National News - Page 144

VP Kamala Harris Tests Negative, Returns to White House

By Jasmine Wright Vice President Kamala Harris tested negative for Covid-19 on Monday, the vice president’s spokesperson said in a statement, nearly a week after she tested positive. Harris will return to the White House on Tuesday, her spokesperson Kirsten Allen noted, and wear a “well-fitting mask” while around others for an additional five days. “Today, the vice president tested negative for Covid-19 on a rapid antigen test. The Vice President will return to work, in person, tomorrow. Following (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines, she will wear a well-fitting mask while around others through the 10-day period.” CDC guidelines

Tulsa Race Massacre Reparations Lawsuit Allowed to Proceed

An Oklahoma judge ruled Monday that a lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre can proceed, bringing new hope for some measure of justice for three survivors of the deadly racist rampage who are now over 100 years old and were in the courtroom for the decision. Tulsa County District Court Judge Caroline Wall ruled against a motion to dismiss the suit filed by civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons in 2020. The Tulsa-based attorney said after Wall announced her ruling that it is critical for living survivors Lessie Benningfield Randle, 107, Viola Fletcher, 107, and Hughes Van Ellis, 101.

Push Grows to Make Harriet Tubman Day a Federal Holiday

By Julianne McShane Jeannine Cook has been fascinated with Harriet Tubman ever since she picked up a book about the abolitionist in her school library as a child. Cook, 38, learned everything she could about Tubman’s life and how she led over 100 enslaved people to freedom before serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. In Tubman, Cook saw the embodiment of what women, Black people and people with disabilities could achieve at a time when equal rights for all had not yet entered the American lexicon. In February 2020, just before the pandemic hit, Cook opened Harriett’s Bookshop,

Met Police Officers Face Misconduct Hearing Over Racist Stop

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Five officers from London’s Metropolitan Police will face a gross misconduct hearing over the stop and search of two Black athletes, the force said Wednesday. Bianca Williams and her partner, Ricardo Dos Santos, who are both professional sprinters, were stopped in west London on July 4, 2020, while traveling with their 3-month-old baby in a car. Both were handcuffed and they were searched for weapons and drugs, but nothing was found. Williams, a sprint relay gold medalist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2018 European Championships, accused police of racial profiling and filed a complaint. “I welcome this decision and

Jessica Watkins Becomes First Black Woman on Long ISS Mission

By Rina Torchinsky After a successful launch Wednesday morning, Jessica Watkins and her crewmembers onboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule are well on their way to a months-long space trip. The mission is notable for more than just their lengthy stay aboard the International Space Station. Watkins, who is 33, is making history as the first Black woman to live and work on the ISS for an extended mission. Watkins and her team on the Crew-4 mission are planning to spend five to six months on the outpost. She’s also one of the astronauts tapped for NASA’s next program called

BLM Mansion Controversy: Donor Concerns and Chapter Fallout

By Randi Richardson and Claretta Bellamy When Kulia Petzoldt first learned of George Floyd’s death in 2020, she and her teenage daughter ventured to Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, to protest alongside a mass of people demanding justice. Petzoldt, who is white, said growing up around different cultures and having friends who were Black made her feel more conscious of the racial discrimination Black people faced. The Black Lives Matter movement solidified that awareness. “We can’t just do nothing,” Petzoldt, 42, said, “and particularly those of us who are sort of protected by society.” Beyond protesting, Petzoldt and millions of others donated a

Black Entrepreneurs Drive Eco Innovation and Earth Day Action

By Curtis Bunn As a child growing up in Richmond, California, the future held one of two possibilities in Darrell Jobe’s young mind: play for the NFL or become a microbiologist. But at 13, everything changed when he became homeless, dropped out of school and joined a gang. That he celebrates Earth Day on Friday as the owner of Vericool, which produces environmentally safe packaging products, speaks to his unpredictable journey. He says it also speaks to his never-wavering interest in protecting the earth, even after he’s served short stints in prison. “I love animals and if you do, you care

Jessica Watkins Becomes First Black Woman on ISS Crew

By Char Adams and Donna M. Owens NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins will join a small yet groundbreaking list Saturday when she becomes the fifth Black woman to go to space and the first Black woman to serve aboard the International Space Station. Watkins’ mission has drawn praise from diversity and inclusion experts, but it shows just how far Black women still have to go in the white, male-dominated profession. “You know there’s not enough of us. Women are underrepresented in science, although it’s getting better in some ways,” said Mae Jemison, who made her own headlines in 1992 when she became the first Black

Nashville Declares Juneteenth a Paid Holiday for Workers

By Rashad Grove Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced plans to sign an executive order to make Juneteenth a paid holiday for city employees, the Associated Press reports. On Tuesday, the Metro Civil Service Commission (CSC) approved the measure to recognize Juneteenth as “a formal Metro holiday for all civil service status employees,”  according to a press release. Cooper’s signed executive order will extend the holiday to all Metro employees as well as non-civil service status employees. Earlier this year, a bi-partisan effort proposal to make Juneteenth an official statewide paid holiday was shot down in the GOP-controlled General Assembly. To offset the cost

Pew Study: 76% of Black Americans Say Race Shapes Identity

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By Associated Press A majority of Black Americans say being Black is central to how they think about themselves and shape their identities, even as many have diverse experiences and come from various backgrounds, according to a new report by Pew Research Center. About three-quarters of Black people said so despite where they come from, their economic status or educational backgrounds. Overall, 14 percent say being Black is only somewhat important to their identity and 9 percent say it has little to no impact, highlighting the diversity of thought among Black Americans, which include U.S.-born Black people and Black immigrants,

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