RIP Bill Cobbs, Fearless Fund co-founder steps down, BET Awards Sunday
RIP Bill Cobbs, Fearless Fund co-founder steps down, BET Awards Sunday
Friday, July 28, 2024.
What I’m Reading
Fearless Fund’s founder has resigned, and it’s a sad reflection on the VC world for Black women, TechCrunch
Weeks after a federal appeals court blocked Fearless Fund's grant program for Black women entrepreneurs, co-founder Ayana Parsons has stepped down from the embattled venture capital firm. Julie Bort and Dominic-Madori Davis dug into what happened for TechCrunch.
Public memories. Private struggles, The Washington Post
Robert Samuels profiled Phillip Howard, a preservationist who quit his job to spend his days traveling throughout the South, speaking with Black elders and their descendants, telling their stories, researching and helping families turn over properties for historic preservation.
I was honored to give the keynote speech at the closing ceremony of the 2024 South Jersey Information Equity Project! The program, which aims to address media inequity in South Jersey, celebrated eight hard-working fellows and their awesome reporting. Learn more about the program and read their stories here!
What’s In The News
Across America
California: As the Oakland Athletics limp through the last season in the city, the Pioneer League’s Ballers take the field in a new park designed to spur neighborhood revival…
Colorado: The family of a Black man holding a cellphone when he was shot and killed by a SWAT officer called for a murder trial following the release of body camera footage…
Connecticut: A mom has taken legal action against Legoland, alleging racial discrimination and is asking for $1 million in damages in a lawsuit…
Florida: Nonprofit arts and culture organizations across Florida are still contemplating how to bounce back from $32 million in arts funding slashed from the state budget…
Georgia: Judge Christina Peterson, who was arrested at an Atlanta nightclub, should be removed from the bench over dozens of ethics charges, the state Supreme Court ruled…
Illinois: A 21-year-old woman who was accused and cleared of stealing AirPods from a classmate while she was in high school has filed a $20 million civil rights discrimination lawsuit against the city of Naperville…
Louisiana: Dr. Rochelle L. Ford is stepping down as president of Dillard University "to focus on her health and family," the university said in a statement…
Maryland: Residents have worked hard to revive Baltimore's historic Reservoir Hill neighborhood. A federally funded railroad project could jeopardize their progress and their health, according to a civil rights complaint…
Mississippi: A Biloxi woman captured a white man hurling several racist slurs at her in traffic, and she wants justice…
New York: Rep. Jamaal Bowman lost a brutal House primary that included a record-breaking spending blitz by pro-Israel groups…
North Carolina: The newly unveiled Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail provides an “immersive look at the profound impact of the city’s Black population”…
Pennsylvania: A six-block stretch of Philadelphia will now be known as Black Doctors Row, and is the city’s first African-American historic district…
Washington: Four protesters who were jailed for writing anti-police graffiti in chalk have been awarded nearly $700,000 after a federal court jury decided their civil rights were violated…
West Virginia: A Sissonville couple are accused of holding their adopted Black children as slaves and locking them in a shed, according to court docs. They have been charged with human trafficking and neglect…
What’s Happening
The words “Black jobs” were trending on social media following the debate last night in which President Joe Biden struggled to keep up with former President Donald Trump’s barrage of lies. Here’s a fact check of what you may have missed during the first debate…
Read an excerpt from author Brea Baker’s “Rooted,” which details how the mainstream conversation on the racial wealth gap “is nearly devoid of how much money was amassed, passed down, and repurposed through land theft and hoarding”...
Listen: Here’s how 99 Black Americans gained — and then lost — land on an idyllic Georgia island…
A new report says racial and ethnic inequities in health care are found in every state despite some progress over the past two decades…
Taylor Casey, a 41-year-old Chicago woman, disappeared from a yoga retreat in the Bahamas and her family is “deeply concerned”…
From Capital B’s Adam Mahoney: The Biden administration is incentivizing new manufacturing hubs in Black communities to increase pathways to the middle class, but the unintended consequence is the disruption of Black life…
For Reckon, Danielle Buckingham and MacKenzie Foy traveled to Maryland’s Catoctin Iron Furnace to explore how African Americans define family and kinship…
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry vetoed legislation that would have made it easier for him and future governors to pardon people for minor marijuana possession convictions…
Five minutes into a pursuit that began over a broken taillight, 60-year-old Julian Lewis was dead — shot in the forehead by a white trooper. Now, video is raising questions…
Journalist LZ Granderson sat down with ABC News to discuss the challenges of concealing his HIV diagnosis for years…
Entertainment News
BET Awards: Will Smith will perform a new, original song at the BET Awards, which will air live on Sunday…Megan Thee Stallion is set to open the award show with Taraji P. Henson hosting…
The New Yorker explores two dynamic new books about Harriet Tubman: “Combee” vividly conveys what she did to help abolish slavery. The other, “Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People,” addresses the love of God and country that helped her do so…
Ice Cube said he’s “finally got some traction” with Warner Bros. for a potential “Last Friday” film...
NPR continues celebrating Black Music Month with the release of Flo Milli’s Tiny Desk Concert, and SWV’s Tiny Desk Concert airs at 12 noon EST today…
Sha'Carri Richardson has earned a spot in the Paris Olympics after she won the 100-meter final at the U.S. track trials. Her mark of 10.71 seconds is the fastest time in the world this year…
16-year-old Quincy Wilson finished sixth in the men's 400-meter final, missing out on qualification in the event for the 2024 Olympic Games. He’ll be back!...
Remember JET magazine’s "Beauty of the Week," which featured everyday Black women in their bikinis? The New Yorker’s Jennifer Wilson explored its unfiltered charm…
Robert Daniels wrote about the 20th anniversary of “WHITE CHICKS” for the New York Times, and how the film was “a way smarter, more subversive comedy about whiteness than initially given credit for”…
For its 20th anniversary, Lyvie Scott spoke with the team behind the worst superhero movie of the 20th century, “Catwoman,” to figure out where it all went wrong…
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said Kendrick Lamar's “Not Like Us” diss is eligible for the Grammys, (even though “Euphoria” is the better diss IMO)…
After 40 years, Prince and The Revolution’s “Purple Rain” remains a towering influence over all of music, Brandon Ousley writes. He explores the soundtrack’s lasting legacy in Discogs…
The long-running soap opera “General Hospital” condemned racist posts toward their cast on social media. That’s great, but viewers want storylines to reflect that commitment to equality, Baltimore Banner columnist Leslie Streeter writes…
For Essence, Kenyatta Victoria wonders why Black pop girls can't be free to experiment?...
André 3000 has announced more live performances of his debut solo album, “New Blue Sun”…
Obituaries
Bill Cobbs, an actor who appeared in over 120 television shows and movies since the 1970s, has died. He was 90. penned a thoughtful obituary for him in …
Known as the “Godfather of Leimert Park,” artist and community activist Sika Dwimfo has died. He was 83…
Harriette Gillem Robinet, a microbiologist, civil rights activist and lauded children's author, has died. She was 92…
Michael Broadway, a Black man who earned a degree from Northwestern University while incarcerated at Illinois’s Stateville prison, has died. He was 51…
William Goines, the first Black member of the modern-era Navy SEALs in the 1960s, has died. He was 87…
Rev. Fred D. Taylor, a prominent civil rights movement figure in Atlanta, has died. He was 81…
Lecester “Bill” Allen, a well-known businessman who founded the New Black Wall Street Market in Stonecrest, Georgia, has died. He was 80…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 46 seconds!...
The NPHC Scholarship Program offers financial support ranging from $500 to $2000 to active undergraduate members of Divine Nine sororities and fraternities. Please share or apply! The deadline is Sunday…
Spike Lee is hosting the "Do The Right Thing" 35th anniversary block party in Brooklyn on Sunday...
The Washington Association of Black Journalists will host a screening of “Vice News Presents: When Black Women Go Missing” at Busboys and Poets in Brookland on July 1 at 6 pm…
Brown University’s Austin Jackson joined
to discuss “Black Studies as a human project, the importance of study, and the horizons opened up by the field”…Brea Baker will be in Austin, Texas, to celebrate and discuss the release of her book “Rooted.” The event is free and open to the public…
Slate is hiring a co-host for its internet culture podcast “ICYMI.” The role pays between $100,000 - $115,000 a year and can be based in either NYC or DC…
The Legally BLK fund is offering a $1,000 scholarship for Black women applying to law school. Apply here...