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Saturday, July 6, 2019

10 Reasons Why White People Think Racism Is Over

“Are we now in a post-racial America?” This is perhaps the number two question asked since President Obama has taken office.Ever since Barack and Michelle Obama were sworn into office and moved into the White House, white America has banished the thought that “the racial deck is stacked.” With many white people believing that because Obama was president, any black man can, the belief is that racism as a whole is over.

One black American’s success isn’t proof that racial barriers no longer exist, but in the spirit of the argument, here 10 reasons as to why possible some white people think that racism is over.

Reasons Why White People Think Racism Is Over

White People Say They Understood ’12 Years A Slave’

reasons why white people think racism is over

(vimeo)

When Steve McQueen’s visually stunning film hit theaters, critics argued that their understanding of the history of slavery allowed for racism to be in the past for today’s life and times.

 

Eminem and Macklemore Became Blockbuster Hip-Hop Stars

reasons why white people think racism is over

(Wikimedia)

A collective reason why many white people believe racism is over stems from the multi-platinum and award winning success of Eminem and Macklemore. There is a host of next-gen rap fans who believe the culture stems from Eminem, which actually proves that racism is more entrenched than what is advertised.

 

Michael Jordan And Dr. Dre Are Billionaires

reason why white people think racism is over

In a study done by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, most white people believe that one black person’s success merits the end of racism. With celebrities such as Dr. Dre and Michael Jordan recently joining the Billionaire Boys Club, it’s apparent that white people believe that the playing field has been leveled for all of the black race.

 

Eve Married A Billionaire

reasons why white people think racism is over

(Instagram)

If Eve can marry that Gumball Rally 3000 guy then surely we are all created equal. Not to mention Serena.

 

Lupita Nyong’o Won An Oscar

reason why white people think racism is over

(Instagram)

 

Hollywood is notorious for making people believe that all is right in the world after a big win. Such is the case for actress Lupita Nyong’o. One Huffington Post commenter even went so far that her 2014 Oscar win means that the playing field for powerful roles is leveled now.

Anybody Can Say The N-Word

Sure, Don Lemon may have had an awkward debate about the N-word, but that hasn’t stopped white people from saying the word however they want, (remember, Micheal Richards’ of “Seinfeld” TV fame, who went on an n-word rant back in 2012)?

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America Had A Black President

obama foundation, obama presidential center

(Flickr/Gage Skidmore)

 

Some white people suggest that if Barack Obama could become president, so could any black man. The thought that systemic racial discrimination no longer exists in America and that black men and women are sitting next to success sounds a bit far-fetched when you look at the news.

 

Hip-Hop Is Global Pop

Jay Z

(Image: Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

Like most black musical art forms, hip-hop is just the latest in becoming a global phenomenon. As the culture started by the black and brown communities is now personified by white, you can hear the chants of “Everything is Equal,” off in the distance.

Interracial Dating Is Accepted

reasons why white people think racism is over

(iStock/bernardbodo)

The faces of America’s future has gone multiracial as whites are merging their DNA with “the other” to create a new breed of offspring. If you remember what National Geographic concluded with its previous magazine cover, then you should know that most white Americans are more inviting to Jamal and Tamia becoming their in-laws.

 

Miley Cyrus And Justin Bieber Adopted Black Culture Successfully

reasons why white people think racism is over

(wikimedia)

 

The twerker and the thug have indoctrinated themselves deep within black culture. While they are accepted amidst their respective controversies, the duo are still afforded the successes that come with their skin tone. If they are accepted by both white and black, isn’t that the dream Martin Luther fought for?


The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author’s and not necessarily the opinion of Black Enterprise.



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American Black Women Are Moving in Droves to This One Country

Who would have thought that Abu Dhabi would be an “it” place for black women professionals, with all the thriving cities here, at home. It goes far beyond location, as Abu Dhabi introduces the unique ability to enhance your resume, lifestyle, and the opportunity to feel financially secure.

First, toss out any of your preconceptions about Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. This is one of the hottest locations in the world (literally and figuratively), employing a vast variety of professional talent, mostly in education, finance, and healthcare.  Though it used to be “hotter,” in terms of salary and prospects, it is still not to be dismissed.  It may be the one place where starting over is possible, without reminders of what once held you back.

In a nutshell, Abu Dhabi is a starting point for anyone looking for something new, especially me.

Connection Begins Before You Even Leave

 

abudhabi

 

Thanks to the internet, I was introduced to a network of black expats from the Caribbean, U.S., and U.K. These groups welcomed me with open arms, and through LinkedIn, I had “coffee dates” before I stepped off the plane. I found other black women from all walks of life—teachers, pilots, investment bankers, Buddhists, and artists.  Many of the black women I met were starting over after a death or divorce, millennials looking for new experiences, or reinventing themselves in their mid-life.

Money, Security, and Self

 

Abu Dhabi is still the “best kept” secret, with its sister, Dubai nextdoor—the more liberal Emirate. With fully paid health programs, flights, and positions with higher salaries than many parts of the world, it makes it easier to thrive instead of survive. Earning more while getting fantastic benefits is a great place to be in. This financial freedom, combined with the exotic surroundings, led to a complete epiphany about my own life: I was in complete control, and it felt glorious.

Find Your Favorite Reggae Spot in Abu Dhabi

 

If you think having a good job and a paid-for home is everything, that’s just the start. There’s cultural fun, including reggae parties, African markets, concerts, dining at the Shangri-La, Hakkasan, Cipriani, and a must-do brunch at The Rosewood, or the familiar early morning breakfast at IHOP.  There was nothing I needed that I didn’t get, even through Amazon.  I had five shipping addresses all over the world, which would hand-deliver via Aramex. There are no traditional street addresses or area codes in Abu Dhabi. The delivery guy would call me, ask me where I was, and it was my job to do the best to explain, but it always worked out.

A Network of Astounding People

 

The women that I met every Friday at Starbucks, resulted in my writing again and publishing a new book. These new friendships offered a sense of groundedness, as we were all expats and needed the same things. I also met with a group of executive women in Abu Dhabi occasionally, to support and swap business ideas.

Broaden Your Perspective

 

Travel reigns supreme. Several people I knew traveled to Seychelles, Maldives, Kenya, and India.  I stayed inside the U.A.E. instead of traveling nearby, because there was plenty to enjoy locally. And yes, I was always tired from work.  If there were any challenges, it was my long work hours, but I made sure I had fantastic weekends: Thursdays, drinks after work; Friday, brunches; and Saturdays, a desert excursion or the beach.

What Abu Dhabi gave me was renewed courage, new skills in a global economy, and cultural awareness that helped me navigate some awkward situations. In Abu Dhabi, I learned to take pleasure in self-care, too.  It’s a lifestyle that any black woman can benefit from, if she dares.

-Editors’ Note: This article was originally published in July, 2017. 

 

 

 

 



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Africa Cup of Nations: Nigeria beat holders Cameroon 3-2

Holders Cameroon are knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations by Nigeria after a five-goal thriller in the last 16.

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Spike Lee pens tribute to ‘Do The Right Thing’ actor Paul Benjamin, dead at 81

How much more money (than you) does Kamala Harris have?

Sen. Kamala Harris of California is proving to be ruthless in her pursuit of the oval office.

As TheGrio previously reported, the congresswoman was quick to shade 2020 presidential hopeful Joe Biden on issues of race and school bussing during the Democratic debate last week, and now she’s leading the pack when it comes to reaping big money.

Sen. Harris raised nearly $12 million in the last three months, according to her campaign, the Los Angeles Times reports. Her fundraising for the second quarter came from nearly 300,000 donors, and a significant portion of donations came in the 24 hours following the Democratic National Committee’s first televised debate on June 27 — during which Harris confronted the former Vice President about his past positions on public school busing.

Read More: Biden says Kamala Harris’ attack at the Democratic debate caught him off-guard

During the debate, Harris discussed her own experience with being bused in the 1970s as an elementary school student growing up in Berkeley, Calif. Her campaign later confirmed it raised nearly half a million from sales of T-shirts showing the image of the senator as a little girl and the words “That little girl was me,” referring to comments she made to Biden about her busing experience as a child.

Harris, like several of her rivals, is a wealthy presidential candidate campaigning on helping low-income Americans.

“Working families need support and need to be lifted up. And frankly, this economy is not working for working people,” Harris said at the first 2020 Democratic primary debate last week.

Read More: Did Kamala Harris backpedal a bit on the issue of school busing?

She has proposed tax credits for the working class, a pay raise for teachers, universal health care, and vows to repeal the 2017 Republican tax bill because it “benefits the top 1%” of earners and “the biggest corporations in America.”

As one of the richest contenders in the 2020 presidential race, Harris’ campaign spokesman Ian Sams said the senator is “committed to lifting up average Americans.”

“She is motivated by the thought of people up at 3:00 in the morning trying to make it all work. Her agenda is meant to address their needs and improve their lives,” Sams said.

Biden, has reportedly made millions since leaving office in 2017, but has not yet released his tax returns, according to CNBC. Meanwhile, Harris and her spouse, lawyer Douglas Emhoff, reported about $1.9 million in adjusted gross income for last year, according to returns released earlier this year.

So just how did Sen. Harris became one of the most ballerific candidates in the 2020 presidential race?

Noting that she hasn’t always been rich, here’s how cnbc.com breaks down her financials:

  • As a district attorney for San Francisco, Harris typically earned between $125,000 and $225,000, the report states.
  • Her household income skyrocketed in 2014 when she married Emhoff. They filed joint taxes and reported about $1.2 million in adjusted gross income that year.
  • Harris has also raked in $157,000 from her job in Congress last year.
  • Her biggest bag came with the reported $320,000 she netted from her memoir, “The Truths We Hold,” which was released in January.

Meanwhile, Harris surged in polling after the debate.

The post How much more money (than you) does Kamala Harris have? appeared first on theGrio.



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3 Essential Steps to Discouraging Social Loafing

Have you ever worked in a group where some members contributed and others did not? If so, then you know how frustrating it can be. The problem with social loafing—the tendency of certain members of a group to get by with less effort than if they were working alone and who operate under the assumption that others’ efforts will cover their shortfalls—is that it has the potential to negatively impact work product, damage professional relationships, and contaminate workplace culture. Most people are willing to contribute if their individual efforts are acknowledged and appreciated. Social loafing prevents this result. Herein lies the dilemma.

Want to discourage the free-riders from stealing your thunder? Use these essential strategies to increase accountability and discourage social loafing:

1. Keep the team small. When teams grow beyond three to five members, the potential for social loafing is high. If there is a good reason for allowing the group to expand beyond these parameters (such as a significant workload coupled with an extreme deadline), break the team into sub-groups of no more than three members per group. Assign each sub-group a specific theme that can be broken up by task between the individual members. This strategy will help you get the same result as if you had simply limited the original group to three to five members. The goal is to discourage individual assignments from becoming fungible–and people from not fully participating (because the others won’t notice) or doing less work because their efforts are being duplicated elsewhere.

2. Develop the rules of engagement. If you set ground rules for group conduct at the outset, you’ll get less push back. Buy-in is essential when individuals are working so closely together and need to be cohesive to achieve a desired result. Think about the importance of deadlines, accountability and deliverables to your project. How do these factors bring you closer to the desired result? Make sure that the parameters are communicated early and often. Then make sure that they are enforced. If the team thinks that you’re just bluffing, they’ll undermine your authority and you’ll lose credibility.

3. Assign separate and distinct contributions for every team member. One surefire way to make certain that tasks do not become fungible is to make assignments that are separate and distinct. If you assign tasks in this way, no one can rely on another team member to pick up the slack. Each person will have to pull their own weight, which is exactly the point. The best way to create mutually exclusive tasks is to classify project components into specific buckets. For example: financial, communication, technology, oversight and R&D. Not only will this solve the social loafing issue, but it also helps the team to create a clear roadmap for results and assure that no critical aspect has been ignored.

Remember, people are motivated to contribute if their efforts are acknowledged and appreciated. Help the process along by discouraging social loafing with these essential strategies.


Black Enterprise Contributors Network 

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Chicago woman claims she was gang raped at R. Kelly’s music studio

A Chicago woman was hospitalized this week after claiming she was sexually assaulted at R. Kelly’s former music studio.

The 31-year-old woman was picked up by paramedics a few blocks from the studio around 4:00 a.m. Thursday and brought to Rush Hospital, where she was treated for the sexual assault, a spokesperson for Chicago police confirmed to the New York Daily News.  

Read More: R. Kelly moved out of the infamous studio where he allegedly held under-aged girls

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that according to police, the alleged rape victim told authorities that she was leaving a bar when she met three men, and got into their car. She then accompanied them to “what she believed was a music studio,” but once there she was assaulted by the group.

The woman called 911 after leaving the building, and authorities confirm receiving a report over a city-wide scanner that a woman was raped by three men at Kelly’s music studio. But police say “authorities have been unable to determine the exact location of the alleged assault,” Page Six writes.

The Grammy-winning star vacated the building in February, after a number of reported code violations forced a judge to enforce curfew restrictions that prevented the embattled singer from using the studio outside of a 12-hour window.

“R. Kelly can never be creative and do his job under these circumstances which leaves him no choice but to leave his building,” his attorney Steve Greenberg said at the time in a statement.

Read More: R. Kelly is staying visible despite sex abuse charges

Kelly is currently facing multiple charges related to the alleged sexual abuse of numerous women and young girls. He has rejected and denied all allegations leveled against him. His publicist, Darrell Johnson, told The Chicago Sun-Times that the singer “is looking forward to his day in court.”

Johnson also confirmed R. Kelly is writing music and working on a new album.

“Right now he is looking forward to the release of his first recording [since the latest indictments] hopefully in the next few months — and being able to tour and working with artists on more spiritual songs,” he said.

 

The post Chicago woman claims she was gang raped at R. Kelly’s music studio appeared first on theGrio.



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Cardi B begs fans for return of her wig after hurling it into audience

Cardi B says she got carried away when she threw her wig into the crowd at Finsbury Park in London on Friday. Now the hit-maker is begging for its safe return.

The controversial Bronx rapper is making headlines yet again after she hit the stage for day one of the Wireless Festival. At the show, she snatched her own wig off — hurling it into the crowd as she continued performing.

Here is the rub…

News18.com reports that the Grammy-winning artist wants her faux mane back!

Read More: Cardi B explains what went down between her and a well-known reporter

A video from the event shows fans in the audience fighting over the wig, “I GOT CARRIED AWAY… I want my wig back:/ Dm me,” Cardi B later tweeted. Several fans advised her to check the auction site eBay to see if it’s being sold. Others noted that they would add it to their own wig collection — and proudly wear it.

Read More: Cardi B schools her fans on the difference between race and ethnicity: “Schools don’t teach this to people”

Meanwhile, Cardi B rocked the crowd on the first night of the festival on Friday (July 19) and the audience reportedly went wild when she introduced Lil Nas X. The duo performed his debut hit, “Old Town Road,” which continues to dominate on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Taking to Twitter after the show, Cardi B praised the rapper, who recently came out as gay.

“I’m going to bed I have such S bad headache .I want to thank @LilNasX for coming out tonight at Wireless ! It was lit keep doing your thing ,the stars is the limit …..Stream rodeo for a date with lil nas,” she wrote.

Read More: A$AP Rocky arrested in Sweden after fight breaks out with his crew, held for suspected assault

The Hip-Hop festival runs until Sunday (July 7), with performances from Travis Scott, Future and Rae Sremmurd.

A$AP Rocky was due to take to the stage on Sunday, but as TheGrio previously reported, he is currently detained in Sweden after being arrested Tuesday for a suspected “gross assault” that took place on Sunday.

Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Meyers, shared two video clips of the incident on his Instagram to prove his innocence in the matter.

The post Cardi B begs fans for return of her wig after hurling it into audience appeared first on theGrio.



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Africa Cup of Nations: Mbark Boussoufa retires from internationals after Morocco exit

Morocco midfielder Mbark Boussoufa says the loss on penalties to Benin at the Africa Cup of Nations was his last international match.

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Space Photos of the Week: Chaotic, Gassy Mars

Plus: How a comet strike on Jupiter sparked a planetary defense movement on Earth.

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Lee Daniels to briefly resurrect his cancelled ‘Star’ drama series

China Distributes Spyware at Its Border and Beyond

Plus, Cyber Command warns about Outlook bugs, Virginia criminalizes deepfake porn, and more top security news from this week.

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How Sci-Fi Shaped the Players in the Gawker Lawsuit

Media strategist Ryan Holiday gives a detailed account of the suit in his new book 'Conspiracy'.

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Gabon players owed $1.35m, unpaid since 2016

Fifa instructs Gabonese FA to explain action over belated payments owed by up to 20 clubs to players which total $1.35m

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Botswana to appeal ruling decriminalising homosexuality

The attorney general says the High Court "erred" in a landmark ruling to decriminalise homosexuality.

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Norway Invites You to Explore Its Electric Vehicle Paradise

The Land of the Midnight Sun—and one of Tesla's biggest markets—wants you to come experience the transportation future.

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5 Best Portable Grills of 2019 (Charcoal, Propane, Infrared)

We grilled and barbecued for weeks to find the best charcoal and propane gas grills you can lug around to the beach, park, or camp site.

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Apple MacOS Catalina: New Features, New Apps, Accessibility

Apple's next desktop operating system will bring new capabilities to your Mac. Here's an early look at what to expect.

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Friday, July 5, 2019

West Africa's eco: What difference would a single currency make?

Experts are divided on the impact of the new currency will have in the 15 regional countries.

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The Crown Act: California becomes the first state to protect natural hair

California is now the first and only state that has created a law to protect natural hairstyles and outlaw racial discrimination based on ones hairstyle.

A bill called The Crown Act was passed unanimously in California’s Assembly and Senate and was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday.

This bill will protect people in workplaces and K-12 public schools who choose to have natural hair styles. The new law goes into place on Jan.1, according to the LA Times.

READ MORE: California set to become first state to ban discriminating against natural hair

The Crown Act, will strictly prohibit racial discrimination based on hair that continuously effect Black people. This act specifically will stop bans on certain styles, such as Afros, braids, twists, cornrows and dreadlocks.

Gov. Newsom saw the need for a bill like this after a Black teenage wrestler was forced to cut his dreadlocks off or forfeit a match. This hard decision forced the student to choose between two things, “lose an athletic competition or lose his identity,” Newsom told the LA Times.

“That is played out in workplaces, it’s played out in schools — not just in athletic competitions and settings — every single day all across America in ways that are subtle, in ways overt,” Newsom said Wednesday morning at the Capitol in Sacramento.

READ MORE: California teens arrested for the brutal beating of a special ed student

But The Crown Act’s name didn’t just happen over night, some thought was out into it. Crown is actually an acronym meaning, Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, Vox News reported.

Supporters of the act say its acronym is just what the work place needs to open the doors of acceptance for all types of hair.

Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) who also has dredlocs, says this act will protect natural hairstyles without fear or repercussions in the work place. Students will be able to go to school, and employees can work freely without feeling the need to change their appearance for other’s “comfort level”, Mitchell said.

“For us, it is a symbol of who we are. I know when I locked 15 years ago, I knew it was both a social and political statement to the outside world,” she said.

This bill has sparked other states to create bills that are just like The Crown Act. New York and New Jersey adopted legislation similar to The Crown Act in June.

 

The post The Crown Act: California becomes the first state to protect natural hair appeared first on theGrio.



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Meghan Markle makes surprise appearance at Wimbledon to support friend Serena Williams

Wimbledon has had its shared of surprises so far, but Meghan Markle added one more when she showed up at the tennis championship competition on Thursday to support her friend, Serena Williams.

The Duchess of Sussex joined the crowd to cheer on Williams in her round two match against Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan, reported Entertainment Tonight.

READ MORE: Serena Williams speaks on tennis career: “I feel like nothing’s going to stop me”

Meghan smiled often and cheered Williams on. The duchess was captured laughing and getting caught up with friends Genevieve Hillis and Lindsay Roth, who both attended Northwestern University with Markle.

This was one of only a few appearances Meghan has made since giving birth to son, Archie, with her husband, Prince Harry. She looked casual yet stylish in jeans, a black t-shirt from Lavender Hill Clothing and a L’Agence white blazer. Meghan accessorized with sunglasses from Finlay & Co, Pippa Small earrings and a fedora-style hat by Madewell. The hat is reportedly still listed as available on the Madewell site, according to the fashion site Meghan’s Mirror, which provides details on Meghan’s daily attire.

READ MORE: Meghan Markle makes first appearance as new mom at Trooping the Colour

Although no one knew this would be the particular game, ET says a source told the outlet that Meghan would come out to see Serena play, adding that the only thing that would have prevented the duchess from coming to support her friend was if baby Archie kept “her home last minute.”

A few days ago, Meghan’s sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, also attended the Wimbledon tournament. Last year, Meghan and Kate attended Wimbledon together to catch the match between Serena and Angelique Kerber. Williams lost that match.

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Nipsey Hussle’s brother and mom want co-guardianship of his young daughter

Nipsey Hussle’s mother and brother are joining are attempting to gain co-guardianship of the late rapper’s 10-year-old daughter.

Samantha Smith, Hussle’s sister who was already in a court battle for co-guardianship with Tanisha Foster, mother of Emani Asghedom, filed an amended petition with the court adding Samiel Asghedom (known as Blacc Sam), and Angelique Smith to the document, according to The Blast.

READ MORE: Nipsey Hussle’s daughter to remain with sister of slain rapper, judge rules

In the legal document, obtained by website, Samantha Smith states that she, Samiel and Angelique have been a “constant and strong presence in Emani’s life. They have participated in her care and upbringing since her birth. Since the unfortunate murder of Emani’s father in March 2019, Samiel and Angelique have assisted in providing care for Emani.”

The document adds “the request to appoint Samuel and Angelique as co-guardians is, per the recommendation of Minor’s Counsel, a form of ‘insurance policy’ so that should anything happen to one of Emani’s guardians, other guardians are already in place to continue in providing for Emani’s care without having to return to Court.”

However, Foster is against this move. In court documents, she said she is Emani’s mother and believes the “Law and Policy of this state favors the protection of the rights of natural parents and their children. Objector has statutory priority over petitioner.”

Foster said that Emani was visiting her dad on the day he was killed and that the family now refuses to return her.

READ MORE: Nipsey Hussle’s brother adds his support to help their sister fight for guardianship of slain rapper’s daughter

Smith “unlawfully took the minor and as of this date, despite objectors demand, refused to return the minor to Objector.”

Foster adds in the document that Emani’s “best interests” are not being served by this “act of removing the minor from her mother’s custody; and by refusing contact between minor and mother.”

Hussle, born Ermias Asghedom, died intestate, meaning he did not have a will at the time of his death, leaving the issue of custody of his daughter in the air since the girl’s mother has been trying to win it back.

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Biden says Kamala Harris’ attack at the Democratic debate caught him off-guard

Former Vice President Joe Biden says he was shocked at the way Sen. Kamala Harris came at him during the Democratic debate.

“I was prepared for them to come after me,” Biden explained in an exclusive interview on CNN. “But I wasn’t prepared for the person coming after me the way she came after me. She knew Beau, she knows me.”

READ MORE: Did Kamala Harris backpedal a bit on the issue of school busing?

Biden’s son, Beau Biden, who died in 2015, was a state attorney general like Harris.

During the CNN interview, Biden defended his past record on race and busing.

“It’s so easy to go back 30, 40, 50 years and take (his position) completely out of context,” Biden said, adding that his campaign also gets dirt on other candidates’ pasts but vowed to not go down that road. “I get all this info about other people’s past and what they’ve done and not done and I’m just not gonna go there. We should be debating what we do from here.”

“What I didn’t want to do was get into that scrum,” Biden added.

During last week’s Democratic debate, Harris brought up that Biden was a critic of busing to desegregate schools when he was a senator in the 1970s and 80s, and Harris also mentioned previous comments Biden made about how he could work with segregationist senators.

READ MORE: New 2020 Democratic poll reveals Harris and Warren tied for third place

But Biden told Cuomo that Harris’ accusations were a distortion of his record.

Biden explained that he supports “voluntary” school busing and busing when a court could prove that there were actions to keep schools segregated, but that he was against busing that was mandated by “unelected” officials.

“Busing did not work,” he said. “You had overwhelming response from the African-American community in my state…they did not support it.”

In the 1970s and 80s, Biden was an outspoken critic of federally mandated busing. Back then, he even sponsored a congressional measure that would have imposed funding limits for federal busing.

READ MORE: Top 5 winning moments from Sen. Kamala Harris during her first 2020 Democratic Debate

During the debate, Harris discussed her own experience with being bused in the 1970s as an elementary school student growing up in Berkeley, Calif., and said busing enabled her to get a great education.

Last week, Harris seemed to favor federal power to force school districts to bus but this week, she has said the decision should be made by local school districts.

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Post-Pride Month Reflections: ‘I Check All Boxes… Including the LGBTQ One’

I check all the boxes. I’m African American, I’m a woman, I’m left-handed, I’m divorced, and I’m bi-sexual. For many reasons, there has always been one area of my diverse self that I haven’t been comfortable discussing outside of close friends and family: My sexuality. I never felt it was anyone’s business. I worried about how I would be perceived. I wondered if it would affect my business. Now, as I’m traveling back from New Jersey after a speaking engagement where I spoke about unconscious bias in the LGBTQ community, it feels like it’s time.

I didn’t fit in with …

I have never felt as if I “belong” or “fit in” with the LGBTQ community. As an African American, with so many serious inequities and issues in my own community, LGBTQ issues have never felt like my fight.

Regarding transgender people, I was fascinated and perplexed with trying to understand what would drive someone to go through the psychological and mental challenges as well as the painful surgeries to be someone else. I also tried to avoid transgender people because I didn’t want to offend them as I tried to figure out the correct pronoun to use.

I have heard so many horror stories from friends who were kicked out of their homes, even as kids. When you take the time to research LGBTQ issues, you will learn of countless stories that will make you question humanity—a gay couple kicked out of an Uber car on a dangerous street in the early morning hours; a transgender woman who was not allowed access into 12 different hotels and had to sleep under a lifeguard station—people assaulted, followed, constantly harassed; and even killed simply for living their lives.

Stop hating, show love

I have worked in diversity and inclusion for over 20 years. It doesn’t matter what field you work in, we are all guilty of bias, but we can all fix it “if” we want to.

I confronted my bias and uneasiness around the transgender community by inviting a trans woman to lunch. We had some of the same concerns and thoughts. We laughed together. Most importantly, she became a person to me and no longer a label. I learned that the challenges and surgeries endured were so they could be themselves instead of someone else. I no longer avoid people in the transgender community. If I don’t know which pronoun to use, I simply ask, “how would you like to be addressed?”

June marked Pride Month for the LGBTQ community and Juneteenth for the African American community. As a 44-year-old African American black woman who is divorced, left-handed, and in a relationship with a woman for the past 11 years—I no longer care. I am living my authentic life on my terms. I have pride in myself, in my life, and in all groups that I represent. There are still things I don’t understand about people but that’s OK. I now recognize that my fight is anywhere people are treated inhumanely.

Stop hating on people because you don’t understand them. Stop making quick judgments based on what you don’t know. Be intentional about confronting the biases you have. Show unconditional love—I mean the total acceptance of humanity kind of love. You never know when you will need it in return.


The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author’s and not necessarily the opinion of Black Enterprise.

 

 


Black Enterprise Contributors Network 



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Morocco v Benin

Live coverage as Morocco face Benin in Cairo for a place in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations

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Sudanese people celebrate agreement reached to end deadly military standoff

Sudanese citizens took to the streets on Friday to celebrate the end to a deadly standoff between the ruling Transitional Military Council and the opposition alliance.

After several weeks of unrest and fighting, Sudan’s military leadership and the country’s pro-democracy movement have struck an agreement to create a joint sovereign council that will be made up of five military members and five civilians and an additional civilian agreed upon by both sides. The council will govern “for the next three years or a little longer,” Mohamed el-Hassan Labat, the African Union’s envoy to Sudan, said on Friday, according to CNN.

READ MORE: After coup, Sudan protest leaders wish to dismantle the ‘deep state’

Happy citizens spilled out on the streets of Khartoum to celebrate.

“Today our revolution has won and it waves the flags of victory,” the opposition Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF) said, according to CNN.

The two sides will also jointly launch an investigation into the deadly street violence that has occurred since President Omar al-Bashir was ousted in April. More than 100 protesters were fatally gunned down — including 19 children — after security forces shut down a protest camp outside of Khartoum’s military headquarters early last month, causing talks to officially shut down. In addition to the killings, more than 70 women and men were raped and more than 700 people were injured in the attack.

Bashir was indicted in Darfur by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and committing crimes against humanity.

The government of Ethiopia and the African Union serve as mediators and helped to broker the joint sovereign council, Labat told media outlets.

Under the newly formed deal, the Sudan military council will be in charge of the country’s leadership for the first 21 months. And a civilian administration will rule the council during the following 18 months, CNN reported.

READ MORE: Sudan: Rapes took place amid the deadly attacks in Khartoum, doctors say

The United Nations’ Human Rights Council is also launching an independent investigation into the brutal June attacks.

The post Sudanese people celebrate agreement reached to end deadly military standoff appeared first on theGrio.



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Idris Elba calls claims that two women were pushed from his play “frustrating”

Idris Elba responded to the claims of two female writers that they were not acknowledged for their contributions to his play Tree, calling the accusations “frustrating.”

“We wanted to offer an opportunity to support these new writers while creating a piece of work and scale and to a director’s vision,” Elba posted on Twitter. “The outcome is an accusation of plagiarism and discrimination. However frustrating this has been for all, we will continue to offer opportunities and to support the next generation of writers and talent.”

READ MORE: Idris Elba doesn’t want the the burden of a failed Bond movie on his shoulders

Tori Allen-Martin and Sarah Henley published a statement on Medium outlining their gripes about what they say is their removal from Tree, and for not being credited for their initial work since producers reworked their ideas.

“In this post, we’re going to explain what happened so that we can stand-up to those responsible — the same people who we initially trusted, who then threatened us with legal action if we spoke up,” the statement reads in part. “It’s worth mentioning that this whole process has been terribly upsetting and we’ve felt terrified about speaking out, but we want to be the change we want to see, and ultimately have been left with no choice because those involved fail to accept that we have a claim.”

The musical premiered on Thursday at the Manchester International Festival. Elba and director Kwame Kwei-Armah are listed as creators. Incorporating music and dance, Tree follows a man as he journeys into South Africa, according to Variety.

Both sides say Elba’s “mi Mandela” album was the impetus for the stage play, but that’s where the agreement stops. Allen-Martin and Henley say their work is still heavily influenced in the play while Elba and his producers said they went in a different direction after Allen-Martin and Henley’s left the play.

READ MORE: Idris Elba opens up about about fatherhood ‘I’m super doting as a dad’ 

“As new ambitions started to be proposed as the jumping off point for development, Tori & Sarah decided they didn’t want to pursue the early thoughts and declined to work any further on the project,” Elba said in his statement. “We were left without any writers and had to start work very quickly, which is our contractual right as beholder of the original idea, the album.”

The actor said Allen-Martin and Henley are still included in the play’s acknowledgements.

The post Idris Elba calls claims that two women were pushed from his play “frustrating” appeared first on theGrio.



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'Cuphead' Update Is Being Delayed for a Very Good Reason

The team behind the game is trying to make sure it's being made in a manner that's healthy for its developers.

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Viral video ice cream licker could face 20 years behind bars, police say as they close in

Police say they know the identity of the woman in a viral video who opened a half-gallon tub of Blue Bell ice cream viral video, licked it and placed it back inside the store freezer case at a Walmart in Lufkin, Tex., according to USA Today. As authorities close in, she could be facing a stiff penalty for the act.

Blue Bell Creameries, intent on locating the suspect, contacted Lufkin police after learning the store’s location. The company determined this by asking each of its division managers to review their ice cream displays to see if they resemble the setup of the one on the video.

A Lufkin division manager pinpointed that the video was taken at a Walmart in Lufkin due to “the store’s unique merchandising, which matched the video,” police said in a Facebook post.

Police say the prison term the woman could face is significant.

Lufkin police emailed a statement to USA Today, in which police wrote, “Tampering with a consumer product is a second-degree felony and carries a punishment range of 2-20 years. The department is consulting with the FDA and federal charges may also be pending.”

Police added that they are “appalled” and taking the crime “incredibly seriously.”

Blue Bell also took extra precautionary measures in removing the tub of ice cream licked by the woman, as well as all half-gallon containers of “Tin Roof” ice cream from Walmart, police said.

“The safety of our ice cream is our highest priority, and we work hard to maintain the highest level of confidence of our customers,” Blue Bell said in a statement to USA TODAY. “Food tampering is not a joke, and we will not tolerate tampering with our products. We are grateful to the customers who alerted us and provided us with information.”

The viral video, posted to Twitter on June 29, has been viewed more than 11 million times.

Lufkin police honed in on surveillance video and has found a woman matching the description of the woman in the video. Police have so far not released her name, pending the investigation.

The post Viral video ice cream licker could face 20 years behind bars, police say as they close in appeared first on theGrio.



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‘The longest earthquake I’ve ever experienced’: Ava DuVernay, other celebs tweet about 6.4 Calfornia temblor

The July 4th 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Southern California had the entire region rocked with people as far as Las Vegas feeling the temblor. With the quake, several celebs took to social media to talk about what they felt.

Ava DuVernay, Gabrielle Union, Mariah Carey, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson were all rattled by the seismic event that struck near the Mojave Desert, just a short distance from Los Angeles. The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported it as being a 6.6 magnitude quake.

READ MORE: Ava DuVernay gets a new anthology series, ‘Cherish The Day’ on OWN

DuVernay, a native Angeleno, said although she’s experienced earthquakes before, this one literally broke new ground.

But Carey, coming from New York, Carey said she is not use to earthquakes and wondered what to do.

Union added a bit of levity to the scary moment.

Meanwhile Johnson was thinking of others and praying that everyone was ok.

READ MORE: Gabrielle Union and LaLa Anthony regret judging basketball wives but want some respect on their names

The quake touched down about 150 miles from LA near the town of Ridgecrest, California, which is also close to the Mojave Desert. Some 15 million people reportedly felt it. The town of Ridgecrest declared a state of Emergency on Thursday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. More quakes could be in store in the coming days, seismologists say.

“We should be expecting lots of aftershocks and some of them will be bigger than the 3s we’ve been having so far,” U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones told a news conference. “I think the chance of having a magnitude 5…is probably greater than 50-50,” she said.

The quake could be felt across Nevada and up the Pacific Coast in California. Only few injuries and minimal damage was reported. But Patients at Ridgecrest Regional Hospital were evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” hospital Chief Executive James Suver told the Lost Angeles Times. 

Lester Holt of NBC News has seen his fair share of weather disasters just by being a news anchor. On Thursday, Holt reported from Santa Monica, and described what the earthquake felt like.

 

The post ‘The longest earthquake I’ve ever experienced’: Ava DuVernay, other celebs tweet about 6.4 Calfornia temblor appeared first on theGrio.



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Sikorsky's S-97 Raider Helicopter Is a Pirouetting Speedster

The funky, speedy whirly bird is Sikorksy's bid to win a major new contract from the Army.

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'Spider-Man: Far From Home': 5 Comics That Help Explain the Ending

Still pondering that post-credits scene? Start here.

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Magnetic Materials Help Explain How Arctic Ice Melts

The discovery of an unlikely relationship between melting sea ice and magnets could help scientists produce better models of the global climate.

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Sudan pyramids: Archaeologists explore the waters below

Pearce Paul Creasman, an underwater archaeologist, explored the murky depths of Sudan's pyramids.

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Afcon 2019: Why the heat is a hot topic

High temperatures have been a big talking point at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt - but will the knock-out stages feature more goals now that the afternoon kicks-offs have gone?

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Forget the Moon—We Should Go to Jupiter’s Idyllic Europa

NASA's Europa mission is struggling, but scientists are keeping the dream alive with exotic approaches to sampling that moon and its mysterious ocean.

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7 Best Sunglasses for Every Adventure and Budget (2019)

We've tested and picked the best sunglasses to protect your eyes from the burning sun while you run, paddle, or work on your computer outside.

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How to Save Money and Skip Lines at the Airport

Going overseas? Here's what you need to know about Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, and other ways to have a less stressful flight.

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Tim Wu Explains Why He Thinks Facebook Should Be Broken Up

Tim Wu, who coined the phrase "net neutrality," spoke with WIRED Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Thompson at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

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The Biggest Cybersecurity Crises of 2019 So Far

Ransomware attacks, supply chain hacks, escalating tensions with Iran—the first six months of 2019 have been anything but boring.

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A new way of making complex structures in thin films

Self-assembling materials called block copolymers, which are known to form a variety of predictable, regular patterns, can now be made into much more complex patterns that may open up new areas of materials design, a team of MIT researchers say.

The new findings appear in the journal Nature Communications, in a paper by postdoc Yi Ding, professors of materials science and engineering Alfredo Alexander-Katz and Caroline Ross, and three others.

“This is a discovery that was in some sense fortuitous,” says Alexander-Katz. “Everyone thought this was not possible,” he says, describing the team’s discovery of a phenomenon that allows the polymers to self-assemble in patterns that deviate from regular symmetrical arrays.

Self-assembling block copolymers are materials whose chain-like molecules, which are initially disordered, will spontaneously arrange themselves into periodic structures. Researchers had found that if there was a repeating pattern of lines or pillars created on a substrate, and then a thin film of the block copolymer was formed on that surface, the patterns from the substrate would be duplicated in the self-assembled material. But this method could only produce simple patterns such as grids of dots or lines.

In the new method, there are two different, mismatched patterns. One is from a set of posts or lines etched on a substrate material, and the other is an inherent pattern that is created by the self-assembling copolymer. For example, there may be a rectangular pattern on the substrate and a hexagonal grid that the copolymer forms by itself. One would expect the resulting block copolymer arrangement to be poorly ordered, but that’s not what the team found. Instead, “it was forming something much more unexpected and complicated,” Ross says.

There turned out to be a subtle but complex kind of order — interlocking areas that formed slightly different but regular patterns, of a type similar to quasicrystals, which don’t quite repeat the way normal crystals do. In this case, the patterns do repeat, but over longer distances than in ordinary crystals. “We’re taking advantage of molecular processes to create these patterns on the surface” with the block copolymer material, Ross says.

This potentially opens the door to new ways of making devices with tailored characteristics for optical systems or for “plasmonic devices” in which electromagnetic radiation resonates with electrons in precisely tuned ways, the researchers say. Such devices require very exact positioning and symmetry of patterns with nanoscale dimensions, something this new method can achieve.

Katherine Mizrahi Rodriguez, who worked on the project as an undergraduate, explains that the team prepared many of these block copolymer samples and studied them under a scanning electron microscope. Yi Ding, who worked on this for his doctoral thesis, “started looking over and over to see if any interesting patterns came up,” she says. “That’s when all of these new findings sort of evolved.”

The resulting odd patterns are “a result of the frustration between the pattern the polymer would like to form, and the template,” explains Alexander-Katz. That frustration leads to a breaking of the original symmetries and the creation of new subregions with different kinds of symmetries within them, he says. “That’s the solution nature comes up with. Trying to fit in the relationship between these two patterns, it comes up with a third thing that breaks the patterns of both of them.” They describe the new patterns as a “superlattice.”

Having created these novel structures, the team went on to develop models to explain the process. Co-author Karim Gadelrab PhD ’19, says, “The modeling work showed that the emergent patterns are in fact thermodynamically stable, and revealed the conditions under which the new patterns would form.”

Ding says “We understand the system fully in terms of the thermodynamics,” and the self-assembling process “allows us to create fine patterns and to access some new symmetries that are otherwise hard to fabricate.”

He says this removes some existing limitations in the design of optical and plasmonic materials, and thus “creates a new path” for materials design.

So far, the work the team has done has been confined to two-dimensional surfaces, but in ongoing work they are hoping to extend the process into the third dimension, says Ross. “Three dimensional fabrication would be a game changer,” she says. Current fabrication techniques for microdevices build them up one layer at a time, she says, but “if you can build up entire objects in 3-D in one go,” that would potentially make the process much more efficient.

These findings “open new pathways to generate templates for nanofabrication with symmetries not achievable from the copolymer alone,” says Thomas P. Russell, the Silvio O. Conte Distinguished Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who was not involved in this work. He adds that it “opens the possibility of exploring a large parameter space for uncovering other symmetries than those discussed in the manuscript.”

Russel says “The work is of the highest quality,” and adds “The pairing of theory and experiment is quite powerful and, as can be seen in the text, the agreement between the two is remarkably good.”

The research was funded by the Office of General Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy. The team also included graduate student Hejin Huang.



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Thursday, July 4, 2019

Sudan crisis: Military and opposition agree transition deal

The ruling military council and an opposition alliance agree to a three-year transition to civilian rule.

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Eto'o calls for restructuring of women's football in Cameroon

Cameroon legend Samuel Eto'o says a competitive domestic league must be established in his country for the national women's team to progress at major events.

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Louisiana experiences major drop in new HIV cases, its lowest in a decade

Louisiana diagnosed 989 people with HIV last year, its lowest number of new HIV cases in at least a decade in a state with a heavy number of infections within the African American community.

Although Louisiana ranked in the top 10 states to register the highest number of new HIV cases in 2017, the latest numbers from 2018 are a welcome decline that state officials hope reflect a new trend, according to NOLA.com.

READ MORE: Ex-Florida cop gets eight-year sentence for knowingly exposing woman to HIV

Overall, new HIV transmissions have declined by 12 percent over the past three years, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. State officials attribute the decrease to the state’s Medicaid expansion, which provided greater access to medication like PrEP, a daily pill that prevents HIV and increased screenings.

“This provides even more support for the importance of knowing your status and taking control of your infection to suppress the virus in the body,” Dr. Alexander Billioux, assistant secretary for the state’s Office of Public Health, told NOLA.com. “As we have said before, undetectable equals untransmittable.”

Out of the state’s 989 new transmissions, roughly three-quarters of these cases were male and African-American. Blacks accounted for 70% of the new diagnoses, while whites made up 23%, Hispanics 6%, and Asians 1%.

READ MORE: The importance of World AIDS Day as a person living with HIV

Health professionals found Louisiana’s news hopeful and possibly indicative of what’s to come.

“I feel as though we will actually see the end of HIV in our lifetime,” Fran Lawless, director of the Office of Health Policy & AIDS Funding, within the New Orleans Health Department, told Nola.com. “I think that’s just on the horizon. This year is the first that I felt that might actually come to fruition. Things were pretty bleak when I first entered this area.”

Billioux agreed that Louisiana has battled HIV and other health challenges that have at times felt “insurmountable.” But she pointed to the Medicaid expansion as proof that it works in bringing access to treatment to vulnerable populations. Billioux also compared other southern states, like Georgia, which did not expand Medicaid, and how its numbers continue to rank among the highest in the nation. According to Nola.com, Georgia saw 2,698 new HIV diagnoses in 2017, the most recent year data was available, which translates to a rate of 30 people per 100,000. By comparison, Louisiana’s rate dropped from 28.9 in 2016 to 26.6 in 2017.

The post Louisiana experiences major drop in new HIV cases, its lowest in a decade appeared first on theGrio.



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The Colorful Science of Why Fireworks Look Bad on TV

Even the best TVs fall short of capturing all the colors in fireworks that humans can perceive.

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Many missing as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia

Three people are said to have survived after the vessel sank off the town of Zarzis.

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Bail denied for Mississippi man charged with murdering 21-year-old pregnant woman

A Mississippi man, who is the son of a judge, was denied bail on charges that he murdered a young woman and her unborn child.

The Holmes County district attorney said a special appointed judge had to be called in because two justice court judges in the county know the suspect, Terrence K. Sample’s mother, who works as a judge in neighboring Attala County, reported the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. The two judges recused themselves.

Sample, 33, is charged with two counts of murder and one count of kidnapping in the killing of 21-year-old Makayla Winston, whose body was found Monday on a deserted road in the county a few days after her family first reported her missing. She was nine months pregnant, and Mississippi is one of 38 states with a fetal homicide law in place that allows murder charges to be levied against suspects for the death of an unborn child.

READ MORE: D.A. makes decision on Alabama woman charged with manslaughter when she lost baby after being shot

Police believe Winston was Sample’s girlfriend, but he reportedly denies this, and also denies having any connection with Winston. Holmes County Sheriff Willie March said police are questioning another woman, from Attala County, who is also believed to have been in a romantic relationship with Sample. This second woman has not been identified.

According to Holmes County District Attorney Akille Malone-Oliver, one of Sample’s relatives found Winston’s body near his property. Her body was found on State Park Road. Winston’s family told police that she was last seen Thursday night. She told family members that she was going to show the baby’s sonogram to the father but that she never returned. Her due date was Thursday.

In a bail hearing this week, Yazoo County Justice Court Judge Bennie Warrington denied bond for Sample. The next court appearance will likely be for a preliminary hearing, something Sample’s attorney, Richard Carter would have to request, Oliver said.

Sample is being held at the Holmes-Humphreys County Regional Correctional Facility.

March told reporters on Tuesday that he expects that a charge of capital murder will be added against Sample.

The post Bail denied for Mississippi man charged with murdering 21-year-old pregnant woman appeared first on theGrio.



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Did Kamala Harris backpedal a bit on the issue of school busing?

Sen. Kamala Harris appears to have slightly dialed back a comment made at the Democratic presidential debate regarding school busing.

On Wednesday, Harris said she thinks busing should be a decision made by local school districts attempting to desegregate their locations. At the debate, she seemed to support federal intervention to force districts to utilize busing, and sharply criticized former Vice President Joe Biden for his record on the issue.

READ MORE: New 2020 Democratic poll reveals Harris and Warren tied for third place

When reporters asked Harris point blank whether she favors federally mandated busing, after a Democratic Party picnic Wednesday in West Des Moines, Iowa, she responded: “I think of busing as being in the toolbox of what is available and what can be used for the goal of desegregating America’s schools,” according to the Associated Press.

During the debate last week, Harris zinged Biden for opposing federally mandated school busing when he was a senator in the 1970s. Harris told the audience that she was bused in the 1970s as an elementary school student growing up in Berkeley, California, and that busing provided her a great education.

“That’s where the federal government must step in,” Harris said passionately, while eyeing a surprised Biden. The crowd burst in applause.

But on Wednesday, she stated that busing should be an option for local school districts to make.

READ MORE: Kamala Harris scores endorsement from freshman Congresswoman Jahana Hayes

When reporters asked her whether she agrees with federally mandated busing, Harris replied, “I believe that any tool that is in the toolbox should be considered by a school district.”

Biden’s campaign took no time bashing Harris’ comment.

Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, tweeted that Harris isn’t being consistent.

“It’s disappointing that Senator Harris chose to distort Vice President Biden’s position on busing — particularly now that she is tying herself in knots trying not to answer the very question she posed to him!” Bedingfield said.

READ MORE: Biden lands 2020 endorsement from Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms

For his part, Biden insists that he is not against busing, but thinks it should be a decision made by the districts and not forced on them.

During an appearance at a conference last week in Chicago, Biden told the audience he “never, never, never, ever opposed voluntary busing.”

In the 1970s and 80s, Biden was an outspoken critic of federally mandated busing. Back then, he even sponsored a congressional measure that would have imposed funding limits for federal busing.

The post Did Kamala Harris backpedal a bit on the issue of school busing? appeared first on theGrio.



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Libyan migrants 'fired upon after fleeing air strikes'

The UN says 500 people still at a detention centre hit by air strikes are vulnerable to new raids.

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Sudan tomb diver reveals pharaoh's secrets

Archaeologists dive down to underwater tombs to access them for the first time in 100 years.

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Best Podcasts for Kids: Stories, Circle Round, Rebel Girls, Brains On

Keep your children entertained and ease the stress of getting there with these podcasts for kids.

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In Defense of Mayonnaise

The internet's most hated condiment is entirely misunderstood—and you should enjoy some this Fourth of July.

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Why Bigger Roads Make Traffic Worse, and Other Summer Travel News

Your airline stranded you. What do you now? And what does July 4 shopping have to do with traffic congestion?

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'The Walking Dead' (Comic) Is Over

The final issue of Robert Kirkman's zombie series, on which the AMC show is based, went out this week.

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An Itty-Bitty Robot That Lifts Off Like a Sci-Fi Spaceship

Ion propulsion is a fantastical new way to power robots by accelerating ions instead of burning fuel or spinning rotors.

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Depth of Field: Alex Morgan and the Politics of Women in Celebration

The US women’s soccer team forward scored in the team’s semifinal win over England. It is her moment alone. She’s earned it. We would do well to remember it.

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In Season 3, 'Stranger Things' Rediscovers Its Groove

The Netflix show roars back by sticking to one core rule: Keep the dark stuff dark and the light stuff light.

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4th of July Sales (2019): 25 Best Tech Deals This Weekend

If you're looking for outdoor and indoor essentials, you can save a lot of cash this Independence Day weekend.

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Can't Set Off Fireworks? Try These Science-Backed Alternatives

Blowing things up is a basic part of the Fourth of July. Here's what to try when fireworks aren't an option.

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Africa Cup of Nations 2019: Why do African teams continue to threaten strike action?

As Uganda become the latest team to become embroiled in a dispute over pay, we explain why this type of row happens so often with African teams.

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Tutankhamun: Egypt demands auction of bust be cancelled

The foreign ministry says the relic, expected to fetch $5m (4m), was stolen during the 1970s.

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Wednesday, July 3, 2019

'My parents told everyone I was dead'

Sara-Jayne King struggled to find her place in the world after being taken abroad and given up for adoption.

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Uganda train after securing "extra incentive" at Nations Cup

Uganda FA says it promised an extra $6000 per player, "over and above the agreed terms".

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via

Boeing gives $100m to help 737 Max crash families

The aircraft maker says the money is for the education and welfare of communities hit by the disasters.

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Irv Gotti on debuting Kanye West song “Brothers” on ‘TALES’ and Ye’s support for Trump: ‘He knows what he’s doing’

TALES is back on BET for its second season and the show created by Irv Gotti will debut a new song from Kanye West on Tuesday night. In “Brothers” Yeezy seems to address the ongoing tension between him and Jay-Z, and TheGrio sat down with the Murder Inc. founder to find out his thoughts on Mr. West.

“I got Kanye to agree to make a new song. It’s a brand new song on season premiere of TALES. You’ll see a two-hour movie that is associated with the song about the trials and tribulations of two brothers,” he says. 

“I can get new songs from artists and turn them into two hour movies…I think about what I want and what I think the hip-hop culture wants.”

“Brothers” features Charlie Wilson and the TALES episode stars Elijah Kelley, Isaiah Washington, Draya Michele, and more.

“It’s a brand new record that I produced. I also directed the episode,” he says.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Irv Gotti announces Murder Inc. tour

“Working with Kanye is fascinating because you never know you got him until you got him. Working with him, he dances to the beat of his own drum. If you want to talk Kanye and Donald Trump— and he gets so much flack for that, it’s not that he really f***s with Donald Trump…” 

According to Gotti, West’s support for Trump,p has more to do with his desire to go against the grain than it does about his actual politics.

“He doesn’t like people telling him what he can and cannot do. He doesn’t care. You’re not going to tell him how to think or how to feel,” he says. 

“He’s not a bad person. I love Kanye. Kanye is actually a super family man. He and Kim’s relationship is real. There’s real love there and they’re raising a family.”

Gotti also admitted he has a hard time buying the notion that West’s questionable behavior has to do with his mental illness.  

“He wants to be crazy because he wants people to think and feel that he’s a genius. I’ve been around him, I’m not giving him that out. You’re my man, you ain’t crazy. Shut up. You know what you doing. That’s not to belittle mental health, but I just feel and think Kanye is smart and he knows what he’s doing,” he says. 

“If you want to stop wearing the hat you can stop wearing the hat. If you want to wear the hat to announce your rebelliousness to the way things are then cool. Take the backlash that’s gonna come with it.”

Charlamagne Tha God to host BET’s music competition series ‘The Next Big Thing’

Each week, TALES transforms the lyrics of hip hop’s greatest hits into captivating visual narratives through the eyes of Irv Gotti. The scripted anthology series will feature timeless hits including Lauryn Hill’s “Ex-Factor,” Nas’ “I Gave You Power,” Mary J. Blige’s “My Life,”Migos’ “Slippery,” Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow”, and  XXXtenacion’s “Moonlight.” 

Check out the full interview above.

TALES airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on BET.  

The post Irv Gotti on debuting Kanye West song “Brothers” on ‘TALES’ and Ye’s support for Trump: ‘He knows what he’s doing’ appeared first on theGrio.



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NASA Needs to Out-Crazy Elon Musk

Opinion: The once-revolutionary space agency is being upstaged by unapologetic capitalists. Here's how it can reclaim its relevance.

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What Makes a Good Cooler (According to Physics)?

You're not so much keeping the "coldness" in, but keeping the heat out. How well a cooler can do this will depend on three key factors: insulation, air, and ice.

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Mapping Apps for Camping and Hiking: AllTrails, Gaia, Topo Maps+

Don't lose yourself out there. Download one of these trail mapping apps to make sure you can always find your way, whether you have cell service or not.

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Lil Nas X has something for his haters: Smooches

Clashes as Ethiopian Israelis protest over police shooting

Thousands took to the streets of several cities, blocking roads with sit-ins and burning tyres.

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Spider-Man Is Back ... But Why All Dressed in Black?

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Facebook’s New Content Moderation Tools Put Posts in Context

The audit noted that asking reviewers "to consider whether the user was condemning or discussing hate speech, rather than espousing it, may reduce errors.”

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Georgia family fires contractor after seeing a Confederate flag on his truck

A Black woman in Georgia canceled a job before it even began after a white, independent contractor showed up to her house with a Confederate flag attached to his truck.

Allison and Zeke Brown of Atlanta hired the contractor, named Michael, to fix their golf cart brakes but when he got to their home on Saturday, they couldn’t help but notice the gigantic rebel flag hanging from the back, according to Yahoo.

READ MORE: Texas school district bristling after student wears Confederate battle flag to classes

Allison knew her family wouldn’t be doing business with Michael, and she told him as much. She later posted the encounter on Ring.

“Hi, you know what, I do apologize, I know you’ve come from a very long way, but we’re going to use someone else,” Allison, 40, told Michael, according to Yahoo.

“She’s upset with the flag,” explained her husband, Zeke, 48.

“No, I’m beyond upset with the flag,” the 40-year-old radiation therapist responds.

READ MORE: Georgia woman who faced backlash after taking photo of a homeless dad issues apology

Michael said he would remove the flag, but the damage was already done.

“No, you don’t need to take it down. You can continue to believe what you need to believe, sir. But no, I cannot pay you for your services. Thank you, have a good day,” Allison said, reported Yahoo.

After the video footage was posted on Ring, thousands viewed it and commented on how well she kept it together.

Allison explained how it all went down. She said when Michael first arrived, she didn’t initially see him because she was cleaning out her closet.

It was when her husband, Zeke, came into their bedroom and uttered: “God is testing me,” that she knew there was a problem.

“When my husband told me about the flag, I said, ‘Let me handle this,’” Allison said to Yahoo Lifestyle. She said the couple’s son left the house, sure of how his mom would respond.

“I didn’t want to be the ‘angry black woman’ but I wanted him to learn and feel that bottom-line loss,” Allison explains. “You don’t go to Germany and wave the Nazi flag. It’s the same thing.”

Zeke was left surprised. For three days, he had gone back and forth with the contractor over the logistics of the job. “He hadn’t been disrespectful prior, so seeing the flag did not fit my preconceptions,” Zeke told Yahoo. “The flag was absurd — I had to walk back into the house to calm myself down.”

The Browns said that they received another message from Michael after he left, which said: “I didn’t know the flag offended y’all.”

Chile.

The post Georgia family fires contractor after seeing a Confederate flag on his truck appeared first on theGrio.



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Yaya Toure: Former Manchester City midfielder signs for Qingdao Huanghai

Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has signed for Chinese League One side Qingdao Huanghai at the age of 36.

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Everything You Should Read, Watch, and Listen To Over the July 4th Weekend

You have a long holiday weekend ahead. Here are some quality ways to spend it.

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REI 4th of July Sale: 13 Summer Outdoors Deals for 2019

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How Extreme Heat Overwhelms Your Body and Becomes Deadly

Europe's record-breaking heat wave serves as a warning of just how dangerous high temperatures can be.

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Intel's New Chip Wizard Has a Plan to Bring Back the Magic

Jim Keller, who joined Intel last year after stints at AMD, Apple, and Tesla, says Moore's law isn't dead, but needs a new, broader interpretation.

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Kenya stowaway 'may have been airport worker'

A body from a Kenya Airways flight fell into a garden in south London on Sunday.

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Libya migrants: Attack on camp 'amounts to war crime'

Troops loyal to a warlord who is attempting to overthrow the Libyan government are being accused.

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Kenya flight death stowaway 'could be Nairobi airport employee' say authorities

Kenya's aviation authority says the man who fell from a plane over London "probably" had access to the airport's secure area.

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Tesla Model 3 Can Survive a Crash—and Avoid One, Too

The Model 3 scores well in European crash testing, a day after Tesla reported a quarterly record for deliveries.

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Uganda hit by Africa Cup of Nations cash dispute

The Cranes players refused to train on Tuesday in a row over payments at the tournament in Egypt.

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British woman dies on damaged yacht off South African coast

Rescuers were called to reports of a boat taking on water 242 nautical miles off the east coast.

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Tuesday, July 2, 2019

'My mother died without telling me I had HIV'

Some parents in Kenya take their secrets to the grave, leaving their children ignorant and unwell.

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