NEWSROOM

 PROTECTING THE BLACK VOTE FROM SUPPRESSION 

Days after Barack Obama won the 2008 election, his incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel delivered one of the most potent lines of the Great Recession, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that [is] it's an opportunity to do things that you think you could not before.” The Obama administration then went on to make history with an aggressive legislative agenda, including passage of near-universal health coverage, a goal elusive to American presidents since Teddy Roosevelt......

FAR MORE UNITES BLACK AND JEWISH THAN DIVIDES THEM

(CNN)In recent weeks, we have witnessed several anti-Semitic statements and postings by prominent black athletes and entertainers like DeSean Jackson, Stephen Jackson, Nick Cannon and Ice Cube. (All but Ice Cube have since apologized.) These have unfolded in the shadow of an outpouring of diverse support for the Black Lives Matter movement, which has undertaken arguably the most significant struggle for racial justice of the past half century.....

 CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS REMEMBERED AT FUNERAL SERVICE

Three former presidents came together to honor Congressman John Lewis at his funeral in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, completing a week of memorial services for the longtime lawmaker and civil rights icon.

Former President Barack Obama delivered a rousing eulogy celebrating Lewis' life. "He, as much as anyone in our history, brought this country a little bit closer to our highest ideals," Mr. Obama said.....

 HERMAN CAIN, FORMER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL HAS DIED OF CORONAVIRUS, HIS WEBSITE SAYS

Herman Cain, the former pizza chain executive who sought the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, has died weeks after testing positive for the coronavirus.

“You’re never ready for the kind of news we are grappling with this morning,” Dan Calabrese, the editor of Cain’s website, wrote in a statement Thursday.

“Herman Cain — our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us — has passed away.”

Calabrese confirmed the death to The Washington Post and said the cause was covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.....

 BLACK DONORS GAVE $41 TO 2020 DEMOCRATS LAST YEAR, WITH SANDERS TOPPING THE LIST

Black Americans donated nearly $41 million last year to Democratic presidential candidates, with Bernie Sanders topping the list, according to a new report.

The total amount donated was nearly 13 percent of what all candidates collected through an online donor platform handling most donations made to Democrats.

The study, conducted by Plus Three, a minority-owned technology and fundraising firm, points to an electorate giving to presidential candidates at a level almost equal to their proportion of the American population and shows that those donations don't necessarily correlate with how those same donors have voted in the primary season.....

 CORONAVIRUS: "ESSENTIAL" THAT BLACK PEOPLE ARE INCLUDED IN VACCINE TRIAL, EXPERT WARNS

A coronavirus vaccine will only be successful if black participants are included in clinical trials, experts have warned.

Medical experts have expressed fear that black people are not being proportionately represented in Covid-19 trials and have said that their participation is critical.

Researchers stress that medicine could produce different results based on race and genetic, socioeconomic and environmental dynamics, and need to be accounted for during clinical trials.....