NAACP President urges Elon Musk to not allow Donald Trump to return to Twitter

NAACP President Derrick Johnson released the following statement after news broke that Elon Musk had reached a deal to buy Twitter.

"Mr. Musk: free speech is wonderful, hate speech is unacceptable. Disinformation, misinformation and hate speech have NO PLACE on Twitter. Do not allow 45 to return to the platform. Do not allow Twitter to become a petri dish for hate speech, or falsehoods that subvert our democracy. Protecting our democracy is of utmost importance, especially as the midterm elections approach. Mr. Musk: lives are at risk, and so is American democracy."

Maxine Waters Says Marjorie Taylor Greene Should Not Be In Congress

During an interview with Rev. Al Sharpton on his Politics Nation show, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) branded Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) an "Extremist Radical" who has "no business" in the House after the congresswoman was permanently banned from Twitter. Watch that portion of the interview below:

Nike & Twitter: Juneteenth To Be Annual Paid Company Holiday

An an internal memo sent to Nike (NKE) staff , CEO John Donahoe announced that the company would recognize Juneteenth an annual paid holiday for U.S. employees.

“As many of you may know, next Friday, June 19, is Juneteenth, a day commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. Starting this year and going forward, Nike will recognize Juneteenth as an annual paid holiday in the U.S,” he wrote. Donahoe said doing so is an “important opportunity is to better commemorate and celebrate Black history and culture.”

Twitter and Square have decided to declare Juneteenth a company holiday as well.

Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey announced on Tuesday that Juneteenth, June 19, will be a holiday for employees at both companies.

He made the announcement on Twitter saying, "A day for celebration, education, and connection." He said the holiday will be honored every year moving forward.

He added that "countries and regions around the world have their own days to celebrate emancipation, and we will do the work to make those dates company holidays everywhere we are present."

Congressional Black Caucus pushes for diversity during Silicon Valley Trip

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are visiting Silicon Valley to push the tech industry to improve diversity.

The visit is part of the group's Tech 2020 initiative, which calls on companies to boost the numbers of African-Americans they employ.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), whose Oakland district borders the country's tech hub, expressed frustration with the industry's efforts.

“Silicon Valley's economy is booming but we still don’t have the parity and equity in terms of racial inclusion,” Lee told The Hill on Monday. “The lack of understanding of why racial equity is important is mind-boggling to me.”

Lee declined to identify the companies she was referring to.

She has been joined by other Black Caucus members, including Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), G.K Butterfield (D-N.C.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), on the trip.

The lawmakers have met with Apple and PayPal and on Tuesday will meet with representatives from other companies including Facebook, Twitter and Airbnb.

Lee said that lack of diversity is hurting companies.

“I think from a company perspective, it helps with their growth, it’s economically beneficial to have a diversity of perspectives,” she said.

“We have also moral obligation to make sure there is an equality of opportunity for everyone.”

Read more: Black lawmakers press companies on diversity during Silicon Valley trip

On Twitter, Trump accuses blacks of racism three times as often as whites

In his eight years on Twitter, Trump has been far more likely to accuse African Americans of racism than white people.

During a White House speech on Monday President Donald Trump denounced racism as "evil" after facing two days of bipartisan criticism for declining to specifically condemn Nazis and white supremacists following a violent rally Charlottesville, Virginia.

After a non-specific response on Saturday decrying the violence exhibited on "many sides," on Monday he addressed the problem head on: "Racism is evil," he said, "and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to all that we hold dear as Americans."

Trump's initial hesitancy to call out white racism did not go unnoticed, and it has similarities with a longstanding trend on Trump's twitter account: In his eight years on Twitter, Trump has been far more likely to accuse African Americans of racism than white people.

Trump has used the word "racist" or "racism" at least 56 times on Twitter, according to the Trump Twitter Archive, a website that tracks and archives all the President's tweets. In two-thirds of those Tweets, Trump levied accusations of racism at individuals or groups of people. And those accusations followed a very clear pattern: Trump has directed accusations of racism toward black people three times as often as he's done so against whites.

Read more: On Twitter, Trump accuses blacks of racism three times as often as whites

Keith Ellison: Trump should be banned from Twitter

During an interview with TMZ, Minnesota congressman and DNC deputy chair Keith Ellison stated that he believes that Twitter should ban Trump for his abusive behavior towards others and violations of Twitter's policies. Listen to his comments below: