Tulsa race massacre report, TikTok's fate, RIP Sam Moore
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What I’m Reading
DOJ releases its Tulsa race massacre report over 100 years after initial review, The Guardian
Over a century later after its initial review, the Department of Justice has released its report on the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.
“The Tulsa race massacre stands out as a civil rights crime unique in its magnitude, barbarity, racist hostility and its utter annihilation of a thriving Black community,” Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said.
Also of note: Damario Solomon-Simmons, the lead attorney for the survivors, said his team learned about the report’s findings from news outlets that were granted early access to it. "We will issue a statement after we complete our review and discussions with the DOJ,” he said. You can read the full report here.
Remembering Matilda, the last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade, Al Jazeera
I fell down a social media rabbit hole recently about the Black people who are highly skeptical of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and it’s distressing to see how so many are susceptible to this sort of misinformation. I wanted to share this profile I came across of Matilda McCrear — who is believed to be the last surviving passenger on the last slave ship from West Africa to North America in late 1859. She died 85 years ago this week.
Bad Beef, Public Books
For Public Books, historian Austin McCoy examined the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. He claims rap beef is a “form of capitalist accumulation, one that enriches artists — and, most of all, the corporate suits that run their record labels — even as it drags their reputations through the mud.”
Related: Drake filed a defamation case this week against Universal Music Group in federal court for spreading the “false and malicious” narrative that he’s a pedophile. The label fiercely responded to the lawsuit, calling it “illogical”...
What’s In The News
Across America
Alabama: MSNBC writer Kali Holloway explored what Rep. Shomari Figures’ rise to Congress says about the state’s troubled voting history…
California: Barbara Lee has officially announced that she is running for mayor of Oakland. Here’s what she’s promising to achieve…
Delaware: A historic Black church in New Castle County vows to rebuild after a car crashed into it…
Florida: A mortgage company accused of lending discrimination in Black and Hispanic Miami-Dade neighborhoods has “agreed to provide $1.75 million for a program to help with home purchases, refinancing and home-improvement loans”…
Georgia: The Justice Department sued Houston County, alleging its method of electing county commissioners discriminates against Black voters…
Illinois: A Cook County judge has been reassigned after allegedly sharing a racist image of a Black child and a foot with “My First Ankle Monitor” in a text message…
Louisiana: Southern University’s School of Nursing has been voted the Best Nursing School in the country! Congratulations…
Massachusetts: A federal judge found the white nationalist group Patriot Front liable for over $2 million in damages in its assault of Charles Murrell of Boston…
Michigan: Detroit’s “King of Hip Roll” is finding his way among Hollywood’s biggest names, performing alongside stars like Mariah Carey and Kanye West…
Mississippi: Police agencies set their own rules about Taser use in the state, allowing for officers to shock even great-grandmothers…
New Jersey: Nicole Roberts has become the first Black woman to take the oath as mayor of Pennsauken Township…
North Carolina: Millie Dunn Veasey, a Raleigh native and “Six Triple Eight” veteran, will soon have a local post office in her name…
South Carolina: The Robert Smalls Monument Commission has decided where to place the first Statehouse monument honoring a Black American: staring down a segregationist…
Virginia: Red Onion State Prison staffers considered charging inmates who burned themselves in protest of “intolerable” conditions…
What’s Happening
TikTok reportedly plans to shut down its social media app for Americans on Sunday…For Capital B, Aallyah Wright and Brandon Tensley talked to Black creators who rely on the app for income and community…President Joe Biden said he won’t enforce a ban on the app, leaving its fate to Trump…
Mark Zuckerberg heel turn: Meta is terminating major DEI programs as the tech giant seeks to curry favor with the incoming Trump administration…Apple’s board, on the other hand, is pushing shareholders to vote against a proposal eliminating DEI…
Trump’s plan to cut federal government jobs would disproportionately hurt Black workers and the Black community overall, Jarrell Dillard reports for Bloomberg…
Speaking of Trump, Michelle Obama won’t be in attendance for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump…
The New York Times published its findings on what happened to enrollment at top universities after affirmative action ended…
Media tumult: Danielle Belton, my editor-in-chief at HuffPost, has resigned due to forthcoming editorial layoffs…Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC, also stepped down…
U.S. Senator Cory Booker has reintroduced legislation to form a “commission to consider proposals for reparations for African American descendants of slavery”…
Black trans activists are bracing for a second Trump term: “It’s sad that we don’t have protection like we should”...
Federal prosecutors said they will not bring charges against the white troopers involved in the arrest that led to the 2019 killing of Ronald Greene…
Howard University’s Division I swim team has received the key to the city of Eatonville, Florida…
New York Times columnist Charles Blow is “winding down” his tenure at the newspaper, according to an internal memo…
Ida B. Wells is now the 16th woman to be recognized on the U.S. quarter...
I want to shout out Brooke Thomas, a FOX 11 Los Angeles anchor, who has been covering the Southern California wildfires…Reminder: There’s a GoFundMe directory for Black families displaced by the fires if you want to help…
Nine years ago, Chicago Mag wrote about Jerryon Stevens, a former straight-A student who was arrested then for selling drugs. Today, he’s awaiting trial on a murder charge. The magazine recently caught up with his mother, who is trying to hold her fractured family together…
Entertainment News
Wendy Williams spoke on The Breakfast Club this week about her conservatorship: “I feel like I’m in prison.”...Wendy’s attorney said people shouldn’t assume she’s fine because she called into the show…
Beyoncé’s BeyGood Foundation is donating $2.5 million to wildfire relief in the Altadena/Pasadena area…the singer also postponed an announcement set for January 14…
Jenna “J” Wortham reviewed “We Tried to Tell Y’All,” Meredith D. Clark’s chronicling of the heyday of Black Twitter…
Method Man allegedly punched a man who had a relationship with his daughter in the face at a Crunch Fitness gym on Staten Island. The rapper has denied the allegations…
Jim Trotter, who settled a retaliation lawsuit with the NFL last fall, announced that he is retired…Speaking of the NFL, Deion Sanders talked with Jerry Jones about the Dallas Cowboys coaching job…
“St. Denis Medical,” one of my mom’s favorite shows and one of NBC’s most-watched programs this season, has been renewed for a second season. It stars Detroiter David Alan Grier…
My former college advisor, Mary Phillips, recently published a book on the life of former Black Panther Ericka Huggins and the misunderstood history of the party…
I might swerve bend that corner whoaaa: LiAngelo Ball has signed a deal with Def Jam and Universal Music Group, Shams Charania reports…
Cam’ron tore into his former Diplomat Jim Jones on the latest episode of his show: “You are not from Harlem!”...
Obituaries
Sam Moore, who recorded timeless hits “Soul Man,” “Hold On, I’m Comin'” and “I Thank You” with Sam & Dave, has died. He was 89…
Dalyce Curry, an actor who appeared in the films "Blues Brothers" and "The Ten Commandments," has died. She was 95…
Archie Wade, the University of Alabama's first Black faculty and former baseball player, has died. He was 86…
Charles Person, a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement as the youngest of the original Freedom Riders, has died. He was 82…
Josh White Jr., who began performing at four alongside his father, the celebrated singer and guitarist Josh White, has died. He was 84…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 1 minute, 34 seconds…
Black Perspectives is hosting an online roundtable on “The Georgia of the North: Black Women and the Civil Rights Movement in New Jersey” from January 21 to January 28…
Report for America is seeking talented, service-minded journalists and photographers to join its reporting corps. The deadline is February 3…
The History Department at the University of Texas at El Paso is seeking a tenure track Assistant Professor of History with a focus on 20th and 21st-century Black History…
The Black Philadelphia in the 18th and 19th Centuries Conference is set for February 20 to 22…
If you’re in the Richmond area, there will be a screening for “Finding Edna Lewis” at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU on February 20…
The 2025 Freelance Journalism Conference, presented by the Institute for Independent Journalists, will take place from February 27 to February 28…
Phil, anyone who's "highly skeptical of the Transatlantic slave trade" needs to pull themselves together! I'm an academic historian (early America) , and I could literally suffocate under the piles of hefty peer-reviewed books on the subject, not to mention the piles of original documents. Academic historians don't get to make stuff up for scholarly journals. If we did, other historians would have us for breakfast. Hopefully, the people you mention will move onto some other hobby soon.