00:00Hey, Essence fam, it's Malaika, and we're back with more Best of 2021 Moments.
00:05Let's get started with the best political headlines.
00:08First up, Black women lead the fight to elect the first Black senator from Georgia.
00:13Georgia's demographics are changing, and it's making a difference at the voting booth.
00:17After a battle in the 2020 presidential election,
00:21Black women organizers kept the fight going all the way through January 2021.
00:26Largely through their efforts, Georgia sent two Democrats,
00:30John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, to the Senate.
00:34Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta,
00:37is the first Black senator to represent the Peach State.
00:40Come on, dirty South.
00:41All hail the Queen, or not.
00:44Barbados gained its independence from Great Britain,
00:46removing Queen Elizabeth from the head of state of the Island Nation.
00:51Two Black women now lead the state.
00:53Its government elected Sandra Mason to be the president,
00:57and Mia Motley has served as the prime minister since 2018.
01:01Come on, Black woman magic.
01:03Black Lives Matter is still putting in the work,
01:05despite much fewer protests against violent policing this year.
01:10As coronavirus continued to rage and those STEMIs started drying up,
01:14the Black Lives Matter Global Network and Black Lives Matter Grassroots
01:18gave $3 million to Black households who have been financially crippled by the pandemic.
01:25Gotta love us stepping up.
01:26While policing protests declined,
01:29Black people were still in the streets and at the Capitol fighting for voting rights.
01:33The federal government is still struggling to pass legislation
01:36to challenge voter suppression laws popping up all over the country.
01:40The Black folks aren't backing down.
01:42For the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington,
01:46several groups teamed up in August to demand passage of the For the People Act
01:50and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
01:53The children will be all right.
01:55After over a month of protest,
01:58Howard University students reached an agreement to address its housing issues.
02:02For 34 days, starting on October 12th,
02:05students were sleeping in tents outside the HBCU's Blackburn Center,
02:09raising awareness about issues with mold, pest control, and other safety issues.
02:14They announced a legal agreement with the administration on November 15th.
02:19Look at our Gen Z nieces and nephews doing the work.
02:22Well, we know Black lives and Black news always matters.
02:26Looking forward to more big moments in 2022.
02:28Stay tuned for another Best of 2021 video coming soon.
02:33See you next time.
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