Contributors

 

 Editor-in-Chief

Andrew Simon is the editor-in-chief of Hip Hop Republicans.  As a world public speaking champion and professional web designer, Andrew has provided public speaking consulting, speech writing, and web design services for a wide range of political and business professionals.  His political focus is on minority outreach, urban socioeconomic development, and policy promoting entrepreneurship and school choice as a tool for social mobility. 

Founder

Richard Ivory is the former editor for Communities Digital News, an affiliate of the Washington Times. He has worked for the Republican National Committee and, in 2008, served as a consultant to the Youth for John McCain ’08 campaign. He is also an advocate for LGBT and mental health awareness, and has been featured in The New York Times, National Public Radio, CNN and US News & World Report. Currently an independent, he sees positive and negative aspects in both political parties, and holds to the belief that no political party has a monopoly on the truth.

Sean Jacobs is an Australian and co-founder of New Guinea Commerce – a website he runs in his spare time which promotes good governance, economic growth and next generation leadership in the Indo-Pacific. He has previously worked as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development to Fiji, a consultant to the United Nations in Papua New Guinea and as a federal policy adviser in the area of national security. He currently lives in Brisbane, Australia

John E. Harmon, Sr. serves as the President and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey. The AACCNJ performs an essential role in the economic viability  of New Jersey. As affirmed in its mission statement, the Chamber seeks to economically empower and sustain African American communities, and businesses with direct outreach programs, thereby facilitating entrepreneurship and free enterprise activity, not serving as mainly an association of allied businesses, the Chamber serves as a proactive advocacy group with a 501(c) 3 tax exemption, which is shared by the National Black Chamber of Commerce.

Dorian Davis  starred on MTV’s morning show, MTV Hits, before switching to the other side of the camera to research and develop Iraq coverage for MTV News. Later, he contributed to specials for LOGO and FUSE. Now a freelance writer, Davis is published in Architectural Record, Brainwash Magazine, Business Week Online, Doublethink Online, New York Daily News, and XY. He lives in NYC.

Marjorie Romeyn-Sanabria graduated from Wesleyan University in 2012 with a degree in East Asian Studies.  She spent her junior year in Taiwan, learning Chinese and mastering the art of polite debate.  A recent convert to the Right, she occasionally blogs about her new political beliefs at The Libertarian Latina.   She lives in New York.  You can find her on Twitter at @buddingscholar1

Kevin Williams directed and produced the documentary feature film FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN after working in a variety of production roles on films such as A BEAUTIFUL MIND, SIGNS, HACK, SURRENDER DOROTHY, LIKE MIKE, I.Q., and JERSEY GIRL.  In addition, Kevin served as the Founding Director/Artistic Director of the Trenton Film Festival in Trenton, NJ.  He also teaches Documentary and Narrative Filmmaking.  He is a proud alum of Tulane University (MBA degree); La Salle University (B.S. degree); and New York University (Certificate in Film).

Rich Valdes is a New Jersey-based freelance contributor for social issues and popular culture. His commentary has been featured on Hot 97 FM, WMCA 570 AM, CNN Headline News, Telemundo, Univision, the Jersey Journal, and BlogTownHall.com. When not commenting on or debating politics and education. Follow on Twitter: @RichValdes

John Randolph Wood, Jr. is the grandson of record industry pioneer Randy Wood (founder of the iconic 1950’s record label “Dot” records) is a musician and vocalist living in Los Angeles, California. An L.A. native, John Wood also contributes as a writer and commentator to Black Is Online: Dedicated to the Black Experience, a Los Angeles based, African American cultural site.

Professor Leah. M. Wright is an Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. Her forthcoming book, The Loneliness of the Black Conservative: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power offers new insight into the relationship between African American politics, the American civil rights movement, and the Republican Party.

Artur Davis is a former four-term Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama and a current fellow at Harvard’s prestigious Institute of Politics. Despite today’s hyper-partisan environment, Davis has made a career of advocating for the ever-narrowing political middle. He is a 1990 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University and a 1993 cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, is a licensed attorney in Washington, D.C. He previously served as a federal prosecutor with a near 100 percent trial-conviction record and as a partner at the law firm SNR Denton LLP.

Barbara F. Olschner is a native of North Carolina who moved to Birmingham, Alabama, to create the Olschner & Hart law firm. After thirty years of practice, she moved permanently to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, where she ran for the Second Congressional District and lost. She is also on Facebook as “The Reluctant Republican” and on Twitter at “thereluctantrep“.

Mendy Hecht is a popular Orthodox Jewish journalist, copywriter, editor, humor columnist and precipitously cool gentleman.  He lives in his head, which is located in New Hempstead, New York.  He writes for HHR whenever he has something to say, which is not too often.

Ralf Mangual is a second-year law student at DePaul University’s College of Law and a contributor to The Heartland Institute’s blog, Somewhat Reasonable. Ralf’s commentary has also appeared in The Daily Caller,  Human Events, and The American Thinker.

R. Nachael Howell Foster is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School and Duke University, and  a licensed practicing corporate attorney.  When she is not advising small to medium size businesses on matters ranging from intellectual property, she writes and lectures on the value of law to all aspects of Americans lives.  Nachael has three daughters and three dogs, so Nachael’s World is always fun, straight-forward, and informative.  You can read more about R. Nachael Howell Foster at http://nachael.wordpress.com/

Alexander Benard is an attorney in New York. He has worked at the Department of Defense and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Alex publishes regularly on foreign policy and the U.S. economy, and his writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the National Review Online, and several other newspapers and magazines. Alex is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College and Stanford Law School.

Princella D. Smith is a freelance contributor to the news paper Israel HaYom (Hebrew: ישראל היום, lit. “Israel Today”) she is currently getting a Master’s in counter-terrorism in Israel at the Lauder School of Government.

Jose Fulgencio is currently a Lecturer in the Political Science Department at Oklahoma State University, a graduate student finishing his M.S. in Entrepreneurship (May 2013) and is in the process of launching his third business venture with the guidance of the School of Entrepreneurship faculty at Oklahoma State University.

Dr. Ada M. Fisher  is a retired physician from Salisbury, North Carolina. She earned her medical degree from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University. A life member of the NAACP and a lifelong Republican, Fisher is the Republican National Committeewoman for the state of North Carolina.

Brian Becker was born and raised in New York City. He works in the sales industry and is presently making a career change to get involved in the political sphere. He’s currently producing a documentary about race relations in the United States.

Charles Badger has been a columnist for The Washington Times Communitie section since 2013. He is a Republican political strategist, speechwriter, and former aide to a Member of Congress, currently working in the financial services industry. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Berea College, and currently lives in Washington, D.C.

John S. Wilson is a proud graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, John is currently a Master’s of Public Health candidate at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University where he is studying health policy & management. He is also a weekly contributor to The Loop 21, frequent contributor to theGrio, and founder of Policy Diary, a leading blog on health policy, management and reform. John’s publishings have also appeared in fora such as: The Orlando Sentinel, The Daily Voice, Wiretap magazine, Black Web 2.0, The Daily Californian, NewMajority.com, Club Relaford, HipHopRepublican.com and Policy Net.

Brandon Loran Maxwell is an essayist; political analyst; satirist; playwright; and journalist. He has been  published in various local and national publications, including: The Hill, The Washington Examiner,  and UtahPolicy.com. In addition, he has been personally profiled in a number of other publications and has been a guest on  various news programs. In 2009, he spoke on judicial reform alongside then Congressman Wu. He is a winner of Portland, Oregon’s One Act Festival; a coordinator for Students For Liberty; and a political  science and film studies undergraduate.

Erin Giddens is a journalist/blogger for  Elegance Speaks TV , she was born and raised in Southern California. She graduated in 2011 with her BA in Journalism (emphasis in broadcast) from California State University, Northridge. Since college she has pursued her dreams of becoming a sports reporter while working different jobs to support herself.

Michelle D. Bernard is the chairman, founder, president and CEO of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy and is a frequent political and legal analyst on Current TV, MSNBC and other television networks. Prior to founding the Bernard Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy and joining IWF, Ms. Bernard was a partner at the District of Columbia’s Patton Boggs LLP. Ms. Bernard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and political science from Howard University and a Juris Doctor degree from The Georgetown University Law Center.

Doug Knickrehm is originally from Omaha, NE but currently lives in the Bronx, NY. He is a student at Fordham University where he majors in Finance. He is also Mentor at the Crotona center for boys in the Bronx. His current favorite artist are Curren$y, Z-ro, Clipse while his favorite Politicians are Ron Paul, Tom Coburn, and Gary Johnson.

 Travis L. Gosa is Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University. Since 2008, he has served on the advisory board of Cornell’s Kugelberg Hip Hop Collection, the largest archive on early hip hop culture in the United States.  He teaches courses on hip hop, education, and Black families. He can be reached at [email protected].

Mendy Hecht  a journalist, copywriter, editor, humor columnist and precipitously cool gentleman.  He lives in his head, which is located in New Hempstead, New York.  He writes for HHR whenever he has something to say, which is not too often.

Vincent Jackson Vincent is a Senior English/Film major at the University of Delaware. A lifetime resident of Wilmington, Delaware,  he  is a filmmaker, screenwriter, poet, blogger, and political writer, and music critic.

Brandon Brice  is a graduate of Howard University and is a former graduate of the New Jersey Eagleton Institute of Politics fellow at Rutgers University. Brandon Brice has worked as a policy intern for the former House Speaker Honorable J. Dennis Hastert and has served as a fellow at the United Nations. He has been featured on C-SPAN’s Road to the White House, BET’s What’s At Stake and Hot97 with Lisa Evers. Brandon is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc, and attends the Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church in Harlem. @IamBrandonBrice

Randall Ramos is currently a sophomore attending California State University, Northridge, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science as well as a teaching certificate in ESL. Mr. Ramos interned at the Republican Party of Los Angeles County and worked on Todd Zink’s campaign for California State Senate. Other activities include serving as acting President of the newly formed CSUN chapter of the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association.

Anthony “Rek” LeCounte has been keenly engaged in politics and philosophy ever since the 2000 election invented “Red” and “Blue” states while reminding everyone that courts can change the world. He is a native Floridian who currently resides in Virginia and takes pride in being an informed swing-state voter. An Army brat and avid learner, he has lived, traveled, and studied throughout the United States, Europe, and Brazil, and his fascination with diversity of thought and perspective is matched only by his love of writing. Rek graduated from Yale with a degree in Political Science and expects any future husband to love politics and college football at least half as much as he does. He blogs about conservative policy, principles, and political philosophy at Token Dissonance. Tweet him @RekLeCounte

Akindele Akinyemi  is the author of “Academic Revolution”, a series of essays dealing with the need for more specialized charter schools in urban communities. He has a B.S in African American Studies from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan and a M.A. in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction.

William Reed is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Black Press International. He has been a Media Entrepreneur for over two decades. A long-time Washington insider, Reed’s special strengths include: public and community relations; grass-roots organizing; script and speech writing, legislative affairs tracking and research; and access to a network of national and local government, business and organizational policy-makers and public opinion-molders.

Chidike Okeem is a writer. Born in Nigeria, raised in London, England, and now living in California, he writes about race, culture, religion, and politics. You can find contact information and read more of his writings at www.voiceofchid.com.

Chris Ladd is a Texan who is now living in the Chicago area. He has served for several years as a Republican Precinct Committeeman in DuPage County, IL, and was active in state and local Republican campaigns in Texas for many years.

Erol Senel started out as a student of history but has been plying his trade in the world of finance and personal investing. Through this real world experience, he has found his true professional passion in economics and financial history. His mission is to provide readers with easy to understand, topical and informative articles with the hope of allowing many to make more informed decisions while partaking in civics and life.  @senelslant

Crystal Wright  is the principal owner of the Baker Wright Group, LLC , a full service public relations firm, specializing in communications counseling, media relations, message development, media training and crisis communications. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgetown University and holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Robert Wicks  is a Linux Systems administrator for Free Talk Live and an enterprise engineer and architect for Independent Contractor. He worked as a senior systems administrator for Community Loans of America, systems administrator for Georgia Department of Labor, an AIX systems administrator for IBM and as a systems operations analyst for Motorola. Wicks attended Morehouse College.

Raynard Jackson  is a political consultant based in Washington, DC. He has been involved in every Republican presidential campaign from George H. W. Bush to George W. Bush. He has also worked on many Republican senate, governor, and congressional campaigns across the country. He is the president and CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC (RJA). This is Government Relations and Public Relations firm based in Washington, DC. They not only work with politicians, but also represent professional athletes and entertainers. RJA also works with foreign governments, especially in Africa, helping them improve their relations with the U.S

 

NOTE: All articles written on this blog are the sole opinions of the individual and are not necessarily shared by the rest of the blogs political writers or commentators nor do they reflect the blogs overall ideological beliefs.

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