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Thursday, August 19, 2021
Who Needs a Hair Appointment?
From In the Know -
LINWOOD DARKIS WANTS TO CHANGE WHAT’S TAUGHT IN COSMETOLOGY SCHOOL
By Katie Mather
@getglamfam Reply to @user4221449952744 honestly, the beauty industry kinda benefits on that ignorance, in my opinion.
♬ original sound - LINWOOD
Fuddruckers Owned by HBCU Alum
An excerpt from Essence -
The Fuddruckers Franchise Is Now Owned By A Black HBCU Alum
THE ACQUISITION MAKES NICHOLAS PERKINS THE LARGEST FRANCHISE OWNER AND THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO HAVE TOTAL OWNERSHIP OF A NATIONAL BURGER BUSINESS.
BY CHANEL STEWART
COURTESY: NICHOLAS PERKINS |
If there’s anything that Black HBCU grads are going to do, it’s take over corporate America.
Nicholas Perkins acquired the Fuddruckers franchise for an estimated $18.5 million dollars, making him the largest franchise owner and the first African American to have total ownership of a national burger business. Perkins’ Black Titan Franchise Systems LLC reached a deal with Luby’s earlier this summer to take over ownership of the Fuddruckers brand from Luby’s, a Houston-based reported cafeteria chain that last year began liquidating its assets and dissolving the company.
“We’re excited to be purchasing Fuddruckers and look forward to working with Fuddruckers’ many dedicated, highly capable franchisees to further build this brand,” Perkins said. “As a Fuddruckers franchisee, I have a vested interest in ensuring that all Fuddruckers franchisees have the resources, infrastructure, and operational and marketing support they need to maximize their return on investment. This strategic alignment, when combined with the fact that we sell the ‘World’s Greatest Hamburgers’™, will ensure the long-term success of the brand and our franchisees.”
Multilingual Siblings
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
MEET THE SIBLINGS WHO ARE TEACHING OTHER KIDS HOW TO SPEAK UP TO 8 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
by Black Enterprise
Cleveland, OH — Meet 4-year old Emilio, 6-year old Amora, 8-year old Rosie, 10-year old LaLa, 12-year old Anita, 16-year old Malachi, 18-year old Kimoni, 20-year old Mina, and baby Makalo. These young homeschoolers have created a YouTube channel called Multilingual Stars Academy that offers fun and exciting content to help children learn the basics of different languages.
He Gets My Support
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
An Alabama doctor watched patients reject the coronavirus vaccine. Now he’s refusing to treat them.
By Timothy Bella
Dr. Jason Valentine |
In Alabama, where the nation’s lowest vaccination rate has helped push the state closer to a record number of hospitalizations, a physician has sent a clear message to his patients: Don’t come in for medical treatment if you are unvaccinated.
Jason Valentine, a physician at Diagnostic and Medical Clinic Infirmary Health in Mobile, Ala., posted a photo on Facebook this week of him pointing to a sign taped to a door informing patients of his new policy coming Oct. 1.
“Dr. Valentine will no longer see patients that are not vaccinated against covid-19,” the sign reads.
Valentine wrote in the post, which has since been made private but was captured in online images, that there were “no conspiracy theories, no excuses” stopping anyone from being vaccinated, AL.com reported. The doctor, who said at least three unvaccinated patients have asked him where they could get a vaccine since he posted the photo, has remained resolute to those who have questioned his decision in recent days.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/08/18/alabama-doctor-unvaccinated-patients-valentine/
Black-Owned Food & Drink Brands
An excerpt from HuffPost -
17 Black-Owned Food And Drink Brands You Can Shop Online
August is National Black Business Month. Here are delicious ways to show your support.
By Shontel Horne
HuffPost |
More than 124,000 businesses identify as Black-owned, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Every day is a good day to support Black-owned businesses, but with National Black Business Month taking place in August, now is an especially great time to get familiar with and continue to support Black-owned brands — particularly in food and drink.
The 17 food and beverage brands below are sure to become staples in your kitchen for years to come. Add them to your shopping list and stock up on everything from olive oil to vegan cheese.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-owned-food-drink-businesses_l_610bead9e4b041dfbaa65821
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
What Kind of Driver Are you?
An excerpt from Upworthy -
Awesome chart shows you how far you can drive on empty
By Tricia Leigh Zeigenhorn
There are two types of people in this world – those who panic and fill up their cars with gas when the needle hits 25% or so, and people like me who wait until the gas light comes on, then check the odometer so you can drive the entire 30 miles to absolute empty before coasting into a gas station on fumes.
https://www.upworthy.com/awesome-chart-shows-you-how-far-you-can-drive-on-empty
Click on the link for a better view of the chart. - Faye
Snoop and Kevin react to Jade Carey's gold medal | Olympic Highlights wi...
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Young Black Aspiring Doctors
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
YOUNG BLACK ASPIRING DOCTORS IN NYC GETTING GUIDANCE THROUGH MENTORSHIP PROGRAM #BLACKBUSINESSMONTH
by Jeroslyn Johnson
These 45 Black youths got an inside view of medicine through a new, week long medical internship. (Erskine Isaac ivisionphoto.com) |
The Whitewashing of Black Music
An excerpt from Far Out Magazine -
The whitewashing of Black music: Five singles made popular by white artists
By Mick McStarkey
Big Mama Thornton was a pioneering musician. (Credit: Alamy) |
This week marks the anniversary of the date that Big Mama Thornton first recorded the iconic single ‘Hound Dog’ in 1952. The song is widely regarded as one of the most iconic tracks in rock and roll history. Since Thornton’s original was put to wax, the song has been covered well over 250 times. In this sense, the blues staple can be considered to be in the same category as what ‘Greensleeves’ is to folk: a key standard, setting out its defining features.
The chances are that many of you will not have even heard of Big Mama Thornton, or the fact that she was the first artist to perform the now-iconic track. Written by the duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for Thornton, it is quite telling that Elvis Presley was the one who popularised the song in 1956. His version is often thought of as being the original, which is not the case.
In 1999, Rick Kennedy and Randy MacNutt perfectly captured the impact Thornton’s original had on music. They argued that it helped to “spur the evolution of Black R&B into rock music”. The transformative effect of this cross-pollination cannot be underestimated.
The irony of the song is that when Thornton initially sang it, she did so in the form of a ballad. However, Leiber and Stoller believed that the song should be more up-tempo, as they had forged it specifically “to suit her personality—brusque and badass”. Thus, Leiber sang it, accompanied by Stoller on the piano, conveying to Thornton how they thought it should be performed.
Luckily Thornton agreed, and the song the trio recorded the number became one of the most important hits ever captured. The track is so influential that Maureen Mahon, a professor of music at New York University, claimed that the original is “an important (part of the) beginning of rock and roll, especially in its use of the guitar as the key instrument”. The song would reach number one on the R&B chart and be popularised in the appropriate musical community. However, the song remained relatively unknown in the mainstream until Elvis Presley put his own spin on it.
What made Elvis’ version so popular and Thornton’s not? After all, one would wager that Thornton’s is the best version out of all of them, a swaggering, sexualised number that was just as groundbreaking lyrically as it was musically. So why then does the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ still take all the plaudits?
Unfortunately, the reasons are all too familiar. Firstly, we need to cast our mind’s back to the era, 1950s America. Thornton, being the larger-than-life Black woman that she was, was clearly up against it in her fight for success, the measure of which was relevant to the time. Thornton’s original preceded the desegregation of schools by a year, and Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X wouldn’t truly make their voices of civil rights protest heard until the ’60s.
Trustworthy kids show banknotes to security camera while shopkeeper is away
Letterman's Most Intriguing Guest
An excerpt from Today -
David Letterman reveals his most intriguing guest and we think you'll be surprised
"I found her spirit to be huge," the TV legend said.
By Drew Weisholtz
Letterman's interview with the Grammy winner was a powerful experience for him. Courtesy of Netfix |
Letterman, 74, was asked on SiriusXM’s "Comedy Gold Minds with Kevin Hart" podcast which guest he found the most intriguing.
“Based on your elaboration of ‘intrigue,’ it was a young woman who lives in Los Angeles who's in the music world, very successful, by the name of Lizzo,” Letterman said. “My prior expectation of this experience was, at its best, neutral.”
The 'Truth Hurts" singer had been a musical guest on “The Late Show” in 2014 before she became a household name but Letterman said he did more research on her for about six weeks to prepare for his interview with her on his current talk show.
He said their conversation made quite an impression on him.
“But almost everything you said about my reaction to her after the fact, happened,” he said. “Delighted. Comfortable. Didn't want to leave. Wanted to stay in her house. Wanted to help her. I wanted to go around and find out who was handling her, and I wanted to screen them.
“I wanted to make sure she was being taken care of because I found her spirit, Kevin, to be — and maybe I'm hyperbolic here on this — but I found her spirit to be huge, not like anything I had experienced. I know there are people like that. And I know there are people like that in show business, but this particular episode, I was delighted by — still am.”
https://www.today.com/popculture/david-letterman-his-most-intriguing-guest-his-netflix-show-t228235
Racism is Not a Footnote
An excerpt from The Players Tribune -
Racism Is Not a Historical Footnote
By Bill Russell, NBA Hall of Famer
Bettmann/Getty Images |
I once interviewed Lester Maddox on my television show. It was 1969 and he was well known at the time as a Southern segregationist and former chicken restaurateur turned politician. Maddox and I had diametrically opposing perspectives. He got out of the restaurant business after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed so that he wouldn’t have to serve Black people, while I once refused to play an exhibition game after a restaurant refused to serve me or my Black teammates.
Maddox made a show out of his refusal to integrate his restaurant. He waved axe handles and guns at peaceful protesters and argued, loudly, that being forced to serve Black people encroached on his freedom. He closed his restaurant in Atlanta, ran for governor of Georgia, and won.
So why would I give a platform to an individual who held such racist beliefs? First, part of freedom is allowing everyone — even the most hateful people — to speak. And second, doing so also exposes how a person comes to hold such beliefs. Now, Lester Maddox wasn’t exactly an intellectual giant, so I doubt he would’ve been able to question the culture he had been born into if he tried, but having him on my show exposed him for the fool he was and might have also given other people some things to think about regarding the plausibility of “separate but equal.”
Even though that moment has long since passed, I’m struck by how similar it felt to the moment I’m living through now. In 2020, Black and Brown people are still fighting for justice, racists still hold the highest offices in the land, and kids today still grow up with cultural norms that aren’t different enough from the ones that Lester Maddox grew up with.
In 2020, Black and Brown people are still fighting for justice.
Now, when I say Black and Brown people are still fighting for justice 50 years after I interviewed a prominent segregationist — “an old country boy” who ran for political office on a platform of hate and won[1]— I don’t mean to sound surprised. I’m not. White people are surprised by that. In fact, I find that white people are often surprised that racial injustice still exists outside of a few “bad apples.” This surprise is particularly dangerous because racial injustice is rampant throughout every sector of American society, from education to health care to sports, and the fact that this remains surprising to many reveals exactly how different Black and white people’s experiences of life in America are.
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/bill-russell-nba-racial-injustice?utm_source=RSS
Kaep on Netflix
It’s been incredible to create COLIN IN BLACK AND WHITE with @ava and @StarrburyMike. Thank you to everyone who worked tirelessly to bring these stories to life. The series premieres on @netflix Oct 29. pic.twitter.com/UWK6gfsKBE
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) August 12, 2021