DL Hughley Show logo
Fantastic Voyage Generic Graphics Updated Nov 2023
Black America Web Featured Video
CLOSE

#BlackExcellence: Colin Kaepernick’s Protest Makes The Cover Of ‘Time Magazine’

While San Francisco Niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick may have been dubbed the NFL’s least liked player (depending on who you poll), Time Magazine seems to respect him, putting him and his fight on the cover of their October 3 issue

According to the Huffington Post, on Thursday the editors announced on Twitter that the 28-year-old athlete will be on the cover giving a knee to convey “how the NFL star’s protest has permeated national culture.” The cover story explores how Kaepernick’s protests have spread across the country with other professional/student athletes and everyday supporters joining in. The spread also features several commentary pieces on the protests, the Huff Po noted.

Kaepernick first garnered attention for his protest in August when he refused to stand for the national anthem at a Green Bay Packers preseason game.

I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder,” he replied when first asked why he was sitting down.

Cancer Sticks! Black Doctors Call on President Obama To Ban Menthol Tobacco Products

US-VOTE-DEMOCRATS-CONVENTION

Source: ROBYN BECK / Getty

A group of African-American doctors are calling on President Barack Obama to ban sales of menthol-flavored cigarettes.

According to NBC News, the African-American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, a nonprofit anti-smoking advocacy group, launched a public campaign this week asking POTUS to use his power to get Food and Drug Administration to remove all mentholated tobacco products from stores.

A letter with this request was delivered to the president last month, that read that this “an issue of social justice, one which we have been defenseless in adequately addressing to protect our people…What we are asking of you, President Obama, can be accomplished rapidly with the stroke of a pen. Your strong and decisive leadership can give our community a fighting chance against the number one killer of Black people, tobacco.”

Dr. Phillip Gardiner, the council’s co-chairman, told NBC on Wednesday that that is also a serious health concern that we all need to pay attention to.

The punchline here about menthol is it allows the poisons in tobacco cigarettes to go down easier,” he said. “Young African-Americans die disproportionately from tobacco-related disease compared to other people in the population,” Gardiner added.

Not to mention, menthol tobacco is aggressively advertised to African-Americans, hence why nearly 75 percent of all Black smokers ages 18 to 25 and two-thirds of Black youth 12-17 smoke only Newports, new data shows.

POTUS, the ball’s in your court.

Ugh. The Racial Wage Gap Is Worse Now Than Almost 40 Years Ago

Failure is not final

Source: mapodile / Getty

As if we need more bad news…but the racial wage gap between Blacks and whites is worse now than it was 40 years ago.

According to a recent report conducted by the the Economic Policy InstituteAfrican-Americans today earn even less money than they did in 1979 in comparison to their white counterparts. Just last year, Black men earned 22 percent less than white men who lived in same areas and had roughly the sam education and work history. However in 1979, they only earned 16.9 percent less, the Huffington Post noted.

Black women fared even worse. We earned 11.7 percent less than our white female peers in 2015, but only 4.5 percent less in 1979 and a  whopping 34.2 percent less than white men last year, despite having similar career backgrounds and degrees. And younger Black women ages 18-35 really should be alarmed: Their wage gap doubled in just the past decade from earning 4.1 percent less than white women in 2000 to 10.8 percent less in 2015.

Researchers blame racial discrimination as the factor for this steep financial disparity. “It’s just another way to sort of draw our attention that we don’t live in a post-racial America,” said Valerie Rawlston Wilson, the director of the group’s Program on Race.

People should be troubled and really question why we would observe this pattern through 2015. Is the American dream really obtainable ― equally obtainable for all people?” she asked.

No, it’s actually not.

Colin Kaepernick’s Protest Graces The Cover Of ‘Time Magazine’  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com