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Rep. Barbara Lee: To Mend African American Distrust in COVID-19 Vaccine, Let Black Communities Lead the Way
As the historic campaign to distribute COVID-19 vaccines across the country kicked off this week, many lawmakers, public health experts, and newsrooms across the country have paid special attention to Black Americans’ distrust in a coronavirus vaccine. That distrust has been well-documented, as have its origins: American medicine has a long history of dismissing Black…
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Black Women Democrats Are Pushing Joe Biden to Cancel $50,000 of Loan Debt per Borrower, Citing Increasing Racial Inequality
As the nation waits for congressional lawmakers to reach a resolution on a second stimulus bill—nine months after the coronavirus pandemic began disrupting the lives of Americans around the country—a group of Black female House Democrats is challenging President-elect Joe Biden to offer more substantial relief to student loan borrowers. The charge comes in the…
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NFL Says It Won't Barge Ahead of Frontline Workers, High-Risk People to Get COVID-19 Vaccine
The National Football League says it doesn’t expect to get—and will not ask for—preferential treatment when it comes to taking the COVID-19 vaccine. As the Associated Press reports, representatives from the NFL’s players union and the league said they would not be jumping ahead of high-priority patients in order to get the vaccine. “No one…
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Chicago Officials Attempted to Block Release of Anjanette Young Video; Mayor Lightfoot Denies Prior Knowledge of Erroneous Home Raid
As a harrowing video of Chicago Police conducting an erroneous home raid circulated around the country yesterday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot evaded questions about why her administration had attempted to prevent the bodycam footage from being released. At the center of the video is Anjanette Young, a 50-year-old clinical social worker who had just gotten off…
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Bodycam Footage Shows Chicago Police Handcuffing a Naked Black Woman During Botched Home Raid
For nearly two years, Anjanette Young has been trying to get Chicago police to account for the harm caused to her during a botched raid, in which officers broke down her door with a battering ram, handcuffed her and turned over her home. The entire time, Young, who had just stepped out of the shower…
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Despite Nationwide Attention to Police Brutality, Arrest Rates for Cops Who Kill People On-Duty Remain Appallingly Low
In some ways, 2020 has appeared to mark a turning point in the United States’ long ongoing racial justice movement. This year’s Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police helped galvanize a nationwide reckoning on race that brought greater attention to other police killings, provoked…
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BLM Organizer Blames Mayor Bowser, D.C. Police for Pro-Trump Violence: 'They Were Coming to Harass Us'
As police and city officials continue to investigate the chaos that broke out during last weekend’s pro-Donald Trump rally in Washington, D.C., one Black Lives Matter organizer is calling out local authorities for their failure to properly enforce the protests. “If Black people and people of color was to act like this, they would have…
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Black Service Members Rally Around Defense Secretary Pick Gen. Lloyd Austin as He Faces Uphill Confirmation Process
Black military groups are coming out in support of Gen. Lloyd Austin, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick as secretary of defense, as the retired four-star general faces what may be a tough confirmation process. The issue isn’t necessarily Austin’s credentials. Austin, if confirmed, will be the first Black secretary of defense, and the trailblazing general has…
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Black ER Doctor Says an Arizona Hospital Sidelined Him After He Tweeted About a Lack of Hospital Beds
Dr. Cleavon Gilman, an emergency-medicine physician who has been outspoken about the dire conditions in American hospitals due to the coronavirus pandemic, says he was barred from returning to work at Yuma Regional Medical Center in Arizona after tweeting about shortages in hospital beds last month. According to Gilman, the healthcare staffing company he works…
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Naomi Osaka Stuns in Vogue Cover Debut, Centers Racial Justice: 'There Are Things Going on…That Really Scare Me'
In many respects, tennis player Naomi Osaka has grown up right before our eyes. Known for being understated and shy when she first emerged as a top contender in 2018 with her surprise upset over her idol, Serena Williams, at the U.S. Open, Osaka has come into her own as one of her sport’s brightest…
