its Voice Again

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

By 8:30 p.m. on election night, the story was unmistakable. America had spoken, not with a whisper but with a roar that swept from Richmond to Atlanta, from Newark to New York City. The message was clear. The nation had seen enough of the cruelty, chaos, and conspiracies that marked the Trump years. What followed was not a trickle of blue, but a flood.

Democrats swept Virginia in a commanding victory that turned the commonwealth deep blue once again. Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger shattered a long-standing glass ceiling, becoming the first woman ever elected governor of Virginia. Her running mate, State Senator Ghazala Hashmi, made history as the first Indian American and the first Muslim elected to statewide office. Together, they secured the top two offices in the state, giving Democrats full control of Virginia’s government. In the attorney general’s race, Democrat Jay Jones defeated Republican incumbent Jason Miyares after overcoming a late campaign controversy involving resurfaced text messages he sent in 2022 about then House Speaker Todd Gilbert. His win marked another milestone, making him Virginia’s first Black attorney general. It was more than a state turning a page. It was the nation beginning a new chapter.

In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill captured the governor’s mansion, turning what had been a Republican-leaning swing state into a Democratic stronghold. In Pennsylvania, voters chose to retain all three Democratic Supreme Court justices, maintaining a five-to-two majority on the state’s highest court. The decision represented a firm rejection of the MAGA legal crusades aimed at rolling back reproductive rights, voting rights, and democratic norms. Even in the Deep South, the map looked different by midnight. Democrats flipped two Public Service Commission seats in Georgia, their first such victories in twenty-five years. Atlanta’s Democratic Mayor Andre Dickens coasted to re-election. In Miami, the mayoral race advanced to a runoff with Democrat Eileen Higgins in first place, an unexpected twist in a city long seen as safely Republican.

In New York City, Democrat Zohran Mamdani won the mayor’s race, with more than two million voters casting ballots, the highest turnout for a mayoral election since 1969. In Detroit, City Council President Mary Sheffield was elected as the city’s first woman mayor. Across the country, women and people of color were not just participating in democracy; they were leading it. “The cruelty, chaos, and greed that define MAGA radicalism were firmly rejected by the American people,” Schumer said. He called the night’s results “a repudiation of the Trump agenda.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined national coverage and described the results as “a mandate for a more compassionate and forward-looking government.” The message came amid deep national strain. The ongoing government shutdown, driven by Trump-aligned Republicans, has closed Head Start centers, left millions of children without preschool care, and forced families to go without food assistance and infant formula. The election became more than a contest between parties. It became a referendum on what kind of country Americans still want to build. “Tonight, America chose to move forward,” Schumer said. And forward it went. Into a political moment defined not by grievance but by grit, not by fear but by faith in shared progress. After years of division, voters seemed to reclaim the idea that democracy still belongs to them.

“Mayor Michelle Wu has repeatedly put Bostonians first and delivered solutions to some of the biggest challenges Boston families are facing today,” EMILYs List President Jessica Mackler said. “She has defended her city against Trump and his allies, and we are proud to congratulate her on her reelection victory. As mayor, Michelle has spearheaded historical investments in affordable housing for Bostonians, and we look forward to watching her continue delivering impactful results.” “Tonight proved what we knew to be sure. Mikie Sherrill always comes out on top in tough fights,” VoteVets said in a statement. “Always committed to service, as governor, Mikie is going to focus on making life easier for everyone in New Jersey, and we’re confident she’ll get results.” Sherrill, a VoteVets-backed candidate since her first congressional run in 2018, triumphed over Trump loyalist Jack Ciattarelli, ensuring the governor’s mansion remains in Democratic hands for the first time in sixty years. “Eileen is a battle-tested leader who has fought hard for affordable housing, invested millions to strengthen hundreds of small businesses, and led efforts to expand transit,” Mackler said after Eileen Higgins’s first-place finish in Miami. “We’re confident her leadership and momentum will carry her to victory in the runoff and allow her to continue delivering for the people of Miami.”

Virginia House Democrats shattered expectations, flipping at least eleven seats to reach a sixty-two-seat majority, the largest Democratic House majority in Virginia since 1989. It is the first time in fifty years that Democrats expanded their majority in this battleground chamber, and the first time in nearly four decades that a Democratic governor will enter office with a trifecta. “EMILYs List is proud to congratulate state Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger on her critical victory in Minnesota’s state Senate District 47,” Mackler said. “Amanda has a proven track record fighting for Minnesotans in the state House, and she will continue her great work in the state Senate working to protect access to health care, investing in education, and making child care more affordable.” The victory was crucial. It marked the second time in recent years Democrats successfully defended their Senate majority and set the tone for 2026, when the full Minnesota Senate will again be on the ballot. “Through her hard work and dedication to the residents of the Queen City, she has secured real results, including the expansion of public transportation, funding for affordable housing, and investing in safer communities,” Mackler said about Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles’s re-election. “We are thrilled to witness Vi become the second-longest serving mayor of Charlotte, and we look forward to watching her continue her impactful work.”

Mississippi Democrats broke the Republican supermajority in the state Senate, with victories by Theresa Gillespie Isom, Reginald Jackson, and Johnny DuPree. It was the sixth time in two years that Democrats have broken a GOP supermajority in a state legislature. Across the map, the numbers told a story of resurgence. In Virginia, Spanberger’s margin of victory was the largest in at least forty years, flipping nearly every county blue. In New Jersey, Sherrill erased Trump’s 2024 gains among Black, Hispanic, and AAPI voters. In Pennsylvania, voters overwhelmingly supported Democratic judicial retention by wide margins. In Georgia, Democrats won non-federal statewide offices for the first time in two decades. This election, Democrats said, was a referendum on Donald Trump and his failure to deliver for working families. Party officials said Trump sold out Americans to benefit billionaires and himself. The DNC pointed to history, noting that when Democrats have swept the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia and the New York City mayor’s race, they have won the U.S. House majority the following year.

“American voters just delivered a Democratic resurgence. A Republican reckoning. A blue sweep,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said. “It happened because our Democratic candidates, no matter where they are or how they fit into our big tent party, are meeting voters at the kitchen table, not the gilded ballroom. From New Jersey, Virginia, and New York, to Georgia and beyond, Democrats ran campaigns relentlessly focused on costs and affordability. They ran on a vision that connected to the core of hardworking families across the country. And to all the Republicans who have bowed a cowardly knee to Trump all year, consider this: we’re coming after your jobs next. Over the next year, the ability to stop Trump in his tracks runs directly through the Democratic Party. We will earn every vote. We will win.” The victories were sweeping, including Spanberger, Hashmi, and Jones in Virginia, Sherrill in New Jersey, Supreme Court justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht in Pennsylvania, Dr. Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard in Georgia, Proposition 50 in California, Question 1 in Maine, Zohran Mamdani in New York City, and a double-digit gain in the Virginia House of Delegates. “The American people made themselves clear,” Martin said. “This was not just an election about politics. It was about decency, democracy, and the kind of nation we still want to be.”

When the Music Stopped: Michael Jackson’s Former Inner Circle Faces the Estate

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

There was a time when Neverland was a dream. A place where innocence and fame danced together, and the world believed in magic again. But dreams can rot in daylight, and in the years since Michael Jackson’s death, Neverland’s gates have opened once more — this time, into a courtroom.

Three siblings, once close enough to be called family, are accusing the late superstar’s billion-dollar Estate of manipulation and betrayal. Frank Cascio, Aldo Cascio, and Marie-Nicole Porte have filed sworn declarations claiming the Michael Jackson Estate forced them into a secret 2019 settlement meant to silence them forever. The Estate calls it false, labeling their claims a $213 million shakedown. The Cascio family’s bond with Jackson stretched back to childhood. He was a guest in their New Jersey home, a mentor, a friend, and for years, a source of pride. Frank traveled the world with him, managed his affairs, and called him a brother. Aldo and Marie spent their youth inside the singer’s circle of light.

In those days, the Cascios believed they were part of something beautiful. Frank wrote a 2011 book titled My Friend Michael, calling Jackson gentle and misunderstood. He told Oprah Winfrey and Wendy Williams that Michael was innocent and that every man who accused him of abuse was motivated by greed. “He was being attacked by liars who wanted his money,” Frank said then. But time has a way of turning faith into fracture.

According to court filings, the Cascio siblings now say the Estate preyed on their pain. In December 2019, they allege, a representative came to their father’s Italian restaurant in New Jersey and gathered nine relatives in a private upstairs room. There was one document on the table. It was read once. They were told to sign immediately. No lawyers. No copies. No questions. Aldo said the moment felt suffocating. “We were subjected to intense time pressure,” he wrote. “The pressure was compounded by the Estate’s exploitation of our family’s relationship with Michael’s children. We were told not to inform them about the agreement or the underlying abuse.”

He said he signed while in therapy, struggling to understand his trauma. “I felt stripped of dignity and forced into silence about the most painful truth of my life.” Frank, who noted that he has dyslexia, said he signed alone in Los Angeles at the office of longtime Jackson attorney Howard Weitzman. “They told me it was only a technicality,” he said. “They told me not to bring a lawyer. I trusted them.” The Michael Jackson Estate denies all of it. Co-executor John Branca said the 2019 deal was mutual and necessary to protect Jackson’s children and legacy after HBO’s Leaving Neverland documentary. He called the new claims “blackmail dressed up as trauma.”

“They went on national television for years saying Michael was innocent,” Branca said. “Now they want to profit off his name.” Before his death, Michael Jackson was acquitted of all 13 criminal charges in 2005. He, his family, and the Estate have always vehemently denied all allegations of abuse. Yet this latest battle is not just about innocence or guilt. It is about power — who wields it, who loses it, and what it costs to stand against it. It is about the price of silence, and how loyalty, once broken, can turn love into something that no settlement can contain.

As the case moves through the courts, one thing is certain. The music may have stopped, but the echoes of Neverland still refuse to fade.

The Violence Trump Claims to Fear Occurs Mostly in Red States

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

Donald Trump continues to attack cities and jurisdictions heavily populated by minorities, often painting them as crime-ridden and unsafe despite evidence showing overall declines in many categories of crime. Nowhere is this tension clearer than in Washington, D.C., where residents face relentless scrutiny from Trump while Red States — many with far less diversity — quietly struggle with some of the highest murder rates in the nation.

The District of Columbia recorded the nation’s highest murder rate in 2023 at 39 per 100,000 residents, with 265 murders. Despite local efforts to address violence, Trump routinely depicts the city as unlivable. To many residents, the greater tragedy is not just the crime itself but the reality that the capital of the United States now looks like an occupied third-world country, with National Guard and federal troops visibly stationed throughout the city. Washingtonians, who have already been denied full congressional representation, have become political pawns in Trump’s rhetoric. What Trump avoids mentioning is that several Republican-led states top the list of the deadliest places. Louisiana had a murder rate of 14.5 per 100,000, recording 663 killings in 2023. New Mexico, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas — all governed by Republicans in recent years — also posted murder rates higher than 9 per 100,000 residents.

In Missouri, another GOP stronghold, the murder rate stood at 9.1 per 100,000 with 564 murders, disproportionately concentrated in cities like St. Louis and Kansas City. South Carolina, Alaska, and Georgia each ranked high, while Mississippi, often touted by conservatives as a bastion of “traditional values,” has at times led the nation in murder rates. Meanwhile, states with larger minority populations that Trump targets — including Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Maryland — often have lower murder rates than many of these Red States. Illinois, home to Chicago, recorded a rate of 6.56 per 100,000, below Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

Critics argue this is no accident. Trump’s fixation on minority-heavy jurisdictions is part of a long-standing strategy of scapegoating urban areas with large Black and Latino populations, while sidestepping the systemic problems facing states where his support is strongest. “Murders were far more common in [Mississippi] than they were nationwide,” the World Population Review reported, with Louisiana, Alabama, Missouri, and Arkansas following close behind. The report’s numbers show that while Trump fixates on minority-heavy cities, the deadliest conditions are playing out in Red States that rarely draw his attention. “Murders are disproportionately concentrated in urban areas, especially in New Orleans and Baton Rouge,” the researchers concluded.

Howard University President Ben Vinson Will Suddenly Step Down as President on August 31

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — In a surprising announcement, Howard University President Ben Vinson III, 55, will leave his position as Howard University’s 18th President.

Howard University President Ben Vinson Will Suddenly Step Down as President on August 31

By Lauren Burke

In a surprising announcement, Howard University President Ben Vinson III, 55, will leave his position as Howard University’s 18th President. Vinson’s departure comes at a usual time: The start of the academic year. “We understand that this news may be surprising to some, coming at the start of the academic year,” said Leslie Hale, Howard University Board of Trustees chair, on a video posted on Howard University’s website. A statement on Howard’s website posted before the news of Vinson’s departure reads, “As we stand on the threshold of this new academic year, I am filled with optimism and hope for what lies ahead. Let us continue to embrace the spirit of Howard University – a spirit that encourages us to push boundaries, seek justice, and strive for excellence in all that we do.”

A campus-wide engagement tour is also posted on the President’s page online as of August 22. Though Vinson’s departure happens at a moment when military National Guard troops have occupied Washington, DC, at the orders of President Trump, there is no indication at this time that Vinson’s departure is related to DC being occupied by federal police and the military. Vinson became President of Howard only two years ago, on September 1, 2023. In 2023, right before he began to lead Howard, Vinson told The Washington Post that, “all of us have been recognizing over the past several years an overall declining faith in the value of higher education. It’s been under scrutiny. And so this is a time for all of our institutions to really rise to the moment. What that looks like is going to look quite different in every particular institution.”

Vinson is a former provost at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Former Howard President Wayne A.I. Frederick was selected by Howard’s Board of Trustees to return as Howard University’s president on an interim basis in ten days. “On behalf of the Howard University Board of Trustees, we extend our sincere gratitude to Dr. Vinson for his service and leadership as president,” said Hale, Chair of the Board of Trustees, in a statement issued on August 22. “As we move forward, the Board of Trustees and University leadership remain steadfast in our commitment to maintaining Howard’s mission of excellence, truth, and service and a vibrant, welcoming, and innovative academic environment where students continue to succeed,” added Board Chair Hale. How long Frederick will remain as interim President of Howard is unknown.

Trump’s Takeover of Smithsonian Targets Black History and Censors Presidential Truths

Washington D.C., USA - February 10, 2023: The National Museum of African American

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

Donald Trump’s administration has intensified its takeover of the Smithsonian Institution, advancing an agenda that historians and civil rights leaders say is rooted in racism and political censorship. Under the guise of “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” Trump’s March executive order placed Vice President J.D. Vance in charge of purging Smithsonian exhibitions of what the White House calls “divisive” narratives, targeting especially those that address race, slavery, and systemic injustice. The latest moves include the removal of references to Trump’s two impeachments from the National Museum of American History’s “Limits of Presidential Power” exhibit. Smithsonian officials claimed the change was part of a “restoration” to the exhibit’s 2008 version, but ABC News reported on August 1, 2025, that it followed White House pressure during a broader content review. Trump is the only U.S. president impeached twice—once in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and again in 2021 for incitement of insurrection—but both proceedings were temporarily erased from the museum’s public record.

The administration’s focus has been even more aggressive toward the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In April, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones told Black Press USA that Trump’s targeting of the museum’s slavery section “is a sign of a deep sickness” and that “to erase or minimize the slavery and freedom part of that story is to create a fantasy of how we got here”. She warned, “We literally would not be in the United States without slavery.” Civil rights icon Dr. Amos C. Brown, speaking on April 29, 2025, on the Black Press USA’s Let It Be Known show, revealed that the museum had abruptly returned historic artifacts he had loaned—a Bible from the civil rights era and one of the earliest histories of Black people in America—without discussion. “This is a direct result of Project 2025,” Brown said. “There is a move in this country to induce cultural and historical Alzheimer’s”.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, who has led the institution since 2019, has publicly pledged to “remain committed to telling the multi-faceted stories of this country’s extraordinary heritage” despite the White House directive. But Trump’s order grants Vance authority over content, funding, and even appointments to the Board of Regents—an unprecedented level of federal interference in the 178-year-old institution’s governance. The scope of the takeover, outlined in an August 12 White House letter to Bunch, demands access to internal curatorial documents, exhibition plans, and educational materials from eight major museums. The administration insists on “content corrections” to replace narratives it deems “ideologically driven” with those celebrating “American exceptionalism”. Critics say the moves echo authoritarian tactics. “We cannot be a free democratic society when you have the most powerful people in the world who will take control of a history museum and force them to tell a lie,” Hannah-Jones said in April.

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Black News

The Blue Flood: America Finds Its Voice Again

When the Music Stopped: Michael Jackson’s Former Inner Circle Faces the Estate

The Violence Trump Claims to Fear Occurs Mostly in Red States

Howard University President Ben Vinson Will Suddenly Step Down as President on August 31

Trump’s Takeover of Smithsonian Targets Black History and Censors Presidential Truths

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