Arkansas Lawmaker: Civil Rights Attorney John Walker Dies

John Walker, an Arkansas lawmaker and civil rights attorney who represented black students in a long-running court fight over the desegregation of Little Rock area schools, has died. He was 82.

The Pulaski County coroner said Walker died at his Little Rock home Monday morning but the cause of death was not yet known.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Walker, a Democrat, had represented a Little Rock district in the state House since 2011.
He had been involved in some of the state’s most high-profile discrimination and civil rights cases, including the desegregation case, which stemmed from a 1982 lawsuit the Little Rock school district filed against the state and neighboring districts over racial disparities that remained decades after the 1957 integration of Central High School.

“What he did in this state made a difference for everyone in this state,” state Sen. Joyce Elliott, chairwoman of the Legislative Black Caucus.

“I don’t think everyone will realize the full measure of that for quite some time.”

Federal judges have ruled Little Rock and North Little Rock schools substantially complied with a 1998 desegregation plan, and the two remaining districts in the case are seeking release.

Former President Bill Clinton praised Walker as a “devoted public servant who spent his life fighting to allow all Arkansans to succeed.”


“From the courtroom to the Capitol, he never wavered in his pursuit of justice or his belief that a democracy only works when everyone can participate fully,” Clinton said in a statement.
“I’m grateful for his more than 40 years of friendship and the way he lived his life, giving and serving until the very end.”

Walker had also represented former Razorbacks basketball coach Nolan Richardson in his unsuccessful lawsuit against the University of Arkansas challenging his 2002 firing.
Richardson had claimed he was fired because he was black and that his free-speech rights were violated.

“He was always the underdog, but would fight to be on top,” Richardson said Monday.

In recent years, Walker criticized the state’s 2015 takeover of the Little Rock School District because of low test scores at several schools.

A federal judge in 2016 dismissed a lawsuit filed by Walker and other attorneys that claimed the takeover was motivated by racial discrimination.

The state earlier this month voted to return control of the district to a local board that will be elected in November 2020.

“John always was a gentleman and proved every day that you can get along with people even though there may be disagreements,” Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a statement.
“He worked tirelessly for the causes he championed and for the people he represented.”


Walker spoke out in the House whenever he believed legislation’s impact on African-Americans wasn’t being considered and was an outspoken opponent of voter ID requirements.
A 2013 voter ID law was struck down by the state Supreme Court, but the Republican Legislature passed a reworked version in 2017 and voters last year placed the requirement in the state’s constitution.

“I dare say you’ll find many of your colleagues in this body of my color who will support this,” Walker said from the House floor as he opposed the 2013 measure.

“It doesn’t matter what their leanings are.
What you’re doing in effect is saying we don’t care about what you think, we’re going to do this anyway.”

source: usa.inquirer.net

Clinton’s showbiz pals spend big as Hollywood shuns Trump

LOS ANGELES—Glance at the list of Hillary Clinton’s biggest donors and you could be forgiven for thinking she was funding a Hollywood movie rather than a presidential campaign.

It is hardly surprising that the left-leaning entertainment industry is supporting a Democrat for the White House, but the gulf between candidates in donations from Tinseltown this election cycle is staggering.

Actors, studio executives and other employees of the film, TV and music industries have donated $20.7 million to Clinton’s run for the presidency, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign funding.

Her Republican rival Donald Trump has meanwhile raised less than $350,000 from Hollywood.

“The Clintons have always been Hollywood darlings, going back to Bill’s term in office,” said Usman Shaikh, a Los Angeles-based entertainment attorney and a contemporary of Trump’s daughter Ivanka at the University of Pennsylvania.

“If you recall when it was Clinton and Obama for the primaries in 2008, Hollywood was supporting Clinton.”

Within hours of the former first lady confirming last year she was running to become America’s first female commander-in-chief, dozens of celebrities clamored to give their stamp of approval.

By the fall of 2015, according to the Los Angeles Times, she had taken about $5 million of the $5.5 million that Hollywood figures had donated to the 2016 campaign.

Film titans Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg gave $1 million each, while “Star Wars” director J.J. Abrams stumped up $500,000.

Clinton supporter George Clooney hosted back-to-back dinners in San Francisco and Los Angeles in April which reportedly raised over $15 million, with donors paying as much as $350,000 a head.

Clinton attended 17 starry fundraisers in California over the summer, part of an eye-watering schedule that included nine events spread across the state over just three days in late August.

Onslaught of negativity

That string of fundraisers included an August 22 cocktail reception for 500 people — including actor Samuel L. Jackson — hosted by NBA legend Magic Johnson and his wife Cookie.

That was followed later the same day by a 90-minute event put on by billionaire media mogul Haim Saban and his wife Cheryl at their Beverly Hills home. One hundred guests paid at least $50,000 each.

The following day involved fundraisers in Piedmont and Laguna Beach, each requiring donations of $33,400 from attendees, and a 75-minute swing by the Hollywood Hills home of Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel.

Guests there — including Jennifer Aniston, Tobey Maguire, Shonda Rhimes, Jamie Foxx and Katie Holmes — raised more than $3 million.

Trump, meanwhile, has faced an unprecedented onslaught of negativity from the entertainment industry — and not just the liberals.

Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement on Twitter at the start of October saying he would not be voting Republican for the first time since gaining US citizenship in 1983.

Meanwhile Harry Sloan, former head of MGM and a lifelong Republican, has announced he is backing Clinton and has even donated to her campaign.

According to Shaikh, there are an abundance of conservatives in Hollywood — but hardly any who will support the Republican candidate because of his divisive rhetoric on Mexicans, Muslims and women.

In fact, the driving force behind Trump’s fundraising activities is veteran Hollywood producer Steve Mnuchin, the man behind the “X-Men” franchise and “Avatar,” who has been finance chair of the campaign since May.

Political consultant Patrick Dorinson led a contingent of entertainment figures including Oscar-winner Jon Voight on a bus tour across the US in mid-September, giving speeches and news conferences on behalf of Trump.

‘Just too extreme’

But the litany of celebrities who have openly disparaged the real estate mogul and former reality TV star by far outweighs his supporters in Hollywood.

Some of America’s biggest stars, including actors Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson, appeared in a video in September to take potshots at Trump while rallying voters to the polls on Election Day.


“Do we really want to give nuclear weapons to a man whose signature move is firing things?” asks Leslie Odom Jr., a Tony winner for his turn as Aaron Burr in the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton.”

“I just think culturally he’s a very different fit from Hollywood. On so many of his issues, he’s just too extreme, particularly on women’s issues,” said Steve Maviglio, a California-based political consultant.

“He’s been actually good on gay marriage and you’d think that would be a natural to attract people in Hollywood. But you’re not even seeing the Hollywood Republicans helping him out.

“Look at the Republican convention. He had hardly any entertainment, any Hollywood, there at all.  Where is Clint Eastwood, even?”

But while support of Hollywood is an important source of campaign fundraising, surveys have shown that the backing of celebrities holds little sway over the way Americans vote.

“We saw Susan Sarandon do a lot of work for Bernie Sanders this year,” said Maviglio, who served as Bill Clinton’s director of public affairs in the 1990s.

“She got a lot of attention because she was one of the first people out there. But did it have an impact at the end of the day? No.”

source: entertainment.inquirer.net