D.C. Intersection To Be Renamed After Negro League’s First Female Pitcher
Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, the first woman to pitch in the Negro Leagues and a two-way player, will be memorialized by having a D.C. intersection named after her.
On Oct. 11, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser revealed that the “Dave Thomas Circle” intersection will be renamed “Mamie ‘Peanut’ Johnson Plaza,” after the female baseball pitcher who played for the Indianapolis Clowns for three years, according to Fox 5. The $41 million construction project for the intersection near Florida Avenue and New York Avenue NE will end in 2024. The D.C. City Council still needs to approve the renaming.
Mayor Bowser said about the project, “Our community is ready to start a new chapter at this intersection, and we are off to a strong start by naming it after such an iconic woman.”
She continued: “Mamie ‘Peanut’ Johnson was a pioneer. Now, it is fitting that her name will represent these new spaces where residents and visitors can rest and play. I thank the Noma BID for engaging the public and going through a thoughtful process of renaming this intersection.”
Between April 17 and June 25 of this year, D.C. residents voted for name recommendations for the intersection, and more than 4,300 chose to rename the intersection in honor of Johnson.
The area was notorious for being a problem spot for traffic. Maura Brophy, president and CEO of the NoMa BID, said about construction, “The redesign of the Florida Avenue/New York Avenue NE intersection will transform the current space to make it safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers while also creating more than one acre of green space for the benefit of the community.”
Who was Mamie Johnson?
The trailblazing athlete pitcher played for the Indianapolis Clowns from 1953-1955. She entered the Negro Leagues as Black players began to integrate into the MLB. Ironically, Johnson had been rejected by the all-white female league because she was Black. Although she was the only woman to pitch in the Negro Leagues, there were two other women who also played baseball with the men.
Johnson proudly stated that she learned how to throw her famous curveball from the baseball legend Satchel Paige.
“Tell you the truth, I didn’t know of his greatness that much. He was just another ballplayer to me at that particular time. Later on, I found out exactly who he was,” she explained.
After 1955, Johnson hung up her mitt and became a nurse. She died from an undisclosed illness in 2017.
Antonio Brown Arrested For Allegedly Not Paying Nearly $31K In Child Support
On Oct. 15, former National Football League (NFL) player Antonio Brown was arrested in Dania Beach, Florida, for allegedly failing to pay child support.
According to CBS News, the 35-year-old father of six by three different women was booked in Broward County. Brown was booked on an out-of-county arrest warrant. He was released on a $15,000 bond.
Wiltrice Jackson, the former athlete’s ex-girlfriend, Jackson claims she has consistently tried to get Brown to support Antanyiah, and that Brown’s debt totals nearly $31,000 in child support owed for their daughter, Antanyiah. The mother of the 15-year-old track star, who already has interest from more than 80 colleges, said she wanted Brown arrested.
“Right now, he’s making a mockery out of the judge, out of everything, because he feels like he’s untouchable,” she said.
This latest incident was not the first time the exasperated mom turned to the courts. BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported that an arrest warrant was issued for Brown in August 2023. At the time, a Miami-Dade County judge ruled that the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver missed a child support payment of $15,000. CBS News also reported the same issue came about earlier this year, in April.
Brown is not currently signed to an NFL team. Last month, BEreported that Brown was accused of pulling a gun on members of his Albany Empire (formerly of the National Arena League) team. Former players in the now-defunct team also claimed the athlete didn’t pay them.
National Museum Of African American History And Culture Acquires Major Collection Of Work Attributed To Poet Phillis Wheatley Peters
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture has acquired the largest private collection of items to bring new context and perspective to the life and literary impact of poet Phillis Wheatley Peters (c.1753–1784), including one of the few manuscripts written in the poet’s hand.
Born in West Africa and captured by slave traders as a child, Wheatley Peters became the first African American to publish a book of poetry with the 1773 release of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in London. A rare and exciting highlight of this acquisition is a four-page manuscript of a poem, “Ocean,” written in ink by Wheatley Peters’ hand, the only copy that exists today, and unpublished before 1998. The poem was likely composed on her return voyage to America from England in September 1773.
Six of the 30 objects in this collection were published during her life span. Selected items from the collection can be viewed online through the Searchable Museum website. Plans to display these new acquisitions are in the works. The museum currently recognizes Wheatley Peters in the Paradox of Liberty display in the “Slavery and Freedom” exhibition with a statue and a copy of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.
“Phillis Wheatley Peters’s poetry brought her renown in abolitionist circles and presented as proof of the humanity of those of African descent and the inhumanity of slavery,” said Kevin Young, the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Scholars continue to parse through her work to determine when and where she posed resistance to slavery; her poem ‘On Being Brought from Africa to America’ is considered to be a chastisement of slavery to the millions of white Americans undergoing the religious revival movement known as ‘The Great Awakening.’ This must have pricked Thomas Jefferson’s conscience, for his 1785 publication of Notes on the State of Virginia dismissed Wheatley Peters’s talent as coming from religion and religious training rather than intellect.”
Additional highlights of the collection include:
An autographed manuscript of the 70-line dramatic poem “Ocean” by Wheatley, ca. September 1773, four pages.
An issue of The Arminian Magazine, August 1789, features the 20-line poem “On the Death of a Child, Five Years of Age” and attributes it to “Phillis Wheatly, a negro.”
A hardcover edition of Pearls From the American Female Poets by Caroline May, 1869. The entry for Wheatley Peters spans pages 39 to 41 and includes a biographical note and two poems: “On the Death of a Young Gentleman of Great Promise” and “Sleep.”
A hardcover edition of The Poems of Phillis Wheatley, 1909. The red cloth cover features Wheatley Peters in profile and holding a quill to paper in her right hand.
A hardcover edition of Phillis Wheatley (Phillis Peters): A Critical Attempt and a Bibliography of Her Writings by Charles Frederick Heartman, 1915. Translated into English from the original German.
A booklet published by the Phillis Wheatley Club of Waycross, Georgia, in 1930. It contains a biography of the poet and correspondence between Wheatley Peters and George Washington, including a poem she sent him, “His Excellency General Washington.”
The publication of her poems by the AME Church and a biography by the Phillis Wheatley Club in the early 20th century are the only works in the collection published by Black printers. The biography published by the Phillis Wheatley Club takes on a higher level of importance because it documents the educational work of Black clubwomen and the role Black women played as historians of Black life and culture.
“This collection, ranging from the late 18th century to the early 20th century, provides a glimpse of Phillis Wheatley Peters, the poet and Wheatley Peters, the icon, as well as Wheatley Peters, the woman,” said Angela Tate, curator of women’s history at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “This part of Wheatley Peters’s life has been long removed from popular culture and remembrance. A 1783 poem in this collection is of extreme interest because it is published under her married name of Phillis Peters, and furthermore, it is important to note that she is not presented as Mrs. John Peters.”
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Netflix’s (NFLX.O) crackdown on password-sharing likely boosted subscribers by about 6 million in the third quarter and the streaming pioneer is expected to set the stage for price increases when it reports earnings on Wednesday.
The only profitable major streamer, Netflix has resisted joining rivals like Walt Disney (DIS.N) in hiking ad-free prices this year and instead curbed password-sharing outside households to tap the more than 100 million viewers who use its service without subscribing.
“Netflix now closely resembles a utility in many markets,” analysts at Bernstein said. “The challenge of being labeled a utility is how a maturing company continues finding growth.”
It could hike prices after the end of the Hollywood actors strike, a media report said earlier in October.
Five months after calling a strike that plunged Hollywood into turmoil, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) last week approved a new contract with major studios.
Courtesy Of Reuters
After a slow start for the ad plan launched last year, analysts said they expect Netflix will raise prices of its ad-free options in the coming months to nudge more subscribers to the other tier, where commercials help bring in more revenue per user.
So far, most viewers subscribing to Netflix after the password crackdown have opted for the ad-free plans, analysts said. Its standard plan with ads costs $6.99 a month, while the ad-free plans start at $15.49.
“Using these tactics, Netflix will likely double its ad-supported viewership next year,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Ross Benes. He expects Netflix to show more ads to users over time, catching up with rivals.
The ad tier is expected to bring in some $188.1 million in revenue in the third quarter ended September, with subscriber additions of 2.8 million, according to Visible Alpha estimates.
Reuters Graphics
Overall, Wall Street expects the streamer to post its strongest quarterly subscriber additions this year, according to LSEG data.
Revenue in the third quarter likely rose 7.7% to $8.54 billion, the fastest growth in five quarters, thanks to strong programming that included the latest seasons of “Sex Education” and “Virgin River.”
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday barred two Texas-based manufacturers from selling products that can be quickly converted at home into firearms called “ghost guns,” granting a request by President Joe Biden’s administration to once again block a federal judge’s order that had sided with companies.
The justices lifted Fort Worth-based U.S. Judge Reed O’Connor’s Sept. 14 injunction barring enforcement of a 2022 federal regulation – a rule aimed at reining in the privately made firearms – against the two manufacturers, Blackhawk Manufacturing and Defense Distributed.
The rule was issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to target the rapid proliferation of these homemade weapons. It bans “buy build shoot” kits that individuals can get online or at a store without a background check or the usual serial numbers required by the federal government. The kits can be quickly assembled into a working firearm.
The decision marked the second time that the justices acted against an order by O’Connor in the case. In August, they halted the judge’s previous decision blocking the regulation, reinstating the rule while an appeal proceeds.
The administration had said O’Connor’s decision to grant an injunction favoring ghost gun kit makers despite the prior intervention by the justices “openly flouted” the Supreme Court’s authority.
The rule expanded the definition of a firearm under a 1968 federal law called Gun Control Act to include parts and kits that may be readily turned into a gun. It required serial numbers and that manufacturers and sellers be licensed. Sellers under the rule also must run background checks on purchasers prior to a sale.
The administration has said that ghost guns are attractive to criminals and others prohibited from lawfully buying firearms, including minors. There were about 20,000 suspected ghost guns reported in 2021 to the ATF as having been recovered by law enforcement in criminal investigations – a tenfold increase from 2016, according to White House statistics.
The United States, with the world’s highest gun ownership rate, remains a nation deeply divided over how to address firearms violence including frequent mass shootings.
Plaintiffs including the parts manufacturers, various gun owners and two gun rights groups – the Firearms Policy Coalition and Second Amendment Foundation – filed suit to block the ghost guns rule in federal court in Texas. They portrayed the policy as a threat to the long history of legal private gunsmithing in the United States.
Rejecting the administration’s concerns, O’Connor in July invalidated the rule, finding that the administration exceeded its authority under the Gun Control Act. The congressional definition of a firearm “does not cover weapon parts, or aggregations of weapon parts, regardless of whether the parts may be readily assembled into something that may fire a projectile,” the judge concluded.
Biden’s administration then asked the justices to halt O’Connor’s decision while it appeals to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Even though the justices on Aug. 8 granted that request, the manufacturers asked O’Connor for an injunction while the appeal plays out, which the judge issued. The 5th Circuit declined to pause that order.
Illinois Landlord Accused of Murdering Palestinian Child In Hate Crime
A 71-year-old landlord in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield, Illinois, has been charged in the stabbing death of a 6-year-old Palestinian child. According to ABC News, Joseph Czuba allegedly used what has been described as a military-style knife to stab the boy 26 times during this hate crime. Czuba is also accused of stabbing the young child’s mother, 32-year-old Hannan Shaheen, over a dozen times. She is in serious condition, she is expected to survive the attack.
The attack prompted the release of a statement from President Joe Biden that read, “The child’s Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek—a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace. This horrific act of hate has no place in America and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are.”
Statement from President Joe Biden on the brutal murder of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian-American boy, in Illinois pic.twitter.com/CyKCu4ZB3m
“I am heartbroken by the abhorrent killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a six year old child who died after being stabbed 26 times with a military-style knife. On behalf of the entire Justice Department, I want to express my deepest condolences to his family and his community as they grieve his loss.”
Wadea Al-Fayoume was found in a bedroom of his mother’s apartment along with his mother, with stab wounds to his chest, torso, and upper extremities. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition but died due to his injuries. His mother, who was stabbed in the same areas as her son, remains hospitalized.
According to the Will County Sheriff’s Office, they were able to ascertain that the attack and killing were motivated by the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, which makes this a hate crime, since the young boy was Palestinian. “Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”
Czuba has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement detailing statements Czuba made upon entering the house he’d rented to Shahin.
“Our hearts are heavy, and our prayers are with the darling boy and his mother,” Ahmed Rehab, CAIR-Chicago’s executive director, said.
“As we await the official investigation of the local authorities, what we can confirm at the moment is that we have a murdered child in his own home, a six-year[-old] who had just celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks ago, and a mother lying in the hospital in serious condition, both stabbed over a dozen times. And we have testimony from the mother as to the harrowing moments that unfolded in terms of what was done and said – and it is our worst nightmare. We have full confidence in the authorities to investigate this heinous incident as a hate crime and to do so swiftly.”
Boosie Badazz Says He ‘Got My Chain Back’ After Offering $10K Reward For Lost All-White Diamond Chain
After offering to pay a reward of $10,000 to whoever found his missing jewelry, Boosie Badazz stated that he is back in possession of his all-white diamond chain.
Louisianarapper Boosie Badazz was in a somber mood last week when he posted on his Instagram Live account. The controversial entertainer told his fans he’d lost his “all-white diamond chain.” He didn’t say exactly where he lost it but did offer a reward between $5,000 and $10,000 for its safe return. The rapper posted the video clip on Oct. 12.
“Aye I just lost my muthaf**kin’, uh, my all-white diamond chain. I got $5-10,000 whoever bring me my chain back. I just had it on when I did the drop. I went in the hotel and worked out. I had it on when I went to my room. My chain is gone, bro.”
Boosie continued, “I don’t know if it done came off my neck when I was walking upstairs or something but whoever get me my chain, I got the money on me right now. I’ma pay you $5-10,000 for my chain. I’ma pay you $5-10,000 you bring my chain back. If you swipe, you can see a picture of the chain. I got the money. I’ma pay you right now.”
Then some good news emerged! Boosie posted another video clip stating that he now has his chain back! No word on whether someone got a reward or if the person even wanted one, but Boosie confirmed that he is in possession of his “all-white diamond chain.”
Livebitz posted the clip on Instagram, where he announced the good news. In the short clip, he says, “Got my chain back, bro. Somebody gave it back to me.”
Alleged Undefeated ‘Fake’ Lawyer Arrested In Kenya After Winning 26 Cases
A Kenyan man who won 26 court cases without any defeats was arrested for false pretenses for portraying himself as a lawyer in Nairobi, Kenya.
According to NDTV, Brian Mwenda, who has appeared before magistrates, Court of Appeal judges, and High Court judges and has won every case, has been taken into custody by Kenyan police. The Rapid Action Team of the Nairobi Branch of the Law Society of Kenya put a notice on its social media account warning people that Mwenda is not who he says he is.
The Branch wishes to notify all members of the society and of the public that BRIAN MWENDA NJAGI is not an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, from the Society’s records, neither is he a member of the Branch. pic.twitter.com/hqzDtxRTSE
The organization stated that Mwenda somehow gained access to its portal and “identified an account with a name corresponding to his, tampered with the details, and uploaded his own photo in a bid to infiltrate Kenya’s legal profession,” Ghana Web reported.
The Law Society of Kenya said they realized that the alleged imposter “stole the identity of a lawyer with a name that is similar to his – Brian Mwenda Ntwiga.” They didn’t know this until Ntwiga contacted them to say he “could no longer log into the system.”
They realized the email address Ntwiga used didn’t match what was in the system.
“On the 5th Day of August 2022, Brian Mwenda Ntwiga was admitted to the Bar and his correct email address was captured and an Account opened for him in the Advocates portal. We reached out to Advocate Brian Mwenda Ntwiga who confirmed that he had not applied for a practicing certificate since his admission, reason being that he had been working at the Office of the Attorney General and did not require a Practicing Certificate,” according to a statement from the organization.
The Law Society of Kenya saw that “sometime in September 2023,” Mwenda changed the profile photo and workplace and paid for the practicing certificate. “However, his application was not processed since he was required to provide documents, including the certificate of business incorporation.”
BBC News reported that Mike Sonko, the former governor of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is in the corner of the alleged fake attorney. A posted video with him and Mwenda appears on X, formerly known as Twitter. In the video, the alleged fake attorney said, “I will also be able to provide my innocence and provide the actual context.”
I still maintain that my future lawyer Brian Mwenda is innocent until proven guilty. Tuko na yeye huku Mombasani until Monday when we shall present him to the DCI to record a statement pic.twitter.com/fFGNoxG7tX
Sonko also informed X users that Mwenda himself does not have an X account, after some have appeared in recent days on several sites asking for money for his defense.
Yayoi Kusama Exhibition At The San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art Draws Criticism Over Her Racist Characterization Of Black People
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art raised eyebrows when it decided to host an exhibition of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, due to her history of making anti-Black statements in her art. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Kusama issued a statement to the museum, which it released on Oct 13.
“I deeply regret using hurtful and offensive language in my book,” Kusama said. “My message has always been one of love, hope, compassion, and respect for all people. My lifelong intention has been to lift up humanity through my art. I apologize for the pain I have caused.”
Kusama’s work has long been critiqued as lacking respect for Black people. In her 2003 autobiography Infinity Net, she wrote, regarding a photo of a Black child, “I envisioned America as a land full of these strange, barefooted children and virgin primeval forests.”
In the Japanese version of the book, she described Greenwich Village, a historically Black neighborhood dating back to the 1850s, as a slum because of “black people shooting each other out front, and homeless people sleeping there.”
In June, writer Dexter Thomas criticized Yayoi Kusama: 1945 To Now, a compilation of Kusama’s work that was published earlier this year, in a piece for Hyperallergic.
Thomas wrote, “In her essay from 1945 to Now, curator Isabella Tam devotes pages to placing Kusama’s work in the context of ancient Chinese and Japanese traditions and forms. This is fine as an artistic or intellectual exercise, but it might be more straightforward to recognize that Kusama’s use of Black people as props also places her literature as an inheritor of a more disappointing tradition: American racism.”
The Chronicle, likewise, was critical of the decision by the SFMOMA to host Kusama’s exhibition, given her long and consistent history of questionable statements about Black people through her art. Soleil Ho, a staff writer for the paper, asked through her column if the art world in general cared about the anti-Black sentiment Kusama expressed throughout her career.
SFMOMA Director Christopher Bedford told the paper that the museum intended to use the controversy positively to create a dialogue about how museums can best approach artists with histories like Kusama. Bedford said that the museum’s hiring of Gamynne Guillotte as the museum’s Chief Education and Community Engagement Officer in June put them in a position where the museum can create public discussion about complexity in art.
“We will roll out a pretty ambitious public program in the spring. We’re in the process of identifying speakers and issuing invitations. Preceding that, there will be an internally focused dialogue in November where we will first have staff, along with moderators, discuss the difficulty of what it means to work multiple dimensions of expression. I would want to discuss racism, sexism, homophobia, antisemitism, any kind of prejudice that has existed and has been expressed throughout history in art, in literature, in other forms of expression.”
