Florida attacks AP African-American studies; Ed Reed under fire; Inside The KC Defender
Friday, January 20, 2023
Today is my birthday! I’m grateful to see another year. Thank you for subscribing and reading. A great birthday gift would be forwarding this email, telling people to subscribe. If you’d like to pledge toward this newsletter, you can do so here.
What I’m Reading
Christina Carrega of Capital B interviewed Ryan Sorrell, founder of The Kansas City Defender, a nonprofit Black news publication whose reporting on missing Black women gained national attention after police first dismissed it. In the interview, Sorrell explains why Black newsrooms dedicated to Black issues are as crucial as ever.
Kansas City Police Dismissed a Black News Site’s Reports of Missing Women. Then One Showed Up, Capital B
Keenan Anderson, a Black 31-year-old high school teacher, died hours after he was tasered several times by Los Angeles police. I won’t link to the video, but the body camera footage is available online. Later, police released preliminary drug test results of Anderson — a tactic experts say is an attempt to make the “public believe that the victim somehow caused their own death.”
LAPD’s Release of Drug Tests Is Smearing Keenan Anderson, Groups Say, VICE
There are simply some stories that you have to read for yourself. If you recall, in my very first newsletter, I mentioned that education is under attack in Florida. Now, the state has used Gov. Ron DeSantis’ so-called “Stop WOKE Act” to block AP African American Studies from its schools. You can read the letter his administration sent here.
Florida Says AP African American Studies Program’ Lacks Educational Value,’ Rolling Stone
A vital read from Erica L. Green of the New York Times. Here’s a look into a St. Louis doula program that is working to combat a growing maternal mortality health crisis among Black women in the United States, who disproportionately suffer and die due to social and economic inequities. “Nationally, Black women are nearly three times as likely to die from a maternal cause as white women.”
‘I Don’t Want to Die’: Fighting Maternal Mortality Among Black Women, The New York Times
What I Saw
I went to The White House for the NBA champion Golden State Warriors’ visit this week, and the Bay was in full effect. I met Sway, E-40, Mistah F.A.B. and Too Short, who all came to support their team. I also met comedian Roy Wood Jr, who shot a segment for “The Daily Show” that you can watch here.
You can kinda see me in the background if you squint a little!
The Congressional Black Caucus hosted a party for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in DC on Thursday. Spotted: Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Rep. Terri A. Sewell (D-AL), Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, W.H. senior adviser Keisha Lance Bottoms, CBC executive director Vincent Evans and 18-year-old mayor of Earle, Arkansas, Jaylen Smith. Mayor Bass spoke to the crowd for a few minutes and left.
What’s In The News
ICYMI: I wrote my first feature for my newsletter: How Tubi Is Opening Doors for Independent Black Filmmakers…
Football Hall of Famer Ed Reed has sparked controversy with his new comments as the new head coach of the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, an HBCU in Florida. Israel Daramola breaks down the problems with Reed’s complaints…
Wes Moore took office this week as Maryland’s first Black governor, giving Democrats hope as they consider who might run for the White House after Biden…
Heavily armed police officers stormed the homes of two men in Florida, arresting one at gunpoint, all for the serious crime of … voting? The Guardian obtained body-camera footage of what Governor Ron DeSantis’s “crackdown on voter fraud” looks like…
Did Gunna’s plea deal get him shunned in the hip-hop world?
Herbert Young, who drove his bus through angry white mobs in Montgomery for the Freedom Riders in the 60s, has died…
In Prism: The South has a new union—and workers have Black women to thank…
Updates on Shanquella Robinson’s death have been sparse, but a Mexican prosecutor recently spoke about the case…
This is a story about legally authorized equity theft that targets the most vulnerable: They fell behind on their property taxes. So the government sold their homes—and kept the profits…
“She’s 71. She’s dying. She’s in a wheelchair. She has a room waiting in a nursing home. The DOC is ok with her release. She’s been a model prisoner. Oh, and she’s costing the state a ton of money in prison. Alabama parole board: Parole denied,” John Archibald, a columnist with Al.com, wrote a Twitter thread about Leola Harris…
South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the assistant Democratic leader, says he believes Biden will run again…
Last year, Louisiana started putting children in the state’s most notorious prison. They say they’re being subjected to cruel treatment inside the facility…
In The Atlantic, Dara Mathis writes about her experience growing up in a Black commune and the lessons she took from it…
What’s Happening
Teen Vogue’s Aiyana Ishmael spoke to the costume designer on the hit Disney Channel show “That’s So Raven” about its significance 20 years after it first aired…
Kevin Hart, Meek Mill, and Michael Rubin donate $7 million toward scholarships for Philly youth in low-income areas…
WATCH: A kid reporter’s interview with Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams went viral…
Watch a young boy cry tears of happiness when he sees his mom in her wedding dress…
Washington Wizards player Kyle Kuzma donates $1 million to the YMCA in his hometown of Flint, Michigan…
A video of 11-year-old Nathan Broxton singing Broadway tunes has gone viral, and now Delta Air Lines is flying him out to New York City so he can see his first show…
The internet seems to think the new Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King statue in Boston looks less like a hug and something a bit more … phallic. Coretta Scott King’s cousin seems to agree…
What I’m Watching
The trailer for the second season of “Bel-Air” is out…
A docuseries on the rise of Black Twitter appears to be coming to Hulu…
Writer Josie Duffy Rice has launched her new eight-episode podcast titled “Unreformed: The Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children,” which details the horrors of a state-run reform school called Mt. Meigs in Alabama…
The trailer for the “1619 Project,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning work from Nikole Hannah-Jones, is out. It will debut on Hulu on January 26th…
Boy Meets Congress? “Boy Meets World” actor Ben Savage appears to be planning to run as a Democrat in California’s 30th Congressional District. He doesn’t have a shot, but hey, stranger things have happened…
The U.S. cancer rate has fallen 33 percent since 1991, a new report from the American Cancer Society states…
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing on January 24th, addressing the Ticketmaster debacle that occurred during sales for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour. They better fix it before Beyoncé announces…
Alec Baldwin is set to be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins…
Happy birthday!