• News

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

November 10, 2022

18-Year-Old Iowa Teenager Who Killed Alleged Rapist Back in Custody After Escaping Facility

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An Iowa teenager who killed her alleged rapist violated her probation when she escaped from a women’s center last week.

According to CNN, 18-year-old Pieper Lewis has been captured and is back in custody after being on the run for several days.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office announced that Lewis was sent to the center as part of a deferred judgment after she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and willful injury. She made the plea for killing of 37-year-old Zachary Brooks, her alleged rapist, as a 15-year-old in 2020.

The Iowa Department of Corrections stated that Lewis was found and apprehended in Des Moines and was brought back into custody Tuesday. She is currently being held at the Polk County Jail and faces an upcoming court date for violating her probation.

When she pleaded guilty, Lewis was looking at a possible 20-year jail sentence. After she escaped last week, according to a probation violation report, there was a request for a warrant for Lewis’ arrest. The report stated:

“It is further ordered that her deferred judgments (be) revoked and original sentence imposed.”

BLACK ENTERPRISE reported that Polk County District Judge David Porter deferred the 20-year prison sentence for Lewis because she said she was forced into sex trafficking.

Before the stabbing, Lewis allegedly ran away from her adoptive mother, who she claimed was abusive. She had gotten shelter from a 28-year-old man whom she said forced her into sex trafficking. She said he held her at knifepoint and ordered her to have sex with several men, including Brooks. Reportedly, he sexually assaulted Lewis multiple times before she retaliated and stabbed him.

The judge ordered the 18-year-old to serve 1,200 hours of community service, which would cover more than $4,000 in fines. Lewis is also required by Iowa law to pay $150,000 in compensation for the death of her victim.

She is now facing 20 years in jail.

With the loss of the Yeezy name, adidas has lowered its sales projections due to the elimination of Ye’s sneakers.

Adidas stated that due to the “termination of the adidas Yeezy partnership,” the previous projections have been altered to be lower than anticipated.

“Following the decision on October 25, 2022, to terminate the Adidas Yeezy partnership, adidas now incorporates the related top- and bottom-line impact into its guidance for FY 2022, reflecting the high seasonality of the adidas Yeezy business geared towards the fourth quarter. Consequently, adidas now expects currency-neutral revenues for the company to grow at a low-single-digit rate in 2022.

Billboard reported that the company cut its expectations by 50% for net profit from continuing operations to 250 million euros ($252 million) this year from a previously expected 500 million euros ($504 million).

In a conference call, adidas CFO Harm Ohlmeyer stated that the profit margin of the Yeezy brand was overstated because the costs solely included the expenses that were directly related to the items from the brand. It didn’t include the central overhead costs from adidas.

“In other words, it does not include any further central cost allocation for sourcing, digital, retail, or any other services that this part of our business has been benefitting from and that were essential for its success,” Ohlmeyer said. “At the same time, we will save around 300 million euros related to royalties and marketing fees; in combination, this will help us to compensate the majority of the top and bottom line impact in 2023.”

Last month, CNBC reported that, after stating previously that their relationship with Ye was “under review,” adidas officially ended its relationship with the controversial music producer.

“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”

When Ye appeared on the since-deleted Drink Champs podcast on Revolt, he practically dared the apparel company to act when he stated, “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”

Ibn Williams, a former basketball player who played for Coppin State University has filed a lawsuit against the educational institution claiming sexual assault and blackmail by an assistant coach.

Basketball head coach Juan Dixon, who appears on the television series The Real Housewives of Potomac, has been named in the lawsuit.

The State of Maryland, the University System of Maryland, Lucien Brownlee, and Derek Carter are also named in the paperwork filed.

According to the court documents, Williams “by information and belief” claims that Brownlee, the assistant basketball coach of Coppin State University catfished him online, passing on intimate photos and texts, and after doing so, blackmailed him into videotaping a private sexual act before revealing the encounter when Williams resisted his demands for sex.

Williams is suing for negligence, negligent hiring and retention, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and breach of contract, according to Baltimore Brew.

Brownlee also served as director of player development and director of basketball operations at the school.

Dixon is accused of not acting on the complaints Williams brought to him.

Williams’ attorney, Daniel “Donny” Epstein of the New Jersey law firm Epstein Ostrove, told Baltimore Brew that Dixon had prior knowledge of issues with Brownlee, which is mentioned in the complaint. He feels that the head coach should never have put Brownlee in a position of authority over the basketball players.

These alleged incidents took place throughout the 2018-2019 basketball season.

In the fall of 2020, the blackmail and threats reportedly did not stop and Williams ignored the repeated requests, that’s when “the material used to blackmail plaintiff was published and revealed to members of the team, staff and the public,” according to the lawsuit.

Epstein explained that the material appeared on Instagram but was eventually taken down. Williams was told after the material was posted that Dixon told him to come to practice the following day. The two talked and according to the complaint, “Dixon admitted that Lucien [sic] Brownlee was mentally ill or otherwise emotionally imbalanced and that his history was known to the coach, [Athletic Director Derek] Carter and the school.”

• Sports

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

November 10, 2022

Brooklyn Nets Co-Owner Announces Initiative To Invest in Black-Owned Businesses

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Recent controversies have enveloped the Brooklyn Nets amid the firing of head coach Steve Nash and the suspension of one of its star players, Kyrie Irving.

The NBA team took time from the chaos to announce that they have launched an initiative to help boost Black-owned businesses.

According to The Associated Press, Brooklyn Nets co-owner Clara Wu Tsai has initiated a new program that will spend up to $6 million to assist Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) people to get their businesses going in 2023.

The accelerator program, named BK-XL, will be investing up to $500,000 in 12 individual startups that are led by BIPOC founders.

“Capital is one of the biggest impediments to wealth-building, particularly for BIPOC entrepreneurs,” Wu Tsai informed The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.

“We thought that investing in this segment was how we could create wealth, not only for the entrepreneurs but also through all the different jobs that they are going to create.”

After the well-publicized police killing of George Floyd back in 2020, many corporations and venture capitalists vowed to start providing financial support to Black-owned companies and startups in what may have amounted to “white guilt.” Crunchbase reported that before 2021, only 2.4% of all U.S. venture capital raised between the years of 2015 to 2020, was allocated to Black or Latinx business owners. Following the racial reckoning after Floyd’s death, Black entrepreneurs’ funding quadrupled in the first half of 2021 to $1.8 billion. Yet, investments for minority founders in 2022 have dropped considerably to pre-George Floyd numbers.

Wu Tsai stated that BK-XL “will be a mix of grants, loans, and investments into this borough which I think ultimately is going to result in strengthening the community and the building up of people.”

For the companies picked for the BK-XL program, the initial $125,000 investment will be given in exchange for a 7% equity in the startups. That percentage will be evenly divided between Wu Tsai’s Social Justice Fund and the investment platform Visible Hands. They will also be given an additional $375,000 investment from an uncapped SAFE upon meeting specific growth benchmarks and maintaining operations in Brooklyn for at least one year.

Applicants can start applying for BK-XL on Dec. 5, 2022. People can place an application until Jan. 20, 2023. Companies and individuals selected will be notified by early March 2023. The program is expected to begin in the middle of April 2023 and go until late June 2023.

• Women

by Derek Major

November 10, 2022

The U.S. Senate Still Has Zero Black Women After Demings, Beasley Suffer Midterm Losses

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Since Kamala Harris became the vice president, the U.S Senate has been bereft of Black women, but it’s not due to lack of trying.

Two Black women, both Democrats, Florida Rep. Val Demings and Cheri Beasley in North Carolina, ran for the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections and did well, defying expectations and out-raising their opponents; however, both fell short. Demings fell to Rep. Marco Rubio, while Beasley lost to Rep. Ted Budd.

Both Black women sport impressive résumés. Demings has represented Florida’s 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House since 2017 and is a former Orlando police officer. Meanwhile, Beasley, a Duke University Law School graduate, has served as a  judge in the Tar Heel State for almost two decades and is the chief justice of the North Carolina State Supreme Court.

Impressive résumés are a constant for Black politicians as they often have to be overqualified to run for office, and it doesn’t guarantee success.

Chris Jones, who lost in the race for Arkansas governor to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is the son of two preachers, a Morehouse College and M.I.T. graduate, and a nuclear engineer with a Ph.D. in urban planning. Newly elected Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is a Rhodes Scholar, U.S. Army combat veteran, author, and the former CEO of one of the nation’s largest anti-poverty organizations.

In addition to being overqualified, Black women in politics often have to fight against racial stereotypes and, in many cases, are undermined by their opponents. Demings ($72 million) and Beasley ($33 million) had impressive fundraising hauls during their campaigns, and the larger share of their donations came from out of state, which isn’t surprising.

Black women have no choice but to nationalize their races because their money has to come from out of state and in state,” Stefanie Brown James, co-founder of the Collective PAC, which supports Black political candidates. “We don’t have these built-in wealth networks to just stay in state, and to just have what’s discussed in your state be the only thing you talk about. You have to connect it to a national narrative. That’s what these women have been able to do so well.”

James added that while there are zero Black women in the Senate, it may not be long before you see one.

“Don’t count these women out,” Brown told The 19th. “They are quality candidates, and we miss the larger message if we only look at Nov. 8. I think the larger message is that they will have another political battle in front of them.”

• Politics

by Eric Moody

November 10, 2022

Black Man Makes History as Pennsylvania’s First African American Lt. Governor

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Some historic news was announced for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the state will have its first African American lieutenant governor.

Austin Davis will receive this honor as Pennsylvania’s first African American lieutenant governor after Democrat Attorney General Josh Shapiro declared victory Tuesday night in the race to become Pennsylvania’s 48th governor. The gubernatorial nominee, Shapiro, endorsed Davis, who received 63% support in the three-candidate primary race, according to ABC’s affiliate station WHTM (ABC27).

Davis is in his third term in the state House of Representatives. He serves as chair of the Allegheny County House Democratic Delegation and vice-chair of the House Democratic Policy Committee, detailed on his campaign website.

In addition, Davis, the son of a union bus driver and hairdresser, serves on the House Appropriations Committee, House Transportation Committee, House Insurance Committee, and House Consumer Affairs Committee.

But his commitment to service does not stop there. Davis is an active member of the Climate Caucus, PA SAFE Caucus, and the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, an American political organization composed of African Americans elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

He began his career in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, where he currently lives with his wife. Before his political campaign days, Davis served as chairman of McKeesport Mayor Jim Brewster’s Youth Advisory Council, according to WHTM. His roots remained strong in Pennsylvania and the area of McKeesport as he attended and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. In 2018, Davis joined the Allegheny County Executive’s office and ran for the State House.

Davis will take his step in history on Jan. 17, 2023, as he will be sworn in as lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania.

According to WHTM, a special election will also be called to fill his seat in the State House once his vacancy opens in 2023.

• Entertainment

by Niko Mann

November 10, 2022

‘Wakanda Forever’ Star Letitia Wright Opens Up About Traumatic On-Set Accident

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Actress Letitia Wright is speaking out about the on-set accident that occurred while she was filming the sequel to Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

According to Variety, Wright fractured her shoulder and suffered from a concussion after her motorcycle crashed. According to the outlet, the accident occurred in Boston in August 2021 while Wright was filming Wakanda Forever with a second unit crew. The first film crew was filming with director Ryan Coogler in Atlanta on the film’s main set.  

Wright was riding the motorcycle while shooting an action sequence when the biscuit rig used for the camera “clipped a median and sheared the bike off, and it tumbled.” Wright was hospitalized for her fractured shoulder and a concussion. The actress told Variety that she was in therapy and still processing the accident.  

“I’m still processing it,” said Wright. “I’m still working through it in therapy. It was really traumatic.”

Wright also recalled wanting to finish the film as a tribute to her late co-star, Chadwick Boseman. The actor passed away at 43 in August 2020 from colon cancer. Wright described finding out Boseman had passed away and said she was in disbelief.  

“Is someone trying to play a joke on me?” she recalled.

“This is not a good joke. This is not OK. And I just did the first thing that anybody would do: I called Chad.”

When she didn’t get an answer, she texted him. “Hey Bro, it’s Tish. Please pick up.” After talking with co-star, Daniel Kaluuya, she tried to call Boseman again before Kaluuya’s words helped her to accept that Boseman was gone. 

Coogler spoke about how close the film’s cast was, especially Wright and Boseman, who played siblings.  

“It was a real thing happening there. Specifically, with Letitia and Chad, you know. Specifically with them.” 

The director visited Wright in the hospital, and she said one of the first things she told Coogler was that she was determined to finish the film.  

“I just remember wanting to finish my film, man,” said Wright. “I think that was one of the first things I said to Ryan. And he was like, ‘Tish, you need to recover.’” 

The film closed production from November 2021 until January 2022, while Wright went home to London to recover from her injuries.  

“I had great, great, great medical support, great patience on set. I’m just extremely proud of myself. I’m extremely proud of Ryan, of the team, for just the resilience—overcoming adversities every step of the way. When I finished filming, I cried like a little baby.” 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever premieres in theaters on Nov. 11.   

• Entrepreneurship

by Derek Major

November 10, 2022

Black CEO of $1.7M Moving Company Grants Second Chances by Hiring Inmates Struggling to Find Work

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Chandra Thomas has always believed in second chances, so much so that it’s a core part of her business J.C. Movers & Lumper Services Inc.

“When I started the moving company, it was my dream to grow it to a company that will keep young men and women off the street and provides a better opportunity for them to provide a sufficient life for themselves and their families,” Thomas told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

Thomas, the CEO and founder of J.C. Movers, didn’t want to get into the moving business and said when family members approached her to start the company, she initially shied away from it.

“But it just kept falling in my lap, so I eventually stepped out and it started as just a hobby at first, just doing side jobs,” Thomas said.

“Eventually, we decided to take it further and start a moving company, and after turning into a moving company, it was brought back to my attention that when I was younger, I always wanted to have a second chance program and so that’s how I became the source of second chances where we see young Black and Brown men and women going into jail coming back out going back to jail and I thought, OK, what’s the problem here?”

The CEO added that many times after being released, inmates struggle to land a job, leading them back to jail. Thomas wanted to provide a place where former inmates could work and turn their lives around.

Thomas initially partnered with two other individuals to start the company, but both eventually left, leaving her to run J.C. Movers alone. To quickly adapt, Thomas reached out to other businesses in the industry to work with them on creating business for each other instead of competing.

“I always been the main CEO, but I had a team that would help me kind of brainstorm and now I had to rely on networking,” Thomas told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

“I even reached out to other affiliates that were willing to share their knowledge, wisdom, and processes with me, and so we kind of have developed the pay it forward mentality, so we were helping each other, my moving company helping another moving company and we’re all just trying to survive this entrepreneur life.

“Most people wouldn’t have thought that another business in the same industry would be willing to help you, but because we realize there’s more than enough for everybody and we didn’t take on the mentality of being competitors, but we were all trying to service the client.”

Thomas told BLACK ENTERPRISE that running a moving and lumper (unloading the freight from a truck trailer) company is not easy, especially as a Black woman in a male-dominated industry, and that even customers sometimes doubt she runs the company.

“Being a woman in this industry has been a challenge,” Thomas said.

“No. 1, to be a woman in charge of men, so when you have to give them instructions, I’ve had to experience them saying you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’ve never moved before, you don’t know what we face in the field and just trying to relate what they go through on a day-to-day basis as well as just taking a call from a customer who wants to raise a concern and talk to me on the phone and is shocked that I’m a woman and I have to convince them I’m the owner.”

Despite the challenges, Thomas said J.C. Movers is a rewarding experience because of the employees she helps, the changes she sees in their lives, and the positive feedback she gets from customers.

“It’s so rewarding, and sometimes it seems like I’m in a dream because I did it unconsciously, initially, and when I finally remove myself and think about what just happened, I think, wow, I just helped this individual reinvent myself and to see them come in raw and rough around the edges and to be able to chisel away at that and to see this sweet, humble person unfold you can’t even believe what they were locked up for or experienced in life.”

• News

by Stacy Jackson

November 10, 2022

Man Kidnapped Ex-Girlfriend Over Lottery Ticket, Now Faces 13 Charges After Assaulting Police

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A disagreement over a lottery ticket escalated to a man fighting with deputies.

Dontrell Hanes, 43, is facing multiple charges after reportedly kidnapping and beating his ex-girlfriend in Memphis on Tuesday night over a lottery ticket he claimed belonged to him.

According to WREG, court records reported that Hanes kidnapped the victim, who remains anonymous, from a home in Cordova they previously resided in together. Hanes’ ex-girlfriend revealed that her mother, who has Alzheimer’s, unintentionally took the tickets he purchased. He had a disagreement with her sister after she said she would not give back the Powerball ticket.

“Even though it’s not a winning ticket, he still wanted it and she said something he didn’t like and he just clicked and kicked the door in,” she said.

Police reported Hanes kicked the door into the victim’s home after her son left, beat, and choked her before forcing her to his car, driving around for almost seven hours demanding $10,000 from her.

“He initially was just choking me, dragging me out the house,” she said.

According to Action News 5, the victim said Hanes reportedly grabbed a loaded handgun and hid it, claiming he had plans to go to Orange Mound “to shoot up someone’s house.”

“I thought I was going to die because he said that was it. He didn’t have anything to live for,” she said.

Police located the victim after Hanes eventually let her make a call to her family, who was able to ping her location. “He took the phone when my daughter kept asking where are you. He snatched the phone, and hung up. Sixty seconds later, they had us,” she said. “That was a blessing. They had surrounded us with cars and weapons.”

According to the outlet, he verbally and physically assaulted four deputies as they tried to arrest him. Hanes was taken into custody and transported to Methodist Germantown to be treated for minor injuries caused by the victim fighting back. Following treatment, he was taken to 201 Poplar.

Action News 5 reported Hanes had been charged 13 times for aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, domestic assault, theft of property, possessing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, unlawful carrying/possession of a weapon, being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun, four counts of aggravated assault of a first responder, and resisting official detention.

His bond is set at $250,000.

• Celebrity News

by Niko Mann

November 10, 2022

Rapper Snoop Dogg Headed to the Big Screen, Biopic in the Works With ‘Black Panther’ Writer

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A new biopic about award-winning recording artist Snoop Dogg was announced on Wednesday.

The new biopic is being produced by Universal Pictures, the same movie studio that produced the biopic about hip-hop group N.W.A.’s rise to fame in the hit film Straight Outta Compton.

The rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus Jr., said that he waited until he found the perfect partners to tell his story. Menace II Society director Allen Hughes will direct the biopic, and Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole will write the screenplay, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“I waited a long time to put this project together because I wanted to choose the right director, the perfect writer, and the greatest movie company I could partner with that could understand the legacy that I’m trying to portray on screen, and the memory I’m trying to leave behind,” said Broadus.

“It was the perfect marriage. It was holy matrimony, not holy macaroni.”

Broadus also shared the news on Instagram with the caption, “Finally. 👊🏿💫🙏🏿 This will be fun. 🔥 Snoop Dogg Biopic.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg)

Broadus collaborated with N.W.A.’s Dr. Dre in the 1990s and rose to fame with his hit album “Doggystyle.” The recording artist went on to win numerous awards, including the American Music Award for Favorite Rap or Hip-Hop Artist. The 17-time Grammy-Award nominee has starred in multiple films and won a Primetime Emmy Award for his performance in The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show. Broadus also became the owner of Death Row Records earlier this year.

The 51-year-old is married and has four children. He has a son named Julian Broadus with his ex-girlfriend, Laurie Holmond. The rapper also shares three children with his wife, Shante Broadus. The couple has two boys, Corde Broadus and Cordell Broadus, and a daughter, Cori Broadus.

The chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, Donna Langley, said the studio was humbled to tell his story.

“Snoop Dogg’s life and legacy makes him one of the most exciting and influential icons in popular culture,” said Langley.

“We met with Snoop shortly after he acquired Death Row Records and had the opportunity to hear his story in his own words. We are humbled to be able to create the lasting document of this singular artist.”

The biopic will also serve as the first film from Broadus and Death Row Pictures, and the rapper is reportedly “heavily involved” with the film.