Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr is unhappy with the scheduling of November's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers as names a 23-man squad.
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Thursday, October 31, 2019
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
NFLPA Partners With College Group to Push for Student-Athlete Rights
According to Sports Illustrated, The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) has linked up with the National College Players Association (NCPA) to see how college athletes can be compensated for the use of their name, image, and likeness.
Earlier this year, California’s assembly voted 73–0 to pass the Fair Pay to Play Act, which would make it illegal for California universities to revoke an athlete’s scholarship or eligibility for taking money. Schools would still not pay the athletes but the players could hire agents to negotiate and find business deals for them. California’s State Senate also passed the bill before California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law. New York State Sen. Kevin S. Parker also introduced similar legislation, Senate Bill S6722A also known as the “New York Collegiate Athletic Participation Compensation Act.”
“Under this new partnership, the NFLPA and the NCPA will explore opportunities for merchandise, gaming, and other officially licensed products,” the statement revealed. “We will also review how recent developments impact television broadcast revenues in pursuit of fairness.”
“REP Worldwide was created to offer all athletes the same world-class service that NFL players have when companies want to partner with athletes to market their likeness, image, and personalities,” said NFLPA Executive Director and NFL Players, Inc. Chairman DeMaurice Smith. “We are proud to partner with the NCPA to offer this service to students who are also athletes. For the first time, a legislature has indicated that these students have rights just like everyone else and we support this continuing movement towards fairness.”
“Our business is built on the foundation that athletes in all sports have rights beyond their work,” said NFL Players Inc. President Ahmad Nassar. “By entering into this partnership, our work with the NCPA will ensure that athletes are supported in a meaningful way.”
Initially, the NCAA expressed opposition to California Senate Bill 20, arguing that the bill is “unconstitutional and would adversely affect competitive balance throughout collegiate athletics.” The organization also warned that the state’s colleges could be excluded from the league and will not be allowed to participate in championship tournaments if this law passes. On Tuesday, it was announced that “In a concession the NCAA had long resisted, the organization’s governing board directed its three divisions to immediately consider changing the rules governing such benefits for athletes, and to make any such changes no later than January 2021,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Spelman College receives $2M for first ever Audre Lorde Queer Studies program
Spelman College has received a $2 million dollar gift from philanthropist Jon Stryker, to establish its first chair position for a Queer Studies program.
The program was named in honor of legendary queer Black poet, activist, and feminist, Audre Lorde.
“Spelman College has long been at the forefront of LGBTQ inclusion and education among HBCUs,” Stryker said in a statement. “By supporting this chair, the goal is to engage and empower the next generation of LGBTQ advocates to create a better world.”
On Tuesday the institution made the historic announcement, stating that the program will be a part of the larger Comparative Women’s Studies program and Spelman’s Women’s Research and Resource Center.
READ MORE: Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. donate $160K to alma mater Spelman College
“A major theme of Spelman’s strategic plan is ‘elevating the Spelman Difference,’ that is creating opportunities to recruit and retain the kind of excellent faculty who are the hallmark of Spelman excellence,” Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D. said. “We are honored to name the chair after the literary luminary and fierce activist, Audre Lorde.”
The generous donation will match Spelman’s $2 million fundraising campaign, Forbes reports.
Lorde’s son, Jonathan Rollins, said his mother would have been “over the moon” to know she was being honored in such a significant way.
Before Lorde’s death, she ensured that Spelman was accounted for in her will, and donated personal papers and articles to the all-women’s HBCU. She and former Spelman president, Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole were also close friends.
The position makes history as the first of its kind at an HBCU, according to the outlet.
“By empowering and educating the next generation, we can help make a future where LGBTQ people have full and equal protections under the law,” said Stryker, who is the founder and president of the Arcus Foundation.
Spelman College is a historically Black college located in Atlanta, GA dedicated to educating women of African descent.
READ MORE: VIDEO: Oprah Winfrey surprises Morehouse College with $13 million gift
The school has received some push-back in relation to the queer studies program, said Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, founding director of Spelman’s Women’s Research and Resource Center. She said Spelman and other historically Black schools have faced scrutiny because of religious affiliations and alumni who are not on board with the idea.
In 2017, Spelman changed its admissions criteria. The school opened the door to admit those who identify as females, despite whatever gender was assigned at birth. The Women’s Research and Resource Center saw an opportunity to pursue funding to establish a queer studies faculty position.
The school expects to hire a chair by 2022.
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Tamron Hall opens up about the hundreds of emails she has from Prince
Prince was notoriously hard to reach and very private. But those rules didn’t apply when it came to his close friend, Tamron Hall.
READ MORE: New Prince memoir ‘The Beautiful Ones’ reveals intimate thoughts from his life and work
Hall opened up about her friendship with “the purple one” during an interview with Dan Piepenbring, who co-wrote Prince’s new memoir “The Beautiful Ones,” PEOPLE reports.
It seems that Prince was quite the smooth operator, sliding into Hall’s texts every day to shower her with attention and oftentimes clothing critiques. Hall even ended up as the cover art on Prince’s 2015 single, “If Eye Could Get Ur Attention.”
“I wear what I wear because I don’t like clothes. This is what’s most comfortable,’” Hall read Piepenbring’s book, on The Tamron Hall Show.
Hall revealed that Prince didn’t hold his tongue when he came to lending his opinion of her outfit choices.
“He says he didn’t like clothes — Prince called me every single morning to critique or give feedback on what I would wear,” she revealed.
One day, Hall said she decided to send Prince a selfie in a tight-fitting ensemble. She said she never thought it would end up anywhere else other than his inbox.
“I sent him a selfie one day, and he then stole my selfie and used it as the cover for his single,” the hostess explained. “I woke up the next morning, and people were like, ‘You’re all over the internet. You’re on the cover of Prince’s song ‘If Eye Could Get Ur Attention.’”
“Sounds like he got yours,” Piepenbring said.
“Well he did — or I got his!” Hall said laughing. “But we had been very close many years by now. And he wrote me an email in relation [to the selfie], ’cause I called him, I said, what are you doing?”
READ MORE: Rare and unreleased music from Prince to be made public by end of year
Hall said she has accumulated hundreds of emails over the between she and Prince, and since his passing she has decided to keep those exchanges close to her heart.
“I never share my emails with Prince — I have hundreds of them if not a thousand — because I don’t want to feel like I’m exploiting,” she said.
She did share one where Prince jokingly comes on to her.
“Eye hate ur red dress… Y? Because it’s touching ur body and eye’m not :(“
“Yes, I’m happily married now, we’ll leave that there. We’ll let that simmer,” Hall said laughing.
“He never said anything like that to me,” Piepenbring joked.
Just prior to his 2016 death, the music legend announced during a New York show his plans to pen “The Beautiful Ones” memoir. It was published on Tuesday.
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Kevin Hart’s doctors believe he may need at least a year to fully recover
Kevin Hart is breaking his silence and giving his fans a glimpse of his rehab routine on his road to recovery after a horrific accident.
READ MORE: Docs give Kevin Hart greenlight to return to work to promote ‘Jumanji’ movie
Hart has been undergoing a grueling process to strengthen his back after he endured spine surgery as a result of an accident in early September. Hart was a passenger in his own vehicle, driven by a friend who veered off the road and landed in a ravine, resulting in a serious collision.
The Jumanji star suffered a serious back spinal injury, which required immediate surgery and sidelined his career.
Hart said he believes his accident was done on purpose, believing God was trying to tell him to slow down, TMZ reports.
“My appreciation for life is through the roof,” he said. “Don’t take today for granted, because tomorrow is not promised.”
The video of Hart shows him through several phases. At one point he looks like he is in pain trying to work with a therapist to strengthen his limbs. At other times he appears to look happy and back to his old self. He smiles as he talks with friends and doctors. And he looks in love, as he gives his wife Eniko some smooches.
Also in the video, Hart seems to readily embrace one doctor’s diagnosis. The doctor believes that the comic may need at least a year to recover before he’s fully back on track.
Unfortunately, Hart’s critical back fracture happened because he wasn’t wearing a seat belt, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) determined.
In fact, the CHP has finished its investigation of the horrific car crash in Calabasas on Sept. 1, determining that none of the three in the car were wearing seatbelts when Hart’s 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, driven by Jared Black, plummeted off the side of the road into an embankment.
Rebecca Broxterman, another passenger reportedly had minor injuries.
“There were fold and crease marks on the belt surfaces consistent with being folded and tucked into the seats and no indicators of occupant loading were present,” the report says, Yahoo reports.
READ MORE: Kevin Hart’s car crash investigation completed, driver error cited as cause
If Hart and the passengers argue that the belts were worn, the reports still uncovered an error. If the seatbelts were worn, the report states they were on “improperly due to excessive slack in the belts.”
We’re happy to see that Hart shared his journey because we’ve all collectively been wondering how he’s been doing.
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Judge tells R. Kelly to use his catalog to pay child support
A judge wants R. Kelly to tap a different revenue stream to pay his child support obligation.
READ MORE: R. Kelly faces two brand new charges in Minnesota in 2001 allegation
The embattled R&B singer has been ordered to use the royalties from his music catalog to pay his ex-wife Drea Kelly for the $20,833 arrears he owes, TMZ reports.
It seems like Kelly won’t be able to fly above his debts this time.
As previously reported, Kelly paid $40,00 back child support payments earlier this year. However, he still owed money because of interest that accrued.
Kelly has previously pleaded his case to the judge saying he’s “not a deadbeat dad,” and all he wants to do is “do right by his kids.” He shares three children with Drea.
Kelly has maintained in these child support hearings that his finances have suffered as a result of the Surviving R. Kelly docu-series that sparked renewed interest in longstanding sexual abuse allegations. Last month, Kelly was arrested on charges of sexually abusing three girls and a woman over a decade spanning from the late 1990s.
To add to his latest financial troubles, his lawyer representing him in the family court issues has quit.
Lisa Damico, a Chicago-based attorney cut ties with the embattled-and-broke singer back in September. But Kelly still has a $25,000 tab, and now wants at least $12,750 of what he owes to be paid out to her, The Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Damico appealed to Cook County Judge Lori Rosen to order Kelly to pay a portion of his outstanding bill, which stems from his child support case with Andrea Kelly.
READ MORE: Keke Palmer left ‘sad’ and heartbroken after watching ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ documentary
In September, Damico cited “irreconcilable differences” with the singer and asked a judge for help in getting Kelly to pay $12,750 on the $25,000 bill. A hearing is coming up on Nov. 4.
Kelly needs to ask his sugar mommas for some coins, once again.
The post Judge tells R. Kelly to use his catalog to pay child support appeared first on theGrio.
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Michelle Obama talks witnessing ‘white flight’ from Southside Chicago
Former First Lady Michelle Obama opened up about the slight of “white flight” impacted her community, as a young person growing up on the Southside of Chicago.
READ MORE: Michelle Obama honored with ‘Caregiver Champion’ award
During the third annual Obama Summit, Obama along with her older brother, Craig Robinson, opened up about witnessing whites leave their neighborhood in droves.
According to The Chicago Sun-Times, despite the fact that Obama was from a good, middle class family, race was the motivating factor— something she said still persists today and is evidenced by how immigrants are treated.
“As families like ours — upstanding families like ours who were doing everything we were supposed to do and better. As we moved in, white folks moved out because they were afraid of what our families represented,” the former first lady said Tuesday at the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago.
“I want to remind white folks that y’all were running from us… This family, with all the values that you read about, you were running from us. And you’re still running because we’re no different than the immigrant families that are moving in,” she continued.
“The families that are coming from other places to try to do better. But, because we can so easily wash over who we really were — because of the color of our skin, because of the texture of our hair — that’s what divides countries, artificial things.”
“There were no gang fights, there were no territorial battles. Yet one by one, they packed their bags and they ran from us. And they left communities in shambles.”
Obama addressed the “white flight” issue in her best-selling memoir, “Becoming.”
READ MORE: POLL: Michelle Obama would be Dem front-runner if she entered the 2020 race
During her session, she also discussed the plans for the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park and her Southside roots.
“Barack and I wouldn’t bring some crap up in our neighborhood,” she said about the center which will sit on 19.3 acres in the historic park, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.
The Summit was held on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
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Byron Allen sits with ‘The Breakfast Club’ to talk business and hard work
Media mogul Byron Allen has become a champion for change, fighting to break barriers with a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Comcast and Charter Communications for not distributing his networks.
READ MORE: WATCH: The must-see message for Black America about Byron Allen’s multi-billion dollar lawsuit
The CEO of Entertainment Studios sat down with The Breakfast Club’s Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee and DJ Envy, for a captivating conversation about his rise from bankruptcy to a billionaire. Within the interview he also pays homage to his single mother, who he credits for paving the way for his foray into entertainment.
The Detroit native said it was his 17-year-old single mother, who first taught him the art of being persistent. This discipline is something that he has found to come in handy in his fight for equality. A child born during the civil rights, his mother moved the family from Detroit to L.A. in 1968, during the tumultuous aftermath of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s death.
“I’ll be the first to say if the mothers succeed, so will the children,” Allen acknowledges. “And if mothers fail, most likely, so will the children.”
The mogul continued talking about his mother, and how her venture into entertainment inspired him.
“…my mother was at UCLA and getting her master’s degree in cinema TV production, she went to NBC and said, ‘Can I get a job?’ and they said, ‘No.’,” Allen reflects. “And her persistence really paid off. She said she asked a very important question, and she asked a question that changed our lives. She asked, ‘Do you have an internship?’ And they said, ‘No.’ And then she went to the next question. ‘Will you start one with me?’ And they said ‘Yes.’.”
That type of tenacity Allen said was a “game changer.” It set the wheels in motion to open doors for him, as his mother navigated her way through various jobs at NBC. And since childcare wasn’t an option, he got a front seat to seeing rising stars take center stage.
“I would just watch Johnny Carson do The Tonight Show, and I watch Red Fox do Sanford and Son… and Richard Pryor do his specials and Freddie Prinze do Chico and the Man. And then I would go and watch an unknown sportscaster do the local news, Bryant Gumbel.”
Allen learned about the power dynamics from behind the scenes, and his mother’s refusal to accept “no” was catalyst that help him carve out a path to becoming the executive who now owns the Weather Channel and TheGrio. It was a rough road pitted with rejection, but his focus seems to be laser sharp.
“I started my company from my dining room table in 93, and I did a television special making a bunch of funny friends. I remember that.” Allen said.
“So weekly, one hour show called Entertainers would buy or now. Yes. And I started I sat in my dining room table when I called all thirteen hundred television stations and asked them to carry the show for free. And on average, they all told me no about 50 times,” he admits.
“And literally, I sat in my dining room table from sunup to sundown and I got about fifty thousand nos. And after a year of doing that, I was able to squeeze out about one hundred and fifty yeses. And I got a station, a TV station in every market from New York to Waterloo Island. Right. And so that was my lineup. Now, Tribune, it said to me, and if you get 75 percent of the country, we will sell your commercial time. Because I said to the TV stations, there was 14 minutes of commercial time. I’ll keep seven minutes. You keep seven minutes. I’ll sell my seven minutes to national advertisers, you, local TV station, you sell your seven minutes to local advertisers. Right. You sell it to local banks, car dealers, supermarkets. I’ll sell my seven minutes to McDonald’s and Pepsi, and Johnson and Johnson and General Motors. You sell yours to the local market.”
Allen said he poured lots of sweat equity into doing the work. And he did, “Everything myself. It is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
More poetic is that Allen rose to become a force in the entertainment industry that has shaken several major media conglomerates to the core.
Allen alleges the Comcast and Charter Communications networks were specifically in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which prohibits racial discrimination in contracting, which he believes is broadening the divide for Blacks.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the $20 billion dollar case in November, and if Allen wins it would be a major victory for Black-owned companies and Black media.
In fact, the power of empowering our own and representation is one reason Allen says he bought TheGrio.
“I felt it was important than buying TheGrio to own, you know, our voice, to own our position in the marketplace, to really control our narrative, you know, with. So, you know, it’s very important to me because when my children were born, I had a guy say to me, you know, a white guy says to me, why is it important that you have Black ownership?”
“You know, what’s wrong with Black targeted? Is there a lot of Black faces? And I said, I’m glad you asked me that question. You know, let me tell you why I bought TheGrio, and why I bought a movie distribution company, why I own 10 cable networks. Let me ask you something. As a white man who has children. Are you comfortable with me controlling the images of your daughters and how they are produced and how they’re depicted and how they grow up looking at themselves? Are you cool with me having 100 percent control over how your white daughter sees herself? And he said no. And I said, great. I said, I expected you to answer the question that way. Now understand me as a Black man and my Black daughters. Now that. They’re here. I’m going to take a seat at the table and I’m going to control how they’re produced and how they’re depicted and how they grow up and how they see themselves. Because at this moment in my life, nothing is more important to me than them.”
The interview struck a chord with Charlamagne Tha God, who rated it as one of his top 3 conversations of the year.
Allen has undeniably become a formidable voice in a space that has tried to silence him. Check out the full interview here.
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RIP Pops: Regina King, Marlon Wayans, Ice Cube and more pay tribute to John Witherspoon
John Witherspoon, beloved actor/comedian of film and television, has died at the age of 77 and his famous co-stars and fans from his decades long career are paying tribute.
According to a statement from Witherspoon’s family given to Deadline, the Detroit native died in California at his Sherman Oaks home on Tuesday night.
Deadline statement:
“It is with deepest sorrow that we can confirm our beloved husband and father, John Witherspoon, one of the hardest working men in show business, died today at his home in Sherman Oaks at the age of 77. He is survived by his wife Angela, and his sons JD, Alexander, and a large family. We are all in shock, please give us a minute for a moment in privacy and we will celebrate his life and his work together. John used to say ‘I’m no big deal’, but he was huge deal to us.”
So…my Dad died today & honestly I’m not sure how to feel. I’m sad, but I’m also happy 4 all the great times we had together. We’d roast each other like homies more than Father & Son, and I really liked that. He was my best friend & my idol.
Love U Dad…I’ll miss u.
– J.D. pic.twitter.com/zvzep5S11I
— J.D. (@jdwitherspoon) October 30, 2019
Witherspoon was a beloved figure in Hollywood best known for scene stealing roles in hit tv shows and films such as Friday, Boomerang, The Boondocks, Hollywood Shuffle and more. His catchphrases from those roles (many of them improvised) are deeply embedded in Black culture. #RIPPops
Look at how some of Witherspoon’s celebrity co-stars and fans like Ice Cube, Regina King and Marlon Wayans are honoring his legacy on social media.
My dad, my grandpa, my comedic inspiration! I love you Spoons! Rest In Paradise, King pic.twitter.com/U6GsNrrKXF
— Regina King (@ReginaKing) October 30, 2019
I’m devastated over the passing of John Witherspoon. Life won’t be as funny without him. pic.twitter.com/gtmiZiEppP
— Ice Cube (@icecube) October 30, 2019
Rest in Peace. This was one of the most talented comedians ever. A humorist. He brought instant joy. True Joy. John Witherspoon Dies: Comedian & ‘Friday’ Star Was 77 – Deadline https://t.co/kzz9p2LorZ
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) October 30, 2019
Very sad to report .. Thank you John for hiring me when I needed it the most!! Make God Laugh John Witherspoon Dies: Comedian & ‘Friday’ Star Was 77 – Deadline https://t.co/B0bHzjg5NN
— Loni Love (@LoniLove) October 30, 2019
Damn! Rest easy OG, thank you for sharing your gifts with us, that infectious smile & laugh, and most of all the knowledge & experience. You are appreciated to the utmost! #RIPJohnWitherspoon 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 https://t.co/QO3sgWJiyq pic.twitter.com/ZCFqR9pf0O
— OMAR EPPS (@omarepps) October 30, 2019
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Big Companies Invested $1.6 Billion to Black Law Firms, Other Minority Firms
Scaling to a new milestone, Inclusion Initiative member companies have an aggregate spend of $1.6 billion on black law firms and other minority firms along with women-owned (MWBE) law firms.
The new number was provided last month by the Inclusion Initiative, a collaborative program among law departments at big U.S. corporations focused on promoting diversity spending. The banner amount reflects the total spend with MWBE law firms since the initiative began in 2010.
Members of the Inclusion Initiative now consist of 31 corporations. That roster includes: 3M, Accenture, Allstate, Bank of America, CenterPoint Energy, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Exelon, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Google, Honda, JPMorgan Chase, McDonald’s Corp., Macy’s, Merck, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Nationwide, NBCUniversal, Prudential Financial, Sempra Energy, Shell Oil Co., State Farm, Target, Toyota Financial Services, Verizon, Walgreens, Walmart, Wells Fargo, and Xerox.
This year, Honda and Walgreen’s joined as the newest companies of the initiative. Ann Kappler, deputy general counsel and head of external affairs at Prudential, talked about membership nearly tripling in size since the program’s inception, when there were only 11 member companies. Prudential is a founding member of the program.
“The Inclusion Initiative’s significant growth in membership is a recognition that a diverse workforce is not only reflective of society but critical to establishing a sustainable business and achieving better, informed results. For member companies like Prudential, the Inclusion Initiative is an avenue to build a diverse talent pipeline and bolster inclusion in the legal industry,” Kappler says.
The Inclusion Initiative is administered by the National Association of Minority and Women-Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF), which comprises over 197 certified MWBE law firms in 42 states. In 2010, its members spent a combined $42 million with MWBE law firms. Since then, the program has grown significantly, with companies spending nearly $240 million in 2018.
“Corporate members of the Inclusion Initiative are a testament to the adage of putting thought into action,” stated William Delgado, Inclusion Initiative Task Force co-chair and board member of NAMWOLF.
“The commitment exhibited by each company helps ensure the success of minority- and women-owned law firms and furthers the important mission of diversifying the legal profession. NAMWOLF is excited about its continued collaboration with the Inclusion Initiative for years to come.”
Further, there are hundreds of other companies giving MWBE firms the opportunity to compete and win business that is not reflected in the numbers, officials say. They have maintained those companies should consider connecting with NAMWOLF so they can gain exposure to its member firms. The reason: Those member firms are involved in several practice areas handling work for Fortune 500 companies and governmental entities.
Black law firms are sparse. According to data from the American Bar Association, African Americans make up 5% of the active, practicing attorneys in 2019.
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Which members of the CBC have spoken up about the attack on the Civil Rights Act of 1866?
Today on the popular morning radio show The Breakfast Club, media mogul Byron Allen sounded the alarm on an attack of the Civil Rights Act of 1866–the original civil rights act, which protected newly freed slaves by ensuring fair government and commercial contracting.
Allen, who is CEO of Entertainment Studios (parent company of The Weather Channel and theGrio), recently sued Comcast in a $20B civil rights lawsuit. Allen had appealed to the 9th Circuit using the Civil Rights Act of 1866 against Comcast’s disproportionate funding of black networks.
“The industry spends billion[s] a year licensing cable networks, billion[s] and African-American owned media gets 0. And that’s not fair,” Allen told hosts Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy.
When the 9th Circuit upheld Allen’s appeal twice, Comcast took the case to the Supreme Court, making a legal argument which threatened the very purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
That argument looks to interpret the law so that it can only be used if racial discrimination is 100% of the reason that a business is being discriminatory. If even 1% of the discrimination is perceived to have come from a non-racial standpoint, then businesses will not necessarily be held accountable for “mostly” racist practices.
Multiple civil rights organizations have voiced their support in an amicus brief, including the NAACP, the National Urban League, Color of Change, and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).
Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus, an organization co-founded in 1971 by the legendary late Congressman John Conyers Jr. and other elected Black officials to advocate for shared political interests, have signed the amicus brief defending the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
According to Deadline, among those who have lent their voice in protest include presidential candidates and Senators Kamala Harris and Senator Cory Booker, and representatives Ayanna Pressley, Karen Bass, and Joyce Beatty. Non-CBC members such as Senators Richard Blumenthal and Ron Wyden have also signed the brief as well.
“As members of Congress, amici have a strong interest in ensuring that the laws Congress has passed are interpreted in a manner that is consistent with their text, history, and Congress’s plan in passing them,” says the brief filed by The CBC. “…The statute at issue in this case—42 U.S.C. § 1981—was passed immediately after the Civil War as part of a broader effort to ensure that the newly freed slaves enjoyed the same rights as other citizens.”
The brief continued, “This Court should not rewrite Section 1981 and disturb the vital protections that Congress passed that statute to provide.”
But the Congressional Black Caucus is incredibly large and wide-ranging, and includes members who did not sign the brief such as Representatives Maxine Waters, John Lewis, and Ilhan Omar.
The remaining membership includes:
Alma Adams
Colin Allred
Sanford Bishop
Lisa Blunt Rochester
Anthony Brow
G.K. Butterfield
Andre Carson
William Lacy Clay Jr.
Emanuel Cleaver
Jim Clyburn
Danny Davis
Antonio Delgado
Val Demings
Dwight Evans
Marcia Fudge
Al Green
Alcee Hastings
Jahana Hayes Democratic
Steven Horsford
Hakeem Jeffries
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Hank Johnson
Robin Kelly
Brenda Lawrence
Al Lawson
Sheila Jackson Lee
John Lewis
Lucy McBath
Donald McEachin
Gregory Meeks
Gwen Moore
Joe Neguse
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Ilhan Omar
Stacey Plaskett
Cedric Richmond
Bobby Rush
David Scott
Terri Sewell
Bennie Thompson
Lauren Underwood
Marc Veasey
Maxine Waters
Frederica Wilson
Editor’s Note: theGrio is owned by Entertainment Studios.
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Beloved actor-comedian John Witherspoon dies at 77
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor-comedian John Witherspoon, who memorably played Ice Cube’s father in the “Friday” films, has died. He was 77.
Witherspoon’s manager Alex Goodman confirmed late Tuesday that Witherspoon died in Los Angeles. No cause of death was released.
The actor had a prolific career, co-starring in three “Friday” films, appearing on “The Wayans Bros.” television series and voicing the grandfather in “The Boondocks” animated series. His film roles included “Vampire in Brooklyn” and “Boomerang,” and he was a frequent guest on “Late Show with David Letterman.”
For many his most recognizable role was “Pops,” Ice Cube’s father in the stoner comedy “Friday” and its two sequels, a crude but affectionate father trying to guide his son to be better.
“Life won’t be as funny without him,” Ice Cube said in a Twitter post late Tuesday, adding that he was devastated by news of Witherspoon’s death.
I’m devastated over the passing of John Witherspoon. Life won’t be as funny without him. pic.twitter.com/gtmiZiEppP
— Ice Cube (@icecube) October 30, 2019
Regina King, who appeared as Witherspoon’s daughter in “Friday” and also voiced both of his grandsons in the animated series “The Boondocks” called him her “comedic inspiration” on Twitter.
My dad, my grandpa, my comedic inspiration! I love you Spoons! Rest In Paradise, King pic.twitter.com/U6GsNrrKXF
— Regina King (@ReginaKing) October 30, 2019
Goodman referred to a family statement issued to the website Deadline that said the family was in shock over Witherspoon’s death.
The statement says Witherspoon, who was born on Jan. 27, 1942, is survived by his wife, Angela, and sons JD and Alexander.
JD Witherspoon tweeted that he was happy for all the great times he and his dad had together.
“We’d roast each other like homies more than Father & Son, and I really liked that. He was my best friend & my idol,” JD Witherspoon posted. “Love U Dad…I’ll miss u.”
The post Beloved actor-comedian John Witherspoon dies at 77 appeared first on theGrio.
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