The Blackout Coalition | I AM WE GLOBAL

Brooklyn Nets owners will use character, not credit scores, for $2.5 million loan program that helps Black businesses

black-owned business economic opportunity social injustice Jun 24, 2021

Brooklyn Nets owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai are taking the next steps to distribute money from a $50 million commitment to help minority communities.

The sports owners created a $2.5 million loan program that targets Black-owned businesses impacted by Covid-19. The money derives from the Tsai foundation’s Social Justice Fund, which was established last year, and aims to combat economic inequality in Black communities.

The new loans are part of the “EXCELerate” program and catered to owners with credit scores 620 or below. But though applicants will not be judged on the scores, business owners need to be “character-based” eligible. Hence, they’ll need to have good references to secure their loan.

There are two loan types. The “rapid recovery” loan offers immediate funds up to $15,000 and no interest attached. These loans are for businesses that stayed open during the pandemic but need...

#BlackoutDay2020 is today. Here's what you need to know

#blackoutday2020 cnn cnn business social injustice Jul 07, 2020

By Chauncey Alcorn, CNN Business

Updated 1:27 PM ET, Tue July 7, 2020

New York (CNN Business) Tuesday is #BlackOutDay2020, when many Black Americans plan to showcase their combined economic might by refusing to spend any money on anything at all. Those who have to buy something are being encouraged to spend their money at a Black-owned business.

Social media personality and activist Calvin Martyr has spent the last two months promoting the campaign after raising the idea in a video that has been shared thousands of time on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Major companies like Procter & Gamble (PG) and Cisco Systems, organizations like the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta and celebrities like rapper T.I. have expressed support for the initiative on social media.

What is BlackoutDay2020?

The objective of #BlackoutDay2020 is to force politicians and the business world to end...

There's a growing call to defund the police. Here's what it means

black lives matter defund police police brutality social injustice Jun 17, 2020

By Scottie Andrew, CNN

Updated 10:32 AM ET, Wed June 17, 2020

(CNN)There's a growing group of dissenters who believe Americans can survive without law enforcement as we know it. And Americans, those dissenters believe, may even be better off without it.

The solution to police brutality and racial inequalities in policing is simple, supporters say: Just defund police.

It's as straightforward as it sounds: Instead of funding a police department, a sizable chunk of a city's budget is invested in communities, especially marginalized ones where much of the policing occurs.

The concept's been a murmur for years, particularly following the protests against police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri, though it seemed improbable in 2014.

But it's becoming a shout. With the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police and nationwide protests demanding reform, Minneapolis officials announced their intent to defund and...

Washington, DC paints a giant 'Black Lives Matter' message on the road to the White House

#blackoutday2020 black lives matter cnn social injustice Jun 06, 2020

By AJ Willingham, CNN

Updated 8:50 PM ET, Fri June 5, 2020

Washington, DC is painting a message in giant, yellow letters down a busy DC street ahead of a planned protest this weekend: BLACK LIVES MATTER.

The massive banner-like project spans two blocks of 16th Street, a central axis that leads southward straight to the White House. Each of the 16 bold yellow letters spans the width of the two-lane street, creating an unmistakable visual easily spotted by aerial cameras and virtually anyone within a few blocks.

City workers began painting "black lives matter" in yellow paint on Friday on 16th Street in Washington, D.C.

The painters were contacted by Mayor Muriel Bowser and began work early Friday morning, the mayor's office told CNN. Bowser has officially deemed the section of 16th Street bearing the mural "Black Lives Matter Plaza," complete with a new street sign.

Bowser told reporters outside of St John's Church next to Lafayette Park that...

'Black lives matter': Facebook, Netflix, Peloton and other companies take a stand as protests sweep America

#blackoutday2020 cnn facebook georgefloyd social injustice Jun 01, 2020

By Michelle Toh, CNN Business

Updated 1:38 PM ET, Mon June 1, 2020

Hong Kong (CNN Business)Facebook is donating $10 million to groups fighting racial inequality as mass protests sweep across the United States after an unarmed black man died at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "We stand with the black community," CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post late Sunday, adding the Silicon Valley tech firm to a growing list of companies that have responded to the protests with condemnations of racism, calls for solutions to the escalating discord in the country and promises to address diversity and inclusion at their businesses.

Twitter, Nike, Netflix, Disney and other firms have also weighed in.Zuckerberg added, though, that Facebook needs to do more to keep people safe and avoid promoting bias as it faces scrutiny for how it is handling online discussion of the protests.

"I know...

Black women have to work around 18 months to earn as much as white men do in a year

black women social injustice wage gap Jul 31, 2017

By Eshe Nelson

Economics & Markets Reporter

In the US, the gender pay gap is narrowing. But progress on equal pay is not itself equal. To earn the same amount as white men in 2016, black women will have had to keep working until around today, July 31, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

On average, black women are paid only 67 cents on the dollar relative to white non-Hispanic men, even after accounting for education, work experience, and location. They also earn less than white non-Hispanic women, as EPI analysts wrote in a recent blog post:

Despite the large gender disadvantage faced by all women, black women were near parity with white women in 1979. However in 2016, white women’s wages grew to 76 percent of white men’s, compared to 67 percent for black women relative to white men—a racial difference of 9 percentage points. The trend is going the wrong way—progress is slowing for black women.

Black women are hit...

Brooklyn Nets owners will use character, not credit scores, for $2.5 million loan program that helps Black businesses

#BlackoutDay2020 is today. Here's what you need to know

What is BlackoutDay2020?

There's a growing call to defund the police. Here's what it means

Washington, DC paints a giant 'Black Lives Matter' message on the road to the White House

'Black lives matter': Facebook, Netflix, Peloton and other companies take a stand as protests sweep America

Black women have to work around 18 months to earn as much as white men do in a year

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