Sunday, May 23, 2021
Black Girls Climbing in the Midst of Racism
From the Washington Post -
The Racism of the Great Outdoors
Hikers and climbers of color face a host of obstacles, from bigoted route names to Confederate flags. This D.C.-based group is trying to change that.
By Ikya Kandula
Five years ago, Gabrielle Dickerson, then a sophomore at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, lay awake in her sleeping bag on her first overnight climbing trip, enveloped by the woods of the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve near Fayetteville, W.Va. Like many rock climbers in the D.C. area, she’d been drawn to the New, as outdoor enthusiasts call it — a five-hour road trip from Washington — because it offers 1,400 of the best climbing routes in the United States.
The rest of her group had swiftly fallen asleep after a day of projecting — the process of strategizing about, and eventually completing, a climb with no breaks — but apprehension took hold of Dickerson. “I was very aware of how uncomfortable I was in the backcountry of West Virginia,” Dickerson recalls. “Not only because I was a Black woman, but also because of the relationship and trauma my ancestors had with the woods.” Her grandfather had been born on a North Carolina cotton farm in 1930 and picked cotton until he escaped from the owner in his teens. On his way to Philadelphia and a new life, he witnessed his best friend get lynched in the woods.
Loneliness sank in as Dickerson realized that no one in her campsite would be able to relate: She was the only Black climber in her group. She’d been climbing in a gym in Rockville, Md., for six months; that day in the New was her first experience projecting in a natural space. She’d spent the afternoon struck with a sense of wonder, but that didn’t offset her disquietude in that moment. She knew that the deep canyons that surrounded her overflowed with histories of Black families just like her own.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/05/19/rock-climbers-color-face-host-obstacles-this-group-is-trying-change-that/?tid=a_classic-iphone&no_nav=true
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Sunday, May 16, 2021
A Luxury Dog House
From Buzzfeed -
This Guy Built His Dog A Luxury Home, And It's Nicer Than Anything I've Ever Owned
"For all the people asking, 'Why a TV?' Being extra is a choice, and we chose it."
by Alexa Lisitza, BuzzFeed Staff
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexalisitza/diy-luxury-dog-house
The morning makes you. So make the most of your mornings with MTN DEW RISE ENERGY. @KingJames #MorningMakesYou #MTNDEWRISE pic.twitter.com/CBty4JIZTU
— MTN DEW RISE ENERGY (@MountainDewRise) May 13, 2021
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Sunday, May 9, 2021
Saturday, May 8, 2021
He's Headed to FAMU!
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
D.C. SCHOLAR, 16, WHO WAS DUALLY ENROLLED IN COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL DECIDES TO ATTEND FAMU IN THE FALL
Curtis Lawrence III’s journey of excellence proves that early scholastic preparation can turn out to be extremely rewarding. FOX 5 reported that the 16-year-old who graduated high school early decided to attend Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Lawrence will be double majoring in biology and computer science at the HBCU. Also, FOX 5 also reported that Curtis was accepted to 14 colleges and has received $1.6 million in scholarships.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/d-c-scholar-16-who-was-dually-enrolled-in-college-and-high-school-decides-to-attend-famu-in-the-fall/
One Smart Cookie
An excerpt from the NY Times By the Book -
The One Book Stacey Abrams Would Require the President to Read
Stacey Abrams, the Georgia politician and romance writer, whose latest novel is the thriller “While Justice Sleeps,” recommends “Master of the Senate,” by Robert Caro: “It is a seminal work on the nature of power, the limits of the presidency and the awesome demands politics make on the soul.”
What books are on your night stand?
I read several genres at once, rotating through as the mood strikes me. My long read right now is “The Coldest Winter,” by David Halberstam. My sibling book club picked “Ring Shout,” by P. Djeli Clark, which is paced wonderfully so it will not be over too soon (but luckily before our call). A recent discussion with my niece reminded me how much I love fairy tales of all kinds, so I decided to dive into “Tales of Japan: Traditional Stories of Monsters and Magic.”
Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).
I had it a few weeks ago. Georgia’s mercurial weather shifted from an unreasonable 48 degrees to a balmy 75 degrees over the weekend. Knowing how soon it could be 25 degrees or 89 degrees, I filled my water bottle, poured myself a glass of Martinelli’s apple juice, and picked up “Black Sun,” by Rebecca Roanhorse. Soon, I was outside on the patio in the springtime, midafternoon, with my feet up on the ottoman and my reading glasses perched on my nose.
What’s your favorite book no one else has heard of?
“What’s Bred in the Bone,” by Robertson Davies, is a novel about a man whose life contained much more than the surface would suggest, including espionage and angels. Davies was a distinguished Canadian author, and this is Book 2 of his Cornish Trilogy (“The Rebel Angels” and “The Lyre of Orpheus” are first and third). I usually recommend the book to folks who ask me for a good book list. Rarely has anyone heard of him or the novel, which is a shame.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/books/review/stacey-abrams-by-the-book-interview.html
Uh . . . NO!
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Opinion: Should you say the n-word? No, especially if you’re not Black.
Opinion by Jonathan Capehart
No one who is not Black and uses the n-word should be surprised to receive blowback, let alone expect a free pass. It’s one of the most offensive and painful words in the English language. Sometimes, a pass could be granted depending on the context. Ultimately, I just wish folks, especially White folks, would have the good sense not to say it under any circumstances.
I’m wading into this thicket because of a controversy at Rutgers University Law School in New Jersey. Last October, a criminal law student said the n-word while quoting a 1993 legal opinion during virtual office hours. The class’s professor, Vera Bergelson, told the New York Times this week that she didn’t hear the word said at the time and wishes she had.
I have great sympathy for that Rutgers student, a middle-aged White woman embarking on a second career in law. According to the Times story, she had the good sense to forewarn her classmates by saying, “He said, um — and I’ll use a racial word, but it’s a quote.” In that context, I can’t fault her for wanting to quote from the legal opinion exactly. But if she knew enough to warn of the forthcoming word’s “racial” nature, she should have known better than to utter the six-letter abomination in the first place.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/07/should-you-say-n-word-no-especially-if-youre-not-black/
Sunday, April 18, 2021
Saturday, April 17, 2021
The Supreme Court Sanctioned "Driving While Black"
An excerpt from Politico -
How the Supreme Court Helped Create 'Driving While Black'
A reckoning with police violence must include a reckoning with how the nation’s highest court enabled it.
By CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT DUROCHER
The reason Brooklyn Center police pulled over Daunte Wright is unclear and largely irrelevant. The Department’s chief of police said the car he was driving had expired tags. His mother said he thought he was pulled over because he had air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror. Regardless of the reason, 20-year old Wright was shot to death by a police officer minutes after the traffic stop began.
Traffic stops figure prominently in some of the most high-profile police killings of Black people. We remember many of their names—Walter Scott, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile —but they are just a few of the many people who have been killed or died as the result of law enforcement’s expansive authority to enforce traffic laws.
Traffic stops might seem like a local matter, or a subjective police decision, but actually the practice is built on five decades of Supreme Court precedent, a set of decisions that has successively opened the door to — and given police an incentive to — use traffic stops as an invasive tool of policing aimed mostly at people of color, primarily Black people.
As a result, reckoning with police violence must include a reckoning with how U.S. Supreme Court precedent has enabled it through its decades-long campaign to empower law enforcement in the so-called War on Drugs. Litigators must continue to push the Court to revisit these damaging decisions with the goal of overturning or weakening the precedents that have put too much power and discretion in the hands of police. Federal, state, and local policymakers, meanwhile, must recognize that these precedents provide a constitutional floor for police behavior; laws and policies can and should be adopted to hold police to a higher standard.
“Driving While Black” is a tongue-in-cheek expression that describes a frightening reality—police can, and often do, find any reason to pull over Black drivers. Given the glut of traffic rules, police rarely have to concoct a reason to pull over any driver they choose. Their job as traffic enforcers enables police officers to pull over Black drivers whenever their implicit or explicit biases tell them that a Black driver is “up to no good.” Harassment, intimidation, violence, and sometimes death, too often ensue.
The Supreme Court opened the door to legally permissible racialized policing with the 1967 case Terry v. Ohio, by allowing police to conduct certain cursory searches, now known as stop-and-frisks, based on the low legal standard of “reasonable suspicion.” As our country’s experience with stop-and-frisk vividly demonstrates, however, for police, reasonable suspicion is too often synonymous with being a Black or brown person in public.
The practice of racially profiling Black drivers was effectively endorsed by the Court in the 1996 ruling in Whren v. United States, which decided that police are allowed to use minor vehicle infractions as a pretext to initiate traffic stops with the goal of investigating other possible unrelated crimes.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/04/17/how-the-supreme-court-helped-create-driving-while-black-482530
Only Rage
An excerpt from the NY Times -
Rage Is the Only Language I Have Left
Society has become horribly desensitized to police killings of Black men.
By Charles M. Blow, Opinion Columnist
These killings often happen during the day and in public, not under the cover of night, tucked away in some back wood. And they are often caught on video. Tamir Rice was killed during the day. There was video. Walter Scott was killed during the day. There was video. Eric Garner was killed during the day. There was video.
Now there is another: Daunte Wright, shot and killed during the day in Brooklyn Center, Minn., not far from where Floyd was killed. There is video.
Very little has changed. The aftermath of these killings has become a pattern, a ritual, that produces its own normalizing and desensitizing effects. We can now anticipate the explosions of rage as well and the relative intransigence of the political system in response.
That is not to say that absolutely nothing has changed, but rather that the changes amount to tinkering, when in fact our whole system of policing must be re-evaluated and fundamentally altered.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/14/opinion/us-police-killings.html
That examination, oddly enough, starts with gun control. The police justify their militarization and armed-and-ready positioning, by correctly observing that they can be outgunned by a public with such easy access to guns, including military-style guns.
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
A Reminder of the UAE Here in Sacramento
A Sacramento food influencer made her name in Dubai. She has a new plan for the U.S.
BY ASHLEY WONG
Despite the fact that she’s been up since 3 a.m. and caught about five hours of sleep, Lamees AttarBashi picked up the call with an easy laugh and a boisterous personality that bubbles through the phone.
“It’s the only way to have my peace and quiet. I love my kids to death, but please shush,” AttarBashi laughed.
This is AttarBashi, 38, an Instagram food blogger with a budding snack food company. Her Instagram page is testament to the hours she spends each day on her culinary creations, full of rich, smoky and hearty recipes whose fragrance practically floats off the photos, from the flaky sticky-golden basbousa to charred eggplant boats stuffed with pomegranate molasses and browned beef.
Her dishes are mainly Middle Eastern, but her page is also scattered with the British food of her youth like Scotch eggs and scones, as well as more whimsical offerings, like cookies piped with frosted mummy faces for Halloween. But what many Sacramentans new to her page may not realize is that she’s also a TV personality, having already made a name for herself years ago in Dubai.
It all started with a cake recipe in a children’s book when she was a kid. Her mother, whom AttarBashi credits with planting and nurturing her love of cooking, guided her through the steps as she created her own dish from start to finish for the first time.
“I was so fascinated, like how can you create something from nothing?” AttarBashi said. “Forty minutes in the oven ... I just sat in front of it waiting for it to bake. That was the spark of how it led to where I am right now.”
AttarBashi has been chasing that spark ever since, letting it guide her out of an unsatisfying engineering job to culinary school, a business degree and Dubai cooking TV shows. In Sacramento, where she, her husband and two children settled four years ago, AttarBashi is moving into food blogging and a forthcoming snack food company in the U.S.
https://www.sacbee.com/article248961094.html
Let the Debates Begin!
From USA Today Sports -
The 51 best HBCU players in NFL history
By Doug Farrar
https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/gallery/hbcu-walter-payton-jerry-rice-deacon-jones/
Too Good To Excerpt
From Faye - This article is too good to cherry-pick. Take the time to read it in its entirety. I promise you it's worth it.
~~~~~
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 'One Night in Miami' Grapples With the Risk and Responsibility of Black Entertainers Speaking Out
The Oscar-contending film imagines a heated debate between Malcolm X and Sam Cooke about the duty of successful Blacks to be the public face of the civil rights movement — one The Hollywood Reporter's columnist long has embraced.
By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kareem-abdul-jabbar-one-night-in-miami-grapples-with-the-risk-and-responsibility-of-black-entertainers-speaking-out
Black Woman Building $25 Million Tech Hub in Mississippi
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
MEET THE BLACK WOMAN TRANSFORMING 12 ABANDONED ACRES INTO $25 MILLION TECH HUB IN MISSISSIPPI
by Charlene Rhinehart
Dr. Nashlie Sephus purchased 12 abandoned acres to develop a $25 million tech hub for entrepreneurs in Mississippi. On September 11, 2020, the Jackson native closed on the purchase of 12 acres and seven buildings near Jackson State University. Now, she’s putting in the work to transform her vision into a reality to help the next generation of entrepreneurs.
“I think it’s really important for me to give back to the community that helped shape me and I always love to see people get enthused and exposed to technology and so I wanted to make that process a little bit easier,” Dr. Sephus shared with WLBT.
Last month, she shared her passion for her work in a LinkedIn post. “Some may not understand my labor of love and life’s mission of helping underserved communities reach their full potential in STEM. It’s not easy, but it WILL happen.”
https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-woman-transforming-abandoned-acres-tech-hub-mississippi/
Google's Strategy is a Roadblock
An excerpt from Washington Post -
Google’s approach to historically Black schools helps explain why there are few Black engineers in Big Tech
The company tried to recruit engineers by partnering with HBCUs. Critics say the program exposed how the search giant fell short.
By Nitasha Tiku
For years, Google’s recruiting department used a college ranking system to set budgets and priorities for hiring new engineers. Some schools such as Stanford University and MIT were predictably in the “elite” category, while state schools or institutions that churn out thousands of engineering grads annually, such as Georgia Tech, were assigned to “tier 1” or “tier 2.”
But one category of higher education was missing from Google’s ranking system, according to several current and former Google employees involved in recruitment, despite the company’s pledges to promote racial diversity — historically Black colleges and universities, also known as HBCUs. That framework meant that those schools were at a lower priority for hiring, even though Google had said in 2014 that it wanted to partner with HBCUs as a way to recruit more minority talent.
In lieu of a tier, Google’s University Programs recruiting division, responsible for forging partnerships with universities, labeled these colleges “long tail” schools, in reference to the fact that it could take a long time before they would produce a large number of graduates qualified to work at Google, according to the Google employees.
“Google allocated resources so disparagingly because of how they tiered — and thought of — our schools,” said former recruiter April Christina Curley, who helped lead Google’s outreach to HBCUs for six years. Curley, who is Black, said she was fired in September largely as a result of continually raising concerns about bias against HBCU students in the interview and hiring process.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/04/google-hbcu-recruiting/
Monday, March 29, 2021
Everyone should know the international sign for Help me. Let’s make this famous #HelpMe pic.twitter.com/RF5aOq8jCY
— Harjinder Singh Kukreja (@SinghLions) March 10, 2021
A Sharecropper's Child Gifted $50 Million to Black College
An excerpt from Bloomberg Equality -
Ivy League Star, a Sharecropper’s Child, Revives a Black College
But even a $50 million gift can’t reverse generations of state discrimination.
By Janet Lorin
Lawrence’s historically Black college, Prairie View A&M in Texas, had suddenly come into the kind of money once reserved for Harvard and the other richest schools. Over a month starting in November, students behind on their bills — one out of 10 undergraduates — got this year-end lifeline from economic turmoil in the pandemic. As much as $2,000 apiece, it was the first installment of what will ultimately be $10 million worth of “Panther Success Grants,” named after their school mascot.
It’s part of the unlikely homecoming and valedictory act of Prairie View’s president, Ruth Simmons, one of higher education’s most prominent Black leaders. Simmons is using her clout and connections — and the current U.S. reckoning with systemic racism — to create a renaissance at a school long neglected by its state.
“We don’t want our students to give up,” says Simmons, who will be Harvard’s commencement speaker in May. “We know what's waiting for them at the other end when they do finish and have a brilliant career. They get to lift their families out of poverty and have incredible lives. We don't want them to give up too soon.”
The youngest of 12 children in a family of sharecroppers, Simmons grew up in Texas, just a couple of hours north of Prairie View. She then rose to the pinnacle of the academy, as a French literature scholar with a Harvard Ph.D, a dean at Princeton and later president of Brown, the first Black person to lead an Ivy League school. She was a star fundraiser, sought after in corporate board rooms, where she was a director at Chrysler, Texas Instruments Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-03-19/ivy-league-star-a-sharecropper-s-child-revives-a-black-college
Blistering Indeed
From Mediate -
WATCH: Tiffany Cross Delivers BLISTERING Commentary on Sharon Osbourne and Her ‘Complicity to White Supremacy’
By Tommy Christopher
https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-tiffany-cross-delivers-blistering-commentary-on-sharon-osbourne-and-her-complicity-to-white-supremacy/
Two neighbours playing piano between a wall - Giorgio and Emil
It’s rare to see a league partner activate on both NBA & WNBA rights in the same ad spot, but love how this turned out and need more of it. pic.twitter.com/cwT8LK4x4U
— Avish Sood (@AvishSood) March 28, 2021
Sunday, February 28, 2021
Sunday, February 21, 2021
Only 4 Black Fortune 500 CEOs
An excerpt from GoBankingRates -
There Are Only 4 Black Fortune 500 CEOs
See the leaders who are carving a new path.
By John Csiszar
In spite of all the progress made in Black representation in America, these advances have yet to translate to the C-suite in corporate America. With the resignation of Tapestry CEO Jide Zeitlin in July 2020, the number of Black CEOs among the Fortune 500 dropped to a woeful four. One person will soon be added to that list as Rosalind Brewer, Starbucks’ chief operating officer, will take over as the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance. She will be leaving Starbucks at the end of February and will then be the only Black woman CEO at a Fortune 500 company. Unfortunately, this list will shrink again when Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier retires in June 2021.
Over the complete history of the Fortune 500, which dates back to 1999, there have only been a total of 18 Black CEOs leading America’s Fortune 500 companies. The peak year for representation was 2012, when a still-anemic total of six Black CEOs led corporate America’s most prominent companies. As Black History Month unfolds, it’s a good time to take a closer look at the four Black CEOs paving the way for future leaders of color.
https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/business/fortune-500-includes-only-4-black-ceos/
Racial Gaslighting
An excerpt from Your Tango -
How To Know If Someone's Racially Gaslighting You — And 10 Ways To Respond
By Angelique Beluso
Experiencing racism can be a lonely experience at times. And It's exhausting to have to defend your experience. But in moments like these, it's important to stand your ground and speak your truth.
There are ways to respond to racial gaslighting that allows you to stand up for yourself while encouraging a healthy discourse.
Here are a few ways to respond to racial gaslighting:
1. “My experience is not up for debate.”
2. “This is my truth of what happened, please don’t try and invalidate that.”
3. “I would never question if you experienced racism, please don’t question if I did.”
https://www.yourtango.com/2021340295/how-to-know-if-someone-racially-gaslighting-you-ways-to-respond
Monday, February 15, 2021
More HBCU Love
From Newsone -
Black History In The Making: 21 HBCU Graduates Who Are Changing The World In 2021
By Bruce C.T. Wright
https://newsone.com/playlist/hbcu-graduates-changing-the-world/
Love This Momma!
🎶 SINCE U BEEN GONE 🎶
— Maryland Basketball 🐢 (@TerrapinHoops) December 12, 2018
"Mom please sto-"
🎶 I CAN BREATHE FOR THE FIRST TIME 🎶 pic.twitter.com/4b5DQ7SzdE
Sunday, February 14, 2021
The Black Panthers Revisited
From the NY Times -
Stay Close
From the NY Times -
The Lost Astronaut
From the NY Times -
The Orangeburg Massacre
An excerpt from Newsone -
‘Orangeburg Massacre’ In South Carolina Occurred On This Day In 1968
Written By D.L. Chandler
One of the most stirring tragedies of the civil rights movement during the 1960s took place in the small town of Orangeburg in South Carolina. On this day in 1968, police officers fired in to a crowd of Black students protesting segregation, killing three and wounding 28 others, in what has been called the “Orangeburg Massacre.”
After Black students were denied entry to the Whites-only All Star Bowling Lane alley and began protesting at the establishment’s door, the students — now numbering into the hundreds — gathered on the campus of South Carolina State University to demonstrate against the bowling alley. The students were raucous and sparked a bonfire, with the group throwing firebombs and other objects. As an officer put out a fire, he was hit with an unknown object. Police claimed to hear gunfire and began to fire in to the throng.
The police killed three people that day: Samuel Hammond and Henry Smith, both students at SCSU, and Delano Middleton (all pictured above), a student at nearby Wilkinson High School. 28 others were injured by both gunfire and other weapons, including one pregnant young woman who reported having a miscarriage a week later due to beatings by police.
https://newsone.com/2190700/orangeburg-massacre/
Dr. Patricia Bath, Black Doctor Who Revolutionized Eye Surgery
An HBCU Gets Animation Studio
An excerpt from The Black Detour -
Bowie State University Makes History Becoming First HBCU With Animation Studio
An animation studio is opening at Bowie State University, making history becoming the first historically Black college or university, NBC Washington reported. The university partnered with the Oscar-nominated animation house, LAIKA, to make the animation studio a reality.
“The partnership will enhance BSU’s animation curriculum, with the goal of providing a career pathway for BSU students into the animation industry,” LAIKA said in a statement. LAIKA will fund upgrades to Bowie State’s green screen studio, that will allow stop-motion animation production according to the press release. The art form includes the movement of objects, puppets, filmed at a high rate to create the illusion of movement.
https://theblackdetour.com/bowie-state-university-becomes-first-hbcu-with-a-animation/
I Love FAMU! My HBCU!
An excerpt from The Undefeated -
My HBCU experience has been life-changing
We are taught to stand tall, be confident and make our presence known
By Marissa Stubbs
My HBCU has served as my haven, a place where I can be unapologetically Black. The discussions that take place in our classrooms go beyond the four walls of our illustrious institutions. Instead, we carry them with us into the real world and apply them to our daily lives. Addressing topics such as racism, police brutality and systematic oppression helps us see where we as students can come in and help make a change.
Every time I step on campus, I feel like I belong and I’m protected. After graduating, I will be sure to carry the lessons I’ve learned and apply them to my everyday life. Choosing an HBCU was one of the best decisions I’ve made, and I will forever be grateful for the knowledge my university has instilled in me.
https://theundefeated.com/features/my-hbcu-experience-has-been-life-changing/
Bird
Nolan Richardson talking about Larry Bird might be the funniest clip you see on Twitter today 😂 pic.twitter.com/cDKoPMfJuT
— Tye Richardson 🐗 (@TyeSportsRadio) February 11, 2021
Sunday, February 7, 2021
The Mothers of Martin, Malcolm & James
An excerpt from People -
The Three Mothers Shares Untold Stories of MLK Jr., Malcolm X, James Baldwin's Moms
Anna Malaika Tubbs writes about the surprising and sometimes heartbreaking lives of Alberta King, Louise Little and Berdis Baldwin
By Morgan Smith
Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X. James Baldwin. These three men — among the most influential in the Civil Rights Movement — are celebrated for challenging racism and hatred through their prose, ideas and activism. During Black History Month, especially, Instagram feeds and classrooms are filled with inspiring quotes and lessons imparted to us by these leaders.
Yet little is known about the women who raised them. Anna Malaika Tubbs's biography, The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation seeks to change that, telling the stories of Alberta King, Louise Little and Berdis Baldwin — the women who loved, taught and pushed their sons to greatness.
https://people.com/human-interest/new-book-the-three-mothers-shares-untold-stories-of-mlk-jr-malcolm-x-james-baldwins-mothers/
"No Thanks" to Black History Curriculum
An excerpt from The Hill -
Utah school allowing parents to opt students out of Black History Month curriculum
BY CELINE CASTRONUOVO
A Utah charter school that incorporates Black History Month into its lesson plans is now facing backlash from some after the school announced it was allowing parents to opt students out of the curriculum.
Maria Montessori Academy Director Micah Hirokawa announced the decision in a Friday post on the school’s private Facebook page, according to local news outlet the Standard-Examiner.
Hirokawa wrote that he “reluctantly” sent a letter to families stating that administrators were allowing them “to exercise their civil rights to not participate in Black History Month at the school.”
Hirokawa said in the post that “a few families” had asked not to participate in the curriculum, though he declined to tell the Standard-Examiner the exact number of parents who had contacted the school or the reasons they gave for making the request.
The public charter school director added that the demand from parents “deeply saddens and disappoints me.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/537677-utah-school-allowing-parents-to-opt-students-out-of-black-history-month
Woman in Dubai Faces Jail & $140K Fine for Text
An excerpt from the Insider -
British woman in Dubai faces jail time and $140,000 fine for rude WhatsApp message to her roommate
By Joshua Zitser
A British woman in Dubai has been told she could face up to two years in jail and a 500,000 AED ($136,129) fine for swearing at her roommate in a WhatsApp message, according to MailOnline.
The unnamed woman faces charges under the United Arab Emirate's cybercrime laws, the news outlet reported.
She is accused of writing "f--- you" to her Ukrainian ex-roommate after arguing about the use of a dining room table, MailOnline's Paul Thompson said.
The 31-year-old woman admits to sending the rude message last October but prosecutors have yet to bring forward a formal legal case, according to MailOnline.
The prosecutors are waiting to file a forensic report on the woman's phone before a case is brought forward, the news outlet said.
The woman was arrested when trying to board a flight from Dubai International Airport to London's Heathrow Airport, the Independent reported.
She has since tried to contact her former roommate to resolve the situation but her request was rebuffed, the paper said.
https://www.insider.com/dubai-woman-faces-jail-140000-fine-rude-message-to-roommate-2021-2
Friday, February 5, 2021
Recognizing White Privilege
Rep. Dean Phillips: "I'm here tonight to say to my brothers & sisters in Congress & all around our country, I'm sorry. For I've never understood, really understood, what privilege really means. It took a violent mob of insurrectionists & lightning-bolt moment in this very room." pic.twitter.com/PqnoBMiQDu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 5, 2021
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Explaining White Privilege
If trying to understand sharing your inherent privilege, think: when someone shorter than you needs to see the stage better at a show, you usually let them stand in front of you, right? You both get to enjoy the show, it’s only a slight inconvenience, and you. don’t. shrink.🙂
— Arlan 👊🏾 (@ArlanWasHere) August 28, 2018
Madame President!
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| NCeePhotography |
https://cafemom.com/news/maryland-photographer-first-birthday-photoshoot-kamala-harris
More "Trauma-Free Blackness" Please
An excerpt from CNN -
We need more 'trauma-free Blackness.' Here's a start
There are vast regions of Black life that are filled with joy, romance and beauty. Here are some favorite examples.
By John Blake
I was scrolling through Facebook one evening when I noticed an odd image that someone had posted on my page. It was a screenshot of a solitary Black man on roller skates, freeze-framed in the middle of a country road flanked by horse pastures.
As I clicked on the video I braced myself, expecting to see a Black person being brutalized by police or accosted in public by White strangers. But that's not what I saw.
The man flashed a wide smile and he started to dance. He had a gray beard, but he skated like someone 20 years younger: rolling his shoulders, shimmying his hips while Mary J. Blige sang "Not Gon' Cry" in the background. Soon I was smiling, too.
The video had no caption, but I had a name for what I was watching: It was a snapshot of what I call "trauma-free Blackness."
Here's my wish for a new year: more trauma-free Blackness.
Last year was a rough one for most Black people. We watched videos of Black men being brutalized or killed and read about Black women fatally shot in their homes by police. We've watched a pandemic devastate our community. At times I, too, have felt exhausted by what one writer calls "the relentlessness of Black grief."
But my boogie-down skater buddy reminded me of something I had almost forgotten: There is a Blackness that exists outside of trauma.
There are vast regions of Black life that have nothing to do with suffering or oppression. We lead lives that are also filled with joy, romance, laughter and astonishing beauty, but those stories don't tend to grab the headlines. It's time to change that.
What follows are my favorite examples of "trauma-free Blackness" -- striking expressions of Black life that aren't filtered through the lens of racism.
I also asked my CNN colleagues to join me in creating a list of our favorite trauma-free moments. To do so we pored through movies, TV, music, art, literature, internet memes and other slices of Black culture. It's by no means an exhaustive list -- just a good place to start.
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/trauma-free-blackness-culture-queue/index.html
LaTroy Hawkins - Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot
The First Black Fighter Pilot
An excerpt from Mental Floss -
Eugene Bullard, the World's First Black Fighter Pilot
BY MELANIE HAMILTON
Eugene Bullard survived some of the deadliest battles in military history, became the world's first Black fighter pilot, and even had his own monkey sidekick—and all before the age of 30. He went on to spy on Nazis and fifth columnists, rub shoulders with Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and earn the nickname "Black Swallow of Death." More than that though, Bullard was a pioneer who laid the groundwork for Black servicemen everywhere.
FROM RUNAWAY TO PRIZEFIGHTER
Bullard was born on October 9, 1895, in Columbus, Georgia, to a former enslaved Haitian man and a Muskogee Creek woman. Slavery had been abolished in the South only 30 years prior and still cast a long, dark shadow. Bullard was no stranger to discrimination, hardship, and outright violence. At 10 years old, he witnessed his father narrowly escape a lynching; not long after, his mother died unexpectedly.
Bullard ran away from home when he was 11. By chance, he found a group of Romani in Atlanta, Georgia, known as the Stanley Clan. They took him in as one of their own. But after spending six years tending to horses and living a nomadic lifestyle, Bullard was ready for a change. He hoped to head to France—a place his father had never visited, but spoke of often.
At 17, Bullard stowed away on the Marta Russ, a German merchant ship bound for Europe. Shortly after departing the ship at port in Aberdeen, Scotland, he joined a vaudeville troupe where he performed as a boxer and quickly became one of Great Britain's most beloved prizefighters. But he still yearned for France.
Bullard would soon reach his goal. After some time with the troupe in Great Britain, he was booked for a fight in Paris in 1913. "When I got off the boat train in Paris, I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. Here I was in the place I had wanted to be and to see all my life. And it was wonderful," he wrote in his journal.
Because of his Haitian roots, Bullard was fluent in French. This, combined with Paris's liberal lifestyle, made him decide to stick around the City of Love for a while. But the start of World War I quickly changed his plans.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/640184/eugene-bullard-first-black-fighter-pilot
The Original King of Buffalo Wings
An excerpt from the NY Times -
The Story of John Young, the Original King of Buffalo Wings
His restaurants closed and his glory faded, but a historical reclamation effort is bringing new attention to the secret sauce he perfected.
Text by Rachel WhartonIllustrations by Koren Shadmi
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/dining/buffalo-wings-john-young.html?referringSource=articleShare
A Mama's Boy
An excerpt from the Chicago Sun-Times -
I’m a mama’s boy, no apologies. I was Mama’s joy. Manchild in the Promised Land.
By John W. Fountain
I’m a mama’s boy. This hasn’t always been easy to admit. But those late nights when I saw her sit, staring out the bedroom window, trying to hide the salty tears that fell like midnight rain for years and stained her pillow.
I could always plainly see her pain, though I was just a boy with no answers for the bitter pill called Life. Or for those ill men who are cancer. Or those men who failed her. I always felt her pain, her strain, her drain.
I’m a mama’s boy, though I bear my father’s name.
I was Mama’s joy. Manchild in the Promised Land. Eating from Mama’s tender brown hands as Mama sought to devise a plan to raise a Black boy to be a decent Black man.
A mother at 17, she went back to high school to graduate. I stare at her picture in cap and gown with admiration that only punctuates: I’m a mama’s boy.
Mama’s boy on those 60’s early sun-kissed mornings, when me and Mama danced. And she held my hand. And I held hers, as we twisted and mash-potatoed. Danced the Watusi and “the bird.”
“Love” was the word.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2021/1/29/22257026/john-w-fountain-mothers-and-sons-chicago-west-side
14 Year Old Environmental Scientist and Entrepreneur!
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
14-YEAR-OLD EARNED A MASTER’S DEGREE AND NOW SHE’S AN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST AND ENTREPRENEUR
by Charlene Rhinehart
Young environmental scientist Dorothy Jean Tillman garnered national attention when she received her master’s degree at 14-years-old.
Now, the Chicago teen is breaking into entrepreneurship by exposing more youth to opportunities in STEAM. She’s giving more Chicago youth a headstart in life by showing them what’s possible.
“I know, one thing that I would want every kid to know is that what I did is an option and that they can do it too,” said Tillman to Rolling Out. “It doesn’t take a genius or someone who has been learning forever. I’m not perfect. I’m not the smartest person in the world. It just takes dedication.”
From Environment Scientist to Entrepreneur
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) is a growing field and Tillman wants more youth to know how they can get involved.
The 14-year-old has always had a passion for STEM, obtaining high rankings in all those subjects in school. This inspired her to pursue a master’s degree at Unity College. Tillman made history as the youngest environmental and sustainable scientist in the U.S. Her desire to expand opportunities is stronger than ever since COVID-19 has eliminated many traditional activities for youth.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/14-year-old-earned-a-masters-degree-and-now-shes-an-environmental-scientist-and-entrepreneur/
What Makes Food "Black?"
An excerpt from USA Today & the Louisville Courier-Journal -
'Is butter pecan ice cream a 'Black thing'?' Louisville podcast explores how race impacts food.
By Dahlia Ghabour - Louisville Courier-Journal
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It all started with ice cream.
After working at Louisville Cream in the hip downtown Louisville NuLu district for a year, Kelly Nusz noticed a pattern she was too shy to ask anyone about. After a Google search didn't answer her question, she finally decided to ask her friend and boss, Louisville Cream owner Darryl Goodner.
"Is butter pecan ice cream a 'Black thing'?"
Goodner laughed. "Of course, it is."
"Why?" she asked.
Well, Goodner didn't really know what to say. He'd grown up eating it and had fond memories of the cheap ice cream he'd get from the store and share with his family. It was the flavor his relatives always gravitated toward.
But was it part of his heritage as a Black man in America?
That question launched a conversation, which led to research, which led to some answers and more questions. What made a food a "Black" food versus a "white" food? And what foods that we eat today have a racist history attached to them that people don't know about?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/02/01/black-owned-louisville-cream-launches-butter-pecan-podcast/4318599001/
Monday, January 18, 2021
Sunday, January 10, 2021
From Quarterback to Chaplain
An excerpt from InsideHook -
Randall Cunningham Makes Move From Quarterback to Chaplain
He's now addressing the spiritual needs of the Las Vegas Raiders
BY TOBIAS CARROLL
Writing at The New York Times, Kalyn Kahler explored how Cunnngham’s life after his playing days had ended eludes each comparisons. Kahler writes about how Cunninghm and his wife Felicity settled in Las Vegas — where Cunningham had an outstanding collegiate career — in 2002. In 2004, he was ordained as a pastor.
The idea to bring in Cunningham as the Raiders’ chaplain came about when the team moved to Las Vegas. Raiders coach Jon Gruden — whose time as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator had overlapped with Cunningham’s time playing in Philadelphia — came up with the idea. “That guy warms my heart,” Gruden told the Times.
Stevie Wonder Could See the Difference
From Buzzfeed -
32 Pictures that Show The Huge Difference Between The "Protests" At The Capitol Vs. The Black Lives Matter Protests - Spot the difference.
by Matt Stopera & Dave Stopera - BuzzFeed Staff
https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/pictures-from-capitol-vs-2020
Saturday, January 2, 2021
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Too Cute!
From Bored Panda -
Mom Makes Fun Of Her Model Brother By Having Her Toddler Recreate His Poses, And Result Is Hilariously Adorable (45 New Pics)
By Hidrėlėy
https://www.boredpanda.com/baby-copies-uncle-model-poses-babyandthebody/
Sunday, December 27, 2020
How The Multi-Billion Dollar HOT CHEETOS Idea Was Born! (Creator, Richar...
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— Twitter (@Twitter) December 21, 2020