Athletes Team Up for a Cause
Remember last week when we told you about the Supreme Court declining to review the constitutionality of Florida Republicans making felons pay all legal fees before being able to vote again? LeBron & other NBA players have gotten together to donate $100K to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition to help pay felons’ outstanding fees. The organization has already raised over $1.5M, so the hope is for the high-profile contribution to bring more attention to the issue leading up to the election.
If you’d like to contribute to this cause, visit the Coalition’s site to make your own donation.
One Last March
Last week, the world said goodbye to civil rights legends CT Vivian and John Lewis. In one of the most symbolic moments we’ve seen in a while, a horse drawn carriage carried Congressman Lewis’ casket across the Edmund Pettus bridge—the same one he marched across for voting rights more than 50 years ago. If you missed it, watch Congressman Lewis’ final march here.
You Tryna Get This Degree or Nah?
If you want one from the California State University system, they’re requiring students to take social justice or ethnic studies classes before walking the stage. Having 23 campuses across the state, this decision will impact roughly 130K graduates annually starting in the 2023-2024 school year.
Trump Changes His Tune on the ‘Rona
4 months later. Him asking folks to wear masks and admitting that things will get worse before they get better is not because he now believes these things to be true, but more likely due to his lagging poll numbers. Take it with all the grains of salt.
BTW, he still wants to send your kids to school next month.
Congress, What’s Good?
Republicans rushed to get a new relief bill written to start negotiations with Democrats before the upcoming summer recess. We expect more concrete details to be revealed today or early this week, but this is what we’re hearing as of last night:
Stimulus checks are coming back. The amount is still expected to be $1200, but fewer folks may qualify
Unemployment is coming back too, but don’t automatically expect those $600 checks. Officials are proposing a 70% wage replacement of folks’ pre-pandemic income
More PPE loans and tax incentives are being considered to keep your bosses from firing you
You may get temporary return-to-work bonuses
Rental assistance may also be thrown in
Also, did you hear about the Republican Senator who introduced a bill to take federal funding from any school teaching about slavery through the lens of the 1619 Project? With all due disrespect, GTFOH.
As it relates to hearings, they’ve got the following on the agenda:
The dominance of Amazon, Google & Facebook
Voting rights in the US Virgin Islands
Safeguarding the Census from the Trump administration (You already know this is a House meeting)
Trump’s proposed budget for 2021...assuming he wins
Keeping up with the Joneses a.k.a. China
2020 Watch
You did remember that all 435 members of the House of Representatives will be up for reelection this November, correct? Well, meet the candidate who will replace John Lewis: Nikema Williams.
Who is 42, formerly incarcerated and a former public defender? Keeda Haynes. She’s running for a seat to represent Tennessee in the House of Representatives.
We have just 99 days until the election and, like we said earlier, Trump’s in trouble.
Check CNN’s ranking of the top 10 women in the running to be Biden’s VP pick. Who you got?
Around the Diaspora
To offset the pandemic’s economic hit, Dominica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, and Antigua & Barbuda are all offering discounts on their programs that allow people to buy citizenship status. Interested? Dominica offers the lowest price: $100K.
A unique opportunity is presenting itself for women who are rice farmers in Guyana. Will the country rise to the occasion?
5 Afro-Peruvian women are leading the charge for justice in their country.
Getting to the Money
The first Black-owned stock exchange is coming in 2021. The founders of the Dream Exchange hope that it will inspire more Black people to invest & promote new businesses to potential investors. Tap in.
The Jobbee Academy wants to help close the Black employment gap. If you need help getting your next gig, they offer LinkedIn review services, mock interviews, and confidence coaching. Use them to get ready for when that dream job presents itself.
Black Business Highlight: Mommy Wipes are designed for cleaning up those on-the-go messes caused by kids...and those caused by us clumsy adults as well.
Culture that Pops
Michelle Obama is hitting us with a new Spotify podcast and her first guest will be none other than Mr. Barack Obama.
Done with kneeling, WNBA players walked off the court altogether during the playing of the national anthem this past weekend.
Likewise, NBA players have one thing and one thing only to say in their press conferences: arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.
HBO will be adapting Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me into a TV special this fall.
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