Stacey Abrams’ Ambitions Are Set on the U.S. Presidency
Stacey Abrams wants to run for president, Madame Noire reported.
Abrams running for president, or at least confirming she has an interest, has been long speculated in political discourse. In her latest interview on CBS Sunday Morningpromoting her romantic thriller novels, she gave fans romanticized thrills of her being the first Black female president.
Being a former Georgia House Democratic Leader and someone many people believe would have won the 2018 Georgia governor race against Brian Kemp if it was not for voter suppression, Abrams’ popularity and voting rights activism makes her a compelling candidate to run for office.
“Do I hold it as an ambition? Absolutely,” she said. And even more importantly, when someone asks me if that’s my ambition, I have a responsibility to say ‘Yes,’ for every young woman, every person of color, who sees me and decides what they’re capable of based on what I think I am capable of.”
“You cannot have those things you refuse to dream of,” she said.
Some have attributed her voting rights activism as the reason why Georgia turned blue in the 2020 presidential election. Her support for then-presidential candidate Joe Biden helped Biden connect with Black voters, one of his key assets, and her continued support for Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff helped them gain seats in the Senate in the runoff elections.
Speaking of her books, according to The Los Angeles Times, three of the first books she authored under the pen name Selena Montgomery will be reissued by book publisher Berkeley. Her latest book is called While Justice Sleeps, a fictional thrill novel that follows law clerk Avery Keene who serves a well-regarded judge in the Supreme Court, Justice Howard Wynn.
Abrams has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Colin Kaepernick to Release Book On Police and Prison Abolition in October
He may not be able to play the sport that helped him gain the important voice he is using now, but, the runaway train known as Colin Kaepernick is not slowing down any time soon!
In an announcement made on social media, Kaepernick has expressed to the world that his first tome, being distributed through his own publishing company, Kaepernick Publishing, is slated to be released later this fall on Oct. 12, 2021. The debut book is titled, ABOLITION FOR THE PEOPLE: THE MOVEMENT FOR A FUTURE WITHOUT POLICING & PRISONS.
Today, I’m excited to share that we at @KaepernickPub will be releasing our first title, ABOLITION FOR THE PEOPLE: THE MOVEMENT FOR A FUTURE WITHOUT POLICING & PRISONS, on 10/12/21. This anthology builds on decades of organizing and writing against policing & prisons… pic.twitter.com/84nUD3v4r2
…& features the work of over 30 contributors plus a reader’s guide, infographics, & cover art by Emory Douglas.
I’m proud to have edited this collection & hope it adds to the chorus of voices calling for a world without & beyond policing & prisons. #AbolitionForThePeople
The book is a collective work from more than 30 writers that Kaepernick has edited.
After months of hard work, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be publishing our first title, ABOLITION FOR THE PEOPLE: THE MOVEMENT FOR A FUTURE WITHOUT POLICING & PRISONS, on 10/12/21. This anthology is edited by @Kaepernick7 & features the contributions of over 30 writers. pic.twitter.com/fj6tuBpYBy
— Kaepernick Publishing (@KaepernickPub) May 11, 2021
Join us on our collective journey toward building a better world — a world without and beyond policing and prisons. ABOLITION FOR THE PEOPLE will be available in print, e-book, and audio formats. Cover art by the one & only Emory Douglas. #AbolitionForThePeople
— Kaepernick Publishing (@KaepernickPub) May 11, 2021
Kaepernick Publishing has also released quotes from the book from some of the contributors to the project.
40 Under 40: A Celebration of Young Black Leaders Exuding Excellence in the Face of Disruption
Millennials are often described as tech-savvy, socially conscious, entrepreneurially minded, and “the unluckiest generation in U.S. history.” Over the course of their lives, the average millennial has experienced economic downturns, life-altering setbacks, and unwavering uncertainty. Many came to age in midst of the Y2K phenom, not knowing if the world would come to an end on January 1, 2000. The following year, the 9/11 terrorist attacks triggered the subsequent war on terror and deepened the 2001 recession, thus forcing the oldest millennials to enter the labor market when jobs were scarce. As a result, many spent their early years struggling to find work only to be hit by the Great Recession years later. The 2008 financial meltdown also had devastating effects on mid-age and younger millennials who graduated college with trillions of dollars of student debt during a dismal job market. And yet, in spite of being plagued by recessions more than any other generation, millennials embraced the turn of the new decade with “2020 vision” only to be hit with a global pandemic that completely upended our lives, drove the U.S. economy into a tailspin, and created a worldwide public health crisis. While the entire world struggles to recover from COVID-19, it’s millennials in their prime working years who are bearing the worst economic effects, per The Washington Post.
Yet, they’ve had no choice but to press on.
Amid unprecedented uncertainty and disaster, many millennials are creating solutions to a new set of problems, building pandemic-proof businesses, and taking the lead to create a better tomorrow. Driven by passion, connection, and purpose, they thrive in disruption and have turned crisis into an opportunity to make society fairer and more equitable for future generations.
John Henry, co-founder and co-CEO of Loop
In celebration of the young leaders working to enhance the greater good in humanity, BLACK ENTERPRISE is highlighting 40 changemakers who’ve demonstrated resolve, persistence, and embody the best of this generation. Under the umbrella of the new 40 Under 40 franchise, we’re honoring an illustrious group of Black innovators making waves in finance, business, sports, tech, social justice, media, entertainment, and politics. Some demonstrate business prowess like John Henry, a 28-year-old serial social entrepreneur who, in January, launched Loop, a new car insurance company that uses A.I. technology to make car insurance rates more equitable for people of color; or WilliamHeard, the 38-year-old founder, CEO, and chief investment officer at Heard Capital L.L.C., a Chicago-based asset management firm that has more than $250 million in assets.
Others are blazing trails in STEM like 14-year-old child prodigy and scientist Dorothy Jean “DJ” Tillman, who launched the Dorothy Jeanius STEAM Educational Leadership Institute in 2020 to encourage students to learn and get excited about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics); and Kizzmekia Corbett, 35, a central developer behind the Moderna vaccine.
Brittany Packnett Cunningham
There are others who have produced millions of dollars in revenues like 38-year-old business titan Lorron James, CEO of the James Group International. With revenue of $138 million, the Detroit-based holding company is one of the largest Black businesses in the nation. Meanwhile, Chris Lyons, 34, a managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, has raised millions for the advancement of Black tech businesses through the venture capital firm’s Cultural Leadership Fund.
Some have dedicated their lives to social change like Brittany Packnett Cunningham, a 36-year-old organizer, activist, and educator who remains on the front lines in the fight for Black liberation and justice. While others are making history like Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who became the first openly gay Black and Latinx person elected to Congress at 33 years old, and Maia Chaka, who became the first Black woman named to the officiating staff of the National Football League at 39.
The 40 Under 40 list also honors creatives who are using their talents to uplift the Black experience through art and storytelling like 36-year-old actress and media mogul Issa Rae, who signed an 8-figure deal with Warner Brothers in March, 21-year-old actress and producer Yara Shahidi, and 34-year-old actor and philanthropist Michael B. Jordan.
Others, like journalist and content creator Danielle Young, 37, are amplifying Black voices while Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in American history, is using her creative talent to shift the Black narrative.
Issa Rae
Collectively, this class of inspirational leaders is changing the world at local, national, and global levels. BLACK ENTERPRISE will recognize this extraordinary roster of entrepreneurs, politicians, corporate executives, athletes, entertainers, and activists at the upcoming 40 Under 40 Summit on May 20. Sponsored by Amazon, this one-of-a-kind virtual experience will feature high-achieving young professionals and speakers who will share their insights and expertise about building successful careers, lasting relationships, and profitable businesses. In addition to highlighting the 40 Under 40 honorees, the summit will also delve into strategies for success, ranging from mastering mindset to building wealth and uplifting our community.
Furthermore, financial experts Ross Mac, CEO of Maconomics L.L.C., and Kezia M. Williams, founder of Black upStart, will join real estate investor Vernon J., the founder of EquityCoin, for an informative conversation on building generational wealth.
Chris Lyons, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Other confirmed speakers include Prime Video and Amazon Studios Global CMO Ukonwa Ojo, serial entrepreneur and celebrity business coach, Matty J. Ade, C-Suite Coach Founder Angelina Darrisaw, and Imani Ellis, the founder of CultureCon and the Director of Communications, Lifestyle Networks at NBCUniversal.
Additional speakers include Angelo Pinto, co-founder of Until Freedom; Melanie Dickson, vice president, Americas, IShares Business Strategy at BlackRock; Angelina Howard, a senior product manager at Amazon; and Dave Salvant, the president and co-founder of Squire.
Black Enterprise invites you to hear, learn, and connect with this cohort of inspirational disruptors who have managed to rise to the top of their respective industries and push the culture forward despite facing insurmountable change and disruption.
View the Full BLACK ENTERPRISE 40 Under 40 List here.
34 Black Lynching Victims in Maryland Granted Posthumous Pardon
The souls of 34 Black men and boys who were lynched between 1854 and 1933 were given some form of peace over the weekend after Maryland’s governor granted them posthumous pardons.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan made the announcement on Saturday while unveiling a new historic marker that memorializes Howard Cooper, a 15-year-old who was dragged from a jailhouse and hanged by a lynch mob in 1885, NPR reports.
The pardons came after students from Loch Raven Technical Academy and the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project launched a petition earlier this year urging the governor to pardon Cooper. The petition led the governor to look into every documented racist killing within the state.
Hogan shared hopes that the pardons would “in some way help to right these horrific wrongs.” The Republican governor, who’s running for president in 2024, stood alongside Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski and Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones as the new memorial was unveiled in Towson, Maryland, the same location where the jail Cooper was snatched from once stood.
The Maryland Lynching Memorial Project identified at least 40 people who had been lynched in the state, with not all of them having criminal charges that could be pardoned. Among those pardoned include King Johnson, a man who was snatched by eight men who beat and fatally shot him after he was left unguarded in jail in December 1911. Another pardon went to a 13-year-old boy identified only as Frederick who was hanged from a tree in September 1861.
With Maryland’s latest move, they become the first and only state to grant pardons to lynching victims within their state, WABE reports.
Cooper’s historical plaque unveiled on Saturday recalls the events after the 15-year-old’s murder.
“Howard’s mother, Henrietta, collected her child’s remains and buried him in an unmarked grave in Ruxton,” it reads. “No one was ever held accountable for her son’s lynching.”
Two Brothers Get In-School Suspension For Wearing Black Lives Matter Shirts to School
Two Black brothers from Oklahoma were removed from their elementary school classroom and isolated from students because they wore Black Lives Matter shirts.
Ben Stapleton, 8, and his 5-year-old brother spent their entire day at school in the principal’s office at an Ardmore elementary school, Complex News reported.
A week before this incident, Jordan Herbert, their mother, was suspicious about why her elder son’s BLM shirt was inside out. She was told the physical education teacher forced Ben to do so in order to participate in class.
“Y’all know he knows nothing about politics or his rights, so y’all make him turn it inside out because you don’t like it,” Herbert said.
Certain the school would make the same attempt, Herbert sent all three of her children into school with BLM shirts.
Two of them were placed in in-school suspension, both of them missed recess, had lunch away from their friends, and Ben missed his weekly tutoring.
The shirts themselves did not violate any dress codes, but Superintendent Kim Holland is against politically charged shirts.
“I understand what she is saying, but school is not the place to have all that, y’know political back and forth and upheaval,” Holland said while explaining that it’s normal for teachers to remove students over inappropriate shirts. “We’re trying to be more neutral in the school and be advocates for all of our children in what they need.”
“Allow my kid to express how his life matters, that’s it, that’s all,” Herbert responded.
The city of Ardmore, according to Area Vibes, has a white population that makes up 67 percent. On the other hand, Black people make up about 10 percent.
Ardmore is also a very Red city as well, according to Data USA, showing that 72 percent of the voting population favored former President Donald Trump in 2016 election.
Brother-and-Sister Team Co-Found Job Review Site for Minorities
A hostile or unwelcoming workplace can be a concern for anyone who is seeking employment. So siblings Toby Egbuna and Dumebi Egbuna created a website, Chezie, to redesign workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion to ultimately help minorities find companies that they love.
“We believe that the best way to help minorities find companies they love is to give them the resources that they need to make more informed career decisions,” states Chezie’s website. “Staying true to our mission, we provide a platform for diverse students and professionals to connect with inclusive employers.”
While there are other job review sites such as Glassdoor, the founders say they want to “create the most inclusive and equitable workplaces on Earth.”
According to Dumebi’s LinkedIn page, the company is headquartered in New York and was formerly called Dyversifi. Dumebi studied Business Administration, Marketing and Strategic Consulting at Emory University. Toby studied Business Administration at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Photo credit- Facebook
Dumebi explained the motivation for starting Chezie, in an interview with Blavity.
Photo credit- Instagram- @dumebiegbuna
“We launched Chezie because as first-generation Nigerian immigrants, we know how important it is for diverse students and professionals to be in a workplace where they feel they belong,” Dumebi explained in the interview with Blavity. “We want to provide job seekers with the insights and network they need to make more informed career decisions and ultimately find careers they love.”
Blavity reported that Chezie was co-founded in June 2020. According to Blavity, the website reportedly seeks to offer transparency into the experiences of people of color at workplaces. This is achieved to enable underrepresented individuals to find work at a company that values them.
Life Speak pointed out that a company’s shift toward inclusivity is commendable, but efforts are wasted if new hires are sabotaged by residual bigotry once they’re through the door.
Blavity said that Chezie is referred to as the “Glassdoor for minorities.” However, Chezie’s users reveal constructive feedback and specific examples about work experiences about companies, instead of only providing negative reviews. According to Blavity, Chezie has 1,200 registered community members on the site, although no data is available about the number of people who found employment through the site’s help.
Florida School Removes Fictional Book About Black Boy Being Killed by The Police
A school board in Florida has removed a fictional children’s book about a Black boy being killed by a white police officer after a police union accused it of being “propaganda.”
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes was halted after one fifth-grade class in Coral Springs, Florida, assigned the book without properly going through the district’s vetting process, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.
The book, released in 2018, tells the story of a 12-year-old Black boy in Chicago who was being bullied at school and was killed by a white police officer after playing outside with a toy gun. Eerily similar to the 2014 killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, the story is told from the point of view of the ghost boy who follows how his family and community are impacted by his death.
The daughter of the cop happens to be the only living person who can see the ghost boy and the ghost of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago whose murder by an angry white mob in 1955 helped spark the civil rights movement.
Children’s content rater, Common Sense Media, deemed the book appropriate for children who are 10 and older while also noting that parents rated it appropriate for kids age 11 and up. But, Paul Kempinski, the director of the Fraternal Order of Police wrote a letter requesting Broward County School Board stop using the book over claims it promoted an anti-police agenda.
He blasted the friendship between the daughter and the ghost and accused it of convincing “her that her father shot and killed him because her police officer father is a liar and a racist.”
“Our members feel that this book is propaganda that pushes an inaccurate and absurd stereotype of police officers in America,” Kempinski wrote.
School board members confirmed that the book was on pause due to it not going through all the steps required to get approved, Huff Post reports.
“The timing of whether to implement this subject matter must include parents and ultimately be a decision by the parents of each student,” school board member Lori Alhadeff told the newspaper. “I do not feel ‘Ghost Boys’ is appropriate for fifth graders.”
The book was previously used by a seventh-grade class in the same school district who conducted a Skype call with the book’s author.
President Joe Biden Approves First Offshore Wind Farm In U.S. Launching New Domestic Energy Industry
Reuters – The Biden administration on Tuesday said it has approved the nation’s first major offshore wind farm, billing it as the launch of a new domestic energy industry that will help eliminate emissions from the power sector.
The announcement fits neatly with U.S. President Joe Biden‘s broader agenda to combat global climate change by decarbonizing the nation’s economy. The move, however, was quickly condemned by the fishing industry which said its concerns about the project’s impact fish stocks and vessel traffic had been “met with silence” by government officials.
Approval of the Vineyard Wind project, which will be located 14 miles (23 km) off the coast of Massachusetts, is a significant milestone in the more than decade-long effort to permit a commercial-scale offshore wind project in U.S. waters.
With just two small offshore wind facilities, the U.S. has lagged European nations in developing the technology.
Vineyard Wind and other U.S. projects that were ultimately shelved faced concerns about damage to fishing, tourism, birds, historic sites and property values from putting dozens of spinning steel turbines near the scenic coastline.
Former President Donald Trump, who downplayed global warming and sought to maximize fossil fuels, had canceled Vineyard Wind’s permitting process late last year, but Biden restarted the review within a month of taking office.
“It’s been a long road,” Vineyard Wind Chief Executive Lars Pedersen told reporters on a conference call.
“We’re really looking forward to now moving into the phase where we can actually start building the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the U.S.”
The Vineyard Wind project is intended to create enough electricity to power 400,000 homes in New England, the administration said in a statement. Initial construction could begin as soon as this year, and the project will begin delivering electricity to the grid in the second half of 2023, its developer said.
The project is meant to create 3,600 jobs, delivering on Biden’s campaign promise that fighting climate change by expanding clean energy sources will boost employment, rather than reduce it.
“I’ve always believed that fighting climate change is not only good for the environment but good for the economy,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters.
The approval is a win for Vineyard Wind’s joint project owners Avangrid Inc and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. The project began its federal permitting process more than three years ago and endured a string of delays in part due to concerns that the wind turbines would interfere with commercial fishing.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management made several key changes since issuing the project’s final environmental review in March. They include prohibiting the installation of turbines in locations closest to the coast and allowing just 84 turbines rather than up to 100.
The authorization also requires the turbines to be sited no less than 1 nautical mile apart to ease navigation and establishes a federal program to study the project’s effect on scientific fishery surveys, which were projected in the environmental review to be majorly impacted by offshore wind.
A fishing industry group, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, said those measures were insufficient to guarantee the safety of all fishing vessels and continuation of surveys that are critical to the industry.
Asked about the fishing industry’s concerns, BOEM Director Amanda Lefton said Vineyard Wind’s approval represented an opportunity to study the impacts on fishing.
“We will have a robust monitoring program, where we will learn and understand the impacts here, so that we can apply that to future projects going down the line,” Lefton said.
Last month, the Biden administration unveiled a goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 by opening new areas to development, accelerating permits and boosting public financing for projects. The industry is expected to help achieve the administration’s broader goal of decarbonizing the electricity sector by 2035.
Most of Vineyard Wind’s components will be manufactured in Europe due to the lack of a U.S. supply chain for the domestic industry, the company said.
“The fact that there was uncertainty of whether the industry would happen was sort of holding back those investments,” Vineyard Wind’s Pedersen said. “We definitely think they are going to flow right now.”
(Reporting by Nichola Groom and Susan Heavey; editing by John Stonestreet, Chizu Nomiyama and Marguerita Choy)
Federal Judge Denies NRAs Bankruptcy In Win For New York Attorney General
Reuters – The National Rifle Association (NRA) cannot use bankruptcy to reorganize in gun-friendly Texas, a federal judge in Dallas ruled on Tuesday, handing a defeat to the influential firearms rights group that is facing an effort to dissolve it in New York state.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Harlin Hale’s decision, following a trial over the legitimacy of the NRA’s January bankruptcy filing, means the group will remain incorporated in New York.
Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, had last August filed a lawsuit seeking the dissolution of the firearms group, which she accused of corruption and misspending.
“The question the court is faced with is whether the existential threat facing the NRA is the type of threat that the Bankruptcy Code is meant to protect against,” Hale wrote. “The court believes it is not.”
Hale’s dismissal is without prejudice, meaning the NRA can try again to file for bankruptcy, but the judge said the problems identified in its operations could result in the appointment of a trustee to oversee its affairs.
The NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Closely aligned with U.S. Republican politicians including former President Donald Trump, the NRA has been instrumental for years in thwarting Democratic-backed gun control proposals in the U.S. Congress.
James, a Democrat, has accused the NRA of diverting millions of dollars to fund luxuries for officials including longtime Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre. She also accused it of awarding lucrative contracts to close associates and family members of senior officials.
The NRA filed for Chapter 11 protection in January with the goal of reincorporating in Texas and escaping what it called a corrupt political and regulatory environment in New York.
James and the NRA’s former advertising agency Ackerman McQueen have said the bankruptcy was filed in bad faith and to escape New York’s oversight, with a lawyer for James during closing arguments of the trial calling the bankruptcy a “circus sideshow.”
President Joe Biden’s administration opposed the NRA in the trial. The Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog, the U.S. Trustee, urged Hale to dismiss the bankruptcy.
The NRA has called New York’s lawsuit politically motivated. LaPierre testified that he filed for Chapter 11 on behalf of the NRA because he feared James would try to put it into receivership.
The NRA also has faced internal upheaval in recent years including a failed effort to oust LaPierre over allegations of mismanagement.
The NRA was founded in 1871 in New York. Texas is a Republican-governed state whose leaders are friendly to the NRA’s stance against gun control.
A spate of mass shootings in the United States this year prompted Biden in April to call gun violence “a national embarrassment.” The Democratic president has taken some executive action on gun control and has called for broader steps that would require congressional passage including banning military-style assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines.
(Reporting by Maria Chutchian; Editing by Will Dunham, Noeleen Walder and Leslie Adler)
