TODAY IS:
On October 20th, 2004,Kanye West signed a deal with Sony to form his own record label, Getting Out Our Dreams Music.
TODAY'S TOPICS:
LOVE AND HIP HOP CREATOR TRYING SOMETHING NEW
Reality TV mogul Mona Scott-Young is branching out into something new — scripted TV. TheLove & Hip Hop creator is working on a remake of the South African drama Shaka Zulu. She says of the project, “That is a brilliant classic and when you think about thematically what it represents, there are parallels with what we are experiencing now. It’s strategic rebellion, right? Understanding that now is the time for people to take a stand about the things that are wrong, to not allow themselves to be victimized, that was what Shaka’s legacy was about. He was a masterful and strategic general.” Mona is also working on an unscripted project with Black Lives Matter activist and women’s march founder Tamika Mallory. (Deadline)
LARGEST BLACK OWNED BANK SURPASSES 100,000 CUSTOMERS
The country's largest Black-owned bank, OneUnited, announced it has reached 100,000 customers across America. This has been a four-year journey for the financial institution, which received a good number of clients once Atlanta entrepreneur Killer Mike made a call-to-action to his following, encouraging Black and brown communities to bank Black in response to the many years of systemic racism and stifling financial growth within impoverished environments. In the wake of George Floyd's death striking discord throughout the country, OneUnited Founder Kezia Williams says that in July, with the company's motives to share in the cause for activism, “We sent out an email to our listserv of over 40,000 people and our site crashed, and it was out of commission for another 12 hours."
Now that they have a larger clientele base, they're expanding. OneUnited's President/COOTeri Williamsadds, “Our customer base continues to grow rapidly, and we have expanded access and now have over 100,000 locations to better meet their needs. Importantly, we’re on our way to fulfilling Black America’s long-held dream of organizing our spending power to create social and economic equality in our society." (The Grio)
BLACK OFFICERS PROTEST NATIONAL UNIONS FOR VOTING TO ENDORSE TRUMP
Earlier this month in Philadelphia, Black law enforcement members within various groups hosted a news press conference to condemn 44 state Fraternal Orders of Police chapters, national, and city and state officers' unions who support Trump endorsements, saying that Black officers within the law enforcement agencies and organizations have been ignored, including having expressed concerns over what they perceived to be racist remarks, the president's support for white supremacist groups and a lack of respect for women. Though the number of minority officers have more than doubled in 30 years, diversity within individual departments remains largely disproportionate to the amount of people those communities make up.
The Guardian Civic League of Philadelphia's former President Rochelle Bilal attended the press conference and called the FOP's Trump endorsement an "outrage." She added, “We are members of these unions, and they don’t take into consideration our feelings about Donald J. Trump, then they don’t care about us and...They don’t care about our dues.” There are mixed conversations happening with unions across the nation -- some in support of the endorsement, but others are crying out wanting to be heard and represented fairly. Currently, FOP votes have been unanimously in favor of the president. (The Grio)