The 44 Percent: Biden passes torch to Harris and Sonya Massey killing reignites call for police reform

President Joe Biden is passing the torch.

The 2024 presidential election season is already ripe with unprecedented events from Biden’s stunning decision to suspend his re-election bid to Kamala Harris breaking fundraising records by raising more than $81 million just 24 hours after Biden’s announcement last Sunday.

Biden’s decision comes weeks after his less-than stellar June 27 debate performance against former president Donald Trump along with growing concerns about his mental aptitude. While he went on a press tour insisting on his commitment to seek re-election, he eventually bowed out of the race and endorsed Harris.

More endorsements –and millions of dollars –soon poured in for the vice-president. Leading these fundraising efforts was an organization called “Win with Black Women” who orchestrated a Zoom call with 44,000 Black women and raised more than $1.5 million in just three hours on Sunday night.

The following evening, 53,000 Black men similarly gathered on a virtual call hosted by “Win with Black Men” and raised $1.3 million in four hours.

Harris garnered the required delegates to secure the nomination in little more than a day and a half after announcing her candidacy. Criticisms based on her race and gender ramped up immediately.

Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett referred to Harris as a “DEI hire.” DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion and has become increasingly used as the reason to question or criticize the qualifications of people of color, women, members of the LGBTQ community or anyone from a marginalized group in a position of authority.

Days later, a Fox News host made a crude remark to suggest that she hadn’t earned her professional achievements.

Harris’ unprecedented road to the Democratic presidential nomination will certainly make for a memorable election season, with both passionate supporters and equally passionate detractors.

INSIDE THE 305

‘As good as we make it.’ Black leaders react to Biden drop-out, Harris endorsement

South Florida elected officials like Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, State Senator Shevrin Jones, and Miami Gardens Mayor Rodney Harris have expressed their optimistic support for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.

If Harris wins the Democratic nomination or the presidential election, she would be the first woman with Jamaican and Indian ancestry to do so. With Miami-Dade County having one of the largest Caribbean-born immigrant populations in the country, the excitement down here was palpable.

Harris’ election “would just be earthshaking and monumental because we all know that Black women themselves carry the nation on its shoulders,” said Wilson, the first Bahamian lawmaker to serve in Congress. Wilson then rattled off a list of issues — from the end of Roe v. Wade to the attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion — that she felt Republicans had spearheaded. “For her to come along to restore those rights at this juncture in the country’s history, that would just be phenomenal.”

How Miami Northwestern High’s track coach produces winners and Olympians

Miami Northwestern High’s track and field coach Carmen Jackson has an extensive resume including 19 state championships, 19 regional titles, and a 2022 induction into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

“I don’t even want the accolades,” Jackson, 67, said. “I just want my kids to be hall of famers in the classroom and on the track.”

With three former Bulls who qualified for the 2024 Olympics, she appears to have found the formula.

Three Northwestern graduates — Aaliyah Butler (USA), Twanisha “TeeTee” Terry (USA) and Lloydricia Cameron (Jamaica) — will represent their countries in the Olympics thanks in part to Jackson and the work ethic that she instilled in them during their years at Northwestern.

OUTSIDE THE 305

Fatal shooting of Sonya Massey reignites police reform calls

Newly released body-cam footage showing a white police officer fatally shooting a Black woman after she called 911 for help is pushing police reform back into the 2024 agenda.

The push for federal police reform has taken a back seat over the past two years, but the shooting of Sonya Massey and the 10th anniversary of Eric Garner and Michael Brown’s deaths are bringing it back in focus.

Prosecutors say Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, was killed inside her Springfield, Illinois home on July 6.

• Authorities say Massey had called 911 to report a suspected prowler, and Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, who is white, and another deputy arrived at her home to search the area.

• Video footage released Monday shows Grayson following Massey inside her home and asking her for identification while she sits on a sofa. The unarmed Massey then gets up to remove a pot of hot water from the stove.

• The footage shows Grayson demanding that she drop the water. She apologizes and ducks before Grayson shoots her three times, including once in the head. He then discourages the other deputy from using a medical kit to save her.

How an NBA sixth man built a $600 million empire

Former Milwaukee Bucks player Junior Bridgeman established himself as one of the league’s best sixth men and after he retired and became of the most successful businessman among his contemporaries.

After his career, he built a fast-food empire that, at its peak, totaled more than 450 restaurants nationwide. He became a Coca-Cola bottling distributor with territory across three states and into Canada. He bought Ebony and Jet magazines. His estimated net worth soared to nearly $600 million, behind just Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, among NBA players.

But unlike those household names, Bridgeman was never an NBA star; his post-NBA fortune came without rich endorsement deals or the ability to cash in on global fame.

CULTURE

Angel Reese becomes latest WNBA star to join Unrivaled 3-on-3 league

Angel Reese will be bringing her talents to South Beach this winter to join Unrivaled Basketball, an off-season 3-on-3 league founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.

The league, which is set to tip off in January 2025, already features such names as Arike Ogunbowale, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Rhyne Howard, and Chelsea Gray, among others.

Reese, a WNBA rookie this season with the Chicago Sky, became the 10th player to join, per a Wednesday announcement.