If you’re black and looking for a hotel in Portland, Ore., you might want to stay away from the Residence Inn by Marriott Portland Downtown/Convention Center. Unless, of course, you’re willing to agree to their “no party policy,” which a new $300,000 lawsuit claims is only required for black guests.
Let’s support black businesses through libations! According to The Root, the annual Kwanzaa Crawl helps generate $250,000 for black businesses in Brooklyn and Harlem in New York City.
Kwanzaa, the week-long holiday celebrating black culture, heritage, and family, is the theme for the yearly bar crawl that takes place in New York City in the neighborhood of Harlem and the borough of Brooklyn. New York’s fourth annual Kwanzaa Crawl kicked off with a ceremony recognizing the holiday’s seven core principals of African heritage that include unity, self-determination, and purpose.
As listed on the Kwanzaa Crawl website, The crawl is “a one-day event that brings people of the African diaspora together to support Black-owned businesses in their communities. Heading into our 4th annual year, we have hosted over 8,000 crawlers. We’ve expanded from 17 Black-owned businesses in Brooklyn in our inaugural year to over 30 businesses in Brooklyn and Harlem, last year, cumulatively raising over $250,000 for these businesses.”
The Kwanzaa Crawl was conceived by sisters Kerry Coddett and Krystal Stark who aim to demonstrate the black buying power while operating under the seven principles of Kwanzaa. It also brings awareness to black-owned businesses while supporting the local black economy in the process.
The Kwanzaa Crawl takes place on the first day of the holiday based on the principle of Umoja: Unity: To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race. This year’s theme was “Black to the Future.”
“Half of the business we collaborate with are women-led. Last year, we had over 4,100 Crawlers generate over $250,000 in one day for participating businesses. This year we expect about 5,000 participants to take the streets to build community and economic empowerment in real time.”
Picture this: crawlers are divided into 65 teams each led by a “turnt” tour guide with a music-playing bullhorn, 5,000 people round-robin from bar to bar, in two different boroughs, at the same exact time. Teams split up, criss-cross, and join up to make bigger ones in an 8-hour day full of fun.” Coddett and Stark told The Root.
“We think it’s important to keep the ‘Kwanzaa’ in the Kwanzaa Crawl, because it’s not just a bar crawl, it’s not JUST about partying,” says Krystal. “So we start with setting intentions, letting [the crawlers] know about Kwanzaa, letting them know how this crawl relates to Kwanzaa, and how they can carry out the principles throughout the rest of the year and not just a one-day event,” adds Stark.
PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Former Obama housing secretary Julián Castro on Thursday ended his run for president that pushed the 2020 field on immigration and swung hard at rivals on the debate stage but never found a foothold to climb from the back of the pack.
“I’m so proud of the campaign we’ve run together. We’ve shaped the conversation on so many important issues in this race, stood up for the most vulnerable people, and given a voice to those who are often forgotten,” Castro said in an online video. “But with only a month until the Iowa caucuses, and given the circumstances of this campaign season, I have determined that it simply isn’t our time.”
The video continues, “So today it’s with a heavy heart and with profound gratitude, that I will suspend my campaign for president. To all who have been inspired by our campaign, especially our young people, keep reaching for your dreams — and keep fighting for what you believe in.” It concludes, “¡Ganaremos un día!” — which translates to “We will win one day!”
Castro, who launched his campaign in January, dropped out after failing to garner enough support in the polls or donations to make recent Democratic debates. A former San Antonio mayor who was the only Latino in the race, Castro had stalled for most of his campaign around 1% in polls and entered October low on money.
Castro, 45, was among the youngest in the running at a moment when the party’s ascendant left wing is demanding generational change. And as the grandson of a Mexican immigrant, Castro said he recognized the meaning of his candidacy in the face of President Donald Trump’s inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric and hardline policies on the U.S.-Mexico border.
But he labored not to be pigeonholed as a single-issue candidate. Castro made the attention-getting choice of Puerto Rico as his first campaign stop, recited the names of black victims killed in high-profile police shootings and was the first in the field to call for Trump’s impeachment.
But his sagging poll numbers never budged. He was often eclipsed by another Texan in the race who dropped out this fall, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, and another young former mayor, Pete Buttigieg of South Bend. His campaign and supporters, meanwhile, grumbled that Castro didn’t get due credit for taking out-front positions.
Trying to show he could go to-to-toe with Trump, Castro swung for big moments on debate stages, and flirted with a much-needed breakout in June after confronting O’Rourke over not supporting decriminalization of illegal border crossings.
But turning his sights on Biden on a later stage brought swift backlash. During the September debate in Houston, Castro appeared to touch on concerns about the age of the then-76-year-old former vice president and added a parting shot at him.
“I’m fulfilling the legacy of Barack Obama, and you’re not,” Castro said.
Castro — who was Obama’s housing secretary in his second term — denied taking a personal dig at Biden as others in the field condemned the exchange. Three days later, Castro lost one of his three backers in Congress, Rep. Vicente González of Texas, who switched his endorsement to Biden.
Castro had warned supporters in a fundraising appeal that failing to make the November debate stage would spell the end of his campaign. He needed to hit at least 3 percent polling in four early state or national polls but didn’t get even one.
What is next for Castro is unclear. Back home in Texas, Democrats had long viewed Castro as their biggest star in waiting and some have urged him to run for governor as the state trends more diverse and liberal.
Castro was pegged as a rising Democratic star after being elected as mayor of the nation’s seventh-largest city at age 34, and he was on the short list for Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016. But he swa
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The post Democrat Julián Castro drops out of 2020 presidential race appeared first on theGrio.
Let’s support black businesses through libations! According to The Root, the annual Kwanzaa Crawl helps generate $250,000 for black businesses in Brooklyn and Harlem in New York City.
Kwanzaa, the week-long holiday celebrating black culture, heritage, and family, is the theme for the yearly bar crawl that takes place in New York City in the neighborhood of Harlem and the borough of Brooklyn. New York’s fourth annual Kwanzaa Crawl kicked off with a ceremony recognizing the holiday’s seven core principals of African heritage that include unity, self-determination, and purpose.
As listed on the Kwanzaa Crawl website, The crawl is “a one-day event that brings people of the African diaspora together to support Black-owned businesses in their communities. Heading into our 4th annual year, we have hosted over 8,000 crawlers. We’ve expanded from 17 Black-owned businesses in Brooklyn in our inaugural year to over 30 businesses in Brooklyn and Harlem, last year, cumulatively raising over $250,000 for these businesses.”
The Kwanzaa Crawl was conceived by sisters Kerry Coddett and Krystal Stark who aim to demonstrate the black buying power while operating under the seven principles of Kwanzaa. It also brings awareness to black-owned businesses while supporting the local black economy in the process.
The Kwanzaa Crawl takes place on the first day of the holiday based on the principle of Umoja: Unity: To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race. This year’s theme was “Black to the Future.”
“Half of the business we collaborate with are women-led. Last year, we had over 4,100 Crawlers generate over $250,000 in one day for participating businesses. This year we expect about 5,000 participants to take the streets to build community and economic empowerment in real time.”
Picture this: crawlers are divided into 65 teams each led by a “turnt” tour guide with a music-playing bullhorn, 5,000 people round-robin from bar to bar, in two different boroughs, at the same exact time. Teams split up, criss-cross, and join up to make bigger ones in an 8-hour day full of fun.” Coddett and Stark told The Root.
“We think it’s important to keep the ‘Kwanzaa’ in the Kwanzaa Crawl, because it’s not just a bar crawl, it’s not JUST about partying,” says Krystal. “So we start with setting intentions, letting [the crawlers] know about Kwanzaa, letting them know how this crawl relates to Kwanzaa, and how they can carry out the principles throughout the rest of the year and not just a one-day event,” adds Stark.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, the only Latinx candidate in the field, has ended his campaign for president after low polling numbers and difficulty raising the excessive amount of money needed to compete for a chance to govern the country.
