My Indy Fresh Market story, Flint cases closed, Keith Lee shakes Atlanta
Friday, November 3, 2023.
What I’m Reading
Here’s a new story from me: I talked with Indy Fresh Market founder and co-operator Marckus Williams about his new grocery store and his quest to both bring healthy produce to the east side of Indianapolis and provide formerly incarcerated people a second chance as employees.
“For five or six miles, there was no place to get food anywhere around here unless it was the Family Dollar or gas stations,” he told me. The area was once home to Kroger, Walmart and Safeway, but they’re all gone. “It’s hard out here, and with nothing on the bus line, it’s pretty much impossible to have healthy options for the residents in the community. Read the full story below.
This Indiana Grocery Store Is Giving Formerly Incarcerated People A Second Chance, HuffPost
In Temecula, California, the school board voted to ban “critical race theory” and decried ethnic studies as being taught with an “overemphasis on white supremacy.” However, a local group of Black mothers is fighting the school board’s right-wing takeover with a grassroots, electoral defense of education.
“We’re going to use what’s available to us—the right we have as citizens to recall.”
How Black Moms in Temecula Are Fighting the School Board’s Right-Wing Takeover, The Nation
“Ghostland” author Colin Dickey penned an op-ed in the New York Times about the whitewashing of ghost tourism in the United States, and how it’s especially strange to omit slavery from a ghost tour in Charleston, South Carolina — which was home to the largest slave auction in America’s history and the attempted slave revolt that changed the southern city forever.
“Leaving race out of any history is a striking blind spot — even in a ghost tour. Ghost stories, after all, are one of the ways we talk about historic injustices and crimes unavenged.”
The Strange Omission of Slavery from a Charleston Ghost Tour, The New York Times
What’s In The News
Across America
California: With a recent $1.25 million grant from the state, Ujamaa Farmer Collective hopes to provide Black farmers with land to start or grow farming businesses…
District of Columbia: The rate of homeownership in the District is significantly hampered by student debt, especially among African Americans, according to a new report…
Kentucky: Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the GOP nominee for governor, didn’t prosecute the officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor. Activists haven’t forgotten…
Louisiana: Tulane University commemorated 60 years of desegregation with a panel featuring some of the school’s earliest Black graduates…
Maryland: Bowie State University is the first HBCU in the state to help incarcerated men earn their college degrees…
Michigan: The attorney general’s office is officially ending its pursuit of criminal prosecutions over the Flint water crisis after seven years of no convictions. “We are almost to the 10 year mark of dealing with this crisis. Flint residents will never see justice for what was done to us,” Little Miss Flint tweeted in response…
Mississippi: Many Mississippi residents with past felony convictions remain barred from voting *for life* even though a federal court recently ruled that the practice is cruel, unusual, and racist…
Missouri: St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell announced he will drop his bid to unseat GOP Sen. Josh Hawley in 2024, and will instead make a run at Rep. Cori Bush…
North Dakota: After a range of ignorant social media posts, including calling for Black people to leave America and move to Wakanda, the executive director of the North Dakota GOP resigned after less than two weeks on the job…
Oklahoma: Boley, a Black town, was once home to a pair of banks and dozens of homegrown businesses. Today, Boley is barely an echo of its past. Racism undid what past generations built…
Pennsylvania: Disturbing new photos inside Philadelphia's juvenile jail show kids sleeping on floors in crowded, filthy cells…
Texas: As of 2021, about 2.5 million Texas adults, or 11.1%, had been diagnosed with diabetes, compared to a national rate of 8.5%. The rates are especially high on the east side of the state…
What’s Happening
If you are wondering why food reviewer Keith Lee was trending all week, look no further. The TikTok star, known for his commentary on restaurants, traveled to Atlanta to try different venues. However, his videos exposed the issues Atlanta customers regularly face — early closings, poor service, long wait times and more. Eater, NBC News and even the New York Times reported on his visit, and the aftermath…
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump will ask the Department of Justice to investigate why a Mississippi mother whose adult son was run over by an off-duty police officer wasn’t told what happened…
As the world gets older, Africa has the youngest, fastest-growing population. Check out this stunning piece about the “youthquake,” and how the world is becoming more African…
New data from the CDC show Black children have the highest rate of emergency department visits for mental health concerns. So what’s driving them to the ER?...
The family of Shanquella Robinson is planning to sue her travel companions for hindering an investigation into her death...
Microsoft has appointed Sarah Bond as the new president of Xbox, making her the first Black woman in the role at a major gaming company…
Elaine Brown, former chair of the Black Panther party, is leading an $80 million affordable housing project in West Oakland…
Ta-Nehisi Coates went on Democracy Now to discuss the connection between the African American and Palestinian struggle…
Have you heard of the Black Men Flower Project? The nonprofit allows men of color to nominate others to receive bouquets as a way to improve mental health…
Every student at a historically Black college in Florida can get a free heart screening, thanks to two nonprofits…
While the life expectancy for a Black person in the U.S. was around 71 in 2021, many Black older adults are defying the odds by living past 100. For NBC News, Claretta Bellamy looked into why…
Once considered rare, statues and monuments by Black artists are now claiming public space in parks from Los Angeles to Montgomery, Alabama…
VP Kamala Harris, in collaboration with the Treasury Department, recently unveiled the Freedman’s Bank Forum, a critical initiative aimed at boosting federal suppliers and small businesses owned by Black, brown, and under-resourced individuals…
A 13-year-old boy in Washington, DC, was shot and killed by an off-duty federal security officer for allegedly attempting to carjack the man. The incident has put a spotlight on the crisis among children and teens in the District…
Advisers to the FDA will soon review a new cure for sickle cell disease, which in the U.S. mostly affects Black people…
Entertainment
Savannah James spoke to Essence about why she's choosing to step out into the spotlight now…
Flavor Flav sang the National Anthem at the Milwaukee Bucks game, something he’s now checked off his bucket list…
Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis pleaded not guilty to murder in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas…
It’s hard to think of another jazz musician who continues to create contemporary debate like Louis Armstrong. But the legend carefully took his legacy into his own hands…
Huh: Marcus Jordan wants his dad Michael Jordan as his best man when he marries Larsa Pippen…
The daughter of music executive Clarence Avant wrote about how the Black Godfather shaped the sound of more than 50 years of American popular music…
Keshia Knight Pulliam is relishing downtime with her husband and their two children, with whom she lives on a family farm…
Legendary sportswriter William Rhoden wrote about Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker and his retirement…
More than nine months after the selection and screening process began, a jury began being seated Wednesday in Young Thug’s massive organized crime trial in Atlanta…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 47 seconds…
Essence Magazine is looking for freelancers to write for its fashion section. Details are here…
Capital B has recently expanded its news coverage to Gary, Indiana. Check out its new vertical…
Be on the lookout for the new PBS documentary “The War on Disco,” which explores the backlash against the genre and the issues of race, gender and sexuality that informed it…
Roy Wood stopped by WUNC's "Due South” for a conversation about comedy, politics, and truth-telling…
The TERRELL Show is ending season six with a full week of interesting guests starting on Nov. 6. People are speculating about one guest in particular…
D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince are set to reunite at A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop, which will air on Dec. 10…
Historian Tanisha Ford went on NPR Fresh Air to discuss her new book, “Our Secret Society,” and how Black socialite Mollie Moon raised millions to fund the civil rights movement…