Minnesota Human Rights Department Files Civil Rights Charge, Will Investigate Minneapolis Police Department Over George Floyd’s Death

Say what you will about civil unrest, sometimes it yields results.

Read more...

from The Root https://ift.tt/3dvhkrj

Keke Palmer Urges National Guardsman to March at LA Protest: 'Let the Revolution Be Televised'

Multihyphenate Keke Palmer attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Hollywood on Tuesday, where she was recorded speaking calmly to a National Guardsman instructed to keep the peace.

Read more...

from The Root https://ift.tt/2AxOurC

Black-owned Marijuana Store Robbed During Protests in What Owners Call a “Targeted Attack”

Pure Oasis, the first black-owned marijuana store to open in Massachusetts, was looted early Monday morning in what its owners are calling a “targeted attack.”

Co-owner Kobie Evans told the Boston Globe at least a dozen people entered Pure Oasis after someone broke through the window and opened the front door from the inside around 1:43 a.m.

Evans added that after reviewing security camera footage, they determined the looters ran off with about 2,000 pre-rolled joints and 2,000 pre-packaged containers of marijuana flower worth well over $100,000 at retail prices.

“They were deliberate. They purposefully came just to our shop,” Evans told the Globe. “They were able to get into a secure back room. They knew exactly where they were going.”

The incident did not faze the owners as they reopened Tuesday, although the store did have a boarded-up window. The owners appreciated the support of the local community as it continued to sell marijuana.

“We had a big outpouring of support from the community this morning,” Evans said. “They believe in us and want us around. We all know this wasn’t coming from the community. This was people going through the city and taking advantage of the situation.”

Evans added the irony of being a black owner of a marijuana store that employs people with prior drug convictions, and whose licensure was intended to help address the over-policing of African Americans and Latinos is not lost on him. Yet, the store was targeted amid protests against over-policing.

“Kevin [Hart] and I stand in solidarity with all the people protesting the injustice in Minneapolis and elsewhere,” Evans said. “In no way do we draw any connection between what happened to us and people protesting for a good cause. This is a somewhat isolated incident where a few people exploited the situation for personal gain because someone wanted a free pair of Jordans and some weed to go with it.”

Pure Oasis opened its doors for the first time in March. The store, based in Dorchester, has about 30 employees. Many media outlets have reported that right-wing organizations have been creating chaos and using the protests to loot and attack police to create a race war. In response to the civil unrest around the nation, President Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act.

from Black Enterprise https://ift.tt/3gPffso

New Report Shows Over 21,000 New COVID-19 Cases Recorded Amid Mass Protests

COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus, pandemic, has now killed over 100,000 Americans since the start of the spread with many cities around the country becoming overwhelmed by the growing number of patients with the virus. Despite the growing number of cases and the high risk of infection, many state governments were beginning to open back up to resume the economy. Recently, thousands took to the streets in protest over the recent viral video of a police officer suffocating an unarmed black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis. Now a new report is showing that the protests may be the cause of a second wave of the viral outbreak.

According to data collected by John Hopkins University, the U.S. has now accumulated more than 21,000 new COVID-19 cases as of Monday. While the number is slightly lower than the national average, experts are still concerned by the number of protesters out in the streets, many of them not wearing any face masks for protection.

Now many mayors and local politicians have been urging protesters to get COVID-19 testing in their neighborhoods to protect themselves and their loved ones. Some health experts say being outdoors shouldn’t accelerate the spread.

“The outdoor air dilutes the virus and reduces the infectious dose that might be out there, and if there are breezes blowing, that further dilutes the virus in the air,” Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University told The New York Times. “There was literally a lot of running around, which means they’re exhaling more profoundly, but also passing each other very quickly.”

Others are worried about how marches attract so many people and the virus is still very contagious from person-to-person contact.

“Yes, the protests are outside, but they are all really close to each other, and in those cases, being outside doesn’t protect you nearly as much,” Dr. Markel said to The New York Times. “Public gatherings are public gatherings—it doesn’t matter what you’re protesting or cheering. That’s one reason we’re not having large baseball games and may not have college football this fall.”

 

from Black Enterprise https://ift.tt/2XU0WKp

Sports Reporter Josina Anderson Reportedly Out at ESPN

NFL reporter and insider Josina Anderson will no longer be working at ESPN once her contract ends, according to The New York Post.

New York Post Sports writer Andrew Marchand reported the news on his Twitter account.

NEWS: Josina Anderson is out at ESPN, The Post has learned.https://t.co/evJZzNTP1w

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) June 1, 2020

Marchand previously wrote about the expected news back in February 2020.

After the Super Bowl, I wrote about how ESPN and Josina Anderson might part ways. Now, they are doing so.https://t.co/evJZzNTP1w

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) June 1, 2020

Anderson has been working at the sports network for 9 years. She was named ESPN’s first female NFL insider in 2015. Anderson became engulfed in controversy back in November for her report on the Myles Garrett-Mason Rudolph incident.

Marchand states, “She ran into trouble at times with ESPN executives. After the Myles Garrett incident in which the Browns defensive lineman hit Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph with Rudolph’s helmet, Anderson tweeted, “I would bet Myles Garrett will say he heard Mason Rudolph call him something egregious. Never seen Garrett act like that, ever.”

“She also tweeted out an image in which she said Rudolph grabbed Garrett in a private area. She later apologized for it and said other angles proved her original tweet was incorrect.”

Mistakes need to be owned, and I will own mine here. With the benefit of additional angles, it’s clear my tweet misinterpreted one of the photos taken during the brawl. That’s my fault, I apologize. My goal is to always be completely accurate and fair.

— IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) November 16, 2019

According to Marchand, ESPN veterans Field Yates, Jeremy Fowler, Dan Graziano, and Dianna Russini will help fill the void left by Anderson and the network’s newest reporter, Kimberley Martin, who just joined ESPN in March, coming from Yahoo Sports.

Anderson had made regular appearances on Sunday NFL Countdown, NFL Live, and SportsCenter. Before gaining employment at ESPN, she was a reporter for 6 years with Fox 31 in Denver. She also ran track as a student-athlete at the University of North Carolina.

from Black Enterprise https://ift.tt/3cxWmXo