Are you an innovator or looking to start a new career in the tech industry?  Join us for the virtual summit on Sept. 24, 3-5PM ET 

The Louisville Urban League (Louisville, KY) and several nonprofit organizations announced efforts to increase Black voter turnout Friday as part of the first National Black Voter Day.

The National Urban League and BET announced the day as one piece of their "Reclaim Your Vote" campaign.

On Friday (Sept. 18), local leaders announced the creation of the Alberta Odell Jones Black Independent Black Voters Association, in honor of the local attorney and civil rights activist. The organization will host phone banks to contact 42,000 unregistered Black voters across Kentucky and the more than 100,000 ex-felons who regained their right to vote last year.

Louisville Urban League President and CEO Sadiqa Reynolds said her organization will release a series of PSAs to help voters understand their options and how to fill out an absentee ballot. The league is also making a push to get people to vote when early voting begins on Oct. 13.

BET and the National Urban League on Friday rolled out National Black Voter Day, an initiative focused on getting Black Americans registered to vote ahead of November.

The undertaking has more than 40 partners, including the NAACP, former first lady Michelle Obama's When We All Vote organization and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams's Fair Fight Action.

National Black Voter Day is part of BET's larger nonpartisan #ReclaimYourVote campaign, which was launched earlier this year.

Food Lion Donates $500,000 to Support Racial Equality and Justice

Funding Earmarked to Support Programming of Long-Standing Community Partners

Food Lion announced today that it has selected several longstanding community partners to receive additional funding to support their work to address racial equality and justice.

“At Food Lion, our value of care is at the center of everything we do, from how we run our business to how we engage with associates and customers to how we nourish our communities,” said Meg Ham, president of Food Lion. “Because we believe there is no place for systemic racism in our world, we are committed to doing our part to support racial equality inside our organization and inside our communities. We are holding ourselves accountable for making lasting change, and together with our community partners, we are hopeful that we can create a better future for all,” Ham added.

It’s a good bet the knife-carrying suspect and his buddy who challenged racial justice protesters outside a Hertel Avenue bar never attended the Buffalo Urban League’s (Buffalo, NY) annual gala.

Neither, I suspect, did the Tonawanda store manager who called police on a Black man trying to cash his winning lottery ticket, or the cops who arrested and strip-searched the man for no good reason.

If they had, they would have been educated by the stories of African Americans who’ve defied all of the stereotypes and overcome all of the obstacles this society stacks against them.

On the other hand, if they were enlightened enough to attend, they probably wouldn’t have held such racist views in the first place.

National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial issues the following statement regarding the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial issued the following statement regarding the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 

Marc H. Morial 
President and CEO
National Urban League
 

“Too many people struggled, suffered and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote. And we have come too far together to ever turn back. So we must not be silent. We must stand up, speak up and speak out. We must march to the polls like never before. We must come together and exercise our sacred right.” – Congressman John Lewis

In April of 2019, the Associated Press released an analysis of census data and exit polling that reached a remarkable conclusion: the Black voter turnout rate in the 2012 presidential election exceeded the white rate for the first time in history.  A census report in May confirmed the AP’s findings.

Some researchers disputed the findings, contending that the milestone actually had occurred in 2008.

LOUISVILLE, KY (September 16, 2020) -- Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, and Sadiqa N. Reynolds, Esq., President & CEO of the Louisville Urban League, issued the following joint statement in response to the unprecedented settlement agreement between Louisville Metro Government and the family of Breonna Taylor.

The FedEx Racing team will use its sponsorship to provide a platform for creating more diverse and equitable communities. The No. 11 FedEx Cares Toyota, driven by Denny Hamlin, will highlight the National Urban League and its Project Ready program for the Sept. 12 NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.  Project Ready prepares Black Americans and other historically underserved youth for college and careers, offering support, services, and opportunities not always found in the classroom. The newly unveiled paint scheme for Hamlin’s No. 11 represents the goals of the program with images of graduation caps being tossed in the air.