1. SUPER TUESDAY EXPLAINED
For residents in 14 states, a territory, and Democrats living abroad, Super Tuesday is an opportunity to weigh in on who should be the 2020 Democratic nominee for the office of the presidency. While pre–Super Tuesday primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina usually receive the bulk of the candidates’ attention, March 3, 2020, is likely to be the real election game changer.
On this day it’s expected that the largest number of primary voters, more than one-third of the U.S. population, will head to the polls. The candidate who scores the greatest number of votes is favored to become the eventual nominee.
2. DIVERSIFYING ART
Black curators are rare, but representation within the art world is slowly gaining ground. Last fall the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City appointed Ashley James as associate curator of contemporary art. This makes her the first full-time Black curator in the museum’s 60-year history.
3. WORKING TO END HIV
Organizations in the South seeking to combat the HIV epidemic are receiving some much-needed financial aid. Gilead Sciences has awarded $2.3 million to 40 groups working within the field— many of which are led by and are focused on African-Americans.
4. HAIR-RAISING FINDINGS
A study in the International Journal of Cancer is giving Black women cause for concern. According to the December 2019 report, those who regularly use chemical straighteners and permanent hair dyes are at an increased risk for breast cancer. The report showed Black women who dye their hair have a 45 percent higher chance of developing the potentially fatal disease compared with a 7 percent higher chance for White women.
5. THE FUTURE OF HBCUs
In 2019, the Senate passed a bipartisan amendment to the FUTURE Act, which grants $255 million in annual mandatory federal funding to HBCUs and other institutions that serve minorities. The legislation also simplifies FAFSA and streamlines college loan repayment for nearly 8 million borrowers.
6. BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL
“May every little girl who witnessed this moment forever believe in the power of her dreams, and may they see their f aces reflected in mine. I am #MissUniverse2019.” —Zozibini Tunzi, following her crowning as Miss Universe
7. JUSTICE FOR BLACK WOMEN
Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR) is crossing the country for an initiative that it has dubbed the BWR Racial, Economic, Health, Gender and Reproductive Justice Project. The campaign will take BWR to ten states, where it will engage with us and address the ways in which biases are currently affecting our lives.
8. NEW AGE BIRTH CONTROL
Officials at the Indian Council of Medical Research conducted and concluded clinical testing for an injectable contraceptive for men. The drug is expected to be available to consumers in India this year.
9. WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?
Caribbean children are seeing the devastating effects of climate change. A UNICEF report titled Children Uprooted in the Caribbean: How Stronger Hurricanes Linked to a Changing Climate Are Driving Child Displacement found that between 2014 and 2018, the number of children’s home disturbances due to these climate-driven natural disasters rose by nearly 600,000.
10. ANOTHER CHANCE
At the helm of retail giant Walmart’s first Black-owned barbershop is 40-year-old Shaun “Lucky” Corbett, who went from being incarcerated to running a successful business. The owner of Lucky Spot hopes to soon expand his tonsorial outfit to other U.S. locations.