Nia Noelle’s media career has spanned two decades, beginning as a Media TV Spokesperson at Norman High School, to her formal training at The William Fulbright School of Arts in Broadcasting Journalism at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, doing TV and radio, to her professional career. This professional career has taken her to Fayetteville, North Carolina, Huntsville, Alabama, and finally to her home state, Columbus, Ohio
Nia Noelle came to Columbus as midday host for Power 107.5 and stayed on the airways for 8 years before moving over to Magic 95.5 where she hosted on middays. Nia thought she retired from on-air but was quickly pulled back and can be heard on weekends Saturday 12-4pm and Sundays 10-1pm. @nianoelle
Headlines across the internet repeatedly pointed in celebratory terms to the jobs report for May that was released Friday morning. But the good news of the jobless rate dropping did not extend to Black workers as the new data showed their unemployment levels ticked upward last month.
CNBC: “May sees biggest jobs increase ever of 2.5 million as economy starts to recover from coronavirus”
CNN: “America’s unemployment rate falls to 13.3% as economy posts surprise job gains”
Washington Post: “Unemployment rate drops to 13 percent, as the economy picked up jobs as states reopened”
New York Times: “Unemployment in U.S. Unexpectedly Fell in May”
Under President Obama, black unemployment fell from a high of 16.8% in March 2010 to 7.5% in January 2017 (a 55% reduction).
As if the spike in unemployment was not caused by the coronavirus pandemic that has disproportionately hurt Black people, any mentions of Black unemployment actually rising were buried deep in the respective news reports. To make matters worse, Black people have seemingly been battling two pandemics: COVID-19 and police brutality, which has also spiked amid the public health crisis.
Of course, on the surface, putting any dent in the unemployment rate is always good news. The amount of jobless Americans in April ballooned to 14.7 percent before falling to 13.3 percent in May. That was in comparison to April’s 16.7 percent Black unemployment rate rising to 16.8 percent in May. And while that rise of a tenth of a percentage point might seem inconsequential to some, it could also be seen as a metaphor for Black people still losing while America wins. (No, an unemployment rate of nearly 15 percent should not constitute winning by any means. But the rate was trending in the right direction for white people while the opposite was true for Black people, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
All the reporters saying the unemployment rate dropped- I ask FOR WHO? Unemployment stats in media mostly reflect white unemployment. BLACK unemployment is 16%. I write about this too. Told you. I literally write about EVERYTHING happening right now. https://t.co/Hk0wEpGivopic.twitter.com/eMNkS4InYT
Economists were taking the latest jobs report to be a sign that the economy was recovering from the coronavirus pandemic that shut down an exponential number of businesses. But Black-owned businesses have disproportionately suffered as applications for the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program were not accepted. That has fueled suspicions that Black-owned businesses would not survive and consequently cause their employees to add to the growing Black unemployment rate.
History has shown that economic downturns are especially problematic for Black people, but the writing was already on the wall months ago, according to Dr. Selma Bartholomew, a Bronx-based entrepreneur who owns an education consultancy that works in schools to support at-risk students through STEM learning and designs curriculums around gang violence prevention and life skills.
“We were worried before COVID-19 as a Black business owner,” Bartholomew told NewsOne in April. “I was already apprehensive. And now I think we should all be in a state of panic.”
May’s jobs report confirms Bartholemew’s accuracy.
1. US: Protestors set fire to Minneapolis police precinct
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13. The third day of mourning and protesting and looting after the death of George Floyd in police custody
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20. US: Protestors set fire to Minneapolis police precinct
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21. Protests Continue Over Death Of George Floyd, Killed In Police Custody In Minneapolis
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22. Vigil Held For George Floyd, Who Was Killed In Police Custody In Minneapolis
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23. Protests Continue Over Death Of George Floyd, Killed In Police Custody In Minneapolis
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26. Protests Continue Over Death Of George Floyd, Killed In Police Custody In Minneapolis
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29. Minnesota community members mourned, protested and looted in reaction to George Floyd dying in police custody
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Continue reading Minneapolis Descends Into Fiery Chaos As Trump Threatens Protesting ‘THUGS’ With ‘Shooting’
Minneapolis Descends Into Fiery Chaos As Trump Threatens Protesting 'THUGS' With 'Shooting'
[caption id="attachment_3950196" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Source: Stephen Maturen / Getty[/caption]
UPDATED: 6:00 a.m. ET, May 29 --
Minneapolis protests raged for a third night straight in response to a fired city police officer appearing to kill an unarmed Black man in broad daylight on Memorial Day. As protesters managed to not only breach the police station where the officer worked, they also set it on fire, prompting the president to respond by warning the "THUGS" looting stores and suggesting that he will have them shot.
[caption id="attachment_3950193" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Source: Anadolu Agency / Getty[/caption]
Hundreds of protesters took to the Minneapolis streets to demonstrate against the death of George Floyd, who witnesses recorded apparently being killed by Derek Chauvin, who, along with three other people were fired on Tuesday from the Minneapolis Police Department. However, criminal charges have remained elusive since the shooting on Monday, which is part of the reason protesters claimed they were demonstrating.
[caption id="attachment_3950195" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Source: KEREM YUCEL / Getty[/caption]
Having previously been relatively quiet about the high profile killing of an unarmed and handcuffed Black man by police, Donald Trump resorted to racist tropes in a series of tweets early Friday morning that blamed the situation on "the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey."
[caption id="attachment_3950197" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Source: Star Tribune via Getty Images / Getty[/caption]
In a subsequent tweet, Trump threatened to order the U.S. military to shoot the "THUGS" protesting. The second tweet was censored -- but not removed -- by Twitter for violating the social media platform's policy on glorifying violence.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1266231100780744704?s=20
Trump's tweets capped off a night of chaos not just in Minneapolis but also in various cities around the country where protesters used Floyd's death as an opportunity to highlight the police violence against Black people in their hometowns. Protesters also continued to light structures on fire in addition to setting the 3rd precinct aflame.
[caption id="attachment_3950194" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Source: KEREM YUCEL / Getty[/caption]
One night after setting a Target and a construction site on fire and reducing them to ash, a restaurant was among the latest structural casualties from the protests.
https://twitter.com/EngKelvin3/status/1266296088207560705?s=20
The National Guard was also activated and deployed to Minneapolis.
https://twitter.com/StribJany/status/1266281378947063809
Protesters were still clashing with police into the early hours of Friday, according to video footage posted to social media.
https://twitter.com/MichaelDoudna/status/1266279693113716738?s=20
A separate fire was reported at the 4th police precinct, too.
https://twitter.com/VuHyena/status/1266265697966948354?s=20
A local pharmacy also went up in flames.
https://twitter.com/NFerraroPiPress/status/1266257324479373318https://twitter.com/PaulBlume_FOX9/status/1266244250045313024
Original story:
Minneapolis residents woke up Thursday to see their city literally burning as protesters raged and rioted following the police killing of an unarmed Black man earlier this week.
https://twitter.com/StarTribune/status/1265925608699092996?s=20
Wednesday was the second straight night of people protesting the Minneapolis Police Department and its officers involved in the death of George Floyd, who was handcuffed on Memorial Day and forced to lie face-down on the street when now-fired cop Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck until the 46-year-old man was no longer conscious.
https://twitter.com/FrostIgneel/status/1265901367664603137?s=20
Aside from people protesting Floyd's killing, his actual killer remained free and avoided any criminal charges and an arrest as of Thursday morning despite the Minneapolis mayor on Wednesday calling for that to happen.
https://twitter.com/TPalanuk/status/1265947611489611777?s=20
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said on Wednesday in no uncertain terms that he thinks Chauvin should be arrested.
https://twitter.com/CodyReese_/status/1265933297281929216?s=20
“I’ve wrestled with, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?” he said. “If you had done it, or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now. And I cannot come up with a good answer to that.”
https://twitter.com/_J_Jizzle/status/1265908005410914304?s=20
While the protests Tuesday night were contentious at times, including protesters being pepper-sprayed and getting shot by rubber bullets, photos and video footage from Wednesday night and into Thursday morning showed evidence of an even more intense demonstration against police violence.
https://twitter.com/atSerpentine/status/1265902841308295175?s=20
Multiple buildings and structures in Minneapolis were ravaged by fires as one person was reportedly shot to death amid all the protesting. Police made an arrest in the case but details of that shooting were scarce as videos surfaced of officers threatening protesters.
https://twitter.com/rtnordy/status/1265939354062598144?s=20
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the protest's lone shooting victim was shot by a store owner.
https://twitter.com/StribJany/status/1265889915310653440?s=20
However, it was the evolving details of Floyd's brazen police killing that was fueling the rage shown by protesters, including one who was shown with a bloody head after having been apparently shot by officers' rubber bullets.
https://twitter.com/StribJany/status/1265907241808519169?s=20
One of the places that burned down was a Target store -- perhaps the flagship store as the company's headquarters are in Minneapolis.
https://twitter.com/exlusively_xo/status/1265911896181538817?s=20
Protesters turned into looters when they broke into the store and eventually lit it on fire.
https://twitter.com/KEEMSTAR/status/1265919608743215104?s=20
There were also reports that officers in the city's 3rd precinct were being shot at.
https://twitter.com/believe_coach/status/1265923428562993152?s=20
Wednesday was the second straight day and night of protests and police showed they were up to the task by wearing riot gear and shooting flash bangs at protesters as well as tear gas cannisters.
https://twitter.com/kscullinfox9/status/1265776062191013890?s=20
Protesters vowed to keep his Floyd’s alive in an effort to achieve legal and social justice in the Minneapolis area’s latest high-profile police killing of a Black person.
https://twitter.com/billkellerfox9/status/1265944304687685633?s=20
A tweet from someone who identified herself as a Minneapolis resident said that the images of the city burning gave her a sense of satisfaction.
https://twitter.com/dickexpert/status/1265898046690414593?s=20
Some local residents raced to try to extinguish the fires in their neighborhood, perhaps to no avail because of the way they were raging.
https://twitter.com/devkrinke/status/1265905849282826240?s=20
Scroll down to see more powerful images from the continued protests of George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis as the city demands justice and an end to police violence.