MLK Community Leaders Breakfast; Honoring L. Douglas Wilder; MAGA Immigration Bill Set to Be First Trump Law
➳ 2 days until the Martin Luther King Holiday on Jan. 20, 2025
➳ 2 days until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2025
➳ 150 days until the June 17, 2025 primary. Early voting starts May 2, 2025
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Photos: MLK Community Leaders Breakfast
The annual Virginia Union University MLK Community Leaders Breakfast took place yesterday in Richmond. All photos by Paulette Shipman Singleton
Trump Inaugural: The Tight Rotunda Setup
Though President Barack Obama’s January 2009 inauguration ceremony featured 18 degree temperatures, Team Trump has decided that they will move Monday’s inauguration ceremony indoors. The change means a major reduction in the number of people able to witness the event in person. It also means a slew of other logistical changes around press coverage.
Thursday tighter ceremony will likely mirror the look of President Ronald Reagan’s ceremony.
Below: A 1985 photo from Reagan’s second inaugural which took place in the Rotunda.
Latest 🎙️ Podcast: Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan on the fight ahead as Trump returns to office.
Also: Speaker Don Scott on the 2025 session of the Virginia General Assembly.
Governor L. Douglas Wilder Honored by Virginia House
On Jan. 17, 2035, Governor L. Douglas Wilder’s 94th birthday, the Virginia House of Delegates honored him and commemorated the 40th anniversary of his historic election as Lieutenant Governor. His election made Wilder the first Black person to be elected to statewide office in Virginia’s history. During the session yesterday, Governor Wilder was presented with House Resolution 481. In 1989, Wilder went on to be elected the first Black Governor in America since the Reconstruction period.
The moment included tributes by Delegates Luke Torian and Betsy Carr.
“I am profoundly aware that I stand on the shoulders of giants like you. Your journey, marked by resilience, vision, and an unwavering commitment to justice, has been a beacon of hope and inspiration for generations,” Speaker Don Scott wrote in a statement.
MAGA Laken Riley Act Set to Be Signed by Trump
On Jan. 17, the U.S. Senate advanced a bill that would make it easier for law enforcement to deport individuals without due process and expand the power of the government to conduct a mass detention of immigrants charged with low level crimes.
The Laken Riley Act (HR 29) was the first bill introduced in the 119th Congress by MAGA Rs — 48 Democrats joined them. The group of 48 included freshman Virginia Democrat Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Loudoun. Subramanyam was joined by Sen. Mark Warner, who is up for re-election in 2026 in support of the bill moving forward.
The Senate Democrats who joined Republicans in a 61-35 procedural vote that is the first bill in the MAGA immigration agenda were Sens. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Warner.
Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) did not cast a vote.
TODAY
1- Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America Hardcover (1999)
2- Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching Paperback (2009)
3- Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey (Oct. 2024)
4- Positive, Successful, Stylish Black People Coloring Book (2024)
5- When Mayor Doug Wilder Ruled Richmond: Strong-Arm Politics in Virginia's Capital City by Linwoood Norman (Aug. 2024)
6- Rumor, Repression, and Racial Politics: How the Harassment of Black Elected Officials Shaped Post-Civil Rights America (Since 1970: Histories of Contemporary America) by George Derek Musgrove
7- Son of Virginia, A Life in America's Political Arena (2015) by L. Douglas Wilder
8- The New Jim Crow (2010) by Michelle Alexander
9- Remaking Virginia Politics by Paul Goldman (Jan. 2022)
10- Burn the Page: A True Story of Torching Doubts, Blazing Trails, and Igniting Change (2022) by Danica Roem
11- Harbingers: What January 6 and Charlottesville Reveal About Rising Threats to American Democracy Hardcover (2024) by Timothy J. Heaphy
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