The Skinny on COVID
The latest in numbers: 27M total cases & 463K deaths (+1M & +22K from last week)
Some headlines:
Dr. Fauci is encouraging vaccine administrators to prioritize giving people their 2nd doses rather than trying to give more people their first.
Here’s some disappointing news: Bloomberg’s latest calculator says it may take up to 7 years for life to return back to "normal".
Women, particularly Black women & Latinas, are bearing the brunt of the unemployment crisis brought on by the pandemic. Currently, their unemployment rates stand at 8.5% and 8.8% respectively. Meanwhile, white men & women’s unemployment rates are 5.5% and 5.1%.
Oh, They Big Mad
They = Republicans. More than 100 bills that would restrict voting rights/access have been introduced, pre-filed, or advanced in 28 states across. Considering they are the party that depends on voter suppression to maintain power, are any of us surprised?
Stanford Says…
The more white people cut up, the more we want nothing to do with them. A recent study out of Stanford showed that a rise in hate crimes led to increased HBCU enrollment for Black students.
Keeping Up with Biden & Harris
Banking, education, infrastructure, etc. These are the ways President Biden wants to address the racial wealth gap.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen suggests people making $60K and under might be the only ones eligible for the next stimulus check.
Under his new immigration plan, Biden could be offering an 8-year path to citizenship.
When it comes to the topic of adding additional Supreme Court Justices to balance out the strong conservative slant, progressives and the new administration are likely to clash.
Criminal Justice Round Up
A former Ohio police officer is indicted on murder and other charges for the killing of an unarmed Black man named Andre Hill.
2 of the ATL cops who were fired for tasing Black college students sitting in their car last May got their jobs back, citing unlawful termination.
An Indiana House bill that would give officers de-escalation training, punish them for not turning on their body cameras, and ban the chokehold in some instances passed last week with bipartisan support. Now the legislation is on its way to the State Senate, which may not take a vote on it until early March.
Virginia’s Senate passed a bill to abolish the death penalty. It’s expected that the law will soon pass in the House and be signed by their governor shortly after.
Congress, What’s Good?
The House voted to strip new GOP representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments for supporting violent & racist conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, stripping her of these things doesn't expel her from Congress, so every time we hear her name, we’ll be thinking of this.
The COVID relief compromise that 10 Republican senators proposed last week was dead on arrival, so Biden & other Dems decided to proceed without them. The House & Senate both passed budget resolutions last week, allowing them to pass the new administration’s bill with a simple majority. The next step for both chambers now is to draft the actual text of the package that all members of the party (especially in the evenly-split Senate) can support. Once those bills are passed, Biden can sign on the dotted line. If this sounds like it could be a long process before you get your next stimulus check or any other type of relief, that’s because it can be. The plan is for this process to be in place before unemployment benefits expire on March 14.
Trump’s impeachment trial begins this week. Here’s what to expect.
Topics being discussed this week:
More Biden nominations
Around the Diaspora
The Haitian people are angry and some allegedly attempted a coup because their current president (who canceled 2020 elections due to the pandemic) appears to be hoarding power longer than he should. Protesters feel yesterday should have been the president’s last in office, but President Jovenel Moise, supported by the Biden administration, claims his term ends in 2022.
The Congo is working to contain another Ebola outbreak after a woman recently passed away from the virus.
Why was Nigeria removed from the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative, which would have ensured equitable distribution of the vaccine? Because they were outpriced by richer, whiter countries.
Getting to the Money
L’Oreal is partnering with the NAACP to give $10K grants to small Black-owned businesses in the beauty industry.
For the business-minded folks in the corporate world, Deloitte Digital is hiring for hundreds (literally) of open roles across the country.
Buying Black
Prajekt Intl (pronounced “project international”) is a clothing brand that encourages diversity through travel and wants its customers to adventure with confidence. Check out their gear that’s sure to be a conversation starter on your next trip around the globe.
Culture that Pops
NYC is offering you an authentic glimpse into the multitude of beautiful Black cultures that make up the city with their new content hub called The Black Experience. Check out the dope content they’re creating there. It’ll help you either plan your next Rona-free trip or take yourself down memory lane of how dope it is to be Black in New York. Either way, it’ll make you feel something.
We love to see authentic talent shine! Ryan Coogler has inked a deal with Disney to develop a Disney+ series about our homeland Wakanda.
Here are 28 films to watch during Black History Month that aren’t rooted in our trauma.
In an effort to appear more equitable, Ulta Beauty appointed Tracee Ellis Ross as their new Diversity & Inclusion Advisor, committed to increasing the number of Black-owned brands on their shelves and more.