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New York State Paid $69 Million for Ventilators It Never Received
An electrical engineer from Silicon Valley claimed via Twitter that he could supply the state of New York with ventilators to help overwhelmed hospitals in need. Despite him having no background in supplying medical equipment, he was awarded a $69 million contract to supply ventilators to the state. Those ventilators never arrived. BuzzFeed reports that…
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Black Student Forced to Sleep in His Car After Being Kicked Out of Campus Housing
A student at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., is accusing school officials of forcing him to sleep in his car and denying him a hearing before suspending him and throwing him out of campus housing. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Russell Parker was hitting golf balls on campus grounds…
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Leader of Utah Surveillance Firm Is a Former KKK Member Involved in a Past Synagogue Shooting
In 2018, Utah officials hired a company to provide massive surveillance of 911 calls, traffic cameras and social media posts. Now, the Utah attorney general’s office will suspend the state’s use of the surveillance system after learning that the founder of the company is a former KKK member. The Salt Lake City Tribune reports that…
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Video Appears to Show Police Officer Repeatedly Punching and Slamming a 14-Year-Old Black Child
Here we go again. Cell phone video footage posted on social media Tuesday appears to show an officer using excessive force in an effort to detain a 14-year-old black child in Rancho Cordova, Calif. In the video, the officer is seen shoving the child’s face into the ground and punching him multiple times as witnesses…
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Baltimore Ordered to Pay Settlements for Two Victims of the City’s Police Misconduct Scandal
Maryland’s highest court ruled unanimously Friday that the city of Baltimore must pay for two settlements relating to the Gun Trace Task Force police corruption scandal in which several Baltimore officers were convicted of crimes ranging from racketeering to planting evidence. The New York Times reports that city officials argued Baltimore should not have to…
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Life Comes at You Fast: Anti-Lockdown Protester Tests Positive for COVID-19
As the battle between medical science and people who think protection from a deadly virus is “tyranny” rages on, an anti-lockdown protest leader in Raleigh, N.C., recently tested positive for the same sickness that the lockdowns are meant to shield people from—the same lockdowns she has spent time protesting against. CBS 17 reports that Audrey…
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Black Agents Make NFL History by Representing the Majority of First Round Draft Picks
It’s wild to think that in 2020 there are still so many industry milestones that black people have yet to cross. For this reason, it’s always encouraging to see racial barriers being broken. So black sports fans should be elated to learn that for the first time in NFL history, more than half of the first-round…
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Jordan’s The Last Dance Doc Prompts Conversation About Kobe Bryant’s Well-Documented Final Season With the Lakers
Everyone is talking about The Last Dance—a docuseries on NBA icon Michael Jordan and his final 1997-98 season with the Chicago Bulls. As of Sunday, four episodes of the 10-part miniseries have aired and have prompted a conversation about late NBA superstar Kobe Bryant’s final season with the Los Angeles Lakers and the unprecedented access…
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Appoints Wife Chirlane McCray to Lead Racial Inequity Task Force
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is getting mixed reactions for his decision to appoint his wife to head a new coronavirus recovery task force aimed at bridging racial inequity by prioritizing aid for the city’s communities of color. According to the New York Post, de Blasio announced Sunday that First Lady Chirlane McCray…
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Oprah Winfrey Surprised Ron Clark Academy Educators With a Guest Appearance in Their Online Conference Call
Imagine being in an online meeting with colleagues and other professionals and not expecting anything spectacular to happen during this meeting of minds when suddenly, BOOM—Oprah Winfrey appears on your screen with words of encouragement. This was what educators for Atlanta’s Ron Clark Academy experienced during a conference call on Friday. WSV-TV 2 reports that…
