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VOLUME 98 - NUMBER 19
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2019
TELEPHONE 919-682-2913
PRICE 50
Maxine Waters a model
for many outspoken
freshman Democrats
By Laurie Kellman
WASHINGTON (AP) - She’s
been called “Kerosene Maxine”
and gaveled off the House floor
for accusing Republican men
of badgering women. She dis
missed President Donald Trump
and his allies as thugs and pre
dicted his impeachment before
he was sworn into office.
No one, Maxine Waters once
observed, should be surprised
by her. But after nearly three de
cades in Congress, the 80-year-
old California lawmaker is in an
eye-opening role as the highest-
ranking African American wom
an in the country. She’s wielding
the gavel of the bank-regulating
Financial Services Committee
REP. MAXINE WATERS
Stacey Abrams says
she’s still considering
presidential bid
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate
Stacey Abrams says she’s still considering running for president in
2020.
Abrams answered “yes” when asked in an interview with Pod
Save America aired May 8 if she was still contemplating joining the
crowded Democratic presidential field.
Abrams has also been floated as a possible vice-presidential pick,
though she recently downplayed the idea, telling ABC that “you
don’t run for second place.”
Last month, Abrams ruled out a 2020 run for Senate. She had been
courted by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has said he
believes Abrams would have the best shot to defeat Republican Sen.
David Perdue, one of President Donald Trump’s most loyal Capitol
Hill allies.
In 2018, Abrams came within 60,000 votes of becoming the first
black female governor in U.S. history.
NC high school junior
heads directly to NCCU
JACKSONVILLE (AP) - A high school junior who has
received more than 90 college offers with scholarships
totaling over $1.4 million says she has decided to start at
North Carolina Central University in the fall.
The Daily News of Jacksonville reports that 16-year-
old Nyquasia Brown will go to NCCU in Durham from
White Oak High School as part of an expedited program.
She was able to enter White Oak with credits and gradu
ate in three years.
While attending high school, she has held down two
jobs to help her mother support her three siblings.
Brown was accepted to the honors college at the his
torically black NCCU, where she plans to major in politi
cal science and minor in criminal justice. Then she plans
to attend law school.
with the power to investigate
Trump where some say it counts
most: his business dealings.
The role makes Waters a
model for many, but notably for
the outspoken freshmen Demo
crats who have drawn as much
scrutiny - and as many threats -
for what they’ve said as for the
barriers they are breaking. Wa
ters, known by some of them as
“Auntie Maxine,” has been there.
And her unique ascent offers les
sons in how to balance activism
with work and prudence.
“(at)RepMaxineWaters al
ways tells it like it is like our
favorite auntie,” tweeted Michi
gan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of
the first Muslim women in Con
gress. She, like Waters, called for
Trump’s impeachment, though
in more profane terms .
Waters has minced no words
on her drive to see Trump for
mally charged by the House.
She is leading one of six House
committee investigations of
Trump’s world, specifically into
Deutsche Bank, the German as
set management firm that has
lent Trump’s real estate organi
zation millions of dollars over
the years. She said earlier this
year that the bank is cooperating
with requests for documents. But
" Trump last week launched a le
gal fight to block the banks from
doing so, opening a new front in
his battle against Congress.
Waters, the only woman and
the only African American to
hold that chairmanship, has of
fered instruction by example of
how to survive as a “first” in the
most diverse House in U.S. his
tory.
“Her preparedness and her
concentration on getting some
thing done, and her ability to get
along with us, allows her to get
the policy done, too,” said House
Oversight and Reform Commit
tee Elijah Cummings, D-Md.,
whose panel is also investigating
Trump. “She can fire folks up,
but she also does her homework.
She also has a game plan in the
end.”
Tlaib and a dozen other Dem
ocratic freshmen on the panel had
front row seats for what became
a class in what House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi calls “knowing
your power.” When Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin com
plained about how long Waters
was questioning him, she glared
down from the dais.
“This is a new way and it’s a
new day and it’s a new chair and
I have the gavel at this point,”
Waters said levelly.
Mnuchin suggested she drop
the “gravel” and dismiss him.
She did not. “Please do not in
struct me as to how I’m to con
duct this committee,” she said.
Mnuchin departed when Waters
was ready. He promised to come
back if called.
That power moment hap
pened, congressional veterans
said, chiefly because Waters has
earned clout up the leadership
ladder and across the partisan
aisle. So when Democrats took
control of the House after the
November 2018 elections, she
had been in line for nearly five
years for the top spot - and there
was no quarrel over the pro
motion, Democrats said. That,
despite Waters’ long feud with
Trump, in which he branded her
“low IQ” and she urged people
to publicly shame members of
his administration over its fam
ily detention policy at the U.S.
border. He warned last July, “'Be
careful what you wish for Max!”
Chairmanship granted, Wa
ters’ portfolio includes
NCCU 2019 Graduate
NCCU Awards 412 Graduate
and Professional Degrees at
133rd Commencement
North Carolina Central University (NCCU) awarded 294 master’s degrees,117 law
degrees and one doctoral degree during the 2019 Graduate and Professional Com
mencement Ceremony on May lO-
Ninety Master of Science degrees were awarded, the most in any category, followed
by 53 Master of Social Work and 51 Master of Arts degrees.
Among the honorees recognized was a married couple, Will Glayverth and Thalita
Silva, both of whom immigrated from Brazil but didn’t meet until 2010. Profession
ally interested in bankruptcy law, they helped establish the NCCU Bankruptcy Council
during their time at the School of Law, NCCU Chancellor Johnson 0. Akinleye said.
“However, Thalita found that her law school experience was missing an important
factor,” Akinleye added. “In wanting to experience the full breadth of being an Ameri
can citizen, Thalita received her citizenship in October 2018 after an extensive process
and testing with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.”
N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley addressed the graduates, telling
them that she left law school more than 20 years ago with no blueprint for becoming a
judge, especially a chief justice. Beasley said the key to moving forward in any profes
sion is being “proactive” in seeking opportunities as they arise.
“Muster the courage to seize the moment,” Beasley said. “Be careful about perceiv
ing those opportunities as meant for somebody else.”
She also urged them to maintain confidence in the face of obstacles.
“You’ll make the best laid plans and there will be times when your plans will be up-
set,” Beasley said. “Your dream job may slip through your fingers, but your fall back
plan may be just the thing that leads you to discover your passion.”
Beasley is the first African American woman to be elected in any statewide race with
out first being appointed to the office. She also is the first African American woman to
serve as chief justice of the state’s highest court, after being appointed by North Caro
lina Governor Roy Cooper in March 2019. Additionally, Beasley is the fourth African
American woman to serve as chief justice in the U.S. She was awarded an Honorary
Doctor of Humane Letters at the ceremony.
overseeing the government’s banking, housing and consumer protection agencies, as well as investigat
ing Trump. On policy, she’s got the background, including helping write the Dodd-Frank Act, which
imposed new oversight on the banking industry. Even on impeachment, she’s got experience, should the
House ever proceed in that direction against Trump. Waters was one of President Bill Clinton’s staunchest
supporters on the House Judiciary Committee when it anchored proceedings against him.
Waters also has been through the grinder of public scrutiny. In 2012, a House committee cleared her of
wrongdoing following allegations she steered a $12 million federal bailout to a bank where her husband
owned stock.
Throughout, Waters developed an approach that Republicans and Democrats describe as a balance be
tween ferocious public advocacy for her constituencies and a down-to-business approach to deal making.
And yes, compromise, including on a law she helped negotiate with House Republicans providing flood
insurance to millions of Americans.
“People understand that she is fighting for them,” said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, who served with
Waters in the California State Assembly. Waters was in the State Assembly for 14 years before being
elected to the House in 1990. “They feel confident that she has done everything in her power to get the
best possible deal,” Roybal-Allard said.
A sense of humor inside Congress’ ivory tower helps, too.
“I have a picture of her hanging on my wall,” said Rep. Steve Chabot, a Republican from Ohio who
sparred with Waters on the Clinton impeachment committee. It immortalizes a moment in which he told
Waters that even though she’s not a lawyer, he’d call her to advocate for him if ever he got in trouble.
“She laughed,” he recalled.
Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican and a member of Waters’ committee, said her calls for
Trump’s impeachment make it unlikely she’ll get any Republican cooperation on that. But policy is
something else.
“There’s different levels of Maxine. She really is a tough fighter,” King said, recalling a skirmish he
had with her in 1994 in which she told him to “shut up” in a committee hearing and the fight spilled out
onto the House floor. She was gaveled down for her “demeanor” and her words stricken from the record.
“On the other hand,” King added, “there’s the Maxine Waters who knows how to get things done, who
knows how to make alliances, who can work with people in (banking) industry if she has to.”
No longer does anyone ask the leaders to answer for Waters’ words, as happens with some of the fresh
men - Rep. Ilhan Omar, for example, for her remarks on Israel.