Annual Kwanzaa Crawl Brings $250,000 to Black Businesses in New York City

Let’s support black businesses through libations! According to The Root, the annual Kwanzaa Crawl helps generate $250,000 for black businesses in Brooklyn and Harlem in New York City.

Kwanzaa, the week-long holiday celebrating black culture, heritage, and family, is the theme for the yearly bar crawl that takes place in New York City in the neighborhood of Harlem and the borough of Brooklyn. New York’s fourth annual Kwanzaa Crawl kicked off with a ceremony recognizing the holiday’s seven core principals of African heritage that include unity, self-determination, and purpose.

As listed on the Kwanzaa Crawl website, The crawl is “a one-day event that brings people of the African diaspora together to support Black-owned businesses in their communities. Heading into our 4th annual year, we have hosted over 8,000 crawlers. We’ve expanded from 17 Black-owned businesses in Brooklyn in our inaugural year to over 30 businesses in Brooklyn and Harlem, last year, cumulatively raising over $250,000 for these businesses.”

The Kwanzaa Crawl was conceived by sisters Kerry Coddett and Krystal Stark who aim to demonstrate the black buying power while operating under the seven principles of Kwanzaa. It also brings awareness to black-owned businesses while supporting the local black economy in the process.

The Kwanzaa Crawl takes place on the first day of the holiday based on the principle of Umoja: Unity: To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race. This year’s theme was “Black to the Future.”

“Half of the business we collaborate with are women-led. Last year, we had over 4,100 Crawlers generate over $250,000 in one day for participating businesses. This year we expect about 5,000 participants to take the streets to build community and economic empowerment in real time.”

Picture this: crawlers are divided into 65 teams each led by a “turnt” tour guide with a music-playing bullhorn, 5,000 people round-robin from bar to bar, in two different boroughs, at the same exact time. Teams split up, criss-cross, and join up to make bigger ones in an 8-hour day full of fun.” Coddett and Stark told The Root.

“We think it’s important to keep the ‘Kwanzaa’ in the Kwanzaa Crawl, because it’s not just a bar crawl, it’s not JUST about partying,” says Krystal. “So we start with setting intentions, letting [the crawlers] know about Kwanzaa, letting them know how this crawl relates to Kwanzaa, and how they can carry out the principles throughout the rest of the year and not just a one-day event,” adds Stark.

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Julián Castro Ends Presidential Campaign

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Nick Gordon, Ex-Partner of Bobbi Kristina Brown, Dead at 30 From Suspected Drug Overdose

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Wedding proposal at KFC ends in dream South African wedding for deserving couple

A wedding proposal at a Kentucky Fried Chicken captured in a viral video landed a South African couple their dream wedding.

Hector Mkansi, 37, and Nonhlanhla Soldaat, 28, were nearly done eating at a KFC in South Africa when Mkansi got down on one knee in November and popped the question, according to the Twitter page for KFC South Africa. KFC is one of Soldaat’s favorite places to dine so Mkansi said the decision to propose there felt natural, added CNN.

READ MORE: New York grandmother sues KFC for $20M over finding $20 bucket half full

That moment was captured by someone at KFC who posted the video online under the hashtag #KFCProposal. Since then, vendors lined up to ensure the couple received their fairytale wedding, and it appears they did, according to KFC South Africa.

Mzansi please help us find this beautiful couple, re batla ho ba blesser 😊 DM us any leads, there might be a Finger Lickin’ Good surprise in it for you too. Batho ba Vaal re thuseng! We love love 😍❤️ #KFCProposal pic.twitter.com/6bj89dtj4j

— KFC South Africa (@KFCSA) November 7, 2019

“We are still in disbelief, both of us have to ask each other if this is really happening from time to time. We couldn’t be more grateful to God and every single person that has shared in our little love story,” Mkansi, who works as a pastor, told CNN.

The couple met in 2010 at a funeral but almost instantly fell in love. They actually got married in a small ceremony in 2012, but Mkansi wanted a grander affair for his bride.

“In 2011 our families began lobola negotiations (dowry) and in 2012 we got married in a small traditional ceremony as that was all we could afford at the time… We had the ceremony but I knew this wasn’t what my wife and I wanted,” Mkansi said, according to CNN.

Mkansi said he wasn’t pleased with the rings he and his wife had, so he decided to spring for an upgrade and propose to her at her favorite dining spot, KFC.

“The team at the restaurant was surprised at the request but they were helpful in creating the big moment. We received our meals and when she looked inside, she found the rings and that’s when I went down on my knee,” he told CNN in the interview.

KFC, Uber, Audi were just some of the vendors who chipped in to help the couple realize their loveliest dream wedding – but the list was massive, from jewelry and spa vendors to free honeymoon flights.

“Our dream has come true, we never in a million years thought something like this would happen to us,” Mkansi said of it all.

The post Wedding proposal at KFC ends in dream South African wedding for deserving couple appeared first on theGrio.

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Marijuana in now legal in Illinois for recreational purposes for adults

Illinois became the 11th state to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes for adults on New Year’s Day.

Dispensaries started selling weed at 6 a.m., and hundreds of people lined up before sunrise at the chance to purchase it, including Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, according to CNN.

READ MORE: Illinois city plans reparations fund for Black residents using cannabis revenue

Stratton went to Sunnyside Dispensary and purchased a 100-milligram container of Mindy’s Edibles Glazed Clementine Orange Gummies, according to a statement released by Joe Caltabiano, the co-founder, and president of Cresco Labs reported CNN. In the statement, Caltabiano added that each gummy is 5 milligrams, a “very popular microdose for beginning edible consumers.”

After her purchase, Stratton took to Twitter to thank Gov. J. B. Pritzker for granting more than 11,000 pardons for low-level marijuana offenses before the law went into effect.

“For too long, IL residents, particularly those that are black & brown, have been targeted and criminalized for #cannabis possession,” Stratton tweeted. She said Jan. 1 marked “a new day” and she thanked Pritzker for “ending prohibition and building a more equitable Illinois.”

I’m grateful for the leadership of @SenatorSteans, @RepKellyCassidy, @ToiHutchinson, @RepJGB and members of the General Assembly who worked tirelessly to make this day possible. Thank you!

This is just the beginning, but we are headed in the right direction. #testorativejustice

— Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton (@LtGovStratton) January 1, 2020

In pardoning inmates with the marijuana offenses, Pritzker said the war on marijuana had unfairly resulted in a disproportionate number of Black and Latino incarcerations.

“The war on cannabis has destroyed families. It has filled jails and prisons with nonviolent offenders. It has disproportionately affected black and brown communities,” Pritzker said at a press conference Tuesday, according to CNN.

As a result of Illinois’ new law, residents who are 21 and older can possess up to 30 grams of marijuana, five grams of cannabis concentrate and up to 500 milligrams of edible THC, reported The Hill. Visitors to the state can possess half these amounts.

One city is taking that notion of restorative justice a step further. In Evanston, Il., Alderman Robin Rue Simmons has worked to pass a resolution to create a reparations fund for Black residents off of the revenue generated from the sale of cannabis in the suburb.

The Chicago Tribune reported that the reparations fund is the first of its kind in the country, and with recreational adult use of marijuana becoming legal in Illinois on Jan. 1, Evanston is expecting to put away 100 percent of the tax revenue from marijuana sales into the fund. The city hoped to cap the account at $10 million to help Black residents stay in the city, provide job training among other benefits.

READ MORE: How this Black woman cannabis entrepreneur is breaking down barriers in Michigan

So far, 43 marijuana dispensaries have received the go-ahead from the state to sell the cannabis products.

In addition to Illinois, recreational adult use of marijuana is legal in Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Vermont. More than 30 states allow marijuana to be sold for medical purposes.

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