Daniel Cameron Takes a Step
Breonna Taylor’s family met with Kentucky AG Daniel Jay Cameron for the very first time last week. With the meeting initiated by Cameron, he expressed his condolences and his desire for all of the truths in the case to be revealed. While no promises were made, the family seems hopeful that we may see arrests before October.
For us personally, we have to see it to believe it.
White People Playing the Victim Again
After a 2 year investigation of Yale University (and other top colleges), the Department of Justice has released findings claiming the institution is discriminating against Asian and white students in its admissions process. Despite the two groups having the highest representation on campus at 15% and 43% respectively, Yale is being accused of rejecting qualified Asian and white students to fill Black and Latinx quotas. According to a 1978 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, institutions can have diversity goals and factor race into a holistic review of applicants, but not fill explicit quotas (e.g. making sure to accept exactly 627 Black students in a given year). If Yale actually did have quotas, which they deny, that’d be unconstitutional.
What’s the real tea behind this?? It’s a conservative effort to end affirmative action. We found the perfect breakdown of this issue from Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act.
No Shame in Trump’s Game.
The Postal Service has been struggling for years, but Trump is willing to tear it all the way down if it means he’ll see another 4 years in office. In an interview with Fox News, he explained his willingness to deny the USPS of critical funding as an attempt to curtail mail-in voting, which Democrats rightly say is critical to voting safely in a pandemic. Duh.
All of this is in addition to the Trump-loving Postmaster General implementing new policies that have already led to mail delays. It’s the perfect recipe for voter suppression.
Congress, What’s Good?
Mitch McConnell adjourned the Senate last week until September 14, but Nancy Pelosi just called all Representatives back to Washington to address the USPS crisis. We’re not counting on the Senate coming back early for this same thing, but we’re open to surprises.
On Congress’ committee schedule this week: absolutely nothing.
2020 Watch
By now, you’ve heard that Kamala Harris is Joe Biden’s VP pick. You’ve probably also heard all of the strong opinions about her. We just have one request...do your own research to inform your perspective (this article is a good start). There’s a lot of folks spreading misinformation for and against her. We’d hate to see you be one of those people.
In response to the announcement about Kamala, Donald Trump dipped into his racist and sexist bag. Typical.
The Postal Service sent out warnings to 46 states and the District of Columbia that mail delivery for the upcoming election would more than likely be delayed. In light of this, make sure you’re aware of other options that’ll still allow you to vote safely.
Also, if you’ve seen the photos of mailboxes being taken off the streets on flatbed trucks, it’s not fake (or old) news. A USPS spokesperson says the removals are because of declining mail volumes, but they will halt the removals for the next 90 days.
The Democratic National Convention starts today. Here’s what to expect.
Around the Diaspora
Namibia says Germany’s €10M offer for reparations is no good. What did Germany do that would cause them to offer up any money? They tortured, starved, and killed tens of thousands of Namibians in their efforts to colonize the country from 1904 to 1908. Many of their acts against Namibia are seen as the foundation for carrying out the Holocaust years later.
African and Middle Eastern migrants are being abandoned at sea, either in life vests or on overloaded inflatable rafts, by the Greek government. You may wanna think twice about that Santorini vacation or about spending any of your dollars in Greece moving forward.
Grenada canceled its annual Spice Mas celebration due to COVID-19, but revelers said the party must go on, and that it did.
After pushing back its border reopening to October, the Cayman Islands’ COVID-19 transmissions level has been downgraded from “sporadic” to “no cases.”
Getting to the Money
Juvia’s Place, a Black-owned cosmetics brand, is giving away $300K in grants to 6 Black entrepreneurs. The deadline to apply is August 31.
If you need a little assistance understanding how your employee stock purchase plan works, give this brief video a try.
Last Thursday was Black Women’s Equal Pay Day and closing the pay gap is even more important in 2020 given all of the economic uncertainty we’ve experienced this year.
Here are 7 resources to help get your small business started or to keep your budding enterprise going.
Black Business Highlight: If you’ve got the travel bug and absolutely cannot keep yourself at home, don’t get on that plane or train without a Scumbag or two. Coming with antibacterial wipes, a security tray cover, and a cleansing towelette, Scumbags aim to take so fresh and so clean while traveling to another level.
Culture that Pops
The cast to be featured in Ta-Nehisi Coate’s TV adaptation of Between the World and Me has been released and it’s all things Black and excellent. How much so??? Well Phylicia Rashad and Angela Basset are just a couple of the A-listers on the roster.
LeBron James partners with the Los Angeles Dodgers to make their stadium a polling place for the upcoming election.
Jill Scoot will star in a biopic about iconic gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. The film will be produced by Queen Latifah and Jamie Foxx.