Streaming service Twitch targets HBCUs to increase minority participation in gaming

Twitch aims to encourage diversity in esports through a new partnership bringing an official league to HBCU campuses.

The popular gaming platform Twitch announces a partnership with nonprofit organization Cxmmunity to bring an official esports league to historically Black colleges and universities.

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The league will be the first of its kind in Black colleges. Engadget reports the participating HBCU students will be provided educational and scholarship support via Twitch Student and the program will help HBCUs expand their esports programs.

“As a graduate of an HBCU and knowing firsthand how we’re underrepresented and just lack the access to get into gaming, I’m excited to be working with Twitch to fulfill our mission in increasing the participation of minorities within these industries and close the digital divide,” said Chris Peay, CoFounder of Cxmmunity, according to Engadget.

Cxmmunity is a nonprofit, that according to their official website, is “committed to increasing participation in minority esports through STEAM development.

The organization announced the partnership on social media saying, “oh my, what a time to be alive.

View this post on Instagram

oh my, what a time to be alive! extremely excited to announce our partnership with @twitch to bring the first ever hbcu esports scholarships which directly supports our one of a kind hbcu esports league. 🎶: @itstimothyisaiah – tap in

A post shared by cxmmunity (@cxmmunity.co) on Jul 30, 2020 at 9:16am PDT

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Engadget notes that currently, over 200 North American colleges and universities have esports teams or clubs associated with Tespa, the National Association of Collegiate Esports. Out of the hundreds represented, only one HBCU is listed – Morehouse College, the historic private, all-male institution in Atlanta, Georgia.

The report continues to highlight the racial disparities in the gaming community between players and industry professionals. Engadget reports that while an estimated 83% of Black teens play video games, 68% of video game creators are white, according to data from the International Game Developers Association.

Together, Twitch and Cxmmunity hope to build a “pipeline for Black talent in the esports industry,” the companies said in a statement.

A first look into the newly-formed HBCU league will be broadcast by Twitch on the Cxmmunity Twitch channel on August 2.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci says a coronavirus vaccine may be coming in 2021

The nation’s lead spokesman on the coronavirus says the virus vaccine has been fast-tracked and likely will happen in the next year

The nation’s lead infectious disease expert testified before the House committee on the coronavirus today and says that there may be a vaccine for COVID-19 as early as 2021.

According to CBS, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “I think it will occur,” and “within a reasonable period of time.”

Despite the speed of the process, he believes it will pass medical muster. However, he cautions that it will take some time before it can be distributed en masse.

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci, center, speaks as Vice President Mike Pence, right, and Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, left, listen during a news conference with members of the Coronavirus task force at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, Friday, June 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

$8 billion has been distributed by the federal government to biotech companies to develop a coronavirus vaccine, including the French company Sanofi and the British company GlaxoSmithKline, among others. China and Russia are working on a vaccine.

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Fauci testified along with Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Admiral Brett Giroir, the Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. All of them emphasized a need to have a comprehensive plan as cases surge around the country.

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 31: Dr. Anthony Fauci (C), director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Robert Redfield (R), director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Adm. Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Health, testifies before the House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing on July 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)

Fauci said that one of the reasons why the U.S. has struggled to contain the virus while other countries have done better is that places like Europe shut down their economic systems by 95%. The U.S. response was to shut down just 50%.

The health experts agreed that the scattershot response hurt the mitigation of the virus which was particularly deadly in places where people are forced into close proximity – jails, assembly line workplaces, and nursing homes, according to published reports.

Fauci got into a tense exchange with Ohio congressman Jim Jordan who asked him if protests were spreading the virus and if he would recommend putting a stop to them. Fauci said that while he believed being outside in large crowds, especially without a mask leads to virus spread, it wasn’t his call to determine whether lawful protests should be curtailed.

“Any crowd, whether it’s a protest — any crowd of people close together without masks is a risk. And I’ll stick by that statement. It’s a public health statement. It’s not a judgment,” Fauci said as Jordan pressed him for a more definitive answer.

As summer moves into fall, the experts recommend Americans get a flu shot this year as even they don’t know the impact of the coronavirus once it’s combined with the annual flu season.

Read More: Blacks more likely to be impacted financially by COVID-19 pandemic

“While it remains unclear how long the pandemic will last, COVID-19 activity will likely continue for some time,” they said in prepared written remarks released prior to the hearing.

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BLM mural on Tulsa’s ‘Black Wall Street’ faces removal

A Black Lives Matter mural painted in the streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma has to go, say city officials.

A Black Lives Matter street mural painted in Tulsa, Oklahoma has been removed after city officials stated the artwork was never approved in the first place.

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According to CNN, the bold lettering was displayed in the historic Greenwood District in the city’s Black Wall Street area. The artwork was created on June 18, the day before Juneteenth and two days before President Donald Trump held a campaign rally in the area.

Volunteers and artists not officially affiliated with the Black Lives Matter organization completed the mural on Greenwood Avenue. The neighborhood is noted for being the site of a historical, racially motivated massacre.

In 1921, in what’s now known as the Tulsa Race Riot, a violent white mob attacked Black residents and burned down Black-owned businesses after a 19-year-old shoeshiner was accused of attacking a white teenage girl.

According to History, schools, churches, hotels, hospitals, and homes were among the buildings torched in the attack that left hundreds of people dead and over 10,000 Black residents homeless.

READ MORE: NY town rejects BLM mural, activists say it’s ‘a slap in the face’

Tulsa’s City Council debated the viability of the BLM mural after receiving a request from Back The Blue Tulsa who wanted to paint their own message on another street in support of law enforcement officers.

Senior Assistant City Attorney Mark Swiney says there are no laws in place to allow the art, saying “There really isn’t anything in our laws that makes a street into a canvas to convey a message or essentially make a sign out of a street surface.” He suggested private property would be best for proposed paint jobs.

City council members concluded it would not be fair to allow one statement and not the other so they decided the BLM mural would be removed.

“It’s not about the message or anything like that,” Councilor Connie Dodson said during the meeting, according to CNN. “I applaud it. It’s great. But at the same point, it comes down to yes, if you allow one, then you have to allow all of them.”

Ryan Rhoades, an artist who helped organize the painting of the BLM mural, tells CNN affiliate KOKI-TV that the decision to remove it is not surprising but it had served its purpose as a message on Juneteenth and during Trump’s visit. The water-based paint used was not intended to be permanent.

A date to remove the paint is not yet set.

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