• Politics

by Stacy Jackson

June 23, 2023

Barack Obama And Tim Scott Go Toe-To-Toe In Heated Debate About Race In America

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Former President of the United States Barack Obama had something to say to Black Republicans who accused him of failing minority communities.

Obama refuted Republican Sen. Tim Scott’s claims that America has made much progress with racism on his former Senior Advisor, David Axelrod, on The Axe Files With David Axelrod podcast, that aired on June 15, 2023.

The former president is one to call a spade a spade. Obama said Black Republicans had validated America. He told Axelrod that there are “African American or other minority candidates within the Republican Party who will validate America and say, ‘Everything’s great, and we can make it,'” Fox News Sunday reported. The former president, the first Black person to hold the office, justified Americans who side-eye claims from Black conservatives that everything is great regarding race in America. According to the New York Post, he said plainly, “If somebody is not proposing, both acknowledging and proposing elements that say, ‘No, we can’t just ignore all that and pretend as if everything’s equal and fair. We actually have to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.'” He added, “If they’re not doing that, then I think people are rightly skeptical.”

Differences of opinion became evident when the Republican senator for South Carolina responded to the former president. Scott said on Fox News Sunday, three days after the podcast aired, “The truth of my life disproves the lies of the radical left.” He went on, “The radical left and President Obama, they have failed, they have failed, and they have failed,” Blavity reported. Scott claimed that Obama’s vision for U.S. education failed. The Republican touted his efforts at securing funding for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in comparison.

During the podcast, Obama emphasized that he was not singling out Scott. Instead, he mentioned former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Hailey and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Clarence Thomas.

• News

by Sharelle Burt

June 23, 2023

Walmart’s Offensive ‘Jail’ Fundraiser Draws Criticism From Customers and BLM Activists

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A fundraiser at a Walmart in Providence, Rhode Island has customers and Black Lives Matter activists in an uproar.

The fundraiser featured a Black employee in a cage asking for “bail” money to contribute to the Hasbro Children’s Miracle Network, the Providence Journal reports. After a picture circulated on social media, critics–including the Black Lives Matter Rhode Island Political Action Committee—demanded the retail store take accountability for the “demeaning” display.

This “fundraising” campaign was shared with me this evening. I’m perplexed. This is WILD. pic.twitter.com/xpDfCxIkco

— Angela B. Ankoma (@ankoma_b) June 22, 2023

The image was initially captured by Walmart customer Angela Boateng, who said she was taken aback when she saw the display.

“I just did not understand what was happening, but I was mortified,” Boateng told The Providence Journal. “And as I went closer to read what was on the cage, I don’t know really what came over me. I was just deeply offended.”

Angela Ankoma, leader of the Rhode Island Foundation Equity Leadership Initiative, posted the picture on Twitter, calling it “wild.”

Walmart said locations participating in the fundraiser encouraged store employees to come up with a creative way to engage with customers to raise money. Walmart spokesman Joe Pennington said this was not the way to do it.

“The ‘jail’ fundraiser goes against company policy and should never be used,” Pennington told The Providence Journal, according to NewsOne. “We are reinforcing this with our stores in the area, and this display has been removed from our Providence location.”

The Providence branch of the NAACP is also upset.

“Images of Black people in cages represent a long, dark history in this country,” Gerald Catala, president of the branch, said. “Walmart should apologize and recognize that this is insulting and hurtful to Blacks, which is a large sector of their customer base at that particular Walmart.”

Hasbro Children’s Miracle Network said it was unaware of the fundraiser and has said it will work with the local store to identify other fundraising alternatives in the future.

Beyoncé was almost one nip slip away from potentially flashing concertgoers had it not been for one of her Les Twins dancers.

The decorated Grammy-winning singer was performing at the Hamburg stop of the “Renaissance” Tour on Wednesday, June 21 when fans captured what appeared to be a potential wardrobe malfunction. Beyoncé donned a hot pink Ivy Park ensemble while performing Renaissance‘s first single, “Break My Soul,” when Queen Bey appeared to be struggling with her dress.

That’s when one of the Les Twins dancers jumped in to save the day. In a smooth dancer-esque way of maneuvering through a situation, the dancer rushed over to Beyoncé to cover her while she readjusted herself into her dress.

Everything happened in a matter of seconds with fans barely noticing the slight hiccup.

better view of one of the les twins intercepting a wardrobe malfunction, nip slip, during ‘break my soul.’ https://t.co/e8sdYeYEJq pic.twitter.com/H14OdB8qc3

— smiles (@SmileyNthahood) June 22, 2023

Bey Hive members praised the Les Twins dancer for thinking quickly on his feet and coming to Beyoncé’s aid.

“the way he smoothly saved her from a potential nip slip was professionalism on level 1000 woah,” one fan tweeted.

Larry and Laurent Bourgeois—better known as Les Twins—have been dancing and touring with Beyoncé since 2011, as noted by Us Weekly. The French twin brothers have become staples of Beyonce’s live shows and were already building a fanbase prior to joining the superstar performer.

Dancing since they were babies, Les Twins have credited their unique skill of performative art to just something they were born to do.

“It’s totally emotional,” Laurent shared. “It’s like babies [when] they don’t know how to speak.”

“Their body is speaking, when they’re mad, when they’re happy, when they’re super happy, when they’re hungry…their bodies are speaking and dancing 24/7.”

While touring the world with Beyoncé, Les Twins partnered up with Kids Write Network, a youth program that helps children and young adults build self-confidence and improve their mental health using art, music, and dance. The brothers are set to give back even more by leading workshops at schools across Canada as part of their RISE for Mental Health Tour, starting this October at the Pace Academy in Atlanta.

RELATED CONTENT: Beyoncé Wore Only Black Designers For Renaissance Tour Juneteenth Performance

McKinsey & Company is on a mission to help brands make distinctive and lasting improvements that help to create positive, enduring change in the world. That’s why they’ve partnered with some of the leading Black beauty founders to move toward a more equitable market in which Black-owned beauty brands are more widely carried in stores.

Its efforts have included research to support fostering connections as well as finding solutions to the lack of representation of Black beauty brands in retail stores and supporting the 15 Percent Pledge, which urges retailers to dedicate 15% of their shelves to Black-owned brands to match the percentage of the Black populace.

McKinsey & Company has also created an accelerator program, Next 1B, to assist Black businesses in “attaining an equivalent company valuation of one billion dollars or more,” according to the company’s website.

The eight- to 12-week program helps founders unlock the mindset needed to grow their brand’s reach. Post-program, attendees retain access to all resources from the course as well as a directory of other Black founders. In the second phase of the accelerator, “Scalers,” those with brands that have already arrived at a $10 million valuation, are given a “growth diagnostic” to determine new distribution channels, product line expansion, and marketing activation. Attendees of the cohort work with McKinsey to create a plan of action for their next phase of business.

McKinsey senior partner Tiffany Burns says the focus on Black beauty brands is one that directly addresses inequality in the space.

“Black beauty consumers are growing in their spending, but at the same time, their needs aren’t being fully met. It’s a lost economic opportunity for real growth,” she said in a company blog post. “Even as Black beauty brands offer amazing new products, a constellation of issues, including underinvestment in new brands and not enough representation on retail shelves, holds them back. It’s a problem that presents a lot of opportunity, but requires convening multiple partners to solve—a natural role for us to get involved.”

For a man who has only taken up running in the summer of 2018, at then-26 years old, the feat he has just accomplished has eluded runners who have dominated the sport.

According to BBC Sport, 30-year-old Eugene Amo-Dadzie, who admittedly just picked up the sport of running, has run an amazingly fast 9.93 seconds to win a race in Graz, Austria. That performance, which took place in a 100m race, was the fastest time for a British runner and also placed him in the top five British all-time lists coming in tied at No. 4. Not bad for someone who is an accountant.

He initiated his first training session at Woodford Green Athletics Club when he started to take the sport seriously. He then reached the British Championships semi-finals when he raced against Olympians Adam Gemili and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey. In that season, he had a personal best of 10.55, and then that went down to 10.20 in 2021, and then last year, he ran a time of 10.05.

Updates have been revealed regarding NFL legend Deion Sanders‘ health.

After he revealed he may have to have his left foot amputated, former Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones announced on the Pat McAfee Show that Sanders will undergo emergency surgery on Friday to have blood clots removed.

“I had a chance to talk to him this morning,” Jones said. “I said, ‘Man, I hope they don’t have to cut off your d***.’ That’s what I told him.”

Deion Sanders is having emergency surgery tomorrow for a blood clot in his groin..

You got this Coach Prime #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/lZbeffvn8l

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 22, 2023

Sanders’ medical team discovered clots in both of his legs. CBS News reports the University of Colorado football coach is no stranger to blood clot issues as he started having issues while he was coaching at Jackson State.

However, he seems to be in good spirits and hoping for a positive outcome.

“Now this is what happened. I went to the doctor the other day to check myself out and I have two clots in my leg. One in my right leg, one in my left leg in my thigh,” Sanders said in a video. “Now I have a procedure tomorrow to try and get those clots so I can have proper blood flow through the leg so I can fix the toes.”

On an episode of YouTube show, The Pregame Show, the camera caught the moment doctors alerted Sanders that he could potentially lose his left foot. Dr. Donald Jacobs and Dr. Max Wohlauer told Sanders that if he doesn’t deal with the pain he feels in his dislocated toe, a more serious condition could present itself, leading to amputation. But they are hopeful he will be OK before the season starts.

Jones, who is a close friend of Sanders, told McAfree that watching him go through his health issues is hard. “I just want him to get healthy, man,” Jones said.

Keke Palmer recently recorded an episode of her podcast with Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss the important issues facing women worldwide.

On her podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, the new mom chatted with the vice president at the White House before the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Palmer felt this was the right time for an intimate conversation on maternal health and women’s reproductive rights. “How can we be having a maternal health crisis, and then people saying, ‘have more kids?” Palmer asked Harris in the episode preview.

Harris decided to answer that question in the best way possible—with the facts. “In the top 10 states that had the highest rates of maternal mortality, and the same states that have banned abortion, so you look at it, and this is where I get quite upset about the hypocrisy because the same people who say on the issue of access to reproductive care and the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body, and they’ll say, “Oh, I care about women and children,” Harris said.

“And you’re the same people that are so-called ‘leading’ a place that has some of the highest rates of maternal mortality. So which is it?”

Harris has been making her mark as a guest on many millennial-hosted platforms to discuss important issues. In May, she sat down with TikTok influencer Lynae Vanee to talk about the gun policies plaguing this country.

Palmer is on her way to building a well-recognized empire. She told Variety that she is committed to growing her platform, KeyTV, and Tyler Perry is a huge inspiration to her. “I love what Tyler Perry has done,” Palmer said. “I look at people like Brian Robbins and people that are creatives that figured out a way to make it open to everyone. I want to be able to do that same thing — I want to help other people find their path as an individual content creator.”

The episode airs on June 27 on YouTube.

• News

by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors

June 23, 2023

Rock2Reclaim Takes On Wrongful Incarceration And Its Impact On The Women Left Behind

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Rock2Reclaim works to address the harmful impact the carceral system has on individuals and their families. In solidarity and partnership, BLACK ENTERPRISE supports the organization‘s upcoming initiative, Through the Eyes of a Woman: From Emancipation to Reclamation, a panel series that centers criminal justice advocates and community leaders as they discuss several topics surrounding the judicial system. The event takes place on Sunday, June 25, at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City and kick off at 1:00 PM with opening remarks that honor Kenneth P. Thompson, the first Black district attorney of Brooklyn.

Speakers—including Rebecca Brown from the Innocence Project—will take the stage to discuss the criminal justice system, and will be followed by a series of panels with special guests Kiki Dunston of Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner and founder of the E.R.I.C. Initiative Foundation, and more.

The first panel, titled “What You Need to Know,” will involve advocates Angela Richardson-Black, Jo-Ann Santana, and Aisha Salaam as they discuss their journeys as activists and share their challenges. All three women are sisters to members of the Exonerated Five, the infamous group of young men who were wrongfully-incarcerated for sexual assault, and served between five and 12 years in prison before being freed. 

Richardson-Black, the sister of Exonerated Five’s Kevin Richardson, worked tirelessly with the families of the other jailed boys to fight to overturn their wrongful convictions. After their release, she founded the Exonerated Central Park Five Organization and now works as a licensed real estate agent. Salaam, whose brother is Yusuf Salaam, was motivated to advocacy work following her brother’s unjust conviction. She and her family have dedicated 30 years to helping families like theirs, fighting for those wrongfully convicted. Santana is the sister of Raymond Santana. As a victim of domestic violence, she credits God as the reason for her survival. Following undergraduate school, where she studied theology, Sanatana practices her ministry by serving her community through food pantry outreach.

The second panel, moderated by Carr, will include youth advocates Daichoi Dunston, Adedoyin Abimbola, and Aaliyah Salaam, discussing ways to bring young people one step closer to safety. Sharon Content, the founder and CEO of Children of Promise, will moderate the third and final panel featuring Kiki Dunston, Lisette Bamenga, and Natasha White. These women, who all work to provide an easier transition for formerly-incarcerated individuals, will discuss life after imprisonment. Event sponsors include AYR Wellness; Harlem Community Development Corporation; Sigma Gamma Rho; Hudson Link For Higher Education In Prison and Justice For The Wrongfully Incarcerated.

This Rock2Reclaim initiative is a community-based event that we all should be invested in. Follow Rock2Reclaim on Instagram to find out more about the organization and stay in the loop for current news.

This event is open to the public. Register here. 

RELATED CONTENT: Ben & Jerry’s Join New Hiring Program for At-Risk Youth to Prevent Incarceration

• Uncategorized

by Iman Milner

June 23, 2023

Lois Arterberry Becomes First Black Female Head Coach At Univ. of Minnesota In 2 Decades

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The University of Minnesota has named Lois Arterberry the first Black female head coach of any sport at the university in two decades and only the third ever in the Big Ten school’s history.

Arterberry takes over as head tennis coach of the Golden Gophers after successfully guiding the tennis program at the University of St. Thomas as it transitioned from a Division III team to a Division I, according to the Minnesota Sportsman Recorder.

For the past nine years, the Grenada native has worked for various teams creating successful and sustainable programs, starting as a graduate assistant at her alma mater Southern University—where she was a three-time Southwestern Athletic Conference champion. She then went to Jackson State where she was the women’s and men’s tennis head coach. Arterberry was briefly the head coach of Eastern Illinois University before heading to the University of St. Thomas.

Moving up to a Big Ten program, Arterberry says, is the moment she’s been working toward since the start of her career.

“The opportunity came and I took a chance. And it worked out,” she said. “To be honest, I’ve been applying for jobs at this level for a really long time and haven’t had any looks. There’s a lot of reasons why I think it didn’t work out.”

The excitement around Arterberry’s cannot be denied. The University of Minnesota Athletic Director Mark Coyle believes the former Grenada Sports Woman of the Year will bring “a world-class experience for our student-athletes and will prepare them to be successful athletically, academically, and socially.”

The Gophers are coming off of a season that was canceled—various injuries led to not having enough players available to compete; however, Arterberry believes the team has what it takes.

“I need everyone’s support—fans, the [players’] family and friends—to come out and support the team and just show love to these girls, and we’ll get there,” she said.

• Business

by Stacy Jackson

June 23, 2023

DC Street Vendors File Lawsuit To Fight The City’s ‘Clean Hands Law’ That Blocks Licensing

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Debt is weighing down street vendors in the District of Columbia.

On June 20, 2023, a group of D.C. residents sued the city after being denied licensing over unpaid debt. According to DCist, the group of seven included street vendors who cannot obtain occupational or small business licenses under the Clean Hands Law.

The lawsuit says the Clean Hands Law negatively impacts poor residents. It reads, “This case challenges a poverty trap the District of Columbia imposes on its most vulnerable and impoverished residents,” according to DCist. A street vendor involved in the suit echoed this concern. Kahssay Ghebrebrhan, a 63-year-old immigrant from Ethiopia and a food street vendor, said he could not pay off his debt if he is not working. “I’m not working. How can I pay?” he said. DCist reported that Ghebrebrhan owes around $1,000 in debt to D.C.

Ariel Levinson-Waldman, an attorney for the group, said, “When we have policies that condition participation in the workforce on the ability to pay, what we’re doing is punishing poverty.” He added, “We are absolutely encouraging the council to continue the important work of reforming the Clean Hands Law. But in the meantime, it becomes very important for the court to step in and provide the kind of relief that is only available on this emergency basis through the court process,” DCist reported.

The D.C. Bar reported a lawsuit against the Clean Hands Law at the beginning of 2023 for preventing people from getting or renewing their licenses if they owed $100 or more in parking or traffic fines. Tzedek DC and Venable LLP filed the lawsuit. Levinson-Waldman, president of Tzedek DC, said at the time, “Black D.C. residents are being arrested at 19 times the rate of white D.C. residents for the offense of driving without a permit. The Clean Hands Law is playing a role in creating that situation,” according to the D.C. Bar.