Terms and Conditions

Effective Date: October 28, 2024

The PushBlack program includes the following services (the “Services”):

  • Free Text messages sent 3-5 times per week with information about news, media, campaigns, and other content we believe to be relevant to the black experience now and in the future. Access to any PushBlack website. Receipt of PushBlack emails.
  • Text STOP to unsubscribe from PushBlack’s Services.

In exchange for the provision of the Services provided by PushBlack, which you and PushBlack agree constitutes good and valuable consideration, and by indicating your consent on the website, you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions (“Terms”). You should review these Terms carefully, as your acceptance of these Terms creates a binding legal agreement between you and us.

PushBlack is a District of Columbia nonprofit corporation exempt from tax as a charitable and educational organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code. In these Terms, PushBlack will also be referred to as “we”, “us”, or “our”. The terms “you”, “your”, “user”, or “subscriber” will refer to you.

If you do not agree to these terms, you should not subscribe to or make any use of PushBlack’s services and you should not use or visit PushBlack’s website.

PushBlack is available only to individuals who are at least thirteen (13) years old. By using PushBlack you represent that you are at least 13 years of age and otherwise able to enter into a valid and binding legal agreement and acknowledge that the Terms constitute a valid, binding agreement between you and us.

IMPORTANT: These Terms contain limitations on our liability to you and an agreement that all disputes be resolved by binding arbitration on an individual basis only. See below for more details on these provisions.

Changes to These Terms

We may revise these Terms from time to time. If we do, those revised Terms will supersede prior versions. Unless we say otherwise, revisions will be effective upon the effective date indicated at the top of these Terms. We encourage you to check the effective date of these Terms whenever you visit PushBlack’s website. Your continued access or use of our Services after any revision to these Terms constitutes your acceptance of any revisions. If you don’t agree to the revisions, you should stop using PushBlack’s Services and stop visiting PushBlack’s website, and we are not obligated to provide you with the Services.

Consent to be Contacted

By providing your mobile telephone number to us, you understand and agree that you are consenting to be contacted via voice and/or text using an autodialer or other means in regard to any content relevant to PushBlack or other similar campaigns we may develop in the future. If PushBlack is ever sold, assigned, or transferred to a different parent entity, your consent to be contacted will automatically be transferred to such entity so that you may continue to receive the Services provided by PushBlack, unless you have previously revoked the consent granted under this Section.

Ownership of the Services

As between you and PushBlack, we exclusively own and reserve all copyright and other rights, title, and interest in and to our Services and to all content in any form, written, graphics, pictorial, audio or audiovisual, through any media or on any platform, sent to you or made available to you by PushBlack, on PushBlack’s websites, through utilization of the Services or otherwise (“PushBlack Content”) , except to the extent that any content is the property of and/or has been licensed to PushBlack by a third party, in which case some right, title, and interest in such content is owned by such third party. By subscribing to PushBlack, you agree not to transfer, resell, lease, license, or otherwise make available our Services or any PushBlack Content or offer them on a standalone basis, or otherwise use our Services in any manner that violates any applicable law, including law pertaining to copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights.

TEXT MESSAGING SERVICE

Text messages sent 3-5 times per week with information about news, media, campaigns, and other content we believe to be relevant to the black experience now and in the future.

You can cancel the SMS service at any time. Just text "STOP" to the short code. After you send the SMS message "STOP" to us, we will send you an SMS message to confirm that you have been unsubscribed. After this, you will no longer receive SMS messages from us. If you want to join again, just sign up as you did the first time, and we will start sending SMS messages to you again.

If you are experiencing issues with the messaging program you can reply with the keyword HELP for more assistance, or you can get help directly [email protected].

Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

As always, message and data rates may apply for any messages sent to you from us and to us from you. Message frequency varies. If you have any questions about your text plan or data plan, it is best to contact your wireless provider.

If you have any questions regarding privacy, please read our privacy policy: https://www.pushblack.us/privacy-policy

Warranties and Disclaimers

Without limiting PushBlack’s express warranties and obligations under these terms, we hereby disclaim any and all other warranties, express or implied, with respect to the Services or any content sent or made available to you by PushBlack through any media, on any platform or through any means, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, title, non-infringement, and fitness for a particular PushBlack’s Services and content are provided “as is” to the fullest extent permitted by law. To the extent this disclaimer conflicts with applicable law, the scope and duration of any applicable warranty will be the minimum permitted under that law.

Except as expressly provided in these Terms, under no circumstances and under no legal theory, whether in tort, contract, or otherwise, will PushBlack be liable to you for any loss or damage arising from your use of the Services or any indirect, special, incidental, consequential or punitive damages of any character, including, without limitation, damages for loss of goodwill, lost profits, lost sales or business, work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, lost data, or for any and all other damages or losses, even if we had been advised, knew or should have known of the possibility of such damages. Except as described in this section, under no circumstances and under no legal theory, whether in tort, contract, or otherwise, will PushBlack be liable to you for any direct damages, costs or liabilities in excess of $100.

The provisions of this section allocate the risks under this agreement between the parties, and the parties have relied on the limitations set forth herein in determining whether to enter into this agreement.

Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify and hold PushBlack and its employees, agents, and affiliates harmless against any actual or threatened claim, loss, liability, proceeding, third-party discovery demand, governmental investigation, or enforcement action arising out of or relating to your use of any PushBlack website, the Services or any PushBlack Content, or your acts or omissions in connection with your use of the Services, including, without limitation, any intellectual property claims (“Claim”). We and our affiliates will cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any Claim, at your expense. We reserve the right, at your expense, to retain separate counsel for ourselves in connection with any Claim or, if you have not responded reasonably to the applicable Claim, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any Claim in which you are a named party and that is otherwise subject to indemnification under this Section. You will pay all costs, reasonable attorneys’ fees and any settlement amounts or damages awarded against us in connection with any Claim. You will also be liable to us for any costs and attorneys’ fees we incur to successfully establish or enforce our right to indemnification under this Section.

FORCE MAJEURE

We will not be liable to you for any delay or failure to perform any obligation under the Terms if the delay or failure is due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

*MUTUAL AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE ANY DISPUTES; LAW GOVERNING

These Terms will be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of the District of Columbia, notwithstanding the District’s choice of law rules.

You agree that any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms, or to breach of these Terms, or to the use of the Services, use of or interaction with any PushBlack website or use of any PushBlack content, or arising for or relating to any communication from PushBlack shall be settled by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association in accordance with its Consumer Arbitration Rules.

A copy of the Consumer Arbitration Rules can be found at https://adr.org/sites/default/files/Consumer%20Rules.pdf

Such arbitration shall be subject to the Federal Arbitration Act. Any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Disputes that you agree to arbitrate, and thereby agree to waive any right to a trial by jury, include, but are not limited to, any statutory claims under state or federal law, including claims arising under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”).

However, if you have a claim that can be heard by a small claims court in your state, you can pursue that claim in small claims court instead of proceeding with the arbitration.

If you cannot or do not proceed in small claims court, then any dispute described above will not be heard by a court, but by an arbitrator appointed in accordance with the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules

One arbitrator will be appointed. The place of arbitration will be Washington, D.C. However, if you do not want to travel to Washington, D.C. for an arbitration, PushBlack will agree to conduct the arbitration hearing by video platform (such as Zoom) so that no travel will be necessary.

All disputes subject to this agreement must be arbitrated as individual claims. Specifically, you agree that you may bring claims against PushBlack only in your individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or member in any purported class, representative, or collective proceeding. Similarly, you understand that we may only pursue claims against you in your individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or member in any purported class, representative, or collective proceeding. You waive any right you may otherwise have to pursue, file, participate in, or be represented in actions brought in any court as a class, representative, or collective actions. This waiver applies to any claims covered by this agreement to the fullest extent that such a waiver is permitted by law.

You agree that prior to filing a Demand for Arbitration, the complaining party must first notify the other party, by certified mail and email, of its intent to arbitrate. You acknowledge and agree that the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules have been made available to you at the link in these Terms and that you have had the opportunity to review the AAA Rules to the extent that you believe is necessary to knowingly and willfully enter into this agreement. You agree that the arbitrator shall have the power to decide any motions brought by the parties to the arbitration, including motions to dismiss, prior to any arbitration hearing. You also agree that the arbitrator shall have the power to award any remedies available under applicable law.

If you cannot afford or otherwise do not want to pay the Administrator’s or arbitrator’s filing, administrative, hearing and/or other fees and cannot obtain a waiver of fees from the Administrator, we will consider in good faith any request by you for us to bear the cost of those fees. We will pay any administration fee, arbitration fees, and fees and charges of attorneys, experts and witnesses if and to the extent we are required to pay such fees and charges by law or AAA Rules or in order to make this Section enforceable.

You agree that the arbitrator has no jurisdiction to certify any group as a class, representative, or collective action. You agree that the decision of the arbitrator shall be in writing and shall reveal the essential findings and conclusions on which the award is based.

Except as provided by this agreement or mandated by applicable law, arbitration shall be the exclusive and final forum for the resolution of any dispute between you and PushBlack.

You understand and acknowledge that both you and PushBlack desire to agree to arbitrate any and all claims that can be arbitrated under applicable law. To that end, you expressly intend and agree that the provisions of this agreement are severable. If any provision of this agreement, including, but not limited to the mutual class, representative, and collective action waiver, is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, you agree that such provision shall be severed and that the remainder of the agreement shall be enforced.

You acknowledge and agree that you are executing this agreement voluntarily. You further acknowledge and agree that you have carefully read this agreement and that you have asked any questions necessary to understand the terms, consequences, and binding effect of this agreement, including that you are waiving your right to a jury trial. Finally, you agree that you have been provided an opportunity to seek the advice of an attorney of your choice before entering into this agreement.

The arbitration agreement contained in this Section is made pursuant to a transaction involving interstate commerce and shall be governed by the FAA, and not by any state law concerning arbitration. This Arbitration Provision shall survive the termination of your use of the Services, the Terms themselves, and the fulfillment of all our and your obligations under the Terms.