Hello 2024, Harvard prez resigns, Katt Williams goes off
Friday, January 5, 2023.
Welcome to 2024! Thank you all for continuing to read and engage with this newsletter. This is a free newsletter and will remain that way! The best way to help What I’m Reading grow is to share it with your family, friends and others who want to keep up with the news without having to check social media all the time. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber (only if you’d like). Whether you are a paid subscriber or not, your support is truly appreciated!
What I’m Reading
‘Sister-friend’ of Angelou, Baldwin and Morrison champions their books, The Washington Post
Do you know who Eleanor Traylor is? The former head of Howard University's humanities and English departments is among the last of a “close-knit generation of Black American writers that included James Baldwin, Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison.” After seeing several works from her old friends face book bans, she has decided to step into the fray and counter those efforts.
Finding Jordan Neely, New York Magazine
Before he was killed by a fellow subway passenger, Jordan Neely was one of the thousands of New Yorkers facing internal battles. New York Magazine explores how even though Neely had places he belonged and people looking out for him, he ended up dying alone at the hands of a stranger.
TikTokers break into Howard University’s former School of Divinity building
ICYMI: A group of TikTokers broke into Howard University's former School of Divinity and recorded themselves handling archival records & decades-old books, sparking a conversation about how archives are maintained at Black institutions.
What’s In The News
Across America
Alabama: 5 years after a police dog killed Joseph Pettaway, the state created a process for victims’ families to file requests to see the body-camera footage. But there is no guarantee they, nor the public, will ever actually get to view it…
California: A Los Angeles deputy shot and killed Niani Finlayson within roughly three seconds of entering her home after she had called 911 for help during a domestic violence incident, video shows…
Illinois: Shonya Williams’s Soul Prime restaurant in Chicago saw an influx of customers when TikTok food critic Keith Lee visited and shared his experience. Months later, they’re still coming in to eat…
Kentucky: Former Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron will be the next CEO of an organization dedicated to pushing back on “woke” capitalism and corporations…
Maryland: Ex-Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn has announced that he's running for Congress…
Michigan: The state can provide the wrongfully convicted compensation of $50,000 for each year of incarceration, but the law’s narrow criteria and confusion over eligibility leaves many left with nothing…
Mississippi: A federal judge has ruled that he will allow officials to move forward with creating a state-run court in part of the majority-Black capital city of Jackson, over objections from the NAACP…
Pennsylvania: Philly's ski mask ban won’t deter crime, but it will force more Black and brown children into our already overcrowded youth judicial system, Kate Parker and Nicole El write in the Philadelphia Inquirer…
South Carolina: President Joe Biden will travel to Charleston next week to visit the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church…
Tennessee: My colleague Phillip Jackson wrote about how a lot — and very little — has changed in Memphis since Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by police nearly a year ago…
Texas: Eddie Bernice Johnson, the trailblazing legislator who represented North Texas in Congress for the last 30 years, has died. She was 89. Her son says Johnson, a former nurse, was lying in her feces while at a rehabilitation center after back surgery and that she later developed an infection. Her family is planning to file a lawsuit…
Virginia: Acclaimed Jefferson historian Annette Gordon-Reed has resigned from the board of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, but it's not clear why...
What’s Happening
Harvard President Claudine Gay has resigned, bringing an end to the shortest presidency in the University's history, after she was targeted by a coordinated right-wing effort to oust her. Read her full resignation letter here. She has also published an op-ed in the New York Times, detailing her mistakes and what she’s faced over the past several months.
Black Americans would be disproportionately hit by cuts lawmakers are pushing as Congress faces a government shutdown deadline this month…
Elmore Nickelberry, one of the last living Memphis sanitation strikers from 1968 who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, has died. He was 92…
Launched during the protests after the police killing of George Floyd, Black-owned banking platform Greenwood quickly drew support from prominent celebrities. However, three years later, it has failed to meet some of its initial goals. Experts say its struggles are unsurprising…
More than a year after a Southern California school district banned the teaching of critical race theory, some Temecula Valley Unified students say it's resulted in more racism…
Sandra Reaves-Phillips, the actress and singer who appeared in the films “’Round Midnight” and “Lean on Me,” has died. She was 79…
Andrew Gillum, Tiffany D. Cross and Angela Rye are coming together to host a new political podcast series with iHeartMedia…
Lululemon’s billionaire founder Chip Wilson slammed the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts...
Thousands of Black children with sickle cell disease struggle to access disability payments, data show…
Joy Sewing has been named the first Black news columnist in the 122-year history of the Houston Chronicle…
The Root shares some of the best business advice they received when they talked to several of the most influential Black entrepreneurs in the game…
For startup beauty brands with founders of color, landing shelf space at a major retailer can be both a cause for celebration and the beginning of a new set of challenges…
Entertainment
Katt Williams joined Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast and in a wide-ranging interview, slammed several of his fellow comedians, including Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer and Michael Blackson. Watch the interview here…
“Black Panther” actor Carrie Bernans was critically injured after being hit by a driver in New York on New Year’s Day…
Maurice Hines, the Broadway star and tap dancer extraordinaire who showcased his skills alongside his late brother Gregory Hines in “The Cotton Club,” has died at 80…
Congrats! Tony Award winner Myles Frost graduated from Bowie State University with a degree in fine arts after working on Broadway for a year…
It’s elementary: CBS has ordered a drama series that will see Morris Chestnut star as Dr. John Watson, the companion of master detective Sherlock Holmes…
“Good Morning America” obtained an exclusive clip of Quinta Brunson teaching "Sesame Street" characters about kindness ahead of the show's season 3 return…
"Major studios, which pledged to reexamine their employment practices in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, fail to produce many films from people of color," a new study found…
Rolling Stone recently published its list of The 100 greatest R&B songs of the 21st Century. Do you agree with the list?...
For Mashable, Chance Townsend dove into the backlash the trailer for “The American Society of Magical Negroes” has received…
Jonathan Majors will appear on “Good Morning America” on Monday, Jan. 8 for his first interview since his guilty verdict…
For The Nation, Kelli Weston reviewed Raven Jackson’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” saying, “few filmmakers have so beautifully captured the peculiar conditions of Southern life, surrounded by hauntings and mired in its rambling malaise”...
Toni Braxton ended 2023 by dispelling a rumor that she had exchanged vows with Birdman…
Les McCann, the legendary jazz pianist who has been sampled countless times and is perhaps best known for the protest song “Compared to What,” has died. He was 88…
Willie Simmons, the hometown hero who led Florida A&M football to the HBCU national championship this season, resigned as head coach after six years…
Snoop Dogg will serve as a prime-time analyst for this year’s Olympic Games, NBC announced…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 1 minute, 21 seconds…
Word in Black recently published a list of four free mental health care resources for Black people…
There are two upcoming book tours that may be stopping at a city near you: NPR host Ayesha Rascoe’s “HBCU MADE” tour and Dr. Uche Blackstock’s “LEGACY” tour. Don’t miss out…
The Urban Journalism Workshop is back! We are currently accepting applications for 2024. We teach D.C. area high school students the fundamentals of print, broadcast and digital journalism. Tell your students or loved ones to apply! The new deadline is Jan. 31…
Thank you for the link to Katt ! 🙏