https://youtu.be/hi9Hb408Smk
Sunday, September 26, 2021
Friday, September 24, 2021
Pastor Speaks the Truth
An excerpt from Comicsands -
Pastor Gives Christians Who Claim 'Religious Exemption' From Masks And Vaccines An Epic Bible Lesson
By Mike Walsh
https://www.comicsands.com/pastor-marshall-christian-religious-exemption-2655075172.html
Thursday, September 23, 2021
From Housekeeper to Owner of 5-Star Luxury Hotel
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
MEET THE FORMER HOUSEKEEPER WHO IS NOW THE OWNER OF A 5-STAR LUXURY HOTEL
by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
 |
| Souadou Niang (BlackBusiness.com) |
Meet Souadou Niang, a serial entrepreneur and the owner of Palms Luxury Boutique Hotel in Dakar, Senegal, who used to work as a housekeeper at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the United States.
“I started out cleaning toilets. Today, I am the manager of my own five-star boutique hotel with 60 employees,” Niang told BBC Africa.
Born and raised in Dakar, Niang moved to the U.S. at the age of 18. She went from New York to Washington, DC, where she applied for work at the Ritz-Carlton to help pay for her education.
For 10 years, Niang worked cleaning rooms at the hotel while also studying. Throughout those years, she always kept in mind that she would someday become more successful in the field. Sure enough, she eventually got a job with the management team at the same hotel she started working as a housekeeper.
“I rose through the ranks and that’s where I got the passion. I said one day I will go back to my country and show that luxury and quality of service can be achieved there,” Niang said.
Amazon's Only Black Board Member
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
Former Goldman Sachs Executive Edith Cooper Elected As Amazon’s Only Black Board Member
By Jeroslyn Johnson
 |
| Edith Cooper (Amazon) |
After making history with her executive role at Goldman Sachs, Edith Cooper has been elected to Amazon’s board.
The Slack director is the only Black person on Amazon’s board following Roz Brewer’s exit earlier this year, Seattle Times reports. Cooper has an extensive resume that includes board positions with Etsy, Slack, PepsiCo, and the investment groups MSD Acquisition and EQT AB Group.
Military Recruitment Hurting
An excerpt from Defense One -
Racial Division, Troops’ Role in Protests Has Hurt Minority Recruiting, Air Force Says
Black interest in military service plummeted after the George Floyd protests. Can the Pentagon undo the damage?
By Tara Copp
 | |||||
| U.S. Air Force basic military graduation Apr. 16, 2020, at the 320th Training Squadron’s Airman Training Complex on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. U.S. AIR FORCE / JOHNNY SALDIVAR |
Years of racial tension, and the use of National Guard troops last June after the death of George Floyd, have hurt the military’s ability to recruit minorities, the head of Air Force recruiting said Wednesday.
That drop is part of a worrisome long-term trend that the military is fighting against: that fewer recruitment-age youth show an interest to serve.
According to the Defense Department’s latest twice-a-year Futures Survey, released in August, the share of eligible youth who reported they have an interest in military service has dropped about two percent overall in the last couple of years, said Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas, commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service.
Most concerning, Thomas said, was that “the biggest drop in propensity to serve is from Black males, Hispanic males, and females.”
The percentage of Black respondents who reported an interest in military service dropped from 20 percent in summer 2019 to 11 percent in summer 2020, according to the data. By fall 2020, the percentage of Black respondents interested in military service had dropped to 8 percent.
The percentage of Hispanics reporting an interest in military service dropped from 18 percent to 14 percent over the same time. Interest from recruitment-eligible whites remained steady, from 8 percent in summer 2019 to 9 percent in summer 2020.
“The last couple of years has done damage, there’s no doubt,” Thomas said. “The data shows us that the racial division in our nation has done damage to our recruiting efforts.”
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Saturday, September 18, 2021
Chapter 2 - Golf at an HBCU
An excerpt from AOL Sports -
J.R. Smith's HBCU journey is a shining example of Black excellence
By SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
J.R. Smith is a two-time NBA champion and a former Sixth Man of the year who earned millions of dollars over the course of his 16 seasons.
When he retired after his second title, with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, he could have done just about anything. Smith had enjoyed a long basketball career, had picked up a serious love of golf, and presumably had the means to travel the world pursuing that passion.
Instead, the 36-year-old, who jumped straight from Newark's famed St. Benedict's Prep to the NBA, entered college.
And not just any college, the largest HBCU in the country: North Carolina A&T.
What's more, he joined the Aggies golf team.
Best of all for the rest of us, he's basically live-tweeting his experience.
https://www.aol.com/sports/j-r-smiths-hbcu-journey-212019497.html
Soul Food Starter Kits in Stores Nationwide
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
BLACK CHEF TURNED ENTREPRENEUR LAUNCHES LINE OF SOUL FOOD STARTER KITS IN GROCERY STORES NATIONWIDE
by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
 | |
| Claude Booker (Black News) |
Meet culinary expert and business leader Claude Booker, the CEO and founder of Booker’s Soul Food Starters which are now available in over 1,000 grocery stores across the country. His business providing Southern side dishes for buffets was decimated as a direct result of the pandemic, and most buffets remain closed.
He pivoted his business during the pandemic and went from ideation to grocery store shelves with Booker’s Soul Food Starters in nine months. He did not shy away from his commitments to building a supply chain filled with domestic Black-owned businesses. The partnership with other Black businesses encourages more opportunities for those businesses and allows them to employ other Black Americans.
“When the pandemic hit in 2020, I lost 90% of my hot food and steam table business during the shutdown,” said Claude. “We pivoted and created pantry-ready seasonings for soul food during the pandemic because more people were eating at home. We went from creation to 1,000 stores in the midst of a pandemic.”
Booker’s Soul Food Starters enables any home cook to create the traditional flavors of collard greens, mac and cheese, peach cobbler, and more by adding their own fresh ingredients to the starter. The products are now sold online and in over 1,000 locations nationwide, including at Meijer, Stop & Shop, KeHE, Cost Plus World Market, VW Roses, and Sam’s Club.
Senate Honors the First Black National Bee Finalist from 1936!
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
SENATE PASSES RESOLUTION TO HONOR FIRST BLACK NATIONAL SPELLING BEE FINALIST WHO WAS CHEATED OUT OF POSSIBLE VICTORY
by Ashantai Hathaway
 |
| Cox (Twitter) |
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution to honor the nation’s first Black National Spelling Bee finalist.
On Thursday, the Senate passed the resolution that would honor MacNolia Cox. In 1936, Cox, just 13-years old, was considered a spelling prodigy with an IQ that was off the charts. Cox was from Akron, Ohio, and became the First Black to qualify as a finalist for the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.
However, getting there was far from easy, and competing was met with racism. Because segregation and Jim Crow laws were still very much in place, Cox and another Black child, 15-year-old Elizabeth Kenny from New Jersey, were forced to travel to the National Spelling Bee in the “colored” car of the train.
The children could not stay at the hotel with the other contestants and were forced to use the back door to enter the Spelling Bee competition.
They also could not sit with the other contestants and instead were told to sit at a card table.
Despite it all, Cox went on to become the first African-American finalist in the Top Five. She was well on her way to win the competition, having thoroughly studied the 100,000 word list given to each speller.
But the judges, who were all white southerners, plotted against Cox and pulled a word that was not on the list.
A. Van Jordan, author of “M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, a book about Cox and the National Spelling Bee, “said that what happened next was a despicable move from the Bee’s judges.
“They pulled a word that was not on that list, and you can’t make this up: the word was nemesis,” Van Jordan said.
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Your Precious Love
An excerpt from UDiscoverMusic -
It Takes Two: The Greatest Duets In Motown History
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s hit inspires our Motown duets playlist.
By Paul Sexton
On the Billboard Hot 100 for September 9 1967, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell had the highest new entry of the week, at No.73, with “Your Precious Love,” which went on to reach No.5. Their hit-making duet inspires our playlist of Motown’s greatest (and, in at least one case, weirdest) duets.
“Your Precious Love,” written by regular Tamla hitmakers Ashford & Simpson and produced by Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol, was one of many great examples of the vocal chemistry between Marvin and Tammi before her life was so cruelly cut short. “What we accomplished was to create two characters and let them sing to each other,” Gaye later told writer David Ritz. “That’s how the Marvin and Tammi characters were born. While we were singing, we were in love…but when the music ended, we kissed each other on the cheek and said goodbye.”
https://youtu.be/4Z3btjnwscU
Oscar Robertson: Standing Up For Them All
An excerpt from the Daily Beast -
The Basketball Great Who Stood Up to the NBA to Protect His Fellow Players
Oscar Robertson paved the way for athletes to protest and demand the right to choose their employers, at a time when standing up to the league could get a player barred for life.
By Robert Silverman
 |
| Bettmann / Getty |
Oscar Robertson, one of the greatest players in NBA history and a visionary labor rights leader, is riding out the current stretch of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic down in Florida. It’s not his permanent residence, but like many in the Sunshine State and across the globe, the 82-year-old is worried, Robertson told me in an August phone conversation. He’s been vaccinated, and is taking every precaution, including wearing a mask outdoors, until conditions improve. “Goodness, gracious,” he said. “It’s unbelievable, unbelievable.”
He was baffled to read that a number of pro football players were making a public show of refusing to get the jab. Beyond the spread of the new variant, the risks posed to children and family members, Robertson couldn’t comprehend why an athlete wouldn’t at a bare minimum be looking out for their teammates, regardless of what misinformation they’d been fed. “Why would a player say ‘I don’t want to get the shot’ if he's going to be around other players?” he plaintively asked. “Why would he do that?"
That Robertson would view the ongoing health crisis as requiring greater labor solidarity shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
For all the Big O’s successes on court—the awards and accolades, the titles and medals won, his name scrawled at the top of the NBA’s record books, and the effusive praise from his contemporaries—Robertson’s legacy is also built on the decades spent fighting for justice and equity. He’s stood up to groaning bigots that treated him as less-than-human and threatened his life; he locked arms in solidarity in order to bring an All-Star game to a halt; and he dragged the NBA court and then testified before Congress, demanding that he and his in-demand, talented colleagues should (at a minimum) be able to choose their place of employment. All this was accomplished at a time when an outspoken athlete could easily find themselves on the unemployment line.
“There is a long tradition in our league going back to Oscar and others, including Bill Russell, who spoke out about civil rights issues,” Commissioner Adam Silver told Sports Illustrated’s Jack McCallum in 2020. “It’s a culture that’s been passed down from generation to generation, and Oscar led the fight.”
Over the summer, Robertson watched the Milwaukee Bucks win their first NBA title in 50 years, since he and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar last led the team to glory. It delighted him to no end. He marveled not just at the tens of thousands who had crammed into what the team dubbed “the Deer District” outside the stadium, but franchises now worth billions, and contracts for the biggest stars topping $200 million. As much as any NBA player, Robertson fought to ensure at least a somewhat more equitable distribution of wealth, though this stretch of NBA and labor history may have faded over time for fans and players alike.
“Some don’t know what the Oscar Robertson Rule is all about,” he said of the 1976 settlement agreement granting NBA players the right to free agency before any of the other major pro sports leagues. According to Robertson, those unaware of his battles should probably ask themselves, “How did it get this way?”
Looking for College Gear? Check Here First.
An excerpt from Spy -
The Best Places to Buy College Apparel Make Showing College Pride Too Easy
By Jake Cappuccino
1. Fanatics
 |
| Courtesy of Fanatics |
BEST OVERALL
Of all the best places to buy college apparel, Fanatics has to be the single best overall for most people. It has an enormous selection of official apparel and merchandise for hundreds upon hundreds of college teams.
In fact, multiple other big retailers of college apparel just use Fanatics to sell their college apparel, including NCAA Sports, FansEdge and Lids. So when you shop from those retailers, you’re getting the same experience you’d get on Fanatics.com. And there’s good reason for that. Not only does Fanatics have great coverage of schools — seriously, we’ve never even heard of the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs or the Hampton Pirates, but they’re covered — it sells a branded version of pretty much anything you could ever want. If you’d rather show support for a conference, Fanatics even has you covered there with Pac-12, ACC, Big Ten gear and more.
We could show any one of a million different examples, but we’ll just leave these awesome USC Trojans Nike Zoom Pegasus 38 Running Shoes to get your mind running.
https://spy.com/articles/gear/style/best-places-to-buy-college-apparel-1202788151/
FAMU Business Students Are Collaborators With Hair Care Line
An excerpt from the Tallahassee Democrat -
Wakati Black hair product line gives nod to FAMU students for their collaboration
By Byron Dobson
 |
| Florida A & M University business students helped design the marketing and business concept for Wakati Hair Products which are sold at Target, Walgreens, and Walmart.com Tori Schneider Tallahassee Democrat |
Felyicia Jerald often shops at Target for its assortment of hard-to-find hair products for African American consumers. But on a recent visit, she noticed a new product line — Wakati.
"I looked to the right and saw the purple bottle on the shelf, and it seems as if it had orange and green tones to it a well. I said, ‘I want to check it out really quick,' " said Jerald, a 1988 journalism graduate of Florida A&M University, whose school colors are orange and green.
“I started reading the ingredients, the benefits of the product and it wasn’t until I flipped it over did I see the FAMU logo on it. That got my interest.”
Jerald ended up purchasing a moisturizer, a moisturizing spray and shampoo.
“I’m impressed with the look of the product and when I saw FAMU on the back that was another draw to help me to decide to buy it and try it out,” said Jerald, manager of communications for Mercedes-Benz U.S. International.
She posted the find on Facebook, where she discovered “quite a few” family members and FAMU friends were aware of the product and the school shout-out on the packaging.
Her post reads: “Was so excited to see this product on the shelves at Target! I think the orange and green and cute packaging drew me in, then when I flipped it over and saw that #FAMU business students helped design the marketing and biz concept, that sold me. Great job students!”
Cedric The Entertainer on Phone Call from Michael Jackson and Flirting w...
https://youtu.be/NWySL9sKuR0
Saturday, September 11, 2021
Deion Calls Out ESPN
https://www.si.com/college/hbcu/football/deion-sanders-blasts-espn-getty-imagn-no-photos-of-hbcu
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