CBC Week approaches, Affirmative Action impact, RIP Rich Homie Quan
CBC Week approaches, Affirmative Action impact, RIP Rich Homie Quan
Friday, September 6, 2024.
What I’m Reading
The CBCF Annual Legislative Conference, the most prominent policy conference on issues impacting the Black community, begins next week. If you’re unfamiliar, the conference is a pretty unique experience — it wouldn’t be unusual to run into Rep. Maxine Waters and Waka Flocka in the same room. Read more about the conference here.
If you’ll be in DC for this year’s festivities (and there are plenty), check out this list of events I’ve compiled. Remember to pace yourself if you’re coming! It’ll be a long week.
Meanwhile, on campus…
As school gets back into gear, several stories concerning the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action captured the attention of many. Amherst College and Tufts University in Massachusetts reported a drop in Black freshmen, in what might be a sign of things to come. Data from the University of North Carolina shows the incoming class is “significantly less Black than in the past.” And according to a Bloomberg article, Princeton University and Yale University reported declines in Asian-American freshmen. On the flip side, HBCUs are seeing an uptick in enrollment — Hampton University, Fayetteville State University and Bethune-Cookman University all reported jumps in enrollment.
Did You Just Commit Check Fraud? A Viral ATM Trend Is Actually Illegal — And There Are Serious Consequences, HuffPost
If you’re online as much as I am, you’ve probably seen the viral social media posts of people claiming to hack into Chase ATMs and withdraw large sums of money. I’m still not sure if the posts were skits, but one thing is sure: The trend is illegal. And you can face major consequences for doing it.
Keeping the Spirit of Harlem Dance Alive, The New York Times
Imani Perry wrote this excellent profile about dancers Ayodele Casel, LaTasha Barnes, and Camille Brown, three women who are keeping the spirit of Harlem dance alive.
What’s In The News
Across America
Florida: The nation’s largest book publishers have filed a lawsuit against Florida over the state’s book bans, which include works by Maya Angelou and Alice Walker…
Georgia: A Black LGBTQ Pride event was vandalized at a hotel in midtown Atlanta, officials said…
Illinois: An artist created a "wooden quilt" out of pieces from Emmett Till’s South Side home…
Maryland: “Annapolis historian Janice Hayes-Williams has worked since 2001 to recover the names of more than 1,700 people buried at Crownsville, once Maryland’s only mental hospital for Black patients”...
Michigan: Carlos Franklin, co-owner of Blackstone Bookstore and Cultural Center in Ypsilanti, went on CBS Detroit to talk about the independent store and being a Black bookstore owner…
Mississippi: A group of elementary school students in Jackson expressed their love for reading and protested against book bans during a rally…
Missouri: Our friend Ryan Sorrell and his abolitionist media outlet, The Kansas City Defender, have been covered in Poynter…
Texas: Three South Dallas organizations are teaching young boys about auto care, from changing a tire to checking fluid levels, and how to take care of their mental health…
Utah: For The Salt Lake Tribune, Robert S. Burch, Jr wrote an op-ed for Labor Day acknowledging the enslaved persons, Black farmers and business owners who helped build Utah…
Virginia: The University of Virginia has suspended a campus tour program that had been “criticized for citing school founder Thomas Jefferson's ties to slavery”…Vice President Kamala Harris has raised more than $300 million in August — more than twice as much as former President Donald Trump in the same period…
New research found that large language models strongly associated negative stereotypes with African-American Vernacular English — even when trained not to…
Black students still disproportionately receive punishments that "remove them from the classroom, including suspension, expulsion and being transferred to an alternative school,” according to The Associated Press…
Doctors routinely use problematic race-based algorithms to guide medical care. Here’s why it's so hard to change that…
In an interview with Logic(s) Magazine, Bettina Judd talks about “patient,” her collection of poems that outlines the “history of medical experimentation on Black women that produced gynecology and its technologies”...
What’s Happening
Vice President Kamala Harris has raised more than $300 million in August — more than twice as much as former President Donald Trump in the same period…
New research found that large language models strongly associated negative stereotypes with African-American Vernacular English — even when trained not to…
Black students still disproportionately receive punishments that "remove them from the classroom, including suspension, expulsion and being transferred to an alternative school,” according to The Associated Press…
Doctors routinely use problematic race-based algorithms to guide medical care. Here’s why it's so hard to change that…
In an interview with Logic(s) Magazine, Bettina Judd talks about “patient,” her collection of poems that outlines the “history of medical experimentation on Black women that produced gynecology and its technologies”...
Entertainment News
The Hot Boys are coming back together. Lil Wayne, Juvenile, B.G. and Turk will reunite in New Orleans on Nov. 2…
GloRilla is having a great year. The rapper recently received a key to the city of Memphis, her hometown…
The New York Times reviewed “Seeking Mavis Beacon,” a documentary aiming to explore the Black woman who graced the cover of the 90s software program Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing…
Fans of Paul Robeson, the definition of a multihyphenate, can check out a new set of recordings, some of which are being released for the very first time…
For Teen Vogue, Ayan Artan penned an op-ed about the “systemic erasure of Black girls from young adult media”...
Natasha Rothwell of “Insecure” fame is developing a TV series based on the viral TikTok phenomenon “Who TF Did I Marry?”...
Learn about the life of the iconic choreographer Alvin Ailey at the “Edges of Ailey” exhibit, which opens at the Whitney Museum of American Art on Sept. 25…
Media moves: Hanif Abdurraqib is set to join University of Texas Press as editor of the publisher's “American Music Series,” and James Beard Award-winning food and travel journalist Kayla Stewart has joined Eater as its senior editor…
"You Are My Lady" singer Freddie Jackson has announced that he was diagnosed with kidney disease…
“Kinship: The Legacy of Gallery 7,” currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, revisits the legacy of one of the first venues in the Motor City dedicated to Black art…
For The Cut, Jazmine Hughes chatted with Usher about the art of seduction…
Marlon Wayans joined Shannon Sharpe for a wide-ranging conversation on various topics, from comedy to family…
Gospel music icon Yolanda Adams recently released “Church Doors,” her first solo single in ten years…
The New York Review of Books explores author Victor LaValle’s novel, “Lone Women,” a psychological thriller centered on Black women living in the early 20th century West…
Andre Gee went to Norfolk, Virginia, to talk with Pusha T and Malice, better known as one of the greatest hip-hop duos ever — The Clipse…
Obituaries
Rich Homie Quan, an Atlanta rap star known for his 2013 hit “Type of Way” and more, has died. He was 33…
Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg, the first Black three-star general in the U.S. Army, has died. He was 96…
Sybil Haydel Morial, civil rights activist, wife of New Orleans’ first Black mayor Ernest “Dutch” Morial, and mother of Marc Morial, has died. She was 91…
Fatman Scoop, the rapper, hype man and radio personality whose distinctive voice and captivating presence garnered him fans worldwide, has died. He was 53…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 40 seconds!...
Kamala Harris had a taped interview with Rickey Smiley earlier this week, which will air on Friday morning…
Black Girls Who Edit, the editorial agency under Black Girls Who Write, is hiring editors, copywriters, and proofreaders! Here’s the application…
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture unveiled a curriculum series drawing from their iconic archives for middle and high school students…
If you’re in Atlanta, consider attending One World’s “Free Your Mind” event, featuring prominent voices like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nikole Hannah-Jones and more. It will take place on Sept. 26 at Morehouse College…
Speaking of the ATL, here’s a cool job alert: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is seeking a Black Culture Reporter…