Black voters and Michigan, Fade in the water anniversary, Howard U. buyouts
I'll be sending this newsletter from the NABJ Convention next week in Atlanta!
What I’m Reading
How one Black family has held onto their land for generations, URL Media
Elister Charleston has been farming for eight decades. His family’s farm, held together by faith and love, offers organic produce and events for the community. Kia Gregory explored how his family kept their land for decades.
Nolan Wells went to an island with friends and never came home. His death has renewed debate over race and justice in Mississippi, The Guardian
“Uncertainty around the investigation into the death of the 18-year-old, whose body was found after a July 4th boat trip with friends, has led some to question whether justice will be meted out equally,” Adria Walker reports.
He’s eligible for up to $480,000 after being wrongly imprisoned for 42 years. The state says no, ProPublica
Elvis Brooks was exonerated after spending 42 years in prison. And yet the Louisiana Attorney General maintains he is guilty, preventing him from qualifying for any compensation from the state.
Applications for Preserving Black Churches grants, a key initiative of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, are now open. Applications opened this week, and will close on September 11, at 5:00 p.m.
What’s In The News
Across America
Alabama: This week marked the three year anniversary of the Montgomery Brawl…
Arkansas: Librarians and booksellers could face up to a year in prison if they’re found to have “distributed” inappropriate material to those under the age of 18…
Colorado: Denver City Council may start meetings with a statement recognizing the atrocities of slavery under a new proposal…
California: An LAPD officer has been charged after he secretly recorded his colleagues making racist, homophobic and sexist comments…
Georgia: Capital B Atlanta asked Black male voters to share their questions for Sen. Jon Ossoff ahead of November…
Iowa: Black students in the state are arrested at nearly four times the rate of their peers, according to an ACLU report…
Indiana: Gov. Mike Braun announced he would end some contracting preferences for women and minority owned businesses…
Massachusetts: Black clergymen helped lower homicides in Boston, and want the city to remain one of the safest in the country....
Michigan: Donavan McKinney has toppled a Democratic congressman, virtually guaranteeing the return of Black representation in Congress to Detroit…
Mississippi: The Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services met 22 of 107 applicable safety measures, a court monitor found…
Missouri: Incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell ended a comeback bid by former Rep. Cori Bush in a hotly contested Missouri Democratic primary…
New York: Candace Miller-Brathwaite used her lived experience to elevate Harlem and tell her family’s story…
Tennessee: Fisk University President Dr. Agenia Walker Clark defended the university’s plan to build a data center at the HBCU...
Virginia: A new research center dedicated to Black American history in the Danville region will soon receive a permanent home…
Washington: Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes resigned following criticism about the city’s response to a recent fatal shooting at a food festival...
Wisconsin: Black babies in the state continue to die at far higher rates than babies of other races. The Cap Times wants to speak with those with lived experience who can provide insight into the ongoing Black infant mortality crisis...
What’s Happening
Black voters shaped the discourse in Michigan’s U.S. Senate primary, Sam Robinson reports for the Michigan Chronicle…
Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus reportedly told Axios that the incoming Democrats who have declined to support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for speaker may not be welcomed with open arms…
Jasper Smith expertly explored the debacle at Howard University, and also found out that the prominent HBCU is offering buyouts to 600 employees…
Tasia Fortune has been identified as the woman whose body was found hanging from a tree behind a Jackson, Mississippi, home…
For EBONY, Sherdell Baker wrote about the impact chronic stress has on Black business owners…
Dominique Dillon, a news anchor who went viral for falling asleep on air, is opening up about her “work nightmare”…
The Trump administration’s plans to stymie and defund bike lane plans in the US, on the unusual basis that they are DEI tools, will hurt efforts to improve roadway safety, non-motorized transportation advocates say…
Forbes’ Asia Alexander compiled America’s top 20 HBCUs that set their graduates up for success…
Laila AnnMarie Stevens documents her family’s move from New York City to North Carolina — a kind of reversal of the historic Great Migration of the early 20th century…
Investigators say Joniah Walker disappeared at age 15 and was held against her will until authorities located her roughly 730 miles from home…
A recent camp involving tech influencers, Black creatives and OpenAI is drawing swift backlash online…
Entertainment News
“When the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts unveiled its America250 Big Read program, Marita Golden and Gwen McKinney realized there were no Black women on the list of authors. So the literary activists created something of their own.” Watch above…
Morgan Freeman recently spoke with the New York Times about his latest work, his voice and how he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon…
Paramount+ has released first-look images of “The Varnell Hill Show,” the “Martin” spinoff premiering this September…
Serena Williams will reunite with Venus Williams in doubles at the Cincinnati Open…
Keke Palmer is set to handle hosting duties for Carson Daly on the upcoming celebrity-themed Season 31 of “The Voice”...
Ice-T talked with Keith Murphy about his new album, podcast culture and why rap artists shouldn’t have an expiration date…
Mahershala Ali spoke with GQ about moving on from Blade—and re-teamed with writer/director Bassam Tariq for a “uniquely deep” action project instead…
The New York Times spent a day with actor Tramell Tillman as he shopped for furniture in Hell’s Kitchen and danced through Chelsea…
Apple TV has acquired the rights to Colson Whitehead‘s “Harlem” trilogy, Variety reports…
The New York Times reviewed “Jimmy,” a feature film that imagines the early life of a 24-year-old James Baldwin before he became a literary icon…
Obituaries
Mildred Pitts Walter, a schoolteacher who wrote award-winning children’s books focusing on Black characters, has died. She was 103…
Arlene Smith, one of the co-founders and lead vocalists of the pioneering 1950s girl group The Chantels, has died. She was 84…
James H. Patterson, a musician, educator and Clark Atlanta University legend, has died. He was 91...
Florence “Flo” Anthony, a pioneering celebrity journalist who was the first woman to work in the New York Post’s sports section, has died. She was 74…
Booker Rowe, the first Black musician to perform in The Philadelphia Orchestra, has died. He was 85…
Tony Hicks, who was convicted of murder at 14 before later dedicating his life to violence prevention alongside the family of the man he killed, has died. He was 45…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 50 seconds!...
Design challenge for participating HBCU students: create an original wordmark, icon, or visual inspired by “Public Radio Meets HBCU Excellence.” The deadline is TODAY…
The Black Boy Writes & Black Girl Writes Mentorship Initiative is “dedicated to supplying industry access and resources to preWGA Black screenwriters”…
Capital B News is hosting THE STORY WE’RE WRITING: Black Power, Politics & Possibility, a conversation on Black wealth, political power, and what’s at stake in the midterms, on August 13 on Martha’s Vineyard. RSVP at events@capitalbnews.org...
Applications for the Shondaland x SeriesFest Women Directing Mentorship are now open…
Save the date: In October, there will be an opening of a new exhibit in Columbus honoring Dr. Helen G. Edmonds, the first Black woman to earn a PhD in History from Ohio State University in 1946…