In the last year, several major companies and corporations announced initiatives to further racial and social justice. However, a recent survey shows their employees don’t think they fulfilled their promises.
A new Racial Justice and Equity Survey from Benevity shows a trend in the number of companies that announced diversity and inclusion efforts that still haven’t been acted on. Results show only 26% of employees say their company’s racial justice commitments were fulfilled, while 61% of employees say they weren’t.
“I believe it is essential that businesses make meaningful investments in building diverse, inclusive workplace cultures,” Lisa Lewin, CEO of General Assembly, toldUSA Today. “At a minimum, when it comes to topics like racial justice or climate change, companies must ‘do no harm.’ “
The survey was conducted from May 24 to June 6 and spoke with 1,000 employees from Fortune 500 and mid-level companies. While a series of funding and initiatives have been rolled out in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, many have criticized the efforts for only being a move to stay on trend rather than a genuine nod toward equity and inclusion.
Of those surveyed, 70% agreed that it’s important for companies to have difficult conversations in the workplace about racial and social justice. Sixty-nine percent said they would recommend their companies to others if they saw more priority made in addressing sensitive topics like racism. More than a third of those surveyed said they would quit their jobs if their workplace didn’t start engaging in conversations of this type.
Another 55% called out their company leaders and said they addressed social justice issues in the last year but took no further action. Another 47% said they felt company leaders displayed the same or less amount of racial sensitivity in the past year.
“True social progress is not possible without the business community taking meaningful action to address the most intractable problems facing our world,” Lewin said.
President Joe Biden, Congress Still Divided On Infrastructure Package
Reuters – President Joe Biden will continue discussions on U.S. infrastructure legislation this week, but the White House still has not agreed with lawmakers on how to pay for such a bill, officials said on Monday.
A bipartisan infrastructure plan costing a little over $1 trillion, only about a fourth of what Biden initially proposed, has been gaining support in the U.S. Senate, but disputes continue over how it should be funded.
Members of the bipartisan group, for example, have discussed indexing the gas tax to inflation to help pay for the bill, a provision that Biden has consistently rejected.
“We still have some sticking points, particularly around how we pay for this,” Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CNN on Monday.
Twenty-one of the 100 U.S. senators – including 11 Republicans, nine Democrats and one independent who caucuses with Democrats – are working on the framework to rebuild roads, bridges and other traditional infrastructure that sources said would cost $1.2 trillion over eight years.
One of the 21 senators, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, said on Fox News Sunday that if Biden wanted a $1 trillion infrastructure deal, “it’s there for the taking. You just need to get involved and lead.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that Biden is expected to talk to lawmakers as soon as Monday, but she added that there’s not many weeks left for negotiations before Democrats decide to move forward on a party-line vote.
Biden, seeking to fuel economic growth after the pandemic, had initially proposed about $4 trillion be spent on a broader range of infrastructure that included fighting climate change and providing care for children and the elderly.
The White House trimmed the offer to about $1.7 trillion in talks with senators in a bid to win Republican support in the closely divided U.S. Senate.
Psaki said on Monday that the White House has not ditched its plan for additional spending on items like free pre-kindergarten and paid family leave. She said the White House never saw the infrastructure negotiations as “one step.”
“There is a reconciliation process that’s ongoing, and that addresses and includes a number of the president’s priorities,” Psaki said.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Lisa Lambert, Heather Timmons, Peter Graff and Cynthia Osterman)
Macy Gray: The American Flag ‘No Longer Represents Democracy and Freedom’
Singer Macy Gray is using her voice in a different way. In a recent op-ed piece for the financial publication MarketWatch, she charged lawmakers to officially change the American flag by making it more diverse.
The 53-year-old Grammy Award-winning artist wrote the piece as a guest writer to express that the American flag should be redesigned to represent all Americans.
OPINION: “Sixty-two years later, in 2021, we have changed and it’s time for a reset, a transformation. One that represents all states and all of us,” writes singer Macy Gray. https://t.co/VTezKfjxdr
She wrote specifically about the image of the American flag as viewed by those who proudly display the racist Confederate flag seen in some parts of the country.
“President Biden, Madame Harris and members of Congress: the American flag has been hijacked as code for a specific belief,” Gray wrote. “God bless those believers, they can have it. Like the Confederate, it is tattered, dated, divisive, and incorrect. It no longer represents democracy and freedom. It no longer represents ALL of us. It’s not fair to be forced to honor it. It’s time for a new flag.”
Gray also mentioned what the stripes of the American flag initially represented. She noted that The Smithsonian had documented that the “white” stripes represent purity and innocence. She has different thoughts on that now.
“What if the stripes were OFF-white? What if there were 52 stars to include D.C. and Puerto Rico? What if the stars were the colors of ALL of us—your skin tone and mine—like the melanin scale? The blue square represents vigilance and perseverance; and the red stripes stand for valor. America is all of those things. So, what if those elements on the flag remained? What if the flag looked like this?”
Man Threatens to ‘Spray The Place Up’ After Woman Turns Him Down
A man is facing a series of charges after he threatened to fire shots at a woman who declined his advances.
William Desean Fields was arrested Monday after police say he threatened to “spray the place up” after a woman at a Myrtle Beach hotel wouldn’t talk to him, WBTWreports. Fields was charged with two counts of first-degree assault and battery, pointing and presenting a firearm at another person, and possession of marijuana.
Fields had been on the run after threatening two employees at the Ocean Boulevard hotel he was staying at when a woman turned him down, Myrtle Beach Onlinereports. The two employees, a woman, and a man were crossing the street outside the hotel when Fields approached the woman and tried to attract her.
When she declined his offer, he reportedly told her that he was “going to kill her” as he pulled out body armor and a loaded magazine of ammunition from his car and started to toy with the bullets. The woman left out of fear for her life. But the male employee tried to calm Fields down.
That’s when he reportedly showed his duffle bag and threatened that he would “spray the place up.” That prompted the male employee to report the incident to his work supervisor but didn’t want to call the cops until the general manager could finish an internal investigation, the police report says.
Police weren’t called until Friday. They took written statements from the hotel staff before starting their search for Fields. He was taken into police custody on Monday and hit with the charges.
Fields has a lengthy rap sheet and previously made the news in 2018 after he was caught inappropriately touching little girls at a local swimming pool, WPDEreports. At the time, he was charged with four counts of third-degree sexual misconduct. He bonded out of jail after a few days in custody.
Police Officer Kills Flint, MI, Teen Who Fired At Him Near City’s Juneteenth Parade
A teenage woman was killed Saturday after she fired shots at Flint, MI, police officer who returned fire. The incident took place a short distance from Flint’s parade for Juneteenth.
The woman, identified by Newsweek as Brianna Sykes, 19, died in a hospital due to her injuries, according to reports.
A Flint woman reportedly drove up to the officer, who was directing traffic during the parade and began shooting at him for an unexplained reason, according to WDIV, an NBC-affiliated television station. The incident took place around 2:15 p.m on Saturday.
“Preliminary investigation indicates the officer, who was working a traffic point for the Juneteenth Celebration Parade, was fired upon by the lone occupant of a vehicle who drove up to him at the traffic point,” Michigan State Police said. “Upon taking fire, the officer returned fire, striking the suspect.”
The officer in question was not injured, but residents who participated in the parade said the sudden deadly violence is something they are going to unfortunately remember on the city’s first official Juneteenth celebration.
“We will honor our ancestors, highlight our heritage, celebrate our community all weekend, and rejoice in our solidarity,” said April Cook-Hawkins, an organizer of the parade said in a pre-event press release. “We are working together to make sure that this year’s celebration of Juneteenth is bigger and better than ever before in the City of Flint. Seeing so many brothers and sisters come together to create a variety of celebrations this year—the first year Juneteenth is an official Flint holiday—is especially meaningful.”
Attending the parade was Olympic gold medalist, female light middleweight boxer Claressa Shields, a Flint native who has recorded 77 wins against 1 loss.
The officer who was attacked is on paid leave as the investigation takes place.
T.D. Jakes And Tyler Perry Purchase 132 Acres in Atlanta for Entertainment District And Affordable Housing
Tyler Perry is making his mark in the city of Atlanta even bigger, expanding his famed Tyler Perry Studios.
On Thursday, the media mogul and Bishop T.D. Jakes got approval to purchase 132 acres at Fort McPherson in Atlanta, 11 Alive reported.
The two leaders will work together to build a new entertainment district for the city that will include theaters, retail shops, and restaurants.
Perry is set to receive 37 acres adjacent to his Tyler Perry Studios, which already occupies 330 acres. T.D. Jakes Real Estate Ventures group is acquiring the other 94 acres, as noted by Deadline.
“Today is a good day. I’m grateful for the opportunity this gives Tyler Perry Studios to extend our footprint in Atlanta and create more opportunities for the people of Southwest Atlanta with restaurants, entertainment venues, and other business opportunities,” Perry said in a statement.
“I’m looking forward to collaborating with my friend T.D. Jakes on his separate but adjacent project and I also want to thank Governor Kemp and Mayor Bottoms for their continued efforts to make Atlanta a better place,” he added.
Meanwhile, T.D. Jakes Real Estate Ventures will continue its mission of developing affordable and workforce housing for families in underserved areas.
Atlanta’s Republican governor and Democratic mayor are both in agreement that Perry and Jakes’ recent investment is good for the city of Atlanta.
Governor Brian Kemp called the purchase “a real shot in the arm for an important community within the state of Georgia.”
“Significant job creation such as this will create more opportunities for hardworking Georgians and surrounding small businesses, which are the real backbone of our state’s economy,” Kemp added.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said the purchase “marks another monumental chapter in the history of Fort Mac.”
“Thank you to Tyler Perry and Bishop TD Jakes for their vision and investment in the Southwest Atlanta community. The positive impact will be felt for generations to come,” she said.
Supreme Court Rules Against NCAA Bid To Maintain Limits On Education Related Compensation For Student Athletes
Reuters – Siding with student-athletes, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the organization’s bid to maintain limits on education-related compensation for them that critics have said help maintain the fiction of amateurism in college sports.
The High Court unanimously ruled the NCAA’s curbs on non-cash payments to college athletes related to education – including benefits such as computers, science equipment and musical instruments – are anticompetitive under a federal law called the Sherman Antitrust Act. The NCAA is the major governing body for U.S. intercollegiate sports.
The decision, authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, further weakens the NCAA’s efforts to defend its restrictive system regarding student compensation, which is under fire on multiple fronts. College sports rake in billions of dollars in revenue.
Although the case did not involve direct payments to athletes, the wider issue of compensation for players – also including the ability to profit off their name, image and likeness – has increasingly become a point of contention.
Gorsuch wrote that it is not the role of judges to decide what reforms are needed in college sports, but that an injunction issued earlier in the litigation by California-based U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken “may encourage scholastic achievement and allow student-athletes a measure of compensation more consistent with the value they bring to their schools.”
Gorsuch conceded that “some will see this as a poor substitute for fuller relief.”
Several states including California have passed new laws allowing students to make money from their name, image and likeness rights, known as NIL. The U.S. Congress is also considering legislation on the issue.
“The NCAA’s bankrupt model is finally starting to come apart,” Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, wrote on Twitter following the ruling.
“Sickening that colleges reap BILLIONS from student athletes but block them from earning a single dollar,” Newsom added.
The NCAA said in a statement that the ruling gives it leeway to adopt “reasonable rules” and it can still decide the scope of what can be defined as an educational benefit.
“Even though the decision does not directly address name, image and likeness, the NCAA remains committed to supporting NIL benefits for student-athletes,” NCAA President Mark Emmert added.
Gorsuch in the ruling noted the huge salaries drawn by the leaders of college sports.
“Those who run this enterprise profit in a different way than the student-athletes whose activities they oversee. The president of the NCAA earns nearly $4 million per year,” Gorsuch wrote.
Gorsuch added that commissioners of the leading collegiate conferences take home between $2 to $5 million annually, college athletic directors average more than $1 million annually and top football coaches can earn nearly $11 million a year.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year found the NCAA’s rules to be anticompetitive, upholding the 2019 injunction imposed by Wilken that allowed education-related compensation. Wilken set new rules that the NCAA said were arbitrary and could pave the way to future challenges to other policies set by the organization.
College athletes who filed lawsuits in 2014 and 2015 – consolidated into a single case in California federal court – argued that the NCAA’s compensation limits represent a form of unlawful restraint of trade.
In a separate opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that the NCAA’s other compensation rules “also raise serious questions under the antitrust laws” and suggested they would likely be struck down if lower courts follow the analysis laid out in Monday’s ruling.
“The bottom line is that the NCAA and its member colleges are suppressing the pay of student athletes who collectively generate billions of dollars in revenues for colleges every year. Those enormous sums of money flow to seemingly everyone except the student athletes,” Kavanaugh wrote.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
Public Demands Investigation Into Montreal Police Kneeling On Black 14-Year-Old
A 90-second clip of a Montreal police officer kneeling on a Black 14-year-old has sparked public outcry.
An eyewitness at the bus stop filmed the June 10 scene after police responded to a call about a fight at Georges-Vanier High School in Canada, Montreal CTV News reported. Police said the fight included 15 students from two different schools.
Two minors were arrested and charged with obstructing the work of a peace officer and carrying weapons. But video from after the fight showed a white officer pushing his left knee down onto the neck and face of a young Black teenager.
Video shows the teen getting arrested. Officers dig inside his bag and take out a taser. But with the arrest being reminiscent of the murder of George Floyd, many are demanding an investigation into the Montreal police, CBC CAreported.
“If the use of force is not justified, the administration will take the required actions,” SPVM spokesperson Insp. David Shane said.
Shane also said the angle of the video could be misleading and urged the public to take caution before reacting to the sensitive footage. He said the video only shows part of what happened and said the two teens who were arrested were refusing to identify themselves to police. The police confiscated a taser and bear repellent, according to the outlet.
The Montreal police released a statement saying, “although the neck control technique is not involved in this situation, it should be noted that it is part of the National Use of Force Model” that police are taught at Quebec’s policing school, the École nationale de police du Québec (ÉNPQ).
“Applied in a specific context and under specific circumstances, it allows for the control of a suspect with a greatly reduced risk of injury, compared to the use of some intermediate weapons,” the e-mail statement read.
Frantz Benjamin, Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) member for Viau is part of a group of politicians demanding an investigation into the incident.
“An aggressive arrest of two young Black men not far from Rousselot Street in Montreal,” he said. “It is a question of transparency and security to allow us to have confidence in the police.”
The New York City Mayoral Primary is Tomorrow, Here’s What You Need To Know
The first sign of New York City’s future will be determined tomorrow as voters will use ranked-choice voting to select the Democratic candidate for mayor.
The last weekend before the election saw every mayoral candidate combing the streets for every last vote, an alliance between two candidates, and a claim of suppressing Black voters.
Here’s what you need to know before heading to the ballot box tomorrow.
An Alliance Bring Claims of Voter Suppression
Candidates Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia began campaigning together Saturday in a push for residents to vote for both candidates in ranked choice voting.
Yang spent the weekend urging his supporters to vote for him first and Garcia second. However, the former sanitation commissioner did not offer the same endorsement, but the pair handed out fliers together in Queens and took photos together this weekend.
The move has upset candidate and former cop Eric Adams, who said the alliance was an effort to prevent a “person of color” from winning the race.
“For them to come together like they are doing in the last three days, they’re saying we can’t trust a person of color to be the mayor of the City of New York when this city is overwhelmingly people of color,” Adams said, according to the New York Times.
Policing Is The Biggest Divide Among Candidates
While the candidates all have their own ideas for the city’s economy, education, and housing, its policing that seems to have created the widest divide between candidates.
Yang, Adams, and Garcia, the more “moderate” Democratic candidates, have all proposed boosting police department numbers. Yang proposed having a cop on every subway. Adams in the past has praised and supported stop-and-frisk when it’s used legally. Garcia, who has also pushed adding more police, criticized other candidates for their support of police budget cuts.
Meanwhile, Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive; Maya Wiley, a former civil rights attorney; and Scott Stringer have all said they wouldn’t increase the number of NYPD officers in the city.
Former Citibank executive Ray McGuire wants to empower the Civilian Complaint Review Board and said he would overrule the police commissioner if he disagreed with any disciplinary actions.
Every Candidate Has Some Controversy
Yang has been criticized for leaving New York during the pandemic. McGuire has been attacked for his political inexperience. Stringer has seen his campaign turned by sexual harassment allegations. Morales, once a rising candidate, has seen her campaign take a hit due to a mutiny by her campaign staff.
Wiley has been questioned about working for current mayor Bill de Blasio and Garcia claimed ignorance about unequal pay while she was sanitation commissioner. Former Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan has faced questions about his father giving more than $1 million to his campaign and Adams has been criticized for his comments on virtual learning and questioned on if he actually lives in New York City.
Low Voter Turnout and Why We Won’t Know Who Won For A While
If early voting numbers are an indication, there will be a low voter turnout for this year’s primary. According to the city’s Board of Elections, early turnout has been low, with just over 32,000 voters casting ballots during the first two days of early voting
Early Voting Day 2 complete! •Manhattan – 10,047 •Bronx – 3,919 •Brooklyn – 9,846 •Queens – 6,429 •Staten Island – 1,791 Total Number of Early Voting Check-Ins 32,032 *As of close of polls – unofficial and cumulative
The city is likely to find out who is leading the election Tuesday night, however it could take weeks to get a final tally. Tens of thousands of absentee ballots will not be due until a week from Tuesday and will have to be counted.
Ranked-choice voting also adds a wrinkle that could add to the delay. Only New Yorkers’ first-choice votes will be counted right away. The city’s Board of Elections plans to reveal the first round of ranked-choice results a week from Tuesday and will release updated results once a week after that as absentee ballots are counted.
The results posted on July 6 are expected to include absentee ballots, according to the Board of Elections, but more complete results should arrive the week of July 12.
High Jumper Vashti Cunningham, Daughter of Retired Quarterback Randall Cunningham, Headed To Tokyo Olympics
Vashti Cunningham is someone to look out for in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which starts July 23.
The daughter of retired National Football League quarterback Randall Cunningham, Vashti is carrying on a legacy of excellence in sports just like her dad who played 16 seasons, primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles. With her high jumping showcased in May, she jumped her personal best of 6 feet 7 and a half inches at the Chula Vista Field Fest, USA Today reported.
It is no shocker that Cunningham qualified for the 2020 Olympics, having jumped at 6-5 to qualify, and she was the only one who managed to pull that jump off.
In the 2016 Olympics, when she was 18-years-old, she managed to finish in second place.
“The final was very exciting for me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it days leading up to it. I was so ready to be there,” Cunningham said. “I didn’t quite jump the height that I wanted to, but I was just happy to go through (and) to win my first trials title.”
Following her jump were Inika McPherson and Nicole Greene, with both women clearing a 6-4. However, McPherson is ahead of Greene because the former finished in her first attempt.
“This meet right here meant a lot to me. I really, really wanted the title in 2016, but I was young and just trying to navigate my way,” Cunningham said. “So, it really means a lot to me to come here today and get that title.”
With her father as her coach and Vashti gave her dear old dad family pictures of the two together.
“The feeling is just amazing. I was looking at pictures of us over the years. I sent them to him, and I was like, ‘Happy Father’s Day.’ I know that making him happy makes me feel so good. I was blessed to have my family here and my dad,” Cunningham said. “I’m happy it was on Father’s Day.”
