Sunday, December 20, 2020
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Beware of Mad Men
An excerpt from OkayPlayer -
Chris Rock On Joe Biden’s Election Win: “I Wasn’t Jumping For Joy”
By Elijah Watson
“You know, Donald Trump did this thing… Like, when security companies build new locks or security systems, they hire crooks to show you the weaknesses of the system. Well, Donald Trump showed us the weakness of our government,” Rock said. “Now, it’s up to Joe Biden and Congress and the Senate to get rid of those weaknesses—to instill safeguards that actually protect us from unqualified, mad men and mad women, so that we never have to be at the mercy of a person that does not exhibit empathy and competence.”
https://www.okayplayer.com/news/chris-rock-joe-biden-election-win-fargo.html
Thursday, December 10, 2020
We’ve teamed up with @Kaepernick7! Introducing Change the Whirled Non-Dairy, the flavor that's supporting the fight to dismantle systems of oppression and empower Black and Brown people. Coming to freezers in 2021! Learn more: https://t.co/7c0Se2vut4 pic.twitter.com/LY90ObEwCj
— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) December 10, 2020
A Dog Walks Into A Walmart . . .
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
A dog was missing for weeks. Then it wandered into Walmart and found its owner working at the register.
By Sydney Page
June Rountree and her husband circled their neighborhood night after night looking for their beloved lost dog Abby.
Rountree, 60, realized the dog was missing Nov. 8, when she went to the backyard of their home in Dothan, Ala., and instead of seeing her 4-year-old black-and-white dog, she was horrified to see only Abby’s collar and leash, which was secured to a ground stake.
Despite their efforts, there was no sign of Abby, and the Rountrees were beginning to lose hope.
Three weeks later, an unlikely and perhaps miraculous turn of events left them convinced Abby is either the luckiest or the smartest dog in town.
Rountree, a longtime cashier at Walmart, was busy working her regular shift at register No. 6 on Nov. 28.
She heard a commotion, then looked up and saw a dog inside the store over by the ice machine. People were trying to catch the dog as it ran around.
“I said, ‘It can’t be,’ ” said Rountree, who then watched staff members trail the dog as it darted through the aisles.
“I was like, ‘What in the world is happening?’ ” said Danielle Robinette, 42, a customer service associate at the Walmart. “I’m a huge animal lover, so I just followed her, and she ran up to register No. 6.”
It was Abby.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/12/04/missing-dog-walmart-reunion/
Tarantino's Top 12 Films. Do You Agree?
From Far Out -
From Scorsese to Spielberg: Quentin Tarantino picks the 12 greatest films of all time
By the Far Out Staff
50 Rarely Seen Historical Photos
From Bored Panda -
50 Rarely-Seen Historical Photos That Might Change Your Perspective On Things
By Liucija Adomaite and Austėja Akavickaitė
https://www.boredpanda.com/amazing-rare-historical-photos/
Advice for Teens
From Buzzfeed -
Adults Are Sharing Things That Teenagers Today Should Avoid, And It's Actually Helpful
TBH, good advice for any age...
by Ryan Schocket, BuzzFeed Staff
https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanschocket2/adults-share-things-teens-should-avoid
Wrongfully Imprisoned
An excerpt from Unilad -
Man Who Was Wrongfully Imprisoned For 8 Years Overturned His Own Conviction And Became A Lawyer
BY: EMILY BROWN
 |
| A man who was wrongly imprisoned for sexual assault aged 17 managed to overturn his conviction and now works as a defense lawyer to free other people who have been wrongly convicted. |
He explained:
Everyone has a constitutional right to an effective attorney. And so therefore, my constitutional right was violated by not having an effective attorney.
Using newspapers he had access to in prison, Adams identified attorneys litigating cases that could support his argument and managed to work with one to begin drafting a habeas petition. In 2004, Adams’ case was taken on by the Innocence Project, who told him they didn’t understand ‘how on Earth you are in here with 28 years’.
Eight years after his arrest, the Innocence Project argued Adams’ case to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The court unanimously overturned Adams’ conviction on the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel, and in February 2007 he had all charges against him dismissed.
Following his release, Adams enrolled in college and received his associate’s degree, followed by a bachelor’s in criminal law. In May 2015 he graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and went on to be hired by the Innocence Project.
He now works for his own private practice and uses his power as a lawyer to prevent people facing the same fate he did.
https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/man-who-was-wrongfully-imprisoned-for-8-years-overturned-his-own-conviction-and-became-a-lawyer/
The Sacrificial Lambs
An excerpt from the NY Times -
How Black People Learned Not to Trust
Concerns about vaccination are unfortunate, but they have historical roots.
By Charles M. Blow
The unfortunate American fact is that Black people in this country have been well-trained, over centuries, to distrust both the government and the medical establishment on the issue of health care.
In the mid-1800s a man in Alabama named James Marion Sims gained national renown as a doctor after performing medical experiments on enslaved women, who by definition of their position in society could not provide informed consent.
He performed scores of experimental operations on one woman alone, an enslaved woman named Anarcha, before perfecting his technique.
Not only that, he operated on these women without anesthesia, in part because he didn’t believe that Black women experienced pain in the same way that white women did, a dangerous and false sensibility whose remnants linger to this day.
When he finally got his experiments to be successful, he began to use them on white women, but he would begin to use anesthesia for those women.
As medical writer Durrenda Ojanuga wrote in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 1993: “Many white women came to Sims for treatment of vesicovaginal fistula after the successful operation on Anarcha. However, none of them, due to the pain, were able to endure a single operation.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/06/opinion/blacks-vaccinations-health.html
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Official Music Video) - Black Vi...
Black Brass
An excerpt from the NY Times -
‘Is Austin on Your List?’: Biden’s Pentagon Pick Rose Despite Barriers to Diversity
With retired Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III’s nomination to be the first Black defense secretary, the Pentagon comes face to face with its record as a place where people of color struggle to climb.
By Helene Cooper
WASHINGTON — Retired Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, who is on the brink of becoming the first Black man to be secretary of defense, rose to the heights of an American military whose largely white leadership has not reflected the diversity of its rank and file.
For much of his career, General Austin was accustomed to white men at the top. But a crucial turning point — and a key to his success — came a decade ago, when General Austin and a small group of African-American men populated the military’s most senior ranks.
As a tall and imposing lieutenant general with a habit of referring to himself in the third person, General Austin was the director of the Joint Staff, one of the most powerful behind-the-scenes positions in the military. His No. 2 was also a Black man, Bruce Grooms, a Navy submariner and rear admiral. Larry O. Spencer was a lieutenant general who was the arbiter of which war-fighting commands around the world got the best resources. Dennis L. Via was a three-star general who ran the communications security protocols across the military.
And Darren W. McDew, a major general and aviator with 3,000 flight hours, was a vice director overseeing the plans the Joint Staff churns out.
At one point in 2010, the men thought they should capture the moment for posterity since nothing like that had happened before and likely would not happen again. They summoned the man who had made it happen, their boss, Adm. Mike Mullen, President Barack Obama’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, into a room for a photo.
“What is this about?” Admiral Mullen asked when he walked in.
“History,” General McDew replied.
 |
| From left, Brig. Gen. Michael T. Harrison, Lt. Gen. Larry O. Spencer, Lt. Gen. Dennis L. Via, Adm. Mike Mullen, Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, Rear Adm. Bruce Grooms and Maj. Gen. Darren W. McDew in 2010. Most of these men went on to higher ranks.Credit...via Darren W. McDew |
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/us/politics/biden-lloyd-austin-defense-secretary.html?referringSource=articleShare
Saturday, November 28, 2020
Agreed?
From Time -
The 10 Best Movies Based on a True Story
By the Time Staff
https://time.com/5910721/best-movies-based-on-true-story/
The First DACA Rhodes Scholar
An excerpt from CNN -
This student just became the first Latino DACA recipient to win the Rhodes Scholarship. He says it's all because of his elementary school teacher
By Nora Neus, CNN
(CNN) In second grade, Santiago Potes walked into Marina Esteva's gifted and talented classroom at Sweetwater Elementary School in Miami, Florida, for the first time.
He was an undocumented immigrant from Colombia who entered the country when he was 4 years old. Esteva said she quickly noticed his intelligence and wanted to nurture him toward success.
Now, Potes is the first Latino DACA recipient to be awarded a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.
On Saturday, the Rhodes Trust announced that Potes, a 2020 graduate of Columbia University in New York, would be one of the 2021 Rhodes Scholars.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/26/us/santiago-potes-latino-daca-rhodes-scholarship/index.html
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Top Black Grad!
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
STUDENT WHO TOOK 21 AP COURSES BECOMES THE FIRST BLACK MALE VALEDICTORIAN AT HIS HIGH SCHOOL
by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
Congratulations Rawlin Lee Tate Jr. This is something to be truly proud of! 🎓🎆 https://t.co/jObG4Uo7sb
— Jennifer Jones Newbill (she/her/hers) ✨ (@JenNewbill) November 17, 2020
https://www.blackenterprise.com/student-who-took-21-ap-courses-becomes-the-first-black-male-valedictorian-at-his-high-school/
No Licking!
Oh hi, moose. We have strict instructions about your snack habits. #jasper #Alberta 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/xSNo7YBrXS
— Carolyn Campbell (@_CLCampbell) November 15, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/22/americas/canada-warns-moose-lick-cars-trnd/index.html
Even the Robots Are Biased
An excerpt from the NY Times -
Can We Make Our Robots Less Biased Than We Are?
A.I. developers are committing to end the injustices in how their technology is often made and used.
By David Berreby
 |
| Chris S. Crawford, a computer scientist at the University of Alabama. “I personally was in Silicon Valley when some of these technologies were being developed,” he said, and more than once, “I would sit down and they would test it on me, and it wouldn’t work. And I was like, You know why it’s not working, right?”Credit...Wes Frazer for The New York Times Over the past decade, evidence has accumulated that “bias is the original sin of A.I,” Dr. Howard notes in her 2020 audiobook, “Sex, Race and Robots.” Facial-recognition systems have been shown to be more accurate in identifying white faces than those of other people. (In January, one such system told the Detroit police that it had matched photos of a suspected thief with the driver’s license photo of Robert Julian-Borchak Williams, a Black man with no connection to the crime.) There are A.I. systems enabling self-driving cars to detect pedestrians — last year Benjamin Wilson of Georgia Tech and his colleagues found that eight such systems were worse at recognizing people with darker skin tones than paler ones. Joy Buolamwini, the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League and a graduate researcher at the M.I.T. Media Lab, has encountered interactive robots at two different laboratories that failed to detect her. (For her work with such a robot at M.I.T., she wore a white mask in order to be seen.) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/22/science/artificial-intelligence-robots-racism-police.html |
Kaep's Message
1,363 days of being denied employment.
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) November 23, 2020
Still putting in work with @E_Reid35
Still going hard 5 days a week. #StillReady#StopRunning pic.twitter.com/iMeJ03IRuB
Free Period Products
Proud to vote for this groundbreaking legislation, making Scotland the first country in the world to provide free period products for all who need them. An important policy for women and girls. Well done to @MonicaLennon7 @ClydesdAileen and all who worked to make it happen https://t.co/4lckZ4ZYIY
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) November 24, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/world/europe/scotland-free-period-products.html
"Racism is a Public Health Threat"
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/11/23/racism-public-health-threat-american-medical-association/6400945002/
Monday, November 16, 2020
Sunday, November 15, 2020
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Another First
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
MEET THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO RECEIVE A PH.D. IN NEUROSCIENCE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
by Dana Givens
 |
| Image via University of Rochester Alumni |
Dr. Monique Mendes has become the first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Rochester. The Jamaican-born, first-generation college graduate says the announcement came as a shock to her, not even realizing she had done so until informed.
“I didn’t know I was the first Black woman, but I’m excited,” said Mendes to Diversity Education. “I feel empowered; I really want other students in the Rochester city schools, just around Rochester that are Black, who are people of color that know that this is possible and that they can pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience.”
Her desire to obtain her degree came after she became apart of the McNair Scholars Program at the University of Florida, a program designed to help undergraduate students from low-income and marginalized backgrounds offering financial assistance in addition to mentorship to help them prepare for their doctoral degree. From there, her interest grew and she became more immersed in studying the complexities of the brain, hoping to establish a career in neuroscience.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/meet-the-first-black-woman-to-receive-a-ph-d-in-neuroscience-from-the-university-of-rochester/
The Youngest Composer for the NY Philharmonic
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
THIS 12-YEAR-OLD IS SET TO BECOME ONE OF THE YOUNGEST COMPOSERS FOR THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
by Dana Givens
Teaching music to children has been said to offer positive growth during their early development. For one Brooklyn girl, her love for music led her to continue her dream toward composing original work while achieving remarkable milestones.
Grace Moore is a young musician who is poised for greatness and achieved a huge milestone this week. WPIX 11 reported that the seventh-grader is one of the youngest composers to enter the New York Philharmonic. Moore is enrolled in the organization’s Very Young Composers program designed to teach participants as young as 8-years-old how to create original scores. The members of the program will also get to see their work performed by professional musicians in the orchestra.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/this-12-year-old-is-set-to-become-one-of-the-youngest-composers-for-the-new-york-philharmonic-orchestra/
Making History @ Annapolis
An excerpt from CBS Baltimore -
Midshipman 1st Class Sydney Barber Will Be The First Black Woman To Lead US Naval Academy’s Brigade
By CBS Baltimore Staff
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — For the first time, a Black woman will serve as the U.S. Naval Academy’s brigade commander.
Midshipman 1st Class Sydney Barber will be the commander for the spring semester, the academy’s commandant said.
Credit: US Naval Academy
The first female brigade commander ever was then-Midshipman Juliane Gallina, who served in 1991.
Barber, a graduate of Lake Forest High School in Illinois, is a mechanical engineering major and aspires to commission as a Marine Corps ground officer.
https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/11/09/midshipman-1st-class-sydney-barber-will-be-the-first-black-woman-to-lead-us-naval-academys-brigade/
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Saturday, October 31, 2020
April 7, 2020
Was April 7, 2020 the day that sealed the fate of America?
By Thom Hartmann
On April 18, Bob Woodward recorded Jared Kushner saying that Trump had taken control away from the doctors and was going to open the country back up. So what might have provoked that? What was happening right around that time?
Trump’s official national emergency declaration came on March 11, and most of the country shut down or at least went partway toward that outcome. The economy crashed and millions of Americans were laid off, but saving lives was, after all, the number one consideration.
Trump put medical doctors on TV daily, the media was freaking out about refrigerated trucks carrying bodies away from New York hospitals, and doctors and nurses were our new national heroes.
And then came April 7, 2020, when the New York Times ran a front-page story with the headline: “Black Americans Face Alarming Rates of Coronavirus Infection in Some States.”
Across the American media landscape, similar headlines appeared at other outlets, and the story was heavily reported on cable news and the network news that night. White American conservatives responded with a collective, “What the hell?!?”
Rush Limbaugh declared soon after that “with the coronavirus, I have been waiting for the racial component. … The coronavirus now hits African Americans harder—harder than illegal aliens, harder than women. It hits African Americans harder than anybody, disproportionate representation.”
It didn’t take a medical savant, of course, to figure out that would be the case. African Americans die at disproportionately higher rates from everything, from heart disease to strokes to cancer to childbirth.
~~~~~
Tucker Carlson, the only primetime Fox News host who’d previously expressed serious concerns about the death toll, changed his tune the same day, as documented by Media Matters for America.
Now, he said, “we can begin to consider how to improve the lives of the rest, the countless Americans who have been grievously hurt by this, by our response to this. How do we get 17 million of our most vulnerable citizens back to work? That’s our task.”
White people were out of work, and Black people were most of the casualties, outside of the extremely elderly. And those white people need their jobs back!
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/was-april-7-2020-the-day-that-sealed-the-fate-of-america/
At 102 years old, my great aunt, born the year of our last great #pandemic, made her way to the ballot box to cast her #vote. If she can do it, you can too! #Vote #VoteEarly #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/3nFCB3c4Ei
— Quentin Youmans (@QuentinYoumans) October 21, 2020
Then and Now
https://www.boredpanda.com/young-celebrities-kids-then-and-now-digital-art-ard-gelinck/
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Blacks Pay More
An excerpt from Complex -
Study Shows Black Americans Are Paying More to Own Homes
BYJOE PRICE
In a new study from MIT, it has been reported that Black Americans are often forced to pay more than any other group of individuals to own a home.
CNN reports that Black homeowners on average pay more in mortgage interest, mortgage insurance, and property taxes than other homeowners. Written by Edward Golding, MIT's executive director of the Golub Center for Finance and Policy, the paper concludes that the vast difference between what Black homeowners and white homeowners pay indicates that it's considerably more difficult for Black homeowners to accumulate wealth through ownership at the same rate as white homeowners.
The differences between mortgage payments is $743 per year, mortgage insurance premiums $550 per year, and property taxes at $390 per year. Totaling $13,464 "over the life of the line," the gap could result in up to $67,320 in lost retirement savings.
"The small differences compounding over the life of the mortgage and during home ownership can add up," writes Golding. "Even if it is a few hundred dollars a year here and there, it can amount to another year's salary families would otherwise have."
https://www.complex.com/life/2020/10/black-americans-pay-more-to-own-homes-study-shows
A Hotel Where Women Reign
An excerpt from Insider -
A new hotel in DC features a Ruth Bader Ginsburg portrait made from 20,000 hand-painted tampons — and that's not even the wildest design
By Melissa Wiley
Called Hotel Zena, it features over 60 bold and provocative artworks dedicated to female empowerment and those who have fought for women's rights.
 |
| View of the exterior of Hotel Zena, seen from Thomas Circle in northwest Washington, DC. Hotel Zena |
https://www.insider.com/dc-women-rights-hotel-features-ruth-bader-ginsburg-portraity-2020-10#called-hotel-zena-it-features-over-60-bold-and-provocative-artworks-dedicated-to-female-empowerment-and-those-who-have-fought-for-womens-rights-2
HBCU Virtual College Fair
An excerpt from the Sacramento Bee -
Black students in California offered CSU, UC alternatives at HBCU virtual college fair
BY MARCUS D. SMITH
President and CEO Dr. Alan Rowe and his wife, Donna, founded the U-CAN foundation in 1988 when looking to enroll their son in a four-year college or university. They realized the limited resources and programs for Black students and started a foundation that would shape scholars in Sacramento – and California – for the next 40 years.
The HBCU college fair has now expanded throughout the entire state of California.
The United College Action Network (U-CAN) is hosting its 21st Annual Historically Black College and University (HBCU) College Fair online, in accordance with public health regulations.
U-CAN’s goal is to give California’s Black student population the opportunity to attend a four-year university. What started with just five students admitted in 1989 has grown to thousands of students accepted to various HBCUs across the country with their on-the-spot admission annual college fair.
The fair began on Wednesday and will end on Saturday. Registration is free and available every day of the virtual fair online at ucangotocollege.org.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/article246425780.html
Expelled From 10 Schools - Now Ph.D.
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
THIS BLACK MAN GRADUATED WITH HIS PH.D. AFTER BEING EXPELLED FROM 10 SCHOOLS
by Dana Givens
 |
| Image via Tommie Mabry |
The pursuit of higher education looks different for each person—with so many barriers standing in the way of obtaining a college degree for many marginalized groups. One man was able to beat all of the odds from his upbringing and is now celebrating earning his Ph.D.
As a child, Dr. Tommie Mabry was expelled from 10 different schools all before entering high school. Fast forward to December 2019, he was able to celebrate a huge milestone, finally obtaining his Ph.D. after a difficult journey of pursuing his education.
“My mom and dad [have] all my books in their house, they’re proud and they’ve come to all my graduations. Hopefully, if God says the same, they will be there at my Ph.D. graduation in December,” Mabry told Because Of Them We Can. “My mom said she didn’t think I would make it and now [I’m] the only doctor she knows.”
https://www.blackenterprise.com/this-black-man-graduated-with-his-ph-d-after-being-expelled-from-10-schools/
The Million Man March - 25 Years Ago
From Esquire -
The Million Man March Inspired a Generation. Here Are Photos From the Historic Event.
On Oct. 16, 1995, Black men from across the country marched on Washington, D.C.
By The Esquire Editors
 |
| Attendees at the Million Man March carried signs and raised their fists in the symbol for Black power. |
Oct. 16, 2020 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Million Man March, an event in which Black men from across the country poured into Washington, D.C. as a sign of unity. The event was massive. More than 11,000 buses delivered passengers in the days ahead of the event, according to the New York Times, with planes and trains ferrying even more. Celebrities like Will Smith, Stevie Wonder, and Diddy (then Puff Daddy) attended, along with civil rights icons like Jesse Jackson Jr. and Al Sharpton.
“I lost my mind,” Virgil Killebrew, who attended the march, told USA Today. “It wasn’t the speeches. It was the excitement. ... You felt the truth of all these people saying, ‘Black Power.’”
 |
| A wide shot of the National Mall on the day of the March. |
The Nation's Most Pressing Problem
An excerpt from the NY Times -
END OUR NATIONAL CRISIS The Case Against Donald Trump
BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Mr. Trump stands without any real rivals as the worst American president in modern history. In 2016, his bitter account of the nation’s ailments struck a chord with many voters. But the lesson of the last four years is that he cannot solve the nation’s pressing problems because he is the nation’s most pressing problem.
He is a racist demagogue presiding over an increasingly diverse country; an isolationist in an interconnected world; a showman forever boasting about things he has never done, and promising to do things he never will.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/16/opinion/donald-trump-worst-president.html
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Sunday, October 11, 2020
This NEW Biden-Harris ad featuring 14 Black mayors from across the country is straight fire!! 🔥🔥🔥 #BlackLivesMatter #BidenHarris2020 pic.twitter.com/qMlWUUoCVo
— ✊🏾 ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER ✊🏾 (@flywithkamala) October 10, 2020
Architecture in Black
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
MEET THE BLACK WOMAN BEHIND ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S FEW BLACK-OWNED ARCHITECTURE FIRMS
by Dana Givens
 |
| Image via Purpose Brands |
Architecture is an extremely difficult field to enter, especially for people of color. In a 2018 report from the National Council of Architectural Registration Board, nonwhite architecture professionals are 25% more likely to stop pursuing licensure with a nonwhite professional representing 45% of participants in the Architectural Experience Program. Black women are an even smaller margin when it comes to diversity within the sector. One woman decided to take her savings to start her career in architecture and is now celebrating 30 years in the business.
Deryl McKissack is the owner of McKissack & McKissack, a firm responsible for overseeing construction projects including the Obama Presidential Center, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Lincoln, and several Martin Luther King, Jr. memorials. In an interview with BLACK ENTERPRISE, McKissack shares her story about getting into the architecture field and the importance of diversity in the sector.
BE: What inspired you to get into architecture?
McKissack: Architecture was in my blood. I’m the fifth generation in our family to go into the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) business. My great-great-grandfather, a freed slave, was a builder, as was his son, my great-grandfather. His son, my grandfather, was the first Black registered architect in Tennessee. And my father, also a registered architect, would take me and my twin sister to work with him when we were 6, prop us up on his drawing boards and teach us how to draw details, do schedules, use Leroy lettering, make legends, and everything else. By the time we were 13, he was using our drawings.
My sister and I both went to Howard University on academic scholarships as double-majors in architecture and engineering. But I was more drawn to the practical side of things—how buildings work—and eventually made engineering my major. After I graduated, I went to work at an engineering firm.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/meet-the-black-woman-behind-the-countrys-few-black-owned-architecture-firm/
To Be Young, Gifted & Black 2
An excerpt from the Root -
Thanks to This 16-Year-Old Author, Black Girls at Predominantly White Schools Are Telling Their Stories
By Janelle Harris Dixon
 |
| Image: LifeSlice Media, Photo: Courtesy of Olivia V.G. Clarke |
If you’ve never been Black surrounded by a constant overwhelm of White—at school, your place of work, in your neighborhood—just know there can never be enough memoirs, screenplays, or comedies to exhaust the complex experience. You are ever a racial ambassador, an explainer of non-white culturisms, a human Google for thoughtless questions, a pioneering barrier-breaker of beliefs about what Black people do and don’t do. (Once when I was pseudo-swimming in a friend’s backyard pool, a white woman gasped as I adjusted my bathing suit straps and exclaimed, “I didn’t know Black people got tanned!”)
Sixteen-year-old Olivia V.G. Clarke has lived the experience. A graduating senior at Columbus School for Girls, a predominantly white institution in Columbus, Ohio, she’s spent seven of her formative years navigating racial politics. The idea to write about it hit her when she was walking home with her mom.
“I said, ‘how cool would it be to have a book to help other [Black] girls in predominantly white institutions, who either go to one or graduated or are preparing to go? And just have stories, anecdotes and poems to help them feel supported?”
Black Girl, White School: Thriving, Surviving and No, You Can’t Touch My Hair, a 123-page anthology of poems, essays and reflections from contributors ranging from middle-school age to college students, is the creative dividend of that conversation. To represent a range of experiences, Clarke posted a call for writers on social media, reached out to friends and her parents’ friends, and girls she’d met in school, camps and other activities.
https://theglowup.theroot.com/thanks-to-this-16-year-old-author-black-girls-at-predo-1845323110
From Janitor to Nurse Practitioner
An excerpt from Goalcast -
Woman Becomes Nurse Practitioner At The Same Hospital She Used To Clean
By Kawter
Achieving your dreams has no age limit, but sometimes, life gets in the way and we forget just how possible it is. That’s why stories of real life people who overcame all odds to achieve their goals are a strong reminders that we can do it, no matter what.
Such is the story of Jaines Andrades, who in 10 years, went from custodian to nurse practitioner in the very same hospital she used to clean at.
https://www.goalcast.com/2020/10/08/woman-becomes-nurse-practitioner-at-the-same-hospital-she-used-to-clean/
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Young, Gifted & Black
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
THIS 12-YEAR OLD JUST STARTED HIS 2ND YEAR IN COLLEGE, MAJORING IN AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
 |
| image: BlackBusiness.com |
Caleb Anderson, a 12-year old gifted boy from Georgia, has already finished his first year in college and has just started his second year. He is majoring in Aerospace Engineering at Chattahoochee Technical College.
Caleb was just 9-months old when he learned to sign more than 250 words. He eventually learned to speak and read when he turned 11-months old. Aside from the English language, he also learned Spanish, French, and Mandarin.
Caleb’s parents, Claire and Kobi, knew he was special and has been very supportive of him ever since.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/this-12-year-old-just-started-his-2nd-year-in-college-majoring-in-aerospace-engineering/
A Generous Class Act
An excerpt from ESPN -
Houston Rockets' Russell Westbrook leaves $8,000 tip for bubble hotel staff, per report
On his way out of the NBA bubble, Rockets star Russell Westbrook left the housekeepers at the Grand Floridian hotel an $8,000 tip, the Dallas Morning News reported.
By Royce Young
On his way out of the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida, Houston Rockets star Russell Westbrook wanted to show his appreciation for the housekeepers of the Grand Floridian hotel, and he did it with an $8,000 tip, according to the Dallas Morning News.
"They took great care of us," Westbrook told Bleacher Report, confirming the tip. "Took the time and energy to do their job at a high level. That was the right thing. I like to do the right thing."
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30056301/houston-rockets-russell-westbrook-leaves-8000-tip-bubble-hotel-staff-per-report
Saturday, October 3, 2020
A Family Photo at the Door
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
I keep a family photo at my front door. It’ll stay there until toxic attitudes toward Black lives go away.
Opinion by Michele L. Norris
I keep a framed family photo next to my front door, positioned on a table, so you see it as soon as you enter. It captures a moment of joy while on vacation. We’re leaning on each other, smiling wide. Family Strong.
I keep that picture by the entry in case police ever enter my home, they know that the people in that photo belong in the house where they live.
That paragraph you just read is a litmus test. Some of you will read these words and wonder, “Why would she ever do that?”
But some of you will read this and nod your head in recognition. Or perhaps conclude, “Maybe I should do that, too.”
Those of us in that second category are not worried about police entering our home because we’re engaged in criminal behavior. We worry — actually, we know, that we could be seen as criminals or intruders in our own homes even if we consistently and even obsessively live by the rules. A steady stream of raids-gone-wrong buttresses those fears and yet it goes far beyond all that.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-keep-a-family-photo-at-my-front-door-itll-stay-there-until-toxic-attitudes-toward-black-lives-go-away/2020/09/28/0e9027fe-01bb-11eb-a2db-417cddf4816a_story.html
Swearing Birds
An excerpt from CNN -
Parrots in wildlife park moved after swearing at visitors
By Rob Picheta
London (CNN) — Five parrots have been removed from public view at a British wildlife park after they started swearing at customers.
The foul-mouthed birds were split up after they launched a number of different expletives at visitors and staff just days after being donated to Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in eastern England.
"It just went ballistic, they were all swearing," the venue's chief executive Steve Nichols told CNN Travel on Tuesday. "We were a little concerned about the children."
"I get called a fat t**t every time I walk past," Nichols complained.
The African grey parrots -- named Eric, Jade, Elsie, Tyson and Billy -- were given to the park from five different owners within the same week, and shared a quarantining facility together before being placed on display.
But staff immediately noticed that the birds shared a propensity to fly off the handle.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/swearing-parrots-moved-park-scli-gbr-intl/index.html