Music students at Morris Brown College, a historically Black university in downtown Atlanta, are judging a first-of-its-kind hip hop contest for currently incarcerated individuals in select State Department of Corrections facilities nationwide.
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The HAVE Coalition stands in unity with the diverse assembly of civil rights leaders, US elected officials and human rights organizations who vehemently object to the inhumane and excessively cruel treatment of Haitian refugees by United States Customs and Border Control (CBP) along the US-Mexico border at Del Rio, TX. At a broader level, we also question, along with others, why the Biden-Harris administration is blatantly failing to meet the expectations it set regarding respect for the human rights and dignity of refugees. Last week’s images of CBP agents on horseback herding Haitians, as if they were cattle, traumatically triggers memories of an America thought to have been left behind after the US Civil War. President Biden–we must do better.
With all of that as the backdrop, Congress on Tuesday, September 28, prepares to vote on the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of Law (EQUAL) Act, which would eliminate the disparity in authorized sentencing offenses involving crack versus powder cocaine.
The fundraising effort was part of Alpha Kappa Alpha’s annual HBCU Impact Day; a philanthropic-filled day where the sorority encourages private donors, corporations and local chapters to financially support accredited HBCUs across the nation. Alpha Kappa Alpha set out on a four-year mission to raise $10 million for historically Black institutions as part of the HBCU for Life: A Call to Action initiative. This year—which marks the fourth year of the effort—the sorority hit a milestone, bringing in millions on September 20.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded $39,731,817 in American Rescue Plan funding to 45 health centers in Florida to expand their primary health care infrastructure in medically underserved communities. Additionally, to bolster their efforts combatting COVID-19 locally, health center recipients in Florida may also use this funding to secure freezers to store COVID-19 vaccines, purchase mobile vans to better reach and vaccinate marginalized communities, or construct, renovate or expand their facilities so they are better equipped for future pandemics or public health challenges. In total, this funding will support 74 health center projects in Florida.
Some Democratic members of Congress are trying to hold up historic economic investments pledged by the Biden Administration, including a provision that could lower the cost of prescription drugs. By obstructing efforts to lower prescription drug prices, these legislators are standing in the way of racial equity.
Jay-Z and his Team Roc are filing a lawsuit against Kansas Police Department and the city after allegedly finding out that there has been a trend of police getting away with misconduct. The group is working to ensure there is transparency and police reform.
Are workplace vaccine mandates prompting some employees to quit rather than get a shot?
Expanding rural telehealth & Joint Center research: The New York Times reports the Biden Administration will spend nearly $20 million to “strengthen telehealth services in rural and underserved communities” where “roughly 15 percent of the population” live, which is aligned with key recommendations put forth in a July 2021 brief on expanding broadband in the Black Rural South by Joint Center Technology Policy Director Dr. Dominique Harrison. The Joint Center will release Dr. Harrison’s full 45-page report on the topic very soon.
After a year of COVID, TIFF returned as a hybrid festival with in-person screenings in Toronto and digital screenings around the world. A fine selection of African Diaspora films, films with Black actors in their cast and general-release films brought the magic of TIFF alive again.