Barbara Kydd Graves (Image: Courtesy of The Graves Family)

Family matriarch and a guiding force of Black Enterprise, Barbara Kydd Graves succumbed early this morning at Howard University Hospital after a more than three-year battle with gall bladder cancer. She was 75.

The wife of Earl G. Graves Sr., the founder, chairman and publisher of Black Enterprise, she played a vital role in the growth and development of the publication and media company, and its mission of economic empowerment and wealth building for African Americans.

Since the launch of Black Enterprise Magazine in 1970, Barbara Graves, an alumna of Brooklyn College and a former elementary school teacher, held every major position, including editorial director, circulation director and chief financial officer, during the 40-plus-year history of this company. Along the way, she is credited with grooming and developing several generations of executive leadership, including sons Earl Jr., Johnny and Michael, all of whom have worked as executives at Black Enterprise. Graves also co-founded and guided the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit, the premier networking event and conference for women executives of color.

“My mother was a steadfast and loving partner and counselor to my father; his quiet source of strength and inspiration,” says Earl Graves Jr., president and CEO of Black Enterprise. “She served as mentor and guide to several generations of employees, managers and professionals. Above all, she genuinely cared for every member of the Black Enterprise family, and held a special passion for children and young people in particular.”

Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.

Click here for a high-resolution image of Barbara Graves.

By Dominique Zonyéé Scott for The Grio

Nearly three months have gone by since unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, 28, while he was on his way home from 7-Eleven carrying Skittles and an iced tea. Martin’s case was low-profile until it got its buzz on social media and began making national headlines, which sparked a national conversation about race, “Stand Your Ground,” and gun laws in America.

While many Americans empathized with Martin’s family, others apparently found humor in Trayvon’s death.

A new photo meme called “Trayvoning” have been gaining steam on the Internet. The photos illustrate men wearing hoodies, with iced tea cans in one hand and Skittles in the other, laying down on their backs or stomachs as if they were dead. This “Trayvoning” trend has prompted Tumblr and Facebook pages.

The Facebook page called Trayvoning currently has just 5 likes. The anonymous authors of the page describe it:

Trayvoning is when you
1. get hoodie
2. get skittles
3. get arizona
4. wear hoodie
5. go to florida
6. get shot 
Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old African American male who was unarmed and got shot by a raciest [sic] mexican american.

The images have disturbed bloggers Sandra Rose and Brande Victorian of Clutch magazine. And others have condemned the practice on Facebook and other social media outlets.

View pictures of this troubling trend at The Grio

Radio pioneer, Hal Jackson (Image: File)

According to reports, legendary radio industry entrepreneur and pioneer Hal Jackson has died. Reports indicate the cause of death as unknown, but cite “illness.” He was 96.

Jackson was a radio industry heavyweight, having began his broadcasting career as the first African American radio sports announcer. He was the voice behind early Howard University and local Negro league baseball games in Washington, D.C.

In 1939, he made another landmark move as the first African American host at WINX/Washington with his own nightly interview program, The Bronze Review. He would go on to host a talk show, jazz program and a blues program on WOOK-TV in Washington, D.C., as well.

In 1954, he became the first radio personality in New York to broadcast three daily shows on three different stations, with at least 4 million listeners tuned in nightly to hear his mix of music and interviews with top music icons of the time.

In 1971, Jackson teamed up with Percy Sutton, another radio industry pioneer, to co-found the Inner City Broadcasting Corp. (ICBC), which acquired WLIB, becoming the first African-American owned-and-operated station in New York. The next year, ICBC acquired WLIB-FM, changing its call letters to WBLS, a top radio market performer for decades.

ICBC, of which Jackson served as group chairman, would expand to markets including San Francisco, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Jackson, the first minority inducted into the National Association of Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame, was also a National Radio Hall of Famer, and he was named a “Giant in Broadcasting” by the Library of American Broadcasting.

(Image: File)

One of the largest initial public offerings in U.S. history is off to a strong start. Facebook shares started trading at $42.05 per share on Friday around 11:30am EST on the Nasdaq Stock Market, an increase from Thursday’s $38 IPO. This brings the social media company’s valuation to $116.6 billion.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal…

Queen of disco Donna Summer died on Thursday from cancer (Image: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

A day after the “Godfather of Go-Go” Chuck Brown died, TMZ is reporting another music great has passed. “Queen of Disco” Donna Summer died Thursday morning at the age of 63 following her battle with cancer.

Climbing the charts in the 1970s and 1980s with notable hits such as “Last Dance,” “She Works Hard for the Money,” “Hot Stuff,” and “Bad Girls,” Summer went on to rack up five Grammy Awards and six American Music Awards.  She also charted three multi-platinum albums.

The Grammy-winning artist is survived by her husband, singer and producer Bruce Sudano, their daughters, Brooklyn and Amanda, Summer’s daughter, Mimi, from a previous marriage, and four grandchildren.

This story is still developing. Check back for updates.

Anthony Anderson and Tempestt Bledsoe play parents in NBC's new show "Guys With Kids" (Image: NBC)

This week, nine major television networks including NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox presented their programming plans for the 2012-13 TV season to advertisers. Several black actors will be taking on roles in new shows. Here are some of the upcoming series featuring black stars to look out for.

Anthony Anderson will be heading NBC’s new show Guys With Kids, which is a half-hour sitcom executive produced by Late Night host Jimmy Fallon. The show is about three thirty-something men who must deal with being fathers despite having not grown up yet themselves. Anderson stars as a stay-at-home dad and his wife is played by Cosby Show alum Tempestt Bledsoe.

Read more at The Grio…

President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama disclosed their net worth, with up to $8.3 million in assets. (Image: Getty)

Today, the White House released financial reports that showed President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hold assets worth between nearly $2.6 million and nearly $8.3 million. The documents show the couple’s assets for 2011.

The first family’s full assets were valued between $1.8 million and nearly $12 million in 2010.

Obama released this annual report mid-campaign, as much focus has been placed on the fiscal value of Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor is worth up to $250 million, with much of his money coming from investments.

Romney recently amended his 2010 financial disclosures during the primary, and also release his tax returns, which showed offshore holdings that weren’t in the original disclosure, according to reports, including a Swiss bank account.

(Image: File)

Brooklyn-born rapper Jay-Z co-signed President Obama’s decision to support gay marriage in an interview with CNN correspondent Poppy Harlow. The hip-hop mogul reinforced the president’s endorsement following yesterday’s press conference, where he announced his two-day Budweiser Made in America festival in Philadelphia.

“I’ve always thought it as something that was still holding the country back,” said Jay-Z to CNN. “What people do in their own homes is their business, and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business. It’s no different than discriminating against blacks. It’s discrimination, plain and simple.”

The multi-platinum selling recording artist is not the first celebrity to come out in support of Obama’s comments. Celebrities from R&B singer-songwriter Alicia Keys and nine-time Grammy Award-winning artist John Legend to supermodel Tyra Banks and business mogul Russell Simmons back the president’s decision, according to The Grio.

Watch Jay-Z’s recent interview with CNN’s Poppy Harlow below:

Sybrina Fulton

In the video, posted to the Martin family’s JusticeTM website, an emotional Fulton, her voice sometimes wavering, says that Sunday will be her first Mother’s Day without her son, and she says her faith and family will pull her through.

“On Sunday, I’m going to say a prayer for other mothers across the country who share this unbearable pain,” Fulton continues.

She cites statistics, saying she will pray on Sunday for the 30,000 mothers who, like her, have “lost their children to senseless gun violence,” and she calls on people to “join Florida by calling upon the governor of your state to re-examine similar Stand Your Ground laws throughout the nation, to keep our families safe.”

Watch Sybrina Fulton’s Mother’s Day video below:

Read more at The Grio…

The right to choose whom to marry is a legal issue; it is a civil rights issue. Some opponents like to argue this, even take offense when anyone acknowledges gay rights as civil rights especially in the context of the “Black” civil rights movement. It’s a legal issue because it really deals with the benefits that one gets from being married. There are over 1,000 rights conferred to married couples. Among them are the rights to joint parenting, joint adoption, status of next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions, inheritance of jointly owned real estate, and more. It’s not about being able to go to a church and stand in front of a minister. LGBT people were already having commitment ceremonies.

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired about the debate over gay rights vs. civil rights. Yes, there are different sets of historical and social issues as it relates to race and sexual orientation. Yes, the distinctions between the African American and gay rights movements are complex and multi-layered. But the definition of civil rights is “the rights of citizens to political, economic, and social freedom and equality.”

The “Black” civil rights movement was not merely about marches and speeches. It was a fight for equality that centered on legislative and policy changes based on issues rooted in bias and discriminatory behavior. It was a battle in the courts as evident by the landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education. So too, the fight by gay activists is one that currently centers on seeking legislative and policy changes based on issues deeply rooted in bias (mostly for religious reasons) and discriminatory practices.

The focus should not be whether race trumps sexual orientation or gender identity. Arguments such as you can’t hide being black and you can’t change your race elude me. So, if someone who is black can pass for white then he or she should choose to do so? I should tell my Jewish friend to stop talking about the Holocaust or discrimination because “those people” can choose to denounce Judaism and convert to Christianity. How asinine would that make me? The ability to “pass for straight” should not diminish the struggles of LGBT people in securing full and equal rights under the law.

A strong Christian right contingent has exploited this rift between gay rights and “Black” civil rights in order to promote an anti-gay political agenda (just check out NOM’s divisive black vs gay strategies). Allowing the use of morality and sexual orientation or gender identity to deny someone his or her inalienable rights goes against the basic laws of humanity as well as the principles of the Constitution. Imagine if there were state laws that allowed unwed mothers to be fired from their jobs or denied access to government programs for their children because of Biblical views about premarital sex and illegitimate childbirth. Yet, in 29 states it is legal to fire someone because of his or her sexual orientation.

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I know many people in the black community will argue that they support LGBT people not being discriminated against in terms of housing and employment or subjected to violence. But yet the gay rights issue always seems to somehow return to a moral agenda wrapped around marital rights that has allowed state legislators to strip LGBT people of their economic rights.

In all fairness, there were a number of African American clergy that spoke out against the North Carolina amendment, acknowledging that it is wrong for any federal or state constitution to exclude any group from equal protection under the law. This is an argument that should center on legal benefits and not religious privilege just like divorce in the US is not governed by God-ordained doctrine. If it were no one would be allowed to end their marriage on the grounds of incompatibility or irreconcilable differences—only adultery.

No gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person is asking for anyone’s love. No one is asking for anyone’s permission to exist. That is a God-given right. But this is a fight about the right to exist without fear of persecution. In the same sentiment as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”

There is sad irony in that so many African Americans have denounced gay rights as a civil rights agenda. Yet, it was an openly gay black man, Bayard Rustin, who was a key architect of the non-violent civil rights movement. He was a friend and advisor to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also was the chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech.

It was Rustin who advised King on the use of nonviolence tactics as they organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and later protests, based on what he learned in India from followers of Mohandas Gandhi. It was Rustin in the forefront with Ella Baker in 1957 when King organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) along with such religious leaders as the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham, Rev Joseph Lowery of Mobile, Rev. Ralph Abernathy of Montgomery, and the Rev CK Steele of Tallahassee. So, yes it is fitting for gay activists to learn and benefit from the “Black” civil rights movement just the same as black civil rights activists learned from the nonviolence resistance of Gandhi in India’s successful fight for freedom from British control.

“Indeed, if you want to know whether today people believe in democracy… if you want to know whether they are human rights activists, the question to ask is, ‘What about gay people?’ Because that is now the litmus paper by which this democracy is to be judged.”—Bayard Rustin

Carolyn M. Brown is a Senior Multimedia Content Producer at Black Enterprise and author of the magazine’s GLAAD Media Award-winning article, “Black and Gay in Corporate America.”