The Choice: Make sure to keep cash
And other dangers of being Black professionals in America
Issue #506 The Choice February 19, 2024
We all know that Donald Trump does not like women unless they’re white, blond, and “under him” in one way or another, and he especially does not like the strong and educated Black women who are in charge of the majority of the civil and criminal charges against him: New York State Attorney General Leticia James, District of Columbia Judge Tanya Chutken, and Fulton County Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis. On top of that, the first criminal trial for election interference for Trump starting on March 25, 2024, will be handled by a Black man, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump hates strong and powerful Black men too. (See: Birtherism against President Barack Obama…)
Last week in Atlanta, Georgia, Black power and Black culture were on display to the entire country when a hearing into whether Fulton County DA Fani Willis should be disqualified from the already-in-progress Election Interference and RICO charges and pre-trial hearings against Donald Trump and other defendants was televised.
At issue was whether DA Willis received financial benefits from Special Counsel Nathan Wade with whom she had a short romantic relationship. DA Willis was subpoenaed but wasn’t expected to be called to testify. So everyone, including her attorney, was shocked when she came down from her office and walked straight to the chair and asked, no demanded, to be heard.
She told the judge that she was not a “hostile witness” as the prosecution attorneys tried to claim, because she wanted to be there and she wanted to testify.
Willis then proceeded to tell the attorney for the Trump case defendants, Ashleigh Merchant, exactly what she, Willis, thought of her “evidence,” including the lies and false and uncalled-for allegations. During her testimony, Willis showed America exactly what Black women constantly have to fight against when they are in positions of power at any level.
She especially pushed back against the expectation that she needed any money from Nathan Wade or any man, and a new phrase was put into the Black American lexicon: “A man is not a plan. A man is a companion.”
Earlier in the hearing, former Georgia Democratic Governor Roy Barnes informed the hearing that he had been Willis’ first choice for Special Prosecutor, but he turned down the offer, primarily because he did not want to have his life turned upside down again and have to live with special enhanced security as he had done when he was governor. He knew what intimidation and threats he would receive from Trump supporters if he took that position. Nathan Wade was appointed as the Special Counsel only after Barnes and others were dismissed as potentials, and the Special Counsel is technically not an employee of the District Attorney’s office.
Later in the afternoon, the father of Fani Willis, John Floyd, III, a now-retired renowned international criminal defense attorney, took the stand. Mr. Floyd has worked on cases for Nelson Mandela and in front of the Hague International Court. He reiterated that he had taught his daughter to always be financially and professionally independent, and that included keeping cash in her home.
Mr. Floyd also described how Ms. Willis has been attacked by racists and Trump supporters ever since she was sworn in as the Fulton County District Attorney and began the investigation into election interference in early 2021, even requiring her to move out of the brand-new home she had just purchased. Ms. Willis, her father, and her children have been threatened with violence and even death, as well as vandalism at her home. Mr Floyd stated that to this day, he doesn’t know exactly where his daughter lives for safety and security reasons.
Mr. Floyd told the true story about how, almost 50 years ago, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he was at Harvard on a fellowship and took his family out to dinner, the waiter would not accept his American Express or Visa credit cards, nor his travelers’ checks. He was only able to pay the $9.95 dinner bill because he had a ten-dollar bill in his wallet.
https://www.youtube.com/live/1HyzrWES8Ic?si=eN46cG0Iu3e0m778&t=1898
The entire evidentiary hearing, including the testimonies given, have shown America exactly what highly educated and highly qualified Black professionals have to go through on a daily basis on their jobs and in their lives. It is almost certain that the prosecution did not meet the high bar of evidence needed to disqualify DA Willis from the case.
Although most mainstream news outlets tried to paint Ms. Willlis’ testimony and appearance as another example of an over-the-top “angry Black woman,” most Black people, and Black women especially, could totally relate to what Ms. Willis and Mr. Floyd had to say.
It is also almost certain that not only will Ms. Willis not be disqualified, but she will also be re-elected to her position in November by a wide margin. She has shown and is still showing, that she is doing the work that her constituents in Fulton County elected her to do, and that includes prosecuting Trump and others for trying to overturn a free and fair election in that county, no matter the danger to her safety and the airing of the private details of her personal life.
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