The Spencer Hamilton Blog

Losing a battle to win the war? What the heck?! Senator Bernie Sanders is a self-described Democratic Socialist who says he’s not a Democrat. He is for single payer healthcare, expanding Social Security, a $15/hr. minimum wage. Though he is far left in the US, he is looked at as a moderate in a lot of the world with more Socialist leanings. He is the populist candidate for the President of the United States Secretary Hillary Clinton is the Former First Lady of the United States and the State Of Arkansas where her husband was Governor. She was very active in her husband’s White House and at the time was the First FLOTUS to have a post-secondary degree. She has been a United States Senator and her last governmental post was as Secretary of State under Former President Barack Obama Across the pond in the UK we had another battle Jeremy Corbyn, the underdog He is the controversial leader of the Labour Party accused of being too far to the left. His campaign is all about...

When I came out I was 19, and by 21 I was in a 2 year struggle to deal with my faith and sexuality, having been on opposite sides of myself to the exclusion of the other. By 23, I met a man that I later wanted to marry, but that relationship would end. However, in between is the amazing story because it would help shape me to take on other issues. In November 2010 I had just come back to the fold of LGBT activism as I began to sever ties with religious groups who made me feel as if my faith and sexuality were at odds, and reconnected to an old friend, Kitty Lambert & Cheryle Rudd…now Lambert-Rudds (Whom I refer to affectionately as Grandma Kitty & Grandma Cheryle) it was a tough time as they had endured harassment and not knowing of my struggle as I had proven myself, she was skeptical of my wanting to be involved. Some had come pretending to be for the cause but fell away after they were asked to circulate letters, petitions, make calls or do something that showed they wer...

Pennsylvania Gerrymandering, Progressive Pushback in St Louis & Baltimore Cop Corruption Trial (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/pennsylvania-supreme-court-issues-congressional-map-in-gerrymandering-case.html) Gerrymandering is the drawing of district lines usually by a Legislature to advantage Democrats or Republicans depending on the party that hold the majority. The Supreme Court has taken a case from Wisconsin about Gerrymandering for Party advantage and we are still waiting to hear from that case However, Pennsylvania has been in the news recently and their Congressional map looked like this: A lawsuit to make the districts fairer resulted in a map that was drawn by their State Supreme Court. Instead of a 13-5 Republican advantage, based on the 2016 election data, the districts are down to 10-8 with more competitive districts. Not only that but the districts actually make sense and you can “follow the numbers” The previous map had Districts 1 and 2 on the...

Video on Youtube can be found here: https://youtu.be/BKNv5OYxU24 Claudette Colvin Unlearned History Episode 3 Did you know 9 months before Rosa Parks another black young lady had been kicked off the bus? She in fact inspired Rosa Parks to do the same in December of 1955. The young lady at the time is Claudette Colvin. She was 15 years old and refused to get off the bus in Montgomery and her story is particularly wonderful. So let’s give some context: Stores are segregated and something as simple as buying shoes bears the sting of segregation. Black people had to put their foot on a paper bag and outline it in order to buy shoes as they were not allowed to try them on first. There were still signs up in the stores at this time and daily life was marked along a clear line of race So that fateful day after learning a lot of black history and fed up with injustice she just snapped. A white woman told her to move and she said “No, I paid my fare and this is my constitutional r...

Dr Marc Lamont Hill was in Buffalo October 26 th and it was a great night for good black news. Organizations like ECC, Buffalo Believe, and Open Buffalo along with a myriad of groups fighting for racial, social and economic justice were tabling and giving out information. Open Buffalo’s Franchelle Hart was the MC for the evening. Let me pause right here to tell you what Open Buffalo has promised to do in the face of a hostile federal government pushing to undo many years of progress ü   Create innovative systemic reforms to combat epidemic poverty and Buffalo’s affordable housing crisis ü   Create equal access to economic opportunities ü   Bring training and civic engagement opportunities to marginalized communities They also will be having an annual fundraising breakfast on Tuesday December 5 th at 8am. Please support them in their mission by visiting openbuffalo.org After the MC opened and got things rolling, we were treated to Jillian Hanesworth’s Little ...

A New Shero (Youtube video: https://youtu.be/CRVoHyg-EpA) While looking up a black woman I wanted to highlight for History Remembered, I wanted to look at people who were living. Well, I found a living legend in the form of Ms. Ibtihaj Muhammad Ms. Muhammad is a fencer who was seeking to compete but also adhere to modesty as per her religious beliefs. Fed up with uniforms that had to be altered to cover her arms and legs, her discovery of fencing was a Godsend. She competed and finished her first year of Duke with 49-8. In the 2010s she received many medals and honors including an Olympic medal in 2016. She also is the first competitive fencer to do so while wearing a hijab. Now, let’s be clear many Christian women around the world wear head coverings so why is wearing a hijab so notable? It should just be like “Oh okay, she wears a head covering” and keep it moving So, back to the topic she is being honored with her own Barbie doll. I nearly lost it because I ‘m like “Yasss...

I originally got this bit of good news from Panorama Hispano, a local Hispanic paper and was unable to find it online, so I decided to write up a blogpost about it. If you have any bits of good news like this, let me know so I can spread some Gospel about People of Color Joseph Acaba, a Puerto Rican astronaut took off for space once again On September 12 th.  He is joined by Virginian Mark Vande Hei (his first time in space) and Cosmonaut (Russian for Astronaut) Alexander Misurkin and were launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Previously in space in 2009 aboard Discovery STS 119 and the ISS (International Space Center) in 2012 for Expeditions 31& 32, he will be conducting Expeditions 52 & 53 will include investigations into biology, biotechnology, physical and Earth Science. They will be returning to Earth in February of 2018 Acaba’s was born in Inglewood California; his parents are from Hotillo, PR. He later moved to Houston and in May 2004...