NAACP Weekly News Recap

Atlanta Black Star:‘It was Definitely Over $100,000’: Black Graduates Saddled with Thousands in Loan Debt Support NAACP Pressuring Biden to Cancel Student Loan Debt
The NAACP is calling out the Biden administration for its repeated delays in cancelling student loan debt that’s adversely affecting African-American borrowers. The deadline to restart paused student loan repayments since the COVID-19 pandemic began expires on August 31, and the civil rights organization wants the White House to act now.

Inside Higher Ed:Finding the Sweet Spot on Student Loan Forgiveness
Research has also shown that canceling $10,000 in student debt would not be enough to address how student debt contributes to the racial wealth gap. A 2021 study found that canceling up to $50,000 in student debt would increase Black borrowers’ wealth by 33 percent. Progressive Democrats like Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and civil rights organizations like the NAACP have called for the president to cancel $50,000 in student debt per borrower without a cap on income.

Valley Central:Will the government extend the student loan repayment pause?
Wisdom Cole with the NAACP said if the Biden administration truly wants to help close the income gap between Black and white Americans, they must be bold. “We know that the average Black borrower has about $53,000 in student debt … this is really something that could change the lives of voters all across the country,” Cole said.

Deadline:CBS Studios/NAACP Venture And The Black List Partner To Identify Television Writers Telling Black Stories
The Black List will assist CBS Studios/NAACP in identifying a shortlist of talented writers who exemplify authentic storytelling of Black narratives through a submission period on blcklst.com that begins August 16 and is open until Nov. 16.

Black Enterprise:CBS Studios, NAACP, and The Black List Partner To Identify TV Writers Telling Black Stories
“The Black List has provided a much-needed platform for writers to showcase their work and engage with industry leaders,” said Sheila Ducksworth, president of the CBS/NAACP Production Venture. “We are very excited to participate in this new partnership, and we look forward to supporting the talents and endeavors of these dynamic storytellers.”

Los Angeles Times:A new Academy Museum exhibit gives early Black trailblazers in film their due
When documentary filmmaker Madeline Anderson was 12 years old, she knew that she wanted to make movies. She also knew that she didn’t like the way Hollywood portrayed Black people — and decided to do something about it. A civil rights activist before she became a filmmaker, Anderson, 94, joined NAACP’s youth organization while still a teenager growing up in Lancaster, Pa. She made her first documentary in 1960: “Integration Report I,” a 20-minute short on the civil rights struggle in Alabama, Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn during the 1950s. It was the first documentary film produced and directed by a Black woman.

The Pulse:NC Supreme Court keeps alive the NC NAACP challenge to voter ID
The state Supreme Court in a 4-3 vote agreed with a central argument the North Carolina NAACP made in its challenge to controversial constitutional amendments, keeping alive the case against voter ID and an income tax cap.

Bangor Daily NewsBig tech’s reliance on foreign workers is leaving Black and Latino Americans behind
According to a recent NAACP report, “State of Tech Diversity: The Black Tech Ecosystem,” Blacks and Latinos in America aren’t getting tech jobs. Black talent constitutes 13 percent of the U.S. workforce and 8.6 percent of STEM graduates, but only 3.6 percent of technical workers, leading Ivory Toldson, director of innovation and research strategy at the NAACP to conclude: “Diversity in tech is a modern civil rights issue, and we cannot afford to be indifferent to the unsettling statistics in this report.”