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The Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation’s Social Justice Fund (SFJ) honored four grassroots Black maternal health organizations during the New York Liberty vs. Minnesota Lynx game last Friday. 

The Tsais launched the SFJ in 2020 in Brooklyn with a commitment to fight for racial justice and plan for the economic recovery after the COVID pandemic. SJF will match donations up to $25,000 to Brooklyn Perinatal Network, Caribbean Women’s Health Association, Haven Midwifery Collective, and Irth organizations as part of their “You Belong Here” campaign. 

The campaign aims to promote a culture of belonging across Brooklyn with a focus on raising awareness about the racial disparities in maternal mortality and health this year.

  “Health equity is an essential right and critical to belonging and equality. Given the disparities in Black maternal health, this is especially important for our work toward social justice here in Brooklyn,” said Clara Wu Tsai, vice chair of BSE Global, in a statement. “We started the Social Justice Fund to bring together people and organizations with a shared commitment to inclusivity, justice, and equal opportunity. We are proud to support these four organizations dedicated to improving health outcomes for pregnant people of color in Brooklyn.” 

Statistically in New York City, Black mothers are a little over nine times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than their white counterparts due to inequities in health care access and quality. ​​The highest rates reported are in neighborhoods such as Bed-Stuy, Brownsville, Bushwick, Canarsie, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, East New York, Flatbush, and Williamsburg.

Brooklyn Borough President (BP) Antonio Reynoso dedicated millions in the fiscal capital budget as well as launched a maternal health campaign focused on getting critical resources to Black and brown birthing people. Black maternal health leaders in Brooklyn said that they appreciated Reynoso’s attention to the issue, but a majority of the funds went to city-run birthing centers and the hospital system. 

They felt left out financially from a mission they helped build.

SJF Executive Director Gregg Bishop said that the Fund specifically wanted to support and fund organizations that were already doing meaningful work in the community. 

The organizations were recognized during the New York Liberty vs. Minnesota Lynx game at Barclays Center. Joe and Clara Tsai are the billionaire owners of the Barclays Center, the New York Liberty team, and the Brooklyn Nets. 

Representatives of the organizations showed up to enjoy the game and take center court during halftime. Attendees included former journalist Kimberly Seals Allers, Brooklyn Perinatal Network (BPN) Deputy Executive Director Denise West, Certified Midwife Trinisha Williams, BPN Executive Director Ngozi Moses, Caribbean Women’s Health Association Executive Director Cheryl Hall, organizer and educator Xamayla Rose, and BPN Chair Bettie Mays.                   

Each woman had their own story to tell about why they have dedicated their lives to helping other Black and brown women safely have children. 

Moses is originally from Guyana in South America and studied as a pharmacist. She said she got involved with maternal health and BPN when she felt disrespected at a local clinic. “They threatened to call the police on me because I challenged a prescription that was written for my four-month-old. What they didn’t know was that I was a pharmacist and I could read the prescription. It was adult doses,” said Moses. “I was dismissed as ignorant and my accent was very Caribbean. But she made the biggest mistake of her life because here I am advocating 35 years after, organizing against that kind of care.”

Allers had a fraught pregnancy experience at a highly-rated hospital despite having done research. She created the Narrative Nation and the Irth app, which lets users leave a Yelp-like review of doctors, hospitals, and obstetrician-gynecologists. 

“This seems to be one area where the system has continued to fail us,” said Allers. 

West said that her own mother was left temporarily blind for a month after giving birth to her. She believes in preventative maternal health care.

“Our biggest obstacle is capital funding. This health disparity has caused a lot of people to die,” said Williams, from her firsthand experience as a midwife for 21 years. “I don’t feel that midwives or people like myself should now fund the healthcare system in order to make change.”

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

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Former President Donald Trump’s legal woes took another historic turn on Tuesday, August 1, as a federal grand jury indicted the twice-impeached ex-commander-in-chief on serious conspiracy charges, including an attempt to defraud the United States.

This marks the third time a grand jury has indicted Trump this year.

This time the charges are related to special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

It adds to Trump’s extensive list of legal troubles since leaving office. Notably, he is already facing more than 30 criminal charges in New York and over 40 in Florida, where he allegedly withheld and misused classified documents.

Moreover, a civil jury this year convicted him of sexual assault, and the New York Attorney General is pursuing a $250 million civil suit against him for fraud.

An impending indictment on criminal charges in Atlanta also looms over him.
Trump, who has consistently denounced the investigations as politically motivated witch hunts, had previously pleaded not guilty in the other cases.

He’s expected to appear at the federal courthouse in D.C. at 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3.

His first indictment in April was related to falsifying business records concerning alleged hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.

In June, Smith announced an indictment in Florida over Trump’s handling of classified materials after departing the White House.

Trump announced on July 16 that he was informed of his status as a target in the election probe.

The letter he received mentioned three federal statutes in connection with the investigation: conspiracy to commit offenses or to defraud the United States, deprivation of rights under a civil rights statute, and tampering with a witness, victim, or informant.

Smith’s grand jury in Washington, D.C., has been actively interviewing witnesses, ranging from former White House aides to state election officials.

Notable figures such as former top Trump aide Hope Hicks, Trump’s son-in-law, and former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner have reportedly testified.

Investigators have also contacted election officials believed to be involved in the failed 2020 effort to present “fake electors” to cast electoral college votes for Trump on January 6.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to oversee the investigation of the election probe and the classified documents.

Garland’s decision came after Trump’s announcement in November that he intended to run for president again, prompting the appointment of an independent special counsel to avoid any potential conflict of interest within the Justice Department.

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THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Register to vote and then vote. (Laughs.) (Applause.) 

And, again, let me thank the leaders who are here. Just let us reflect on what the folks here accomplished in 2020. We were in the height of a pandemic. There was an extraordinary amount of loss: loss of life, loss of community, loss of normalcy, people lost their jobs. 

And in the midst of all of that, the leaders who are here gathered the courage and the optimism to talk with neighbors and friends and relatives and colleagues, and to remind them of the power of their voice through their vote, and achieved historic outcomes. 

We had a record voter turnout for African Americans in 2020. We had a record turnout of young voters in 2020, thanks to the work of everyone here. (Applause.) The NAACP, by some calculations, turned out hundreds of thousands of votes alone just based on your organizing and activism.  

And let’s reflect on what that has meant. Well, one thing is it scared some people. And it is by no coincidence that immediately thereafter, you started seeing extremist so-called leaders passing laws restricting voting days, making it more difficult to vote, banning drop boxes, shortening the amount of time people could vote ahead of the election, passing a law making it illegal to give somebody food and water while they are standing in line to exercise their civic responsibility and duty. 

Let us also mention the hypocrisy. Don’t these people really believe the words about “love thy neighbor”?

And what we have seen after 2020 is some people got scared, but a whole lot of other people got empowered. Because of what you did in 2020, Joe Biden got elected president of the United States and I got elected the first Black woman to be vice president of the United States.  (Applause.) Because people voted. 

And what happened? Well, let’s think about it. Before, we knew that our seniors—and Black folks are 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes—before, we knew that our seniors were making difficult decisions about whether they could put food on their table or fill a doctor’s prescription [that] would save their life. And because you voted, we have now capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for our seniors. (Applause.)  

Because of that election and people voted, we have now capped the annual cost of prescription medication for seniors at $2,000 a year, because you organized and led and reminded people their voice matters.  

Think about it. Before, so many people in so many places around our country, including right here in Boston, were talking about how we need to stop and end those lead pipes, because the water coming out of those lead pipes is toxic and it’s harming the health of our babies and impacting their ability to learn.  

And for years, folks had been talking from the community about this and saying, “You know, I may not be a doctor, but I’m not stupid. I know what is happening.” And because people voted, the president and I, with your support and help, will now get rid of all lead pipes in America over the next eight years. (Applause.)  

Before, our small businesses, which are part of the lifeblood—the economic lifeblood, the cultural lifeblood—of our communities, were saying…, for minority-owned businesses, it’s hard to get access to capital. But because people voted and said small businesses are a priority, we have now, since we’ve been in office, increased to the highest rate the number of small businesses that have been created in any two-year period. And Black businesses are helping to propel those numbers. (Applause.)

The work we’ve done has been about saying that we need to hear the cries of families who know that the United States of America, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, has…one of the highest rates of maternal mortality. And because folks voted and we were able to be there, we elevated the issue of maternal mortality—and particularly Black maternal mortality, because in this country, Black women are three to four times more likely to die in connection with childbirth than other women. And we said, “We’ve got to address this.” 

And because we are doing that, we see, for example, that in states before we started, only three…extended Medicaid coverage for postpartum care from two months to 12 months.  And we issued the call and the challenge, and now 35 states have postpartum care [for] up to 12 months.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lizzo has been sued by three former dancers who accuse the Grammy winner of sexual harassment and allege the singer and her production company created a hostile work environment.

The civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court claims Lizzo pressured the dancers to engage with nude performers at a club in Amsterdam and shamed one of them for her weight gain before firing her.

Plaintiffs Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez make numerous charges including sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault and false imprisonment.

The legal complaint seeks unspecified damages and names Melissa Viviane Jefferson, known professionally as Lizzo, her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc., and Shirlene Quigley, captain of the performer’s dance team.

Representatives for Lizzo didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The court filing claims that after performing a concert in Amsterdam, Lizzo and her crew attended a sexually themed show at a club in the city’s notorious Red Light District where “Lizzo began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers.” During the show, Lizzo led a chant pressuring Davis to touch the breasts of one of the nude women performing at the club, the filing states.

“Finally, the chorus became overwhelming, and a mortified Ms. Davis acquiesced in an attempt to bring an end to the chants,” the complaint states. “Plaintiffs were aghast with how little regard Lizzo showed for the bodily autonomy of her employees and those around her, especially in the presence of many people whom she employed.”

Lizzo, who routinely champions body positivity, is also accused of calling out Davis for her weight gain after accusing the dancer of not being committed to her role. Davis was fired in May for recording a meeting during which Lizzo had given out notes to dancers about their performances, according to the complaint.

Quigley, who served as a judge on the singer’s reality show “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” is accused in the lawsuit of pushing her Christian beliefs onto dancers. The court filing claims Quigley referred to Davis as a “non-believer” and told co-workers that “No job and no one will stop me from talking about the Lord.”

Earlier this year, Lizzo won the Grammy for record of the year for her hit “About Damn Time.” A global tour supporting her fourth studio album, 2022’s “Special,” wrapped up last month.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, facing heavy criticism for defending “anti-woke” teaching in Florida, this week teed up an unusual proposal to the nation’s first Black vice president: Come debate the merits of the state’s new curriculum on African-American history.

Less than 24 hours later, Kamala Harris was in an African Methodist Episcopal church in Orlando, firing back.

“I’m here in Florida,” Harris said Tuesday to a cheering audience at a convention of Black women missionaries. “And I will tell you there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: There were no redeeming qualities of slavery.”

It was the latest volley in a rhetorical war over Florida’s new education standards that has escalated in recent days. And it highlights the elevated role that Harris has been taking: Leading the White House charge against Republicans vying to face off against President Joe Biden in the 2024 campaign.

Harris’s trip to Orlando was her second to Florida in just over a week, after the state cleared new school guidelines that, in part, require teachers to instruct middle school students that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” It’s language that DeSantis defends against strong pushback from Democrats and leading Black Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Two days after the new guidelines were formally approved, Harris and her aides quickly organized a trip to the state’s largest city of Jacksonville and denounced “extremists” who she argued were forcing “propaganda” on Florida schoolchildren.

The vice president also flew to Iowa last week and met with abortion rights advocates as top GOP presidential candidates gathered in Des Moines to address an influential state Republican Party dinner. That came on the heels of a new Iowa law that bars most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which is now on hold, blocked by a state judge.

Harris’s moves to seize the political offensive are a departure from years past, when she found herself under repeated Republican attacks after making scant progress on tackling the migration challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border. Harris was also the point person on the administration’s efforts to bolster voting rights, which failed to gain traction on Capitol Hill.

Her newfound aggressive posture is a natural one, Harris allies say, considering her background as a prosecutor who thrives on zeroing in on an opponent and hammering their faults.

“The vice president has long been an effective messenger when Americans’ fundamental rights are at stake,” said Rohini Kosoglu, Harris’s former chief of staff. “This recent attack on education, which most Americans would consider extremist, is no different.”

Nikki Fried, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, said of DeSantis: “He took the bait.”

“The fact that he doubled down and brought another week of attention to a losing issue for him gives opportunity for the vice president to reinforce the message from the White House, and to reinforce what Americans understand slavery to have been,” Fried said.

At issue are Florida’s revised curriculum standards, particularly the mandate on teaching middle-school students about the “personal benefits” of slavery. On Tuesday, Harris called it an “attempt to gaslight us in an attempt to divide and distract our nation with unnecessary debates.” She said the invite from DeSantis — whom she never called out by name — was an effort to legitimize that debate.

DeSantis has said his critics are intentionally misinterpreting the language and notes that among the people who worked on the new standards is William B. Allen, a Black professor emeritus at Michigan State University who has defended the wording about slavery.

Still, most of the Black Republicans in Congress have come out against Florida’s new Black history curriculum, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, one of DeSantis’s challengers for the GOP presidential nomination, and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., a former ally of the governor who has endorsed former president Donald Trump. Rather than backing down, the DeSantis campaign has gone on the attack against critics, including Donalds, whose conservative credentials they question.

In his letter challenging Harris for a debate on the curriculum, DeSantis accused the vice president of trying to “score cheap political points” and said Florida was unique in requiring “this level of learning about such an important subject.”

“Kamala Harris got on a jet at taxpayer expense and flew to Florida to lie about the African American history standards,” DeSantis told Fox’s Bret Baier in a Monday interview. “You can’t bend the knee to the left’s lies. When the left lies and creates these phony narratives, you’ve got to push back. They’ve been doing this to Republicans for years and years.”

After Harris’s response in Orlando on Tuesday, Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting DeSantis, tweeted, “Kamala Harris announces she is too afraid to meet with Ron DeSantis & the African American history scholars who created the Florida curriculum standards she is lying about.”

Quisha King, a Jacksonville mother of two African American girls, said she wants an apology from the vice president for spreading what she calls “lies” about Florida’s new Black history curriculum. King said it’s Harris, not DeSantis, who is continuing to fuel the controversy, adding that she has counted at least four times in recent days that Harris has spoken about the Florida standards.

“Personally, I want an apology. She should not be doing this,” said King, a Black conservative activist who supports DeSantis’s presidential bid. “It’s damaging for our kids. They hear it and it creates confusion.”

DeSantis and other Republicans are eager to make the 2024 presidential race about Harris, believing she can be a liability for Biden. DeSantis’s campaign tags administration as the “Harris-Biden administration,” and the Florida governor has been one of a handful of Republican challengers who have suggested Harris would be the ultimate commander in chief because of Biden’s advanced age.

“She could end up being president of the United States and I think voters need to take a hard look at that and see if that’s something that they would want,” DeSantis told CBS News last week, adding that “I thank her” for her rapid response against him and other Republicans around the country.

But Democrats say they will continue to bolster her role, which will be particularly visible this week as Biden remains on vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and Harris steps into the spotlight Her schedule includes a trip to the critical swing state of Wisconsin later this week as well as remarks on the economy after the latest job figures are released on Friday.

“She’s been such an effective messenger in prosecuting the case against extremist Republicans who want to rip away fundamental freedoms, attack our rights and gaslight Americans because she’s got a lifetime of experience of fighting back,” said Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “Unfortunately for Ron, Vice President Harris stands up to bullies and will always be a staunch defender for the people.”

___

Peoples reported from New York.

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The Mega Millions jackpot increased to an estimated $1.25 billion after no one beat the odds Tuesday night and won the massive lottery prize.

The winning numbers drawn were: 8, 24, 30, 45, 61 and the yellow ball: 12.

No one has won the Mega Millions jackpot since April 18, allowing it to grow larger and larger. The $1.25 billion prize for Friday’s drawing is one of the largest in U.S. history. Tuesday night’s drawing for $1.1 billion was the 30th straight without a winner.

The lottery drought is due to a combination of poor luck and terrible odds, as the chance of winning the Mega Millions jackpot is 1 in 302.6 million. The odds of winning smaller prizes, ranging from $2 to $1 million, are significantly better.

The new $1.25 billion jackpot is for a sole winner who chooses to collect through an annuity, with annual payments over 30 years. A sole winner who opts for a lump sum payment would receive an estimated $625.3 million.

Winners also would be subject to federal taxes, and many states also tax lottery winnings.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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