While COVID-19 dominates much of President Donald Trump‘s time and attention, his reelection team is rehashing old tricks ahead of the election.
The campaign team once again is resorting to dog-whistling to rile up his base for his 2020 presidential election against presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden and Twitter isn’t having it.
The Trump operation on Thursday drew backlash after its official Twitter account, Trump War Room, posted an ad that says “I’m on Team Joe! MS-13 Gang Members. Thanks for pledging not to deport us!”
The Trump campaign is reviving divisive language that helped elect him to the White House in 2016. The ad features an image of two heavily tattooed men, presumably members of the MS-13 gang, a violent gang of mostly Central American descendants. The hit plays into Trump’s desire to paint himself as tough on crime and undocumented immigrants, specifically those crossing the southern border.
Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, was very critical of the ad’s rhetoric. The Democratic representative warned that the campaign material can embolden Trump supporters to act violently, as they did in Trump’s electoral college victory against his old rival Hillary Clinton.
“This is the kind of sh*t that led to El Paso,” Castro said in a tweet from his reelection campagin, referencing a racially motivated attack at a Texas Wal-Mart that claimed the lives of 22 people in 2019.
Castro represents Texas’ 20th congressional district, a majority-Hispanic district that covers a part of the city of San Antonio.
“It’s April and they’re going full racial incitement already,” Sherry said in a tweet. “I sense a bit of panic in Trumpworld.”
It's April and they're going full racial incitement already.
They know this shit doesn't really work. They tried it in VA gov race in '17 (D won by 9+), in '18 midterms (House Ds won nationwide by 8.6+) and even KY and LA govs this year.
While the former Vice President has yet to comment on this ad, he’s been very critical of Trump’s views on Latin America. He wrote a 2019 OP-ED in the Miami Herald saying the President’s rhetoric “vilifying immigrants” is an “assault the dignity of the Hispanic community and scare voters to turn out on Election Day, while not addressing the real challenges facing our hemisphere.”
President Trump’s views on Latinos have been clear from the start. One of his first notorious campaign statements in 2015 involved his feelings towards Mexicans.
“They’re bringing drugs; they’re bringing crime; they’re rapists,” he said in announcing his first and successful run for office, which happened to be for the highest office in the land.
In her first book, negotiation guru Mori Taheripour offers readers more than a decade of expertise honed as both a faculty member at the Wharton School of Business and adviser to organizations such as the NFL and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. Even in the midst of economic crisis, she insists, it’s important to negotiate—and to get creative about how.
Negotiations become more, not less, critical at times like these, when the economy is struggling and unemployment is running high. Whether you’re setting a price for your side hustle, or bargaining with clients or an employer seeking to downsize your regular pay, while you may not have much leverage in the moment, setting the stage for the comeback is key.
“It’s important to make sure that your clients don’t expect deep discounts to continue,” she says.
Mori Taheripour
The following excerpt from Bring Yourself: How to Harness the Power of Connection to Negotiate Fearlessly takes a look at how negotiation is about more than establishing your value; it’s a tool for problem solving and finding your voice:
I typically hire my former students to work as teacher’s assistants for me. Almost without fail, when I ask them their rate they say, “Oh, I don’t need to get paid. It’s just a great opportunity to work with you.”
I always respond, “If you don’t want any money, then I’m not going to hire you, because you’re going to go through life thinking that people don’t value your time and your effort. And I want you to understand that I value your time and your effort, and my simply saying that isn’t enough.” I understand their inclination, though. If I were in my twenties again and my professor offered me a job, I wouldn’t immediately say, “How much are you paying me?” The psyche of saying, “I don’t need to get paid” makes perfect sense. But these proclamations become habit-forming, and when they become subconscious, they also become dangerous.
The process of undercutting your value is very subtle—it starts as a tiny snowball that then collects more and more momentum until it’s become a dangerous avalanche. Here’s how it might go: Perhaps you’re concerned about your ability to attract clients, so when you offer a proposal for your work, the proposal includes a lot of your valuable knowledge. You feel you need to overperform and blow their socks off—you don’t trust that you’re compelling enough for them to take a risk by hiring you. The problem is, you’re so concerned about proving yourself that you’ve just given all of your value away. Why would they pay you when you will offer so much for free?
When they won’t pay for your knowledge, it then undermines your value even more. Perhaps you drop your price down for the next potential client. Your course has been set, and it’s difficult to change. Others will see that you don’t think much of your value, and they’ll take advantage, because people will take what you give them.
My philosophy is, let there be some exchange of value, even if it’s not monetary. For instance, if I asked a former student to do a small job for me, I would hope that he would at least say, “I don’t want money, but will you write me a letter of recommendation for law school, which I know will take you time?” There has to be some level of back and forth, of give and take, so that you don’t subconsciously decrease what your worth actually is.
There are many smart reasons to work without compensation of a financial nature. You may want to make yourself relevant to an organization. You might be able to put the company’s name on your client list, which increases your brand’s legitimacy. The work itself might bring you fulfillment. And if you walk away without a paycheck, you’ve still come out ahead.
The bottom line is that you have to be very thoughtful in making decisions about what you’re giving up, the effort you’re putting in, and what you may be getting in return. It’s not opportunistic so much as it’s strategic. It’s also about honoring yourself and the value you’re expending. A transaction is never just about a financial gain, but rather about the reciprocity of respect for one another’s value. Checking in with yourself regularly to ensure that you’re finding fulfillment and that you’re valued—whether it’s in the form of compensation, relationship, or a learning opportunity—is critical. If you don’t feel valued, and yet you continue to give, you may begin to doubt your worth, leading to habits that further the negative cycle. Alternatively, you may become resentful, which is equally detrimental.
It’s particularly easy to fall into bad habits in a down economy, where you give one or two people a deal and then the new price becomes their expectation, or worse, yours. Don’t punish yourself if you’ve done this—a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners are particularly vulnerable to this thinking as they struggle through rough financial patches or attempt to attract clients. It’s called survival!
NBA player Bismack Biyombo announced Thursday that he, too, is doing his part to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus by donating $1 million worth of personal protective equipment to his home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“We have never experienced a crisis of this magnitude. Seeing my home country suffer in this capacity is devastating,” said the Charlotte Hornets forward in a press release sent to BLACK ENTERPRISE. “I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to figure out a way to help those suffering in the DRC. I am pleased to announce that The Bismack Biyombo Foundation delivered over 10,000 masks and 780 hazmat suits to the DRC this week. Thank you to all of those who are at the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Biyombo’s foundation points out that over the past few years, the Congo has been severely affected by several disease outbreaks, including measles, malaria, and Ebola. As a result, the country is more vulnerable to the fatal virus.
“The country’s efforts to combat these diseases have completely depleted the healthcare system’s resources—leaving children and families more vulnerable than ever,” reads the statement. “All of the diseases affecting the DRC are spread through human-to-human contact and are preventable with the proper resources.”
Woman unpacks Bismack Biyombo’s PPE package in the DR of the Congo (Photo courtesy of EAG Sports Management)
The foundation went on to acknowledge that although Bismack’s donation of much-needed supplies will help slow the spread of infection, it “will not resolve the country’s issue.”
The 27-year-old NBA player earned $17 million in the 2019-20 season. In 2016, he established the Bismack Biyombo Foundation, which aims to provide resources and opportunities for people in underresourced communities throughout the U.S. and Africa. The foundation has made a significant impact in Charlotte and Africa.
Bismack Biyombo (Photo credit: Kevin Couliau courtesy of EAG Sports Management)
Donate, if you can. Everyone is trying to get by, but these nonprofits, retailers, and companies are directly helping make a difference against the novel coronavirus.
With many searching for answers and feeling helpless during this unprecedented time of the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Rhonda Travitt is using her gifts to help families rebuild by counseling people on breaking addictions, battling depression, and building healthy relationships.
Travitt is a pastor, certified Christian counselor, certified life coach, and the author of four books. She also founded Transformation of a Nation, a movement that “assists those that are voiceless and gives them a more successful life through mentoring, job placements, counseling, and faith.”
“We believe that there is potential in all of us. There is always something greater in great, meaning each person possesses the ability to bring change,” Travitt says. “When one individual receives the answer and help they desired in life, then they become the answer for someone else to change their life. Lives changed one by one transforms a nation!”
Black Enterprise caught up with Dr. Travitt to discuss the issues she’s counseling people through now and why it’s more important than ever for us to maintain healthy relationships.
What are the most common issues people are bringing to you that they’re struggling with during this pandemic?
The most common issues that I’ve encountered have been fear, anger, and uncertainty. People had become accustomed to having some form of control and freedom over their daily lives. Many people have been left with a sense of helplessness in our country.
How is coronavirus affecting our existing issues, such as depression and addiction?
This pandemic is shining a brighter light on existing issues. Depression has increased at an unprecedented level due to the loss of family members, job loss, and a lost of normalcy. The increase in depression is a consequence partly because of the guilt that many feel of not being able to be present with a dying loved one—denying them of the opportunity for proper closure.
It has been noted that professionals in the medical field, however highly trained, were nowhere near prepared for the level of morbidity they would see, adding to the many new cases of addictions and higher levels of depression.
People are [normally] able to mask issues with the requirements of day-to-day life such as work and being busy, but many are now having to slow down and deal with the issues of self and their current realities. The reality that home isn’t safe, jobs aren’t secure, and having to be teachers to their children when pressures of uncertainty are mounting. Police departments are reporting an increase in domestic and family disturbances during this time, which points to the direct effects the pandemic is having on our communities.
Right now we don’t have physical access to the support we might usually rely on. How can people still get help?
There are tons of local resources that are available at no cost during this time online. The person-to-person interaction is extremely important when providing support, and technology has really assisted by providing platforms such as What’s App, FaceTime Counseling, Skype, and video chats allowing you to schedule appointments as well as be seen virtually by live doctors. We are no longer limited to an in-office visit to receive or offer the mental support that so many need.
Unfortunately most corporations will not know the depth or extent of the post traumatic stress until workers’ normal or regular business operations have resumed. There are resources that are necessary to get to the other side of this crisis that people are in need of and those that have yet to be identified.
Only time will tell what that looks like. We have to recover mentally and emotionally. It’s not an overnight process, not even days or months, we’re talking years. This process I believe will take us as a people back to the heart of humanity: having regard for our human life, our neighbors, strangers, the elderly. No more sizing our sisters and brothers up based on perception. Every joint really does supply. We are all truly in this together and none of those things matter this time around!
How important is it to have healthy relationships right now, and what does that look like in these times of quarantine?
With feelings and emotions at an all time high, it’s necessary to build strong bonds and reinforce support systems. Having a healthy relationship is essential during this crisis, and I firmly believe that every relationship has been tested if not pushed to the limit. Right now people are faced with spouses and children that they’ve only spent a couple of hours a day with. In this time of crisis, they are sometimes spending 16 hours a day with them and getting to know one another more intimately. This is a time of discovery which is relevant in all phases and types of relationships.
Maintaining a healthy relationship during this quarantine means forgiving quickly and being intentional with everyone, specifically those relationships with children and spouses. It takes commitment and work! To come out of COVID-19 with a healthy relationship, we must first be willing to listen to each other, learn and relearn each other, make time for reflection, and not give in to the negative tendencies. Love, respect, and forgive.
Shows like '#blackAF' and '#FreeRayShawn' want to send a message with their titles—one that transcends the internet lexicon in surprisingly relevant ways.
The coronavirus pandemic is killing people and ruining the economy but scammers have decided that this is a ripe opportunity for them to exploit the crisis by using social media challenges.
PEOPLEreported Thursday that online scams are using the COVID-19 health crisis to gain access to personal information. They are targeting those who engage in the various social media challenges like the pushup and couple’s challenges that have become popular and entertained people throughout the quarantine.
“One of the most recent ones is, ‘Share a picture of every car you have ever owned,’” the Lafayette Police Department wrote on its Facebook page. “This may seem like a fun trip down memory lane, but this information can be used by someone to gain access to your personal information.”
Other “challenges” that include requests that might lead to scammers taking advantage are the streets you grew up on, your mother’s maiden name and your favorite foods. Those are the kinds of details that people use in passwords and in password change requests.
The Lafayette police urged due diligence.
“As fun as these challenges/questionnaires may seem, we encourage you not to participate and protect your personal information,” the police wrote. “Please be especially wary of posts which ask you to copy and paste the post. This allows the original posters to look at the accounts of everyone who has copied and pasted their information.”
Scammers are also sending texts that make people believe loved ones have contracted the fatal virus.
“Someone who came in contact with you tested positive or has shown symptoms for COVID-19 & recommends you self-isolate/get tested,” the text states, followed by a link.
People should not click on the link, authorities say.
“It is not a message from any official agency,” the Thomaston police department wrote on its Facebook page. “It is however a gateway for bad actors to find their way into your world.”
Hip-hop pioneer Doug E. Fresh and Dr. Olajide Williams, Chief of Staff, Department of Neurology at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center are on a mission to flatten the COVID-19 curve by educating young people through hip-hop with the help of 40 of their celebrity friends in the “20 Seconds or More” PSA. The song was written by hip-hop legend Artie Green and features Doug E. Fresh and Gerry Gunn with medical oversight by Dr. Williams. In 2004, Fresh and Dr. Williams founded Hip Hop Public Health, an organization whose mission is to foster positive health behavioral changes through the power of hip-hop music.
For over 15 years, their work of improving health literacy through hip-hop music has expanded nationally. Now, their “20 Seconds or More” campaign seeks to inspire young people to think twice about hygiene and the vital need to practice handwashing and social distancing during the COVID-19 global health crisis.
As black and brown communities face disproportionate hardships due to the crisis, Dr. Williams and Fresh found it necessary to find a creative way to bridge the generational gap between young people and adults to relay the importance of following mandates and protocols that have been put in place to protect communities.
We spoke with the dynamic duo about the campaign and their personal responsibilities to educate and uplift the community during the crisis.
20 Seconds or More
What inspired you to, you know, inform and educate the community in this way through hip-hop?
Doug E. Fresh: It’s our duty to help our community—and help everybody—but help our community because they need a lot of help. Hip Hop Public Health was designed for problems like this. I didn’t know the magnitude of it [Coronavirus] and every time I talked to the doctor [Dr. Williams], he tells me more and more about how many people are suffering. People need to know that this one simple thing you do, washing your hands, for 20 seconds or more can change or save a life.
(Image: Doug E. Fresh)
So many people have thought of hip-hop as their medicine. As a doctor on the frontlines, why is it important for you to partner with Doug E. Fresh in this way to educate and uplift our community?
Dr. Williams: You have to speak the language that people understand. If I have a patient that speaks Spanish, I need to speak Spanish to that patient. If my Spanish is bad or it’s not on point, then it’s likely that the information that that patient gets is going to be filled with holes and sometimes those holes can be dangerous.
Communication is critical. And making sure that we embrace mediums that speak to people and that we embrace platforms that connect with people is a key ingredient for successful public health messaging. And unfortunately, that has been missing in a lot of our public health campaigns over the last few decades. That’s one of the reasons why we created Hip Hop Public Health.
I’ve been really blessed to have started it with Doug. And, you can tell by speaking to him where his heart is.
We did [created] this [PSA] for COVID-19, but, I think this is how public health needs to be done when it comes to messaging campaigns within the black community. We have to speak the language that they can relate to, especially when you’re dealing with the youth. People have said that when white America catches a cold, black America catches pneumonia. That’s what we’re seeing with COVID-19. We’re seeing the problem ravage black and Hispanic communities.
One of the first lines of defense is simple messages like what we had in 20 Seconds or More.
(Image: Dr. Olajide Williams)
Hip-Hop and Public Health
Doug E., you are bridging the gap between two generations, if not multiple, in hip-hop with all of the cameos and the people who participated in the PSA. Did you think that the PSA will extend further than the youth to the adults?
Doug E. Fresh: We wanted to create the “We Are the World” of washing hands to show that a basic thing that you do [washing your hands] can have impact on the world. In order to do that, like Dr. Williams was saying — and he said it very well with the example he gave about the language barrier. In the same way is there’s a barrier sometimes with different age demographics. So, it was important to create this is a big rainbow of people from all over different walks of life to hit everybody.
You gotta go hard for something bigger than you. And that is what makes me go hard. This is a world pandemic. This thing is crazy and especially the Latino and black communities. Everybody is connected whether you want to be connected or not.
The Truth about COVID-19
Many young people don’t think that they can, you know, contract this virus, they think they’re invincible in washing their hands. What do you have to say to that?
Dr. Williams: Twenty-six percent of people with the virus are young. And, you know, it’s true that it affects older people the worst and it’s also true that young people are more likely to have a mild or silent disease, which is when you don’t exhibit any symptoms. But the reality is that some young people, they get very, very sick with the virus, and some young people die. There’s no invincibility to this virus.
The reason why we have pandemics is because the world is naive to a new virus and there’s no immunity because the body’s never seen it before. And that’s why it ravages and spreads so quickly. And this is one of those situations where, you know, you have a double-edged sword because, you know, you don’t even have to exhibit symptoms to spread this virus, you can be completely asymptomatic—we call them silent carriers—and still be very contagious. And it turns out that the young people are the most likely to have filed this violent disease. And so, if they don’t add safety protocols like handwashing, social distancing, staying at home, we will never be able to contain this.
Doug E. Fresh: Some of them don’t want to stay home. You know, I hear so many stories about kids being stressed out around parents—and parents being stressed out around the kids. Everybody’s feeling this kind of stress. Well, your options are very limited. You can be stressed out, or you can figure that out. Or you can go out and you can, you can get this [coronavirus] and bring it back home. And then you’ll be stressed out on a whole other level because that person that you care about is very sick.
Washing your hand, following protocols, and mandates can save lives. And it is Doug E. Fresh and Dr. Williams’ hope they can motivate the youth and the community to hop on board.
For the latest updates on how the health crisis is impacting the black community, click here.
Mike Sonko, the governor of the Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, is facing backlash after he included bottles of Hennessy in coronavirus care packages.
CNNreported that Sonko confirmed Tuesday that the alcohol would be part of the COVID-19 care packages that were given to residents at a food donation site. He claimed that the small bottles of the cognac would be a good “throat sanitizer” since there was alcohol in them.
“I think from the research conducted by the World Health Organization and various organizations, it has been believed that alcohol plays a major role in killing the coronavirus,” Sonko said in a video.
“We will have some small bottles of Hennessy in the food packs that we will be giving to our people…” – Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko
Note: WHO warns that drinking alcohol does not protect you against COVID-19 and can be dangerous pic.twitter.com/vuSuVAb8dy
Despite Sonko’s claims, the World Health Organization has repeatedly maintained that alcohol would actually make a person more vulnerable to the pandemic. They argued that access should be restricted.
“At times of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol consumption can exacerbate health vulnerability, risk-taking behaviours, mental health issues and violence,” WHO stated earlier in the week.
“WHO/Europe reminds people that drinking alcohol does not protect them from COVID-19, and encourages governments to enforce measures which limit alcohol consumption.”
The organization also noted that alcohol was already responsible for so many deaths and would simply lead to more.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we should really ask ourselves what risks we are taking in leaving people under lockdown in their homes with a substance that is harmful both in terms of their health and the effects of their behaviour on others, including violence,” Carina Ferreira-Borges, Programme Manager, Alcohol and Illicit Drugs Programme, WHO/Europe, said.
Sonko, who arrested last year on corruption charges, was also met with pushback by Hennessy. The brand toldNairobi News that their product did not help treat COVID-19.
“Hennessy would like to stress that the consumption of our brand or any other alcoholic beverage does not protect against the virus,” a statement signed by country manager, Anne-Claire Delamarre, read in part.
We might be watching a disaster in slow motion. A white liberal politician who almost certainly secured the Democratic nomination — thanks to Black voters — is considering another white moderate as a running mate.
The sheer fact that this is even an idea is not only disrespectful to Black Americans, but it is also a strategic mistake of epic proportions considering there is an available vice presidential candidate who can fill in the obvious gaps for the presumptive nominee.
I’ll admit that I’m biased. I served a short stint as the Georgia gubernatorial candidate’s deputy campaign manager, and she endorsed my campaign for the statehouse. She also built a strong coalition of white, Black, progressive, and moderate Democrats in her stolen bid for the governorship in 2018.
There are practical reasons why Abrams is the only choice Biden should be looking at right now.
Democratic politician Stacey Abrams speaks to the media before the Democratic Presidential Debate at Tyler Perry Studios November 20, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Contrary to some beliefs, Biden might not be ready for a one-on-one against Donald Trump. He’s an old white man whoopposes cannabis legalizationand formerly opposed busing. That’s not going to motivate young Black voters to come to his side. He still has not apologized for the crime bill, meanwhile, Trump, obviously understanding the need to appeal to voters of color, ran criminal justice reform commercials during the Superbowl.
Recently polled Bernie Sanders supporters said that they would support Biden in the general election, but hell, they didn’t exactly show up in droves for Bernie in the primary. Biden has always had an enthusiasm gap. Trump is taking notes from his progressive critics and might even use those on the left as political ammunition against Biden.
The answer to Biden’s uphill battle is not another white moderate on the ticket. The answer is Abrams.
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the coronavirus outbreak, at the Hotel Du Pont March 12, 2020. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Just five years ago, not many people outside of Georgia knew who Abrams was. In that short time, she has become the rightful governor of Georgia(I don’t care what anyone says, she won that stolen election) and is presently the poster child for voting rights in America.
Abrams has amplified her national profile by being an astute political strategist while wielding the justice sword for voting equity in America. That is a pretty strong comeback after Trump’s 2016 upset victory, which was arguably driven by a backlash to America’s first Black president and an overall boring Democratic ticket that promised more of nothing.
US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton makes a concession speech after being defeated by Republican presidential-elect Donald Trump as her running-mate Tim Kaine(R) and former president Bill Clinton look on in New York on November 9, 2016. (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images)
Will Black voters stand in the rain, wait in long lines or brave COVID-19for Biden and another white moderate? No.
Abrams not only has the charisma to bring Black voters to the polls but also can inspire them enough to wait in lines for hours in the most adverse voting environments, evidenced by the turnout in majority-Black districts for her 2018 race.
Trump willcheat to win. He’s a sitting president who won’t blink an eye at cheating voters and will use every excuse in the book to stop Americans from accessing their right to vote. Abrams and her team were responsible for registering hundreds of thousands of voters in a state that ultimately purged more than 300,000 names from its voter rolls just before her election.
Biden should be careful not to let his white consultants gaslight him into believing that a white moderate from any state will deliver him the presidency.In order not to repeat the same mistake that Hillary Clinton made in 2016 by nominating a white Spanish speaker who didn’t motivate BLPOC to galvanize around her campaign (I like to call it theTim Kaineffect).
This time around, you need an experienced Black woman that has the experience to lead, the competence to administrate, and the skill set to be one of the first Black people to win an election in the deep south.
If the qualifications for VP is winning a governor or Senate seat, there are only 2 Black women who have accomplished that in the 241 years of American politics, one of them being Kamala Harris. That number would be three if you also counted Abrams’ unofficial win for governor.
U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Harris is an accomplished senator in her own right. She earned her space in the conversation and famously dressed down Biden over his busing record during a primary debate. She was also elected from a consistently Blue state that most would find progressive in its ideology.
Sen. Harris will also be a suitable choice because unlike other Democrats, I believe she could take the inevitable heat off Biden’s debate performances. My sole concern about Harris is her appeal in southern states, especially because of how her campaign performed in South Carolina.
I wouldn’t be disappointed in a Harris choice; I just believe Stacey Abrams, through her organization, Fair Fight, has already built a political machine that is ready on day one to take on the draconian voter suppression tactics that will surely come leading into November.
Abrams was my presidential pick had she decided to run herself, and considering the media attention some candidates received earlier on the campaign trail only to lose their state-wide elections (Looking at you, Beto), she might have been the one to pick Biden as her running mate.
We can’t ignore the classic issues of race and gender in America, built to elevate white mediocre candidates and knock Black candidates down a peg. It’s important to talk about these perceptions.
Stacey Abrams prepares to testify during the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties hearing on the Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, June 25, 2019. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Abrams served as the minority leader of the Georgia State House fighting against the draconian GOP legislative agenda, registered hundreds of thousands of Black and Brown voters with the New Georgia Project, started a multimillion-dollar small business called NOWaccount, and wrote novels at the same damn time.
Trump bought upracist ads to falsely accuse young Black boys known as the Central Park Five of murder;lost about a Billion dollars (according to his tax refunds); and bankrupted his daddy’s Business.Biden wrote the now controversial crime bill, bragged about working with segregationists, andwas on the wrong side of the busing issue.
If this is the measuring stick for what qualified means, Stacey is well beyond that.
Black voters, at least locally, have already shown that they’re willing to come out in huge numbers to support Abrams. The opportunity to galvanize a wider swath of voters and expand the current electorate does not lay in the white consultant thought process of ‘white working-class’ voters.Biden needs tofire said consultant and elevate the voices who tell you what you need to hear: Stacey Abrams is your only choice.
He won’t secure the coveted Black vote without her.
Marcus Ferrell is a political consultant who served as National Black Outreach Director for Bernie Sanders 2016, Deputy Campaign Manager for Stacey Abrams and senior advisor for Swing Left. He is currently ducted off in Atlanta avoiding the ‘Rona and missing his cigar bars. @Marcus4America on Twitter & Instagram.
Robinhood Markets Inc., the online brokerage that’s suffered repeated outages during recent market turmoil and is backed by rap superstar Jay-Z, is now close to raising new funding at a valuation of about $8 billion.
Founded in 2013, the online brokerage is a popular mobile app and service used to purchase stocks with no extra commission fee like its competitors. According to Bloomberg, the Silicon Valley startup has more than 10 million users and also boasts “record revenue growth” during the coronavirus pandemic with the volatility of the markets leading to new account sign-ups. The firm had about $60 million in revenue in March, roughly tripling from the same month last year.
Along with Jay-Z, other artists like Snoop Dogg and Nas have also invested in Robinhood.
The figure, however, is “a pre-money valuation. The company received an estimated $7.6 billion valuation after a funding round in July 2019. The online service dealt with a fair share of technical problems, outages, and maxed-out credit lines, blaming the problems on “unprecedented” user demand. An outage on March 2nd lasted for the entire U.S. trading session, during which the S&P 500 climbed 4.6%.
In a statement, the company’s co-founders Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev said they were working to mitigate similar situations in the future for smoother user functionality. “When it comes to your money, we know how important it is for you to have answers. The outages you have experienced over the last two days are not acceptable …,” the statement read. “Our team is continuing to work to improve the resilience of our infrastructure to meet the heightened load we have been experiencing. … We take our responsibility to you and your money seriously.”
The novel coronavirus is having a sobering effect on the American economy, but its impact on blacks could be staggering. And it will certainly exacerbate the already troubling wealth gap.
In fact, it could be “immense and devastating,” said Duke professor William “Sandy” Darity during a media briefing about the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on families.
Darity is a professor of public policy, African and African American Studies, and economics who specializes in wealth and income disparities, the social-psychological effects of exposure to unemployment, and reparations. He also directs the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity.
He and his colleagues agreed that the $2 trillion stimulus bill won’t be enough to solve the financial problems facing America’s working families, particularly African Americans, and that a massive infusion of cash and other government resources is needed.
William A. Darity, Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at Duke University
Here’s what Darity had to say about the pandemic’s potential toll on the income and wealth of black Americans:
On the disparities in health and wealth…
“Black Americans constitute approximately 13% of the nation’s population but only possess about 2.6% of the nation’s wealth. This translates into an average gap per household of about $800,000 This immense differential means that under any emergency circumstances, black families have considerably less resources to function as a cushion and they do not have the resources to have access to the best health care or the best preventive measures to insure one has better health.
“And, as a consequence, we’re seeing these staggering numbers associated with racial disparities and the mortality from COVID-19. For example, in the state of Louisiana, blacks make up 32% of the population but 70% of the deaths from the coronavirus.”
On the greater risk to blacks…
“The types of disparities we’re talking about in terms of disadvantage, particularly with respect to employment, is fairly widespread but it disproportionately weighs on black America.
“Particular for folks who are in personal contact, personal service employment, that require close connections to your customer base at a time when we’re trying to minimize connections between individuals and trying to minimize large gatherings, that means the odds of job loss is high. Or, if they’re in … employments we deem essential, like people in health care services or the hospital sector, they themselves are at greater risk. It’s somewhat of a prisoner’s dilemma: Either you lose your job or you keep a job in which you’re going to be exposed to a high level of danger.”
On black unemployment…
“I think that on the side of income, as opposed to wealth, the first thing we have to consider is the vast amount of job loss that’s going to take place. We know that historically in the United States the black unemployment rate is consistently two times the white unemployment rate. And that’s true regardless of educational attainment. This has always been the case from the time we first began to collect unemployment statistics in the United States.
“People are projecting that the national unemployment rate is going to reach 30% or even higher possibly. Then, the projected unemployment rate for black Americans could run as high as 50%, which is absolutely staggering and is a number we have never seen in this country. There could be immense and devastating income effects associated with the evolving depression.”
On the racial wealth gap…
“In terms of wealth effects, if anything, I would argue the existing policies we put in place, like the CARES Act, disproportionately benefits individuals who already are relatively better positioned because of the amount of resources going indirectly to workers, because they have to be delivered as the pass-through to small businesses but also fairly substantial large corporations.
“We might actually observe a further worsening in wealth disparities both in general and in respect to the racial wealth gap. I’m hard-pressed to put a real number on what that might look like, but it’s been horrendous in recent years and I can only imagine those kinds of disparities will get worse in the absence of any significant policy intervention.”
Drinking alcohol can increase the risk of catching COVID-19 and make the symptoms worse if you get infected with the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
According to CNBC, the WHO made the announcement Tuesday, recommending government leaders worldwide limit alcohol access during coronavirus lockdowns.
“Alcohol compromises the body’s immune system and increases the risk of adverse health outcomes,” the WHO’s regional office for Europe said on its site late Tuesday.
The WHO also published a guidance dispelling the “dangerous myth that consuming high-strength alcohol can kill” the coronavirus.
“It does not,” the WHO said. ““Therefore, people should minimize their alcohol consumption at any time, and particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The WHO added that it could result in serious health issues, including death. About 3 million deaths a year are attributable to alcohol without a pandemic driving up consumption. However, Americans are imbibing more at home now that bars and restaurants are closed. According to the financial services company Rabobank, the bar and restaurant market stands lose $15 billion in alcohol sales over the next two months.
Additionally, alcohol sales at U.S. liquor and grocery stores were up 22% for the week ending March 28 compared with the same time last year. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus offered healthier advice, including eating healthy and getting at least 30 minutes of exercise per day for adults and an hour for kids.
“It’s normal to feel stressed, confused, and scared during a crisis. Talking to people you know and trust can help,” Tedros said. “And try not to read or watch too much news if it makes you anxious. Get your information from reliable sources once or twice a day.”
The coronavirus outbreak has sent the world indoors. Researchers believe it will stay that way for some time. The virus has significantly impacted Americans as more than 16 million people have lost their job.
Velázquez has joined forces with the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC), National Restaurant Association, Illinois Restaurant Association, Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association, and the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) to speak out on access issues with the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to marginalized communities—just.a day before the SBA announced that the program has run out of funds.
In a webcast, they urged for a more equitable implementation of the program featuring increased investment to vulnerable small businesses. Such additional dollars will be even more critical since the SBA had to stop accepting loan applications once the funds were exhausted.
“In these trying times, reaching traditionally underserved businesses in our federal relief efforts to COVID-19 is essential,” Velázquez said in a press statement. “That is why I will keep pressing for additional funding and commonsense reforms to strengthen federal relief efforts and ensure that all small businesses have the opportunity to secure capital and other resources that are key to a full and efficient recovery.”
Martin Eakes, president and CEO Self Help Credit Union, also joined the webcast to address the PPP’s emerging issues. “As the one of the largest CDFIs [Community Development Financial Institutions] in the country, our mission is to create and protect economic opportunity for all. Businesses of color are the backbone of the American economy, and many of them rely on CDFIs and other local, community banks to conduct their financial needs,” said Eakes.
“For the Paycheck Protection Program to be successful and benefit entrepreneurs and communities of color, and others who are traditionally shut out due to discriminatory banking practices, CDFIs must play an integral role in the implementation.”
The webcast included a Q&A section to address questions from attendees with others, including Renee Bender, Senior Professional Staff with the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee under Chairman Marco Rubio; Raul Raymundo, CEO of the Resurrection Project, a member organization of NPNA; and Melissa Jung, who serves as the Chief of Staff for Chairwoman Velázquez.
“We want to thank Congresswoman Velázquez and Senator Rubio for continuing to champion Paycheck Protection Program opportunities for the most vulnerable businesses and institutions in our society,” Raymundo said.
Harvey Zeigler, 100, is the grandson of a man who escaped slavery in Orangeburg, South Carolina in the 1850s through the Underground Railroad.
That man, Doc Zeigler, a musician, would ultimately settle near a small, rural, unincorporated town in Montgomery County, Maryland called Damascus, named after the capital city in Syria.
Damascus was also the town where Zeigler’s great-grandfather, Richard Holsey, was gifted a parcel of land that was once a slave plantation, known as the Mullinix Plantation after he was identified in the 1850 Census as the family of free slaves on the homestead.
The old Mullinix slave Plantation became Holsey Road, and nearly two dozen free slaves — including Zeigler’s great grandparents, uncles, and aunts, as well as other descendants of slaves – settled on the road where they thrived, even in hard times.
“Holsey Road was a Christian community. The best kind of community,” Zeigler said.“The people worked hard in the trades — carpenters, brick masons. It was between poverty and middle class. It was oatmeal, cornmeal, missed meal or no meal during my time.”
“Most of the people who lived here were farmers,” Zeigler added. “My father was a musician and worked on a farm. My mother was a domestic.”
Holsey Road, Maryland (Google Maps)
Recently, Zeigler, a former youth organizer with the Montgomery County chapter of the NAACP, discussed what life was like growing up amongst free Blacks on Holsey Road, how gentrification changed the demographics of the road and the town, and how race continues to shape almost every aspect in America.
Just like the rest of Montgomery County, Damascus was segregated in the 1920s and 1930s when Zeigler grew up. Holsey Road became their refuge: the place where they were nurtured and sustained by their people.
Damascus, Maryland (Wikimedia Commons)
As a young man, Zeigler, who was the 6thof 13 children born to Ellsworth and Bertha Lyles, said he started working early in the community. “During the summer, I would cut the people’s grass. I did a lot of work in the community. I had a reputation for being a Good Samaritan,” he said.
Today, much has changed on Holsey Road. Zeigler and one other family are the only Black people who remain.“That’s the sad part about it,” Zeigler said.
In recent years, Black enclaves in Montgomery County like Holsey Road were gentrified, as people continue to flock to the county for its good schools and property values.
“I feel a little depressed (but) you can’t beat progress,” Zeigler said recently. “You’ve got to take the good with the bad with progress.”
Zeigler’s fond memories still remain.
Lincoln High School is a landmark in Montgomery County Black educational history. Opened in 1935, it is the oldest remaining high school constructed for Black students in Montgomery County. At the time of its construction, it was the only secondary school for Black students.
After he graduated from the all-Black Lincoln High School in Rockville, Md., Zeigler wasdrafted in the U.S. Army and became part of the329th segregated unitduring World War II.
“We would guard the ammunition, equipment, food, and gas,” Zeigler said. Zeigler worked as a private first class in a Black unit and said he guarded supplies that soldiers needed while fighting on the front lines of Europe.
When he came back to Maryland after his military service was over, Zeigler married and settled down on Holsey Road just like his parents had. He bought a house right next to his sister, Inez Macabee, who is now deceased. Macabee’s home was built by slaves and is on Maryland’s historic registry.
Zeigler said the area had so much African American history, it just felt right to keep his roots firmly planted, even if Jim Crow still persisted at that time in Montgomery County.
Damascus, Maryland Marker (Flicker)
Growing up in Damascus and coming of age in the early to mid-20thCentury, Zeigler said he remembered the time when Blacks were openly discriminated against and lived in segregated communities.
“I couldn’t go to lunchrooms, swimming pools, churches, schools. I couldn’t go anyplace in 1966,” Zeigler said. “We took a lot of beatings, Afro-Americans, back in that time.”
When Zeigler and a cousin hoped to open a trucking company in the late 1940s but couldn’t get bank financing, Zeigler accused the bank of discriminatory lending practices. A decade later, when he was passed over for promotions at the Atomic Energy Commission, he solicited the NAACP’s help and filed a complaint against the AEC.
Times have changed for certain, but Zeigler said he still sees some negative remnants of racial discrimination in America. He also thinks in some ways we are moving in reverse.
“I think we’re taking a step backward, a big step,” Zeigler said about President Donald Trump. “All the things we did accomplish, he’s trying to undo.”
He is also frustrated at the cavalier attitude some young Black people have towards voting.
“These youngsters, when you talk to them and they tell you ‘my vote don’t matter,’” Zeigler’s voice trails off. “I can’t deal with some of it.”
“I talked to a guy the other day and he said everything he got, he got on his own,” Zeigler said. “He said he made straight A’s at Seneca Valley and I asked him how do you think you got into Seneca Valley. He said he walked in it.”
Zeigler said some young Black people even tell him they no longer see a need for the NAACP.
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“They say, we don’t need the NAACP, we’ve got it good. We don’t have no problems. If you talk to the youngsters, you’ll hear them say this,” he said.
When asked how that sentiment makes him feel, Zeigler doesn’t mince words.
“Like my life was just destroyed. All that work, all that beating, police poking you with the bully sticks,” for nothing, he said.
Zeigler doesn’t blame the children entirely. He said Black history is no longer taught in the schools, like when he attended all-Black schools.
“When I was going to high school, they would teach Black history for a semester. Now they can’t even get it into the curriculum,” Zeigler said.
So Zeigler fought to create a Black museum.
Warren Fleming, Zeigler’s nephew, said his uncle has always used his voice and his actions to help Black people attain civil rights and continues to do so now whenever he can. Fleming heads up the Damascus Connections Committee, a nonprofit that preserves African-American culture in the community.
“We began to utilize our strength. My uncle wanted a Black museum,” Fleming said.
Soon, white organizations wanted to join in a partnership with Zeigler to ensure a Black museum came to fruition. The Montgomery County School System donated a trailer and the committee turned it into the Damascus Heritage Museum, which is dedicated to telling African-American history.
“My uncle was always about unity in the community,” Fleming said.
On Est Ensemble 
