Teacher reported over lesson on race, free COVID tests back, Black America's team?
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Teacher reported over lesson on race, free COVID tests back, Black America's team?
Friday, September 22, 2023. We're closing in on 15,000 subscribers! Please share this newsletter with others who want to keep informed.
What I’m Reading
The battle over books isn’t slowing down. The Washington Post covered a teacher in South Carolina who was reported by her students for teaching Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Between the World and Me.” The students said that the book made them ashamed to be white, violating a clause forbidding teachers from making students “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” on race.
Her students reported her for a lesson on race. Can she trust them again?, The Washington Post
Author Blair LM Kelley’s “Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class” gets a review in Jacobin Magazine. After the Civil War, freed black men and women relied on networks of mutual aid, education, and labor organizing to leverage their skills into decent jobs where possible, Akil Vicks writes in his review.
The Black Working Class Can No Longer Be Ignored, Jacobin
LaFayette, Alabama, is like many other small, rural towns across America. It does not have a hospital or urgent care clinic. Two primary care doctors see the town’s 2,700 residents. But they’re approaching retirement age. What happens when they’re gone?
Just two doctors serve this small Alabama town. What's next when they want to retire?, KFF News
Clinton Yates wrote about how Deion Sanders’ star power has turned the Colorado Buffaloes into Black America’s team, even though Boulder continues to be a city and college campus rife with racial problems. “Football isn’t going to fix years of institutionalized discrimination,” he writes. But we can still enjoy the show.
Deion Sanders transforms Colorado into Black America’s team, Andscape
What’s In The News
Across America
Alabama: An Adamsville high school band director said he was just “doing my job” when police officers arrested him and shocked him with a stun gun after he refused to stop his band’s performance following a football game…
California: A young model was found dead inside her apartment in downtown Los Angeles, marking the second time a model was found dead within a week…
Colorado: Two Denver-area police officers ignored Elijah McClain’s pleas of “I can’t breathe” when they put him in a neck hold before he was injected with a powerful sedative and died, prosecutors said. The trial has begun…
District of Columbia: Georgetown University and the Jesuits are pledging $27 million in donations to support the descendants of hundreds of enslaved people who were sold in the 19th century to fund the university…
Georgia: Shocking but not surprising — disparities in access to fresh produce continue to affect Black and lower-income neighborhoods in Atlanta, according to a new study…
Massachusetts: Boston University announced it would conduct an “inquiry” into Ibram X. Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research after complaints emerged about the center’s culture and financial management…
Michigan: The state is often considered to have some of the most progressive policies in the country. But in reality, Michigan has some of the worst carceral instincts and politics, Jacqueline Williams writes in The Nation…
Mississippi: The Mississippi Legislature's effort to mandate four state-appointed circuit court judges in majority-Black Jackson is unconstitutional, the state’s Supreme Court ruled…
New York: The NYPD has made more than 1 million traffic stops since Mayor Eric Adams took office last year — and nearly 90% were Black or Latino…
Pennsylvania: Democrats will hold on to their one-vote majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives after voters in Pittsburgh elected former congressional aide Lindsay Powell…
South Carolina: A Williamsburg County man has gone viral after describing how he heard the crash of an unmanned military jet. It’s a must-listen…
Tennessee: The Memphis Police Department is under intense pressure to transform its culture after the killing of Tyre Nichols by its officers…
Virginia: The family of a man who died while handcuffed and pinned to the floor for approximately 11 minutes as he was being admitted to a psychiatric hospital has agreed to an $8.5 million settlement…
West Virginia: Institute, one of two majority-Black communities in the state, is suing the Environmental Protection Agency in order to spur action on toxic air pollution…
Features
Lawrence Burney wrote a feature about Project Pat, who may not be as well known as his Three 6 Mafia counterparts, but his style and influence is felt all over today’s biggest rap verses from Drake to Offset…
Law enforcement is embracing facial recognition software. But activists and civil rights advocates are concerned that the software “potentially introduces another form of racial discrimination into the criminal justice system”…
What happens when a young artist's wildest dreams come true, but then the world falls apart? That's the question behind Vinson Cunningham’s profile of “Slave Play” playwright Jeremy O. Harris…
For GQ, Frazier Tharpe asked Diddy to explain how a convo with Jay-Z and a desire to see R&B return to its essence inspired him to assemble an Avengers roster of singers for his new album “Off the Grid”...
Rat infestations. Blocked fire exits. Expired kids’ food. Machete-wielding and watermelon-throwing shoppers. Here’s why Dollar General might just be the worst retail job in America…
La Tanya Jenifor-Sublett was released from prison a decade ago. Even though she had years to prepare, her transition back was not an easy one…
Mainstream culture has villainized hoochies as promiscuous offenders, but now, Black women are reclaiming the term and making it their own, Kailynn Johnson writes for Teen Vogue...
Xavier McElrath-Bey, a youth sentencing reform advocate who spent over a decade in prison for his involvement in a violent crime as a child, penned an essay calling for the end of juvenile life without parole…
What’s Happening
For The Atlantic, Adam Harris wrote about the new federal analysis showing that land-grant HBCUs have been underfunded by billions of dollars over the last three decades…
September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and Black men who remain untested are among the most susceptible. But three survivors shared their stories to show others there’s another way…
Democrat Reps. Ilhan Omar and Bonnie Watson Coleman have introduced a bill to establish a national Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls within the Department of Justice…
The Black Farmer Fund, a community-led investment fund for Black-owned agricultural and food businesses, has raised $11 million…
Interesting: A small venture capital firm has become symbolic of the fight over corporate diversity policies since becoming a target of a lawsuit over a grant program for Black women…
JoAnne A. Epps, the president of Temple University, died after collapsing on stage at a memorial service, officials said…
Reparations advocates are urging San Francisco supervisors to adopt recommendations aimed at shrinking the racial wealth gap and improving the lives of Black residents…
The Supreme Court made a big ruling in June siding with Black voters in a racial gerrymandering case. But three months later, there still are no new congressional maps expanding Black representation…
A new program in Georgia helps young Black men cope with mental health struggles…
Constance Clayton, the first Black and female school superintendent in Philadelphia history, has died. She was 89…
spoke with Rep. Robin Kelly about her newest maternal health initiative, the CARE for Moms Act…Republicans are reportedly pushing to recruit ex-ESPN anchor Sage Steele to run for Congress…
Entertainment
Sha'Carri Richardson talked about wearing her natural hair in her final race of the track & field season…
A Beyoncé superfan missed the singer’s show in Seattle after an airline said it could not accommodate his electric wheelchair. Her fans worked to get him to another show…
Allen Media Group announced its free-streaming digital platform, HBCU GO, has secured a 10-year media rights partnership with the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference…
Nicki Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty hit with a house arrest order after threatening Offset over social media…
Irish Grinstead, a member of the girl group 702, known for hit songs like “Where My Girls At,” has died. She was 43…
From Evette Dionne: Drake using Halle Berry’s photo to promote himself may be legal. But it's far from right…
“Pose” and “American Horror Story” actress Angelica Ross has been clearing the air recently, and for good reason…
Terrible: “The Wonder Years” has been canceled at ABC after two seasons…
Speaking of canceled shows, “Winning Time” was unceremoniously axed by HBO despite being one of the best shows out. Here’s why the cancellation was wrong on so many levels…
Splitsville: Teyana Taylor and Iman Shumpert have separated after seven years of marriage, and Jeezy filed for divorce from his wife and TV host Jeannie Mai…
Quavo was in Washington, DC, to meet with members of Congress for a panel discussion on gun violence prevention…
Kyle Denis chatted with Megan Thee Stallion about her friendship with Cardi B, that odd moment with Justin Timberlake, and her upcoming music…
“The Jennifer Hudson Show” was supposed to premiere its new season on Sept. 18, but it is being pushed back amid mounting criticism…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 1 minute and 29 seconds…
The Biden administration said it will resume offering free at-home Covid tests to American households Monday…
The first four episodes of Matthew Cherry’s new animated series “Young Love” are now streaming on MAX…
Smokey Robinson stopped by NPR to record a Tiny Desk Thursday…
The Associated Press is hiring a Black Church Reporter…