No, Viola Davis did not buy the plantation house she was born in

To celebrate her 55th birthday, Viola Davis shared a picture on Instagram of her modest beginnings

Viola Davis did not buy the plantation she was born on despite it being the latest online rumor du jour.

The claim spread like wildfire after an Instagram post Davis authored in honor of her 55^th birthday was misinterpreted, USA Today reports.

On Tuesday, she shared a picture of the home she grew up in South Carolina with her followers. The residence used to be a slave plantation.

Actress Viola Davis attends the premiere of “Ender’s Game” presented by Audi at TCL Chinese Theatre. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Audi)

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“The above is the house where I was born August 11, 1965,” she wrote, along with a picture of the house with a broken roof. “It is the birthplace of my story. Today on my 55th year of life….I own it….all of it.”

The Academy award-winning actress ended the post with a “Cherokee Birth Blessing” enscribed “May you live long enough to know why you were born.”

View this post on Instagram

The above is the house where I was born August 11, 1965. It is the birthplace of my story. Today on my 55th year of life….I own it….all of it. ・・・ "May you live long enough to know why you were born.” -Cherokee Birth Blessing-

A post shared by VIOLA DAVIS (@violadavis) on Aug 11, 2020 at 8:15am PDT

Her phrasing led some to believe she purchased the wooden home and that interpretation took on a life of its own, misreported as fact by several sites. Davis clarified her remarks a day later.

“Uhh….contrary to websites….I do not ‘own’ above house, I ‘own’ my STORY!! Too abstract I guess,” she wrote on IG.

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This is not the first time that the award-winning actress has referenced her humble beginnings. In 2016, she shared with People and Entertainment Weekly how her grandfather was a sharecropper on the Singleton Plantation in St. Matthews, South Carolina.

Davis and her family moved out of the home after she was born but she’s always felt drawn to it. She noted there was no bathroom or running water. “I went back to visit briefly, but still not aware of the history,” she said.

“I think I read one slave narrative of someone who was on that plantation, which was horrific. 160 acres of land, and my grandfather was a sharecropper. Most of my uncles and cousins, they’re farmers. That’s the choice that they had. And my grandmother’s house was a one-room shack. I have a picture of it on my phone, because I think it’s a beautiful picture.”

Actress Viola Davis attends a ceremony honoing her with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 5, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

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Despite the home having such a painful background, Davis said her birth brought about a moment of joy. She was celebrated by aunts and uncles coming over to the house to toast the new arrival.

“Everyone was drinking and laughing, and having fun. [My mother] said she ate a sardine, mustard, onion, tomato sandwich after I was born. I love that story. It’s a great story to me,” she recalled.

“It’s a great story of celebration in the midst of what you would feel is a decimated environment, but you could see the joy and the life that can come out of that because it’s not always about things, you know.”

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The post No, Viola Davis did not buy the plantation house she was born in appeared first on TheGrio.

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Growing number of voters oppose Trump demand to fully reopen schools

A growing majority of voters oppose the Trump administration's demand that schools and colleges fully open for in-person instruction, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

In the survey of nearly 2,000 registered voters, 59 percent said they oppose fully reopening K-12 schools for the beginning of the academic year. Those numbers are up from polling last month that showed 53 percent opposed.

With slightly less resistance to the idea of in-person learning for younger and older students, 56 percent of respondents said this month that they are against fully reopening daycares, in contrast to 53 percent in July's survey. For reopening colleges and universities, 57 percent said they were opposed, up from 50 percent in the previous poll.

While Senate Republicans have proposed setting aside tens of billions of dollars in new funding for schools that reopen, pluralities of registered voters believe federal money for schools should neither be increased nor decreased, regardless of whether they open virtually or for in-person instruction.

If schools resort to virtual instruction, 42 percent of Democrats and 45 percent of Republicans said federal funding should remain unchanged. Another 23 percent of Republicans said, however, that federal dollars should be decreased for those schools.

During now-stalled negotiations over what the next round of coronavirus relief could entail, GOP lawmakers have argued that schools that reopen during the coronavirus pandemic would need more funding than those that remain closed.

The new polling results come as President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos continue to push for reopening schools, even as the spread of coronavirus worsens in many regions. During a Monday briefing, Trump suggested coronavirus cases among kids make up a "tiny, tiny fraction of death" and said children "get better very quickly."

“I think it's a very important thing for the economy to get the schools going,” he said.

As Trump woos suburban voters, the new poll shows 60 percent of that electorate said they are against fully opening K-12 schools for in-person instruction this fall, with similar opposition to reopening daycares and colleges.

“Over half of suburban voters oppose the idea of reopening K-12 schools in person for the new academic year, at odds with President Trump encouraging the contrary,” said Kyle Dropp, co-founder and chief research officer at Morning Consult. “Three-quarters of suburban voters also think federal funding should be either maintained or increased for schools choosing to open virtually.”

The poll also examined student loan policies as Congress debates action to help those borrowers during the pandemic. While 85 percent of Democrats said they support allowing borrowers to defer payments — interest-free — for six months, a lesser 78 percent of independents support that plan and 75 percent of Republicans back it.

Trump on Saturday signed an executive action continuing the pause on monthly payments and interest for many federal student loan borrowers until the end of the year.

A narrower majority of voters, at 53 percent, support a plan presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has endorsed to cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt for each borrower. The poll showed most Democrats support that plan, but independents and Republicans are split.

A group of 16 Democratic lawmakers and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter Tuesday to Senate leaders, calling for the pause on student loan payments to be extended to another 8 million borrowers who have not been granted relief during the pandemic and for the next coronavirus relief package to extend the payment freeze for the duration of the economic crisis.

Morning Consult is a global data intelligence company, delivering insights on what people think in real time by surveying tens of thousands across the globe every single day.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents: Toplines | Crosstabs

Juan Perez Jr. contributed to this story.

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British economy plunged record 20 percent in second quarter

LONDON — The British economy contracted by a record 20.4 percent in April, May and June as the coronavirus pandemic shut business.

This represents the largest quarterly drop on record, according to the Office for National Statistics, which released the data Wednesday. “It is clear that the UK is in the largest recession on record,” the ONS said in a statement.

The sharpest decrease during the second quarter was in April and May, with June seeing gross domestic product increase of 8.7 percent.

“The economy began to bounce back in June with shops reopening, factories beginning to ramp up production and housebuilding continuing to recover,” ONS Deputy National Statistician Jonathan Athow said in the statement.

The numbers show the hit to the economy was worse in the U.K. than countries in Continental Europe such as France and Germany, whose lockdown restrictions were eased earlier.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak acknowledged the depth of the problem and promised to continue supporting the economic recovery through tax and spending policy.

“I’ve said before that hard times were ahead, and today’s figures confirm that hard times are here. Hundreds of thousands of people have already lost their jobs, and sadly in the coming months many more will,” he said in a statement emailed to media.

The U.K. also has seen its biggest fall in employment since the global financial crisis.

Sunak urged the population to keep the faith, saying that “while there are difficult choices to be made ahead, we will get through this, and I can assure people that nobody will be left without hope or opportunity.”

Economists warn the U.K. will have a tougher job at the recovery than most developed countries.

“With many firms unable to operate as normal — and heightened uncertainty about prospects for the health crisis — the economy will take time to recover,” said James Smith, research director at the Resolution Foundation think tank. “The longer-term impact of the crisis on living standards will depend on the scale of the rise in unemployment and how long it lasts.”

Sunak is reportedly considering postponing his marquee budget statement for the fall, which was expected next month, due to fears of a second wave of infections.

This article has been updated.

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