Atlanta police shot and killed a Black man during an altercation in a Wendy’s parking lot Friday night, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The two officers on the scene were responding to a call that Brooks allegedly had fallen asleep in the drive-thru of the fast-food restaurant, blocking other cars. After administering a sobriety test, the police proceeded to arrest the motorist after he failed.
Such as the case of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arber, video footage of the incident captured by a bystander in a car has since spread on social media.
Officer involved shooting last night in Atlanta, GA (District 5) I grew up in this neighborhood. It’s time to have the conversation! RESISTING arrest, excessive force, & justified shootings😞 this young man is deceased. #RayshardBrooks#Atlanta#Police#District5pic.twitter.com/MSogObtUZF
— Angela Stanton King 🇺🇸 (@theangiestanton) June 13, 2020
As seen in the video of the arrest, a skirmish between Brooks and officers took place for nearly half a minute. Brooks managed to get free from the officers and tried to flee.
One officer then fired a taser at him. As Brooks continued to run away, three gunshots were fired into his back.
Brooks was taken to the hospital, but died during surgery. The video was captured by a citizen in a car of the Wendy’s parking lot.
The GBI released a statement regarding the investigation.
“The GBI is investigating an OIS involving one male subject & Atlanta Police Officers. The subject is deceased. One officer was treated for an injury and released from the hospital,” the agency said in a tweet.
The GBI is investigating an OIS involving one male subject & Atlanta Police Officers. The subject is deceased. One officer was treated for an injury and released from the hospital.
— GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) June 13, 2020
“After failing the test, the officers attempted to place the male subject into custody,” GBI spokesman Nelly Miles said, the AJC reports. “During the arrest, the male subject resisted and a struggle ensued. The officer deployed a Taser.”
Police say Brooks took the taser from the officer before being shot. The shooting occurred out of sight of the cellphone footage circulating the web.
According to TMZ, this is the 48th police-related shooting to be investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2020.
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Two tough years in the making, there were days when Longevity founder Phil Long, 60, wasn’t sure the marriage of his small business, one of the nation’s few certified black-owned wineries, with Bronco Wine Co., one of the largest wine producers in the U.S., would happen.
But in early March, Long found himself in Texas, launching two new Longevity wines bottled by Bronco in quantities way beyond anything Long could have produced on his own, all earmarked for distribution in major outlets most small winemakers don’t even dream about.
“I’d been making 150 cases of Longevity’s white label chardonnay here a year,” says Long, sitting in his boutique northern California winery, surrounded by wine barrels and awards, including one for 2018 Livermore Valley Winery of the Year.
“With Bronco, we started by making 2,700 cases each of white label chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon, with the expectation that they’ll be gone quickly. As I watched the first bottles being filled at Bronco’s plant in November, I realized I’ve been a wine peddler,” Long reflects. “That all changes now.”
But no sooner did Long arrive for the Texas launch of his two new wines with Bronco than COVID-19 hit the U.S., and the big moment he had been waiting for evaporated. He returned to his Livermore Valley shop and braced himself. “I knew the winery would take a hit, but I hoped the new line with Bronco would offset that,” he says. “I never would have predicted what’s actually happened.”
By the first week in April, sales were up 100%, says Long, even though Longevity was no longer open for popular weekend tastings. But by the last week in May, sales were down by more than 75%.
Then George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police and the ensuing outcry called attention to not only black lives, but black businesses.
“We are gaining Instagram followers at a rate of 100 per day because of the Black Lives Matters movement,” says Long, who is president of the American Association of African-American Vintners. “I’m seeing a massive increase in online orders as people promote black businesses and urge their support. It’s mind-blowing.”
Long was overdue for some good news. When the prospect of the Bronco partnership first surfaced in September 2017, his wife, Debra, was already a year into her battle with stage four pancreatic cancer. Between caring for her and their business, he didn’t have much time or energy to focus on courting Bronco.
But he knew the partnership would enable his company to scale, far surpassing its 3,000-case-a-year peak production level and enabling Longevity to have a national presence in outlets like Krogers, Safeways, Lucky, Target, and Costco—“basically everywhere you see wine,” Long says.
Longevity’s being a certified minority-owned business heightened its appeal for Bronco along with the love story at the heart of the brand, according to Joey Franzia, Bronco’s national sales and marketing director, who told Wine Business Monthly that Long’s passion for the business was also a draw: “He has developed an exceptional brand, with a great pedigree, and we saw an opportunity to share in his vision and grow in the distribution channel.”
While neither Long nor Bronco reps would reveal sales projections, he says the deal will undoubtedly transform Longevity’s fortunes and his family’s. As of June 1, more than 12,000 cases of the two new Longevity varietals had already been bottled and Long says, “It would have been more if not for COVID-19.”
New Deal, New Cork, New Future
Longevity was launched in 2008 with $40,000 of an unusually high bonus from Long’s full-time job as creative director at Rapid Displays. In 2011, Debra quit her job to devote herself to their winery full time. By the time Phil quit his job in 2014, they had invested roughly $20,000 more in Longevity and the wines were starting to make waves.
Phil and Debra Long of Longevity Wines (Image courtesy of Phil Long)
“From the beginning, I’ve had my hand in every detail,” says Long who created the company name and logo—a heart of interwoven grapevines made for Debra which graces every Longevity bottle and is also tattooed on Long’s arm.
Debra died in January 2019, just before the Bronco deal was finalized. “I really wish she’d been here,” says Long. “Every aspect of this has been my baby, and it’s also Debra’s legacy, so it’s very important to me.”
Long says he had to steel himself for the new reality. “The first fear I had was letting go of what we started from scratch,” he says. “Then I realized it’s a partnership. I’m not letting go, I’m expanding. I’m still the winemaker, I’m the face of the brand, I’m the spokesperson, so it’s really a tremendous opportunity.”
Long blended each new flavor profile personally. On Winebusiness.com, Jim Gordon, who rates wines for Wine Enthusiast magazine, describes Longevity’s 2018 Chardonnay as “clean and bright in the mouth, bursting with flavors of honeydew and lemon.” He was equally enthusiastic about the “rustic, plum colored” 2017 Longevity Cabernet Sauvignon. Both will retail for $15.99, which Long describes as the “sweet spot for everyday table wine.”
The bottles are also sealed with a new Helix cork that doesn’t require a corkscrew. “It’s like opening champagne and the cool thing is you can put the Helix back in and save the wine to finish later,” says Long.
While little has gone as planned given all the world-changing events since March, Long, who works alongside his namesake son and a small staff, has no complaints.
“I anticipated becoming the spokesperson for African American vintners and owners over the next several years, but due to the current environment, I have become that overnight,” says Long. “I’m still a little bit dumbfounded but I’ll take it. I want the world to know black vintners are out here, and we have a lot to offer.”
President Donald Trump received much backlash for planning his next campaign rally on what is considered sacred ground and a sacred day to Black America.
Trump announced on Wednesday that he would hold a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 19th, the Juneteenth holiday observing the end of slavery in America. On Friday, June 12, the president announced that he rescheduled the rally one day later after being contacted by Black friends and constituents.
“Many of my African American friends and supporters have reached out to suggest that we consider changing the date out of respect for this Holiday,” the president tweeted, “and in observance of this important occasion and all that it represents.”
We had previously scheduled our #MAGA Rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for June 19th – a big deal. Unfortunately, however, this would fall on the Juneteenth Holiday. Many of my African American friends and supporters have reached out to suggest that we consider changing the date out…
Prior to sending his late-Friday tweet, the President told Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner that he did not choose Juneteenth because of its significance to Black Americans.
“It’s going to be really a celebration and it’s an interesting date, it wasn’t done for that reason,” Trump explained, “but it’s an interesting date, but it’s a celebration.”
The initial decision to hold what 45 called a “#MAGA rally” was criticized because it fell on Juneteenth. Given the President’s rhetoric about race during his administration, especially amid the unrest sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, many felt this to be in poor taste.
Smoke billowing over Tulsa, Oklahoma during 1921 race riots.
Library of Congress
It was also received poorly due to the location. Tulsa, Oklahoma is the site of the worst race massacre in American history. The city’s Black neighborhood of Greenwood, famously known as Black Wall Street, was burned to the ground by a white mob during the Tulsa Race Riots in 1921.
More than one thousand homes and businesses were believed to be destroyed and as many as 300 people to be killed.
Tulsa was the site of the worst racist violence in American history. The president’s speech there on Juneteenth is a message to every Black American: more of the same.
NBC News NOW will stream a virtual discussion with families from around the country on the realities of parenting Black children in America.
According to an NBC release, the event, called Growing Up Black: Families Confronting Racism, will be hosted by TODAY and MSNBC anchor, Craig Melvin. The event will be aired live on NBC News NOW, NBCNews.com, Peacock, and on NBC News’ Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube channels Monday, June 15 at 8 pm ET.
The special will include conversations with African American families and feature a special message from singer-songwriter Angie Stone. Melvin will moderate the discussion on racism together with other Black parents who are raising children of all ages.
The special will also focus on the conversations Black parents have had with their children concerning deaths of Black men and women by cops and how to talk and act around police when they are stopped, pulled over, or arrested.
Many have called for cities and states to defund the police in light of the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
The protests and subsequent push on social media have put a new light on the disastrous relationship between Black people in America and the police. The protests have led to many states changing police protocols and laws.
Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council pledged to defund and dismantle the city’s police department creating a veto-proof supermajority of the council’s 13 members.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order Friday repealing a law protecting police records from the public, a statewide ban on chokeholds, automatic appointment of a special prosecutor to cases of police killing unarmed civilians, and a law making race-based 911 calls a crime. Cuomo also said he is signing an executive order Friday that will withhold funds from police departments that do not enact reform.
Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network hosted a two-night special earlier this week called OWN Spotlight: Where Do We Go From Here? The special featured voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) national board member, and others. The group discussed the protests, the changes that are being made as a result, and the next steps for the public and the police.
Sybrina Fulton, themother of Trayvon Martin, rejects the push to divert funds from police departments as a means to bridge the divide between law enforcement and urban communities.
“I think we need more police,” Fulton said in an interview with the Daily Caller. “We need police with better standards, and police with better ethics and better work habits.”
Fulton’s teen son Trayvon was gunned down in February 2012 by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who was ultimately acquitted, sparking national protests.She has since foughtfor stricter gun control, and is one of several Black mothers to run for public office after their sons were fatally shot, CBS News reports.
Fulton announced on Instagram this week that she is “officially qualified” to run for office in Florida. The Associated Press reported last May that she will challenge Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert for a Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners seat that is up for grabs in 2020 because of term limits.
“I want residents to feel safe,” said Fulton. “I want to bridge the gap between the law enforcement and the community.”
Calls todefund police departments in the wake of the killing of George Floyd have sparked intense debate across social media.
Los Angeles is one of several cities to commit to shifting resources from law enforcement toward other social programs.
In an exclusive interview with theGrio,GovernorGavin Newsom, 52,revealed that he is working with California lawmakers to revamp public safety—but stopped short of advocating for defunding the police, a growing demand from Black Lives Matter leaders.
“The bottom line is we’re asking the police to do things that they shouldn’t be doing,” Newsom explained on Wednesday. “We’ve asked them to be social workers, we’ve asked them to be addiction specialists, behavioral health specialists. We simply require the police to take on too many roles and responsibilities. I think fundamentally, beginning to pull back and structurally reforming what we are asking of police departments is long overdue.”
Newsom has already begun to push for reforms within the Golden State, including working toward a statewide standard for policing peaceful protests and ending the carotid hold, a technique that was used in both the deaths of George Floyd and Eric Garner.
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ComedianJay Pharoah has opened up about his harrowing encounter with Los Angeles police during an #ExercisingWhileBlack moment last month.
In a video shared to his Instagram account on Friday, the formerSaturday Night Livestar, 32, said the incident occurred a week before video surfaced showingAhmaud Arberybeing fatally shot as he was allegedly out for a jog in Georgia.
“As I’m walking across the street, Corbin and Ventura, I see an officer to the left of me. I’m not thinking anything of it, because I’m a law-abiding citizen,” Pharoah explains in the clip, which includes security footage of the confrontation,PEOPLEreports.
“I see him coming with guns blazing, I see him say ‘get on the ground, put your hands up like you’re an airplane.’ As he’s looking at me, I’m thinking that he’s making a mistake,” he adds. “So I’m looking past where he’s looking. I’m looking at him, and I’m looking past me cause I’m like, ‘whoever they’re about to get, this is going to be terrible.'”
But Pharoah soon realizes, “He was coming to get me,” he says in the clip.
The security footage shows several officers roll up on the actor, with guns drawn, as he lay on the ground.
“Four officers got their guns blazing, they tell me to get on the ground, spread my arms out, they put me in cuffs, the officer took his knee, put it on my neck,” Pharoah explains. “It wasn’t as long asGeorge Floyd, but I know how that feels.”
He says cops fed him the usual line that he “fit the description” of a Black male suspect who was wanted in the area.
“I told them if you look, Google right now Jay Pharoah, you will see that you made a big mistake.”
He was ultimately allowed to leave the scene once officers were informed that Pharoah was not the person they were looking for.
“I had never been in cuffs before up until that point. I’m a law-abiding citizen,” he says.
Hear/watch him tell it via the Instagram video above.
Media personality Jawn Murry tweeted a link to the Deadline story about the incident, and added the caption “He could’ve been George Floyd!:
Pharoah responded, “Just a Black man living in America.”
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A new book claims Melania Trump delayed her move to the White House after herhusband’s surprise victory in November 2016 because she was renegotiating their prenuptial agreement.
In “The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump,” Mary Jordan, a reporter for The Washington Post, details why the first lady was able “to amend her financial arrangement with Trump — what Melania referred to as ‘taking care of Barron,’” she wrote,according to The Post.
“She wanted proof in writing that when it came to financial opportunities and inheritance, Barron would be treated as more of an equal to Trump’s oldest three children,” Jordan added.
The book notes that the original prenup was not especially generous to Mrs. Trump, but she was able to secure a bigger bag after reports emerged abouther husband’s alleged infidelities during his2016 presidential campaign.
Most notably, the former model is said to have been quite distraught over audioof Trumpbragging to “Access Hollywood” reporterBilly Bush aboutgrabbing women by their genitals.
Following Donald Trump’s 2016 White House win, his wife publicly claimed that she was waiting until the end of Baron’s school year to move to Washington. But behind the scenes, insiders interviewed for the book allege she was actually plotting her financial future after being hit with the cold hard truth about the state of her marriage.
Today I spoke w/ @FirstLadyNJ about our shared commitment to children’s health. Pleased to learn more about #NurtureNJ, an awareness campaign to help reduce infant & maternal mortality, esp for African-Americans & ensure equity in care for all. #BeBest
The first lady and Baron eventually settled into the White House in early June 2017 and the book notes that she seemed happier by the following year.
“According to three people close to Trump, a key reason was that she had finally reached a new and significantly improved financial agreement with Trump, which had left her in a noticeably better financial position,” Jordan wrote. “Those sources did not know precisely what she sought, but it was not simply more money.”
Meanwhile, Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for the first lady, has slammed Jordan’s tale, describing it as “Yet another book about Mrs. Trump with false information and sources,” she said in an emailed statement.
“This book belongs in the fiction genre,” she added.
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The NFL is making vast strides to embrace its African-American staff, players, and supporters. This year, they’ve announced that they will celebrate Juneteenth as an official league holiday.
League commissioner Roger Goodell, who earlier this month announced his support for the league’s 75% of African-American players in a video proclaiming that Black Lives Matter, announced the move today in an internal memo, reports Forbes.
NFL will recognize Juneteenth as a holiday this year, Roger Goodell told the league in this email this morning: pic.twitter.com/sS0DYYk46c
This comes after the NFL committed $25M a year over the next ten years to advance social justice. They made that announcement yesterday.
“This year, as we work together as a family and in our communities to combat the racial injustices that remain deeply rooted into the fabric of our society, the NFL will observe Juneteenth on Friday, June 19th as a recognized holiday and our league offices will be closed,” Goodell said in the memo. “It is a day to reflect on our past, but more importantly, consider how each one of us can continue to show up and band together to work toward a better future.”
Denver Broncos safety Justin Simmons speaks at a protest for the death of George Floyd on June 6, 2020 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)
Twitter, Square, and Nike are among the companies that have shared their plans to celebrate Juneteenth which is the day that Texas celebrated as an official end of slavery. The holiday is not a national holiday but has become more widely celebrated in recent years.
Goodell responded to a group of the league’s players including Kansas City Chief’s Super Bowl-winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Houston Texans quarterback Deshuan Watson, New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley and New Orleans Saints star wide receiver Micheal Thomas, considered among the top new stars of the league.
In the wake of George Floyd‘s death in Minneapolis along with the deaths of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia players asked Goodell to declare that ‘Black Lives Matter’ and that he was in support of the league and its African-American players, who make up 75% of the league.
Earlier this year, the league also made attempts to strengthen the Rooney Rule which was created to generate the hiring of more Black head coaches. That rule, especially as no Black head coaches were hired in an off-season of multiple vacancies has proven to be more ceremonial than impactful.
The only thing the league hasn’t done, despite two weeks of protest on police brutality is to offer an olive branch of any kind to Colin Kaepernick who settled a collusion case with the NFL after his anthem protests lead to his virtual banishment from the sport.
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The Trump administration has rolled back Obama-era protections that provided protection for LGBTQ people in healthcare and insurance in a claim that it was “restoring the rule of law.”
Politicoreported that the new mandate will only define “sex discrimination” as it relates to someone facing discrimination due to being male or female. It will no longer apply on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
An LGBTQ+ flag flies over Union United Methodist Church in the South End of Boston. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
In 2016, the Obama administration instituted a policy that offered LGBTQ patients protections as they sought care at hospitals to ensure providers would not be able to discriminate against them, in particular those who identified as transgender. These provisions were under the non-discrimination clause in the Affordable Care Act.
However, the Trump White House—in an appeal to its conservative base—has long sought to do away with these protections in the rule under Section 1557 of the ACA. The change was announced Friday and the reversal will go into effect by mid-August.
“It will eliminate mass confusion that was unleashed by the Obama-era decision to redefine sex to cover a wide array of gender identities, when sex as a biological reality is so important to the practice of medicine,” Roger Severino, head of the HHS civil rights office, said.
HHS further cited costs as a reason for the measure being put into place.
Human Rights Campaign Incoming President Alphonso David talks with volunteers during the New York City Pride March, Sunday, June 30, 2019 in New York. David will be the first civil rights lawyer and first person of color to lead the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization. (Jeff Zelevansky/AP Images for Human Rights Campaign)
Critics blasted not only the decision but the timing. Friday marks the fourth anniversary of the Pulse shooting in Orlando, Florida where 49 people were killed in a gay nightclub and many more were injured.
“These actions demonstrate how little this Administration values the life, health and safety of LGBTQ people,” Sharita Gruberg of the Center for American Progress said. “It’s even more of a disgrace to do so on the anniversary of the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community in US history.”
Advocates are concerned about the level of care LGBTQ patients will receive going forward; concerns heightened by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Severino denied that any patients would be put in danger.
“Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve gone into overdrive in terms of our civil rights enforcement, and that will not be affected,” he said, citing recent efforts to enforce disability rights protections and other civil rights. “Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and accordance with the law.”
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Last week a Black teenager was arrested and a second young man was handcuffed just for jaywalking. Now the Tulsa police have released body camera footage from the officers involved amidst questions from community leaders.
According to CNN, Tulsa PD published the clips as a direct response to a social media campaign from local residents demanding answers about the arrest. However, the videos appear to have been blurred and redacted by law enforcement to conceal the identities of the minors.
“I want every kid in Tulsa to feel safe to walk down the street in their neighborhood,” Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynumsaid in a statement Wednesday. “No Tulsa kid should have to fear being tackled and cuffed for walking down the street. I viewed that footage last night more as a parent than a mayor.”
“I know the officers in that unit focus on removal of illegal guns from the streets, but the goal of that work should be that families feel safe in their neighborhood. This instance accomplished the opposite,” Bynum continued, assuring the public that the June 4th incident is under investigation.
In the bodycam footage, the two teens can be seen walking together down the middle of a road when they are suddenly approached by an officer on foot and a second one in a squad car.
Once the officers close in on the young men, one of them can be seen forcing a teenager onto his stomach to handcuff him, while pinning him down with his arms and knees. The second teenager is also handcuffed but remains standing.
The young men repeatedly ask for an explanation as to why they are being detained and handcuffed, and the teen being pinned down accuses the officers of targeting him be because his is Black, saying “you want to see me in jail or dead.”
That’s when the officer informs the men they are being arrested for jaywalking and the teenager struggling to get free yells, “Call my momma!”
In observance of Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the emancipation of African slaves in America, the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) is organizing a weekend of action to demand divestment from police departments and investment in black communities.
The History of Juneteenth
Juneteenth is a day that honors black freedom and resistance and centers black people’s unique contribution to the struggle for justice in the United States. The first Juneteenth celebration was organized by newly freed slaves on June 19, 1866, to mark the end of American slavery. Although the Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves as legally free in January 1863, it took years before the news traveled to all parts of the country. It was also harder to enforce the executive order in rebellious Southern states like Texas where there were few Union troops. As a result, African American slaves were still working on plantations as late as 1865, while 250,000 people were still enslaved in Texas.
However, on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers traveled to Galveston, Texas, to announce that the Civil War had ended and all enslaved people were free. Newly freed slaves rejoiced in the streets and the following year, freedman organized the first June 19, or Juneteenth, celebrations.
Today, Juneteenth is observed in 45 states as a holiday that celebrates freedom.
Demanding Justice on Juneteenth
To commemorate Juneteenth, African Americans typically engage in barbecuing, rodeos, fishing, prayer services, and baseball games. The day also serves as a time for reflection and an opportunity to trace their family roots. This year, however, the M4BL is expanding the holiday into a weekend of action.
“This Juneteenth is a rare moment for our communities to proclaim in one voice that Black Lives Matter, and that we won’t tolerate anything less than justice for all our people,” said the organization in a press release.
Titled SixNineteen, the Juneteenth weekend of action includes several digital actions and marches around the country to push three causes: defunding the police, investing in black communities, and the resignation of President Donald Trump. Although details about the actions have not been provided, the group said June 19 will be dedicated to celebrating black beauty and resilience, while marches will be organized for June 20, and the focus for June 21 will be to get Trump out of office.
“Electoral justice and political power are often pitted against activism and protest, but in our movement they are deeply connected and a requirement for one and the other to coexist, said Jessica Byrd, an organizer with the Movement For Black Lives Electoral Justice Project, in a statement.
“For the last six years we have collectively taken a national course in police violence, and we now know some solutions that have been offered, have not borne fruit in terms of reducing or eliminating police violence, said Mervyn Marcano, the co-founder of Blackbird. “We believe this weekend of action will continue to lift people’s spirits at the same time that they are fighting for justice in the streets.”
“How can we say that we don’t want African-American influencers applying for this campaign without offending anybody?”
That was the start of a very real conversation with a colleague at a marketing agency I worked at. During a campaign planning meeting for a beauty brand, filled with sales managers and directors, not one person of color was in the room when they came to the conclusion that Black women wouldn’t be a good fit to promote the product.
As the Community Manager, it was my job to help them get the message across.
Instead, I educated my colleague on why the beauty brand’s excuse that they “don’t have shades for Black women” was ridiculous. Black women come in shades from alabaster to ebony. Then I asked why no one in the room pushed back on behalf of our influencers. And why no one escorted the beauty brand out of the room because their values weren’t a good fit for ours.
But I already knew the answer.
No one in the room was Black. None of these things had even crossed their minds.
I left the company a few months later before I even had another job lined up. I was exhausted from being the only minority representative, and I didn’t have any real power anyway.
Over the last few days, some of my favorite brands and companies have shared graphics sharing their stance on social justice, and particularly Black Lives Matter.
It doesn’t go unnoticed as my friends and I keep track of who is solidly proclaiming themselves to be down for the cause. And also as we watch those who are silent.
As my inbox filled with letters of solidarity signed by CEOs of major companies, I started to wonder. If these folks believe that Black Lives Matter, then why don’t they hire Black lives and put them in positions of power at their organizations to start dismantling the economic imbalance between white men and virtually everyone else in this country?
(Photo: Adobe Stock)
It’s quite simple, really. They don’t have to. It’s too much work. It’s not that important to them. No one is holding them accountable.
The first rebuttal companies usually have for why their company doesn’t have any Black people in leadership positions is that there is a lack of talent in the pipeline. That is so lazy. But, I’ll play along.
So that there is no confusion, here are some ideas for finding skilled Black professionals:
Recruit at historically Black colleges and universities
When Fortune 500 or tech companies are looking for new talent, they rarely venture outside of the Ivy Leagues or high-ranked PWIs. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (save for a few of the faves like Howard, Spelman, and Morehouse) are left off of the recruitment itinerary.
If they were to venture outside of the comfort zone of schools that feel familiar, companies would find a gigantic pool of brilliant Black folks. Schools like North Carolina A&T, Morgan State University, or my alma mater, Fayetteville State University, are not only training professionals who can do the work. They’re also raising leaders with a strong understanding of the importance of community, exemplary social competency, and a global perspective that takes good brands and helps them to become great.
Hire a staffing company that is committed to, and trained in, unbiased interview and hiring practices
The most obvious reason that some hiring managers think there are no qualified Black professionals is that recruiters never even sent the Black professionals’ resumes along. They take a look at the name on the resume, or the college, and press delete.
If you want to be sure your company has an unbiased hiring practice, and you want your team to be diverse and inclusive, it’s important to have a staffing company or staff that understands what the biases are that they need to avoid in the first place.
Take your interviews seriously
When you interview a Black professional, give them your attention. Put down your phone (looking at you tech companies), engage, and listen to the candidate’s skills and experience.
Black women are notoriously (underpaid and) under-titled. At one job, I wrote the original curriculum 2-4 times a year for thousands of students in grades K-12. I created and led workshops for hundreds of educators. I also represented the organization as a speaker and presenter locally and nationally. My title? Arts Specialist.
If you’re only looking at the resume, and not taking the opportunity to dig deeper, you’re likely missing out on some amazing talent.
Google. Search LinkedIn. Share your job listing with professional African-American organizations
It always blows my mind when huge tech companies filled with brilliant geniuses can’t figure out how to do the bare minimum to find qualified Black employees. Seriously. Do better.
Now let’s unpack why you’re overlooking the Black people who already work for you.
Ever since I started working, I’ve seen Black women, in particular, be overlooked for leadership positions that they were more than qualified for. In some cases, they were already doing the work. Sometimes an outside candidate would get the job. In other instances, a ringer from inside the company (i.e. the boss’s niece) ended up with the role.
Here’s what I believe. I believe that some white leaders are unwilling to promote Black professionals to leadership positions because they don’t want the headache of being called to task. Not just on matters of diversity, but about anything that is outside the scope of their lived experience and thus is not that important to them.
I think some white leaders don’t want to promote Black professionals to leadership positions because the thought of opening up their personal life and getting to know someone who might have a different background than them feels exhausting and they don’t want to do it.
The most egregious and hurtful reason Black professionals aren’t promoted to leadership positions? Because no matter how much we do for the company, regardless of how much time, energy, effort, and heart we put into the work, many white leaders just can’t see a Black person as their equal.
That marketing agency I worked at didn’t even consider how hurtful it would be and how unsafe their request would make me feel. I wasn’t like them. I didn’t have feelings.
If you shared about Black Lives Matter, but it’s not reflected in your organization, I’m not discrediting your sentiment. I see your gesture, and I appreciate you trying.
That graphic? That was step one.
Actually, that was the prologue.
If you truly believe that Black Lives Matter, show it by using this moment as an opportunity to learn how to support actual Black lives in getting what matters to us.
And really, it’s the same thing that matters to you.
To create a legacy for our children.
To build great products, tell interesting stories, and serve our fellow humans.
Liberty. And justice.
That’s all.
Brandi Riley is an Oakland-based Parenting Influencer, Community Manager, and Educator. Follow her on Instagram at @BrandiJeter.
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Native Son, a Black gay men’s empowerment organization, presented a virtual event to discuss how to be prepared in a COVID-19 infected society.
Founder Emil Wilbekin hosted “The Black Gay Leadership Forum COVID 19: Rebuilding Our Brave New World,” providing a general forum for those interested in topical events with a heavy emphasis on creating a dialogue in light of the pandemic.
The event is a series of national and international annual gatherings since the inception of Native Son four years ago. With most public events shuttered due to safety concerns, it was decided that the Black Gay Leadership Forum would be done remotely and centered around the disease.
“The initial idea was COVID-19 focused; [it was] about how can I bring together a group of Black gay leaders to come up with ideas on how we sustain and support the Black gay community,” Wilbekin told theGrio.
Emil Wilbekin accepts the Advocate Award at the 13th Annual ADCOLOR Awards at JW Marriott Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE on September 08, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Erik Voake/Getty Images for ADCOLOR)
Consisting of five panels in a Zoom video call, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, June 10, the event talked about a wide range of topics such as health/healthcare, social justice, the economy, labor, and trauma.
Being a former media executive turned advocate has its perks, one of them is having prominent gay figures and allies join the conference. The panels had a wide range of talent represented, such as activist DeRay Mckesson of Black Lives Matter fame, CNN’s Don Lemon, other fellow Black gay journalists LZ Granderson and Jonathan Capehart, Valerie Jarrett, the former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, and even singer and songwriter Andra Day, who performed her hit song “Rise Up.”
The 8-hour gay event was vibrant and engaging with a consistent view of about 120 people with 250 who registered, exceeding Wilbekin’s expectations. However, enjoyable as it was, its main purpose was to highlight how disadvantaged Black gay men are in the pandemic.
Free rainbow face masks are distributed during coronavirus pandemic by members of Krakow Equality Centre DOM EQ. Krakow, Poland on May 10th, 2020. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
This year’s pride month coincides with some of the biggest challenges they will face. Some people in the LGBTQ+ community are facing disparities from the pandemic and the intersection of sexually transmitted diseases. It is also worth noting that the virus has impacted African Americans the hardest.
“Black gay men are impacted more by the COVID-19. [There are those with] underline and preexisting conditions. The fact that 50% of our community, roughly, according to the CDC, is HIV+ or living with AIDs,” Wilbekin said.
Amid the beginning of the outbreak, data specific information of LGBTQ+ and Black people were scarce, Wilbekin told theGrio. Knowing his community would not be prioritized, Wilbekin sought ways to bring awareness.
While the COVID-19 pandemic drove most of the conversation, recent developments in race relations, concerns about voting, dealing with isolation, and the civil unrest derived from George Floyd‘s police-involved death received noteworthy mentioning.
As Wilbekin explained at the beginning of the session, Black Lives Matter, which was formed by three queer Black women, implemented a pathway to leadership for Black men regardless of their sexual orientation. Although he did not partake in the weeklong protests, Wilbekin is seeing more Black gay men on the frontline and hopes Native Son could empower others.
The 52-year-old advocate told theGrio he has an interest in doing more virtual events, opting to focus specifically on singular topics and industries.
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Brandi Riley is an Oakland-based Parenting Influencer, Community Manager, and Educator. Follow her on Instagram at 
