Updates on the George Floyd Case & More
A judge dismissed 3rd degree murder charge against former police officer Derek Chauvin, citing a belief that it’s hard to prove the officer’s actions were dangerous to others at the time, and not just to George. An example of the type of act that’d qualify for a 3rd degree murder charge would be firing a gun into a crowd of people. The 2nd degree murder and manslaughter charges against Chauvin remain.
Two white domestic terrorists have been identified and charged for their actions during the protests. One fired shots at, looted, and helped set the Minneapolis police precinct on fire. The other drove a truck through a crowd of people in an attempt to intimidate protestors. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured.
Minneapolis is struggling to keep its promise to abolish its police department.
The ‘Rona Accelerates
Check out how your area is performing as cases continue to rise across the nation. Chances are your state is headed in the wrong direction, but there might be some variation, depending on your particular county.
Trump’s Chinese Secret
There’s no limit to the amount of secrets Y’all President has up his sleeve. Last week, it was revealed that he has a secret bank account in China (of all places) and the excuses he gave to dismiss or diminish the revelation have both been confirmed as lies. Will this have the same effect on Trump’s chances as the FBI’s late decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary’s emails just before the election took place in 2016? We can only hope so.
Congress, What’s Good?
Looking for stimulus updates?? There aren't any. Pelosi and the Trump administration are still not seeing eye to eye.
McConnell was so pressed to get Amy Coney Barrett into the Supreme Court that he set up a session yesterday (yes, Sunday) to have the Senate vote on moving her confirmation forward. With a Senate majority, he received the votes he needed even with two GOP senators voting alongside Democrats. Barrett could very well be the newest chick on the Supreme Court block by EOD today.
Beyond that, your lovely elected officials are taking it easy with these committee meetings leading up to November 3. There’s only one meeting important enough to be conducted in the last week before the elections and it’s taking aim at Big Tech.
2020 Watch
Trump & Biden had their final presidential debate last week. Did it make any difference for the undecided voters?
Why is Mississippi, the state with the highest percentage of Black people (38%) so Republican? Voter suppression, that’s why.
Trump’s campaign is filming Philly voters dropping off their ballots at drop boxes. Under Pennsylvania law, this can be considered voter intimidation.
Around the Diaspora
Last week, Nigeria’s #EndSARS protests took a turn for the worst after the country’s army fired on peaceful protesters. At least 12 were killed in the attack.
Check out this interactive map to see how the Motherland is coping with COVID-19.
Environmentalists in Trinidad & Tobago are concerned about an oil tanker that’s sinking in the Caribbean Sea. If the 1.3M barrels of oil spill, it could impact other parts of the Southern Caribbean region like Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
Honorable mention from last week’s news: Brazil’s Black Silicon Valley might be the center of technical innovation in Latin America.
Getting to the Money
A/B Partners, a Black-owned PR firm, is looking for PR, advertising or communications professionals. Is this you??
Buying Black
If you think you’re ready to eat out again, but don’t trust using the restaurant’s utensils, Portable Trekker creates portable utensil kits for foodies on the go.
Culture that Pops
After years of accusations that they lack diversity in how they determine who’s eligible for which Grammy awards, the Recording Academy recently created the Black Music Collective. The collective and the leadership council composed within it will help emerging Black talent gain the attention and accolades they deserve.
Netflix and Norfolk State University have teamed up for a virtual HBCU tech bootcamp. The program will help 130 students from Black colleges level up their skills in the arenas of UX/UI design, Java engineering, and data science.
You’ve probably seen headlines of their story on IG a million times (we have), but meet the frat brothers who teamed up with the sole purpose of stopping the gentrification going on in their hometowns.