A new poll released by BlackPac identifies top issues for the black community in the 2020 election, as well as which candidate has majority support.Half of the voters surveyed listed racism and discrimination as the top issues for 2020, and with different states across the nation passing abortion bans, 53 percent of women listed health care as a critical issue. Other listed issues included jobs, education, police accountability, and the environment.Of the 613 black registered voters surveyed nationwide, 97 percent knew the names of two candidates: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. “Name identification, which is driving support for candidates at this point, will be insufficient for decisively winning the black electorate, and subsequently, securing the nomination," said BlackPAC Executive Director Adrianne Shropshire in a press release sent to Blavity. "Candidates must use this critical window to define their campaigns around these concerns.” Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker rounded out the polls top five, and all three had a significant jump in favorability among voters who followed the news closely.“Black voters remain highly motivated to push our country back on track," Shropshire said. "To win the Democratic presidential nomination, candidates must demonstrate to black voters — through policy solutions and moral conviction — an unyielding commitment to halting the rise of bigotry, and curbing widening racial disparities in our economic, healthcare, and education systems.”BlackPac also found the black community was well engaged with the 2020 election; 84 percent said they were closely following the news and 92 percent listed themselves as likely to...

A Florida teen was diagnosed with cancer two months before her prom and went anyway despite her diagnosis. Claudia Medeus of Coral Springs was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in March. The 17-year-old Coral Glades High School student has always had her heart set on attending her senior prom. Nothing, not even cancer, was going to stop her. On the night of her may 18 prom, Medeus got glammed up and ready to go. "I thought the doctors were just messing with me or I was misdiagnosed,” she told The Miami Herald. “And I was also thinking: prom.”  The devastating news sent her into freefall. She thought her life was over and her dreams were out of reach. “Then I started treatment and it made me so sick and there was much risk," she recalled. "I was scared to even go to prom. I just wanted to sink into a black hole forever."But the side effects of her treatment were not enough to deter her. Claudia kept fighting. “After a couple of weeks, I thought, ‘It’s my senior year and I shouldn’t let cancer take my happiness away,’” she said defiantly. Her immune system was weakened drastically due to the cancer and treatment. However, the teen's doctors gave her the green light to go to prom.“When I asked the doctors, it went from, ‘We don’t know to maybe to we’ll see to you can go.’ I was so excited to tell my friends, ‘Hey guys, I’m going to prom!’ At that moment I forgot I had cancer.”Rhabdomyosarcoma is a soft tissue cancer that affects children and teenagers. According to Cancer.gov, the cancer is a type of "sarcoma that is found in the soft tissue (such as muscle), connective tissue (such as tendon or cartilage), or bone."Experts like Hector Rodriguez-Cortes, M.D., medical director of pediatric hematology/oncology at the Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital at Broward Health Medical Center, said treatment for the cancer remains a challenge. Drug resistance to pediatric tumors tends to make the cancer difficult to cure.Despite the long road ahead, Claudia will remain a "funny, bubbly, crazy fun girl" who isn't defined by her...

Reality television personality Jenelle Evans couldn’t take the heat when television host Nessa Diab, Colin Kaepernick’s girlfriend, confronted her for talking mess about her man.The exchange happened during the Teen Mom 2 reunion, which Diab moderated on Monday night. It all started when Evans was asked about her social media argument with Teen Mom OG’s Amber Portwood. The argument stemmed from Evans talking mess about Portwood’s relationship. Evans denied any wrongdoing and Diab called her out for being a hypocrite. View this post on Instagram #PressPlay: #NessaDiab had to school #JenelleEvans real quick about what her man #ColinKaepernick is truly fighting for after she confronted Jenelle about some of her past social media posts!! (📹: @mtv/ @teenmom)A post shared by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom) on May 21, 2019 at 6:58am PDT“I think it’s very interesting because you did exactly that to me,” Diab said. “You said hateful comments on social media about my family. About my man.”Evans also denied saying anything to offend Diab but the host did not let up and provided receipts.“Donald J. Trump unemployment rate is so low, even Colin Kaepernick found a job! ‘Merica!” Evans reportedly wrote. She also accused the former NFL quarterback of disrespecting the troops.“Let’s choose the most disrespected guy in the for our promos,” she wrote in another post. “‘Lets add a slogan about sacrificing, everyone will love it. Let’s choose the man that kneels at our flag Opens a New Window.’ YOU’RE WRONG. I will not be buying Nike anymore… Nike should change their ‘motto’ immediately. Nike needs a new PR person pronto.” Despite the screenshots, Evans continued to profess her innocence.“I’ve never said that. I honestly have no idea who your boyfriend is,” she told Diab.Diab wasn’t having it.“He’s been on set. Please understand something,” she said. “My man used his platform to peacefully protest systemic oppression in our country, specifically police protection against black people. Men, women and children are dying wrongfully dying. People doing this are not being held accountable. I would have appreciated if you would have contacted me.”Diab was calm and collected when she spoke to Evans but it didn’t matter. When Evans realized she wouldn’t be able to finesse Diab, she went full-on Becky.She started to cry and stormed off the set.“I’m done with this bulls**t,” she yelled. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to f**king come here. This is about my storyline and you want to bring up your issues. You got your show.”Evans pulled off her microphone and the tantrum continued.“I have too much f**king s**t going on,” she continued. “F**k everyone. Get me the f**k out of here. F**k all of you. I’m done.” Drama seems to follow Evans everywhere she goes. She was recently fired from the show after her husband murdered the family dog, reports Radar Online.Good...

Today, the organizations I founded, Dignity and Power Now (DPN), in partnership with the Justice Teams Network, are launching a Healing Justice toolkit. We believe that “without healing, there can be no justice” and the launch of this toolkit and the subsequent community trainings are a continuation of our efforts to arm the communities most impacted by state violence with the tools they need to interrupt, respond to and mitigate the harms of violence by law enforcement agencies. The toolkit outlines the principles of Healing Justice, offers guidance to organizers who act as Healing Justice first responders following an act of police brutality and provides a list of Healing Justice practitioners.In this story, I interviewed Guadalupe Chavez, Director of Healing and Wellness at Dignity and Power Now, Cat Brooks, Executive Director of the Justice Teams Network and Juan, whose son was killed in Los Angeles County Jails and who has been through the Healing Justice process.What does”Healing Justice" mean to you?Cat: Healing Justice is an integral element of our collective journey towards liberation. It is extremely traumatic to be Black, brown or indigenous in this country, and we carry that trauma on our backs through the daily functions of our lives. That trauma is exacerbated when we experience violence at the hands of the state. We must simultaneously hold the state accountable, work to dismantle systems of oppression and ensure we are engaging in practices that heal past, present and future traumas. This is the only way to heal our communities and sustain our movements.Guadalupe: Healing Justice is a strategy and a framework to help us get to a world without cages, that is to achieve abolition. Healing Justice invites us to practice experimenting from our radical imaginations to create spaces that uplift the stunning histories of where resilience people of color come from. The Healing Justice work at DPN not only responds to trauma, but it also has created ongoing programming where families and directly impacted people have a place to land safely when trauma occurs. These are monthly and seasonal meetings as well as ongoing support that looks like therapy, massage, reiki and most importantly, spaces where families can connect with each other and strategize together. Organizing is a part of healing, too.What can members of the community practically do to provide Healing Justice support to their network?Guadalupe:Build your network of Healing Justice practitioners. By building strong relationships with healers, you build the foundation for long term sustainability of Healing Justice work.Find trainings in local churches, community organizations, community clinics and fire departments offering free of cost training in skills such as (but not limited to) CPR, community emergency response teams, herbal medic trainings and mediation.Talk to your neighbors and family! Building community with those closest to you can set up a community for success when emergencies come up in your neighborhood. You can help each other while evaporating the myth that we can’t trust anyone! The key to Healing Justice is knowing that healing can happen within community. We do not have to do it alone!Connect with local healing circles or community healing sessions. If you don’t know where to find them, start your own meeting that centers uplifting each other’s resilience.Cat:Hold monthly healing events for impacted communities.Train others in your healing craft.Insert Healing Justice into all movement conversations.Have Healing Justice “kits” ready to rapidly deploy in case of emergency.The toolkit talks about trauma faced by our communities and centers healing in our work for justice. This is hard work, tell me more about what brought you to the work and why you think it’s critical?Guadalupe: Growing up in East Los Angeles, I experienced my community, loved ones, including my own brother be over policed. I saw and felt the impact that being targeted by state violence had on my loved ones. I knew at a very young age that sleeping and waking to the sound of helicopters was not normal; that seeing more cops on school campuses than there were trees and grass for students to play in was not normal or just. I became very interested on the impact on my loved ones mental and physical health; addiction to substances was a coping mechanism to the violence young people experienced — all the witnessing I did for my own loved ones pained me greatly. And now I am in a position to understand on a larger scale these impacts of state violence on the spiritual and emotional levels as well. This work is a matter of life or death for me. I am very clear that only through healing can one feel justice. The families we work with teach me this every month at our monthly family meeting.How do you think this toolkit will impact the fight to bring justice to our communities?Guadalupe: By centering Healing Justice in all of our work, we make the fight against state violence more sustainable for our families and ourselves. Movement work has to include the healing and reclamation of our dignity in a holistic sense that encompasses our minds, bodies and spirits.Cat: We walk with [the families], and that is a long walk because while the story is in the media for a week, maybe two, for families, this is years and years and years. It never ends.The pain never ends. As much as we need rapid response physically, [we] also need to deal with the trauma not only inflicted on families, but also on the community.Can you tell me about the history of Healing Justice, where this approach came from and what we can learn from early practitioners?Guadalupe: The lineage of Healing Justice as we know it in social movements in the U.S. have been led by the brilliant Cara Page and organizations in the south, such as Kindred and SONG. The history of Healing Justice in the south is rich and to be learned from. At DPN we learn and create from the understanding that healing justice is not a new phenomena - rather healing has been center to organizing communities for generations. We come from rich cultures where healers have often been center to how communities are organized. For example, shamans, elders and traditional healers have been at the forefront of strategizing for battle as well as healing their communities. What we learn from both the history of the role of healers in communities as well as the more contemporary history of healing justice in the past 20 years is that forms of practicing our resilience are key to movement work today. Dance, ceremony and rituals, connecting to the earth, talking circles around fire, celebrating culture and drumming are all accessible ways of healing while doing community organizing. The practices are the heart of any community, so why not make it the heart of our organizing work?How will this toolkit be helpful to practitioners and people on the front lines?Guadalupe: My great hope is that this toolkit is read by practitioners and adapted to their communities needs. We have an example of this already happening. After a Healing Justice training was given to a wonderful group called the Orange County Rapid Response Network in 2018, they became intrigued about our healing justice programming at DPN and attended a wellness clinic we held at Chucho’s Justice Center in Inglewood. They then took the wellness clinic model and adapted it to their community in Santa Ana, California. I had the pleasure of attending their first wellness clinic a few weeks ago, and I was literally floored with happiness and gratitude. This is exactly why I do this work — to share the understanding and the steps to incorporating healing justice in other people’s work.Cat: The toolkit will help people on the frontlines remember to center Healing Justice in all of our work. Often times it can get so hectic and we are so in the moment in responding to crisis, we forget that we need healing with the organizing to sustain our work and also to help heal the trauma of the communities we are trying to serve. We hope this toolkit provides an adaptable framework for organizations and organizers that allows them to easily newly integrate and/or evolve healing justice as a central tenet to their work.We live in a society where Black and brown people live in a state of fear. We are likely to have a family member or a loved one be a target of state sanctioned violence. What tools do we put in place so that we can respond effectively and strategically?Guadalupe: We build community; we create sustainable spaces and programs that can “be ready” for folks to plug into when there is a crisis; and we train ourselves and our communities in healing modalities that will help us lessen our dependency on the state to respond to crisis in our communities.Cat: The Justice Teams Network (JTN) is rooted in rapid response. Specifically, we utilize the Anti Police-Terror Projects rapid response model for incidents of state violence, and our aim is for the Healing Justice toolkit to be utilized in a similar fashion. That said, the key to rapid response is to be ready to actually respond when the moment arrives.  That is why JTN provides a range of trainings to our anchor orgs, families and grassroots organizations to ensure there are cohorts of people prepared to engage in strategic, tactical (and now healing) ways. We keep databases of the people we have trained so we can easily reach people trained and invested in interrupting, responding and mitigating the harmful impacts of state violence.Given our community faces state sanctioned violence on the streets everyday, what role can healing justice play in protecting our people given the real and present danger?Cat: Integrating Healing Justice into the core foundation of our work means it is ongoing regardless of instances of state violence. If done right, not only are our communities facing state sanctioned violence everyday — they are also engaging in healing justice everyday, be that morning rituals, daily meditations, pop up clinics outside of jails or holding vigils at sites of trauma.How will our communities be able to learn about healing justice?Guadalupe: As part of launching this toolkit, we will host trainings in Los Angeles, Bakersfield and Oakland in the coming months. If there are organizers elsewhere in the states who’d like to adopt this toolkit, they can get in touch with us at DPN.And now I’d like to turn to Juan Correa Sr., whose son, Juan Jr. was killed at Mens Centra Jail.Juan, can you tell us about your experience with healing justice?Juan: Dignity and Power Now was incredibly supportive of me when my son was killed. In fact, they met with my entire family and have been at the center of our care over the last several years. My family and I have been a part of the family group lead by Michele Infante. We have received body work and we have had counseling sessions. I believe I would have spiraled if Dignity and Power Now weren't supporting us all the way...

Higher education experts are hoping billionaire Robert F. Smith's generous donation to nearly 400 Morehouse graduates creates a ripple effect around the nation. According to a report from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Black students tend to procure the most student debt compared to their white counterparts. Former Spelman College President Beverly Tatum told the paper more people must help students like Smith. Robert F. Smith is a tech investor and founder of Vista Equity Partners. He is considered to be the richest Black person in the nation with a net worth of nearly $6 billion.  However, his $40 million grant helping the recent graduating class is just a drop of water compared to the $1.5 trillion student debt total. “I hope [Smith] starts off a trend,” Tatum said Monday. Two-thirds of Morehouse College students received financial aid from the federal government. Many graduate with an estimated $100,000 in debt. At the start of the year, the tech businessman gave the college $1.5 million in funds for scholarships and a park on campus in January. Yasmin Farahi, policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending, told the AJC the student debt crisis affects parents and family members as well grads."It’s also worth recognizing the impact it has on the lives of their family members who have co-signed on these loans or would otherwise be supporting these graduates as they worked to get out from under their student debt. Student loan debt is an intergenerational problem.”On Sunday, Smith supporters called out media mogul Oprah Winfrey for seemingly not doing enough. She clapped back writing, "@spiritualceo1111already paid 13m in scholarships. Have put over 400 men thru @morehouse1867."Black celebrities and wealthy individuals giving back isn't a new phenomenon. People like Kevin Hart, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Stormzy and countless others have given back. However, there is still more that needs to be...

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives took a significant step toward addressing pregnancy discrimination in the workplace and ensuring the health and economic security of pregnant and parenting workers by reintroducing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, bipartisan legislation that would clarify and strengthen existing law. While pregnancy discrimination has been illegal for more than 40 years, pregnant working people are still discriminated against and denied reasonable accommodations – across the country – even at the nation’s largest private-sector employer.For years, pregnant workers at Walmart have worked in fear – fear of losing their jobs and fear for the health of their pregnancies. I, Girshriela Green, was one of them. In 2013, I became pregnant while working as a Walmart associate in Los Angeles. I was terrified to tell my manager the news. I worried she would let me go at a time when my family needed that income the most.That fear led me to action. I became involved with a group called OUR Walmart and began connecting with other associates across the country who had their own stories. Multiple workers shared their experiences of near miscarriages due to lack of accommodations, and one woman was forced to take unpaid leave, which left her struggling to pay the bills. What started as a network of mutual support grew into a campaign called “Respect the Bump.” We came together with our co-workers and allies to pressure Walmart to publicly commit to change their policy. Walmart responded by allowing accommodations for workers with high-risk pregnancies, an incremental win that we would build on years later. 40 years earlier I, Judy Lichtman, worked in my role at the Women’s Legal Defense Fund to turn adversity into activism as well. In 1976, six male Supreme Court justices ruled in General Electric Company v. Gilbert that pregnancy discrimination was not illegal sex discrimination. Their terrible ruling was at odds with how many of us in the legal, judicial and policy community had interpreted the Civil Rights Act.We reeled for a moment, and then we got to work. Just days after the Gilbert decision, civil rights and women’s organizations, disability rights groups, labor unions, and many more, united to form the Campaign to End Discrimination Against Pregnant Workers. After two years of organizing, drafting and advocating, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) landed on President Jimmy Carter’s desk. It was signed into law more than 40 years ago.The law clarified that pregnancy discrimination is indeed sex discrimination – and it’s illegal. In addition, the law requires employers to treat pregnant workers the same way they would treat workers with temporary illnesses or disabilities.Our individual experiences show that there are many ways to be an activist. Though the nature of our work is different, our cause is shared. Our experiences prove for millions of activists today that it’s possible to move from outrage to mobilization to meaningful change. The decades-long fight to secure rights for pregnant workers is a timely and significant example – full of challenges, setbacks and life-changing success. And that fight is not over.Despite the PDA providing protections for millions of working people in the decades since its passage, the limitations of the law have also become clear. As illustrated by the experiences of Walmart employees, pregnancy discrimination persists in every state and industry, with devastating consequences. It persists within a culture that tolerates a gender wage gap, pervasive sexual harassment and a maternal health crisis that is especially devastating for Black women. Because of how the law has been interpreted, some employers still do not provide pregnant workers who need them with reasonable accommodations.That is why the “Respect the Bump” campaign remains so important, just as the PDA coalition was decades earlier. Earlier this year, the campaign achieved another partial victory when Walmart expanded their pregnancy policy beyond high-risk pregnancies, to give all workers who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or recovering from childbirth access (though not a guarantee) to Temporary Alternative Duty. OUR Walmart has fought for other significant changes at the retailer, resulting in a new paid parental leave policy and higher wages. These activists – the majority of whom are women – are a testament to the power of organizing.As all activists know, this work is a cycle of success and setback. Nationwide, Walmart store managers continue to break the law, and in September 2018, the company was sued by the EEOC for alleged pregnancy discrimination. While some leading employers are calling for change, too many other large companies and major retailers continue to deny their workers protections and reasonable accommodations that they need.While women who come together to stand against injustice are powerful, we shouldn’t have to stand alone. Everyone can use their voice to condemn illegal and unethical actions by employers and pressure companies like Walmart to comply with existing laws and adopt stronger policies. We must advocate for Congress to prioritize and pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to help prevent employers from forcing pregnant workers out of the labor force and require them to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers who simply want to do their jobs.  And so we will continue to fight – across stores, across coalitions, and across the country – for the dignity and equality of all working people. In the fight against pregnancy discrimination, it’s clear that we all have a role to play.Girshriela Green is an online to field organizer with the organization United for Respect and a founder of “Respect the Bump,” a network of pregnant moms and people who have had issues with pregnancy who work at Walmart and are demanding better treatment.Judy Lichtman is senior adviser and past president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace, reproductive health and rights, access to quality, affordable health care, and policies that help all people meet the dual demands of work and...

The eighteenth-century English poet, Alexander Pope, said: “to err is human, to forgive is divine.” It seems Black America has been seeking divinity for centuries. From the earliest days I can remember, my grandmother and the ‘saints’ in the Pentecostal church I grew up in taught us the importance of forgiveness. One of the most emphasized verses in the venerated Lord’s prayer was, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Matthew 6:12). We were taught that it is our Christian duty to forgive people, regardless of how they have wronged us. After all, Jesus forgave those who murdered Him. Thus, we’re supposed to love and forgive the most vile, racist white person because “they know not what they do.” Life has taught me that they know exactly what they’re doing.As a minister, I believe in biblical teachings regarding forgiveness, however, I also believe they have been misunderstood and taught in a manner that makes Black folks believe that unless we immediately forgive those who have invested in our terror, murder, and dehumanization, we risk becoming the same heartless, immoral creatures they are. There is a need to comprehend and rationalize trauma before we can jump knee deep into forgiveness, which psychologists say is a five-step process. One important step in that process, according to clinical psychologist Dr. Roya R. Rad, is to “let the feeling be felt.” In other words, feelings attached to the damaging behavior must be brought to the surface and processed. This includes dealing with anger, grief, anxiety, frustration, and trauma. Remember, this is only step two.Yet, somehow, Black people are expected to immediately forgive violence done to them by the state, government, or individual white people. America disallows the full humanity and emotions of Black people and demands that our suffering be done phlegmatically so the expression of our despair does neither offends the sensibilities of white folks nor sparks their guilt or fragility. Our instantaneous forgiveness of racial violence perpetrated against us is white America’s unearned expectation. To do anything less would be callous and victimizing to our oppressors.When Denmark Vesey planned a major slave revolt in the city of Charleston, SC in 1822, he and his co-conspirators were tortured and executed. A white mob burned down the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where Vesey was a member. In 2015, after white supremacist Dylan Roof murdered 9 people in that same church, the victims' families were asked to forgive the white racist terrorist. The ritual of instant declarations of forgiveness for racial violence and injustice only serves the interest of white supremacy. Black rage is warranted, justified, and needed to express the full humanity of Black people and to shock a system of anti-black bigotry coasting along on cruise control.After 9-year-old Jeremiah Harvey was falsely accused of sexual assault by Teresa Klein, a white woman, she offered a half-hearted ‘apology’ because video evidence proved that Harvey’s book bag grazed her in a corner store in Brooklyn as opposed to him grabbing her buttocks as she feloniously reported to the police. Klein neither bothered to learn Harvey’s name nor apologize directly to him, stating in a television interview, “Young man, I don’t know your name, but I’m sorry.” Yeah right.When asked if he accepted her apology, Harvey boldly declared, “I don’t forgive this woman, and she needs help.” After mounting pressure, young Jeremiah, seemingly being coached by his mother, had a change of heart two days later, answering, “Yes. Yes I do” after being asked if he forgave Klein on Good Morning America. How shameful that Jeremiah was forced to declare forgiveness a mere five days after being falsely labeled as a sexual predator, one of the most traumatic experiences in his young life.Forgiveness, as taught by the Black church should include all the time needed to endure the difficult process from the moment of trauma to the moment of healing. It should be a meaningful and genuine expression of restoration on the terns of the aggrieved and not a cheap means of self medication to cope with the commonplace struggles of Black life in racist America. It most certainly should never be used to foster passivity and dilute a justified expression of righteous indignation in the face of white supremacy and injustice. Malcolm X said, “The greatest miracle Christianity has achieved in America is that the Black man in white Christian hands has not grown violent. It is a miracle that 22 million Black people have not risen up against their oppressors in which they would have been justified by all moral criteria and even by the democratic traditions.”Forgiveness should never be used to salve white fears that justified Black anger will hold them accountable for their long and treacherous history of beating, raping, murdering, burning, imprisoning, dehumanizing, and denying basic rights to generations of Black Americans. I’m looking forward to the day when an aggrieved Black person suffering unjust pain and loss at the hands of a racist cop or white supremacist slaps the microphone out of their face and walks out when a reporter is dispassionate enough to ask them the asinine question they wouldn’t dare ask a white person in the immediate hours after a traumatic experience, “do you...

Barefoot is the largest wine brand in the world and also strives to be the most inclusive brand in the wine industry. The brand has a range of diverse products that caters to all tastes and preferences and a belief that life is more fun when people come together in celebration of their similarities and differences.That’s why its new platform, Project Purple Light, is promoting inclusivity in an authentic and flavorful way through its “Better Together” narrative to organically connect consumers with the brand.Through Project Purple Light, a first-of-its-kind campaign for the wine industry, Barefoot will collaborate with Black women to highlight enjoyable, cultural and empowering moments of women living unapologetically out loud in their communities.Entrepreneurs, leaders, influencers and dope, everyday women will be recognized through magical moments of authentic fun captured via photographs and video “crowd-sourced” from social media.The content will be included in an interactive art gallery experience at Summit21 in Atlanta, GA and online with a call to action to black female consumers to “Come As You ART.”Barefoot is also donating $10,000 to the Black Art Futures Fund, a donor advised fund of the Brooklyn Community Foundation, that supports grants for art-based projects to preserve Black arts & culture across the country.Want to be involved and learn more about Barefoot’s Project Purple Light experience? Submit your photo or video via Instagram, Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #ProjectPurpleLight AND tagging @BarefootWine for a chance to be featured as art in Barefoot’s online gallery and live installation at Summit21!Please also review the terms and conditions for participation: https://barefoot.wine/PPL.This article is brought to you in partnership with...

The Sacramento Police Department is under fire for placing a plastic bag over a 12-year-old boy’s head while they were arresting him.Black Lives Matter Sacramento posted footage of the arrest on their Facebook page. The boy was allegedly arrested after he attended a festival and was chased down by security, according to Rolling Out.The unidentified minor is heard yelling at the officers but he didn’t physically struggle. The bag on his head is called a spit sock and it is typically used when offenders spit on or towards the police. It is unclear whether the boy did the aforementioned. The boy, who reportedly suffers from respiratory issues, told the officers he couldn’t breathe. The kid is about 4’10” and 110 pounds.Several witnesses are heard yelling and demanding to know why the preteen was receiving this treatment. The boy’s family have retained the services of Mark T. Harris, an attorney who works for civil rights lawyer Ben Crump’s firm.Harris expressed his outrage in an opinion piece for the CBM Newswire.“Shocking. Shameful. Unconscionable. Intolerable,” he wrote. “These are just a few of the terms used in reaction to word that a 12-year-old child was recently restrained by Sacramento police officers who then placed a white plastic bag over his head and shoulders.”He also accused Sacremento Chief of Police Daniel Hahn, who is Black, of turning his back on his community.“Our police chief is ‘blue’ and not Black,” Harris wrote. “In addition, it appears to many of us that when you have as many incidents of questionable police conduct directed towards one singular demographic group, within an entire community, the “cat needs to be let out of the bag.” The Sacramento police department appears to be representative of a “bad orchard” as opposed to a few ‘bad apples.’”It is unknown if any charges were filed against the...

A suspect connected with the shooting of a trans rights advocate has been apprehended by police and charged for her murder. The victim identified as Michelle “Tamika” Washington was a longtime activist in the transgender community in Philadelphia. According to CBS Philadelphia, the woman was gunned down Sunday and found on the 3400 block of North 11th Street, around 5 a.m. She was discovered with several gunshots---- including shots to her head and body, police said. Washington was transported to Temple University’s medical facility and was pronounced dead moments after arriving. Colleagues who knew Washington mourned her on various social media platforms. Abdul-Aliy Muhammad wrote a touching tribute to the victim on Facebook. He described his friend as a positive person who had a great impact on people."She has left an extraordinary mark on the lives she has intersected and her flame, eternal," he wrote Monday. Michelle “Tamika” Washington, you matter, as do your dreams and legacy. We speak your name.#SayHerName#BlackLivesMatter#BlackTransLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/BDXdCbRv42— Abdul-Aliy A. Muhammad (@MxAbdulAliy) May 20, 2019According to Executive Director of Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs, Amber Hikes, a man believed to have carried out the shooting was arrested by police Monday around 9 p.m. Authorities and the District Attorney's office charged the suspect with several offenses including murder, possession of a firearm with an altered manufacturer's number, no license and possession of an instrument of crime.“I am devastated by the senseless murder of yet another one of our trans sisters," she said in a statement. "Tamika was a brilliant and outgoing member of Philadelphia’s transgender community, known for her advocacy and mentorship, and she will be profoundly missed. The epidemic of violence that continues to plague the transgender community—disproportionately impacting trans women of color— is heartbreaking, frightening, and infuriating. The Office of LGBT Affairs will continue combating hate and providing support for the LGBTQ community in Tamika’s memory."Chair of the Mayor’s Commission on LGBT Affairs, Raquel Evita Saraswati, spoke on behalf of the mayor stating the commission will continue to fight against "queerphobic violence."“Our community is nothing without black trans women, and we will mourn the loss of Michelle ‘Tamika’ Washington today and in the years to come," she said. "We pledge to not let her loss be in vain, and to stand with those who both endure and combat this violence on a daily basis.”Washington is said to be the first Black trans woman killed in Philadelphia in 2019. She is the fifth trans woman murdered in the nation this year.The victim's death comes days after the slaying of Dallas, Texas, transwoman Muhlaysia Booker. Claire Degato in Cleveland was also killed in the past week. The 23-year-old was found dead after speaking out against a group of attackers who ambushed her last...

Billionaire investor Robert F. Smith made headlines when he pledged to pay off the student debt of Morehouse College's Class of 2019. Per an earlier Blavity report, the gift totals $40 million.Whether you graduated college with loans or not, one thing remains true: debt accrued by graduating seniors has become a catalyst for stress and anxiety as students enter the "real world." Via the Institute for College Access and Success, The New York Times reported that approximately 66% of seniors at four-year colleges amassed an average of $28,650 apiece in 2017. That's almost a $16,000 increase from two decades prior when 58% of students graduated with student loan credit to their name.Smith's announcement has shed light on the discrepancies between Black scholars and their white counterparts. Evidence from The Brookings Institution revealed that Black individuals graduating from four-year universities leave campus with an average of $7,400 more in loans than white students at those same schools.  Student debt problems have become such a concern that even 2020 presidential candidates have discussed the topic on the campaign trail. Blavity reported in April that Sen. Elizabeth Warren proposed a plan that would nullify the debt of 80% of Black borrowers. Her initiative will also create a $50 billion fund for HBCUs and other institutions that cater to the minority population. This might not come as a surprise to some, but a February report by Forbes revealed that California, Texas, Florida and New York take the top spots as the highest states where scholars have outstanding student loan obligations. Out of the $1.56 trillion total student loan debt in the country, borrowers owe a total of $340 million in just those four states alone. As more students ready themselves for enrollment into college and others start their post-graduate lives, it's time to finally have a serious conversation about this...

An article detailing an experience Robert F. Smith had with racism has resurfaced in light of the billionaire's pledge to Morehouse students.A Twitter user uncovered a Forbes article in which Smith, who recently pledged to pay off the student loan debts of 400 Morehouse graduates, recalled a white man’s blatant display of bigotry.  Smith was out to dinner with an unnamed white man. When he reached for the check, his dinner guest had a shocking response."I can't have a Black guy buy me dinner," the man allegedly told the billionaire.Smith dealt with racism as he built his career but it didn’t deter him from pursuing success."It meant we had to work harder," he told the magazine. "And that's what we did." Smith shocked the world when he told Morehouse College’s 2019 graduating class he would pay off their student loans on Sunday. During his commencement speech, he pushed the young men to reach for their own version of the American dream, according to Intelligencer.“I want my class to look at these alumnus, these beautiful Morehouse brothers, and let’s make sure that every class has the same opportunity going forward,” Smith said. “Because we are enough to take care of our own community. We are enough to ensure we have all the opportunities of the American Dream.”He also promoted self-determination for the Black community.“Success is only real if our community is protected, our potential is realized, and if our most valuable assets — our people — find strength in owning the businesses that provide economic stability in our community,” he...