Black voters for Biden launch, Biggie’s mom speaks out, Sha’Carri victory
Friday, May 31, 2024.
What I’m Reading
Incarcerated New Yorkers staged a Broadway show in prison, Gothamist
Men incarcerated at a prison in New York performed a rendition of “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” a play that follows seven Black men through a single day in Brooklyn. The play was produced by the nonprofit Rehabilitation Through the Arts, and organizers say acting helps members connect with their families and neighborhoods once they’re released.
The Texas School District That Provided the Blueprint for an Attack on Public Education, The New Yorker
It was obvious that the attack on diversity and critical race theory by conservative activists was a frontal assault on public education. But what wasn’t quite as obvious was that these attacks were the battering ram for full-scale sacking and looting of public education through school choice and vouchers.
A Black rising star lost his elite orchestra job. He won’t go quietly, The Washington Post
Josh Jones, the principal percussionist with the Kansas City Symphony and the first Black musician in the orchestra’s history to land a leadership position, believed he lost his role unjustly and decided to challenge the system by taking his complaints public. Prominent musicians and supporters believe that he’s exposing the industry’s long-standing problems.
What’s In The News
Across America
Alabama: Mark Brown will become the first alum in Tuskegee University’s 143-year history to lead the HBCU...
District of Columbia: D.C. public schools celebrated two of their longest-serving teachers, both of whom have been teaching for over four decades…
Florida: The Florida Board of Education made some tweaks to its social studies curriculum, but is keeping its “actually, slavery was a good thing” language…
Illinois: A Chicago man convicted of murder based in part on testimony from a legally blind eyewitness is suing the city and the police department…
Kentucky: Gov. Andy Beshear designated Juneteenth as a holiday for state executive branch workers and expanded protections regarding discrimination based on hairstyles…
Louisiana: In March, Xavier University raised $100 million as a milestone in its $500 million Centennial Campaign…
Michigan: The state has offered to take over the remaining property repairs associated with lead service line removals in Flint, promising to finish the work by 2025…
Mississippi: The New York Times and Mississippi Today obtained years of messages from a text thread that shows conversations of sheriff’s deputies who terrorized residents…
New York: Rep. Jamaal Bowman is facing an attack from a national group that believes the left-leaning House member is too radical to represent mainstream Black voters…
North Carolina: A Confederate monument at a North Carolina county courthouse is at the center of a lawsuit for what some say explicitly supports slavery…
Texas: A federal judge is mulling whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Black high school student dealing with his months-long punishment by his Texas school district for refusing to change his hairstyle…
Vermont: A new study shows the impacts of arts-based health intervention and how to improve the well-being of Black artists…
What’s Happening
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a campaign event together in Pennsylvania this week, where they announced the launch of Black Voters for Biden-Harris…As the vice president travels the country on her “Economic Opportunity Tour,” she has begun to tailor her message toward Black men…
Former President Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush money trial…A former “Apprentice” producer said he personally heard Trump use the N-word to describe a Black contestant in a meeting "caught on tape"...
Four years after George Floyd was killed, the momentum for comprehensive policing reform has waned and legislative efforts have stalled…cities across the nation have settled over 100 lawsuits involving police misconduct with payouts to protesters totaling nearly $150 million…
Republicans are furious that Herschel Walker is sitting on over $4 million in leftover campaign funds and doesn’t appear to be that interested in using it to help the GOP or Trump…
A Michigan district judge was shocked after a man with a suspended driver’s license joined his court hearing Zoom call — while driving a car…
A Virginia company will pay a $7,500 civil penalty after being fined by the Department of Justice over a discriminatory “Whites Only” job posting…
Black Americans are less likely to use residential care communities and more likely to live in nursing homes, according to a new analysis…
Scary: Mark Robinson, one of the most extreme figures on the right with a history of posting anti-Semitic, homophobic, and sexist messages on Facebook, could become North Carolina’s first Black governor…
Bonita J. Brown just became the first woman to hold the position of chancellor at Winston-Salem State University since the HBCU’s founding in 1892...
Three Black men have sued American Airlines, claiming they were victims of “blatant and egregious racial discrimination” after they were removed from a flight…
Addressing the roots of Black economic inequality could unlock as much as $1 trillion per year in domestic U.S. economic growth, according to a new study…
You may have never heard of John S. Jacob — an author, a fugitive, an abolitionist — but you need to familiarize yourself with his story…
Gallbladder cancer rates have been steadily rising for Black people, despite cases being stable or declining among other groups, according to a study…
Entertainment News
Rolling Stone spent six months interviewing Sean “Diddy” Combs’s former friends, acquaintances, employees, and Bad Boy artists, for an expansive look into the music mogul’s history of violence…Federal investigators are reportedly preparing to bring his accusers before a federal grand jury…Notorious B.I.G.’s mother, Voletta Wallace, said she wants to “slap the daylights out of him”…
Dawn Staley, WNBA legend and the only Black head coach in hoops to win multiple national championships, is the cover of the latest SLAM Magazine…
YES! Magazine is now officially run by two Black women — Evette Dionne and Khalilah Elliott…
Meghann Cuniff wrote an article on the new filing from Megan Thee Stallion’s lawyers calling the man suing her a “con artist” with a “frivolous” case…
Baltimore Beat shared the story of Charles Mason III, a Baltimore-based artist in urgent need of a kidney donor and funds to cover future medical expenses…
Major League Baseball has integrated the statistics of former Negro Leagues players into its historical records…Clinton Yates wrote a column on how the news is a sobering reminder of challenge to maintain Black history…
Alfonso Ribeiro made it clear on social media that he doesn’t want anything to do with Tyler Perry…
Love to see it: Sha’Carri Richardson has won the Prefontaine Classic in her first 100m of the Olympic year…
Darius Rucker reflected on the ups and downs in the music industry and looked back at his time in Hootie & the Blowfish in his memoir “Life’s Too Short”...
The Nation examined the genius of Ella Fitzgerald, who “remade the American songbook in her image, uprooting the very meaning of musical performance”...
Netflix has renewed “The Vince Staples Show” for a second season…
Former NFL player Warrick Dunn is being recognized for his Homes for the Holidays program for single-parent families…
Patti LaBelle spoke to The Guardian about “smoking, swimming, sweet potato pie and her phenomenally famous friends: Elton, Otis, Laura Nyro and the Stones”…
The Biden Administration gave The Shade Room an exclusive: President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will be hosting a Juneteenth concert on June 10…
Stephanie Mills, the original “Wiz” star, will join the Tony Award-winning musical “Hadestown”...
Essence Magazine is allegedly grappling with a “toxic workplace culture” that has left “a trail of black women who are sick, traumatized and victimized”...
Bravo has put the pause on “Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard” after two seasons, Deadline reports…
NPR’s Tiny Desk is celebrating Black Music Month with a lineup that includes Chaka Khan, SWV, Tems, Flo Milli, and Tierra Whack…
In “Abbott Elementary,” Sheryl Lee Ralph’s character provides one example of what it looks like for Black Christian women to live out their faith in their everyday lives, Deirdre Jonese Austin writes for Sojourners…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 2 minutes, 19 seconds…
May 31st and June 1st will mark the 103rd anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. The city’s search for victims and relatives from the massacre is making “significant progress”...
Sports Rap Radio, the nation’s first sports-talk radio station completely owned by and featuring Black American talent, will launch on June 3…
The Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, which examines and promotes Black baseball history, will take place June 6-9. There’s a virtual option as well…
The NPHC Scholarship Program offers financial support ranging from $500 to $2000 to active undergraduate members of Divine Nine sororities and fraternities. Please share or apply! The deadline is June 30…
Black Women Radicals celebrated 50 years of the Combahee River Collective in conversation with two of its founders, Demita Frazier and Barbara Smith…
Media jobs: The Baltimore Banner is hiring a photojournalist…Block Club Chicago is hiring two full time reporters - the deadline is today!...The Detroit News has a few openings…My place of employment, HuffPost, is hiring a culture reporter…Axios is hiring a climate and energy reporter…
Here’s the link to the NPR Tiny Desk story, which I mistakenly did not add: https://www.essence.com/music/black-music-month-tiny-desk-exclusive/