From the NY Times -
Making Waves
By Gabriella Angotti-Jones
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/06/04/opinion/black-women-surfers.html?referringSource=articleShare
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
First Black PhD in Math from Indiana University
From Black Enterprise -
KEMP MAKES HISTORY AS FIRST BLACK STUDENT TO RECEIVE PH.D. IN MATHEMATICS FROM INDIANA UNIVERSITY
by Charlene Rhinehart
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| www.linkedin.com/Dr. Dóminique Kemp |
Last month, Dr. Dóminique Kemp reached a milestone that few individuals achieve in mathematics education.
The Indiana University student became the first Black graduate to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, Indiana Daily Student reported. Nearly a century ago, Elbert Frank Cox was recognized as the first black person to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics. He received his degree from Standford University in 1925 and spent most of his career as a professor at Howard University.
Few have been empowered to further their mathematics education since that time. But Kemp wants to change that. He’s on a mission to inspire and empower the next generation of mathematicians.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/kemp-makes-history-as-first-black-student-to-receive-ph-d-in-mathematics-from-indiana-university/
A Flying Option
From Business Insider -
I flew on Set Jet, where flights on private jets cost the same as typical airlines' first class, and saw why it's one of aviation's best kept secrets
By Thomas Pallini
- Set Jet is a membership-based private jet firm offering seats on private aircraft on set routes across the American West.
- Flights cost less than $500 but still offer most of the trappings of a traditional private jet flight.
- I flew on a Set Jet flight and was impressed by the luxury of the service for the low price point.
Flying on a private jet is the very pinnacle of air travel and has traditionally been reserved for the ultra-wealthy, until now.
Set Jet is a Scottsdale, Arizona-based private aviation firm that offers by-the-seat private jet flights on routes across the American West. The idea isn't new but its founders say they've found a way to make the service consistent, safe, and profitable.
Fares are only between $449.95 and $489.95 one-way on most routes but only pre-approved members can book flights. A monthly membership costs $99 and flyers have to pay a one-time security fee of $99.
https://www.businessinsider.com/flying-on-set-jet-between-arizona-and-california-review-photos-2021-6#fares-are-only-between-44995-and-48995-one-way-on-most-routes-but-only-pre-approved-members-can-book-flights-a-monthly-membership-costs-99-and-flyers-have-to-pay-a-one-time-security-fee-of-99-3
Black Scientists Proved the Polio Vaccine Worked
From Scientific American -
Hidden Black Scientists Proved the Polio Vaccine Worked
Tuskegee Institute researchers showed Jonas Salk’s vaccine protected children by developing a key test
By Ainissa Ramirez
In the summers of the early 1950s, multitudes of American children were stuck in their home. Parents didn’t permit them to play together because, when the weather got warm, society entered a nightmare called polio. Children would eagerly begin their school breaks with a bicycle, scooter or kite and end them in crutches, braces or an iron lung.
The disease poliomyelitis, or polio, had been in the medical textbooks for decades. In the summers of the early 20th century, however, this illness grew into an epidemic. The virus behind the disease could infect anyone, but in the U.S., it caused the worst damage among children under five years old, and polio was consequently called infantile paralysis.
In early 1953 there was a glimmer of hope that this nightmare might come to an end. Medical researcher Jonas Salk created a polio vaccine that, when injected, stimulated the immune system to make antibodies that fought off the virus. By January of that year, he had inoculated 161 people, and the results looked promising. Salk’s work was funded by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP). This organization—founded in 1938 by polio sufferer and U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt—evolved from a dilapidated spa in Warm Springs, Ga., for those afflicted with the disease to become a major polio research funder. Buoyed by Salk’s early results, the NFIP, with its broad mission of conquering polio, started pushing to get hundreds of thousands of children vaccinated. But before moving ahead, Salk wanted to make sure his vaccine was the “safest and most certain” approach by monitoring the inoculation’s ability to trigger enough antibodies to neutralize the virus. In earlier tests, monkeys were injected with the vaccine and monitored to see if they got sick, or their cells were observed to see if they deformed. But the number of the animals needed to test thousands of children was too costly and cumbersome.
Fortunately, researchers had found there were unique cells that could help. These were HeLa cells, the living line of cancer cells that were taken without permission from a Black patient named Henrietta Lacks years earlier. After blood was drawn from a vaccinated patient, part of it was placed in a glass dish along with HeLa cells and a small dose of polio. With those items, a microscopic—and deadly—battle commenced. In the dish, the poliovirus tried to attack the HeLa cells. If there were enough of the proper antibodies in the patient’s blood, however, they blocked the virus from causing any harm. Scientists could readily see the cells under a microscope. If the HeLa cells looked misshapen, this meant that the right antibodies were not present in the blood.
To evaluate his vaccine, Salk would need tremendous amounts of HeLa cells. He would get help not from traditional established institutions such as Harvard University or Yale University but from a small Black college in the South that had become famous for cultivating peanuts.
In 1881 educator Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute with 30 pupils inside an old church building in Alabama. Washington had big dreams for his small school, and they were realized. Just 50 years later, the number of students increased 100-fold. And the entire nation grew to know about this institute from botanist George Washington Carver’s pioneering work on cultivating the peanut there. During World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen, an all-Black flying squadron, also put this sleepy part of the country on the map.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hidden-black-scientists-proved-the-polio-vaccine-worked/
911 Help
Our dispatchers never know what the next call might be.They train for many emergency situations, homework help is not one they plan for. We don't recommend 911 for homework help but this dispatcher helped a young boy out and brightened his day.@PoliceOne @apbweb @wlfi @WTHRcom pic.twitter.com/w3qCYfJP7O
— LafayetteINPolice (@LafayetteINPD) January 25, 2019
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| Antonia Bundy helped the child solve a math problem (Twitter/ @LafayetteINPD) |
Auburn's First Black Female Drum Major
From AL.com
Meet Auburn University’s first Black female drum major
By The Associated Press
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| Brianna Jarvis, a senior in the Auburn band who plays the trumpet, poses for a photo before Auburn played Texas A&M for its final home game in 2020 on Saturday, Dec. 5. (Photo by Giana Han) |
Brianna Jarvis will lead the Auburn University Marching Band into Jordan-Hare Stadium when the football team plays Akron on Sept. 4.
She will also be making history as the band’s first Black female drum major.
The music education major attended Reeltown High School where she says she saw the impact of the university from 30 minutes away. A first-generation college student, Jarvis says she knew she wanted to attend Auburn but didn’t know how to make that happen.
Jarvis’ high school band director was Auburn University alumnus Tyler Strickland, and he acted as a mentor, helping Jarvis navigate college applications, Auburn University Marching Band auditions and more.
https://www.al.com/news/2021/06/meet-auburn-universitys-first-black-female-drum-major.html
All Black Flight Crew
From CNN Travel -
All-Black flight crew commemorates Juneteenth
By Neelam Bohra and Justin Lear, CNN
(CNN) — Water cannons blasted over United Airlines flight 1258 as it left its gate, celebrating that every person on the flight crew, from pilots to gate agents and ramp staff, was Black.
The all-Black crew flew from Houston to Chicago on Saturday morning, commemorating Juneteenth, now a federal holiday celebrating the end of slavery. Before takeoff, a celebration of the crew included a speech from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a saxophone performance from one of the pilots, Sal Crocker, and water cannons on the tarmac.
Turner said the flight crew was a symbol for how far the Black community has come over the past 150 years.
"Now, we're soaring amongst the stars," Turner said to CNN affiliate KTRK. "Let me tell you, for our ancestors, my parents, if they were still alive, they would just be amazed."
Just 2.47% of United States aircraft pilots and flight engineers are Black, according to Data USA.
But for flight 1258, even the flight dispatchers, both in Houston and Chicago, celebrated their Black heritage.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/all-black-flight-crew/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29
Monday, July 5, 2021
Body Hair on Women
@solanathagreenfairy beauty standards are a social construct!@heyestrid #foryou #bodyhairpositivity #feminist #beautystandard
♬ original sound - solana
Friday, June 25, 2021
Friday, June 18, 2021
"High on the Hog"
An excerpt from Vice -
'High on the Hog' Proves Why Food Travel Shows Need New Gatekeepers
“The reason why [the show] is so resonant for Black people is because that’s really who it’s for. It’s for us.”
By Kristin Corry
“Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you where you are from,” famed Yoruba artist Romuald Hazoumè told Stephen Satterfield, host of Netflix’s inspiring new travel show High on the Hog. The phrase could double as the thesis of food historian Dr. Jessica Harris’s book of the same name, which resonated so much with production duo Fabienne Toback and Karis Jagger that they chose to adapt it for their first full-length documentary.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/93y3vd/netflix-high-on-the-hog-food-travel-show-interview
Honoring Her Parents
From Today -
Graduating senior honors farm-worker parents with special photos
Jennifer Rocha began working in the fields with her parents when she was in high school.
By Kait Hanson and Mohammed Syed
One California woman is going viral for the emotional graduation photos she took to honor her parents.
21-year-old Jennifer Rocha, from Coachella, California, has been working in the fields with her parents, both immigrants from Michoacán, Mexico, since she was in high school.
"My dad decided to take me to work in the field when I was in junior year of high school," Rocha told TODAY Parents, adding that during that time she was also running on the cross-country team at school. "My dad would pick me up from cross-country practice at around 2, 3 p.m. and then come home, eat something, (and) change. And then we would go and plant strawberries overnight."
https://www.today.com/parents/ucsd-student-honors-farm-worker-parents-photos-field-t222050
Quads Graduate From Yale
From People -
Ohio Quadruplets Who All Graduated from Yale Say They Were Able to Carve Their 'Own Paths' at Ivy
Aaron, Nick, Nigel and Zach Wade graduated together from Yale University last month
By Rachel DeSantis
https://people.com/human-interest/ohio-quadruplets-graduated-from-yale-carved-own-paths/
Heading to Harvard
From People -
N.Y. School's First Black Valedictorian Is Heading to Harvard: 'There's No Dream Too Big'
https://people.com/human-interest/new-york-teen-onovu-otitigbe-becomes-high-schools-first-black-valedictorian-heads-to-harvard/
Monday, May 24, 2021
Black Family Cookout Rules
An excerpt from Afro.com -
What you not fid’na do at a Black family cookout
By Rev. Dorothy Boulware
Yes we have rules for everything and everybody. Rules for behavior in Big Mama’s house. Rules of proper conduct for “in person” church. Rules for butting or rather, not butting into grown folks’ conversations. And we have rules for going to a cookout, a Black family cookout. Granted they’re not written, but you’d better ask somebody if you don’t know.
~~~~~
Cookout or barbeque. Some prefer one over the other. Picnic? Absolutely never!!! Check out a Black history book. So what are the rules of your family’s barbecues? The funny thing is that when the question was posed to family, friends, FB friends and AFRO staff, the answers were quite similar.
*Don’t disrespect Big Mama.
*Don’t pack take-home dishes before everyone eats.
*Don’t come empty handed (unless we have eaten, or not eaten, your food before)
*Don’t put raisins in anything that’s not dessert. Seriously. Even if you are newly Black.
*Don’t bring your new girlfriend when you know your Ex is always invited.
(Click below to check out the entire list. Please pass this on far and wide to those who need it. You know who. - Faye)
https://afro.com/what-you-not-fittin-do-at-a-black-family-cookout/
Priceless Guide to Black BBQs
From Deadspin -
The Caucasian's Guide To Black Barbecues
By Michael Harriot
As interracial dating, integration, and cross-cultural friendships increase, many people find themselves attending events in which they are the minority, and have no frame of reference from which to base their etiquette. In an effort to help bridge the cultural gaps we all have to traverse at some point, I have created a few rules for all my Caucasian friends who might find themselves at a black cookout.
1. You gotta bring something. One time, I went to a co-worker named Tom’s barbecue and brought a pasta salad. He looked at me like I had shit in the middle of his living room.
At a black cookout (yes, if there’s more than seven black people there, the name automatically changes from “barbecue” to a “cookout”), only the meat and the grill is supplied by the host. Everything else is brought by attendees—and no, this is not “potluck.” Black people don’t do potlucks. Potluck dinners are for Caucasian bible-study meetings where one can bring store-bought dishes. Here, you either show up with a homemade dish, or they’re gonna look at you funny. And please don’t try no new shit like potato salad with raisins or vegetarian shish kabobs. If you can’t cook, or you don’t have all the required black seasonings, just bring some cups and napkins. Or LOTS of aluminum foil. I don’t know what the hell black people do with all the aluminum foil at cookouts, but they ALWAYS need more. I have long suspected that black cookouts were ploys by hosts to get free aluminum foil. In any case, you are expected to bring something.
https://adequateman.deadspin.com/the-caucasians-guide-to-black-barbecues-1730865233
Sunday, May 23, 2021
What Are They Afraid Of?
An excerpt from the Salt Lake Tribune -
Leonard Pitts: Sometimes you wonder what they’re so afraid of
The powers that be have conspired to protect white people — and prevent Black people — from knowing our history.
By Leonard Pitts, The Miami Herald
Not that the subject has ever been easy. No, as has often been noted in this space, this country has been positively Herculean in its effort to remain ignorant of African American history. From schools trying to ban it to state laws restricting it, to textbooks telling lies about it, that history is something we have long resisted.
But if the subject was never easy, it has seldom been as fraught — as filled with political heat — as it is now. The New York Times Magazine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project,” in which reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones had the temerity to reframe America’s story through the lens of slavery, seems to have tapped something primal in some of us; something that has moved them to spend two years condemning it; something that has states like Texas, Tennessee and Idaho rushing to pass laws banning schools from teaching critical race theory (which seemingly all conservatives fear and none can define); something panicky that is emphatically not explained by academic arguments over points of factuality.
For the record, I consider myself pretty well-informed about Black history. But it is not lost on me that most of what I know was learned on my own after my formal education ended, that I somehow managed to graduate an elite private university knowing next to nothing about it.
Even at that, I was more fortunate than some. School only left me uneducated. It left them miseducated, i.e., taught things that were not true. In an inspired feat of enterprise journalism, Michael Harriot of The Root recently dug up the high school history textbooks that would have been used by many of those who grew up to deny the reality of systemic racism or seek to restrict the teaching thereof. The results are enlightening.
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2021/05/16/leonard-pitts-sometimes/
From Custodian to Teacher
An excerpt from The Black Detour -
Georgia School Janitor of 23 Years Graduates College With A Degree in Education
A Georgia school janitor for the last 23 years has graduated from college with a degree in education. Tylan Bailey is now ready to change careers and become a teacher.
“Just walking through these halls every day, you’re surrounded by education. Each corner of this building, education. So why not be a part of that,” Bailey told WSBTV 2.
Over the last 23 years Bailey has worked at Hightower Elementary School in DeKalb County as its head custodian.
“He’s the kind of person you want in your building, on your side,” Principal Sheila Price told the news outlet. “It’s a bittersweet moment because we love him and we want to keep him here. But we know this is a huge step and we support him. We’re here for him for whatever he needs.”
In 2017, Bailey started his journey to become a teacher when he began attending classes at Georgia State University while still working part-time.
https://theblackdetour.com/georgia-school-janitor-of-23-years-graduates-college-with-a-degree-in-education/
Katie vs. Big Pharma
Big Pharma says they need to charge astronomical prices to pay for research and development. Yet, the amount they spend on manipulating the market to enrich shareholders completely eclipses what's spent on R&D. Today, I confronted a CEO about the industry's lies, with visuals ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/c3jSLr0yVd
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) May 18, 2021
Grants & Scholarships For Black Women
From Essence -
9 Grants, Scholarships and Resources For Black Women To Apply For Right Now
WHETHER YOU ARE AN ENTREPRENEUR OR A CREATIVE, WE FOUND THESE GRANTS THAT ARE WAITING FOR YOU!
https://www.essence.com/news/money-career/grants-scholarships-for-black-women-to-apply/
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
https://www.upworthy.com/piano-duets-with-mystery-neighbor
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 -
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/opinion/black-history-month-short-documentaries.html?referringSource=articleShare
Stay Close
From the NY Times -
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/opinion/black-history-month-short-documentaries.html?referringSource=articleShare
The Lost Astronaut
From the NY Times -
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/opinion/black-history-month-short-documentaries.html?referringSource=articleShare
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
https://abc7.com/health/black-female-doctor-who-revolutionized-eye-surgery-could-receive-posthumous-national-honor/10321774/
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
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