Sunday, February 4, 2018
Friday, February 2, 2018
Paid in Full - Kaep's Million Dollar Pledge
An excerpt from CNN -
While you were arguing about the anthem, Colin Kaepernick just finished donating $1 million
By AJ Willingham, CNN
CNN)People like to talk about Colin Kaepernick. But while everyone was busy arguing over the on-field protests he spearheaded two years ago, the free agent NFL quarterback was putting his money where his mouth is.
On Wednesday, Kaepernick completed a pledge he made in September 2016: To donate $1 million to organizations working in, what he called, oppressed communities.
The donations spanned the country and touched on a wealth of social issues: Homelessness, at-risk families, education, community-police relations, prison reform, inmates' right, reproductive rights, hunger and more.
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/31/sport/colin-kaepernick-million-dollar-donation-pledge-anthem-nfl-trnd/index.html
While you were arguing about the anthem, Colin Kaepernick just finished donating $1 million
By AJ Willingham, CNN
CNN)People like to talk about Colin Kaepernick. But while everyone was busy arguing over the on-field protests he spearheaded two years ago, the free agent NFL quarterback was putting his money where his mouth is.
On Wednesday, Kaepernick completed a pledge he made in September 2016: To donate $1 million to organizations working in, what he called, oppressed communities.
The donations spanned the country and touched on a wealth of social issues: Homelessness, at-risk families, education, community-police relations, prison reform, inmates' right, reproductive rights, hunger and more.
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/31/sport/colin-kaepernick-million-dollar-donation-pledge-anthem-nfl-trnd/index.html
The Blackest Season
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
The Blackest Season In NFL History
By Jamil Smith, Columnist
In 1933, the National Football League suddenly became monochromatic. The “gentleman’s agreement” to ban black players was reportedly set in motion, poetically enough, by the owner of the Washington franchise that still uses a racial slur as its team name. Baseball, then the national pastime, was conspicuously a white-only affair. Professional football was still a niche sport at the time, and thus could practice its discrimination more discreetly. Even the breaking of its color line in 1946 ― with two signings each by the Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns ― seems all but forgotten in the context of Jackie Robinson’s debut the following year.
Things are different now, and they are not. The NFL’s 32 franchises are still owned almost universally by white people, but the percentage of black players hovers just above 70 percent. Those athletes play mostly for the pleasure of a majority-white fan base. Still, it was tough to describe the NFL before this season as unmistakably black, despite the epidermal clarity. The league’s own mechanisms for generating fan interest have aided in the distillation of the players’ humanity to injury reports and fantasy points. The race of its players only seemed to come up in maudlin pre-game feature segments about the rough neighborhoods from which their NFL fortunes delivered them. African American life, through the lens of pro sports, has largely been something to escape, and the playing field or the court is both the means of deliverance and the promised land.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-smith-superbowl-kaepernick_us_5a711e2de4b0a6aa4874562c
The Blackest Season In NFL History
By Jamil Smith, Columnist
In 1933, the National Football League suddenly became monochromatic. The “gentleman’s agreement” to ban black players was reportedly set in motion, poetically enough, by the owner of the Washington franchise that still uses a racial slur as its team name. Baseball, then the national pastime, was conspicuously a white-only affair. Professional football was still a niche sport at the time, and thus could practice its discrimination more discreetly. Even the breaking of its color line in 1946 ― with two signings each by the Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns ― seems all but forgotten in the context of Jackie Robinson’s debut the following year.
Things are different now, and they are not. The NFL’s 32 franchises are still owned almost universally by white people, but the percentage of black players hovers just above 70 percent. Those athletes play mostly for the pleasure of a majority-white fan base. Still, it was tough to describe the NFL before this season as unmistakably black, despite the epidermal clarity. The league’s own mechanisms for generating fan interest have aided in the distillation of the players’ humanity to injury reports and fantasy points. The race of its players only seemed to come up in maudlin pre-game feature segments about the rough neighborhoods from which their NFL fortunes delivered them. African American life, through the lens of pro sports, has largely been something to escape, and the playing field or the court is both the means of deliverance and the promised land.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-smith-superbowl-kaepernick_us_5a711e2de4b0a6aa4874562c
Racial Profiling is Real
An excerpt from the AP -
Only on AP: For NFL players, racial profiling often personal
By ERRIN HAINES WHACK and FRED GOODALL
A son who saw a police officer hold a gun to his father’s head. A husband whose wife was pulled over driving a Bentley.
These unsettling scenes are among the stories from some of the NFL’s marquee players, multimillionaires sharing tales of racial profiling by law enforcement. It is a troubling concern for people of color that has been at the center of the protests begun in August 2016 by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
The protests have waned, but the ongoing issue for players — and the black communities they come from — has not.
The Associated Press surveyed 56 of the 59 black players at last weekend’s Pro Bowl game as part of its look at how African-American athletes have long used their sports platforms to effect social and political change. The AP asked the players whether they or someone they knew have ever experienced racial profiling.
All said yes.
https://apnews.com/986f72af56b44b9f9ec9efc824a33cbb
Only on AP: For NFL players, racial profiling often personal
By ERRIN HAINES WHACK and FRED GOODALL
A son who saw a police officer hold a gun to his father’s head. A husband whose wife was pulled over driving a Bentley.
These unsettling scenes are among the stories from some of the NFL’s marquee players, multimillionaires sharing tales of racial profiling by law enforcement. It is a troubling concern for people of color that has been at the center of the protests begun in August 2016 by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
The protests have waned, but the ongoing issue for players — and the black communities they come from — has not.
The Associated Press surveyed 56 of the 59 black players at last weekend’s Pro Bowl game as part of its look at how African-American athletes have long used their sports platforms to effect social and political change. The AP asked the players whether they or someone they knew have ever experienced racial profiling.
All said yes.
https://apnews.com/986f72af56b44b9f9ec9efc824a33cbb
Weasels and Liars
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
James Comey Defends FBI, Says History Will Catch Up To ‘Weasels And Liars’
“Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy,” the ex-FBI director said.
By Lydia O’Connor
Former FBI Director James Comey broke his silence on the White House’s efforts to a release a secret Republican memo alleging FBI bias against President Donald Trump, tweeting Thursday that “weasels and liars” will reap what they sow.
“All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would,” Comey wrote in reference to the agency’s strong opposition to releasing the memo crafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee.
Comey’s mention of “the FBI speaking up” is a reference to a statement the bureau issued on Wednesday that effectively said the GOP-authored memo was nonsense. The statement said he bureau had “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/comey-nunes-fbi-memo_us_5a739ba3e4b06ee97af107ac
James Comey Defends FBI, Says History Will Catch Up To ‘Weasels And Liars’
“Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy,” the ex-FBI director said.
By Lydia O’Connor
Former FBI Director James Comey broke his silence on the White House’s efforts to a release a secret Republican memo alleging FBI bias against President Donald Trump, tweeting Thursday that “weasels and liars” will reap what they sow.
“All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would,” Comey wrote in reference to the agency’s strong opposition to releasing the memo crafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee.
Comey’s mention of “the FBI speaking up” is a reference to a statement the bureau issued on Wednesday that effectively said the GOP-authored memo was nonsense. The statement said he bureau had “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/comey-nunes-fbi-memo_us_5a739ba3e4b06ee97af107ac
Sanitized History
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
American Students Aren’t Learning The Full Truth About Slavery
Students often get only a superficial view of the atrocity that built the country, a new study finds.
By Rebecca Klein
American students are being taught an inadequate and often sanitized version of history when it comes to slavery, according to a new report.
The report, from the Southern Poverty Law Center, looks at how slavery is presented in K-12 classrooms and found that students are often taught a deeply incomplete version of events. Students learn inspirational stories ― about figures like Harriet Tubman and good Samaritans who helped slaves reach freedom in the underground railroad ― before they learn about the horrors of enslavement. When they learn about slavery, it is often presented as an isolated, albeit unfortunate phenomenon, disconnected from white supremacist ideologies that abetted it and the racism that continues as a pervasive part of American life today.
Only 8 percent of high school seniors surveyed by an independent polling firm for the study identified slavery as the primary reason for the Civil War. Almost half identified tax protests as the main cause.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/schools-teaching-slavery_us_5a7243cbe4b03699143f144f
American Students Aren’t Learning The Full Truth About Slavery
Students often get only a superficial view of the atrocity that built the country, a new study finds.
By Rebecca Klein
American students are being taught an inadequate and often sanitized version of history when it comes to slavery, according to a new report.
The report, from the Southern Poverty Law Center, looks at how slavery is presented in K-12 classrooms and found that students are often taught a deeply incomplete version of events. Students learn inspirational stories ― about figures like Harriet Tubman and good Samaritans who helped slaves reach freedom in the underground railroad ― before they learn about the horrors of enslavement. When they learn about slavery, it is often presented as an isolated, albeit unfortunate phenomenon, disconnected from white supremacist ideologies that abetted it and the racism that continues as a pervasive part of American life today.
Only 8 percent of high school seniors surveyed by an independent polling firm for the study identified slavery as the primary reason for the Civil War. Almost half identified tax protests as the main cause.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/schools-teaching-slavery_us_5a7243cbe4b03699143f144f
Black Vegans Rejoice
An excerpt from Essence -
This Black-Owned Vegan Restaurant is Helping Brooklyn Become Greener, One Meal and Juice at a Time
By SIRAAD DIRSHE
In many inner-city communities, particularly low-income ones, access to healthy food options is still very limited. It's oftentimes easier and much cheaper to find a fast food hamburger, then say a salad. Twenty-one-year-old Francesca “Sol” Chaney noticed this inequality and thought it unfair.
"The wellness community can be really classist," Chaney tells ESSENCE. "Our intention [with Sol Sips] is to make organic plant-based beverage and bites available to everyone," she says.
As a full-time student, who worked three jobs, Chaney found herself constantly on the hunt for nutrient dense food that she could consume quickly. "At the time, I had just moved out on my own and began brewing teas and making juices and smoothies. I saw that they were working and I was feeling more energized and lighter," she says. So she began making her newly minted recipes for friends and family.
https://www.essence.com/beauty/black-owned-vegan-restaurant-brooklyn-sol-sips
This Black-Owned Vegan Restaurant is Helping Brooklyn Become Greener, One Meal and Juice at a Time
By SIRAAD DIRSHE
In many inner-city communities, particularly low-income ones, access to healthy food options is still very limited. It's oftentimes easier and much cheaper to find a fast food hamburger, then say a salad. Twenty-one-year-old Francesca “Sol” Chaney noticed this inequality and thought it unfair.
"The wellness community can be really classist," Chaney tells ESSENCE. "Our intention [with Sol Sips] is to make organic plant-based beverage and bites available to everyone," she says.
As a full-time student, who worked three jobs, Chaney found herself constantly on the hunt for nutrient dense food that she could consume quickly. "At the time, I had just moved out on my own and began brewing teas and making juices and smoothies. I saw that they were working and I was feeling more energized and lighter," she says. So she began making her newly minted recipes for friends and family.
https://www.essence.com/beauty/black-owned-vegan-restaurant-brooklyn-sol-sips
Thursday, February 1, 2018
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