Here is your week in review, in haiku:
1.
It kept on rainin’.
Mean old levee: Water rose.
But we rose higher
2.
And a world away,
monsoons swept a thousand souls
to watery graves
3.
Well, I guess we could
kickstart some Tubman stickers
to slap on Jackson
4.
When a Dream’s deferred,
once American, now not.
Return to sender
5.
Orange Rain, Orange
Rain? What matter the color?
We just miss our Prince
Have a safe and colorful weekend. RaceAhead returns Tuesday, September 5th. Don’t forget to hit up Coins2Day.com for your daily dose of inclusion inspiration.
On Point
| Diversity front and center at Facebook tech conference |
| The engineering focused conference also tackled big tech issues, like software development, artificial intelligence and some over-the-moon stuff like using DNA for data storage. But the other innovation yet to be invented – a diverse workforce – was candidly addressed. “What happens if you never see anyone who looks like you?” Julie Grace Slack’s head of infrastructure engineering asked the audience. “You, from day one, will ask ‘do I belong here? Can I be successful here?’” |
| Coins2Day |
| DACA a top concern for CEOs and educators |
| According to Axios, “top CEOs, including leaders in tech and retail” are prepared to publicly support DACA, the now at-risk policy that allows some 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. As kids to continue their work or studies. “’There is no issue that’s more gut wrenching for us,’” one CEO said. For anyone who needs more information about how DACA works, particularly if you are supervising students or others protected by the policy, Berkeley has a thorough explainer complete with spot on advice. The main one? Don’t file anything of any kind to immigration authorities without getting advice from legal assistance. |
| Berkeley |
| A new business incubator focuses on black cannabis entrepreneurs |
| The war on drugs had a fairly obvious losing side: Black people are and continue to be more likely to be stopped and arrested on drug charges than white people. But as the cannabis industry becomes mainstream, the industry is largely dominated by white men. Three entrepreneurs, two with MBAs, have founded the Hood Incubator, a California-based business accelerator and education program with the aim of leveling the playing field for entrepreneurs of color who want a piece of the potentially $6 billion industry. They are the only accelerator to focus on low-income POC, particularly those who may have been in the cannabis industry in an informal way. Be sure to scroll down to the video to meet the co-founders describing the program. |
| The Root |
The Woke Leader
| Incarcerated women are fighting fires in California |
| In this must-read story, Jaime Lowe takes us deep inside the California prison system, which in this case, is also deep inside the Malibu woods. Teams of women, often incarcerated for low-level crimes involving drugs or alcohol, have opted to become wildfire fire fighters, living in wilderness camps instead of facilities, and putting their lives and bodies on the line in the service of others. It’s complicated: They get paid almost nothing and they typically cannot continue the work when they’re released. But, the work is transformative, even when it’s deadly. |
| New York Times |
| A Native encampment claiming land currently owned by Brown University is raising important questions |
| It’s a difficult situation. On August 20th a group of Native people started an encampment on land that houses, among other buildings, The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, which is owned by Brown. The area also has vital meaning to the Wampanoag people, whose leader King Philip was beheaded on the site in 1676, and his family subsequently sold into slavery. The University appears to be working earnestly to understand and solve the issue, but the lineage and legal status of the Pokanoket people who claim the land is not clear. Adrienne Keene, who is part of the Native American Indigenous Studies Initiative at Brown, shares the issue and the statement the NAISI produced to help the university responsibly negotiate the issue. |
| Native Appropriations |
| Black and undocumented |
| Gabrielle Johnson, is a mental wellness coordinator for the UndocuBlack Network (UBN) an organization that advocates for black undocumented people living in the U.S. There are approximately 565,000 Black undocumented immigrants across the country who are erased from the (non-black) Latinx-dominated immigration conversation,” she says, “despite being disproportionately targeted by both the criminal justice and immigration systems.” Mental health support is a key part of what the network needs to provide – the fear of being targeted, which began during the Obama administration, can be overwhelming for some young people. |
| Huffington Post |
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