Some of you may have heard about Mamoudou Gassama, an undocumented immigrant from Africa who saved a little boy that was dangling from the balcony of an apartment building outside of Paris. For those who haven’t seen the video, Gassama, with Spiderman-like speed and strength, fearlessly scaled four stories up the side of the building in less than 30 seconds saving the four-year-old boy’s life. The video of the rescue went viral around the world, and Gassama has since met with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who offered the 22-year-old man French residency and a job with the Paris Fire Brigade. In one of his many interviews, Gassama said immigrating to France by fleeing his native Mali through Burkina Faso, Niger, and Libya, where he was “treated like a slave”, was far more dangerous than climbing a four-story building.
Mamoudou Gassama is a humble man, and a true hero. Contrary to what some people would have us believe, there are millions of stories of immigrants who have risked life and limb to pursue a better life, and who have gone on to make remarkable contributions to their new country… This is just one of them.
The incomparable NAHREP at L’ATTITUDE (NAL) event in Miami. This year, the crowd will be bigger and the speakers will be even more impressive! If you are not familiar with some of the names, let me provide some additional color: Eddy Cue is a Cuban-American and the second-ranking executive at Apple, Orlando Bravo is the wealthiest Latino in America with a net worth of more than 8 billion dollars, and Priscila Almodovar is the only Latina CEO of a Fortune 100 company. Beyond this incredible list of headliners, the hallways at NAL will include…
Attorneys General from thirteen states sent a letter to the 100 largest corporations in America, advising them that they believe the ruling extends to private companies. In their letter, the group of Attorneys General stated their view that “racial discrimination in employment and contracting is all too common among Fortune 100 companies and other large businesses.”
The United States ruled that colleges could no longer consider race as a factor in admissions policies. There would be no need for affirmative action in college admissions if every young person had equal access to safe housing, healthcare, and quality educational resources during their formative years.