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Sunday, June 21, 2020
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Baton Rouge activist blasts white school board member: ‘You don’t give a damn!’
In a video that has gone viral, a white school board member in Baton Rouge gets scolded by a Black activist who is fed up with her defending a high school being named after General Robert E. Lee — and apparently shopping online during a recent board meeting.
Connie Bernard, a member of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, had to apologize on Friday for defending the Confederate solider after getting called out by activist Gary Chambers.
Swearing to be part of the solution, Bernard essentially apologized for being a racist after she defended and voted in the past to uphold Lee’s namesake.
READ MORE: Robert E. Lee high school name change brings students to tears
On Thursday, a unanimous vote got passed to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School, which got shortened to Lee High after a similar backlash in 2016.
However, for Bernard, the decision was a tough one, considering she once said that parents and students triggered by the school’s name did not know their history.
“I would hope that they would learn a little bit more about General Lee, because General Lee inherited a large plantation and he was tasked with the job of doing something with those people who lived in bondage to that plantation, the slaves, and he freed them,” Bernard said.
On the contrary, people who opposed the name did know who General Lee was.
“When he got the plantation after he got off the field with 27,000 people dying at Gettysburg. Robert E Lee was a brutal slavemaster,” Chambers, the publisher of The Rouge Collection, a Black-owned, urban media platform in Baton Rouge. “Not only would he whoop the slaves, he said, ‘Lay it on ‘em hard.’ After he said that, he said, ‘Put brine on them.’”
Bernard’s recounting of General Lee also came under fire from other board members, some of whom are Black.
“Under the demands of his late father’s will, which demanded he free all slaves after five years, Lee tried multiple times to resist and keep the slaves under his control, yet his name hangs over our school,” Dadrius Lanus. a Black board member, said.
“It was disturbing that a fellow board member would be so insensitive and say some inaccurate things about history that would just fan a flame,” Evelyn Ware-Jackson, a Black board member, said, according to The Advocate.
What made matters worse was when Chamber took a picture of Bernard while others expressed their desire to rename the school – it appears the white board member distracted with her shopping online.
“You don’t give a damn!,” Chamber said, but she claims it was a pop-up ad and she was not internet savvy to close in time, The Advocate reported.
“I wasn’t shopping,” Bernard said. “I was actually taking notes, paying attention, reading online comments.”
READ MORE: Texas school board member wore Venus, Serena Williams Blackface for Halloween
Chambers would call out Bernard for leaving the room once more critiques got directed at her. In her response, she left to use the restroom.
Bernard later wrote in a statement on Friday she was “deeply sorry” for leading people to think she is “an enemy of people of color.”
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Why Trump’s rally in Tulsa invokes the horror of the ‘Red Summer’ for Blacks
As President Donald Trump holds his first rally since the coronavirus pandemic gripped the nation, the city hosting him — Tulsa, Oklahoma — invokes a dark history of horrific violence toward African Americans.
It also comes at a time of social unrest in America over historic racism and racial violence.
READ MORE: Juneteenth, Reconstruction, #BlackLivesMatter: more than an IG meme
Amid cries for reform, demonstrations against racialized police-involved violence and a unified call for racism to actively be challenged through legislation, many have accused Trump sending dog whistles to nationalists by holding his rally in Tulsa during the Juneteenth weekend.
Whether inadvertently or intentionally, it unearths the painful past.
Library of Congress
In 1921, Tulsa was the site of a thriving community of African Americans casually referred to as “Black Wall Street.” The people that lived in the Greenwood area of the city were law-abiding, educated, and, more importantly, thriving. That, however, was a problem for the whites in the city.
For over 18 hours, from May 31 to June 1, hundreds of Black people were murdered and thousands were left without homes in what is now called the Tulsa Race Massacre. Historians say that this was “one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history, and one of the least-known: News reports were largely squelched.”
David F. Krugler, the author of 1919, The Year of Racial Violence, believes “The motivation was to punish African Americans for economic success and take it away. In Tulsa, they burned it to the ground.”
Like the month-long protests currently going on that started the same day, May 31, the Tulsa Race Massacre reminded the world that there are bloody and often murderous outcomes that come with social change, leaving civilians dead in the streets.
Tulsa was one massacre in about a seven-year span of domestic terror on Black people after slavery called the “Red Summer,” a phrase coined by James Weldon Johnson, field secretary for the NAACP. The writer of the African American National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” originally used this term for the tragic killings that happened throughout the nation in 1919: Black people were victims over ninety-seven lynchings, a “pogrom-like massacre” of up to 237 people in Arkansas alone and several race riots.
Scholars have expanded the time from just the summer to include events from 1917 all the way to 1923. Including the well-known desolation of the all-Black community of Rosewood, Florida, now listed in this collective of violence are at least 26 cities, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Omaha, Elaine, Charleston, Columbia, Houston, and the aforementioned Tulsa where the president is hosting his rally during this season of racial angst during Juneteenth.
Poet, Claude McKay wrote this poem “If We Must Die” during the terror:
“If we must die, let it not be like hog. Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die, so that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy. Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe! Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow! What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men, we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack, pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”
The poem was published in the July 1919 issue of the socialist paper, The Liberator but it expressed the level of dignified activism and courage that existed — even as people (many who had served in the “Big War”) was murdered by the people that were supposed to be their brothers and/or protect them.
Carlos F. Hurd who covered the 1917 East St. Louis riot, wrote in the Post-Dispatch, that he was marveled at the casualness in which white mobs assaulted Black men randomly, mocking them as their “hands raised, pleading for life … almost dead from a savage shower of stones.” He recounted how common-place it was to hang Black people with clotheslines and rope and how not even women were not spared during the savagery.
White women would take sticks and brutally assault the “negress” counter-part while they begged, Hurd reports, “for mercy.” The white women “laughed and answered the coarse sallies of men as they beat the negresses’ faces and breasts with fists, stones, and sticks.”
READ MORE: Michelle Obama reflects on Juneteenth and family’s slavery history
So as Trump gathers thousands in Tulsa in an attempt to reinvigorate his presidential campaign amid a tipping point over race in America, the deep and dark history of the city and beyond stands glaringly in the background.
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American Express Makes History With the First Black Woman on its Executive Committee
American Express named President of Strategic Partnerships Glenda McNeal to its Executive Committee this week, making the veteran executive the first Black woman to sit on the Committee.
“Having Glenda’s expertise and experience on the Executive Committee will be a huge asset for us,” American Express Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephen J. Squeri said in a memo.
During her more 30 years at American Express, McNeal has served in a number of roles across sales and client management, business development, and marketing and strategy. In her current role, she leads strategy and negotiations for key partnerships with the largest e-commerce, travel, technology, and retail companies. Squire added that McNeal has “overseen the growth of our relationships with our largest and most critical partners, including Delta, Marriott, Hilton, PayPal and Amazon.”
Most recently, McNeal co-led the company’s Stand for Small coalition, assembling more than 70 companies across various industries to support small businesses as they work to recover from the impact of COVID-19.
The CEO noted that current challenges to the global economy, including the coronavirus pandemic, are “making it even more important to adapt our leadership structure to the challenges we face so that we can emerge in a stronger position” and that during these unprecedented times, “we must ensure we have the right expertise at the table.”
McNeal was added to the Executive Committee along with Andrés Espinosa, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Credit and Fraud Risk Management and Chief Credit Officer for American Express, and Pierric Beckert, President of Global Network Services.
The executives will “bring to the Executive Committee invaluable knowledge and experience which are particularly relevant for the times we are in,” Squeri said. “We will benefit from their diverse perspectives as we navigate through the challenges we face and position our company to win going forward.”
McNeal, a member of the B.E. Registry of Corporate Directors, serves on the board of Nordstrom Inc. as well as the boards of RLJ Lodging Trust, the World Travel and Tourism Council, and the United Negro College Fund. A graduate of Dillard University who received her M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, she is also a member of the Executive Leadership Council.
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Woman protester gets shot on video near Wendy’s scene of Rayshard Brooks killing
A woman was shot during a protest for Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta on Friday.
The shooting took place near the Wendy‘s restaurant that Brooks was shot and killed outside by police a week ago.
A video of the shooting was captured by a bystander near the protest and posted by TMZ. In the video, shots rang out during the protest, which was peaceful up to that point. People can be seen running away when an unidentified woman was hit in the leg.
The video was also shared on Twitter. Armed men can be seen walking around prior to the brief shootout that ensued.
This was Atlanta last night. pic.twitter.com/0tCsOUcAXX
— Grace 🔎 (@reallygraceful) June 20, 2020
READ MORE: Atlanta cops booked and officially charged in Rayshard Brooks killing
The man capturing the incident said the bullets “almost hit me” and cried out for an ambulance. He also asked fellow protesters to dress her wound with a durag.
“She’s shot! A girl is shot! Stop shooting!” multiple people yelled out.
The end of the footage shows paramedics on the scene tending to the victim. TMZ reported that her injury is not life threatening and that she was taken to the hospital.
The Atlanta Police Department said the woman was shot in the leg and is “alert, conscious, and breathing,” WXIA-TV reports. The department is expected to give an update on the incident on Saturday.
Shots also rang out during another peaceful protest in Atlanta that evening, though no one was wounded. A suspect, who shot at a car after getting into an argument with the driver, has been taken into custody in that incident, WSBTV reports. a suspect was in custody. That shooting was also captured on video.
READ MORE: Atlanta officer charged in tasing HBCU students being investigated in another excessive force case
Unrest in Atlanta has been growing since police shot 27-year-old Brooks, a father and husband, in the back by Atlanta police on June 12. Brooks had fallen asleep in his car in the Wendy’s drive-thru lane and police were summoned. Officers gave Brooks a sobriety test and an altercation later ensued after the officers attempted to arrest Brooks.
As Brooks attempted to flee, an officer fired three shots striking the man in the back.
Protests have been taking place near that Wendy’s, which was set ablaze, ever since. Officer Garrett Rolfe, who pulled the trigger, was fired by the Atlanta Police Department and is now facing 11 charges including felony murder, three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal damage to property, violation of oath, and aggravated assault. He could face the death penalty.
A second officer on the scene, Devin Brosnan, was also charged with aggravated assault and three other charges. Both men turned themselves in on Thursday and were booked in the Fulton County Jail.
Atlanta’s police chief Erika Shields stepped down on June 13 following Brooks’ killing.
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Five Friends Who Saved $50 a Week for Two Years Just Purchased Their First Investment Property
Najee Hannigan, a 26-year old entrepreneur from Philadelphia, encouraged his friends and cousins to put aside $50 a week so that they could all collectively invest in something big. Two years later, they have successfully accumulated enough money to purchase their first own real estate property.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” This is the African proverb that Hannigan thought of when he talked to his two younger cousins, Meqai Herder and Ahmid Hill, who are both 23-years old, and his two long-time friends, Tyree Harvey and Darius Jacobs, who are both 26-years old, about a business proposal in hopes to change their lives as well.
In 2017, Hannigan thought that it was a great idea for each of them to save $50 a week or $200 a month and the money they put together could be used to purchase an investment property. “The most challenging part was getting them to understand that time is going to pass regardless, we can invest in [ourselves] or continue to let time pass us by,” Hannigan told Because of Them We Can.
Together, the group saved enough money within two years and they have recently bought their first property which they plan to restore before renting it out. They have also established a property management company with hopes to acquire more properties in the future.
Hannigan, who is also a founder and co-owner of the childcare center Extraordinary Scholars Academy, was thankful that his friends trusted him fully despite their doubt at first. He believes trust is the foundation that made their plan into fruition.
“Find people you trust and never give up. Don’t argue about dumb stuff and always think of the bigger picture. Giving up something like cable or clothes for a year or two can put you in a position to have it [for] a lifetime.”
As for the five friends, they always think of what could happen if they would stop with what they have already started and used it as motivation.
“We knew that if we gave up at any point that we would end up like everyone else, stuck…”
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This article was originally written by BlackBusiness.com.
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Mike Pence repeatedly refuses to acknowledge ‘Black lives matter’ in TV interview
Vice President Mike Pence appeared on a Philadelphia newscast Friday to discuss racial unrest in America and refused to say or acknowledge that Black lives matter.
WPVI-TV‘s Brian Taff in an interview pressed Pence to utter “Black lives matter,” going as far as to break down the meaning of the phrase and why the rebuttal “all lives matter” is problematic.
Pence declined after given multiple opportunities to say the words and declared “all lives matter” instead. The comments come as demonstrations in the wake of multiple police killings of Black men and women across the country continued on Juneteenth.
“Black lives matter,” a slogan that emerged as a hashtag alongside the decentralized Black Lives Matter movement that was sparked by the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012, is a rallying call to address police brutality against Black communities in America.
In his lead up to the question, Taff explained that there are just a “handful of elected Republican leaders in Washington who have uttered those words: ‘Black lives matter.'” before asking “Can you say those words?”
READ MORE: Lone protester demands Bed-Stuy café remove ‘Black Lives Matter’ sign
“Well, Brian, let me just say that what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy. And in this nation, especially on Juneteenth, we celebrate the fact that from the founding of this nation, we cherish the ideal that all of us are created equal and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights,” Pence replied. “And so all lives matter in a very real sense.”
U.S. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah is one of those Republicans who has publicly stated “Black lives matter,” even taking to the streets to join protesters earlier this month in Washington, D.C. The former Republican presidential nominee also highlighted that his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, was a supporter of Civil Rights demonstrations in the 1960s.
Pence proceeded to discuss efforts to ease tensions and improve communications between the police departments and the public. He shut down the idea that defunding the police was an option to address police violence in America.
‘All lives matter’: @VP Mike Pence talks about #BlackLivesMatter with @6abc’s @briantaff6abc.
FULL INTERVIEW⤵️https://t.co/tJfihMRwio pic.twitter.com/gcO6C3rLOs— Brandon Longo (@brandonlongo) June 20, 2020
Taff was quick to inform the Vice President that there was a distinction between the phrases “Black lives matter” and “all lives matter.”
“People are saying, ‘of course all lives matter,’ but to say the words is an acknowledgment that Black lives also matter at a time in this country when it appears that there’s a segment of our society that doesn’t agree,” Taff continued.
Pence then responded, “Well, I don’t accept the fact, Brian, that there’s a segment of American society that disagrees, in the preciousness and importance of every human life.”
READ MORE: Sacramento Kings announcer resigns over ‘All Lives Matter’ comment
“It’s one of the reasons why as we advance important reforms in law enforcement, as we look for ways to strengthen and improve public safety in our cities, we’re not going to stop there,” he continued before patting the administration on the back for the fact that the Black unemployment rate was at a record low prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. unemployment rate dropped from 14.7% in April to 13.3% in May, but the Black unemployment rate rose to 16.8% last month compared to 12.4% for white people, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Taff pointed out one last time that Pence wouldn’t say “Black lives matter” before moving on.
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Judge: Ex-Trump advisor John Bolton can publish tell-all book despite efforts to block it
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Saturday that former national security adviser John Bolton can move forward in publishing his tell-all book despite efforts by the Trump administration to block the release because of concerns that classified information could be exposed.
The decision from U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth is a victory for Bolton in a court case that involved core First Amendment and national security concerns. But the judge also made clear his concerns that Bolton had “gambled with the national security of the United States” by opting out of a prepublication review process meant to prevent government officials from spilling classified secrets in memoirs they publish.
The ruling clears the path for a broader election-year readership and distribution of a memoir, due out Tuesday, that paints an unflattering portrait of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy decision-making during the turbulent year-and-a-half that Bolton spent in the White House.
READ MORE: Bolton says Trump asked China to help him get reelected
Nonethless, Lamberth frowned upon the way Bolton went about publishing the book. Bolton took it “upon himself to publish his book without securing final approval from national intelligence authorities” and perhaps caused irreparable harm to national security, Lamberth said.
But with 200,000 copies already distributed to booksellers across the country, attempting to block its release would be futile, the judge wrote.
“A single dedicated individual with a book in hand could publish its contents far and wide from his local coffee shop,” Lamberth wrote. “With hundreds of thousands of copies around the globe — many in newsrooms — the damage is done. There is no restoring the status quo.”
READ MORE: Inside Omarosa’s “Unhinged” Book: 15 shocking reveals from her blistering Trump tell-all
Trump fired Bolton, who previously served under the George W. Bush and Ronald Regan administrations, in September saying that the two “disagreed strongly” on many issues.
In the book, titled “The Room Where It Happened,” Bolton said that Trump asked his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping amidst a trade war between the two economic powers to help his reelection prospects by purchasing more Ameican farm products.
Bolton called Trump’s effort to shift the June 2019 conversation to the U.S. election a stunning move, and wrote that it was among innumerable conversations that “formed a pattern of fundamentally unacceptable behavior that eroded the very legitimacy of the presidency.”
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Letter to the community: Pausing to appreciate two Supreme Court decisions
The following email was sent to the MIT community today by President L. Rafael Reif.
To the members of the MIT community,
Even in these tumultuous times, one pleasure of being in community with each other is rejoicing in each other’s victories.
This week brought two decisions from the US Supreme Court that stand as profound, welcome, inspiring victories for many individuals at MIT – and therefore for our whole community.
The rulings were different in kind and in their immediate impact at MIT: The first was a landmark decision making clear that federal law prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals in the workplace; although such protections have long been MIT policy, we can still savor this historic progress towards equity.
The second ruling extended the crucial protections of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This decision offers a wonderful and unexpected reprieve for the members of our community known as Dreamers – a victory MIT has actively argued for in the courts and in the public square. But – even as we savor this moment – we know we must still continue to push for a lasting legislative solution.
When good news can feel scarce, let us take joy in progress where we find it.
With appreciation for every one of you, and for the caring community we strive to make together,
L. Rafael Reif
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DL Hughley passes out on stage during Nashville comedy set
In a frightening moment, D.L. Hughley passed out in the middle of a live show Friday night in Nashville, Tennessee. The veteran comedian is said to be recovering from the incident.
Hughley, 57, was mid-joke at Zanies Nashville Comedy Club when he suddenly stopped. After a brief pause, the audience gasped as his head slumped forward. A man came to his aid to grab Hughley, whose body then appears to go limp as he fell to the floor.
The incident was captured on cellphone video by an audience member and posted to Twitter.
“DL Hughley passed out during his stand-up show at Zanies Nashville tonight. Prayers up for him!” Twitter user Brooks Golightly wrote in the post.
DL Hughley passed out during his stand-up show at Zanies Nashville tonight. Prayers up for him! pic.twitter.com/qoE1CzbqHf
— Brooks Golightly (@brooklynluv) June 20, 2020
Two other men came to the stage to help carry the comic out the room. An announcer then instructed the audience to “stay calm” and said “we’ve got it all under control.”
“Yeah, right,” an incredulous attendee said.
There currently have been no formal updates on Huhgley’s condition or the cause of his condition. However, many celebrities have taken to social media to comment.
YouTube journalist DJ Vlad tweeted that he had spoken to Hugley and that he was “ok.”
DL Hughley is ok. I just spoke to him.
— DJ Vlad – VladTV.com (@djvlad) June 20, 2020
In addition, comic Jay Washington also tweeted that “I just got a text from someone close to D.L that he is doing fine now. THAT IS A BLESSING TO HEAR.”
Update: I just got a text from someone close to D.L that he is doing fine now. THAT IS A BLESSING TO HEAR. https://t.co/iIE8pO0o1O
— Jay Washington (@MrJayWashington) June 20, 2020
TV Host Joy-Ann Reid tweeted “Prayers up for DL Hughley” in a repost of the video.
Prayers up for DL Hughley (@RealDLHughley). Frightening moment. Hope he's ok. https://t.co/ckaMG4DlCu
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) June 20, 2020
As reported by WTVF, Phase 3 of Nashville’s reopening from its coronavirus shutdown after COVID-19 pandemic is set to begin Monday, which would allow bars and clubs to receive patrons. Businesses like retail stores, gyms and other establishments must continue to operate under reduced capacity in the next phase. Event spaces and small music venues, depending on their sizes, must limit crowds to half capacity or a maximum of 250 people, the Nashville station reports.
READ MORE: DL Hughley isn’t here for Van Jones’ diss of Kamala Harris
Zanies Nashville had already reopened on May 15 with reduced tickets and socially distant seating during the city’s Phase 1 reopening. Phase 2 began May 25.
Hughley was on performing on the second night of a four-day residency at Zanies. Due to popular demand, the comedy club added a second Sunday show to the schedule.
Hugley is also scheduled to appear at Stand Up Live in Huntsville, Alabama for a three-day set beginning June 26.
Hughley, a member of the Original Kings of Comedy along with Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer and the late Bernie Mac, has been a popular comic for more than three decades.
He is one of the most outspoken figures in comedy when it comes to political commentary and hosts a radio program, “The D.L. Hughley Show Uncut,” that is syndicated in several markets and is available on Spotify.
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Byron Allen: ‘Black America speaks. America should listen.’
Last night I was sitting in my living room and a convoy of trucks drove by my home filled with law enforcement and National Guard troops.
I am a 59-year old African-American man and this brought back vivid childhood memories. On April 4, 1968, 18 days before my seventh birthday, I was in the middle of the street in my hometown, Detroit, Michigan playing urban baseball with my friends, using a hubcap as home plate, and neighbors’ cars as first, second, and third base.
That evening I heard my mother and grandmother scream: “They killed him! They killed him! They killed Martin Luther King, Jr.! They killed my Martin!”
READ MORE: Dr. Bernice King Jr.’s daughter slams Comcast over attack on civil rights law
I had never witnessed my mother and grandmother in such emotional pain before. Moments later, I turned my head and immediately noticed National Guard troops coming towards me with rifles and bayonets, and before I knew it, I was looking down the barrel of a tank. My mother and grandmother screamed to me, “Get in the house, get in the house, before they kill you!”
Every kid on that street, including myself, ran as fast as we could. I asked my mother and grandmother, “Why did they kill him?” She answered, “Because they are racist and they would rather kill us than treat us fairly.”
That was the very moment I lost my innocence and I went from being a young boy to being a young man. I immediately became a child of war. A war that has tragically taken millions of George Floyds, Breonna Taylors, Ahmaud Arberys, Trayvon Martins, Laquan McDonalds, Mike Browns, Eric Garners, Samuel Duboses, Tamir Rices, Frank Smarts, Sandra Blands, Phillip Whites, Freddie Grays, Jordan Bakers, Philando Castiles, Walter Scotts, Emmett Tills, and a horrifying list of many more that seems to never end.
That evening, I watched as riots erupted throughout the country and smoke from the burning buildings consumed my neighborhood. Through my tears, I could not understand the reasons why.
I became fascinated with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The more I read about him, the more I wanted to learn. He was a prophet, he was the greatest American who ever lived. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the only private citizen to have his birthday celebrated as a national holiday, and helped changed the world by the age of 39 with his teachings and brilliant mind.
In 1967, one year before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech to students at Stanford University. The name of that speech is “The Other America.” 53 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us and warned everyone that there are two Americas. ONE America has access to opportunity, a good education, jobs, bank loans, human and civil rights. The other America does not. We cannot survive as two Americas. We must become ONE America.
READ MORE: Byron Allen’s ‘Feeding America Comedy Festival’ provides over 16 million meals
Toward the end of his life, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had just started the Poor People’s Campaign to achieve economic justice. He was speaking on behalf of all poor people, which mainly included poor white people.
Yesterday, I phoned Martin Luther King III and I asked if he was watching TV and did he see what I was seeing. He said, “yes.” I told him, “I see people of all races coming together as one — risking their lives protesting – and demanding the ONE America your father envisioned for all of us. Your father sacrificed his life to help us achieve this moment.” Martin agreed.
Now, how do we TRULY achieve “ONE America”?
1) A True Partnership
I am getting lots of calls from white people wanting to know which charities to send donations. I tell them there are plenty of organizations more than happy to accept their money. But I also tell them please don’t donate to help eliminate your white guilt. Don’t look at Black America as a charity case that needs to be saved by you. Black America does not want, nor do we need, a handout, but rather an extension of your hand so we can shake on what we agree to be a real and equitable partnership going forward.
2) Police Reform
Enact laws at the federal, state, and local levels to achieve absolute and total police reform nationwide. This must include zero tolerance of chokeholds. We must also have consistent comprehensive independent investigations and severe punishment for police brutality, corruption, and murder.
3) Justice Reform
End mass incarceration. Former Attorney General Eric Holder told the world that black men in America are getting sentenced to prison terms that are twenty percent longer than white men who are committing the same crime. America must stop this racial discrimination. Our prison population is the largest in the world. This is just another form of genocide.
4) Reparations
As a nation, America must acknowledge and apologize for the enslavement of African-Americans for nearly 300 years for zero compensation. The newly-freed slaves were never given the opportunity and the land they were promised, and that lack of proper compensation for helping to build this country has hurt their descendants for many generations.
5) Education Reform
Education is the key. America, if we do not get access to a proper education, you will continue to position us to fail. Education needs to be completely reformed, especially preschool through sixth grade. Higher education needs to be free and available to all Americans. As a matter of national security, America does not have enough intellectual capital to compete against our rapidly-emerging foreign competitors. We need to invest at least ten times above current levels. At the top 100 universities in America, black students represent a disproportionately low percentage of the entire student body.
The African-American student body population in colleges should reflect the African-American population of the nation as a whole, which is approximately thirteen percent. If we do not improve these numbers, absolutely nothing will change. As for America’s historically black colleges and universities, they are great institutions always in need of financial support and should be properly funded.
6) Economic Inclusion
It should be noted that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was completely frustrated that white liberals supported civil rights, but disappeared when it was time to talk about African-American economic inclusion. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.” Stop using lack of access to capital as a form of economic genocide. Audit the banks and you will see that Black Americans do not have equal access to capital. Banks always tell us they have a great record lending to minorities.
They always show a black face on their minority brochures, but for lending purposes, in actuality, they re-define “minority” as white women and by doing so, intentionally using them to mislead the public and government regulators to act as if they are lending money to black people. The United States government controls over a one trillion-dollar federal pension fund, and very little, if any, is managed by African-Americans and invested in our communities.
When Black America gains equal access to capital that is not predatory, we will be able to buy homes and participate in the appreciation and tax benefits enjoyed by white Americans. The much-needed capital will allow us to invest in and acquire businesses to help employ people in our communities.
7) Health Care Reform
We need to make sure that every American has access to the best health care, free of charge. We need to completely eliminate hunger and food insecurity nationwide. We also need to recognize the mental illness epidemic that plagues our country, and invest heavily to combat it. Homelessness must be completely eradicated.
8) Environmental Justice
Eliminate racial disparities in environmental safety. Many African-American communities are exposed to very harmful toxic environments, not just Flint, Michigan. My elementary school in Detroit was demolished due to toxic waste. Marathon Oil built a 250-acre refinery less than two miles from my childhood home. The air is almost impossible to breathe and the health conditions of many African-Americans is disproportionate with those in the rest of America, partly due to environmental injustice in our communities. Stop exposing our families to toxic chemicals and waste.
9) Jobs, Opportunities, Internships, and Mentorships
America needs to lean in. Include us on your boards. Include us in your C-suite. Include us in your workforce. Include us as some of your vendors. And include us in your investments. Stop the analysis and paralysis and take action now. No more excuses. Chairmen and CEOs, you also need to take on the added responsibility and personally become your own company’s Chief Diversity Investment Officer.
My mother got pregnant when she was 16, and gave birth to me seventeen days after her seventeen birthday. But what changed our lives is when she got accepted into UCLA and earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Cinema/TV Production. As a single mother attending college full-time, she secured an entry-level position at NBC network. Soon after, she asked an NBC executive a question and received a reply that changed our lives forever. She asked if the network had an internship program at the executive level. The answer was no. She then asked, “Will you start one with me?”
Thank God the answer was “yes.” As a young child waiting for my mother to get off work as she gave tours of the NBC studios, I went from soundstage to soundstage and watched them tape hundreds of hours of television, including Johnny Carson on THE TONIGHT SHOW, Redd Foxx on SANFORD & SON, Freddie Prinze on CHICO AND THE MAN, Flip Wilson on THE FLIP WILSON SHOW, and Bob Hope and George Burns starring in their own specials. This opportunity helped me to see myself differently and changed the trajectory of my life. Exposure to a better life can quite often lead to achieving a better life.
I started my company 27 years ago from my dining room table. Today it is one of the largest privately-held media companies in the world, with approximately 1,300 employees, 9 cable television networks, including The Weather Channel, over 64 original television series currently on the air, thousands of hours of content, and 15 ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX affiliate television stations nationwide. I own my company one hundred percent, not because I planned it that way, but simply because no one was willing to invest in me. Along the way, America never stopped reminding me that I needed to work ten times harder than my white counterparts.
I have had at least four white sales executives who work for me tell me on separate occasions that potential clients have said to them, “I will never do business with you as long as you work for that N—–.” Since I was a child, I have conditioned myself to deal with situations like this one, but my four white male sales executives were not. I could see in their faces and hear in their voices they did not know how to process this pain and shame.
Over the years, I’ve lost top sales talent because racism was too much for them to bear, so I knew I had to help them deal with it. I found myself having to console and guide them to a better place. I told them that someone calling me ‘N—–’ is no reason for us not to achieve our sales goals, but rather, another reason for us to exceed them. My excellence will always dominate and overshadow their ignorance every time.
10) Peace!!!
America, you are very quick to call us thugs and tell the world we are not peaceful. Tupac Shakur taught us when you see THUGS, what you really see is The Hate U Give. When the first slave ship showed up in Jamestown in 1619, we said, “PEACE!!!” and you chose slavery. When we peacefully tried to end slavery, you chose the Civil War. After slavery, we tried to peacefully build our communities, and you chose to lynch us and bomb us. When we tried to peacefully achieve civil rights, you chose to murder our civil rights leaders. When we peacefully tried to vote, you chose to violently stand in our way. When we put our hands up in peace, you chose to shoot. When we went to church to pray for peace, you chose to execute us. When Colin Kaepernick exercised our First Amendment rights to peacefully take a knee in protest, you chose to punish us, and instead took a knee on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
When you came to this country, our Native American brothers and sisters said “PEACE!!!” and you chose war, rape, and went on to burn down their villages and steal their land. When our Hispanic brothers and sisters came here seeking a better life just like your ancestors, they said “PEACE!!!” and you chose to tell them they broke the law by crossing a man-made boundary, literally took their children out of their arms, incarcerated babies, and sent the parents back across the line without their loved ones. Unfortunately, this atrocity continues even to this day.
America, we will never have true peace until America stops protecting, nurturing, and fostering hate groups. The white supremacists, the neo-Nazis, and the KKK are nothing more than terrorists with a long history of violence against us. America must deal with these hate groups appropriately, the same way it deals with foreign terrorism, because domestic terrorism is much worse.
America, you constantly hit us with the “four Ds”. 1) When we share our thoughts, you DISMISS us. 2) When we express our frustration, you DISCREDIT us. 3) When we protest, you DEMONIZE us. 4) After you demonize us, you feel self-righteous and you move on to that fourth and inevitable D, you DESTROY us.
Even today, we are protesting to achieve basic civil and human rights. We’re talking about murder, and you’re talking about looted merchandise. Your buildings will be re-built and your shelves will be re-stocked, but you can never bring back the lives you have stolen. America, you kill us in the class room, you kill us in the board room and you kill us in the court room, long before you kill us in the streets. America, we have been saying “PEACE!!!” for over 400 years and you chose to suffocate us. I CAN’T BREATHE!!!
Let me be clear, Native-Americans want PEACE!!!, Hispanic-Americans want PEACE!!!, Asian-Americans want PEACE!!!, Muslim-Americans want PEACE!!!, Jewish-Americans want PEACE!!!, and Black Americans want PEACE!!! America has been denying us what we all want the most – PEACE!!!
I am sharing some of my thoughts for many reasons, mainly because I want America to live up to its fullest potential. My wife and I do not want our children sitting in their living rooms 52 years from now, looking out their windows, watching the National Guard enforcing a curfew simply because we have not achieved “ONE America.”
BLACK LIVES MATTER, and we must ALL work together to achieve REAL SYSTEMATIC CHANGE!!! PEACE!!!
Byron Allen is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Entertainment Studios/Allen Media Group, which he started from his dining room table in 1993. Today, Allen Media Group is one of the largest privately-owned media companies in the world. Allen Media Group includes a motion picture distribution division, the AVOD free streaming service LOCAL NOW, the digital news platform, theGRIO, over 64 shows on broadcast television stations and cable, 15 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliate broadcast television stations across America, and nine 24/7 HD television networks serving 160 million subscribers, including THE WEATHER CHANNEL. He is also the owner of theGrio.
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$6 Billion Construction Contract Awarded to Build Akon City in Senegal
It has been announced that a $6 billion construction contract has been awarded to build Akon City in Senegal, Africa.
Senegalese-American singer, businessman, and philanthropist Akon is building a futuristic-cryptocurrency themed city, named after himself. Akon City has awarded the contract for building and executing the city to KE International, which is a United States-based consulting and engineering firm.
https://www.prweb.com/releases/ke_international_awarded_us_6_billion_construction_contract_for_akon_city_senegal/prweb17165260.htm
The city’s Phase 1 is expected to be completed before the end of 2023, and they should be starting the construction of roads, along with a Hamptons Hospital campus, a Hamptons Mall, residences, hotels, a police station, a school, a waste facility, and a solar power plant.
Phase 2 will run from 2024 to 2029 and will end with a complete cryptocurrency city running exclusively on AKOIN cryptocurrency.
Akon City is located on 2,000 acres near the ocean, less than an hour’s drive south of the new international airport in Dakar.
The St. Louis native plans on running the whole city he is planning on renewable energy sources. Akon says he will use his cryptocurrency, ‘AKoin” to build the city’s economy. The Grammy-nominated singer originally announced his plans for a futuristic city that would be built on the land that was gifted to him by Senegal’s President Macky Sall, last year.
“It’s Akon city. It’s all renewable, the Akon-tainment solar city. It’s all renewable. A real physical place, it’s going to have a real airport. It’s a 10-year building block so we’re doing it in stages,’ the singer told Nick Cannon during a radio interview last year.
Akon also has his own company, Akon Lighting Africa, a project he started along with Samba Bathily and Thione Niang in 2014 that aims to provide electricity by solar energy in Africa. Since launching, Akon’s group has operations in 14 nations, including Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Benin, and Sierra Leone.
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