View as Webpage......bVoting Rights / Redistricting / Black Business,,,,,,..Sep 3, 2021 v2
Greetings!

A few items of import:

1) due to the Labor Day Holiday Weekend, COAL will move its September Breakfast to the 2nd Saturday, September 11th. We wish all a Happy and safe Labor Day weekend. Enjoy friends and family, either in-person or via zoom, skype, or facetime. The traditional phone call also works. And let's all give recognition to the American labor force. May everyone that is seeking a job or a raise, secure a job or a healthy increase in pay.

2) As we've ended the month of August, National Black Business Month, please note that we must continue to support Black Businesses, Black entrepreneurs and Black professionals and tradesmen, as a means of strengthening the Black business sector and building sustainable wealth across the Black community.

3) please read the Illinois African Americans for Equitable Redistricting letter to the Illinois State Senate - it is a compelling read on efforts to maintain political and policy strength. Census data and analysis are also provided below.

4) and finally, COAL acknowledges the Saturday, August 28th marches for Voting Rights. Our very democracy is under attack; let us all understand this and fight to uphold everyone's right to vote - without fear or intimidation or barriers to access or the ability of a few to overturn the will of the people, all people.

Respectfully,
COAL Board of Directors  

"The time to work seriously and collectively, to improve the state of our Community, is upon us..."
Let's Continue the Work
March for Voting Rights

Since January, 48 states have introduced 389 bills that amount to shameful, outright voter suppression, and many have already become law. These laws suppress voting methods that enrich our democracy and lead to high turnout: banning ballot drop boxes and mail-in voting, reducing early voting days and hours, restricting who can get a mail-in ballot, prohibiting officials from promoting the use of mail-in ballots even when voters qualify, even criminalizing the distribution of water to voters waiting in the long lines these laws create.

Racist, anti-democratic voter suppression laws amount to rigging the game. But in America, elections are not a game—and lives depend on their outcomes.

That’s why, on August 28, 2021, tens of thousands marched on Washington, Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix and cities across America.

Illinois African Americans for Equitable Redistricting

Honorable Judge Robert Dow Jr, Judge of the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division
Honorable Judge Jon E. DeGuilio, Chief Judge of the Northern District of Indiana
Honorable Judge Michael B. Brennan, Judge of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Dear Distinguished Panel: Please accept this letter as a status update of our letter of August 27, 2021 concerning Case: 1:21-cv-03091 Document #: 1 Filed: 06/09/21 and Case: 1:21-cv-03139 Document #: 1 Filed: 06/10/21. Since that time, we have participated in hearings concerning proposed amendments to the Illinois redistricting plan enacted in June. While we are not parties to this litigation, Black voters in the state of Illinois have been negatively impacted directly by the amended redistricting plan, and indirectly by this litigation. We believe our experiences are relevant to this case.
 

COAL is part of the Illinois African Americans for Equitable Redistricting coalition and commends the very strong work the coalition is performing. COAL has also reached out to a few of its legislative partners who sincerely feel that the proposed State redistricting map maximizes black representation per the 2020 Census.
COAL suggests that there may be more to come. Please watch this space.
CENSUS 2020
Crain’s residential real estate reporter Dennis Rodkin talks with host Amy Guth about news from the local housing market, including how Chicago is seeing a home-sales stampede —undermining the narrative of people fleeing cities.
Ed Bourelly, COAL Representative
Jackson Park Golf Association Board
August is National Every month must be Black Business Month
Yusuf Ali El was born in Chicago and raised in Pembroke, Illinois. He holds a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire and a Masters in Language and Literature from Governors State University in Illinois. Yusuf has self-published more than twenty titles. His two recent, award-winning, best-selling children’s books are “Thank You & Please” and “My Father Knows,” both family favorites. myfatherknows.com
FACEBOOK EXECUTIVE
Ashley Jenkins was promoted to Human Resources Director, Facebook North America Global Business Group. Ashley has been at Facebook for approx. 6 years, in various HR Business Partner and HR Manager roles - supporting global Data Centers, Augmented & Virtual Reality and spent one year in Sydney, Australia leading HR for Facebook Australia/New Zealand. In July 2020, she moved from Australia to New York as the interim HR leader for the North America Sales team, and has now officially been named as/promoted to Director.  
WHO WAS ROSA PARKS, An Analysis by Kailey_s1005, a Next-Generation Writer
Healthcare Executive
Independent Financial
Representative
Please Get Vaccinated

COAL, leveraging expert information and advice, strongly encourages its membership and larger community of interest, to get vaccinated.

However, recognizing that many of our readership were vaccinated as soon as vaccines became available, COAL further recommends that each of us strongly encourage friends and family experiencing any form of vaccine hesitancy, to also get vaccinated.
Lives depend on it. Ending this pandemic depends on it.