Spanx sells for $1.2 billion, NAACP vs Kasim Reed, and Coosa High School confederate flag
The Update
Welcome to the King Williams newsletter. I am a documentary filmmaker, journalist, podcast host, and author based in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a newsletter covering the hidden connections of Atlanta to everything else.
Hey everyone, I had to take a bit of a break but I’m back now, just in time for the election season!
Spanx is sold for over $1 billion dollars
Atlanta’s own Spanx has sold its majority stake in the company to private equity firm Blackstone for $1.2 billion dollars. Spanx is the second Atlanta-based company to sell for over a billion dollars as MailChimp sold to TurboTax parent company Intuit for $12 billion dollars last month. Like MailChimp, Spanx is a bootstrapped company. meaning it has been solely funded without outside funding. Also like MailChimp, the ownership is undiluted with one sole owner in Sara Blakely, who was already valued at a billion prior to the announcement of the sale. Blakely is now firmly one of the richest people in Georgia and one of the richest women in America. Blakely has become more known for her female-focused foundation and her recent stint as an investor on the hit tv show Shark Tank.
Coosa High School students suspended for protesting Confederate flag
Several Black, Rome, Georgia high school students were suspended for protesting another group of students hurling obscenities and waving a large confederate flag on campus. The students have been suspended since October 7th with the suspension ending tomorrow, October 22nd. Currently, school has still not suspended the confederate flag waving students but has issued a warning of police being used to handle any anti-flag students.
Juliet Brown vs Dustin Maxwell of Cultivate Restaurant
There is an ongoing protest over the removal of a Decatur woman named Ms. Juliet Brown from her home by Dustin Maxwell, owner of Cultivate restaurant. The effort being led by the Housing Justice League is seeking to have Ms. Juliet remain in her rental home for 27 years after attempting to sell the home for a substantial profit. A petition has been made with over 3200 signatures at the time of this publication as well as a public protest + call to boycott outside of Cultivate restaurant this past Sunday.
The NAACP vs Kasim Reed
In a rare move, the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP has issued a statement against former mayor and current mayoral candidate Kasim Reed. This comes as one of the few prominent anti-Reed opponents have come out against the former mayor. Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has endorsed Andre Dickens for Mayor while also being quite vocal in her anti-Reed stances in the local press and on her social media. Reed’s team has already issued a statement to the press regarding the denouncement.
Red Clay News
Georgia State University-Perimeter College professor Larry Coty has been levied with claims of posting neo-Nazi and racist content on his social media pages according to the anti-hate organization Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
SPLC may also be looking to build a new headquarters in Atlanta.
Atlanta singer/rapper 6lack (pronounced ‘black’) has done a PSA on mental health for the app Better Health.
Idea Capital is offering Project Grants of $5,000 for Georgia-based artists.
Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green (R-14/Rome) is openly advocating for the separation of Republican-led states from the US.
About 1 million children in the state of Georgia will soon be eligible for the covid-19 vaccine.
Despite being ruled off-limits, several background documents on the previous mental health and brushes with the law of Ahmaud Arbery, have appeared on the Glynn County Court page.
The Cobb County Sheriff’s office will begin to provide 24/7 mental health services to inmates next month.
Tomorrow a verdict is expected in the case of three white Washington County Sheriff’s deputies in connection with the death of Eurie Marin in 2017.
Over 50 teachers at Oak Grove Elementary were moved out of the school to other schools in the district due to declining attendance, leaving parents upset.
DeKalb County School district is offering bonuses to lure talent due to staffing shortages.
Sandy Springs has given the OK to private schools in specific zoning districts.
The Clayton County Board of Commissioner’s - District 1 race is off to an abysmally low turnout as only 4.6% of eligible voters showed up for a special runoff on Tuesday.
Carvana will be subleasing over 600,000 sq ft of office space from State Farm at their Dunwoody location overlooking I-285.
Southwestern US fast-food chain Whataburger is opening a location in Woodstock.
A recent report has stated that metro Atlanta is now the 3rd fastest-growing metro in the US.
National News
New York City is canceling late fees for library books after a similar program in Chicago has shown success.
A Florida sheriff agency is asking for the ‘rightful owner’ of $2 million dollars of marijuana that was ‘found’.
The US will lift the travel ban on November 8th to vaccinated international travelers.
The FDA has released new guidelines aiming that Americans reduce their sodium intake by at least 12% as a way to put off health disparities.
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is getting back his pension after being fired by Trump.
Tennessee Juvenile Court Judge Donna Scott Davenport is facing repercussions for her unjust sentencing of several Black teenagers for crimes that didn’t exist.
The CEO of Starwood Hotels says he can’t find workers and wants the government to pay for people to go back to work.
A new study reveals that Latinx residents are the least represented group on the boards of Fortune 500 companies, even on Latinx companies.
According to the Federal Reserve, the 1% now officially holds more wealth than all of the middle class.
McDonald’s is phasing out plastic toys in Happy Meals, the move aims to reduce plastics for the over 1 billion meals it serves.
Detroit’s only HBCU Pensole Lewis is reopening as the only designed-focused HBCU in the country.
The Governor of Texas has banned Covid-19 vaccine mandates from any employer in the state.
A new law in California has made ‘stealthing’ aka nonconsensual condom removal during sexual intercourse classified as sexual battery.
Facebook has permanently banned an app developer who created an app that deletes the newsfeed from the company’s platform.
International News
China has tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile to the surprise of US intelligence agencies, which the country has denied.
A Hong Kong statue commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre is under the threat of being removed by a university at the center of the Chinese democracy protests, reflecting a long effort to remove the event from Chinese history.
Covid-19 has led to a global increase in depression and anxiety.
The Queen of England and her grandson, Prince William are both taking to task global leaders on addressing climate change in a meaningful way.
British MP David Amess has been killed after being stabbed to death.
Apple has taken down both a Quran and a Bible app after requests from Chinese officials.
A rise of arch-Libertarianism is taking over Argentina as the ‘anarcho-capitalist’ nominee Javier Milei is leading in the presidential election polls.