JP Morgan Chase Provides $1.7M for Black Businesses

 

In a bid to promote equity in Black neighborhoods, JPMorgan Chase has awarded the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative and the Center for Community Progress a $1.7 million grant, according to a new press release shared with BLACK ENTERPRISE.

Elijah Cummings Talks Police Killings

Cummings, who is black, all but begged Comey to do something to help break the pattern of unarmed black people being killed by police. Just this week, Alton Sterling was shot dead in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while selling CDs outside of a convenience store, and Philando Castile was shot and killed near St. Paul, Minnesota, after being pulled over for a busted tail light.

Representative Elijah Cummings, a Democrat from Maryland and ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, waits to begin a hearing with James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, July 7, 2016. Comey is appearing before the committee to explain his finding that no reasonable prosecutor would bring a criminal case against Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, even though she and her staff were extremely careless in their handling of highly classified information.

The Maryland Democrat said he woke up Thursday morning “to my wife literally crying” while watching a video of Sterling being shot. Then she watched the video of Castile bleeding out in his car. Cummings, who represents the majority of the mostly black neighborhoods of Baltimore, said he’s fortunate he’s never been harmed by police. Still, he said he’s been pulled over “50 million times” for no clear reason, and it’s all connected to people of color being targeted by law enforcement.

Plan Aimed To Help African Americans Buy Homes

Taking aim at the racial wealth gap in the U.S., Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris proposed a $100 billion program to help black families and individuals buy homes.

The program, she estimated, would help 4 million families who live or rent in historically red-lined areas, or those where loans are often refused because borrowers are seen as poor financial risks.

“We must right the wrong, and after generations of discrimination give black families a real shot at home ownership — historically one of the most powerful drivers of wealth,” Harris said.

Her campaign cited research from Demos, a progressive public policy group, showing that less than 50% of black households own their home while 75% of white ones do.

Harris’ plan comes after Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, another Democratic candidate, announced a plan in March to provide grants to first-time homebuyers in formerly red-lined and low-income neighborhoods.

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How The Crack Era Changed Black America Forever

 

The 1985 CRACK era was not a mistaken identity drug for Black Americans; It was an intentional target against the chosen people. Although Nixon declared the war on drugs on June 17, 1971, the U.S. already had lots of practice imposing drug prohibitions that had racially skewed impacts.