Ralph Yarl update, Fantasia picks HBCU, 'Cop City' protester autopsy released
Friday, April 21, 2023. (We're almost at 10,000 subscribers! Thank you to everyone for spreading the word about this newsletter)
What I’m Reading
Ralph Yarl Update
A prosecutor announced charges against a Kansas City man accused of shooting a 16-year-old Black teen after he mistakenly went to the wrong home to pick up his two younger brothers. 84-year-old Andrew Lester, who shot Ralph Yarl twice, was charged Monday with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday. The story was first reported by the Kansas City Defender (support Black news outlets!).
Hundreds of Staley High School students and staff walked out this week in support of their classmates. Yarl recently took a photo with civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who said the teen is home and recovering from his injuries. “He continues to improve. He’s responsive, and he’s making good progress,” Yarl’s father told the Kansas City Star. However, the residual effects of the shooting are going to stay with the teen for some time, his mother said.
Lester’s grandson recently spoke out about his grandfather, saying the man had been immersed in “a 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia” and fully bought into the Fox News messaging. He also expressed sympathy for Yarl. “I feel terribly for him,” Klint Ludwig told the Kansas City Star of the 16-year-old. “And I’m really glad that he’s doing OK; he’s going to live. I know his life is changed forever. And I’m really sorry.”
This might seem like “water is wet” news, but these studies are critically important: Black people in counties with more Black primary care physicians live longer, according to a new national analysis.
“That a single Black physician in a county can have an impact on an entire population’s mortality, it’s stunningly overwhelming.”
In counties with more Black doctors, Black people live longer, 'astonishing' study finds, STAT News
A controversial bill that will allow for an unelected, state-appointed, white-controlled court system in the majority-Black city of Jackson, Mississippi, is set to take effect in July. Black organizers are pulling out all the stops to ensure this attempt at reinstating Jim Crow is “extremely difficult” to implement.
“This entire assault on Jackson has only increased as the political leadership in Jackson became more progressive.”
Organizers Are Resisting a 2-Tiered Legal System in Majority-Black Jackson, MS, Truthout
"I understand the public intrigue, but for the sake of my mental health, I don’t plan to keep reliving the most traumatic experience of my life over and over again. I’m choosing to change the narrative because I’m more than just my trauma."
'Nobody Can Take Your Power': Megan Thee Stallion in Her Own Words, ELLE
What’s In The News
From George Joseph of THE CITY NY: “A crew of real estate speculators—all with criminal histories—are finding out-of-state “heirs,” scooping up minority shares of houses in Black NYC neighborhoods and demanding longtime residents pay up—or face a forced home sale”...
BuzzFeed News, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2021, is shutting down. This is disheartening news, but it’s a sobering reminder of how awful the media industry can be…
There was a spate of shootings that dominated headlines over the past week:
A college-bound football player and three others were shot and killed at a birthday party in Alabama.
Four members of an elite competitive cheerleading team in Texas were shot after one of the athletes reportedly mistakenly tried to get into the wrong car after practice.
A 20-year-old New York woman was shot and killed by a man after she mistakenly drove up the man’s driveway.
Tyre Nichols’ family is suing the city of Memphis and its police officers, blaming them for his death…
Voting restrictions, attempts to undermine Black political leaders, and limiting how racial history is taught in schools are leading threats to democracy for Black Americans, a new report from the National Urban League found…
Jacksonville, Florida, sheriff’s officers stripped a 45-year-old man on a public road in view of his aunt and others over an alleged $20 drug deal. The police found no drugs but still arrested him and left the strip search out of the arrest report…
An Oklahoma sheriff's office says the recording in which the sheriff and others are reportedly heard discussing killing journalists and hanging Black people was illegal and predicts felony charges will be filed against the man who recorded…
Multiple alleged abuse victims of Jonathan Majors have come forward and are cooperating with authorities, Variety reports. The actor also parted ways with his management and PR team…
Author Maggie Tokuda-Hall was thrilled when Scholastic approached her to feature her book about a love story set in an internment camp during WWII. Then she read that she would have to cut a part about “racism”…
“Cop City” protester Manuel Teran did not have gunpowder residue on their hands, despite officials claiming Teran fired the first shot at a state trooper. Officers responded with gunfire, killing Teran and leaving the protester with 57 gunshot wounds…
What’s Happening
Grammy-winning singer Fantasia is heading back to school! She has enrolled as a student at the Ohio HBCU, Central State University…
Sophie Vershbow went searching behind the scenes of Barack Obama’s annual list of book recommendations for Esquire. What she uncovered surprised her…
Janelle Jones, the first Black woman to serve as chief economist at the Labor Department, talked with The New York Times on how uplifting Black women benefits us all…
Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin has been cleared to return to football after suffering a cardiac arrest earlier this year…
Secret Service officers carried a toddler who crawled through the White House fence, and the picture is kinda funny. They’re holding him like El Chapo…
Hollywood writers have voted to authorize a strike beginning May 1 if they are unable to reach a deal with the major studios…
A man was caught spray painting over a Paul Robeson mural in Washington, DC, sparking outrage…
Philadelphia Eagles star quarterback Jalen Hurts is now the highest-paid player in NFL history. He spoke with Danyel Smith about why he has to thank his all-woman management team for that…
Netflix’s upcoming docudrama “Queen Cleopatra” is sparking an uproar in Egypt. An Egyptian lawyer has reportedly gone so far as to file a complaint demanding that legal measures are taken to block Netflix in Egypt…
Ahmad Jamal, one of the most influential Jazz pianists ever, has died. He was 92...
Tyler James Williams’ character on “Abbott Elementary” is known for his green thumb. But the actor is passionate about gardening off the screen as well…
The NFL says it spent $125 million to boost Black-owned businesses. Where did the money go?
Nigerian police arrested several people involved in Tiwa Savage’s attempted kidnapping, a failed plot allegedly planned by the singer’s new domestic staff…
A house in Selma, Alabama, where Dr. Martin Luther King and others planned civil rights marches, will be dismantled and moved to a museum near Detroit…
Black entrepreneurs make up less than 2% of the cannabis industry. Meet the Black women working to shake things up in the space…
Janelle James of “Abbott Elementary” is Variety’s cover star…
If you’re wondering what’s been going on with the YSL trial, several news outlets have described it as “chaos.” On top of that, an attorney was arrested in the courtroom…
Researchers found the lost grave of Newt Allen, one of the greatest second basemen in the Negro Leagues…
For the Los Angeles Times, Jeff Weiss profiled one of the most unique rappers ever, once described by Snoop Dogg as “my only competition,” the West Coast legend Suga Free…
Morgan Freeman objected to the terms “Black History Month” and “African-American” in an interview, saying, “You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” and asserting that the other term is inaccurate…
Rapper Lil Durk has launched a scholarship fund that will give two Chicago students $50,000 each toward their freshman tuition enrollment at Howard University…
An 80-year-old brick wall intended to keep Black students from a white Baltimore neighborhood has finally been torn down…
What I’m Watching
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 1 minute, 6 seconds…
The Daily Show has announced its next lineup of guest hosts, but they need to stop playing and hand the keys over to Roy Wood Jr…
Now WTF does race have to do with my taxes? Check out NPR’s Code Switch episode to understand the unlikely connection…
Oprah Winfrey is returning to her alma mater Tennessee State University to deliver the keynote address at Spring Commencement on Saturday, May 6…
The trailer for “White Men Can’t Jump,” starring Jack Harlow & Sinqua Walls, is out. It will be released on May 19…
You can stream “Bone Black: Midwives vs. The South,” a documentary about the dark history and erasure of Black birth workers in the South, on BET’s website…