Black Lives Matter
A&E Reality Cop Show ‘Live PD’ Says It Destroyed Tape of Javier Ambler’s Fatal Arrest
Before there was George Floyd, there was Javier Ambler, who also suffered eerily similar death at the hands of the Texas police back in 2019. The investigation was closed, but now it has been reopened. According to Austin American-Statesman, Ambler was headed home following a poker game on the night of March 28, 2019. The 40-year-old was stopped by a sheriff’s deputy from Williamson County after he failed to dim his lights of his Honda Pilot. According to the Statesman, Ambler was tased multiple times before he died in police custody. Before cops hit him with the taser for a final time, Ambler begged the officers to save him. “I have congestive heart failure,” Ambler pleaded “I have congestive heart failure. I can’t breathe.” The Statesman reports that approximately 28-minutes passed betwe...
ARMY, K-pop Fans Become an Unexpected Ally to American Protesters
As American protesters took to the streets to mourn the death of George Floyd, they found an unexpected ally: K-pop fans. Floyd died May 25 after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving. K-pop fans galvanized by police brutality and political disappointments swiftly mobilized, re-purposing their usual platforms and hashtags from boosting their favorite stars to backing the Black Lives Matter movement. They flooded right-wing hashtags and police apps with short video clips and memes of their K-pop stars. In a tweet Thursday to its 26 million fans, South Korean boy band BTS said it opposes racial discrimination and violence and announced a $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter. Fans quickly followed suit with the hashtag #MatchAMil...
Michael B. Jordan Calls Out Hollywood In Inspiring Speech to Protestors In LA
Source: Rich Fury / Getty With the Black Lives Matter protests continuing into their second week and garnering more support with every passing day, more and more celebrities have taken to the streets and social media to show their alignment with the movement. Now Michael B. Jordan has become the latest big-name Hollywood actor to use his platform to not only address the racist American culture people of color have to endure across the board, but also deliver a powerful speech in which he demands Hollywood get with the times and treat Black people equally in the industry. Speaking to protestors in Los Angeles, California, the Creed star called on Hollywood studios to “commit to Black hiring” and even suggested that he’d reconsider his relationships with his sponsors if he learns that they “...
Beyoncé Delivers Powerful Speech For Class of 2020 Supporting Black Lives Matter & Denouncing Sexism in Music Industry
Source: YouTube / Youtube The high school graduating class of 2020 may have been excited to get words of wisdom from Beyoncé, but megastar also took the time to ahead light on the social injustices surrounding the protests, before speaking out about sexism in the music industry. On Saturday (Jun 6), as a part of YouTube’s “Dear Class of 2020” virtual graduation ceremony, Mrs. Carter took a moment to congratulate the class on the accomplishment, before noting that the challenge of being an adult is just beginning, adding that civil unrest and a pandemic may be stressful but their reaction and participation is making everyone proud. “Congratulations to the class of 2020, you have arrived here in the middle of a global crisis, a racial pandemic and worldwide expression of outrage at the sense...
Looking For Black-Owned Businesses To Support? Yelp Is Here To Help
Source: SOPA Images / Getty Looking for Black-owned businesses to spend your hard-earned dollars just got easier. Crowd-sourced local business review and social networking site Yelp announced that in the coming weeks, it will be releasing a new feature aimed to help highlight Black-owned businesses. In a blog post, Yelp co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman spoke on the new opt-in feature stating: “Over the coming weeks, we will launch a new free searchable attribute that will give businesses a way to identify themselves as Black-owned and make it easy for users to find and support Black-owned businesses on Yelp. This attribute will be opt-in only as the decision to self-identify as Black-owned should rest solely with the business.” Stoppleman reveals in the blog post, the company dec...
Ghetto Gastro Releases T-Shirt That Highlights Black Community’s Contribution To American Cuisine
Source: GHETTO GASTRO / GHETTO GASTRO One of the most recently impactful collectives in the culture is standing up for the people. They are speaking facts and reminding the world where the United States got their kitchen magic from. As spotted on Hype Beast people of color continue to unify in order to usher change in this world. On Thursday, June 4 Ghetto Gastro showed their further support of amplifying the magic of melanin through fashion. The crew is releasing a limited-edition t-shirt that highlights Black people’s indelible contributions to modern American cuisine. They made the formal announcement via their social media feeds. “Never forget that farming practices and the culinary innovations of enslaved Africans and Indigenous Americans are the foundation of “American” cuisine....
GOAT Establishes $1 million Fund To Support Social Justice Efforts Over Time
Source: GOAT / GOAT In the wake of George Floyd’s death and protests taking place across the nation and around the globe, companies are stepping up in the fight against racial and social injustice. Online sneaker marketplace GOAT, is the latest company to announce it will become an ally in that fight. Yesterday (Jun.6), it announced it will be “establishing a $1 million fund to support social justice efforts and plan to contribute to this fund over time.” For its first donation, GOAT announced it would be donating “$100,000 donation has been made to The Underground Museum in Los Angeles to support Black artists and to The Bail Project to support protesters demanding change.” The company announced its epic move on Instagram stating in the caption: “Over the last week, we’ve taken a step bac...
When Ahmaud Arbery’s Lawyers Couldn’t Get to Court, JAY-Z Sent a Private Jet
Blerim Elmazi and S. Lee Merritt, via Instagram, and Jay-Z, photo by Amy Price On June 4th, two lawyers representing the family of Ahmaud Arbery — the 25-year-old black man who, last February, was murdered while jogging through his Georgia neighborhood– found themselves without transportation to a court hearing in Brunswick, GA. After unsuccessfully trying to purchase plane tickets or rent a car, Blerim Elmazi and S. Lee Merritt were rescued by rapper JAY-Z, who chartered a private jet to fly them to the courthouse on time. “[Merritt] and I spent hours trying to find flights or cars,” Elmazi wrote in an Instagram statement. “At 1 am we started losing hope till we got a call from Jay Z’s people at Roc Nation who chartered a flight for us to attend this hearing with the family of Ahmaud Arbe...
BTS Donate $1 Million to Black Lives Matter
BTS aren’t just talking the talk; they’re walking the walk. Days after issuing a public statement in support of Black Lives Matter, the influential K-pop group has now pledged $1 million to the organization. In a statement to Variety, Black Lives Matter confirmed the donation: “Black people all over the world are in pain at this moment from the trauma of centuries of oppression. We are moved by the generosity of BTS and allies all over the world who stand in solidarity in the fight for Black lives.” In a tweet written in Korean and English earlier this week, BTS expressed their solidarity for the movement. “We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence. You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together. #BlackLivesMatter.” Along with BTS’...
Madonna Shows Up for Black Lives Matter Protest on Crutches
Before COVID-19 destroyed touring artists’ entire year, Madonna had already had to cancel a number of 2020 dates on her Madame X tour due to a knee injury she sustained after falling on stage in March. But this setback didn’t stop the icon from attending today’s Parliament Square march for Black Lives Matter in London, in which thousands of people showed up to demand justice for George Floyd and all victims of racially disproportionate police brutality. Pictures and videos of the star surfaced on Twitter of her hugging fellow protestors and chanting “No justice, no peace” along with them. It’s always heartening to see a very rich person listening to the people and directing their platform and clout toward a good cause, and god we all miss hugs, but we really hope she’s still taking caution...
Old White Man Shoved By Buffalo Cops, Suddenly “They” Care About Police Brutality?
Source: Erik McGregor / Getty As protests around the nation and the world continue to crop up in support of Black lives, a scene in Buffalo, N.Y. has illustrated what Black Americans have been saying about police brutality. After an elderly white man was shoved viciously to the ground and seriously injured Thursday evening (June 4), the suddenness of action and outrage clearly depicts that more work needs to be done. As reported initially by WBFO, a protest that took place at Buffalo’s Niagara Square in front of the City Hall was ongoing shorty after a curfew went into effect. The man, identified by The Buffalo News as 75-year-old peace activist Martin Gugino, is seen on the video where he approached the officers in a non-aggressive manner and was shoved hard to the ground, hitting his hea...
#HBCUs4BlackLives Protest Scheduled For Saturday In Atlanta
Source: HBCUS4BlackLives / HBCUS As we march into the eighth day of protests denouncing of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and police brutality, those committed to change show they aren’t giving up. According to published reports, on Saturday (June 6), #HBCUs4BlackLives: Centering Our Youth announced an HBCU protest will be taking place in Atlanta to give the youth a chance to share their thoughts on the current state of affairs in our country. [embedded content] In response to the incident that last weekend when two Atlanta students were drug out of their car and tazed by police, it’s clear both students and residents of the city have something to say. As previously reported, six Atlanta police officers are facing charges after reportedly pulling two colleg...
