Change, unpredictable and predictable, change charged 2017

Starting with a new president taking office who lost the popular vote by the largest margin in the history of the United States and finally the passage of a piece of legitimate legislation, the attention paid to President Donald Trump is reflected in many of the stories that made the Philadelphia Tribune’s list of Top 10 National stories.

Women’s march

One day after Trump’s January inauguration and the controversy that followed over what Trump said was the under-reporting of the size of the crowd, hundreds of thousands of mostly women descended on the Washington and an estimated 2.6 million gathered in places across the United States and throughout the world to protest the beginning of Trump’s presidency. In Washington, speakers ranging form Ilyasah Shabazz, a daughter of Malcolm X, to Sister Simone Campbell, a Catholic nun, to music superstar Madonna addressed the throngs in attendance to voice fears that the new administration and the Republican-led Congress would roll back reproductive, civil and human rights.

Hurricanes

This was a brutal year for hurricanes in the United States as a trifecta of storms (Harvey, Irma and Maria) battered Texas, Florida, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Gulf Coast causing widespread destruction, driving many from their homes and leaving lives in ruins. The trio of storms killed dozens, maybe hundreds of people, and caused more than $206 billion in damages. It is believed that the final cost could rise. Either way, the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season will go down as the costliest in U.S. history, topping the 2005 season which included Katrina.

Sexual Misconduct

That 2017 was going to be a monumental year in terms of sexual misconduct shouldn’t surprise anyone, particularly when taken into consideration that in 2016 the man who was ultimately elected president was caught on video from 2005 talking about how he gropes women. From Trump and Bill Cosby, to Tavis Smiley and John Conyers, to Bill O’Reilly, Russell Simmons, and Matt Lauer it seems a week did not go by in which some wealthy and powerful man wasn’t accused of sexual misconduct or assault. Even actor Terry Crews, an actor who played football in college, alleged he was assaulted by a man. The incidents were so frequent that Time Magazine named the Person of the Year the “Silence Breakers,” whistle blowers who spoke out about sexual assault and harassment.

Bill Cosby

In the spring, all eyes turned to Norristown where Cosby’s criminal case for the alleged 2004 rape of Andrea Constand ended in a mistrial. However, Cosby, arguably North Philadelphia’s most famous native, is not off the hook. With a newly assembled defense team now led by Tom Mesereau, who successfully defended Michael Jackson in 2005 against claims of child molestation, Cosby will be back in a Norristown court on April 2.

Trump’s Presidency

Trump’s presidency got off to a comical start when he trotted out overmatched former press secretary Sean Spicer to spar with the press about the number of people attending Trump’s inauguration. His first year will be remembered for his efforts to rollback any legislation passed during Barack Obama’s presidency, attempts to delegitimize the media by labeling any story he sees as critical of his presidency as “fake news,” and an attempt to label torch-carrying racists in Charlottesville as “very fine people.” He did score one very significant legislative victory with the passage of his tax plan earlier this month. He has not, however, as he has claimed in recent days, broken the record set by Harry Truman for most legislation signed by a first-year president. The truth is he has signed fewer legislation than any first-term president going all the way back to Dwight Eisenhower.

Domestic Terrorism

While Trump has committed significant time and effort to banning Muslims from entering the country for fear that they might commit acts of terror, acts of domestic terror committed by white men spiked. On Oct. 1 in Las Vegas, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock sprayed outside concertgoers with 1,100 rounds of ammunition from a hotel room 32 floors up. The result: 58 dead, 546 injured, making this the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. In August, a 20-year-old white supremacist sped his car into peaceful protestors in Charlottesville, killing an innocent woman; in June, a 66-year-old man shot at Republican Congress members during an early morning baseball practice, severely wounding several people including U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House Majority Whip; and in May, Jeremy Joseph Christian began harassing Muslim teenagers on a Portland train. Two men interceded; Christian stabbed and killed them both.

Black women political rise

In a politically divided country, no group flexed its collective muscles more than Black women. Before they were identified as the most unified voting block in preventing far-right Republican Roy More from winning a Senate seat in Alabama’s special election, they played huge rolls in helping Democrat Ralph Northam defeat Trump clone Ed Gillespie for the governor’s job in Virginia, and no other group supported New Jersey Gov.-elect Phil Murphy as resolutely as did Black women.

NFL protests

NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the playing of the national anthem to bring attention to the shooting of unarmed Black men by police began during the 2016 season but carried over into 2017. Kaepernick, once a Super Bowl runner-up quarterback and still in his prime, optioned out of contract with the San Francisco 49ers. He was not picked up for the 2017 season. Trump added fuel to the fire in 2017 when he called NFL players refusing to stand for the anthem – 70 percent of whom are black – “sons of bitches” and said he wished an owner would cut them, prompting protests in and out of NFL stadiums. In recent days, the movement has seen its momentum slowed as the Players Coalition, formed this season to better facilitate conversations on social issues between owners and players, splintered.

O.J. Simpson set free

In October, after serving nine years for a Las Vegas kidnapping and armed robbery, Hall-of-Fame running back O.J. Simpson was released from jail. By all accounts, Simpson was described as a model prisoner during his incarceration. However, Simpson is and always will be remembered as a Black man who beat the system when, in what was dubbed “the trial of the century,” he beat a pair of 1994 murder charges for the killing of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.

Robert Mugabe resigns

Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe’s President on Tuesday after 37 years of autocratic rule, finally succumbing to the pressure of a military takeover and the humiliation of impeachment. The announcement came minutes into a joint session of the Zimbabwean Parliament in Harare, convened to prise the 93-year-old from power. As the speaker read out a letter from Mugabe, lawmakers broke out in thunderous applause. The impeachment proceedings were immediately suspended. Mugabe’s successor, according to a spokesman for the ZANU-PF party, will be former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose firing by Mugabe precipitated the crisis. In the streets outside, crowds erupted in rapturous celebrations, dancing and cheering in joy, raising their fists and waving Zimbabwean flags.

-CNN contributed to this report