ROCKET COMMUNITY FUND WORKS TO PREVENT HOUSING DISPLACEMENT AND PROTECT LONGTIME RESIDENTS
Homeownership and affordable rent are essential in helping secure shelter, launch the wealth-building process, and establish financial stability for a multitude of citizens.
Housing displacement caused by eviction, tax foreclosure, eminent domain, and other factors, however, can have adverse effects on communities and individuals, including large numbers of African Americans.
Despite passing the African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Act, lawmakers have stalled in implementing it. Due to the lack of funding, D.C. youth and the Black Georgetown Foundation are working to ensure the cemeteries’ longevity.
“This is where people are laid to rest, and it’s a sacred space. De th reflects life. And the treatment of Black people in life is reflective of treatment of Black people in death,” explained reporter Amna Nawaz.
Despite hosting between 8,000 and 10,000 graves, developers initially sought to rebuild both areas. However, local high schoolers have come on significant days like Juneteenth to maintain this ancestral Black community. Some of the graves remain unmarked, with many families unaware of where their loved ones currently rest.
“I think it’s important that this place highlights the plight of African Americans in this country, but also the triumph that they have — that, you know, we came to this country in bondage, but we are — we have risen so, so much,” expressed volunteer Brooke Talbott.
Lisa Fager, Executive Director of the Foundation, added, “The facts are there in their lives and deaths and tell us the stories and the history that we need to remember so that we don’t repeat it. And that’s what Black cemeteries do. They complete the story.”
Through the foundation, Fager hosts volunteer days and education events for the remembrance of those who came before.
Black cemeteries across the country still remain at risk of degradation or developers taking over the land. However, Black people have dedicated new organizations and communal outreach for the upkeep of these important burial grounds.
50 Cent Recalls Damon Dash Telling Him $1M ‘Was No Money’
Now the 'Power' executive says the former Roc-A-Fella Records owner 'has no money now.'
Sometimes your words come back to haunt you as 50 Cent illustrated in his anecdote about Damon Dash.
50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson, was in Shreveport, Louisiana, hosting his Humor and Harmony Festival last month, where he talked with popular hip-hop hosts Gillie Da Kid and Wallo for their podcast, Million Dollaz Worth Of Game.
He was talking about his record deal with Eminem’s Shady Records, which was worth $1 million. In speaking to Dash, 50 told Gillie and Wallo that the America Nu Network owner tried to pass along some wisdom.
“The only person that pointed out that a million dollars was no money was Damon Dash, and he has no money now,” 50 said. “How you gonna say that’s no money?”
According to 50, Dame then said, “After you get a watch, a chain, you look out for the homies, and you do this, that, and the third… it’s nothing.”
But, for 50, that was far from the case. “I’m from 134th Street,” he said. “A million dollars is a lot of money. I think I hit the lotto. How are you gonna say that it’s no money? I just never forgot that because of how it felt.”
While 50 is still making money moves and is adding to his bank account, Dash has gone in the opposite direction.
A scheduled auction to sell off his 33.3% stake in Roc-A-Fella is being done to help him satisfy a $823,000 judgment owed to movie producer Josh Webber. In a recent interview, Dash admitted how he ended up in this predicament.
“Somebody asked me how I got so broke. Um, investing in my dreams. You know, when you’re investing in your dreams, and you dream big, you’re always gonna be broke. You’ll have a lot of s**t, but I don’t have no money for nobody else if that’s what you call broke. That’s what it is. Either way, I’ma get with y’all. Stay tuned. I’m curious to see how it all rolls out.”
Billboard recently reported that the auction, initially slated for August 29, has been pushed back to September 21 in New York City.
Lil Wayne, Juvenile, B.G. and Turk to Reunite Hot Boys at ‘Lil’ WeezyAna Fest’
An official Hot Boys reunion including Lil Wayne, Juvenile, B.G., and Turk is set to take place at Lil' WeezyAna Festival.
It’s happening. An official Hot Boys reunion, which will include Lil Wayne, Juvenile, B.G., and Turk, is set to take place at the Lil’ WeezyAna Festival.
Lil Wayne’s Hot Boys reunion will occur in the hip-hop group’s hometown of New Orleans on Nov. 2 at Smoothie King Center. In partnership with Live Nation Urban, which produced the event alongside Young Money and Dmani, Variety reports that the show will see Wayne return to his roots with his first performance with fellow Hot Boys members Juvenile, B.G., and Turk in decades.
Rob49 and Mannie Fresh will also provide additional sets and more acts will be announced in the coming weeks.
“Lil Wayne embodies the spirit of New Orleans, and Lil’ WeezyAna Fest is a stellar showcase of the city’s dynamic and flourishing music scene,” Brandon Pankey, VP of business development and operations at Live Nation Urban, said. “Live Nation Urban celebrates this amazing event and is proud to continue to partner and cultivate the growth of this festival for years to come.”
The reunion announcement comes after Hot Boys fans were left disappointed by a failed reunion attempt at Essence Fest in July. There were reports that the group would be reuniting on stage. However, Lil Wayne failed to show up and opted for a solo 20-minute set after Birdman, Mannie Fresh, Juvenile, and B.G. took the stage.
Juvenile teased a Hot Boys album that was in the works. But Lil Wayne shut that down, saying he hadn’t heard about it or recorded any music. Birdman has expressed his hope for the Hot Boys members to return to the studio together.
The Hot Boys reunion follows B.G.’s release from prison in September 2023 after serving 12 years of a 14-year sentence. The Hot Boys released their debut album, “Get It How U Live!!” in 1997.
The official Hot Boys reunion comes 21 years after the group released its last album, “Let ‘Em Burn,” in 2003.
Dollar General CEO Warns Poorer Americans Are Low On Funds
According to Vasos, the core customers at his company's stores are households that earn less than $35,000 a year. He told the Financial Times that those particular households are feeling 'financially constrained.'
According to the Financial Times, Dollar General sells a wide range of goods at low prices in rural towns or low-income communities. According to their sales data, their sales numbers took a significant hit toward the end of the month, which the retailer attributed to families facing a lack of funds.
Vasos says his company’s stores’ core customers are households earning less than $35,000 a year. He told the Financial Times that those households feel “financially constrained.”
Vasos continued, “The majority of them state that they feel worse off financially than they were six months ago as higher prices, softer employment levels, and increased borrowing costs have negatively impacted low-income consumer sentiment.”
According to Fast Company, Dollar General’s stock shares fell by 30% on Aug. 29 after the release of its earnings report. Although the company blamed its dismal sales numbers on the economic anxiety of its customer base, analysts said it is likely due to other customers choosing to shop at Walmart and Target rather than the situations of low-income families.
“What’s different from prior economic periods where consumers are under duress is we’re not seeing the trade-down customer [more affluent shoppers who would visit Dollar General to purchase lower-priced items] as much as we have in the past,” Joe Feldman, senior managing director and assistant director of Research at Tesley Advisor Group, told Fast Company. “That customer is shopping at Walmart and online more frequently. There are a lot of other places now that the middle- to slightly more affluent consumer can shop at, and I think that’s what’s driving the pressure.”
According to Rob Rich, the Cleveland Fed’s Center for Inflation Research director, high prices will persist unless people refuse to shop.
“Since the pandemic, and since we started raising interest rates, we’ve actually seen the inflation rate slow. Now…it doesn’t mean that prices have fallen. What it means is prices are not growing as quickly as they were before.”
Rich continued, “Episodes where prices actually fall can be really, really damaging to an economy,” Rich said. If consumers expect prices to fall further, they hold off on purchasing and pull back on spending, which can hurt businesses and impact hiring. Deflation is also a negative for contracts like mortgages and other debt instruments, he explained because the amount of money borrowers have to pay is fixed, and if prices are falling, it becomes more of a burden. “While everyone may initially think, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s let prices all fall,’ that can actually be very problematic for an economy.”
Class Has Begun On The ‘Legal Life’ of Issa Rae At Georgia State Law School
Rae will pay a special visit to the class in November.
Class is in session for law students with a knack for Issa Rae. Georgia State College of Law will begin a new course on the “Legal Life” of the actress and entrepreneur.
The class will dissect the legal aspects of Rae’s expansive career, including her Hoorae media company and Viarae prosecco brand. Moreover, students began class on Aug. 21 with a special visit from Rae’s mother and brother. The first day started with a conversation about her career beginnings, such as her YouTube web series, “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.”
The class will be conducted by Mo Ivory, who deemed the “Insecure” actress an “inspiring figure to study.”
“Issa Rae has long been at the top of my list of inspiring figures to study, so to bring her remarkable career into the classroom is a thrilling opportunity for both my students and me. We’ll explore her journey from YouTube to the big screen, delving into her on-camera achievements and the business and legal intricacies that fuel her success as a writer, producer, director, entrepreneur, and more,” said Ivory, who also serves as director of the Center for Entertainment, Sports, and Intellectual Property.
Ivory launched the entertainment law course in 2019 to study the legal ramifications of public figures’ careers. In the past, the “Legal Life” students have studied Ludacris, Kandi Burruss, and Steve Harvey. Now, Ivory and a select group of students will break down how the Emmy winner legally rose to her success.
She added, “Thanks to the support of her team, we’ll also have the unique chance to analyze [Rae’s] real-world agreements and discuss how her approach to deals is shaping today’s entertainment landscape. We’re incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity.”
Rae is seemingly proud to be this semester’s subject matter. The 39-year-old will join the Georgia State class in November to discuss her career and business portfolio.
Metro Atlanta’s Housing Crisis: Nearly 12K Students Without Stable Homes Affected
A recent report from Atlanta Civic Circle uncovers the direct impact that the housing shortage in the city has on its public school students.
The city of Atlanta has a housing crisis that is severely impacting its youth. A total of 11,857 students are living without stable housing across the metro area’s Cobb, Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties, Atlanta Civic Circle reports. .
According to data pulled by Neighborhood Nexus on the Georgia Department of Education, Atlanta Civic Circle reports that the number of students affected by the housing crisis in Atlanta not only exceeds the number of people it would need to “fill every seat in Georgia Tech’s basketball stadium” but it’s almost enough to “pack Duluth’s Gas South Arena.”
Joy Moses, a researcher at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said the data might not even be entirely accurate. The number of students facing unstable housing is likely higher than the reports indicate as many parents opt out of identifying as unhoused when enrolling their children into schools in fear of losing custody.
Additionally, public school systems often employ a homeless liaison staff “to identify students in precarious living situations” to identify children who are either experiencing or at the brink of homelessness.
“Many school systems are under-resourced,” Moses explained. “Often, the people who are focused on homeless services within a school district or even in a school, it’s one of many responsibilities that they have. They’re trying to execute the best way that they can, but it’s rare to see a targeted person where that’s the focus of their job and they’re not doing anything else.”
The housing crisis has caused a spike in student absenteeism across Georgia, which the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated. The report said chronic absenteeism occurs when a student misses more than 15 days in a school year.
In 2023, 29% of Georgia preschoolers were the subjects of chronic absenteeism, up a whopping 18% from data pulled five years ago. Before the pandemic, 22% of high school seniors were absent for more than 15 days in the school year. That rose to 35% in the last year.
Monica Johnson, an organizer with the nonprofit Housing Justice League, confirmed that even for students impacted by unstable housing who aren’t chronically absent from school, there is still a negative influence on their ability to learn and retain information.
“The issues that we face in our community flow from the lack of resources,” Johnson said. “When you don’t have a regular place to sleep, when you don’t have good food to eat, when you don’t have your healthcare taken care of, you are unable to grow as a human being and fulfill your needs and make good decisions and set yourself up for success.”
“If you’re constantly on alert—if you don’t feel safe and warm and content—then trying to learn something or build critical thinking skills or improve your reading or understand math concepts, it’s not going to happen,” Johnson continued.
As Jean-Pierre circled the room to take questions from numerous media White House correspondents, Fox News’s reporter Peter Doocy asked about Harris’s alleged Southern accent. Doocy claimed Harris sounded different during speeches she gave in Detroit and Pittsburgh. “Since when does the VP have what sounds like a Southern accent?” he asked. He continued to describe how the Democratic presidential nominee used one tone of voice while speaking about unions. “She used the same line in Pittsburgh, and it sounded like she at least had some kind of a Southern drawl…”
Before the reporter could continue, the press secretary shut the question down, asking, “Do you hear the question that…I mean, do you think Americans seriously think that this is an important question?”
Doocy: Since when does the VP have what sounds like a southern accent?
KJP: Do you hear the question? Do you think Americans seriously think this is an important question? pic.twitter.com/W7a6SJnwDa
Jean-Pierre continued to let Doocy know some of the things voters do care about, like the economy and lowering costs. “They care about healthcare. That’s what Americans care about,” she said. She checked him on his style of questioning, alluding that he could learn a thing or two from a fellow reporter who allegedly asked about democracy and freedom. “I’m not even going to entertain some question about…it’s just…hearing it sounds so ridiculous,” Jean-Pierre said.
“It’s just insane.”
Doocy continued asking if Harris talks with an accent during White House meetings, and the press secretary responded, “We’re so moving on.”
According to the Daily Beast, Doocy’s question referred to a side-by-side clip of Harris speaking at both events. The clip, from the campaign of former President Donald Trump, accused the Vice President of using the same lines to encourage union workers. “You better thank a union member for sick leave, you better thank a union member for paid leave, you better thank a union member for vacation time,” Harris said in Detroit.
She then allegedly used the same phrasing in Pittsburgh.
WATCH: Kamala Harris delivers the same exact line in a speech earlier today in Detroit and again in Pittsburgh a few hours later.
As Harris was raised in Berkeley, California, there was a heavy influence of Black culture in the Bay Area. More than three million Black Southerners left the region during the Great Migration, with several ending up in the northern California area.
Harris’s alleged “code-switching” could result from the African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) first being acknowledged as a separate language in the same region. The Oakland Unified School District approved it as a second language in 1996. However, the tone has become quite confusing for Democratic critics like Fox News personalities and GOP leaders.
In 2007, former Fox host Tucker Carlson made similar comments about former President Barack Obama’s accent during his first presidential campaign.
Woman Arrested In Connection To Nicole Alston Cold Case Murder
Angel Marie Thompson allegedly collected around $200,000 posing as Nicole Alston following her murder.
Angel Marie Thompson has been charged in connection to the cold case murder of her friend Nicole Alston, whose remains were discovered during an investigation of a burning bag found on the side of the road in 2007.
Thompson was arrested on Aug. 19, according toa statement from the Troup County (GA) Sheriff’s Office, and charged with concealing the 24-year-old’s death.
Officials haven’t identified a suspect responsible for Alston’s murder, but say that “Thompson began identifying herself as Alston and was collecting Alston’s SSI [Social Security] Benefits, Food Stamp Allotment, [and] acquiring Section 8 Housing, all as Nicole Alston for a period of 8 years.”
Alston’s body was discovered by county authorities in 2007, who were called to a scene to investigate a suspicious black bag smoldering near Whitfield Road and Stitcher Road.
Alston was identified as the murder victim following DNA testing in 2023 of the partial human remains that were found inside the bag with the “hands, feet and head” missing. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab compared results from the DNA analysis of Innovative Forensic Investigations in Emporia, Virginia, and testing from Gene by Gene Laboratories in Houston.
“On December 13, 2023, our office received word that a positive DNA match was made, and the identity was that of Nicole Alston, whose last known residence was Manhattan, New York, and she was 24 years of age at that time.”
As officials continued to investigate the murder, Alston’s family confirmed they lost contact with her around Thanksgiving of 2007 after she and Thompson moved from Manhattan to Atlanta.
“At that time, Thompson was wanted in New York for theft and identity fraud,” the sheriff’s office stated. In 2015, the Social Security Administration tried to contact Alston to requalify her benefits. Additional agencies in Georgia are investigating Thompson’s alleged collection of around $200,000 posing as Alston.
National Civil Rights Museum To Honor Spike Lee, Sherilyn Ifill, Xernona Clayton With Freedom Award
According to a press release from the museum, part of the reason for Lee’s selection is his long history with Jordan Brand, the presenting sponsor of the award.
The National Civil Rights Museum at The Lorraine Motel will honor acclaimed director Spike Lee, President and Director-Counsel Emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Sherrilyn Ifill, and broadcast executive and civil rights leader Xernona Clayton with the Freedom Award.
According to a press release from the museum, part of the reason for Lee’s selection is his long history with Jordan Brand, the award’s presenting sponsor. Lee was part of the brand’s iconic rollout of the Air Jordan III, appearing in commercials alongside Michael Jordan as Mars Blackmon, the character from Lee’s breakthrough 1986 film, She’s Gotta Have It.
“Our honorees are presented the award for their work, impact, and accomplishments in the name of freedom and civil rights. A Special Tribute is paid to those who stand against injustice and inequity,” the website states.
According to Sarah Mensah, the president of Jordan Brand, “Spike is an integral member of the Jordan Family and someone who, like Michael and the Jordan Brand, represents greatness and inspires others to the same. We’re thrilled to be partnering with this esteemed institution to recognize and celebrate his work and contributions.”
According to National Civil Rights Museum President Dr. Russ Wiggington, there is good synergy between the Jordan Brand and the museum.
“One of the museum’s key pillars include economic empowerment, which is an issue Jordan Brand is impacting through several community initiatives,” Wigginton said. “This announcement is timely as we observe Black Philanthropy Month. Our partnership with Jordan Brand proves that representation matters as we explore how benevolent business and corporate responsibility manifests in our society. Doing good is also good for business.”
Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand announced plans for a 10-year $100 million Black Community Commitment in 2020. The commitment involves investing in sustainable solutions aimed at creating change in social and economic justice and education. In a June press release, Nike announced over $8 million in grants had been given to 37 organizations.
According to Mensah, “The Jordan Brand has a unique and distinct role to play in continuing to elevate Black culture and Black communities. It’s why we are so committed to partnering closely with organizations who are boldly and intentionally leading the change to create a more equitable future for Black Americans. We are privileged to support these organizations in their inspiring work.”
The Freedom Award will be presented to the honorees on October 17 at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis. The award ceremony will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be hosted by rapper and actress MC Lyte. Grammy-nominated singer Deborah Cox will perform.
