The Skinny on COVID
The latest in numbers: 34M total cases & 603K deaths (+83K & +2K from last week)
The headlines:
The World Health Organization (WHO) urges fully vaccinated people to continue to wear masks due to the more contagious delta variant that’s spreading. Meanwhile the CDC has said….absolutely nothing.
South Africa is tightening restrictions to address its latest rise in COVID cases.
Throughout the pandemic, federal and local governments established programs to put houseless citizens up in hotels to help curb the spread of the virus. Many of those programs have ended and/or will end soon. So….what now?
America Does It Again
Even though we know how America is when it comes to justice, many of us still waited with bated breath as Derek Chauvin’s prison sentence was announced on Friday. He was given 22 ½ years with the potential for getting out after 15 for good behavior. Call us cynics, but this is honestly more than we thought he’d be given. And at the same time, we know that nothing—not even the maximum of 40 years—would ever be enough for the loss of George Floyd’s life.
Keeping Up with Biden & Harris
Joe wants to put more cops on the street to combat an increase in gun violence. Considering the fact that more police officers don’t necessarily keep people safe, this seems like it would’ve been a great opportunity to address crime at its root by funding more job and/or education related-programs. Oh Joe.
The Department of Justice is suing Georgia for SB 202, their infamous voter suppression bill.
VP Harris visited the US-Mexico border and, though she received her fair share of criticism, she did make sure to tread more lightly than she did with her visit to Guatemala.
BTW, is Kamala Harris’ job more difficult because—as the first Black person and the first woman serving as VP—she’s a historic pick?
Congress, What’s Good?
There was a tinge of naive hope that Republicans would support Joe Manchin’s revised voting rights bill last week (we even incorrectly thought it could qualify as a reconciliation bill), but the party of voter suppression gave it the Heisman, refusing to even debate the contents of the bill. This is not surprising considering how their party is actively stripping away voting rights at the state level. It’s also not surprising since they already said they were committed to stopping everything on the Democrats’ legislative agenda.
We wonder what Joe Manchin thinks now that his proposed changes to the law were not enough to make a single Republican side with Democrats? LOL. Ps. Watch Sen. Raphael Warnock tell his colleagues across the aisle about their aint-shitness. Bless his heart for being able to do this so eloquently.
On the committee schedule this week:
Proposals to overhaul credit reporting to ensure equitable treatment
Social Justice Round Up
The SCOTUS has ruled that the NCAA cannot take college athletes’ talents and time while paying them for such a narrow set of education-related expenses. The ruling doesn’t allow students to be paid like full-blown professionals, but it does expand the types of expenses college athletes should be compensated for. Not a good look for the NCAA in the overall argument about student-athletes deserving more.
New York City went to the polls for its Democratic mayoral primary and it looks like a Black ex-cop who previously identified as a conservative Republican is in the lead.
Meanwhile India Walton won the Democratic mayoral primary in Buffalo, NY. If she prevails in the November general election, she will become the first socialist mayor of a large city since 1960. She would also be the first Black woman to be elected mayor of Buffalo.
Amherst, Massachusetts is creating a fund to pay its Black residents reparations, citing discriminatory practices in the housing, employment & education sectors. A $200K budget surplus will be used as the initial investment to launch the fund.
Connecticut will now make prison phone calls free and give the imprisoned up to 90 minutes of free call time daily.
Around the Diaspora
Liberia’s Olympic team is getting a true upgrade for this year’s games. Wildly popular Liberian-American designer Telfar Clemons has committed to sponsoring their team & to designing their uniforms.
You did know that some of the Black people escaping slavery in the US ran to Mexico, right? Did you also know that those Black people have been celebrating Juneteenth for 150 years?
Trinidad & Tobago will open up its borders on July 17 after being shut down since the start of the pandemic. Note: unvaccinated foreigners will not be allowed entry.
Getting to the Money
Hire Black wants to ensure vBlack womxn have the opportunity to get hired by companies that champion diversity & inclusion. Looking for a new gig? Check out their careers page.
Buying Black
We might already officially be in summer, but you still got time to get your summer body-ody-ody right. Just Alkaline Vegan offers a hand press juicer (plus other healthy foods and kitchen accessories) that they say will allow you to get up to 99% of the juice from your fruit. Who needs Jamba Juice or Robeks (both of which are hella unhealthy, btw) when you can make the real thing at home?
Culture that Pops
After witnessing his sister give birth in less-than-ideal circumstances, this Black male doula is on a mission to see that Black women have safe & comfortable birthing experiences.
The 2021 BET Awards were held yesterday. Here’s a list of winners from culture’s biggest night.
Black TikTok creators are on strike because they’re sick and tired of white users on the app copying and eating off of their creativity. We love them taking a stance against appropriation and we love watching white people try & fail to come up with a viral dance themselves.