Browsing: National News

On Feb. 6, during an uncharacteristically frigid night for a southern city like Wilmington, a bomb was set off in the popular neighborhood grocery. As police and firefighters arrived on the scene, gun fire could be heard above the siren squeals and activity. Sniper fire, which was intended for the Wilmington Ten’s members, struck a police officer. Police eventually arrested the ten activists.

     The CORE 100 honorees, which include changemakers like Stacey Abrams, Attorney Ben Crump, NBA superstar LeBron James, and Oprah Winfrey, mark and remind the world of the beauty, boldness, and brilliance of Black Excellence at a time when the cultural, economic, and political landscape in the United States has grown increasingly more hostile towards Blackness.

As small businesses in America have been hit the hardest by the economic fallout of the pandemic and Black-owned businesses are shutting down twice as fast as others according to NBER, L’Oréal USA teamed up with the NAACP to identify the most promising Black-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs in the beauty industry that are most in need of investment.

A year fraught with a pandemic and tragedies was the opposite for Williams. Good things were happening and when doors closed, even better opportunities were waiting immediately. After months of COVID restrictions, [what he originally thought was a] “Food Network prank” came knocking two more times. “They reached back out to me again in August of last year asking me if I still interested because they had plans to start filming the show again,” he said.

    Rev. Dr. John Warren, who accepted his prestigious award virtually while battling an illness, has remained a steady hand among the more than 230 African American publishers and media company owners who are members of the Black Press of America.

     Among her more memorable stage performances were 1968’s “Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights,” 1969’s “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” and 1983’s “The Corn is Green.” “So many great stories about Cicely Tyson,” Tweeted Soledad O’Brien. “Whew, that lady was amazing. While shooting a doc on her in Spanish Harlem, people kept stopping their cars. In the street. To hop out and say hi. Old people. Teenagers. Middle-aged fans. “Ciss-el-lee” they’d chant as she’d walk by.”

      Vaccine distribution is not keeping up with the impact of COVID-19 on Black and other communities of color. Ongoing disparities in vaccine distribution show the need for targeted efforts to provide coverage to impacted groups. 

     In response to this latest Executive Order, Melanie L. Campbell, President of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) and Convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR), shares her thoughts: “This is a tremendous executive action that President Biden has taken in prioritizing the need for affordable health care in the Biden Administration’s First 100 Days.  This action to re-open the ACA insurance marketplace will be extremely helpful, especially for those finding themselves without healthcare during the worst pandemic in American history. 

     “The vision of the position is to use objective information and analytics to create and support a culture of inclusion and belonging where individuals from all diversity dimensions, racial and ethnic identities, ages, nationalities, social and economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, religious, political and ideological perspectives, and physical and mental abilities, are able to thrive and be actively engaged,” her letter continued.

     In April 2016, then-President Barack Obama announced that Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Obama wanted the release of the new bill to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment in 2020 that gave women the right to vote.