SVB's collapse, mystery in Mississippi, Diddy eyes BET
Friday, March 17, 2023
What I’m Reading
On Friday, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and was seized by federal regulators, which marked the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. USA TODAY published a helpful graphic explaining what happened.
For Slate, Edward Ongweso Jr wrote a searing piece about the massive tantrum venture capitalists threw over the news and asked the important question: “Remind me why, exactly, these guys have so much control over technological innovation?”
“VCs would rather gamble with other people's money, enrich themselves and friends, rewrite laws and restructure markets in their own favor, and offload as many costs as possible onto the public than build anything of value,” he tweeted.
The Incredible Tantrum Venture Capitalists Threw Over Silicon Valley Bank, Slate
Red Truck Bakery, a bake shop in rural Virginia, closed for several days after protesters harassed the store. They alleged the bakery was catering to Black Lives Matter activists by handing out free coffee to them but not others, implying Red Truck was discriminating against All Lives Matter.
“‘Hope this place burns to the ground,’ wrote one commenter. ‘Close the place down! Let those black lives keep the place open. All the other lives don’t matter,’ wrote another. ‘Someone please put a pallet of bricks in front of that store so we can protest against Red Truck Bakery,’ added a third.”
A Va. bakery gave BLM activists free coffee. Then came the backlash, The Washington Post
We’re starting to see some of the drawbacks to influencer culture. A YouTube star who went viral as a toddler talks about the resentment she feels toward her parents, who told her she had to keep making videos so they could maintain their “nice” lifestyle.
Teen Vogue looked into influencer parents and the kids who had their childhood made into content.
Influencer Parents and The Kids Who Had Their Childhood Made Into Content, Teen Vogue
When Angela Bassett’s name was not called for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars, many were shocked but not surprised. Her loss was one in a long line of disappointments for Black actors at the award ceremony. Only Ruth E. Carter took away an Oscar for Best Costume Design, becoming the first Black woman to have won two. For Mashable, Robert Daniels argues that while it sucked, the night wasn’t about just one loss.
“The problem at hand isn’t confined to Bassett losing. It’s the fact that Black aspirations, relegated to a small hill of crumbs, were only pinned to Bassett and Carter in the first place,” Daniels wrote.
ICYMI: Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors gave Bassett a shoutout when they appeared on stage afterward.
Angela Bassett's Oscars loss prolongs history of disappointment for Black actors, Mashable
What’s In The News
A young Black man told his mom he was being followed by white men in three pickup trucks — then his family says he was found dismembered. Rasheem Carter’s family believes police in Taylorsville, Mississippi, are hiding details about his death…
The Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr. is the last living witness of the kidnapping of Emmett Till. Nearly 70 years later, he still breaks down in tears when he describes what happened…
Margo Snipe spent a year investigating how Georgia’s maternal care system is failing Black residents. She found that the state’s rural Black communities have been ignored for decades, making deliveries dangerous…
Black and Latino homes are more likely to be undervalued by real estate appraisers, who are mostly older white men. Here’s what’s happening to change that…
It’s been three years since Breonna Taylor was killed. A consent decree is not enough…
The parents of a ninth-grade South Carolina student who said she was accosted by a teacher for walking to class instead of stopping and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance are suing the teacher, principal, school district and state education officials…
LaKeith Smith got 55 years after cops killed his friend. He might be coming home…
In the first lawsuit of its kind since Roe v. Wade was overturned, a husband seeks damages from women who allegedly helped his ex-wife obtain the medications to terminate her pregnancy…
A medical examiner ruled Lauren Smith-Fields' death accidental, but her family is still seeking more information about what happened that night a year later…
Opponents to the proposed 85-acre “Cop City” training facility worry that its construction will wipe out trees that help filter air, offer shade and limit erosion in the nearby predominantly Black neighborhoods…
Andscape sat with “The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror From Fodder to Oscar” authors Robin R. Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris to talk about the history of Black people in the horror genre…
When Shanteari Weems learned her husband was accused of molesting children at the daycare she owned, she shot him twice. She’s been sentenced to 4 years in prison, and now she’s speaking out for the first time…
After the FBI solved the case of four Americans kidnapped in Mexico within days, Shanquella Robinson’s family is questioning why they're waiting for answers four months later…
More than a third of officers in an Ohio police department were hit with civil rights and abuse charges…
The three white men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery are asking an appeals court to throw out their federal hate crime convictions, with two of them arguing their histories of making racist comments don’t prove they targeted Arbery because he was Black…
President Joe Biden’s free college proposal is dead. High schoolers are tapping a solution…
What’s Happening
ICYMI: “What You Won’t Do For Love” singer Bobby Caldwell has died. I talked with his wife about his relationship with his Black fans…
The learning environment at HBCUs has a positive mental health effect on Black students, according to a study…
Diddy has reportedly thrown his hat in the ring to acquire a majority stake in BET, joining Tyler Perry and Byron Allen in expressing interest in the media property…
Howard University’s men’s basketball team has made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1992…
A conservative writer was asked to define “woke,” and it went about as well as you could expect…
My colleague Marina Fang tried to sum up what Michelle Yeoh's win, and the “Everything” Oscars sweep, means, and how these landmark moments come with a mixed bag of emotions…
The city of Newark, New Jersey, recently unveiled a new Harriet Tubman monument. It replaced a Christopher Columbus statue…
Brooklyn "Bling Bishop" Lamor Whitehead used forged papers to secure a $1.3 million mortgage for a New Jersey mansion, prosecutors say…
A business owner handed the keys of her content creation over to her parents, and here's what they did with it...
Kid Fury and Crissle West, co-hosts of the popular pop culture podcast "The Read," look back on a decade of collaboration...
Idris Elba, who portrayed detective Luther and crime lord Stringer Bell joked that his hardest role was being named Sexiest Man Alive…
NFL quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife Ciara visited a maximum security prison to pray and sing with more than 300 incarcerated men…
A Dallas-based food blogger is flipping the script on classic soul food dishes with her new cookbook…
Famed artist Kehinde Wiley “is shifting the art world’s center of gravity toward Africa with a determination that combines the institution-founding fervor of Booker T. Washington and the stagecraft of Willy Wonka,” Julian Lucas writes…
A nonprofit in Chicago works with high school students for a seven-year cycle that makes college success a reality…
Very few architects are Black. Pascale Sablan is pushing to change that…
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, a top Tennessee Republican who helped advance anti-LGBTQ legislation, is embroiled in a scandal over comments he left on a gay man's Instagram posts. His TV interview was extremely awkward…
Mo’Nique is speaking out for the first time about her 13-year feud with Lee Daniels, her tense showdown with Oprah, resolving her lawsuit against Netflix — and why she’s finally ready to forgive and forget…
LeBron James is increasing his equity in Fenway Sports Group, part of a lifetime marketing deal he recently signed with the parent of the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins and Liverpool FC…
What I’m Watching
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 1 minute, 57 seconds…
The Hurston/Wright Foundation for Black Writers has several workshops this summer. Check them out…
Drake announces his ‘It’s All a Blur' tour with 21 Savage, starting June 16th. Tickets go on sale on March 16…
Georgia is among the most dangerous states for Black folk to give birth. Capital B is hosting a conversation on March 23 at 11 a.m. EST to learn more about what’s being done to save lives…
One of my favorite shows, “The Bear,” is returning for season 2 in June…
Ugh, I hope BET goes to Byron and I wish Monique the best. She's burned so many bridges over the last decade but I'm still hoping she can turn things around for the better.