Thanks to our Editor-In-Chief, Lori Lakin Hutcherson, for reminding me that it April is Jazz Appreciation Month. So, to that end, I’ve assembled this collection of new and recent Jazz releases.
Most of these track have been released in 2024. None of them is older than five years old. These tracks encompass a wide range of styles and showcase the creativity and artistry of today’s jazz musicians.
This collection features rom compelling compositions to virtuosic performances, by the likes of Ulysses Owens Jr. and Generation Y, Marlon Simon, Lawrence Fields, Kandace Springs and so many others.
Jazz is a most truly American art form, its soulful and rich roots go back to the 1890s. Jazz Appreciation Month (fondly known as “JAM“) was created at Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2001.
According to their website, “to recognize and celebrate the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz for the entire month of April. JAM is intended to stimulate and encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz – to study the music, attend concerts, listen to jazz on radio and recordings, read books about jazz, and more.” Works for me!!
The roots of jazz can be found in the blues and that is true of this playlist too. The journey of jazz started in the deep south along back roads, spread to nearly every city in America and eventually the world.
The variety and richness of jazz is on full display on with this collection. Enjoy JAM!
I’m back with another batch of tracks. “AfroBowie”is a collection devoted to David Bowie, who, in a 1976 Playboy interview, described his own album Young Americansas “the definitive plastic soul record. It’s the squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak, written and sung by a white limey.”
Though those funky soulful tracks made Bowie one of the few white performers to be invited to perform on Soul Train.
He would also go on to call out MTV on not featuring Black artists: “I’m floored by the fact that there are so few Black artists featured on [MTV]. Why is that?” “The only few black artists one does see are on in about 2:30 in the morning until 6:00,” Bowie continued, “Very few are featured prominently during the day.”
Almost a decade before James Brown would become constantly sampled, the Godfather of Soul would borrow Carlos Alomar’s guitar riff from David Bowie’s crossover hit “Fame” to create his track “Hot”.
Bowie would later team up with Queen Latifah for a version “Fame” in 1990. This collection features Bowie covers from Black artists like Robert Glasper & Bilal, Durand Jones & The Indications, Rhonda Dakar and others.
There are Bowie tracks written with his longtime collaborator Alomar including: “D.J.”, “Fame”, “Never Let Me Down”, “Red Money” and “The Secret Life of Arabia”. And of course his team-up with young Luther Vandross on “Young Americans” is in the mix.
I’ve included David Bowie’s covers of “Almost Grown” by Chuck Berry, Nina Simone’s “Wild is the Wind” and versions of “Knock on Wood” (by Eddie Floyd) and “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” (by Ohio Players) from DAVID LIVE.
There are a few tracks from Ziggy Stardub, a spectacular reggae recasting “Ziggy Stardust” by the Easy Star All-Stars.
There are also songs from the tribute record Modern Love. It features covers from across Bowie’s catalog by Helado Negro, Khruangbin, Jeff Parker, We Are KING, Meshell Ndegeocello, and more. P
lus, Seu Jorge’s beautiful set of Bowie covers from Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Hope you enjoy AfroBowie as much as I’ve enjoyed making it.
As always, stay safe, sane, and kind. See ya next month.
According to Forbes.com, statistics from a publicly-available U.S. Department of Education database reveal that six-year graduation rates (a commonly-used metric in higher education) for Black students are higher at Harvard and Princeton than they are for the overall student body (equal at Ivy League sister school Yale), as well as at other highly-selective private institutions like Cal Tech, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, Case Western Reserve University, and Wake Forest University.
To quote the article:
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled race-conscious college admissions policies and practices unconstitutional. Affirmative Action opponents have long argued that admitting presumably unqualified applicants of color to highly-selective institutions sets those students up for failure because they can’t do the work.
If completing a bachelor’s degree is a reasonable measure of whether someone has what it takes to succeed in the Ivy League or at another highly-selective university, then federal data from the three institutions where admission slots are among the most coveted in the world confirm that Black students are indeed more than capable and deserving of the opportunities they earned.
At Harvard, it’s 98% for undergraduates overall and 99% for Black collegians. It’s also 99% for Black students at Princeton, compared to 97% of bachelor’s degree seekers there overall. Additionally, 98% of Yale students graduate within six years – the exact same for Black Yalies.
This week, Apple announced its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI), a long-term global effort to advance equity and expand opportunities for Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous communities, has more than doubled its initial financial commitment to total more than $200 million over the last three years.
Since launching REJI in June 2020, Apple has supported education, economic empowerment, and criminal justice reform work across the U.S., with recent expansion to Australia, the U.K., and Mexico.
Apple launched REJI at a pivotal moment in the U.S., as protests against racial injustice in the wake of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor swept the nation.
“Building a more just and equitable world is urgent work that demands collaboration, commitment, and a common sense of purpose,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are proud to partner with many extraordinary organizations that are dedicated to addressing injustice and eliminating barriers to opportunity. And we’ll continue to lead with our values as we expand our efforts to create opportunities, lift up communities, and help build a better future for all.”
Apple has reported that REJI’s education grants have reached more than 160,000 learners through in-person courses and out-of-school offerings, while committing over $50 million to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) to support science, technology, engineering, arts, and math opportunities.
With a focus on economic empowerment, REJI funds financial institutions — including venture capital firms, Community Development Financial Institutions, and Minority Depository Institutions — that support Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous entrepreneurs and businesses.
As part of its expanding work, Apple also announced a new partnership with the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (MBKA), a program of the Obama Foundation. Through this strategic partnership and funding, Apple aims to help close opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color by supporting training for community leaders and MBKA staff, expanding programming for boys and young men of color, and strengthening the MBKA network through targeted community impact microgrants. The program plans to train more than 500 leaders and engage over 50,000 youth across the U.S.
“Apple’s continued support of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance empowers the foundation to develop and implement new initiatives that create opportunities for our young people,” said Valerie Jarrett, the Obama Foundation’s CEO. “Together, we are building a more inclusive educational system that nurtures creativity, fosters innovation, and transforms the lives of boys and young men of color across the country. We are grateful for their partnership and look forward to our continued collective efforts to ensure all youth can reach their full potential.”
REJI’s criminal justice reform grants are reported to have supported providing legal services, safe housing, identification services, healthcare access, and other vital reentry services for more than 19,000 justice-impacted individuals.
To combat systemic racism, REJI and Apple have partnered with several community colleges — including the Los Angeles Community College District, Delgado Community College in New Orleans, and Houston Community College — to implement programs to help incarcerated and paroled individuals learn new skills, prevent recidivism, and create economic opportunity for parolees and probationers.
Apple has also made meaningful contributions to various nonprofit organizations that advance equity and justice, including the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Defy Ventures, Vera Institute of Justice, and The Last Mile.
To learn and read more about Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, check out its REJI Impact Overview.
Happy Music Monday, you all. This collection celebrates another recently departed great, Wayne Shorter. He was a giant of jazz for six decades. He was a well-regarded improviser, bandleader, composer, and thinker.
From his teen years with Art Blakey and Miles Davis to his work as a founder of Weather Report, to leading his own landmark quintet Shorter was among the greatest.
A well-known figure on the jazz circuit since the late 1950s, Shorter would go on to take a strong hand in shaping much of 20th Century jazz music.
The 12-time Grammy award winner played alongside several greats, including Carlos Santana, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock.
In 1964 he was swooped away after several attempts by jazz legend Miles Davis to become part of Davis’ “Second Great Quintet.”
Wayne Shorter would also release solo albums by 1959, including the acclaimed Speak No Evil, Night Dreamer, and JuJu.
Among the dozen Grammy awards he won, Shorter received a Lifetime Achievement award in 2015
In 2018, Shorter received the Kennedy Center Honors Award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for his lifetime of contributions to the arts.
Hope you enjoy the collection. As usual, stay safe, sane, and kind. See ya next month!
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN founder and Editor-in-Chief
Well, here we are, once again. Forty seven years after February was officially recognized by the U.S. government as Black History Month, and ninety seven years after Negro History Weekwas founded by Carter G. Woodson, “The Father of Black History.”
We are also, once again, deeply distressed by the murder of a young Black person (Tyre Nichols) at the hands of police officers. The fact that the officers and the police chief are Black this time around doesn’t complicate but instead amplifies the grotesque, stark, ironically colorblind reality of systemic racism — it is a pernicious construct of power and oppression that can be upheld or enforced by anyone of any color or gender or creed.
So, how do we reconcile the two — the celebration of Black people and their achievements while constantly experiencing injustice, inequity and increasingly, erasure?
As Editor-in-Chief of Good Black News, a site which for over a decade has literally been dedicated year-round to the celebration of Black people and their achievements, I have been wrestling with this question for a while, particularly in the last eight months.
After the murder of 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY by a white supremacist in May 2022 and the continued downplaying of racially-based domestic terrorism, I felt depleted and bereft. Of hope, of faith, of purpose. It didn’t seem to matter how much Black people achieved or prospered or protested or suffered in America — we couldn’t even buy our groceries in peace.
And once again, the narrative of the “lone, mentally unstable shooter” was trotted out. One person was (rightfully) punished, but the racist political and economic system he embraced in its most violent extreme? It remained (and remains) steadfastly in place. As did the onus remain on the shoulders of Black people to be seen as worthy of basic human rights.
America quickly got back to the business of forgetting and moving on, even after experiencing only two years before what seemed like a watershed moment of racial reckoning after the police murder of George Floyd.
But here were are again today, literally TODAY, with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump saying during his call to action during Tyre Nichols’ funeral: “Why couldn’t they see the humanity in Tyre?… We have to make sure they see us as human beings worthy of respect and justice!”
We do?
I’ll admit in many ways, I understand where Crump is coming from. “Show the humanity” has essentially been the GBN operating philosophy since 2010 — to create a site and space where we can see and celebrate our humanity, while offering access to anyone else who wants to take a gander.
But now, in 2023, I must push myself to dig deeper and firmly challenge why it should it ever be the responsibility of any human being to convince any other human being of their humanity. To state the obvious, once, and for all:
BLACK PEOPLE ARE HUMAN BEINGS.
If the words above are not inherently understood to be true, why is that? Why does this have to be shown? Proven? Over and over and over again?
My answer, also obvious, is that they don’t. Not ever.
So, while I absolutely respect and still intend to celebrate the legacies of people such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Sidney Poitier and the like, going forward I also need for GBN’s Black History Month and GBN in general to engage more actively in the interrogation and disempowering any systems, institutions or public policies that do not recognize or uphold this truth and all the basic rights that should flow from it (e.g. respect, freedom, safety, equality).
Maybe I’m not giving enough credit to GBN in its past and present form — I acknowledge that GBN has been helpful and appreciated by many for the way we offer information via the lens of celebration and positivity.
What I’m aiming to add to our existing ethos is more critical thinking and opinion about cultural topics and cultural content, boosting political, economic and social policies that are truly about protecting, serving and uplifting Black people, and working to upend those that don’t.
The College Board creates and administers the AP program. Join us in demanding that they:
Reject the narrow interpretation of Florida law that contradicts principles of academic freedom and autonomy in determining what to teach in classrooms.
Take swift action to make sure Florida does not modify the curriculum of the proposed AP African-American Studies course designed with the help of respected Black scholars, but rather, maintains the integrity of the proposed curriculum.
Florida’s current agenda of political interference in the AP African American studies curriculum directly conflicts with the values of equity, fairness, and justice. Our students deserve better.
Additionally, I want to highlight Nikole Hannah-Jones’ The 1619 Projectseries now streaming on Hulu as well as promote the excellent “Intersectionality Matters” podcast by law professor Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw whose name is among the writers expunged from the AP African American studies curriculum.
I also want to give props to Beyoncéfor officially announcing her 2023 Renaissance World Tour! A definite bright spot on this first day of Black History Month, the efforts Beyoncé and her team are making via the Verified Fan system and its tiers of engagement (first priority given to the BeyHive!) to ensure real fans get access to tickets over usurious resale entities is for sure worth a shout out.
Frankly, I am tired of us being caught out there, and I want GBN to do more, offer more, share more and speak out more. In our tweets, reels, stories, posts, playlists, comments — however.
Maybe I’ll get it wrong sometimes, but with deep love for this community as my true north, may my faith, purpose and hope never again be broken.
Lori Lakin Hutcherson, Good Black News Editor-in-Chief
Whelp, I feel like I need to start this post with a re-boot. When I first wrote “Dear Lori” in September 2020, the idea was to make it a semi-regular feature where I answered some of the myriad questions I’ve received over the years about race and systemic racism. (If inclined, you can read details of this column’s genesis here.)
But two “Dear Lori”s in I paused… then stopped. One reason was lack of time: I returned full-time to my TV writing gig while also dealing with my two school-aged children who were adjusting to distance learning, in addition to some other challenging personal matters.
The other reason was the nasty political landscape. The level of divisiveness, purposeful misinformation, vitriol and literal insurrection on January 6, 2021 made me feel like this column was pointless.
And now it’s February 2022. As voting rights continue to be under attack and fears and misinformation around Critical Race Theory have emboldened several states to legalize suppression of education about America’s history of racism, I once more feel like I need to do something, anything that might help. Especially as I witness even more organized attempts to undermine understanding, change, democracy and equity.
So… I’m back. And I’m committing to the mental and emotional labor that answering some of these questions takes.
That all said now, I’m ready to address a question asked of me a few days ago on Facebook (excuse me, Meta). Which I find ironic and fitting, because that’s the very platform where this whole me answering people’s questions about race thing began in the first place…
[All letters/queries are published verbatim and without corrections. Only the names have been changed.]
On February 5th, I published a GBN post on how Dr. Jessica Watkins will become the first Black woman astronaut to spend months in space when she heads to the International Space Station in April. Below is one of the comments/questions the post received.
Dear Lori:
Who cares??? Why does it always have to be first black this and first black that??? –Robert
Dear Robert:
Thank you for your question. Although its intent feels snarky and dismissive instead of genuinely curious, I’m answering. Because, intentions aside, I don’t think you are alone in this query.
In fact I know you’re not, because as Editor-in-Chief of Good Black News and when authoring the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendarfor 2022, I actually have asked it of myself (albeit in a much kinder, pensive tone) — why are Black firsts still a thing? And should I keep shining a light on them?
The answers I came up with for why there’s a need for “first Black this and first Black that,” are pretty simple:
1) “Firsts” inspire. Those who think something might be impossible for them based on race, gender, disability or economic status — whatever factor – seeing someone who looks like them or with a similar background doing that very thing helps dissolve both real and perceived barriers to that achievement.
People derive hope from hearing about “firsts.” So I share them whenever I can, because perhaps some young Black girl who has fantasized about traveling into and spending time in space now sees a path to make that dream a reality because she saw Dr. Watkins’ story.
2) “Firsts” highlight inequities. If someone sees a “first” and reacts by saying “What took so damn long? It’s 2022!” — that’s a good reason to share it, too. Sharing “firsts” can provoke much-needed and deeper questionings into why it has taken so much time to make these strides and inroads. Like, what possible historic or systemic reasons could there be within organizations or institutions — educational, governmental — that it’s taken until this year for a Black woman to spend a few months on the International Space Station?
By the way, I’m not picking on NASA here — NASA has done active recruiting to diversify its astronaut training programs (cool documentary about that here) — I’m saying if you react to a “first” by wondering what’s taken so long, follow that wonder and most likely the answer you find will hip you to some inequities that are causing the dearth of Black people in certain positions or fields.
3) Celebrating “firsts” is human nature. No matter when or where firsts happen, human beings love to exalt firsts, as firsts at their essence signify when the impossible has become possible for us. It’s why we are all still taught Magellan was the first explorer to circumnavigate the globe, Neil Armstrong was the first human being to walk on the moon or Kamala Harris is the first Black East Indian Woman Vice President of the United States of America (she packed in A LOT of firsts there!). I mean, this right here is the whole ass reason the Guinness Book of World Records is still even a thing!
I hope my answer helps, Robert, I truly do. Now I have a question for you – have you ever bothered to ask why anybody cares about any of the “firsts” we all know about (eg. man on moon, female Supreme Court justice, airplane flight) or why you were taught them? What’s the intent behind that? Could maybe it be to give people a sense of their abilities, possibilities, worthiness? Maybe? And if so, why is it bothersome to you when Black people engage in this type of celebration?
If you choose to answer me, trust me, you will be the first.
Each time my white privilege piece circulates, I get a rush of emails, posts, messages, comments, tweets and DMs from new readers. Most are positive, some negative, some hilarious (between “laugh or cry,” I choose “laugh”) and inevitably, some questioning. I try my best to respond individually, but sometimes it’s way too overwhelming a task. Like during the last rush right after Christian Cooper, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and the nationwide protests.
I did find the energy in late May to write “A Letter to Friends Who Really Want to End Racism” on my personal Facebook page in an attempt to share my thoughts on how to move forward pro-actively. My sister (and GBN co-editor) Lesa encouraged me to publish it on GBN as well. I did, and that piece had its own extra flutter of internet life, too.
I texted Lesa to say her instincts were right again (in 2016 she predicted “What I Said…” would go viral before I posted it) and she responded in spotty text talk: You speak super Black pride and really wanna be woke white — needs to be shared!
Her words gave me a much-needed chuckle during a fraught pandemic shopping trip in a bare-shelved Whole Foods. They also helped crystallize my thoughts on what I might be able to uniquely contribute to the movement for equity and justice.
Yesterday I was tagged in a post by an old high school friend, asking me and a few others a very public, direct question about white privilege and racism. I feel compelled not only to publish his query but also my response to it, as it may be a helpful discourse for more than just a handful of folks on Facebook. Here’s his post:
“To all of my Black or mixed race FB friends, I must profess a blissful ignorance of this “White Privilege” of which I’m apparently guilty of possessing. By not being able to fully put myself in the shoes of someone from a background/race/religion/gender/nationality/body type that differs from my own makes me part of the problem, according to what I’m now hearing. Despite my treating everyone with respect and humor my entire life (as far as I know), I’m somehow complicit in the misfortune of others. I’m not saying I’m colorblind, but whatever racism/sexism/other-ism my life experience has instilled in me stays within me, and is not manifested in the way I treat others (which is not the case with far too many, I know).
So that I may be enlightened, can you please share with me some examples of institutional racism that have made an indelible mark upon you? If I am to understand this, I need people I know personally to show me how I’m missing what’s going on. Personal examples only. I’m not trying to be insensitive, I only want to understand (but not from the media). I apologize if this comes off as crass or offends anyone.”
Here’s my response:
Hi, Jason. First off, I hope you don’t mind that I’ve quoted your post and made it part of mine. I think the heart of what you’ve asked of your friends of color is extremely important and I think my response needs much more space than as a reply on your feed. I truly thank you for wanting to understand what you are having a hard time understanding.
Coincidentally, over the last few days I have been thinking about sharing some of the incidents of prejudice/racism I’ve experienced in my lifetime – in fact I just spoke with my sister Lesa about how to best do this yesterday – because I realized many of my friends – especially the white ones – have no idea what I’ve experienced/dealt with unless they were present (and aware) when it happened. There are two reasons for this : 1) because not only as a human being do I suppress the painful and uncomfortable in an effort to make it go away, I was also taught within my community (I was raised in the ‘70s & ‘80s – it’s shifted somewhat now) and by society at large NOT to make a fuss, speak out, or rock the boat. To just “deal with it,” lest more trouble follow (which sadly, it often does). 2) Fear of being questioned or dismissed with “Are you sure that’s what you heard?” or “Are you sure that’s what they meant?” and being angered and upset all over again by well-meaning-but-hurtful and essentially unsupportive responses.
So, again, I’m glad you asked, because I really want to answer. But as I do, please know a few things first: 1) This is not even close to the whole list. I’m cherrypicking because none of us have all day. 2) I’ve been really lucky. Most of what I share below is mild compared to what others in my family and community have endured. 3) I’m going to go in chronological order so you might begin to glimpse the tonnage and why what many white folks might feel is a “Where did all of this come from?” moment in society has been festering individually and collectively for the LIFETIME of pretty much every black or brown person living in America today regardless of wealth or opportunity. 4)Some of what I share covers sexism, too – intersectionality is another term I’m sure you’ve heard and want to put quotes around, but it’s a real thing, too, just like white privilege. But you’ve requested a focus on personal experiences with racism, so here it goes:
1. When I was 3, my family moved into an upper-middle class, all-white neighborhood. We had a big backyard, so my parents built a pool. Not the only pool on the block, but the only one neighborhood boys started throwing rocks into. White boys. One day my mom ID’d one as the boy from across the street, went to his house, told his mother and fortunately, his mother believed mine. My mom not only got an apology, but also had that boy jump in our pool and retrieve every single rock. No more rocks after that. Then Mom even invited him to come over to swim sometime if he asked permission. Everyone became friends. This one has a happy ending because my mom was and is badass about matters like these, but I hope you can see that the white privilege in this situation isbeing able to move into a “nice” neighborhood and be accepted not harassed, made to feel unwelcome, or prone to acts of vandalism and hostility.
2. When my older sister was 5, a white boy named Mark called her a “nigger” after she beat him in a race at school. She didn’t know what it meant but in her gut, she knew it was bad. This was the first time I’d seen my father the kind of angry that has nowhere to go. I somehow understood it was because not only had some boy verbally assaulted his daughter and had gotten away with it, it had way too early introduced her (and me) to that term and the reality of what it meant – that some white people would be cruel and careless with black people’s feelings just because of our skin color. Or our achievement. If it’s unclear in any way, the point here is if you’ve NEVER had a defining moment in your childhood or your life, where you realize your skin color alone makes other people hate you, you have white privilege.
3. Sophomore year of high school. I had Mr. Melrose for Algebra 2. Some time within the first few weeks of class, he points out that I’m “the only spook” in the class. This was meant to be funny. It wasn’t. So, I doubt it will surprise you I was relieved when he took medical leave after suffering a heart attack and was replaced by a sub for the rest of the semester. The point here is if you’ve never been ‘the only one’ of your race in a class, at a party, on a job, etc. and/or it’s been pointed out in a “playful” fashion by the authority figure in said situation – you have white privilege.
4. When we started getting our college acceptances senior year, I remember some white male classmates pissed that another black classmate had gotten into UCLA while they didn’t. They said that affirmative action had given him “their spot” and it wasn’t fair. An actual friend of theirs. Who’d worked his ass off. The point here is if you’ve never been on the receiving end of the assumption that when you’veachieved something it’s only because it was taken away from a white person who “deserved it” – that is white privilege.
5. When I got accepted to Harvard (as a fellow AP student you were witness to what an academic beast I was in high school, yes?), three separate times I encountered white strangers as I prepped for my maiden trip to Cambridge that rankle to this day. The first was the white doctor giving me a physical at Kaiser: Me: “I need to send an immunization report to my college so I can matriculate.” Doctor: “Where are you going?” Me: “Harvard.” Doctor: “You mean the one in Massachusetts?” The second was in a store, looking for supplies I needed from Harvard’s suggested “what to bring with you” list. Store employee: “Where are you going?” Me: “Harvard.” Store employee: “You mean the one in Massachusetts?” The third was at UPS, shipping off boxes of said “what to bring” to Harvard. I was in line behind a white boy mailing boxes to Princeton, and in front of a white woman sending her child’s boxes to wherever. Woman, to the boy: “What college are you going to?” Boy: “Princeton.” Woman: “Congratulations!” Woman, to me: “Where are you sending your boxes?” Me: “Harvard.” Woman: “You mean the one in Massachusetts?” I think: “No bitch, the one downtown next to the liquor store.” But I say, gesturing to my LABELED boxes: “Yes, the one in Massachusetts.” Then she says congratulations but it’s too fucking late. The point here is if no one has ever questioned your intellectual capabilities or attendance at an elite institution based solely on your skin color, that is white privilege.
This week, Apple announced its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI), a long-term global effort to advance equity and expand opportunities for Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous communities, has more than doubled its initial financial commitment to total more than $200 million over the last three years.
With a focus on economic empowerment, REJI funds financial institutions — including venture capital firms, Community Development Financial Institutions, and Minority Depository Institutions — that support Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous entrepreneurs and businesses.
