white women, BIPOC, conversation, be quiet, Black women, Kamala Harris, HR

by Stacy Jackson

October 31, 2024

Using ‘Targeted Words’ In Work Emails Could Get You Flagged By Human Resources

Certain words like "harassment" and "discrimination" could prompt the HR department to further investigate past emails and communications.

When communicating in the workplace, Orange County Human Resources administrator Jackie Cuevas warns professionals that using “targeted words” in emails could be unsettling to the company’s HR professionals and pose further issues.

According to Business Insider, Cuevas, who works for a nonprofit organization, said emails containing “bullying” or “harassed” may prompt HR to investigate communications further. In prior cases, Cuevas noted that she’d witnessed small issues become bigger. These targeted words could lead to termination or someone being written up. She advised, “If you need to use targeted words or have an issue with a colleague, ask yourself: Can this be resolved by talking to the colleague I’m having issues with or talking to my supervisor? Or is it a bigger issue where I do need to go to HR?”

Cuevas advised against using company time and property to address other coworker’s behavior. Any swearing can likely be seen by HR and possibly documented.

A blog published by HireQuotient in July further addresses the impact of words in the workplace. The article lists terms that may trigger or “scare” the HR department. According to HireQuotient, words like “harassment,” “discrimination,” and “lawsuit” all pose legal red flags that HR may be obligated to address immediately. Instead, the outlet suggests using other dialogue to express concerns, describe behavior, and seek solutions. One alternative to address discrimination might be: “I feel that my contributions are being overlooked due to my background.” If you have concerns regarding harassment, it may be a safer approach to use descriptions like “uncomfortable behavior” or “inappropriate comments.” Other words to avoid include toxic, burnout, retaliation, and unfair.

Cuevas said employees should remember to double-check email recipients. “I’ve seen people accidentally hit ‘reply all’ when they meant to send a message to just one person or chat on Zoom and not realize everyone could see,” she said. If you say something inappropriate to someone through email, recipients still have access to those messages even if they are deleted on your end.

Some policies permit HR professionals to retrieve prior communications via email, other chats, and Slack through the company’s IT department in cases where an investigation is launched. Deleted emails may be stored in server archives or backups so that companies can access an employee’s email for any reason, if necessary.

by Kandiss Edwards

October 31, 2024

Best Black Horror Books For A Halloween Read

5 spooky books by black authors.

Halloween 2024 is underway. Adult costume parties are in full swing, and the children are readying themselves for a night of trick-or-treating, trunk-o-treating, and fall festivals. If you are an introvert or just a person who prefers to stay inside this spooky season, BLACK ENTERPRISE has compiled a list of worthwhile Black horror stories.

Who Fears Death – Nnedi Okafor

Set in Africa, Who Fears Death is the story of Onye, a young girl born an outcast. Her tan complexion and the circumstances surrounding her birth are heavy crosses to bear. She is othered as an Ewu, a child of rape, and learns to harness a newfound magic ability. Still, an unknown terror stalks her for the majority of her life and will not settle until she is dead. As Onye embraces her magic, she also evades the threat and runs straight into her destiny.

Here's a brief excerpt from WHO FEARS DEATH: https://t.co/IySeXjuIqw pic.twitter.com/zpJFmNEbhD
— Nnedi Okorafor, PhD🕷️ (@Nnedi) August 3, 2017

Beloved – Toni Morrison

Morrison’s Beloved is known by many as a film released in 1998. Still, even the visuals cannot capture the true horror of Sethe’s life. Born a slave, Sethe finds her way to freedom. For 18 years, Sethe has lived with the choices she had to make in order to free her young infant from the horrors of slavery. Refusing to condemn her child to the terrors of the enslaved, Sethe takes the infant’s life and is haunted by a grown-up, real-life manifestation of her “Beloved’s” ghost.

What's a book you read, was amazing but was so emotionally devastating you never want to read it again?

Beloved – Toni Morrison https://t.co/9uy8WvojCQ pic.twitter.com/lzJtiKC4o7
— Multifarious B (@musicmusing22) August 5, 2024

The Taking Of Jake Livingston – Ryan Douglass

“I see dead people” should be Jake’s mantra as he does exactly that — sees dead people. Jake, already suffering under the weight of racist teachers at St. Clair Prep, has to deal with the demands of the dead. The ghost of Sawyer Doon becomes a problem when he asks for more than Jake is willing to give.

📖: The Taking of Jake Livingston – Ryan Douglass pic.twitter.com/MdgdiZYd6F
— ᴍᴜꜱɪᴄ & ᴘʀᴏꜱᴇ (@BookswithArri) December 9, 2022

Jackal – Erin E. Adams

Liz Rocher is returning to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for her best friend’s wedding. The town is marred by uncomfortable memories for Liz, but she soldiers on for the love of her bestie. While visiting, a young Black girl goes missing. Understanding the racial dynamics of the town, Liz begins to fight a “darkness” and feels responsible for helping find Caroline.

https://twitter.com/iameeadams/status/1577307908294991872?s=46

One Of Our Kind – Nicola Yoon

Liberty, California, is a city built on Black excellence. Jasmyn and King Williams want to be part of the experience. Hoping for a city built on service and a collective dedication to the Black community, Jasmyn and King find the opposite. They also discover a secret that puts their lives in danger.

by Sharelle Burt

October 31, 2024

LinkedIn Launches Its First A.I. Tool To Help Recruiters Match With Top Job Candidates

Do you think AI has a better hand in recruiting?

LinkedIn recently launched a new AI tool for taxing tasks that recruiters loathe, Tech Crunch reports.

The Hiring Assistant is designed to assist with recruitment tasks such as turning scrap notes into more detailed job descriptions that source candidates and begin conversations with them. The tool is live for certain customers like large enterprises such as AMD, Canva, Siemens, and Zurich Insurance, while the mass rollout will occur between the end of 2024 and 2025.

The social platform, used to connect professionals, develop skills, and apply for jobs, labeled Hiring Assistant a “milestone” in its work with AI — calling it the first “AI agent” — on top of targeting the Microsoft-owned company’s top consumer — recruiters. “It’s designed to take on a recruiter’s most repetitive task so they can spend more time on the most impactful part of their jobs,” Hari Srinivasan, LinkedIn’s VP of Product, said.

LinkedIn has leaned on Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI, creating effective client tools like learning coaches, marketing campaign assistants, candidate sorters, profile refreshers, and writing and job-hunting helpers.

It also makes work easier for recruiters. With the ability to upload fuller job descriptions, the Hiring Assistant sends a full list of desired qualifications, resulting in a pipeline of candidates from algorithms to search for distinctive skills over tedious indicators like location and education. “It’s telling you this person might be a top fit,” Srinivasan said, according to Fast Company.

“This person might be a fit.”

Testing shows that AI is working well for LinkedIn. Hiring employers who use AI-assisted messages receive a 44% higher acceptance rate, and their outreach messages are accepted 11% faster than those who don’t use the tool to draft messages. Assisted search sessions also see higher message acceptance rates, at 18% over manual ones.

Srinivasan says the AI technology helps employers focus more on working with promising candidates in hopes that they will turn into new hires, but “they’re spending more of their time on the much more repetitive and tedious tasks.” LinkedIn’s head of career products, Rohan Rajiv, shares similar thoughts. “Quantity actually wastes everybody’s time,” Rajiv said.

“Job seekers send hundreds of applicant applications to jobs where they are underfit and won’t hear back, and in doing so, hirers actually struggle to get back to qualified candidates.”

Hiring Assistant is the key to LinkedIn’s overall push to heighten the quality of business-to-candidate matching in an era where online job searching can incentivize job seekers and recruiters to curate the right fit.

by Daniel Johnson

October 31, 2024

Husband-And-Wife Team From Philadelphia Launch Organization Combatting Gun Violence

The group's message is resonating in Philadelphia, where although there has been a significant reduction in gun violence from 2023, it remains a focal point of city officials

Husband-and-wife team Jarel and Karise Crew, both Black residents of Philadelphia, established the Philadelphia chapter of That Gun Talk in August 2021. According to its website, That Gun Talk is a national organization dedicated to addressing the need for victims of gun violence to receive training in responsible gun ownership and de-escalation tools in the group’s pursuit of a reduction of gun violence.

According to NBC News, the group’s message is resonating in Philadelphia, where, although there has been a significant reduction in gun violence from 2023, it remains a focal point for city officials.

As of Oct.1, there have been 841 shootings in Philadelphia in 2024, with half of those victims under the age of 30 and 80% of those gun violence victims were Black.

Among those who have responded positively to the group’s message after experiencing gun violence is 22-year-old Isaiah Stanton.

Following the death of his 26-year-old brother, Ronald Wimberly, in 2023, whose murder is currently unsolved and has resulted in no arrests, Stanton purchased a gun after completing his application for a gun license while he and his mother grieved their loss.

According to Stanton, the gun was purchased “just for my safety. Not only for me but also for my family — you know, going about it in the right way, getting a license,” Stanton told NBC News. “And also actually exercising my Second Amendment right.”

In August, Stanton attended a workshop hosted by the Crews and That Gun Talk on a range approximately 90 miles outside of Philadelphia.

Participants were educated on using gun locks and safes, safety gear, and de-escalation techniques at the workshop.

According to Karise Crew, the group wants to avoid pathologizing victims of gun violence, and she argued that they need to be cared for.

“We can say it’s gun violence, but we’re missing the point, and we’re not having conversations, and we’re not loving them, and we’re not being there for them the way we should be as a humanity, as people,” Karise told NBC News.

Her husband, Jarel, told the outlet that proper gun education is important but noted that it will not necessarily end gun violence completely.

“I believe that we can make a difference, and we can make a change in the community by being educated, Jarel said before continuing: “Criminals will always have access to firearms. If you get rid of your firearm, then God forbid, if you had to defend your life or your family, how would you be able to do that?”

According to WHYY, another Philadelphia organization, the Uplift Center for Grieving Children, received $50,000 from Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and the Philadelphia Foundation for its work assisting grieving victims of gun violence.

In addition to that group, 31 other groups are scheduled to receive microgrants to continue addressing the root causes of Philadelphia’s gun violence.

According to a statement from Krasner in a press release announcing the grants, “While we continue to see a truly historic decline in gun violence nationally and in Philadelphia, we can’t let our foot off of the gas,” Krasner said. “That’s why my administration is thrilled to continue helping community-based groups that have contributed largely to this drop in violence. Through ongoing violence prevention and modern law enforcement efforts, we will curb violent crime even more.”

According to Keri Salerno, the executive director of Uplift Center for Grieving Children, the money allows her organization to continue offering free services.

“The ability to process those emotions is incredibly difficult,” Salerno told WHYY. “Especially if you’re in some of our more challenged communities.”

Salerno continued, “It’s grants like the ones we just got from the district attorney’s office that help make these services free. The more dollars, the more grief groups that we can host. It’s a sign that people are understanding that grief work and mental health work is violence prevention, and that is very important.”

by Kandiss Edwards

October 31, 2024

Study: Some Households Making $150K+ Are Living Paycheck-To-Paycheck

More money, same problems.

Millions of Americans above the poverty line are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a study released by the Bank of America Institute, which states that some households with an income of $150,000 or more are barely making ends meet.

Paycheck to paycheck is defined by the report as households that dedicate 95% of its income to household expenses.

“More than a quarter of Americans, 26%, have necessary expenses that chew up more than 95% of their take-home pay, and nearly a third, 30%, of households, spend upwards of 90% of their income on critical bills like groceries, housing, utilities, gas, insurance, and child care,” Fox Business reported.

According to the study, every income bracket featured at least 20 percent of households struggling to get by.

Groceries

BLACK ENTERPRISE believes strongly that “health is wealth.” For that reason, being able to attain healthy food is essential to living a productive life. Unfortunately, the rise in inflation over the past couple of years has played a part in the rise in grocery spending. Post-pandemic inflation has risen causing the price of everyday goods to skyrocket by up to 20%.

The inflation on goods means that more and more families are having to sacrifice pricier items, like organic fruits and vegetables, in favor of less expensive options.

Housing

The housing market has seen a similar rise in prices as the landscape has quickly shifted into a seller’s market. Zillow cites the average home in the United States at upwards of $350,000. This median is an increase of about 2.7% from the previous year while for many Americans as wages have been relatively stagnant.

Child Care

The study defines childcare as daycare expenses and the costs of private schooling. The KPMG Parental Work Distribution Index released a report on the financial repercussions associated with childcare. Not only does the average American spend $11,000 a year on suitable childcare but they also lose wages if affordable and suitable childcare is unavailable.

“Between 1.2 and 1.5 million American workers—90% of whom are mothers—are missing work or cutting their hours every month due to limited, often unaffordable childcare options,” according to the report.

As 2024 is an election year, many of these issues are being talked about on a national stage daily. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has offered up multiple plans to help Americans deal with these issues, including a $6,000 tax credit for the families of infants to help offset the rising costs of parenthood.

Harris has also vowed to “crack down on unfair mergers” that allow corporations to monopolize the price of goods.

by Daniel Johnson

October 31, 2024

Colin Allred Makes Closing Appeal To Black Voters As Election Day Nears

Allred has been active during the waning days of the campaign.

Dallas Congressman and United States Senate candidate Colin Allred is making his closing appeal to a voting bloc in Texas that has leaned staunchly Democratic: Black voters.

According to the Texas Tribune, Allred has been active on the campaign trail, making a pair of stops in Houston, the most notable of them alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and Houston’s most famous star, Beyoncé.

Allred also stopped at Texas Southern University on Oct. 29, where he was introduced by Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock.

At his appearance at TSU, an HBCU located in the heart of Houston’s historically Black Third Ward, Allred cast his opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz, as an absentee senator who abandoned Texans who were freezing to death in their homes to flee to Cancun.

Allred also positioned Cruz as an ardent supporter of policies that have led to a near-total abortion ban in Texas.

According to ProPublica, the restrictive laws around abortion have led to the deaths of at least two women in Texas as some doctors are afraid to treat miscarriages due to a state law that prohibits them from ending the heartbeat of a fetus.

Samantha Casino, a Texas woman who was essentially forced to give birth to a child whom doctors told her would not live longer than a day due to the laws in Texas, was also present at the rally.

Je’Von Tone, a 22-year-old student at Texas Southern, told the Texas Tribune that he was excited for Allred’s visit and that he was making a play for young, Black voters as well as having Warnock introduce him at the rally.

Allred has also been making more pointed appeals specifically targeted at Black voters. In a recent fundraising text, Allred’s campaign played up the idea that he could be Texas’ first Black senator and argued against racist voter suppression laws in the state.

“Black Americans have long faced far too many obstacles like discrimination and the racist voter suppression laws that Texas Republicans like Ted Cruz have championed,” the message reads.

Cruz has also championed anti-trans policies during his campaign. According to Texas Monthly, the senator’s advertising campaign featuring transphobic advertisements is part of a $65 million push by Republican candidates across the nation.

Although some Republican strategists think Cruz’s fear-mongering will work, some polls have Cruz ahead by only two points, which is within the three-point margin for error in either direction.

Allred’s campaign manager, Paige Hutchinson, said the 41-year-old former football player’s stances against transphobic messaging stem from his belief that there is no room for hatred and discrimination.

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

October 30, 2024

Beyoncé Files New Motion To Trademark Daughter Blue Ivy’s Name

The quest is now in year 12.

Beyoncé’s legal team is still hard at work trying to get her older daughter’s name trademarked.

Lawyers for the music superstar recently filed a motion with the federal trademark office to register Blue Ivy Carter’s name as a trademark, Billboard reports. This follows a ruling from earlier this year denying the trademark to prevent confusion with a single-store clothing boutique in Wisconsin that had used the name since before Blue Ivy was born.

The star’s lawyers argue that the ruling should be overturned, because no one would confuse Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s daughter with a Midwest clothing shop.

“Nor would a reasonable consumer encounter the ‘Blue Ivy Carter’ mark and conclude that the famous Carter family had teamed up with a small shop in rural Wisconsin to launch a clothing line.”

The “Halo” singer filed for the trademark through her BGK Trademark Holdings LLC just one week after Blue Ivy’s birth in January 2012. At the time, the famous couple faced public criticism, as many assumed they were planning to commercialize their daughter. However, Jay-Z later clarified that they filed the trademark to protect their child from potential commercial exploitation.

“People wanted to make products based on our child’s name, and you don’t want anybody trying to benefit off your baby’s name,” Jay-Z told Vanity Fair in 2013. “It wasn’t for us to do anything; as you see, we haven’t done anything.”

Twelve years later, the trademark is still pending. This delay follows a legal dispute with Veronica Morales, who owns a lifestyle event planning company named ‘Blue Ivy’ and holds a trademark for it. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office dismissed Morales’s complaints in 2020.

Beyoncé’s attorneys submitted the same trademark registration but encountered a setback in April when a trademark examiner issued a tentative ruling stating that the mark was ‘confusingly similar’ to the name of a Wisconsin clothing store, which has held a trademark for its ‘Blue Ivy’ logo since 2011.

However, Beyoncé’s legal team argues that Blue Ivy Carter is internationally recognized, unlike the Wisconsin clothing store, and should not be barred from trademarking her likeness because of such a small entity.

“Since the moment she was born, she has resided in the American public’s conscience and thus…the consuming public would associate her with a trademark bearing her name,” Beyoncé’s filing states. “The parties each exist and thrive in their own separate worlds and can continue doing so into the future.”

Blue Ivy Carter is gearing up for her vocal acting debut in Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, coming to theaters on December 20, as Kiara, the daughter of Simba and Nala.

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

October 30, 2024

50 Cent Claims Omari Hardwick ‘Overvalues Himself’

The 'Many Men' rapper made the statement after Hardwick previously complained about his pay while playing 'Ghost' on the hit series, 'Power'

“Power” executive and recording artist 50 Cent recently stated that the former lead actor of his hit TV show, Omari Hardwick, “overvalues himself.”

On a recent episode of The Breakfast Club, the “Get Rich or Die Trying” lyricist spoke on Hardwick’s bitterness toward him after complaining several years ago that he was underpaid while playing “Ghost” on 50’s hit Starz show, “Power.”

“I think he overvalues himself, to be honest with you,” 50 said. “Because, since then, it’s been a long time since he’s been in Power, why are we not excited about the new projects?”

Charlamagne Tha God said he didn’t know if Hardwick had any upcoming projects, to which 50 responded that if he were as big [a star] as he thinks he is, people would have seen more from him after leaving “Power.”

“If there was noise going on, if he was that big of a draw, then we would see noise, we would see new things happening, we’d see you out where you actively in a place where they’re looking for you.”

He confirms that they no longer have a friendship because Hardwick has made it seem like the rapper didn’t take care of him during his time on the TV show; 50 stated they are no longer cool “because you leave it like it’s me not giving you the money.”

He also emphasized that he has helped several people in their careers, including Rotimi, who had a role in the show when he released some material as a recording artist. He stated that although Rotimi owed him money because of what he had put out to help him, he renegotiated his contract so that, based on the changed terms, Rotimi no longer owed him.

He also mentioned that Mount Vernon’s own, Mary J. Blige, was well taken care of when she appeared on another Starz show, “Power Book II: Ghost.”

“Mary will tell you, she got paid a lot of money on the show while she was there the whole time. I made sure that s**t was right.”

by Kandiss Edwards

October 30, 2024

New Jersey Doctor Sentenced For Allegedly ‘Employing Indentured Servants’

The New Jersey Doctor, Harsha Sahni, broke her oath to 'do no harm."

Harsha Sahni, a New Jersey doctor, will serve more than two years in prison for harboring illegal immigrants and tax fraud. Sahni was convicted for hiring Indian nationals from 2013 to 2021 to work in her home without paying taxes on their wages, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the State of New Jersey.

Along with the two-year prison sentence, Sahni will have to pay $642,212 in restitution to the victims and up to $200,000 in medical bills.

Sahni is accused of paying the victims less than minimum wage in favor of paying their families in India $600 or less for their services. The victims allegedly worked 15-hour days taking care of Sahni’s home. One victim suffered a brain aneurysm and was denied full medical treatment by Sahni.

The 68-year-old doctor engaged in a conspiracy to ensure the victims did not report their work conditions, akin to indentured servitude.

The victims were subjected to unethical treatment and exploitation of their labor.

According to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, Sahni threatened the workers with arrest and deportation if they mentioned the employment arrangement. Both workers were instructed to say they were the doctor’s family members if ever questioned.

“Sahni caused the victims to believe that they would be arrested and deported if they interacted with law enforcement. Sahni instructed the victims to tell other people that they were related to Sahni, and Sahni used fake names and addresses in furtherance of the conspiracy. From 2013 to 2019, Sahni also failed to pay certain taxes notwithstanding that the victims were Sahni’s household employees.”

Sahni was arrested in Feb. 2023 after being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations Newark Field Office.

Due to the charges, the doctor’s medical license was suspended on Aug. 31, 2023.

According to NBC, she “agreed to her temporary license suspension last Wednesday pending the outcome of an administrative action that seeks to revoke her license permanently due to her criminal convictions.”

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

October 30, 2024

Atlanta Woman Arrested After Stealing $60K From Vulnerable Second Chance Renters

An Atlanta woman was arrested for her rental scam that stole nearly $60,000 from vulnerable families.

A woman from Atlanta was arrested for stealing nearly $60,000 from renters who had been evicted and were searching for new homes.

Angela Denise Hasan, 44, is currently being held in the Clayton County Jail after a warrant was issued for her arrest over a fraudulent business targeting vulnerable renters, WSB-TV reports. As the owner of “Hasan 2nd Chance,” she allegedly operated a scam based on false promises of rental placements and eviction record sealing.

Hasan collected over $59,000 from multiple families who agreed to a “pledge” or fee for services, including clearing rent arrears and securing new homes. Authorities say she would meet her customers on the courthouse steps and convince them of her fraudulent services.

The Clayton County Police Department launched an investigation into Hasan after learning that multiple families were scammed by her “Hasan 2nd Chance” company. Clayton County deputies obtained warrants and arrested Hasan in Fayetteville.

“Hasan even met her victims on courthouse steps to seal the deal, convincing them that in exchange for a ‘pledge’ or fee, she’d wipe out rent arrears and secure them new homes,” the CCSO alert read.

“Unfortunately, the only thing disappearing was their hard-earned money, to the tune of over $59,000.”

“Let this be a reminder, folks: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Stay vigilant, and know that your Sheriff’s Office is here to protect you from scams like these,” a spokesperson for the office added.

Hasan faces seven counts of theft by deception charges. Her first court hearing was Oct. 26, and her preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 2 in Clayton County Magistrate Court.

Authorities are encouraging anyone who thinks they are a victim of Angela Hasan or “Hasan 2nd Chance” to contact the Clayton County Police Department at 770-477-3630.