SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Two women who sued the Springfield school district over having to undergo mandatory racial equity training have been ordered to pay the district’s legal fees.

U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool ordered Jennifer Lumley and Brooke Henderson to pay the district $312,869 in legal fees, The Springfield News-Leader reported.

Harpool ruled against the women in January after they claimed in their lawsuit that the training they were required to take in the 2020-21 school year violated their constitutional rights.

In his ruling last week, Harpool said the two women, who still work for the district, had not shown they were harmed in any way by the training. He said they were trying to draw the school district into a political dispute, rather than seeking damages for actual harm.

“This court is a forum for litigation of genuine disputes of fact and law alone, rather than frivolous political disagreement,” Harpool wrote.

District spokesman Stephen Hall said school officials were pleased the court found the plaintiffs’ were frivolous and said the tax dollars spent defending the against the lawsuit could have been better spent on students.

Henderson and Lumley are represented by the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a nonprofit that has filed numerous lawsuits involving school training, critical race theory and COVID-19 policies.

Their attorneys have said they plan to appeal Harpool’s ruing from January.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden was winding up for a speech at a Minnesota clean energy facility when he spotted a lawmaker in the crowd whom he wanted to recognize.

“I want to thank you for being here,” Biden said, gesturing toward Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar during his recent visit. “You never stop working to level the playing field for everybody.”

For Omar, the quick flash of praise from Biden — who was neither her first nor second choice to be the party’s 2020 White House nominee — was more than just a courtesy shout-out during a presidential visit to her suburban Minneapolis district. It was a recognition of how far Omar has come after a rocky start to her political career that at times made her standing with Democrats appear tenuous.

As she settles into her third term, Omar is no longer defined by the “firsts” that accompanied her arrival in Congress: one of the first Muslim women in the House, the first refugee from Africa elected to the House, the first lawmaker to wear a hijab while on the House floor.

In interviews with nearly a dozen Democrats in the House and Senate, lawmakers portray Omar as a serious legislator who in the past four years has earned admiration for giving voice to marginalized groups often forgotten on Capitol Hill.

The best example of this came in early February when every single House Democrat voted against a GOP resolution to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her past comments critical of Israel.

“I think we’ve been successful in making the Democratic caucus, Democratic Party, Democratic establishment to get to a place where they are able to see me fully, for all of the multiple identities I am a first for and not just to see and celebrate it but to defend it,” Omar told The Associated Press.

In the debate over her committee seat, many of Omar’s fellow Democrats, including those of Jewish descent, spoke out in the chamber about what they said was hypocrisy from the new Republican majority.

“I don’t need any of you to defend me against antisemitism,” said Rep. Jan Shakowsky, D-Ill. “My friend Ilhan Omar and I have worked together toward the values that I treasure as an American Jew and that she treasures as an American Islamic woman, the only one on the Foreign Affairs Committee.”

Democrats called it payback because they had used their majority in the last Congress to oust far-right GOP lawmakers from committees for their incendiary, violent remark s. But the emotionally charged floor debate over Omar was a departure from the bipartisan outrage she faced in her first year in office. At that time, Democrats were confronted by the reality that comes with diverse viewpoints when Omar — showing less deference to the party line — dragged the divisions over Israel into the open.

It began with social media posts in which Omar criticized pro-Israel lobbyist groups and questioned the loyalty of Jewish lawmakers who pushed back against her criticisms of the Israeli government.

Omar apologized for her comments at the time, both privately to her Jewish colleagues and publicly. She said what she was questioning was the influence game in Washington and voicing her concern that anything she said about Israel and its treatment of Palestinians would be construed as antisemitic.

In response, top Democrats began to draft a resolution that would have condemned antisemitism, with an early version even mentioning Omar by name. At the time, only a handful of Democrats inside and outside of Congress came to her defense.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the highest-ranking progressive in Congress, said in April 2019 that Omar may “need to do a better job speaking to the Jewish community,” but that “it is not antisemitic to be critical of a right-wing government in Israel.”

Ben Rhodes, who was President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said that after meeting Omar early in her career, it was clear that she wanted to use her background to push for structural change in foreign policy.

“There are plenty of people in Congress that can represent the kind of established view of American foreign policy whether it’s on the Middle East or whether it’s on military policy,” Rhodes said. “There’s a desperate need for unconventional thinking and different perspectives, and that’s what she brings.”

The resolution that Democrats ended up introducing and passing in the spring of 2019 included condemnation of anti-Muslim bias but did not mention of Omar’s name. For the next several years, the former state legislator focused on bringing attention to issues that affected immigrants and families both back in her district and across Minnesota. And she gained support from various factions of the party as a result.

“The more time I’ve spent with her the more I’ve come to appreciate her perspective, the more I’ve come to realize how important her voice is to represent not just our community in Minnesota, not just in our country but many around the world,” Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., another Jewish member of Congress. “It’s not about agreeing. This building was not built for agreement. It was built to manage disagreement. And I’d like to think that she and I can be the perfect example of that.”

Omar began to move up the ranks in the Congressional Progressive Caucus — one of the largest ideological caucuses in the House. She become the vote counter for the caucus chair, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., in the last Congress as progressives helped pave the way for Biden’s agenda to pass the House and Senate.

In January, Omar was chosen by more than 100 members to serve as deputy caucus chair.

“She’s not gonna stop using her voice,” Jayapal said. “She’ll continue to use her voice on foreign affairs issues. Just kicking her off a committee is not going to silence her. She’s way too strong for that.”

Omar, who was born in Somalia, is now embarking on a new chapter “as a minority, in the minority,” helping Biden and the Democratic Party provide a split screen to Republican control by highlighting the implementation of several legislative achievements made in the past two years, including the infrastructure law.

“Being taken off the committee is not a pleasant experience. But I think she’s gonna turn it into a real blessing,” said Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who was an early supporter of Omar and is a member of the House Democratic leadership team.

Omar is also chairing a newly formed Africa policy working group, where she and more than a dozen House Democrats will focus on issues concerning the continent.

“We don’t agree on everything,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs, one of the group’s members. “But we share a similar worldview, especially when it comes to the African continent, where we’re both really focused on U.S. engagement, not leading with our military, but actually leading with diplomacy and centering our values on human rights and promoting good governance.”

While many voiced concerns that her removal from the House Foreign Affairs Committee would effectively silence her on foreign policy, Omar said Republicans badly miscalculated, given that she was assigned to the House Budget Committee as a replacement.

“This is why I joke about the fact that Republicans taking me off the Foreign Affairs Committee essentially meant that they were promoting me,” Omar said.

“Because we will have the opportunity not only to address investments in regards to our foreign policy with development, defense, and diplomacy, but we will also be able to have more of a say as part as the discussions move forward in regards to our own defense budget.”

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* This article was originally published here

As the April 18 deadline to file 2022 income taxes arrives, many African Americans share their experiences with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Some have said that filing their taxes was hard and they ran into problems, while others were happy with the process.

Recent statistics show that African Americans comprise a large share of taxpayers in the United States.

However, many still need help navigating the complex tax system and dealing with the IRS.
One common issue African American taxpayers report is difficulty accessing tax services and resources.

Many live in areas that need access to qualified tax professionals, making it harder for them to file their taxes accurately and on time.

This can lead to costly mistakes, late fees, and other penalties.

Many have reported experiencing discrimination and bias while dealing with the IRS.
Such actions can come in many forms, such as being audited unfairly or getting less help than other taxpayers.

A recent study confirmed that Black Americans are three to five times more likely to face an IRS audit when compared with other taxpayers.

Evelyn Smith, an economics graduate student at the University of Michigan and visiting fellow at Stanford University’s RegLab, told CNBC that the audit rate differences seem to be driven by the agency’s focus on “low-dollar, high-certainty cases.”

Specifically, the study examines audits of filers claiming the earned income tax credit, a tax break for low to moderate earners.

The credit is refundable, meaning eligible filers can receive it even with zero taxes due.

The findings show Black filers claiming the earned income tax credit were more likely to be audited than non-Black filers claiming the same credit.

“It’s a type of audit that the IRS does a lot,” Smith told the network. “It’s cheap, it’s easy to perform and Black taxpayers get caught up in that disproportionately relative to non-Black taxpayers.”

Those facts have proven discouraging for African American taxpayers, who already have to deal with systemic racism and discrimination in other parts of their lives.

Despite the problems, many still have found ways to deal with the tax system and file their taxes successfully.

Some have sought free or low-cost tax preparation services provided by community organizations or the IRS.

Others have relied on online tax software and resources to file their taxes independently.
Those who have had positive experiences with the IRS emphasize the importance of being organized, keeping good records, and staying on top of tax deadlines.

They also say to find tax professionals or resources early on to ensure the filing process goes smoothly and without stress.

Overall, the experiences of African Americans with the IRS show that the tax system needs to be fairer and easier to use.

“Taxpayers of all backgrounds should have access to high-quality tax services and resources, regardless of where they live or their income level,” Alton Moore, a tax preparer and accountant, insisted.

“The IRS should get rid of bias and unfair treatment so that all taxpayers are treated equally,” Moore asserted.

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* This article was originally published here

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge recently held a roundtable with a group of Black journalists to discuss the ongoing issue of housing inequities and the opportunities the Biden-Harris administration has pushed for African American and minority homeownership.

During the roundtable, Fudge talked about how more needs to be done to fix the racial differences in the housing market.

She stated that housing costs are inextricably linked to inflation and that HUD is committed to doing more to help ensure that everyone has access to safe and affordable housing.

Even though there has been some progress, the Secretary said that the rate of African Americans owning their own homes is still much lower than that of white Americans.
She pointed out that the racial wealth gap, discriminatory lending practices, and other systemic issues are all factors that contribute to this disparity.

To help address these issues, Fudge discussed several initiatives that HUD is currently working on, including expanding access to down payment assistance programs, increasing affordable housing options, and combating discriminatory lending practices.

One of the main discussion topics during the roundtable was the effect these initiatives would have on Black communities.

Fudge, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said that fixing the housing problems in these communities is essential for economic growth and social mobility.

The Secretary also emphasized the importance of working with local governments, community organizations, and other stakeholders to ensure that these initiatives effectively address the specific needs of Black communities.

Fudge further discussed the need to expand access to affordable housing in urban areas, where the cost of living is often higher than in other parts of the country.

She highlighted the importance of working with local governments to promote mixed-income housing developments, which can help to promote economic diversity and reduce segregation within these communities.

“What we are saying at HUD and the Biden-Harris administration is that we can assist you with down payment assistance, we can assist you by staying in your homes, like giving you longer mortgages, we can make sure that we treat you fairly throughout that lending process,” Fudge asserted.

“We also have resources that we have put out tons of money. We send out community development block grant money, which many of them use. We send home money to communities to help them build housing, as well as we look at a broader picture and understand the significance of the problems.”

Fudge continued to emphasize the need to address the issue of housing discrimination.
Fudge noted that HUD is working to strengthen fair housing laws and enforce them more effectively.

She emphasized that discrimination in the housing market is morally wrong and against the law and that the Biden-Harris administration is committed to taking decisive action to fix this problem.

Fudge said that the Biden-Harris administration is committed to ensuring everyone has equal access to housing and fixing the systemic problems that have led to different homeownership rates for other races.

The Secretary acknowledged that much work remained in this area but expressed her optimism that progress can be made through continued collaboration and commitment to this critical issue.

She encouraged the journalists to continue engaging with HUD and help spread awareness of the ongoing efforts to address these issues.

Fudge said HUD and the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to this issue is a positive sign that progress can be made in addressing these systemic issues and promoting more equitable access to safe and affordable housing for all Americans.

“This HUD understands what it means to invest in housing,” Fudge insisted.

“We know that when we invest in housing, we invest in people. When we invest in people, we make people feel good. When we make people feel good, we inspire them to do good, and I believe good things happen to good people.”

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* This article was originally published here