Lockdown Love

An excerpt from Entrepreneur - 

She Made Personalized Cards for Her Husband in Prison. Then She Realized Thousands of Prison Wives Would Buy Them.

Danielle Macias started True Blue Stationery as a side hustle. She soon discovered there was more demand than she could possibly meet.

By Elizabeth Greenwood, Author of LOVE LOCKDOWN: Dating, Sex, and Marriage in America's Prison System

Image credit: Danielle Macias

Danielle Macias never set out to be a stationery designer. Back in 2014, when she started her business, she was working full-time as a medical diagnostic scheduler and supporting her husband José through his 25-year prison sentence. They met as teenagers and married while José was incarcerated in Kern Valley State Prison, in California. Between visits, she wrote him love letters, decorating the envelopes and sheets of paper with simple designs. “I’m a horrible artist,” Danielle, 34, says. Still, a friend with whom she carpooled to the prison caught a glimpse of an envelope Danielle had prepared for José, 35. It was adorned with a cartoon image of a mailbox and the phrase “love letter” in a striking script. She asked Danielle where she had gotten this prison-specific piece of stationery, and Danielle told her she’d made it. She asked Danielle to make something similar for her, and True Blue Stationery was born.

“I didn’t go into this thinking I’d make a whole business out of my cards,” Danielle says, “but it took off pretty quickly.” She had tapped into a large and underserved customer base: There are more than 2 million people incarcerated in the United States, 93% of them men. And on the outside, there are millions more caring for them from afar, like Danielle. 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/379077

The 2nd Amendment Is Not Intended For Us

An excerpt from Slate - 

“The Second Amendment Is Not Intended for Black People”

Tracing the racist history of gun governance.

BY DAHLIA LITHWICK 

Black gun owners take part in a rally in support of the
Second Amendment in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
on June 20, 2020. Reuters/Lawrence Bryant

On a recent episode of Slate’s legal podcast Amicus, host Dahlia Lithwick spoke with historian Carol Anderson, professor and chair of African American studies at Emory University, about her new book, The Second. Anderson’s work explores how the Constitution’s Second Amendment was not only crafted to suppress Black Americans, but was continually enforced throughout the centuries in a racist manner, leading to everything from the terrorizing of Reconstruction-era Black Americans to the police killings of even legally armed Black people today. A portion of the conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity, has been transcribed below.

Dahlia Lithwick: I wonder if you could start by talking about what led you to this exploration of the connection between slavery, the founding, and guns.

Carol Anderson: It began in 2016 with the killing of Philando Castile. In Minnesota, you have a Black man who was pulled over by the police. The officer asked to see his ID. Castile, following NRA guidelines, alerts the officer that he has a license to carry a weapon with him but he says he’s reaching for his ID. The police officer begins shooting and kills Philando Castile. We see the film of it. It is horrific.

We have a Black man killed simply for having a gun—not for brandishing it, not for threatening anyone, simply for having a license to carry a gun. The National Rifle Association, that protector of the Second Amendment, goes virtually silent. And I thought, how is the NRA silent on this, particularly when it was calling federal law enforcement jackbooted government thugs at Ruby Ridge and at Waco? On this, they’re like virtually silent. Journalists began asking, “Well, don’t African Americans have Second Amendment rights?” And I thought to myself, that’s a great question, and that’s what led me on to this hunt.

In the epilogue to your book, you put in Trevor Noah’s quote from when he looks at a whole host of incidents in which police officers talk down a white man with a gun: They persuade him to disarm and they arrest him. Noah makes the argument that “the Second Amendment is not intended for Black people.” I think the argument is saying that the Second Amendment is in fact working exactly the way it was intended to work with respect to Black folks, and that is as a tool of persistence, subordination, and destruction. I just want to be super clear that you’re not saying the Second Amendment is broken, that it was conceived to do a thing that it doesn’t do. You’re saying the Second Amendment does precisely the thing it was crafted to do.

Exactly. You nailed it.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/08/second-amendment-guns-racist-black-americans-history.html

Brothers help underprivileged students afford historically Black college...

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/brothers-raise-money-help-students-080018355.html

Black Kids Labeled Negatively Early

An excerpt from Neuroscience News - 

The Older People Think a Black Child Is, the More Likely They Are to Wrongly See the Child As Angry

Summary: The older an adult believes a Black child to be, the more likely they are to believe the child is exhibiting angry emotions, even when they are not. The same emotional perception shift does not occur when an adult sees an image of a white child.

Source: North Carolina State University

    

             These misperceptions occurred significantly

           less frequently for white children.

            Credit: North Carolina State University

A recent study from North Carolina State University finds that the older an adult thinks a Black child is, the more likely the adult is to incorrectly view the child as being angry. There was no similar shift in adults’ perceptions of white children’s emotions.

“Our earlier work had established that racialized anger bias is imposed on both Black adults and Black children,” says Amy Halberstadt, co-author of a paper on the work and a professor of psychology at NC State.

“This study shows again that Black children are more likely than white children to be seen as angry, even when they are not angry, which has ramifications for receiving unfair consequences.”

“The new part in this study was to see if anger bias increased as a function of the child’s age,” says Alison Cooke, first author of the study and a former Ph.D. student at NC State.

“Do people see Black children as older and does that increase the likelihood that people will incorrectly perceive Black children as angry?”

https://neurosciencenews.com/race-perception-anger-19074/

Black & Beautiful Luxury Shoe Designer

An excerpt from Black Enterprise - 

‘ALL ABOUT THE DETAILS’: MEET THE YOUNGEST, BLACK FEMALE LUXURY SHOE DESIGNER IN THE INDUSTRY #BLACKBUSINESSMONTH

by Alexa Imani Spencer

(Photo Ganesia Wveighlin)

This woman is kicking out glass ceilings and walking in her power as the youngest, Black female designer in the luxury shoe industry who owns 100% of her brand.

Meet Ganesia Wveighlin, 32, owner of CaesarWalks; a unique, expressive luxury shoe brand she founded in 2017. Wveighlin boldly stepped into the luxury shoe market with a vision and hasn’t looked back since. 

                                                                                                                                                               

The brand includes shoes for women and men with some handmade touches. Wveighlin studied shoemaking in 2019 so she could make her shoes by hand. Her education first started in Brooklyn and continued in London, England. 

https://www.blackenterprise.com/youngest-black-female-luxury-shoe-designer-ganesia-wveighlin/

He Opened His Heart and His Wallet

An excerpt from Readers' Digest - 

A Man Heard an Elderly Woman Was About to Lose Her House, So He Gave Her the Money to Keep It

When a Detroit man heard a woman was about to lose her house, he opened his heart—and his wallet. 

By Emily Goodman

Michael Evans (right) inspires his son (left) to continue his legacy of charity.

EE BERGER FOR READER'S DIGEST

Michael Evans was standing in line at the Wayne County Treasurer’s Office in Detroit last August, waiting to pay his taxes, when he heard a disturbing sound ahead of him. The elderly woman at the window was crying—and so was the cashier helping her. Then Evans learned why: He heard the cashier inform the woman that her house was in fore­closure and headed for auction. He also heard the woman tell the cashier that her daughter had recently died.

Evans, a businessman who had just buried his father, couldn’t stomach the idea of this woman losing her home right after losing her child. He approached the window. “I don’t mean to butt in,” he said to the cashier, “but if y’all can get her house back, I’ll pay for her taxes.” The amount due: $5,000.

The two women were stunned. Their despair turned to disbelief. The cashier left for a moment to confirm the amount and that it was all right for Evans to pay it. Evans vowed to go straight to the bank and come right back with the money. And he did.

But when he returned to the treasurer’s office, he asked someone else waiting in line to hand the $5,000 check to the cashier. Evans was trying to slip away quietly and, preferably, anonymously.

“I didn’t want this attention,” he explains.

Of course, attention found him—it’s not every day that someone pays a stranger’s hefty tax bill. 

https://www.rd.com/article/a-very-special-tax-break/

Black-Owned Drive-In Thrives

An excerpt from Black Enterprise - 

Black-Owned Drive-In Movie Theater That Opened At Height of COVID Has No Plans to Close

By Jeroslyn Johnson

Ayana Morris and Siree Morris (BlackBusiness)

A Black-owned drive-in movie theater in New Jersey that opened during the height of the pandemic has no plans of closing as their business thrives in a social distancing society.

Co-founders and husband-and-wife Ayana Morris and Siree Morris opened Newark Moonlight Cinema after seeing an opportunity while a pandemic plagued the world. Through the drive-in service, one of the few Black-owned theaters in the country, they were able to host over 20,000 cars during 2020, CNBC

reports.

While many small businesses struggle to make it as the pandemic looms on, Newark Moonlight Cinema is building its community-driven business to stand the test of time.

https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-owned-drive-in-movie-theater-in-new-jersey-capitalizing-on-distancing-protocols/amp/

Black Billionaires

From Essence - 

Here's Everyone On The Black Billionaire List Now

THOUGH THERE ARE JUST 15 BLACK PEOPLE AMONG THE WORLD’S ESTIMATED 2,755 BILLIONAIRES, FORTUNATELY, THE LIST IS GROWING.

BY JASMINE BROWLEY 

Rihanna (Getty Images)

https://www.essence.com/news/money-career/black-billionaire-list-2021/

 

Start Your Day With a Smile

From Buzzfeed - 

60 Pictures That Make Me Smile Uncontrollably No Matter How Many Times I've Seen Them

Can't stop smiling.

by Dave Stopera

https://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/60-wholesome-things

Rihanna is a BILLIONAIRE! Way to Go RiRi!

An excerpt from USA Today - 

Rihanna officially becomes a billionaire: Forbes names her the 'richest female musician'

By Elise Brisco

Forbes has announced Rhianna as a billionaire with
most of her worth coming from her Fenty brand.
Roy Rochlin, Getty Images

Rihanna shines bright like a diamond, or several diamonds: The multi-hyphenate star is now a billionaire. 

Forbes announced Wednesday that Rihanna joins the ranks of Oprah Winfrey as one of the richest entertainers in the world. The publication estimates her net worth at $1.7 billion, with most of it coming from her cosmetic brand Fenty Beauty. 

In lieu of another album – which fans are still waiting for – the singer-turned-entrepreneur, born Robyn Fenty, launched Fenty Beauty in 2017 in partnership with luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. The brand's launch focused on inclusivity with a then-unprecedented 40 shades of foundation, which prompted the "Fenty Effect" in which other brands expanded their shade ranges for complexion products. Now the brand covers everything under the sun of makeup, from brushes and blushes to lipsticks. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/08/04/rihanna-billionaire-forbes-richest-female-musician-fenty-beauty/5480614001/

She Deserves Every Penny and More!

An excerpt from Deadline - 

‘9-1-1’ Cast Gets Raises Ahead Of Season 5 With Angela Bassett Eyeing New Benchmark For Actresses Of Color

By Nellie Andreeva 

Angela Bassett - 911 on FOX

After lengthy negotiations for some, all series regulars on Fox’s flagship drama 9-1-1 have secured pay increases ahead of Season 5, I have learned.

Series star Angela Bassett led the way with a major bump that I hear takes her to north of $450,000 an episode. That is believed to be among the top salaries on network television for any actor — male or female — and could be the highest ever for an actress of color on a broadcast drama series.

For Oscar-nominated Bassett, it encompasses other services beyond acting. She was involved in the development of 9-1-1, whom Ryan Murphy created for her. She serves as an executive producer on 9-1-1 as well as spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star.

https://deadline.com/2021/08/9-1-1-cast-raises-season-5-angela-bassett-deal-1234796117/

Pharmaceutical Companies Have Gotten Rich From Her Cells. Her Family Has Gotten Nothing.

An excerpt from Newsonyx - 

Henrietta Lacks’ Family Will Sue Pharmaceutical Companies Who’ve Gotten Rich From Her Cells

Her HeLa cells have been used in research for decades without consent.

By Aziah Kamariby

Photo Courtesy of Baltimore Magazine (Mike Morgan)

The family of Henrietta Lacks has hired a prominent civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, who plans to seek compensation for them from big pharmaceutical companies across the country that have made fortunes off medical research with the use of Lacks’ famous cells.

On January 29, 1951, doctors at The Johns Hopkins Hospital took a biopsy from Henrietta Lacks, who had an aggressive form of cervical cancer.

She died eight months later, but the tissue was taken without her consent eventually established the cell line HeLa. The cells were the first immortal human cells to live outside of the body and be grown in culture.

For the next 70 years, cells taken from Lacks are the most widely used human cells in scientific research and helped lead to a multitude of medical treatments and advances, including the COVID-19 vaccine. However, neither Lacks nor her family gave consent.

Now, her descendants seek compensation from big pharmaceutical companies that profited from HeLa cells, and they hired the infamous Crump to help them do so.

https://www.newsonyx.com/henrietta-lacks-family-will-sue-pharmaceutical-companies-whove-gotten-rich-from-her-cells/

Are We Cheering For Everyone? If Not, Why Not?

An excerpt from Deadspin - 

America is determined to focus on the white women’s Olympic team that’s losing, instead of the Black women’s Olympic team that always wins

Even on the world’s biggest stage, this country has no shame showing off its prejudices

By Carron J. Phillips

Where’s the love for Tina Charles and the U.S. Women’s hoops team
that’s continuing their domination at the Olympics. Image: Getty Images

From the Confederacy to Jim Kelly’s Buffalo Bills teams in the early ’90s, and even the consistent coverage of Donald Trump and his supporters, throughout history, America has proven that it’s fascinated with losers… who are white.

And while the U.S. National Women’s National Soccer Team is the furthest thing from ever being considered losers, the predominantly white squad is, in fact, losing. Their semifinal loss to Canada was their second of the tournament (Sweden). A gold medal is now out of the picture, as a bronze medal is the only thing they can win, but even that isn’t a guarantee.

“If I could just say something, I just think the players have a lot to look at ourselves about,” said Megan Rapinoe after her team’s loss to Canada. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, we didn’t play better,’ and getting on each other, but we need to perform better, period. We don’t have juice because the ball’s banging off our shins and we’re not finding open passes and doing the simple things.”

But do you know who is winning in the Olympics, as usual?

The predominantly Black U.S. National Women’s Basketball Team, which is going for its seventh consecutive gold medal. To date, the team has only lost four games in the Olympics since 1976, and they’ve been undefeated in Olympic play since the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. During that time, we’ve seen the men’s team stumble to a bronze, rebuild itself into a global power, and stumble again under coach Gregg Popovich. The women’s soccer team only has four gold medals since 1996, while the women’s basketball team is primed to win their seventh.

https://deadspin.com/america-is-determined-to-focus-on-the-white-women-s-oly-1847407798

Oldest Tuskegee Airman Still Flying High

From Blavity - 

Oldest Living Tuskegee Airman Takes Grandson And Aspiring Aviator With Him On Flight

Who says 101-year-old can't have fun, too?

by Sìmone Stancil

The oldest living Tuskegee Airman Brigadier General Charles McGee, who is 101 years old, took flight last Sunday with a host of family members for the EAA AirVenture, one of the largest aviation events in the world. 

“I’ve been here many, many times, but to get back here again as I approach 102 is marvelous,” McGee said at the event’s headquarters in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Local 5 reported.

“Being able to come here and share with people that just like to look at airplanes or maybe kick the tires or maintain them, you can’t beat that,” he added.

McGee was joined on the flight by famous aviator Shaesta Waiz, who is known for piloting a single-engine aircraft across the globe in 2017, and his military pilot son, Ron McGee. Along with other family and friends, the 101-year-old’s great-grandson 15-year-old Lain Lanphier also joined on the journey from Dulles International Airport.

“It was an honor," Lanphier said. “I’ve never flown with him before, and although he’s very old, 102 almost, it’s amazing...he has a legacy to live up to and I strive to achieve that every day.”

The Tuskegee Airmen, given the title for training at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama, were the first Black aviators in the military serving under the U.S. Army Air Corps (AAC) in the early 1940s. Their contributions include flying more than 15,000 individual sorties in Europe and North Africa during World War II, earning them more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses. Ultimately, the airmen joined the U.S. Air Force, which inspired the integration of the U.S. military.

https://blavity.com/oldest-living-tuskegee-airman-takes-grandson-and-aspiring-aviator-with-him-on-flight?category1=news

FAMU Paid Off Student Debt

From ABC News -  

Florida HBCU doles out $16 million to pay off student debt

Florida A&M University used federal money to help students.

By Ivan Pereira

Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images, FILE

 Florida A&M University entrance sign.

Students at a historically Black college received a huge parting gift from their school during commencement ceremonies Saturday.

Larry Robinson, the president of Florida A&M University, announced the school spent over $16 million to cover fees, tuition and unpaid student account balances during the 2020-2021 school year.

"This is an indication of our commitment to student success and our hope that your time on the 'Hill' has been transformative as you take on the challenges of the day, go out and make a difference," he told the graduates.

The university was able to use money from the federal Cares Act, which provides COVID-19 relief to organizations, to pay for the students' costs.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-hbcu-doles-16-million-pay-off-student/story?id=79205464

Welcome To A New Day

From CNN - 

All the Black women in us are tired

Analysis by Lisa Respers France, CNN

Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles, and Sha'Carri Richardson

(CNN)The other day I shared a meme that stoked a lot of emotion.

In it, there are pictures of three superstar athletes -- tennis player Naomi Osaka, gymnast Simone Biles and track and field sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson -- along with a sign that reads, "Y'all Not Gone Stress Us Out -- Black Women Everywhere."

They are women of color (Osaka has a Japanese mother and a Haitian father while Biles and Richardson are African American) and have made headlines recently due to decisions they made to support their mental health.

All three also have something in common which I very much understand -- the struggle women of color face in exercising self-care.

As I wrote in the caption of the meme I shared on Instagram, it's hard being a Black woman.

"We are supposed to save relationships, families, elections, communities, democracy and basically the world all while exhibiting "black girl magic," but y'all mad when we save ourselves?" I wrote. "Welcome to a new day."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/01/entertainment/biles-osaka-richardson-self-care/index.html

Equestrian or Horse Crip Walking? | Olympic Highlights With Kevin Hart a...

Funeral Crashers - Just Stop!

An excerpt from The Mirror - 

Funeral 'crashers' actually quite common - and they have different reasons for doing it

It turns out that funeral crashers really do exist, whether they're hungry or just a tad lonely, they could be coming to a funeral near you

By Emily Sleight 

You’ve heard of the film Wedding Crashers, right? To be honest, it’s a pretty good movie, and in some cases, they actually do exist. But, have you heard of funeral crashers?

Yes, you read that correctly. Individuals that turn up to funerals of people they don’t even know, just because...well, why not?

They are quite obviously known as ‘funeral crashers’ and there are actually many weird and wonderful reasons as to why people decide to get dressed up and attend a funeral of someone they don’t know.

Take Theresa Doyle for example, as reported by The Metro a few years back. This peckish funeral crasher in Slough made headlines for turning up at strangers' wakes, enjoying the free buffet, and taking anything else she fancied home in a Tupperware.

At the time, her neighbour said: “Theresa has been doing this for about 14 years now, but the bizarre thing is, she gate-crashes people's funerals and then is completely brash about it.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/funeral-crashers-actually-quite-common-24634130

The First Black Woman to Have a Hair Fragrance Made in France

An excerpt from Essence - 

Alexia P. Hammonds Is The First Black Woman To Have A Hair Fragrance Manufactured In Grasse, France

GRASSE IS THE PERFUME CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. 

By Brooklyn White

KELLY WILLIAMS PHOTOGRAPHY

Alexia P. Hammonds has made history.

Her hair fragrance, Eat.Sweat.Undress, launched in October 2020 and established her as the first Black woman to have a hair fragrance manufactured in Grasse, France, the world’s perfume capital. She’s ecstatic about breaking new ground.

“I love that. Like, no matter what happens or how I transition in my fragrance business, I love knowing that I’ll be able to tell my kids, mommy was the first Black woman to do something,” Hammond said to ESSENCE.

What makes her product unique is that in addition to freshening the hair, it nourishes as well, which is key when creating products with a range of hair types in mind. “I have two luxury haircare benefits in my hair perfume,” she said. “So I have keratin and…I have the highest percentage of fragrance oil and the least amount of ethanol alcohol, which is the safe alcohol to having in a hair product for your hair so it doesn’t dry it out.”

https://www.essence.com/beauty/alexia-hammonds-hair-fragrance-exclusive/

Yesterday (The Beatles) - Fingerstyle