Cassie takes the stand, Southern accent fading, RIP John Edwards
I'm on another trip this week, so here's a shorter edition of my newsletter! Thank you for your continued support.
What I’m Reading
Cassie Testifies In Diddy’s Sex Trafficking Trial, HuffPost
Casandra “Cassie” Ventura took the stand this week to testify against her ex-partner and former record label boss Sean Combs in New York federal court. My colleague Njera Perkins is covering the trial for HuffPost.
Related: wrote about Erica Kennedy’s hip-hop satire that predicted the future, decades before the world learned of Sean Combs’ allegations.
Tyre Nichols and the End of Police Reform, The Atlantic
“The failure of courts to secure murder convictions for the former officers who beat Tyre Nichols, and of politicians to bring greater accountability, means that he will not be the last to suffer an unjust death,” David A. Graham writes.
They Came to See a Band Reunion. And Eat Biscuits, The New York Times
For the New York Times, Jonathan Abrams traveled to Durham for Rhiannon Giddens’ Biscuits & Banjos, a new music festival dedicated to Black string music and, of course, biscuits.
What’s In The News
Across America
District of Columbia: Crystal McNeal earned the title of “neighborhood mom” after her 11-year-old son was killed by gun violence…
Florida: Centuries later, a new reconstruction at Fort Mose in St. Augustine pays tribute to the first legally sanctioned free Black community in the country…
Georgia: Congratulations to my mentee, Kylar Gray, as she prepares to graduate from Spelman College. She recently interviewed students about Trump’s first 100 days in office…
Kentucky: Students at the University of Kentucky organized their own special graduation celebration in the wake of anti-DEI cancellations…
Louisiana: The Nottoway Plantation, the “largest remaining antebellum mansion in the South,” caught fire this week…
Maryland: A majority-Black community TV station in Prince George’s County is in danger of closing due to budget cuts. Please consider signing this petition to help keep it alive. Read my statement in Capital B…
Michigan: A political activist who brought a casket and bullhorn outside the home of Flint’s mayor was arrested and jailed for “disturbing the peace”…
Nebraska: Omaha just elected its first Black mayor ever…
New York: Christina Carrega talked to Buffalo residents still reeling from the racist massacre that took place three years ago…
Ohio: A man checked out 100 books on Black history, Jewish history and LGBTQ+ education from a library only to burn them…
Pennsylvania: 40 years ago this week, police dropped a bomb on a West Philadelphia neighborhood. Read the Philadelphia Tribune’s editorial about the MOVE Bombing…
What’s Happening
The Southern accent is fading from some parts of the South as a growing number of Americans move there, a series of research papers found…
The Associated Press: “The Episcopal Church’s migration service is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status, citing the church’s longstanding “commitment to racial justice and reconciliation”...
NBC News explored how cuts to DEI and a soft job market may affect new Black college graduates…
An extreme Georgia abortion law is forcing a brain-dead woman to stay on life support for months so doctors can try to deliver her unborn baby…
Congresswoman Summer Lee has reintroduced a resolution for reparations…
ICYMI: Learn about the Black mothers who led a quest for justice in one of the biggest environmental fights of the 20th century…
Urania Wilson, the mother of Caleb Wilson, recently graduated from Southern University and honored her late son...
A Michigan man has been freed from prison after 52 years of maintaining his innocence…
A 12-foot-tall statue in Times Square is revealing how people really feel about Black women, writes in Refinery29…
A Georgia woman put college on hold to care for her family. Nearly six decades later, she graduated from Clayton State University…
F Dubois Bowman, a 1992 Morehouse graduate and dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, will be the next president of the Atlanta HBCU…
We need more of this: The Library Dads initiative in Atlanta is helping fathers and kids bond over reading…
Entertainment News
Tory Lanez was stabbed multiple times by a fellow inmate at a California prison and is currently recovering at a local hospital…
wrote about Netflix’s popular teen coming-of-age series “Forever,” and how she could relate to the show’s characters…
A judge has granted a restraining order to Halle Bailey, who says her ex-boyfriend DDG has physically abused her…
Interesting feature in Vulture: The so-called racial reckoning of 2020 sent prices for Black art soaring. Now, interest in Black art has plummeted…
The hit soap opera “Beyond The Gates” has been renewed for a second season by CBS…
Lynae Vanee is set to host a new series for REVOLT, titled “The People’s Brief” starting May 20…
NFL star Myles Garrett recently donated $25,000 to Hampton University, where his mother attended college…
Usher inspired Emory University's Class of 2025 with a keynote address during commencement this past weekend. Watch the full speech here…
Read an excerpt from “Concrete Dreamland” by Patrick Dougher, a coming-of-age story in underground New York: On being a poor Black punk and working at the Strand Bookstore…
Obituaries
John Edwards, a former lead singer for the famed Motown group The Spinners, has died. He was 80…
Nate Holden, a former Los Angeles City Councilman who fought discrimination and redlining, has died. He was 95…
Worth Long, a civil rights activist and former field secretary for SNCC, has died. He was 89…
Qidere “LGP Qua” Johnson, a hip-hop artist known for his community activism and freestyles, was shot and killed in Philadelphia. He was 30…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 34 seconds! (This score is for Tuesday’s crossword)...
Learn about the real history of the complex relationship between Chinese and Black Americans in the Mississippi Delta…
The Investigative Project on Race and Equality is hiring an investigative reporter and an audience engagement specialist…
Sankofa Video, Books & Cafe in D.C. is celebrating the 100th birthday of Malcolm X with a special screening of Shirikiana Aina's 1978 documentary film "Footprints of Pan-Africanism" on May 17…
If you’ll be in Philly on June 25th, check out this conversation between 2024 MacArthur Fellowship winners Dorothy Roberts, Jennifer L. Morgan, and Ruha Benjamin…
Join The Institute for Common Power for “Freedom School Saturday: Teaching The History They Don’t Want You to Know,” a free webinar on June 28th…
The National Black Radical Organizers Conference will take place from May 30 to June 1 at Butler University…