Cicely Gay appointed New Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Chair

Cicely Gay, an Atlanta activist has been appointed to straighten out the finances of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation

Cicely Gay's appointment was announced by BLM's Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) on April 27, as the group struggles to combat accusations that the money donated has not been wisely spent, or properly accounted for.

With over 20 years of nonprofit and philanthropic experience, Cicley Gay is a powerhouse and leader in the political and communications sphere — more often than not as the only Black woman in spaces she leads. Cicley built the grant allocations process and programmatic infrastructure of a multi-million-dollar national mentoring initiative for Black children and was the founding director of Students Take Action for New Directions, educating students on the impact of federal budget priorities on local communities.

She told The New York Times she had been appointed to straighten out the organization's finances, after BLMGFN faced intense scrutiny over its spending of donor cash.

'No one expected the foundation to grow at this pace and to this scale,' said Gay.

'Now, we are taking time to build efficient infrastructure to run the largest Black, abolitionist, philanthropic organization to ever exist in the United States.'

Rep. Hank Johnson calls on U.S. government to spend more with Black Press

Four years after D.C. Democratic Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton publicly condemned federal agencies after a Government Accountability Office report revealed they spend very little of their advertising dollars with Black-owned media, another member of the Congressional Black Caucus has openly aired the concerns.

“The federal government spends billions of dollars a year in paid advertising. However, the federal government’s process for allocating advertising dollars fails to recognize and value the unique relationship that Black-owned media have with their audiences,” Georgia Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden.

Co-signed by Norton, Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Val Demings (D-Fla.), and 34 other members of Congress, the letter pointed out that the standard process for spending federal advertising dollars consists of giving a prime contract to a large White-owned advertising agency with the stipulation that the agency includes a multicultural agency as a subcontractor.

“However, the prime contractor controls how much money goes to the subcontractor and how that subcontractor spends that money,” Johnson wrote.

“This routinely results in a smaller fraction of federal dollars going to the subcontractors. And, when the subcontractor does get to spend money, it is usually directed to spend that money with Black-targeted media and not with Black-owned media.”

He asserted that “successful Black businesses hire and promote Black Americans at a much higher rate than other businesses. They are, consequently, the key to building successful Black communities.”

In 2018, Norton commissioned a GAO report that revealed that the federal government spent more than $5 billion on advertising over five years. Still, Black-owned businesses received only $51 million, or 1.02 percent of those funds.

“I will work with minority publishers to press [my colleagues] in Congress to demand greater spending on minority-owned outlets to reach minority audiences that most traditional outlets do not,” Norton stated during a 2018 news conference with members of the National Newspaper Publishers Association on Capitol Hill.

“The GAO report showed, as we expected, that the federal government has a long way to go to ensure equal opportunities for minority-owned news outlets,” Norton continued.

“As the nation’s largest advertiser, the federal government has an obligation to provide advertising opportunities to news outlets and media companies owned or published by people of color.”

In April, dozens of federal agencies launched plans for more equity to open federal programs to more people and reduce racial disparities caused by government decisions.

“Advancing equity is not a one-year project. It’s a generational commitment,” Biden stated. “These plans are an important step forward, reflecting the Biden Harris administration’s work to make the promise of America real for every American, and I mean every American.”

In the Johnson-led letter, members of Congress have issued a request for Biden Administration to investigate and report back complex data on “the process by which they grant advertising contracts, and how they oversee those contracts after they are granted.”

“The federal government spends billions of dollars a year in paid advertising. However, the federal government’s process for allocating advertising dollars fails to recognize and value the unique relationship that Black-owned media have with their audiences,” Johnson wrote.

[SOURCE STLAMERICAN]

California Reparations Task Force Releases Interim Report Detailing Harms of Slavery and Systemic Discrimination on African Americans

 As part of California’s historic Assembly Bill 3121 (AB 3121), the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans (Reparations Task Force) today released an interim report providing an in-depth overview of the harms inflicted on African Americans in California and across the nation due to the ongoing legacy of slavery and systemic discrimination. The interim report includes a preliminary set of recommendations to the California Legislature and a final report is expected to be issued in 2023. The Reparations Task Force is a first-in-the-nation effort by a state government to study slavery, its effects throughout American history, and the compounding harms that the United States and Californian governments have inflicted upon African Americans.

“Without accountability, there is no justice. For too long, our nation has ignored the harms that have been — and continue to be — inflicted on African Americans in California and across the country,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “California was not a passive actor in perpetuating these harms. We must double down on our efforts to address discrimination in our state and nation and take a hard look at our own history, including at the California Department of Justice. This interim report is a historic step by the State of California to acknowledge the insidious effects of slavery and ongoing systemic discrimination, recognize the state's failings, and move toward rectifying the harm. I commend the Reparations Task Force for their commitment to this effort and for being a model for partners across the nation. I urge every American to read the task force’s report and join with us in recommitting ourselves to justice.”

 “It has been an honor and a privilege to supervise the release of this monumental interim report,” said Task Force Chair Kamilah Moore. “A year-long effort, this 500+ page report chronicles the harms against the African American community, starting with the transatlantic slave trade, the institution of U.S. chattel slavery, Emancipation and the broken promise of Reconstruction, genocidal Jim Crow, to contemporary harms; it is the most extensive government-issued report on the African American community since the Kerner Commission in 1968. Thus, it is my hope that people in California and across the United States utilize this report as an educational and organizing tool, as this interim report exceeds expectations in substantiating the claim for reparations for the African American/American Freedmen community on the municipal, state and federal level."

“It is a privilege to sit on a task force that has the moral obligation of fulfilling the task of developing measures that will right the wrongs which were collectively perpetuated against the African American community solely on the basis of the color of our skin,” said Task Force Vice Chair Dr. Amos C. Brown. "Other groups that have suffered exclusion, oppression, and downright destruction of human existence have received reparations, and we should have no less."

The institution of slavery is inextricably woven into the establishment, history, and prosperity of the United States. Constitutionally and statutorily sanctioned from 1619 to 1865, slavery deprived more than four million Africans and their descendants of life, liberty, citizenship, cultural heritage, and economic opportunity. Following the abolition of slavery, government entities at the federal, state, and local levels continued to perpetuate, condone, and often profit from practices that brutalized African Americans and excluded them from meaningful participation in society. This legacy of slavery and racial discrimination has resulted in debilitating economic, educational, and health hardships that are uniquely experienced by African Americans. 

AB 3121 charges the Reparations Task Force with studying the institution of slavery and its lingering negative effects on living African Americans, including descendants of persons enslaved in the United States and on society. The legislation, enacted on September 30, 2020, requires the task force to also recommend appropriate remedies of compensation, rehabilitation, and restitution for African Americans, with a special consideration for descendants of persons enslaved in the United States. The Reparations Task Force’s work is ongoing and the interim report primarily focuses on identifying and summarizing the myriad badges and incidents of slavery. The interim report builds on months of public hearings, hours of expert, public, and witness testimony, and numerous records submitted to the task force. 

In the interim report released today, the Reparations Task Force — over the course of 13 chapters — provides an accounting of many of the harms of slavery and systemic discrimination in California and across the nation. The interim report offers a synthesis of many of the relevant issues, ranging from enslavement and government sanctioned residential segregation to environmental injustice and political disenfranchisement. Some of the key findings noted in the interim report include:

• In order to maintain slavery, colonial and American governments adopted white supremacy beliefs and passed laws in order to maintain a system that stole the labor and intellect of people of African descent;
• In California, racial violence against African Americans began during slavery, continued through the 1920s, as groups like the Ku Klux Klan permeated local governments and police departments, and peaked after World War II, as African Americans attempted to move into white neighborhoods;
• Due to residential segregation and compared to white Americans, African Americans are more likely to live in worse quality housing and in neighborhoods that are polluted, with inadequate infrastructure;
• American government at all levels, including in California, has historically criminalized African Americans for the purposes of social control, and to maintain an economy based on exploited Black labor; and
• Government laws and policies perpetuating badges of slavery have helped white Americans accumulate wealth, while erecting barriers which prevented African Americans from doing the same. These harms compounded over generations, resulting in an enormous gap in wealth between white and African Americans today in the nation and in California.

Additional information about the work of the Reparations Task Force and the ongoing public hearing process is available here: oag.ca.gov/ab3121. 

A copy of the interim report is available here.

 

Coco Gauff reaches first Grand Slam final at French Open

American Cori "Coco" Gauff clinched her first appearance in a Grand Slam final with a straight-sets victory over Italian Martina Trevisan in a women's singles semifinal Thursday at the French Open

18-year old Coco Gauff has become the youngest woman to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament since Maria Sharapova did it at 17 years old in 2004.

Gauff, the No. 18 seed, will battle No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland in the final Saturday in Paris. The 18-year-old from Delray Beach, Fla., failed to advance past the quarterfinals in her previous 10 main-draw Grand Slam appearances.

"I think I'm in a bit of shock right now and I didn't know how to react at the end of the match," Gauff said following her semifinal victory. "I have no words to describe how I feel."

NY Attorney General Letitia James Cracks Down on Gun Sellers Illegally selling and advertising Ghost Gun Parts

On the first day of Gun Violence Awareness Month, New York Attorney General Letitia James today took action to crack down on firearms sellers illegally selling and advertising gun parts that are used to create homemade, untraceable firearms, known as ghost guns. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that 28 firearms sellers across the state advertised and/or offered to sell one or more unfinished frames, receivers, and/or kits containing both. The OAG’s investigation found that a majority of these gun sellers were located in Western New York and on Long Island. New York law prohibits the sale, exchange, or disposal of unfinished frames and receivers. In cease-and-desist letters to all 28 dealers, Attorney General James ordered these businesses to immediately stop advertising and selling the prohibited parts and warned of the legal consequences, including imprisonment, if they do not comply.

“Ghost guns are fueling the flames of the gun violence epidemic, and we will not sit idly as they proliferate in our streets and devastate communities,” said Attorney General James. “Across the nation, too many lives are being lost because of these untraceable and unregistered weapons that anyone can get their hands on without a background check. We are not going to wait for another tragedy, my office is taking action to crack down on gun sellers that are illegally advertising ghost guns. If gun sellers do not comply with the law, they will face the full force of my office.”

The OAG’s investigation found that most of these firearms sellers advertised the prohibited unfinished receivers, frames, and kits online or at gun shows. They advertised them on their websites, with some allowing consumers to buy online and others telling consumers to call and ask for the price. Today’s enforcement action is the result of the Jose Webster Untraceable Firearms Act and the Scott J. Beigel Unfinished Receiver Act, which recently came into effect and criminalizes the sale of ghost guns and requires gunsmiths to register and serialize all such firearms.

Nine of these businesses are in Western New York, six on Long Island, five in Central New York, four in the Hudson Valley, two in the Southern Tier, and one in the Capital Region.

Unfinished receivers and frames, also known as 80 percent frames, do not have serial numbers and can easily be used to make untraceable guns, or ghost guns, at home using basic tools. Unfinished receivers hold the upper, lower, and rear portions of a semiautomatic rifle together. Purchasers of unfinished receivers only have to make a few small changes with a common drill press to transform an unfinished receiver into a fully operational one. Once milled, a receiver may be readily turned into a fully-assembled, illegal assault weapon. Similarly, a purchaser of an unfinished frame can use commonly available tools to finish the frame, which may then be readily assembled into an untraceable handgun.

Some of the businesses identified by OAG were selling kits that contained unfinished frames and the tools needed to put a finished gun together at home. They advertised “blank serialization plates,” which makes the firearms untraceable.

The OAG identified the following illegal products advertised by these gun dealers.

Illegal gun kit advertised for sale online by a Western New York gun shop. Kit includes an unfinished frame, hardened rail pins, a finishing jig, drill bits, and an end mill, which are all components that can be used to make an untraceable gun at home.

Illegal, unfinished lower receiver advertised for sale by gun sellers across the state.

Illegal, unfinished frame advertised for sale online by a Capital Region gun shop.

In her cease-and-desist letters, Attorney General James reminds the gun sellers that it is illegal in New York for any person not licensed as a gunsmith or dealer in firearms to knowingly possess an unfinished frame or receiver, and false or misleading advertisements about the legal risks of buying an unfinished frame or receiver could subject them to disgorgement, restitution, and penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation.

“For too long, ghost guns have been haunting our streets and taking lives. I have been warning about these dangerous gun kits for years, and we must take more aggressive action now to stop them from further proliferating,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. “The new federal rule issued by the Department of Justice earlier this spring will help keep ghost guns off our streets, but there is still more to be done. That’s why I’m proud to support Attorney General James in cracking down on New York gun dealers who are illegally selling and advertising ghost gun parts. The time is right now to take action on these ghost guns because they are too easy to build, too hard to trace, and too dangerous to ignore.”

“It is chilling that anyone — including convicted felons and domestic abusers — can bypass the background check system and purchase individual, untraceable gun parts to build a homemade assault-style weapon,” said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. “We have to do more to combat the epidemic of gun violence in New York, and I thank Attorney General James for taking this decisive action to crack down on firearms dealers.”

“Uvalde. Buffalo. Sunset Park. New Yorkers are sick to their stomachs from bearing witness to horrific tragedies because of our federal government’s failure to properly regulate guns,” said State Senator Brad Hoylman. “In the federal void, New York is leading the way. Last year, we made ghost guns illegal. They are dangerous, untraceable firearms bought by people looking to evade New York’s robust background check requirements. Thanks to the leadership of Attorney General James, now the 28 firearm sellers across the state advertising or offering to sell these ghost gun parts are looking at serious consequences if they do not comply. I am proud of the progress we made and are continuing to make throughout New York state to help prevent further gun violence.”

“We passed the Scott J. Beigel Unfinished Receiver Act last year because too many people were exploiting a loophole in our gun laws and getting their hands on dangerous, untraceable ghost guns without ever going through a background check,” said State Senator Anna M. Kaplan. “I’m proud that the law I sponsored is now being used by Attorney General James to crack down on gun sellers who were selling these dangerous weapons in our community, and I applaud her efforts to hold these individuals accountable and keep our communities safe from the epidemic of gun violence.”

“Gun violence is ravaging communities across our state and country,” said Assemblymember Charles D. Lavine. “The last thing New Yorkers need is more untraceable guns flooding our streets and devastating communities. I am proud to have sponsored the Scott J. Beigel Unfinished Receiver Act to protect New Yorkers, and I thank Attorney General James for taking action to enforcing it.”

“No one is above the law. Contrary to the belief of many gun enthusiasts, that extends to firearms sellers now that my law to ban the sale, possession, and exchange of unfinished frames and receivers went into effect,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal. “In the aftermath of the devastation wrought by guns in Buffalo and Uvalde, we must continue to take every action we can to protect every single New Yorker against preventable gun violence. I applaud Attorney General Letitia James for taking swift and aggressive action to crack down on firearm sellers and get ghost guns off the street. I look forward to continuing to provide her office, and law enforcement across the state — with powerful tools to get guns and the dangerous criminals who use them off the street.”

“Gun manufacturers and shops that flout the law by selling untraceable ghost guns are a central cog in the gun violence epidemic,” said Zeenat Yahya, policy director, March For Our Lives. “While gun shops and producers chase profits at any cost, children suffer the consequences. This last year guns became the leading cause of death for children in America, for the first time outpacing motor vehicle deaths. That horrifies us and scares us. We’re pleased that Attorney General Letitia James is taking this important step to ensure that our laws aren’t just paper tigers, and that they actually serve to protect young people and our communities.”

“When gun manufacturers and dealers break the law and flood our communities with illegal ghost guns, New Yorkers pay the price with our lives,” said Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy, Everytown for Gun Safety. “We’re grateful that Attorney General James is taking these lawbreaking members of the gun industry to task for their role in facilitating our gun violence epidemic.”

“There’s no reason why anyone should have access to untraceable, unserialized ghost guns — and when companies illegally sell those ghost guns, they’re putting our lives in danger,” said Nathalie Arzu, volunteer, New York chapter of Moms Demand Action, and a member of the Everytown Survivor Network whose 16-year-old brother, Jose Webster, was shot and killed in the Bronx in 2011. “Attorney General James has been a leader in getting ghost guns off our streets and going after those who put them on our streets in the first place, and New Yorkers are safer as a result of her decisive action.”

Today’s action is the latest example of Attorney General James’ commitment to cracking down on ghost guns and combatting gun violence in New York. In April 2021, Attorney General James sent a letter to U.S. DOJ urging them to strengthen federal regulations on ghost guns. In February 2021, Attorney General James led a coalition of 21 attorneys general from around the nation in filing an amicus brief in the case Grewal v. Defense Distributed before the U.S. Supreme Court, where the coalition fought a lawsuit that seeks to stop states from enforcing their laws against a company disseminating dangerous 3D-printed gun files on the internet.

In September 2019, Attorney General James sent cease and desist letters to the companies behind a number of websites selling incomplete weaponry pieces to New Yorkers that could be easily assembled into illegal assault weapons. In July 2020, Attorney General James announced that all the companies behind the sale of these firearms or firearms components had complied with her cease and desist letters and ended the sale of these weapons to New Yorkers.

To date, Attorney General James has taken more than 3,000 firearms, including dozens of ghost guns, out of communities through gun buyback events and takedowns of violent drug and crime rings since taking office in 2019.