Black Monday Briefing
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Annual
Honorary Editor
Black Monday Briefing – August 18, 2025
1. ACLU Sues Over Police Beating of Black Man in Mental Crisis (Aug. 15): The ACLU filed a federal suit against Warren, Michigan police after officers brutally beat, tasered, pepper-sprayed and sicced a K-9 on a Black man suffering a mental health episode, leaving him with heart and kidney damage. The lawsuit argues the man’s pleas for psychiatric help were ignored as police escalated violence.
2. Black Mayors Counter Trump’s ‘Lawless Cities’ Claim with Crime Drops (Aug. 15): As President Trump calls Black-led cities “lawless,” Black mayors report significant violent crime declines since the pandemic-era spike. Chicago’s Brandon Johnson touts a 30% homicide drop and L.A.’s Karen Bass slams Trump’s federal policing takeover as a performative “power grab.”
3. D.C. Sues to Block White House Takeover of Police (Aug. 15): Washington D.C. officials are suing to stop what they call a “hostile takeover” of the Metropolitan Police after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the DEA chief installed as D.C.’s acting police commissioner. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C.’s attorney general reject the order as unlawful, affirming that Chief Pamela Smith remains the city’s rightful police chief.
4. Communities Rally to ‘Save’ Anacostia Museum Funding (Aug. 16): Washingtonians marched in support of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum after its federal funding was slashed. Faith leaders, activists and residents formed a “Save Our Museum” committee, warning that Trump administration cuts threaten to silence vital Black history and culture in the nation’s capital.
5. NYC Council to Override Mayor’s Veto on Gig Worker Pay (Aug. 16): New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams vowed to override Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of a law raising app-based delivery workers’ minimum wage to over $20/hour. She blasted the mayor for siding with corporate interests over 20,000 low-wage workers and pledged to enact the pay hike in coming weeks despite his “senseless” veto.
6. NJ Leaders Urged to Uplift Black-Owned Businesses (Aug. 16): During National Black Business Month, New Jersey lawmakers face calls to bolster Black-owned businesses with better funding and contracts. African American Chamber CEO John Harmon warns that current efforts aren’t enough to close racial wealth gaps, and advocates are pressing for concrete state investment in Black entrepreneurship.
7. Overdose Deaths Soar Among Older Black Men (Aug. 16): Health officials in Minnesota report that older Black men are dying from opioid overdoses at disproportionately high rates. Few targeted programs exist for this vulnerable group, prompting calls for culturally specific addiction treatment and support as synthetic opioids fuel a deadly wave in Black communities.
8. Black August Observed with Books and Liberation Teach-Ins (Aug. 16): Across the U.S., Black bookstores, reading groups, and community hubs are commemorating Black August by hosting radical study circles and healing events. From Los Angeles to Atlanta, organizers are engaging Black audiences with abolitionist literature, political education workshops, and wellness circles to honor the month’s legacy of Black resistance and liberation.
9. ‘Black Wall Street’ Festival Draws 250 Businesses (Aug. 17): New Haven’s fourth annual Black Wall Street Festival transformed the city green into a hub of Black excellence and enterprise. About 250 Black-owned vendors gathered Saturday to celebrate entrepreneurship, up from just 35 vendors at its launch in 2022 – a testament to the festival’s rapid growth and community impact.
10. Orlando’s BLK JOY Fest Blends Health and Culture (Aug. 17): In spite of a heat advisory, crowds turned out in Orlando’s historic Parramore neighborhood for the 5th annual BLK JOY Festival, an event uniting Black health, wellness, culture and community. Organized by the Black Health Commission, the festival offered free produce, fitness zones and intergenerational activities, growing from 200 attendees in its first year to roughly 2,500 last year.
11. HBCU Sees Surge in Black Male Enrollment (Aug. 17): Alabama A&M University reports that 42% of its incoming freshman class are male students – a striking uptick amid a nationwide crisis of dwindling Black male college enrollment. Educators hail the figure (well above norms) as a hopeful sign, as HBCUs grapple with reversing a decades-long decline in Black male students.
12. Dr. Roger Mitchell to Lead National Black Physicians Group (Aug. 17): Howard University Hospital president Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr. was inducted as the 126th president of the National Medical Association, the nation’s largest organization of Black physicians. At the NMA’s annual convention in Chicago, Mitchell outlined a vision to continue the group’s 128-year legacy of Black medical leadership and health equity advocacy.
13. Florida Mother of 10 Killed, Echoing Past Family Tragedy (Aug. 17): A 34-year-old Black mother of ten, Latoysia Denisha Davis, was found shot to death in Orange County, Florida, with no arrests yet made. Her family is reeling from the second unsolved murder in their ranks – Davis’s own mother was killed in 2003 in a case that also remains unsolved.
14. Fire Chief Fired After Cursing 10-Year-Old Black Girl (Aug. 17): A Long Island fire company removed North Babylon Fire Chief Peter Alt from duty after viral video showed him shouting profanities at a frightened 10-year-old Black girl strapped to a stretcher. The child was being loaded into an ambulance when Alt berated her; outrage over the incident led to an internal investigation and calls for better sensitivity training.
15. Inmate Charged in Wife’s Death During Prison Visit (Aug. 17): California prosecutors charged inmate David Brinson, 55, with murder for the death of his wife during an overnight visit at Mule Creek State Prison. The victim, 62-year-old Stephanie Dowells, died by strangulation last November while visiting Brinson – himself a lifer for four murders – marking the second killing of a spouse during a prison visit at that facility within months.
16. Black Nurses Conference Targets Community Health (Aug. 17): The National Black Nurses Association convened its 53rd annual conference in Dallas (Aug. 5–10) under the theme “Strengthening Communities: At the Crossroads of Care.” Black nurses from across the country attended workshops on health disparities, mental wellness, and mentorship programs to improve healthcare outcomes in Black communities.
17. Historic HBCU Gets First Woman Board Chair (Aug. 17): St. Augustine’s University in North Carolina has appointed Sophie L. Gibson as the first woman to chair its board of trustees. Gibson takes the helm as the historically Black college navigates an accreditation fight, and alumni hope her leadership marks a new chapter in stabilizing the institution.
18. Detroit Launches $700K Fund for Black Startups (Aug. 17): Detroit’s mayor joined economic leaders to announce a first-of-its-kind $700,000 Startup Fund aimed at fueling minority-owned tech startups in the majority-Black city. Hundreds of local tech entrepreneurs celebrated the fund’s launch, which will issue grants by year’s end to spur job creation and innovation in underserved communities.
19. Black Philanthropy Month Spurs Giving (Aug. 17): This August marks Black Philanthropy Month, celebrating Black generosity and community investment. Nonprofits are gearing up for the annual Give 8/28 initiative on August 28, a national day of giving to Black-led organizations, with donors encouraged to support causes from education to criminal justice reform.
20. African Union Backs Accurate World Map to ‘Correct’ Colonial Distortions (Aug. 17): The African Union endorsed the “Correct the Map” campaign to replace the 16th-century Mercator world map with a projection that properly shows Africa’s true size. Advocates say the Mercator map dramatically shrinks Africa and fuels a false impression of the continent as “marginal,” so the AU is pushing for schools globally to adopt fairer maps as an act of decolonizing education.
21. Global Drumming Marks Marcus Garvey’s Birthday (Aug. 17): The Black diaspora commemorated the 138th birthday of pan-African icon Marcus Garvey on August 17 with synchronized drumming events across continents. Organizers of the “Let The Drums Speak” tribute say the global drum circles – from the Caribbean to Africa – honored Garvey’s legacy of Black unity and reminded participants that the beat of liberation connects Africans worldwide.
22. Chicago Police Issue Alert for Missing 22-Year-Old Black Woman (Aug. 16): Authorities are searching for Tia Detrayon, 22, reported missing after last contact on August 9. Chicago police released a missing person alert on August 16, asking the public for help locating her.
23. 300K Black Women Pushed Out of Jobs (Aug. 18): Between May and August, roughly 300,000 Black women have left or been pushed out of the workforce, driving their unemployment rate to 6%—double that of white women and a flashing economic red alert.
24. August Highlights Need for Black Organ Donors (Aug. 18): August is National Minority Donor Awareness Month, spotlighting the urgent need for more Black organ and tissue donors. Health advocates note that Blacks are disproportionately on transplant waitlists, and they urge African American communities to consider the life-saving gift of organ donation to help close the gap.
25. Extreme Heat Wave Strains Black Neighborhoods (Aug. 18): This weekend’s heat dome is baking many East Coast cities, with Black neighborhoods suffering the worst impacts due to scant tree cover and underinvestment. In places like Philadelphia and Baltimore, community groups are opening cooling centers and checking on elders – a mutual aid response born of necessity as climate change drives more dangerous heat and the federal response lags.
26. Nigerian LGBTQ Students Attacked by Mob Amid Rising Hostility (Aug. 16): In Gombe State, Nigeria, a violent mob attacked students suspected of being LGBTQ, injuring several and forcing others into hiding. Advocates warn the crackdown reflects intensifying anti-LGBTQ sentiment across the country under sweeping laws criminalizing queer identity.