BAFTA N-word outrage, Megan Thee Stallion takes Broadway, RIP Joanne Bland
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What I’m Reading
Trump’s threats to free speech aren’t new to Black journalists, The Nation
In my capacity as president of the Washington Association of Black Journalists, I spoke with student journalist Atarah Israel about how Black journalists are grappling with Trump’s latest threats to free speech.
Related: I was also featured in Tevon Blair’s Essence Magazine story about Black journalism amid the arrests of Georgia Fort and Don Lemon.
Mississippi’s Black voters brace for elections ruling that could gut Supreme Court clout, The Marshall Project
An important story to follow: The Supreme Court will soon rule on a case that could gut key parts of the Voting Rights Act and radically change the country’s voting maps. Mississippi's Black voters are bracing for "devastation."
Tourette’s activist John Davidson shouted the N-word while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the BAFTA Film Awards, causing an uproar online. Delroy Lindo told Vanity Fair that he and Michael B. Jordan “did what we had to do” while presenting, but that he also wished “someone from BAFTA spoke to us afterward.”
Warner Bros. executives immediately contacted BAFTA after the N-word was shouted in an effort to have it removed from the BBC’s time-delayed broadcast, according to a report. But it didn’t happen.
Davidson said he has reached out to the actors to apologize. BAFTA and BBC have apologized and ordered a comprehensive review. In an op-ed for The Guardian, Jason Okundaye explains that all the anger and frustration should be aimed at the BBC. My colleague Jillian Wilson spoke with experts and advocates about Tourette syndrome and sought answers to the many questions people had following the outburst.
What’s In The News
Across America
California: California’s Medi-Cal has covered doula care since 2023, but the state is still working to increase access and awareness of this benefit…
Connecticut: Students are reactivating the Yale chapter of the NAACP after years of dormancy…
Florida: Lawmakers left the Florida Museum of Black History out of their budget priorities, casting uncertainty over its funding and future…
Georgia: Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is defending California Governor Gavin Newsom after comments he made in Atlanta are being called racist…
Idaho: The Post Falls City Council voted to remove Juneteenth as a city holiday while adding Columbus Day…
Louisiana: Reconstruction on the Nottoway Plantation house, which was consumed by a massive fire last year, has begun…
Maryland: Four years after shooting her husband for sexually abusing children at her daycare, Shanteari Young now wants to advocate for children who’ve experienced sexual abuse…
Massachusetts: The future of a historic refuge for Black artists in Boston is in doubt…
Michigan: A collective of Black women dentists is expanding public health across Metro Detroit…
New Mexico: The University of New Mexico has opened the Afro Hair Shop for students…
New York: A Hunter College professor is under investigation by her employer for racist remarks made during a public school meeting. She has been placed on leave…
North Carolina: Black-owned barbecue restaurants have anchored their communities across the state. But there aren’t many left…
Oklahoma: Over a century after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, a multi-year project to preserve Greenwood’s Vernon AME Church basement and turn it into a museum and cultural center has launched…
Oregon: The Department of Education opened an investigation into Portland Public Schools’ Center for Black Student Excellence…
Tennessee: Nashville-based Amanda Ewing has made history as the first recorded Black woman violin maker in the United States…
Texas: A viral Snapchat video showed a Black boy allegedly bullied into drinking urine. A jury just awarded $3.2M to one of the teens accused of making him drink it…
What’s Happening
Rep. Al Green held a sign during the State of the Union address that called out a racist social media post Trump recently shared of Barack and Michelle Obama…Capital B’s Brandon Tensley did a deep dive on the speech…
For the Atlantic, Adam Harris writes, “Black History Month is sometimes treated as little more than an opportunity for corporate branding and, maybe, school assemblies.” But “observing it this February feels radical”...
The mother of Da’Quain Johnson is speaking out after her son was shot and killed by Grand Rapids, Michigan, police…
The family of a man who was reported missing out of Atlanta said he was found dead in a Cobb Countypark. Authorities said “no foul play” has been discovered…
31 colleges have agreed to end their partnership with the PhD Project, which aimed to support underrepresented students pursuing doctoral degrees in business…Related: New York University has canceled affinity graduations, citing the “current political climate”...
A new poll focused on Black voters found that “their relative absence from the protests wasn’t related to a secret vein of support for Trump or a lack of opposition to his anger. It was rooted in fear of political violence or economic backlash”...
10-year-old Honey Cooper is making local history in California as a dual-enrollment student at San Bernardino Valley College…
Metro Atlanta’s largest Black-owned swim school is “designed to foster a strong connection between the community and the water”...
A new bill would create a state commission to investigate the hundreds of Black boys who died under state custody at a segregated juvenile facility in Maryland...
AJ Addae, a UCLA student, was frustrated with sunscreens that left a white cast. She reinvented her own sunscreen to protect darker skin tones…
St. Augustine University in Raleigh, North Carolina, honored its long-serving former president, Prezell Robinson…
The first Black homeowner in Piedmont, California, was forced out of his home in the 1920s. Now, his family is suing…
Clarice Phelps is now credited as the first Black woman to help discover a periodic element…
Inez Phillips Durham and daughter Jennifer Durham are the first parent-child duo to earn doctorate degrees from Rutgers’ School of Psychology…
Eunice Bodie, who recently celebrated her 92nd birthday, was the first Black hairstylist at a Memphis salon more than 70 years ago. And she’s still going...
Entertainment News
The legendary actor Bill Duke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week. Watch above…
Wrigley Field is gearing up to host the first-ever Chicago HBCU Baseball Classic this spring…
Florida A&M University honored the legacy of Michael Jackson with the Marching 100’s performance of “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough”...
For Harper’s Bazaar, Morgan Jerkins covered “Natchez,” a new documentary about a Mississippi town grappling with its history of enslavement…
Jonathan Majors is set to star in a new action film for right-wing media outlet The Daily Wire…
Megan Thee Stallion will make her Broadway debut next month in the Tony-winning “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”…
For BBC, Amethyst Ganaway takes us inside Atlanta’s soul food revolution…
Atlanta-based rock band The Paradox became the first all-Black band to top Billboard’s Alternative chart…
LA intersection Crenshaw and Slauson is set to be renamed this weekend in honor of the late rapper Nipsey Hussle…
Mara Brock Akil is set to make her debut as a novelist with “The Revelation of Dionne Daphne,” to be published June 30…
Sarah Bond, the first Black woman to serve as president of Xbox, is stepping down from her executive role…
Ryan Coogler‘s reboot of “The X-Files” is officially moving forward with a pilot order at Hulu…
A new analysis reveals Nicki Minaj’s push for “conservative causes has been amplified by an army of bots and coordinated activity”….
Obituaries
Joanne Bland, one of the youngest people to march on “Bloody Sunday,” has died. She was 72…NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe visited her back in 2022…
Dorothy Prevost, whose daughter Tessie made history as one of four girls who integrated schools in New Orleans, has died. She was 94…
Kara Braxton, a former WNBA All-Star and Detroit Shock who played 10 years in the league, has died. She was 43…
Ulysses Jenkins, a trailblazing figure in Black experimental video, has died. He was 80...
Avel Gordly, who made history as the first Black woman elected to Oregon’s state senate, has died. She was 79…
Oliver “Power” Grant, co-founder of the Wu Tang Clan and executive producer of the group’s early recordings, has died. He was 52…
Robert Cosby Jr, the son of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Mary Cosby, has died. He was 23…
Rondale Moore, a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, has died. He was 25…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 1 minute, 9 seconds…
“Sinners” stars Buddy Guy and Miles Canton’s NPR Tiny Desk concert will premiere today…
Michael Harriot spoke with Geoff Bennett about his best-selling book, “Black AF History,” and what we can learn from Black history today…
If you’re an HBCU journalism student curious about data, apply for the Du Bois Data Lab in Washington. It’s a free program; no prior experience required…