Raphael Warnock wins election to become Georgia’s first Black senator
As the New York Times eloquently pointed out, the election in Georgia “was also a rare chance for one Senate barrier breaker to pass the torch to another.”
Racial justice
MLB retrospectively elevates Negro Leagues to major league status
The move grants recognition to some of baseball’s pioneers from 1920 to 1948 and immediately rewrites the game’s record books.
Number of young black authors doubles to nearly 20% in U.K.
A new study out of University College London found that only 7.1 percent of YA authors in the UK were people of color in 2017. That figure jumped to 13.25 percent in 2018 and has risen even further to a more promising 19.6 percent as of 2019.
New Jersey passes bill to protect poor communities from pollution
The New Jersey Law will require the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to deny permit applications for a new project if it determines it will have a disproportionate impact on a certain community already facing environmental or health stressors.
Dictionary.com implements 15,000 changes to minimize prejudiced language
Dictionary.com is making major changes to more than 15,000 of its definitions, from capitalising Black to updating entries about sexual orientation, aiming to foreground people over “clinical language”.
A merger creates the world’s first Black-owned bank with more than $1 billion in assets
The first Black-owned bank to reach $1 billion in assets has been created, due to the merger of City First Bank of D.C. in Washington and Los Angeles-based Broadway Federal Bank. The newly created lender will focus on housing, small businesses, and nonprofits.
The NBA and its players’ union announced a plan to use arenas as election polling places
The announcement came two days after N.B.A. players staged a dramatic work stoppage in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday. Some staffers in the N.B.A.’s league office also chose not to work on Friday to spend time on social causes instead.
NBA, WNBA, and MLB games called off as players boycott in response to police shooting of Jacob Blake
All three NBA playoff games scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed, with players around the league choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice.
Record number of women of color running for U.S. Congress in 2020
At least 266 Black, Latinx, Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern and North African women are running for the House and Senate, shattering 2018’s numbers.
New Google badge will make it easier to find Black-owned businesses
Google is launching a new tool that allows businesses to identify themselves as Black-owned through the company’s Maps and Search listings. When searching for a business through Google.com or Google Maps, users will now be able to see a new badge to represent Black-owned businesses.