On Wednesday, a House subcommittee listened to Senator Cory Booker and actor Danny, not Donald, Glover to discuss reparations to black Americans for slavery.
Representative Shirly Jackson from Texas made it clear that the hearing was not a “symbolic action”, but one that legitimately could lead to a bill, and eventually a law.
Glover referenced famous author James Baldwin about how America is trapped by the past: “James Baldwin, the great writer once said, ‘If we can’t tell the truth about the past, we become trapped in it. This country is trapped in not telling the truth.”
Booker agreed, saying that the US has, “yet to truly acknowledge and grapple with the racism and white supremacy that tainted this country’s founding and continues to cause persistent and deep racial disparities and inequality.”
As the New York Post points out, America as a whole does not support the idea of reparations, “In a Point Taken-Marist poll conducted in 2016, 68% of Americans said the country should not pay cash reparations to African American descendants of slaves to make up for the harm caused by slavery and racial discrimination.”
As one could guess, the issue is split between white and black Americans. 8 in 10 white Americans are against reparations while 6 in 10 black Americans support it.
I think those that support reparations need a platform to try to convince the rest of America. I just don’t think they’re loud enough right now.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools launched the program, Summer for Change, to help solve the major issue of gun violence in the city.
According to WGNTV, four hundred students will be chosen to participate in the six week program, which will provide mentoring and group therapy to witnesses of gun related violence, as well as educational and enrichment opportunities.
“After the final school bell rings and the school year ends, our commitment to the growth, enrichment and safety of Chicago’s children continues,” said Mayor Lightfoot in a press conference on Wednesday. “Summer for Change will offer high school students meaningful activities and programs to participate in, providing a sense of safety, service and opportunity over summer break.”
“This groundbreaking six-week program will ensure hundreds of youth who need access to resources the most are engaged, supported, and learning during the summer,” said CPS CEO Dr. Janice K. Jackson. “The safety and well-being of youth is always our top priority, and CPS and the City of Chicago are fully committed to expanding opportunities for our students and keeping them safe and engaged in meaningful activities.”
Although the number of homicides from gun violence fell in 2018, years 2015 and 2016 were still enormously high in that statistic. This means that many of these students will have suffered gun related loss or trauma in the past.
During the Raptor championship parade, four people were shot near Nathan Phillips Square. According to the Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders, the injuries were “non-life threatening”.
The city’s police department tweeted: “Shooting: Nathan Phillip’s Square, reports of woman shot, people running from the area, Police/EMS are on scene, unknown what the injuries are.”
In a linked tweet, the account said, “Bay St. and Albert St, police have located two victims, injuries serious but not life-threatening, two people in custody, two firearms recovered, investigating.”
Saunders reports that three separate people were arrested in two separate incidents. He also made sure to add that the shooting did not affect the overall mood of the crowd, which was overjoyed about the recent Raptors victory.
Netflix’s global domination plan is underway. Step 1 is to get into the video games market. Bloomberg reports that Stranger Things 3: The Game is apparently in the works and set to be released on July 4th, the same day that the new season comes out.
This really is a baby step though; Netflix isn’t building the game itself. Instead, it is licensing characters to studios that will be making the game. “We’re looking for opportunities to extend the universe of these shows and films into other mediums,” Chris Lee, the director of interactive games at Netflix, said. “To me, it was really obvious to try to do that into video games.” I hope by other mediums he doesn’t mean human consciousnesses.
Netflix games will be available on all consoles, including PC.
Kim Kardashian-West took a trip to the White House to continue to raise awareness about criminal justice reform. Partnered with Lyft, she announced a program that will provide gift cards to released convicts. These will help in finding a job, transportation, and more. During the announcement, Kim said, “Everyone wants the community to be safe, and the more opportunity we have and that they have and the support that we help give them, the safer everyone will be.”
While en route to the White House, Kim tweeted a video saying “I am heading to the White House to speak at the second-chance hiring and re-entry event…” and later tweeted she was “honored to be a part of the announcement that the administration and the private sector are stepping up to create opportunities for these men and women to succeed once home.”
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 13, 2019
It’s nice to see Kim Kardashian-West making a difference with prison reform, which everyone knows is shaky at best. She also appears to be trying to reverse the whole rich, dumb, why-am-I-famous stereotype that has haunted her and her family for years.
Social media users are turning their profile pictures blue for Sudan. This should lead one to ask: what’s happening in Sudan? Well, peaceful demonstrators are being met with military violence. As what started as a protest to oust then-President Omar al-Bashir (actually a dictator), took a turn for the worse when a transitional government came to power that was similar to al-Bashir. The military was called in to “retain order”.
Terrible actions taken by the military include killing peaceful protesters and rapes. The blue comes from when 26 year old Mohammed Hashim Mattar was murdered while trying to protect his fellow protesters. Mattar’s profile avatar at the time was the same single shade of blue.
According to Complex, celebrities like Bas, Naomi Campbell, Demi Lovato, and Yara Shahidi have shown their support for Sudanese demonstrators by changing their profile pictures to blue. Others including Cardi B and SZA, have posted the blue picture on Instagram.
![[News] Cory Booker and Danny Glover speak at Capitol Hill about reparations](https://i0.wp.com/sloppyvinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/bookerglover.jpg?resize=256%2C197&ssl=1)
![[News] Chicago launching new summer program to combat gun violence](https://i0.wp.com/sloppyvinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/chicagogunviolence.jpg?resize=239%2C211&ssl=1)
![[News] Four injured in shooting at Toronto Raptors championship parade](https://i0.wp.com/sloppyvinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/torontoparadeshooting.jpeg?resize=300%2C168&ssl=1)
![[Entertainment] Netflix getting into video game market](https://i0.wp.com/sloppyvinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/netflixlogo.png?resize=299%2C168&ssl=1)
![[News] Kim Kardashian goes to White House to announce prison reform program](https://i0.wp.com/sloppyvinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/kimkardashianwhitehouse.jpeg?resize=275%2C183&ssl=1)
![[News] Why everyone is turning their profile pictures to blue](https://i0.wp.com/sloppyvinyl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/blueforsudan.png?resize=225%2C225&ssl=1)