Jacob Blake is handcuffed to his hospital bed, family says

Jacob Blake, who remains hospitalized after sustaining multiple injuries, is now handcuffed to his bed, his family said.

Blake's uncle told CNN on Thursday that Blake's father visited the Wauwatosa, Wisconsin hospital where his son is recovering from at least one surgery. He was "heartbroken" to see that his son was handcuffed.

"This is an insult to injury," Justin Blake, the uncle of the victim, said. "He is paralyzed and can't walk and they have him cuffed to the bed. Why?"

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a news conference that he "couldn't imagine" why Blake was handcuffed.

"I would have no personal understanding why that would be necessary," Evers said, answering a reporter's question.

"I would hope that we would be able to find a more, a better way to help him ... in recovering. That seems counterintuitive. It seems to be bad medicine."

[SOURCES:CNN]

Barack Obama statement on NBA & WNBA players boycotting games

Barack Obama released the following statement via Twitter after the Milwaukee Bucks and other NBA and WNBA teams decided not to play games yesterday to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake:

I commend the players on the @Bucks for standing up for what they believe in, coaches like @DocRivers, and the @NBA and @WNBA for setting an example. It’s going to take all our institutions to stand up for our values.

STATEMENT FROM NBPA ON PLAYER PROTEST AND POSTPONEMENT OF GAMES

The NBA Players Association’s executive director Michelle Roberts releases the following statement after NBA players boycotted playoff games on August 26th:
ORLANDO, FL, August 26, 2020 – "Throughout the season restart, our players have been unwavering in their demands for systemic justice. This week we witnessed another horrific, shocking and all too familiar act of brutality in the shooting of 29 year-old Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Players have, once again, made it clear - they will not be silent on this issue. We stand with the decision of the players of the Milwaukee Bucks to protest this injustice and support the collective decision to postpone all of today's games."

Two Black Banks Merge to Form Largest Black Owned Bank

A merger announced Wednesday will create the nation’s largest Black-controlled bank and the first with assets of more than $1 billion.

Broadway Federal Bank, a Los Angeles-based commercial lender founded in 1946, will combine with City First Bank in Washington, which opened in 1998.

Brian E. Argrett, chief executive of City First, will be chief executive of the combined company, which will use City First as its banking brand but keep the publicly traded Broadway Financial Corporation as its bank holding company. Wayne-Kent A. Bradshaw, Broadway’s chief executive, will be the chairman of the combined company.

The enlarged bank will specialize in three areas of financing: multifamily affordable housing, small businesses and nonprofit development, Mr. Argrett said in an interview.

Broadway and City First are Community Development Financial Institutions, which are lenders that focus on low- and moderate-income areas and typically serve minority borrowers and entrepreneurs who lack the assets to get traditional loans. The new company will preserve Broadway’s designation as a Minority Depository Institution, a federally insured institution that is mostly owned by minority shareholders or led by a minority-controlled board.

Read more: Two Black-Led Banks Merge to Form a $1 Billion Lender

LeBron James launching multimillion-dollar effort to recruit poll workers

NBA superstar LeBron James is wading further into the fight over voter suppression, with his voting rights organization, More Than A Vote, launching a multimillion-dollar campaign to fortify the number of poll workers in vulnerable Black communities.

The group, which bands together James, other star athletes, state election officials and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, is partnering to draft young activists to work at polling locations for November's general election across the southern and battleground states of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas.

The new initiative seeks to confront the shortage of election volunteers, particularly in communities of color. Atlanta is majority Black, according to U.S. Census data, and Milwaukee County is home to 69.4% of Wisconsin's African American population, according to the most recent data cited by state's Department of Health Services.

More than a Vote is also working to transform sports arenas left vacant by the pandemic into massive polling locations -- a model that was used in Kentucky's primary elections in June with relative success. So far they've joined forces with sports teams in Atlanta, Cleveland, Charlotte, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.

[SOURCE: YAHOO]