House democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote the following letter to the Republican Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy urging him to hold a vote on “common sense gun safety legislation” following this week’s deadly shooting at a Christian school in Nashville.
The state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is calling on national leaders to impose a travel advisory for Black Americans.
The organization wants to tell Black Americans not to enter Florida, citing concerns over what it calls the governor's "anti-Black legislation."
During his opening prayer Senate Chaplain Barry Black called on lawmakers to “move beyond thoughts and prayers,” a day after Monday’s school shooting in Nashville.
Watch his prayer below:
Jimmy Lee Day II, an African American educator from Aurora, Colorado who has been teaching for over 13 years, has made history as the first Black male to ever be awarded the state’s Teacher of the Year Award.
As part of the celebrations for his achievement, Day was recently given special recognition by Colorado State Senator Rhonda Fields at the state Capitol. It comes a few months after he was honored during a surprise ceremony at East Middle School in Aurora, where he currently teaches, last October.
Since 2017, he has taught at the school, serving as its band director and instrumental music teacher. In his 13 years of teaching experience, he has rebuilt 3 struggling band programs, developing them into award-winning programs that achieved top ratings at district music festivals.
Day said his simple formula for effective transformative teaching just includes consistency and connection to his students.
“From classroom management to how I rehearse my students to how I want my expectations — it’s consistent, it doesn’t change, it’s unbending and then my connection — me making myself human just like you and we make connections,” Day told CBS News.
Moving forward, Day intends to continue giving his students valuable lessons, highlighting the importance of music to them.
Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (NY-16) held a press conference with 20+ social media creators with a combined following of over 60 million people to oppose the TikTok ban. Social media creators shared how TikTok has impacted their small businesses, artistic expression and communities. More than 150 million Americans, including 5 million U.S. small businesses, use TikTok to inspire creativity, bring joy, and support their livelihoods.
“The rush to ban TikTok sets a dangerous precedent for our country by undermining our freedom of speech and distracts from the real issue: protecting Americans’ data and privacy,” said Congressman Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (NY-16). Every Big Tech company, both foreign and domestic, mines and sells our data for their own profits, and cracking down on surveillance capitalism is what we need to be focused on. Many who are hyper focused on TikTok seem to look the other way when Facebook enables right-wing and Russian disinformation to undermine our democracy, and they are springing into action now because it suits their Cold War crusade against China. I, along with millions of others, use TikTok as a place to interact with my community in a positive, uplifting way. But this is not about defending TikTok as a company. We need strong regulation that applies to every platform in order to protect our data and especially our children. And we also have to protect young people’s right to free expression. Let’s use this moment to craft a comprehensive approach to safeguarding and democratizing the social media landscape.”
Rep. Bowman's statement below:
Instead of banning TikTok we need comprehensive legislation to ensure social media users' data is safe and secure.
— Congressman Jamaal Bowman (@RepBowman) March 23, 2023
Banning TikTok won't solve that problem, and I was proud to stand with some of the most incredible creators today. pic.twitter.com/FXSWCGfTgc
