https://youtu.be/hi9Hb408Smk
Sunday, September 26, 2021
Friday, September 24, 2021
Pastor Speaks the Truth
An excerpt from Comicsands -
Pastor Gives Christians Who Claim 'Religious Exemption' From Masks And Vaccines An Epic Bible Lesson
By Mike Walsh
https://www.comicsands.com/pastor-marshall-christian-religious-exemption-2655075172.html
Thursday, September 23, 2021
From Housekeeper to Owner of 5-Star Luxury Hotel
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
MEET THE FORMER HOUSEKEEPER WHO IS NOW THE OWNER OF A 5-STAR LUXURY HOTEL
by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
 |
| Souadou Niang (BlackBusiness.com) |
Meet Souadou Niang, a serial entrepreneur and the owner of Palms Luxury Boutique Hotel in Dakar, Senegal, who used to work as a housekeeper at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the United States.
“I started out cleaning toilets. Today, I am the manager of my own five-star boutique hotel with 60 employees,” Niang told BBC Africa.
Born and raised in Dakar, Niang moved to the U.S. at the age of 18. She went from New York to Washington, DC, where she applied for work at the Ritz-Carlton to help pay for her education.
For 10 years, Niang worked cleaning rooms at the hotel while also studying. Throughout those years, she always kept in mind that she would someday become more successful in the field. Sure enough, she eventually got a job with the management team at the same hotel she started working as a housekeeper.
“I rose through the ranks and that’s where I got the passion. I said one day I will go back to my country and show that luxury and quality of service can be achieved there,” Niang said.
Amazon's Only Black Board Member
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
Former Goldman Sachs Executive Edith Cooper Elected As Amazon’s Only Black Board Member
By Jeroslyn Johnson
 |
| Edith Cooper (Amazon) |
After making history with her executive role at Goldman Sachs, Edith Cooper has been elected to Amazon’s board.
The Slack director is the only Black person on Amazon’s board following Roz Brewer’s exit earlier this year, Seattle Times reports. Cooper has an extensive resume that includes board positions with Etsy, Slack, PepsiCo, and the investment groups MSD Acquisition and EQT AB Group.
Military Recruitment Hurting
An excerpt from Defense One -
Racial Division, Troops’ Role in Protests Has Hurt Minority Recruiting, Air Force Says
Black interest in military service plummeted after the George Floyd protests. Can the Pentagon undo the damage?
By Tara Copp
 | |||||
| U.S. Air Force basic military graduation Apr. 16, 2020, at the 320th Training Squadron’s Airman Training Complex on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. U.S. AIR FORCE / JOHNNY SALDIVAR |
Years of racial tension, and the use of National Guard troops last June after the death of George Floyd, have hurt the military’s ability to recruit minorities, the head of Air Force recruiting said Wednesday.
That drop is part of a worrisome long-term trend that the military is fighting against: that fewer recruitment-age youth show an interest to serve.
According to the Defense Department’s latest twice-a-year Futures Survey, released in August, the share of eligible youth who reported they have an interest in military service has dropped about two percent overall in the last couple of years, said Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas, commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service.
Most concerning, Thomas said, was that “the biggest drop in propensity to serve is from Black males, Hispanic males, and females.”
The percentage of Black respondents who reported an interest in military service dropped from 20 percent in summer 2019 to 11 percent in summer 2020, according to the data. By fall 2020, the percentage of Black respondents interested in military service had dropped to 8 percent.
The percentage of Hispanics reporting an interest in military service dropped from 18 percent to 14 percent over the same time. Interest from recruitment-eligible whites remained steady, from 8 percent in summer 2019 to 9 percent in summer 2020.
“The last couple of years has done damage, there’s no doubt,” Thomas said. “The data shows us that the racial division in our nation has done damage to our recruiting efforts.”
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Saturday, September 18, 2021
Chapter 2 - Golf at an HBCU
An excerpt from AOL Sports -
J.R. Smith's HBCU journey is a shining example of Black excellence
By SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
J.R. Smith is a two-time NBA champion and a former Sixth Man of the year who earned millions of dollars over the course of his 16 seasons.
When he retired after his second title, with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, he could have done just about anything. Smith had enjoyed a long basketball career, had picked up a serious love of golf, and presumably had the means to travel the world pursuing that passion.
Instead, the 36-year-old, who jumped straight from Newark's famed St. Benedict's Prep to the NBA, entered college.
And not just any college, the largest HBCU in the country: North Carolina A&T.
What's more, he joined the Aggies golf team.
Best of all for the rest of us, he's basically live-tweeting his experience.
https://www.aol.com/sports/j-r-smiths-hbcu-journey-212019497.html
Soul Food Starter Kits in Stores Nationwide
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
BLACK CHEF TURNED ENTREPRENEUR LAUNCHES LINE OF SOUL FOOD STARTER KITS IN GROCERY STORES NATIONWIDE
by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
 | |
| Claude Booker (Black News) |
Meet culinary expert and business leader Claude Booker, the CEO and founder of Booker’s Soul Food Starters which are now available in over 1,000 grocery stores across the country. His business providing Southern side dishes for buffets was decimated as a direct result of the pandemic, and most buffets remain closed.
He pivoted his business during the pandemic and went from ideation to grocery store shelves with Booker’s Soul Food Starters in nine months. He did not shy away from his commitments to building a supply chain filled with domestic Black-owned businesses. The partnership with other Black businesses encourages more opportunities for those businesses and allows them to employ other Black Americans.
“When the pandemic hit in 2020, I lost 90% of my hot food and steam table business during the shutdown,” said Claude. “We pivoted and created pantry-ready seasonings for soul food during the pandemic because more people were eating at home. We went from creation to 1,000 stores in the midst of a pandemic.”
Booker’s Soul Food Starters enables any home cook to create the traditional flavors of collard greens, mac and cheese, peach cobbler, and more by adding their own fresh ingredients to the starter. The products are now sold online and in over 1,000 locations nationwide, including at Meijer, Stop & Shop, KeHE, Cost Plus World Market, VW Roses, and Sam’s Club.
Senate Honors the First Black National Bee Finalist from 1936!
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
SENATE PASSES RESOLUTION TO HONOR FIRST BLACK NATIONAL SPELLING BEE FINALIST WHO WAS CHEATED OUT OF POSSIBLE VICTORY
by Ashantai Hathaway
 |
| Cox (Twitter) |
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution to honor the nation’s first Black National Spelling Bee finalist.
On Thursday, the Senate passed the resolution that would honor MacNolia Cox. In 1936, Cox, just 13-years old, was considered a spelling prodigy with an IQ that was off the charts. Cox was from Akron, Ohio, and became the First Black to qualify as a finalist for the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.
However, getting there was far from easy, and competing was met with racism. Because segregation and Jim Crow laws were still very much in place, Cox and another Black child, 15-year-old Elizabeth Kenny from New Jersey, were forced to travel to the National Spelling Bee in the “colored” car of the train.
The children could not stay at the hotel with the other contestants and were forced to use the back door to enter the Spelling Bee competition.
They also could not sit with the other contestants and instead were told to sit at a card table.
Despite it all, Cox went on to become the first African-American finalist in the Top Five. She was well on her way to win the competition, having thoroughly studied the 100,000 word list given to each speller.
But the judges, who were all white southerners, plotted against Cox and pulled a word that was not on the list.
A. Van Jordan, author of “M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, a book about Cox and the National Spelling Bee, “said that what happened next was a despicable move from the Bee’s judges.
“They pulled a word that was not on that list, and you can’t make this up: the word was nemesis,” Van Jordan said.
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Your Precious Love
An excerpt from UDiscoverMusic -
It Takes Two: The Greatest Duets In Motown History
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s hit inspires our Motown duets playlist.
By Paul Sexton
On the Billboard Hot 100 for September 9 1967, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell had the highest new entry of the week, at No.73, with “Your Precious Love,” which went on to reach No.5. Their hit-making duet inspires our playlist of Motown’s greatest (and, in at least one case, weirdest) duets.
“Your Precious Love,” written by regular Tamla hitmakers Ashford & Simpson and produced by Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol, was one of many great examples of the vocal chemistry between Marvin and Tammi before her life was so cruelly cut short. “What we accomplished was to create two characters and let them sing to each other,” Gaye later told writer David Ritz. “That’s how the Marvin and Tammi characters were born. While we were singing, we were in love…but when the music ended, we kissed each other on the cheek and said goodbye.”
https://youtu.be/4Z3btjnwscU
Oscar Robertson: Standing Up For Them All
An excerpt from the Daily Beast -
The Basketball Great Who Stood Up to the NBA to Protect His Fellow Players
Oscar Robertson paved the way for athletes to protest and demand the right to choose their employers, at a time when standing up to the league could get a player barred for life.
By Robert Silverman
 |
| Bettmann / Getty |
Oscar Robertson, one of the greatest players in NBA history and a visionary labor rights leader, is riding out the current stretch of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic down in Florida. It’s not his permanent residence, but like many in the Sunshine State and across the globe, the 82-year-old is worried, Robertson told me in an August phone conversation. He’s been vaccinated, and is taking every precaution, including wearing a mask outdoors, until conditions improve. “Goodness, gracious,” he said. “It’s unbelievable, unbelievable.”
He was baffled to read that a number of pro football players were making a public show of refusing to get the jab. Beyond the spread of the new variant, the risks posed to children and family members, Robertson couldn’t comprehend why an athlete wouldn’t at a bare minimum be looking out for their teammates, regardless of what misinformation they’d been fed. “Why would a player say ‘I don’t want to get the shot’ if he's going to be around other players?” he plaintively asked. “Why would he do that?"
That Robertson would view the ongoing health crisis as requiring greater labor solidarity shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
For all the Big O’s successes on court—the awards and accolades, the titles and medals won, his name scrawled at the top of the NBA’s record books, and the effusive praise from his contemporaries—Robertson’s legacy is also built on the decades spent fighting for justice and equity. He’s stood up to groaning bigots that treated him as less-than-human and threatened his life; he locked arms in solidarity in order to bring an All-Star game to a halt; and he dragged the NBA court and then testified before Congress, demanding that he and his in-demand, talented colleagues should (at a minimum) be able to choose their place of employment. All this was accomplished at a time when an outspoken athlete could easily find themselves on the unemployment line.
“There is a long tradition in our league going back to Oscar and others, including Bill Russell, who spoke out about civil rights issues,” Commissioner Adam Silver told Sports Illustrated’s Jack McCallum in 2020. “It’s a culture that’s been passed down from generation to generation, and Oscar led the fight.”
Over the summer, Robertson watched the Milwaukee Bucks win their first NBA title in 50 years, since he and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar last led the team to glory. It delighted him to no end. He marveled not just at the tens of thousands who had crammed into what the team dubbed “the Deer District” outside the stadium, but franchises now worth billions, and contracts for the biggest stars topping $200 million. As much as any NBA player, Robertson fought to ensure at least a somewhat more equitable distribution of wealth, though this stretch of NBA and labor history may have faded over time for fans and players alike.
“Some don’t know what the Oscar Robertson Rule is all about,” he said of the 1976 settlement agreement granting NBA players the right to free agency before any of the other major pro sports leagues. According to Robertson, those unaware of his battles should probably ask themselves, “How did it get this way?”
Looking for College Gear? Check Here First.
An excerpt from Spy -
The Best Places to Buy College Apparel Make Showing College Pride Too Easy
By Jake Cappuccino
1. Fanatics
 |
| Courtesy of Fanatics |
BEST OVERALL
Of all the best places to buy college apparel, Fanatics has to be the single best overall for most people. It has an enormous selection of official apparel and merchandise for hundreds upon hundreds of college teams.
In fact, multiple other big retailers of college apparel just use Fanatics to sell their college apparel, including NCAA Sports, FansEdge and Lids. So when you shop from those retailers, you’re getting the same experience you’d get on Fanatics.com. And there’s good reason for that. Not only does Fanatics have great coverage of schools — seriously, we’ve never even heard of the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs or the Hampton Pirates, but they’re covered — it sells a branded version of pretty much anything you could ever want. If you’d rather show support for a conference, Fanatics even has you covered there with Pac-12, ACC, Big Ten gear and more.
We could show any one of a million different examples, but we’ll just leave these awesome USC Trojans Nike Zoom Pegasus 38 Running Shoes to get your mind running.
https://spy.com/articles/gear/style/best-places-to-buy-college-apparel-1202788151/
FAMU Business Students Are Collaborators With Hair Care Line
An excerpt from the Tallahassee Democrat -
Wakati Black hair product line gives nod to FAMU students for their collaboration
By Byron Dobson
 |
| Florida A & M University business students helped design the marketing and business concept for Wakati Hair Products which are sold at Target, Walgreens, and Walmart.com Tori Schneider Tallahassee Democrat |
Felyicia Jerald often shops at Target for its assortment of hard-to-find hair products for African American consumers. But on a recent visit, she noticed a new product line — Wakati.
"I looked to the right and saw the purple bottle on the shelf, and it seems as if it had orange and green tones to it a well. I said, ‘I want to check it out really quick,' " said Jerald, a 1988 journalism graduate of Florida A&M University, whose school colors are orange and green.
“I started reading the ingredients, the benefits of the product and it wasn’t until I flipped it over did I see the FAMU logo on it. That got my interest.”
Jerald ended up purchasing a moisturizer, a moisturizing spray and shampoo.
“I’m impressed with the look of the product and when I saw FAMU on the back that was another draw to help me to decide to buy it and try it out,” said Jerald, manager of communications for Mercedes-Benz U.S. International.
She posted the find on Facebook, where she discovered “quite a few” family members and FAMU friends were aware of the product and the school shout-out on the packaging.
Her post reads: “Was so excited to see this product on the shelves at Target! I think the orange and green and cute packaging drew me in, then when I flipped it over and saw that #FAMU business students helped design the marketing and biz concept, that sold me. Great job students!”
Cedric The Entertainer on Phone Call from Michael Jackson and Flirting w...
https://youtu.be/NWySL9sKuR0
Saturday, September 11, 2021
Deion Calls Out ESPN
https://www.si.com/college/hbcu/football/deion-sanders-blasts-espn-getty-imagn-no-photos-of-hbcu
Monday, September 6, 2021
Being the Only One
An excerpt from INC -
She Was the Only Black Woman in the Room. So She Decided to Become the Best in the Business. They say it's lonely at the top. But here's what they don't say: Knowing how to go it alone is the secret to getting you there.
BY PHYLLIS NEWHOUSE, FOUNDER AND CEO, XTREME SOLUTIONS, INC
When Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. listed on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year, I became the only Black female CEO of an NYSE-listed SPAC. When I launched Xtreme Solutions in 2002, I became the only Black woman CEO of a cybersecurity company.
Before that, I spent 22 years in the Army, including three stints at the Pentagon, where I was often the only Black woman in the room when crucial decisions were being made.
Being "the only" in any situation can be lonely for some, but it doesn't bother me. Some of this year's Inc. 5000 honorees are "the only" in their fields, and, as they likely know, it's a unique position with distinct advantages. There have been more than 820 SPAC IPOs since 2009, but Athena is the only one with a Black woman as CEO--so everybody knows who I am. I embrace the opportunity to share a perspective others don't have.
Beautiful Braided Creations
An excerpt from the Cut -
The Beautiful Language of Braids Black hairstylists and creative muses open up about their love for the iconic style.
By Faith Cummings
The Black hair salon is a sanctified space, with each chair getting its believer closer to goddess-level status, from the wash bowl to the hair dryer to the styling chair. These shops are portals to transformation — equal parts magic and the sweat and toil of the artisans who lather, roll, bump, press, and braid day in, day out, with unparalleled results.
These parlors of beauty and style are also spaces of choice, converting even the most ambivalent and unsure into full-blown sirens simply with a decision pulled from the salon walls. There’s no shortage of potential styles to select from blown-up poster collages in full color, fashioned on models who look like you, your mother, and your friends, with a few sightings of our patron saints Beyoncé and Rihanna in all their coiffed Black-girl glory for good measure.
I’ve reveled in these spaces all my life, from pictures that remind me of the braids I had done right before a childhood graduation to earlier this summer when friends’ weddings called for hairstyles that could emanate elegance in the face of New York’s subtropical heat and humidity. Over the past year and a half, these salons have been a lifeline when I sought to protect my hair and make it ready for anything, shifting the energy from styling it to carrying on despite a devastating virus and its resulting chaos. I bonded with braiders who were strangers mere hours before about the state of our world and politics, when we all started getting waist-long braids and all the tricks we have for not letting them fall into unsavory places, and relationships, as I definitely hopped out of the chair and headed straight to a marathon date just months ago.
https://www.thecut.com/2021/09/the-beautiful-language-of-braids.html
Lessons in Living Abroad
An excerpt from Buzzfeed -
Two Years Ago, I Moved From The US To Europe — Here's How I Did It & My Advice For Those Wanting A Similar Change
Plus, my advice for anyone considering a similar life change.
by Michelle No
 | |
| Michelle No / BuzzFeed |
Hey all! I'm Michelle and I'm an American currently living in Berlin, Germany. Ever since I moved here two years ago (and wrote all about it), a lot of BuzzFeed readers have reached out to me directly. They've been curious about what inspired such a big move, or how, logistically, I even did it. To help anyone considering a similar change, I wanted to outline exactly how it all went down.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/michelleno/moving-to-berlin-germany
Simply Stunning!
An excerpt from My Modern Met -
Street Artist Uses Flowering Trees as “Natural Hair” To Complete Portraits of Women and Girls
By Sara Barnes
 |
| Portrait inspired by Egypt Sarai |
Brazilian street artist Fábio Gomes Trindade combines painting and nature to create singular works that are only complete when viewed together. With the help of tree branches that sit above his vibrant murals, he produces portraits where only part of the head is present—such as the face and a portion of the hair. But when paired with colorful flowering trees and green leaves, the portrait has a full, beautiful coif. It's a clever and charming way to combine elements of the urban environment with the natural one.
Two of Trindade’s latest pieces are inspired by a child model named Egypt Sarai. The young girl is depicted in two ways by the artist; one with an afro comprising pink flowers and the other with her hair separated into two poofs atop her head. In each painting, Trindade captures the sweet, soft features of Sarai through spray paint and enhances her beauty with the trees.
Kingsley Ben Adir on transforming into Malcolm X and Barack Obama | Brit...
https://youtu.be/N8_oda286ys
Sunday, September 5, 2021
All-Black Lineup in Baseball - 50 YEARS AGO!
An excerpt from the Undefeated -
On this day in 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded the first all-black and Latino lineup
By Bryan Cortes
 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates Al Oliver (center) is grabbed by teammates Willie Stargell (left) and Roberto Clemente (right) after his three-run-homer which gave the Pirates a 9-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants and the National League Pennant. Getty Images |
The Pirates made history with a lineup only put together due to injuries
There were only 11,278 fans at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh on Sept. 1, 1971, but history was made anyway. The date marked 24 years after Jackie Robinson officially broke baseball’s color barrier and the Pirates became the first Major League franchise to field an all-black and Latino starting nine.
Although the normal Pittsburgh Pirates starting lineup that year was usually filled with players of color, it had never been entirely made up of men of color until Sept. 1. Normal starters Richie Hebner (third base) and Gene Alley (shortstop) were both nursing injuries, which allowed Dave Cash and Jackie Hernandez to fill in.
“The Pirates were known for their black and Latin players, and of course on that particular team, we were loaded,” former Pirate Al Oliver told MLB.com. “I don’t know how many we had on the 1971 team, but if I had to guess, maybe 11 or 12 black and Latin players. As a rule, we would start five – if Dock pitched, then it would be six.”
Foo Fighters "Everlong" w/ 11-Year-Old Nandi Bushell, The Forum, Los An...
https://youtu.be/jsDgrKdczAE
A Refuge From Racism
An excerpt from Vice News -
Where Black Americans Seek Refuge from Racism
Scores of Black Americans have flocked to Tulum to take a mental break after a year of so much grief.
By Adizah Eagan
All the posts about Tulum on social media this past year really got our attention: Everyone seemed to be living it up in the small Mexican fishing town south of Cancun. Some were flocking there to have a good time, but others were seeking something much deeper: They wanted to escape racism, find like-minded people, take a mental respite after a year of so much grief.
“Tulum popped up on Airbnb. [I’d] never heard of Tulum, didn't know Tulum existed,” said Kendrick Little, a photographer. “So I booked a stay here for a whole month. Then the George Floyd thing happened in the States. I had no desire to leave this tranquility of Mexico to go back voluntarily to madness.”
Another traveler, Faris Gebril, had a similar feeling. “I'm coming to Tulum because America is a cult, and I want to be anywhere else,” he said.
VICE producer Adizah Eagan went to Mexico to experience the vibes of Tulum for herself—and dig into why Black people have been seeking refuge in this beachy bohemian getaway.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/epn95a/where-black-americans-seek-refuge-from-racism
Black Bodies Redefined
An excerpt from the Guardian -
The big picture: the black body redefined
Pioneering young black photographer Dana Scruggs’s celebration of movement and form
By Tim Adams
 |
| Dana Scrugg |
The headline act at this summer’s photography festival in Arles is an exhibition devoted to the young black photographers who are – literally – changing the face (and bodies) of fashion photography. The New Black Vanguard features the work of Tyler Mitchell, the first black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover, and Dana Scruggs, who achieved the same extraordinarily overdue milestone at Rolling Stone, when she photographed the rapper Travis Scott in 2019.
Scruggs, born in Chicago and based in New York, started out photographing vintage clothes and furniture for her own Etsy store a decade ago. In 2016, frustrated by the continuing lack of diversity in advertising and fashion, she crowdfunded the launch of her own magazine, SCRUGGS, to showcase her distinctive ways of expressing light and movement, focusing on the black male body. “There’s a fearfulness of black men in American society and globally,” Scruggs said. “I wanted to change the narrative.”
This picture, shot in Death Valley in 2018 for a swimwear campaign, is characteristic of Scruggs’s work. “I focus on shapes and bodies and skin,” she suggests. “I don’t view the model as a [clothes] hanger.” She invites her subjects – the model here is LA-based Nyadhuor Deng – to loosely improvise and take control of their presentation. “I want people to understand that black people are powerful and have autonomy over our bodies,” Scruggs has said.
https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/aug/29/the-big-picture-the-black-body-redefined
Hot Sauce Heaven
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
Twin Lawyers, Howard U Grads Team Up to Revive Grandmother’s Hot Sauce Business
A family-owned hot sauce business is now back up and running after twin sisters worked to revive it.
 |
| (Photo: Alice Crowe-Bell and Alicia Crowe) |
Identical twin sisters, Alice Crowe-Bell and Alicia Crowe, are Howard University School of Law graduates who have practiced as attorneys for more than 20 years but decided to use their business acumen to help get a family business off the ground.
Emmaline’s All-Natural Hot Sauce is their grandmother’s recipe. They’ve teamed up to keep their family legacy alive. They have relaunched their family business in honor of their late grandmother, Emmaline Humphries Stinson.
The twins’ mother dreamed of selling the hot sauce, so they helped their mother sell it at various farmer markets and food tastings throughout the tri-state area. It did not take long for the sauce to develop a loyal following and by 2007 Emmaline’s Hot Sauce won the Whole Foods Local Hero Award.
Emmaline passed away last year, and the twins decided to honor their mother’s dream and continue their grandmother’s legacy by relaunching the hot sauce.
Now, the hot sauce has Emmaline’s 1910 wedding photo featured on the front of the bottle.
“The minute we reached out to her customers, within minutes, they were ordering the sauce, some by the case. They were so happy to know that we were moving forward with the sauce. That kind of response, it wasn’t because of me or my sister, it was because of my mother. She was so passionate and made her food with love,” Crowe said.
The sisters said they relaunched Emmaline’s Hot Sauce on Juneteenth and have received praise from customers for doing so.
HBCU's in Florida
An excerpt from the Miami Herald -
How many HBCUs are in Florida? Here’s where they are and some of their famous alumni
BY JASON DILL
 | |
| Florida Memorial University President Jaffus Hardrick speaks during a joint commencement ceremony for students graduating in the class of 2020 and 2021 at the FMU campus in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Saturday, May 8, 2021. SAM NAVARRO SPECIAL FOR THE MIAMI HERALD |
The Orange Blossom Classic highlights two Historically Black Colleges and Universities with a football game and an event schedule away from the gridiron highlighted by the Battle of the Bands and a concert.
Florida A&M is one of the participants in the game, having to face Jackson State, which is coached by Pro Football Hall of Famer and Florida State alumnus Deion Sanders.
How many HBCU schools are in Florida? Where are they located? What are they known for?
Why Do "We" Have to Crossover?
An excerpt from the LA Times -
Column: Why do we praise Black performers for ‘crossing over’ to white audiences?
BY LZ GRANDERSONCOLUMNIST
 |
| Janet Jackson, queen of pop? (Mark Von Holden / Invision via Associated Press) |
Saw a debate on Twitter this week that caught my attention: Madonna or Janet Jackson — who is the real queen of pop?
The conversation was started by Lizzo, who in sharing her list of music royalty gave the coveted title to Jackson, which set off Madonna fans. Billboard magazine, the music industry’s longtime chart tracker, gave the title to Madonna some time ago. Jackson is ranked third, behind Mariah Carey.
Before we forget the original, though, let’s be clear that in 1976, Billboard had already named Diana Ross the female entertainer of the century. She became the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of music, too often overlooked whenever people debate the “greatest of all time.”
That sort of amnesia is one of the many reasons I dislike debates of this nature to begin with.
But this “Madonna vs. Jackson” conversation drifted toward an interesting topic: crossover appeal.
Janet Jackson’s popularity is noteworthy for crossing racial lines, which highlights the fact that Madonna’s success did not.
That’s not to say Madonna doesn’t have Black fans. Of course she does. I’m one of them.
But despite working with iconic R&B producers such as Babyface, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Dallas Austin and Timbaland, Madonna has managed just one Top 10 R&B/hip-hop single, “Like a Virgin,” which peaked at No. 9 back in 1985. The song’s producer, Nile Rodgers, is known for adding some funk to a number of white artists, such as David Bowie (“Let’s Dance”) and Duran Duran (“Notorious”).
Madonna was able to build an iconic career relying heavily on R&B production without the burden of needing to appeal to R&B listeners. She went for as Black a sound as she possibly could without being hindered by the music industry’s racism. Ranking on the R&B charts was unnecessary.
Leadership Matters
An excerpt from Fortune -
A tale of two governors: COVID outcomes in Florida and Connecticut show that leadership matters
BY ANJANI JAIN AND JEFFREY SONNENFELD
 | |||
| Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (left) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. | JOHN MOORE—GETTY IMAGES; MICHAEL REAVES—GETTY IMAGES |
Executive power is often circumscribed by complex geopolitical dynamics, volatile financial markets, disruptive new technologies, and tragic natural disasters. But key leaders still can have a profound impact—positive or negative—on millions of constituents. A comparison of Florida’s and Connecticut’s governors in their contrasting approach to the resurgence of the coronavirus reveals the consequential potential of individual leaders.
This summer, tragic public-health news was exacerbated by historic levels of political grandstanding by several Southern state governors. The rapid spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant was driven by a surge of new cases in Florida, Texas, and Missouri—as these states accounted for an astounding 40% of new U.S. coronavirus cases despite representing only 17% of the nation’s population. Ignoring science and evidence, the governors of these three states have taken a rigid, cynical stance, forbidding vaccine mandates by employers and mandatory indoor mask usage—even in cases where such mandates were intended to protect young schoolchildren ineligible for vaccines.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis even threatened to cut off funding and educators’ salaries for schools that required protective masks in compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. Nonetheless, 10 school districts defied DeSantis by issuing mask mandates. Similarly, Disney, Carnival Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean joined Norwegian Cruise Line in defiance of DeSantis’s ban on passenger vaccination passports, despite being threatened with fines of $5,000 for each such violation of his decree.
Florida’s hospital emergency rooms and intensive care units are now reaching capacity, with 90% of ICU beds occupied, the majority of them by COVID patients. More than 90% of these inpatients are unvaccinated; overall only one-third of Floridians between ages 12 and 64 are vaccinated.
DeSantis’s response to such wide swaths of the unvaccinated Florida population suffering from the highly contagious Delta variant has been to consult with anti-mask advocates who promote the horse parasite drug ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, unproven elixirs, instead of scientifically developed, safe, and highly effective vaccines.
In contrast, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has been relying on a science-based approach from the outset of the pandemic. He pulled together globally renowned virologists, microbiologists, epidemiologists, and business leaders in March of 2020, just as the pandemic was declared, and kept such advisory panels working to solve problems by relying on science, evidence, and smart management, independent of ideology. Accordingly, he worked with both top Trump administration and later top Biden administration leaders to keep manufacturing flowing without a day’s interruption, ensuring the needed supply of protective material to open schools early. Lamont also catalyzed a new nationwide weekly meeting of the nation’s governors, favoring quiet, effective, bipartisan, cross-sector problem-solving instead of seeking the public limelight.
Changing the Look of Astronauts
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
MEET THE BLACK WOMAN LOOKING TO CHANGE WHAT PEOPLE THINK AN ASTRONAUT LOOKS LIKE
by Jeroslyn Johnson
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| Lisa Alcindor (Image: Lisa Alcindor) |
Lisa Alcindor is a Black woman on a mission to get to outer space. The 34-year-old Northern Virginia resident promotes herself as an “Astronaut Candidate” on her LinkedIn and Instagram pages.
“What do astronauts look like?” her Instagram bio reads. With a goal of touring the universe, Alcindor has started a GoFundMe in an effort to get help paying for the astronaut training she will need ahead of being launched to infinity and beyond.
“My goal is to show people that they truly are limitless,” she told Washington Post.
And she wants people to understand that astronauts can look like her: Long braids, long lashes and all.
While people across the world watch billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk take part in the ongoing space race, hopefuls like Alcindor are stuck resorting to more ordinary forms of achieving space flight.
Tennis Boost @ HBCUs
An excerpt from the NY Times -
Tennis Programs at Historically Black Colleges Receive a Boost
The U.S.T.A. has initiated a grant program with the ultimate goal of enhancing opportunities for players of color, especially women, to become coaches and grow the game.
By David Waldstein
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| David Dinkins, shown in 1989, enjoyed playing with tennis greats and still hit the court into his late 80s. Credit...Neal Boenzi/The New York Times |
Rochelle Houston had an advantage. Her father, Joe Goldthreate, is a legendary tennis coach in Nashville, who taught her not only how to play the game, but how to coach it, too.
Houston is now the head of tennis at Florida A&M, which until recently meant she coached both teams. But the men’s team was cut in 2020 due to a lack of funding, and the women’s team makes do. It certainly does not enjoy the lavish facilities and recruiting budgets of many large Division I programs.
That is typical of many, if not all, of the 38 historically Black colleges and universities that have tennis programs. To help address that, the United States Tennis Association has initiated a grant program to contribute funding to those college programs, with the ultimate goal of enhancing opportunities for players of color, especially women, to become coaches and grow the game.
“There is a desperate need,” Houston said Wednesday from her office in Tallahassee, Fla. “We don’t have a lot of funding. We barely get by. This program will help significantly.”
The grant is named after David Dinkins, the former mayor of New York who was a board member of the U.S.T.A. and longtime tennis player, fan and active supporter. Had it not been for Dinkins’ advocacy and intervention, the U.S. Open might not even be in New York anymore, and might not have its showpiece venue, Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest in tennis.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/sports/tennis/us-open-hbcu-dinkins.html
We Should Follow Her Lead
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
MULTIMILLIONAIRE RACHEL RODGERS SHARES 5 STRATEGIES SHE USED TO BUILD HER EMPIRE
by Ashantai Hathaway
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| Dale May Photography |
Rachel Rodgers is a multimillionaire. She lives on a 53-acre ranch with her husband and family in Greensboro, NC. But she says she got it all from hard work and strategic planning.
“Both of my parents were laid off from their jobs at the same time. I remember our lights getting turned off because my parents couldn’t afford to pay the electricity bill,” Rodgers told Business Insider.
Rodgers graduated from law school, but could not find a good-paying job because of the recession.
“I became an entrepreneur by necessity because there were not many good job offers. So, I clerked for a judge for a year making $41,000,” she said. After that, she focused on building her business.
Rodgers started her business working as a business coach and attorney. Her initial goal was to earn $50,000 a year while working from home. A little over a decade after starting her company, Rodgers is a multi-millionaire. Here are the strategies she used to build her wealth. . .
He Nailed It!
We are all in this video pic.twitter.com/ZebenP2Aid
— Washington Post TikTok Guy 🥉 (@davejorgenson) September 2, 2021
FAMU's Concert Choir + Marching 100 Band to Perform at NFL Kickoff
From wctv.tv -
FAMU Marching 100 and Concert Choir to perform during NFL Kickoff festivities in Tampa
By Pat Mueller
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| Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 and Concert Choir will perform as part of the pregame festivities for the NFL’s 2021 Kickoff game in Tampa, according to a press release.(FAMU) |
Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 and Concert Choir will perform as part of the pregame festivities for the NFL’s 2021 Kickoff game in Tampa, according to a press release.
The game between the Dallas Cowboys and reigning Super Bowl LV Champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers is set for 8:20 p.m. on Sept. 9.
The FAMU Concert Choir will collaborate with Alicia Keys to update her version of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before performing it live at Raymond James Stadium, says NFL Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility Anna Issacson.
“This will mark the first time ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ will be sung live at an NFL stadium and we are looking forward to shining a light on such a versatile and talented choir, while also honoring the legacy of the song,” Issacson says.
Absolutely Agree!
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Opinion: Doctors should be allowed to give priority to vaccinated patients when resources are scarce
By Ruth Marcus
I’m going to come right out and say it: In situations where hospitals are overwhelmed and resources such as intensive care beds or ventilators are scarce, vaccinated patients should be given priority over those who have refused vaccination without a legitimate medical or religious reason.
This conflicts radically with accepted medical ethics, I recognize. And under ordinary circumstances, I agree with those rules. The lung cancer patient who’s been smoking two packs a day for decades is entitled to the same treatment as the one who never took a puff. The drunk driver who kills a family gets a team doing its utmost to save him — although, not perhaps, a liver transplant if he needs one. Doctors are healers, not judges.
But the coronavirus pandemic, the development of a highly effective vaccine, and the emergence of a core of vaccine resisters along with an infectious new variant have combined to change the ethical calculus. Those who insist on refusing the vaccine for no reason are not in the same moral position of the smoker with lung cancer or the drunk driver. In situations where resources are scarce and hard choices must be made, they are not entitled to the same no-questions-asked, no-holds-barred medical care as others who behaved more responsibly.
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