Joe keeps moving the line for Israel. How many more ways will he make space for them in their assaults on Gaza?
What the Health
Lawmakers in Louisiana have deemed abortion pills to be controlled substances. In a state where medical staff are prosecuted for abortions and not abortion seekers, doctors say this new law could make it harder to access the drugs for other uses, like inducing labors and managing miscarriages.
Black seniors are less likely to live in assisted care communities and more likely to live out their final years at home or in more care-intensive nursing homes. Some core reasons for this include financial limitations and cultural preferences in which we would prefer to stay in the comfort of our own homes in old age.
May was Mental Health Awareness Month and while the month is coming to an end, it doesn’t mean that healthy mental health habits shouldn’t follow us through the rest of the year.
Keeping Up with Biden & Harris
After a horrible massacre against Palestinians living in a tent community in Rafah, has Israel crossed the POTUS’ red line yet? About a month ago, Joe’s explicit red line was attacking Rafah. If Israel invaded Gaza’s last “safety zone,” he would stop supplying weapons to them. Now that Israel has done exactly that, the President and his administration appear to have moved the line, only claiming that Israel needs to protect civilians.
Biden’s pop-up pier has finally been completed. Even still, little aid has made its way to Palestinians due to the lack of aid workers that are willing to work in unsafe conditions and due to not securing enough of the food donations themselves.
VP Harris claims the US will help double the rate of internet access in the Motherland as part of a new partnership with the African continent.
Congress, What’s Good
House Speaker Mike Johnson is getting a lot of attention for his unequal treatment of world leaders. While he was unable to host Kenya’s President William Ruto for a joint meeting of Congress due to a “scheduling conflict,” he was able to find time for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s PM, to speak before Congress. President Ruto’s address before Congress would have been the first from an African leader in over 15 years. Surely Speaker Johnson could have found the time or delayed whatever was on his agenda to make it happen. Sounds about white, though.
Over in the Senate, the focus has been a border security bill that’s having a difficult time getting off the ground. The bill is multilayered, providing funds for securing the border and creating new asylum laws while also sending aid to Ukraine. Republicans are tanking the bill likely because they feel we should be moving on from Ukraine and because it’s too close to the election to hand Democrats such a legislative victory. Despite GOP opposition, Senate Leader Chuck Schumer still wants to go through the motions with the bill, now for the sole purpose of showing the American public who’s “doing the work” and who’s not.
In all honesty, neither party seems to be doing it for us. We’d really love it if a 3rd party could make it to the main stage and stay.
Congress is off from regular Hill activities and committee meetings this week as part of observing Memorial Day. The only committee meeting on the books is about North Dakota’s perspective on the border crisis.
Looking to 2024
DC MT, NJ, NM and SD: Even though the presidential nominations have been determined for some time, your presidential primary is coming up on Tuesday, June 4. To our USVI fam, your Democratic primary will be coming up on Saturday, June 8. If you live in any of these places, check out Rock the Vote for information on how to vote in your area.
Nikki Haley, where’s your back bone at? She says she will still vote for Trump even after he dissed her husband.
Months ahead of time, election officials are already anticipating threats against poll workers this year, similar to how there was in 2020. A damn shame.
Social Justice Round Up
The SCOTUS’ very own Clayton Bigsby is still out here trying to turn back the hands of time. In his decision to support an electoral map in South Carolina that gives white voters an advantage, Clarence Thomas claims that Brown v. Board (the 70 year old case that ultimately saw the nation’s school desegregate) overstepped its authority and that segregated schools did not cause any constitutional harm to Black children.
Baltimore’s former state attorney Marilyn Mosby was sentenced to a year of home confinement for perjury and mortgage fraud. Mosby claims she was targeted by Trump & allies after speaking out on racial justice issues in 2020. She called for Joe Biden to step in with a pardon, but he refused.
The 4th anniversary of George Floyd’s death passed a few days ago. What lasting changes have we made with police reform since then?
Around the Diaspora
While the Congo goes through its crisis, Africa as a whole is noticeably silent like the rest of the world. Why
To combat the rise of yellow fever, Uganda is requiring all who travel in and out of the country to be vaccinated against the disease.
A rare tornado hit northern Haiti last week. Many were left injured and houseless.
CARICOM is asking the US again to remove Cuba from its State Sponsor of Terrorism list.
Getting to the Money
The Well Work is on a mission to help 1M Black women fund their businesses. Also desiring to help the large Black community and non-binary entrepreneurs, they provide access to an accelerator program, workshops, and a funding database consisting of general grants and those specifically for their target group(s). Check them out here.
Culture that Pops
Are Black-led organizations and institutions that honor our history, culture, and ancestors who paved the way demonic? All of these people denouncing their memberships in Divine 9 organizations and the one young lady denouncing Spelman College (and rainbows??) would sure have you believe so. We gotta ask: Are these things considered “demonic” because one lacks their own reverence for Black (and sometimes, African) culture? Because certain segments of Christianity are deeply and covertly (sometimes overtly) anti-Black? Or both?
Who’s going to this year’s Essence Fest? Janet Jackson, Usher, and Uncle Charlie will be just a few of the acts celebrating the festival’s 30-year legacy.
Is Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” really the number 1 album…of all time??? Is Frank Ocean’s “Blonde” a better body of work than Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life?” Apple Music released their 100 Best Albums list and we have questions that need answers.
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