by Dana Givens

May 21, 2020

Report: 45% Of Black Businesses Anticipate Closing Within Six Months Due To COVID-19

The COVID-19, or novel coronavirus, pandemic has caused severe economic loss across the country. Nearly 39 million people have been forced to claim unemployment benefits and millions of small business owners are in jeopardy of losing their businesses. Now, new data show that African American and Latinx businesses are not only in danger of losing their businesses but have been disproportionately denied relief loans established for the pandemic.

According to a recent nationwide survey, 45% of black and Latinx small business owners say they anticipate closing within six months due to the coronavirus outbreak. Another 41% said they were denied relief assistance when applied; 21% say they are still waiting to hear if they will receive any form of assistance. In addition, 12% of respondents said they had received the full amount of assistance they were eligible for despite over half stating they requested $20,000 or less.

The Paycheck Protection Program as well as other federal relief services have largely ignored minority communities, leaving them the most vulnerable to suffering severe economic loss due to the public health crisis.

The New York Times reported that Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change, said the new survey data show that “if we don’t get policies to protect these communities, we will lose a generation of black and brown businesses, which will have deep impacts on our entire country’s economy.”

“This groundbreaking poll shows that African American and Latino small businesses—the economic engines of many cities, small towns, and communities across America—are suffering greatly but are being left out of relief efforts,” Janet Murguía, CEO and president of UnidosUS, said in a statement.

“This includes, from our own internal research, small businesses like the community-based organizations that make up the network of UnidosUS affiliates that are on-the-ground lifelines fighting to provide much-needed services while trying to stay afloat. This is simply unacceptable.

“The next stimulus and relief package must have targeted help to minority-owned businesses and nonprofits so we can save these vital enterprises.”

An Attorney for Ahmaud Arbery’s Family Wants the Man Who Filmed Fatal Shooting Arrested
by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 21, 2020

An Attorney for Ahmaud Arbery’s Family Wants the Man Who Filmed Fatal Shooting Arrested

One of the attorneys representing the family of Ahmaud Arbery says it wants the man who recorded the video of Arbery being murdered arrested, according to CNN.

Arbery was shot and killed near Brunswick, GA, in February by Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34 after chasing him down in their neighborhood. Neighbor William Bryan began filming the crime on his mobile phone and got in his vehicle and followed Arbery while he was being chased by the McMichaels.

Attorney S. Lee Merritt said, “We are going to continue to push for the arrest of William Bryan for recording and participating in the ambush of Ahmaud Arbery.”

Kevin Gough, who is representing Bryan, said his client took a polygraph test that confirms he was not only unarmed when the shooting occurred but that he didn’t have any conversation with the McMichaels before the shooting took place. He has not been arrested or charged with any crime.

Gough has shared the results of that test with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the investigation into Arbery’s death. He asked the attorneys for Arbery’s family to not pursue charges against his client.

“Mr. Bryan is not your enemy,” Gough said. “Please stop, if not for the sake of my client’s family, then for the sake of the Arbery family and the cause you fight for. Killing off the star witness for the prosecution will not help bring Ahmaud’s killers to justice.”

Merritt told CNN that the family wants Bryan arrested. “His family deserves justice from not only the two men who have been arrested, but from anyone who participated in that act,” Merritt explained.

As previously reported, on February 23, Ahmaud Arbery was in the Satilla Shores neighborhood in Brunswick, GA, when Gregory and Travis McMichael, who were both armed, confronted Arbery, who was fatally shot by Travis McMichael.

Attorney General Chris Carr said early last week that he formally appointed District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes of the Cobb County Judicial Circuit to lead the prosecution of Gregory and Travis McMichael, who have been charged with aggravated assault and murder.

Howard University Graduate Becomes Air Force Thunderbirds’ First Black Female Officer
by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 21, 2020

Howard University Graduate Becomes Air Force Thunderbirds’ First Black Female Officer

With the coronavirus pandemic taking over all aspects of our lives, the country has been using several methods to show our appreciation to front line healthcare workers and associates. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds are doing their part by performing flyovers to honor these workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to NBC 4 Washington, one of the team’s newest members is a Howard University graduate and its first black female officer.

This year is Captain Remoshay Nelson’s first season with the squadron. The regular shows have temporarily been placed on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the Thunderbirds have been conducting flyovers across D.C., Baltimore, and Atlanta to pay special tribute to people on the front lines battling the pandemic.

“I know a small percentage of African American officers, specifically female officers in the Air Force. So to be in a position that is visible, to show little girls that this is attainable, to let them know they can do anything they put their mind to, is an absolute honor,” Nelson tells NBC 4 Washington.

Nelson has spent eight years in the Air Force, serving mostly overseas. She says her best decision was the chance to attend Howard University.

“To be around people who look like me and instill a self-confidence in who I am, and walk into the world knowing where I come from and where my people come from, and where we can go, is invaluable,” Nelson said.

Nelson’s position is a highly selective one. She is only one of 12 Thunderbirds. Since the team’s inception in 1953, only 332 officers have made the cut.

“Even when people tell you no to your face, but your work shows where you should be, I think if you continue to work hard and go after what it is you want, you will achieve your dream.

“Where people can look up and have some type of hope during this time, to know we can get through this. The Thunderbirds are with them,” Nelson said.

Nelson feels that the grocery store clerks, those in fast-food service, and the sanitation workers who go to work every day should also be acknowledged.

“We have one life to live and so I want to do that by giving back and by showing people what is possible,” Nelson said. “Just to achieve as much as I can when I have the opportunity to do so.”

Former Obama Campaign Staffer Karine Jean-Pierre Joins Biden Campaign
by Derek Major

May 21, 2020

Former Obama Campaign Staffer Karine Jean-Pierre Joins Biden Campaign

Presidential candidate Joe Biden has added former Barack Obama staffer Karine Jean-Pierre to his campaign help appeal to African American voters.

Jean-Pierre made the announcement on Twitter Wednesday, saying she will join Biden’s campaign as a senior advisor.

According to NewsOne, Jean-Pierre previously served as the Southeast regional political director for then-candidate Obama. She also served as deputy battleground states director for Obama’s 2012 reelection, engaging residents in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, and North Carolina.

“This really is the most important general election in generations,” Jean-Pierre told The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom, in an exclusive interview Monday night. “I’ve known Joe Biden for 10 years now. I believe he’s a man of integrity, he’s a man who knows how to lead, he’s a man who knows how to use the levers of government to help people, and he’s the man who could beat Donald Trump in November. For me, as a black woman, I just could not sit this out.”

Jean-Pierre will consult Biden on his campaign strategy and communication to engage with communities that are crucial to Biden winning the election. Biden has spent the early days of his campaign trying to appeal to African Americans, women, and progressives.

Jean-Pierre is committed to getting Biden in office and removing Trump, who many feel has focused on his appeal to hardcore Republicans, to the detriment of African American and minority voters. According to Jean-Pierre, hiring her shows Biden “understands how he became the presumptive nominee.”

“Black voters, black women, have helped him get to this point,” she told The 19th. “When everybody was counting him out, black voters spoke out. I am so proud and excited as a black woman watching how black women have exerted their power… we had to say loud and clear this (the actions of the Trump administration) is not OK.”

In recent months, Biden has tried to appeal to African American men and women. Biden has committed to appointing an African American Woman to the Supreme Court and announced a new policy aimed at African American voters. Biden has also pledged $70 billion to historically black colleges and universities.

Black Delivery Driver: We Were Fired For Posting Confrontation with White FedEx Customer
by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 21, 2020

Black Delivery Driver: We Were Fired For Posting Confrontation with White FedEx Customer

A black delivery driver employed by a provider for FedEx was fired for posting a confrontation with a white homeowner on social media, according to NewsOne.

The driver, Antonio Braswell, said he and a co-worker were delivering packages for FedEx in Leesburg, Ga when a white man started to curse and threaten the two workers after they delivered a package. After posting about the encounter on Twitter,  Braswell said he was told to take down the video.

The clip had been viewed more than 5.6 million times on Twitter and spurred an immediate backlash against FedEx.

Allie Addoms, a FedEx spokesperson, told Business Insider that the two men were employed by an independent service provider and said FedEx was investigating the video.

“FedEx Ground expects the highest level of conduct from service providers and their employees,” the spokeswoman said in a statement. “We are aware of this incident and have reviewed the matter with the customer and the service provider business that employed the individuals depicted in the video.”

FedEx added that the two black delivery drivers had since been given employment at the company while the investigation continued.

“FedEx takes extremely seriously any allegations of discrimination, retaliation, or improper employment actions,” the company said in a statement. “FedEx will be conducting a thorough investigation into these claims. While we conduct this investigation FedEx will provide employment for these drivers.”

The company also took to Twitter with this statement:

Fired Louisiana Cop Says It’s ‘Unfortunate’ That All Black People Weren’t Killed By Coronavirus
by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 21, 2020

Fired Louisiana Cop Says It’s ‘Unfortunate’ That All Black People Weren’t Killed By Coronavirus

A white Louisiana cop has been terminated following a social media post that revealed his views on the coronavirus and black people, according to The Sun Herald.

Kaplan Police Officer Steven Aucoin was fired following an investigation for allegedly suggesting that it was “unfortunate” that the coronavirus pandemic had not killed off black people, officials said.

The Kaplan Police Department has released a written statement on its Facebook page:

“We are writing this to inform everyone that we were made aware of the situation with the comments on Facebook from Steven Aucoin. Chief Hardy had the incident looked into and the officer was terminated. Chief Hardy and the Kaplan Police Department would like to apologize for this matter.”

In comments posted during a live stream of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ press conference on state’s COVID-19 response, the Louisiana cop stated that it was “unfortunate” that all black people weren’t killed by the virus.

Aucoin’s comments, which were shown in a screenshot of the live stream, were in response to another user who described the coronavirus as the “virus that was created to kill all the BLACKS is death.” The officer clearly responded with two statements, “Well it didn’t work.” And directly under that comment he then said, “How unfortunate.”

Kaplan Police Chief Joshua Hardy tells KFLY that this kind of behavior from a police officer is not tolerated within the department and he fired Aucoin after they completed an investigation of the entire thread.

“We’re held to a higher standard than normal civilians, so you got to watch what you do, you got to watch what you say. You can’t just go and post anything you want on social media,” the police chief said.

“There were some comments that were further up that was not suitable for a police officer to put up on Facebook,” Chief Hardy said.

Hardy has stated that the department is moving forward and is making sure that this will never happen again and that he has notified his officers of the social media policy, which has been updated.

Facebook Launches A New Virtual Marketplace To Help Small Businesses
by Dana Givens

May 21, 2020

Facebook Launches A New Virtual Marketplace To Help Small Businesses

Facebook is a proven pioneer in connecting businesses with potential customers through its namesake platform and Instagram. The two social media platforms have become essential tools in promoting digital e-commerce businesses and communicating directly with their consumer base. The tech giant recently unveiled its newest initiative with the launch of a virtual mall aimed at helping small businesses thrive in the wake of the COVID-19, or novel coronavirus pandemic.

Facebook Shops is a new feature for small businesses to utilize to build digital storefronts through Facebook and Instagram pages. The new stores allow consumers to browse the full product collection with user functions like save products you’re interested in and placing an order either on the business’ website or without leaving the app.

Business owners will also be able to send direct messages through WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or Instagram Direct to ask questions, get support, track deliveries, and other support needs. The tech giant hopes to add the ability to view the shop and make purchases directly through chat in WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram Direct.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a livestream announcement held on Tuesday that the efforts were put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic which has left close to 160 million small businesses that use Facebook’s apps struggling to stay afloat.

“We’re seeing a lot of small businesses that never had online presences get online for the first time, and we’re seeing small businesses that had online presences now make them their primary way of doing business,” he said according to NPR. “For lots of small businesses during this period, this is the difference between staying afloat and going under.”

He went on to say that Facebook will not charge additional fees for the new upgrade. “We know that if [Facebook] Shops are valuable for businesses they’re going to in general want to bid more for ads,” he said. “We’ll eventually make money that way.”

60 Million People Will Fall Into Extreme Poverty Due to Coronavirus According to World Bank
by Derek Major

May 21, 2020

60 Million People Will Fall Into Extreme Poverty Due to Coronavirus According to World Bank

The World Bank Group announced 60 million people could fall into extreme poverty due to the coronavirus pandemic, erasing three years of progress globally.

The World Bank announced Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic has hit 100 countries and 70% of the population. Thirty-nine of those counties are in sub-Saharan Africa, while nearly a third are in areas of conflict such as Afghanistan and Haiti.

“The pandemic and shutdown of advanced economies could push as many as 60 million people into extreme poverty—erasing much of the recent progress made in poverty alleviation,” World Bank Group President David Malpass said in a statement. “The World Bank Group has moved quickly and decisively to establish emergency response operations in 100 countries, with mechanisms that allow other donors to rapidly expand the programs.”

More than 734 million people or 10% of the world’s population were living in extreme poverty in 2015. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than $1.90 per day according to estimates.

The World Bank previously estimated 49 million people moving into extreme poverty this year. However, pressure on healthcare systems as well as the impact on both developing and advanced economic systems have added to that total.

“The health and economic impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic and shut down have inflicted on developing countries are severe,” Malpass said on a media call.

One of the countries expected to see a rise in citizens living in extreme poverty is Brazil. According to Reuters, over 13 million Brazilians were considered living in extreme poverty at the end of 2019.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the virus and pushed back against lockdown measures. As a result, Brazil is third in the number of coronavirus cases sitting behind only Russia (299,941) and the United States (1,519,986). There have also been 17,509 reported deaths in Brazil.

The World Bank doesn’t plan on sitting idly by. It has started an initiative to spend $160 billion over 15 months to assist the healthcare, economic systems, and social protection programs of the most affected poor countries to fight extreme poverty.

The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged several economies. The Bank of England predicted that the UK would fall into its worst recession in 300 years.

In the U.S., the unemployment rate has skyrocketed from less than 4% in February, to 14.7% in April. Additionally, research shows low-wage workers in the U.S. are making more money from unemployment, than actually working.

 

 

Meet The Mother-Daughter Duo Graduating Medical School Together
by Dana Givens

May 21, 2020

Meet The Mother-Daughter Duo Graduating Medical School Together

The path to becoming a doctor is no easy task. Meet the mother-and-daughter duo who beat the odds and graduated med school together to become doctors. 

Dr. Cynthia Kudji and her daughter Jasmine are now graduates of the University of Medicine and Health Sciences (UMHS) St. Kitts and Maine and Louisiana State University (LSU), respectively, with medical degrees in Family Medicine for Cynthia and General Surgery for Jasmine.

A native of Ghana, the older Dr. Kudji had to put her dreams of becoming a doctor on hold when she found out she was pregnant at the age of 23. To support herself, she became a nurse where she worked as a practitioner before deciding to attend medical school. In an interview with The UMHS Endeavor, Cynthia explained that she initially had no plans to enter the medical field due to a lack of representation in the field.

“I remember when we were young there were TV shows like The Cosby Show and A Different World,” she said to UMHS. “Seeing African Americans in college or being successful was like firsts. So, for me, it wasn’t like ‘Oh, yes, I want to be a physician’. It was more like, ‘Oh, no, can I really do this? Or, ‘Am I smart enough to do it?”

Cynthia went on to talk about the challenges she faced as a nontraditional student and with her daughter Jasmine also having difficulties adjusting to being so far from her mother.

“I think initially it was difficult because my mom and I have always been really close so I had to get used to the distance, we had to learn how to FaceTime and Skype each other, so we were Skyping each other every day and whenever I had struggles and she had struggles, we just had to learn to communicate from a distance,” the younger Dr. Kudji said. “But I think over time we figured it out.”

The accomplishment marks a huge milestone for both of them as they both credit the support of close family and friends in addition to faculty members. “I always tell people we laugh together, we study together, we cry together,” said Jasmine. “I think medical school is one of those experiences that you don’t truly understand until you’re in it. Sometimes people struggle to find someone who relates to their struggles, so for that person to be my mom was extremely helpful.”

Citi Announces Partnership With National Banking Association To Buy PPP Loans
by Derek Major

May 21, 2020

Citi Announces Partnership With National Banking Association To Buy PPP Loans

Citi announced a partnership program Wednesday with the National Banking Association (NBA) to create a purchasing facility allowing it to buy loans from Minority-Owned Depository Institutions (MDIs).

According to a Citi press release, its purchasing facility will assume up to $50 million in Small Business Administration loans from MDIs. The partnership will provide NBA member banks with capital by enabling them to sell loans originated under the PPP to Citi in the secondary market.

The purchases will move the loans off the MDI’s balance sheet and over to Citi. The servicing of the loans will go through NBA banks and MDIs participating in the program can retain 100% of the fees earned through the loan with the SBA.

“Our country needs banks of all sizes to serve businesses of all sizes and from all communities. Citi actively partners with minority-owned banks to support their vital efforts to serve their diverse client base, and we applaud the work they did to ensure that the benefits of the PPP program reached minority-owned businesses,” Michael Corbat, CEO of Citi said in the release.

One of the African American-owned banks that will benefit from the program is Unity National Bank, which already has a partnership with Citi.

“We are pleased to participate in this asset sale with Citi. Unity was one of the first MDIs to solidify terms on this important initiative as we have witnessed firsthand how this pandemic has been felt most acutely by small business owners in the communities where we operate. By moving these loans off our balance sheet, we are able to redeploy capital into further assisting our customers and supporting our local economy,” said Laurie Vignaud, CEO of Unity National Bank.

Additionally, Citi has announced that it will donate its net profits earned through its own participation in the PPP to the Citi Foundation. The foundation will use the funds to support its Community Development Financial Institutions, delivering recovery capital to help underserved communities.

The program will complement the Citi Foundation’s COVID-19 U.S. Small Business Relief Program. A $7.5 million effort to support Community Development Financial Institutions to serve small, diverse entrepreneurs.

Citi has also started a $150 million effort to support African American businesses.

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