Judge Rules Against Deion Sanders’ Son Shilo In Bankruptcy Case
Shilo Sanders owes a former school security guard $11.89 million from a default judgement.
A judge has denied Deion Sanders’ son Shilo in his attempt to dismiss a $11 million debt complaint by a former school security guard. The ruling is part of Sanders’ ongoing bankruptcy case.
The complaint, made by John Darjean, alleges that Sanders owes him from a 2015 incident. Sanders, who was then 15 years old, “snapped” and assaulted Darjean as he tried to take Sanders’ phone as directed by school authorities. The alleged assault left Darjean with permanent injuries, according to USA Today. A default judgment for $11.89 million was granted in 2022 after Sanders failed to appear in court.
Sanders filed for bankruptcy in October 2023 to avoid the hefty payout to Darjean. However, the plaintiff alleges that Sanders unlawfully concealed his assets through his LLCs. According to Darjean’s legal team, these LLCs are “alter-egos” and “shams” of Shilo that are holding his NIL interest.
“The Complaint contains sufficient allegations that [his] companies function as his alter egos and that the corporate veils of the LLCs should be pierced,” explained Judge Michael Romero in his ruling .
He added, “This Court is unwilling, at this stage of the proceedings, to rule out application of the alter ego or veil piercing doctrines…The Court therefore denies Sanders’s request to dismiss Darjean’s…claim purely on the basis it might involve assets owned by Sanders’s LLCs. However, the Court cautions Darjean that reverse piercing is considered an ‘extraordinary remedy’ and he faces a high burden to demonstrate all necessary factors at trial.”
Sanders’ defense called the claims made by Darjean “inaccurate.” His attorneys declared it prevents the college athlete from a “fresh start” at life.
Based on this ruling, the trial should proceed as Sanders aims to move forward with his bankruptcy. However, Sanders must also deal with an additional complaint from Darjean. The January filing argues the debt should still be in place due to Sanders’ “willful and malicious conduct.” Both complaints are currently active.
Vice President Kamala Harris Addresses Atlanta’s 100 Black Men Conference
Harris came to Atlanta as part of her economic opportunity tour.
Vice President Kamala Harris came to Atlanta on June 14 and addressed attendants of the 38th Conference of 100 Black Men as part of her economic opportunity tour. The event was moderated by Family Feud host Steve Harvey.
According to a press release issued by The 100 Black Men of America, Harris’s appearance was not an endorsement of Harris or of the Biden-Harris administration; rather it represented a chance to engage in a meaningful conversation about economic opportunity.
As Georgia Public Broadcasting reports, Harris’s remarks referenced opportunities for small minority-owned businesses to obtain venture capital investment, home ownership, and debt prevention as well as policies that have been advanced by the Biden-Harris administration which aim to help close the racial wealth gap.
“There are obstacles built into the system that have to be addressed to give people the opportunity—and it’s not about a handout,” the vice president told the crowd. “It’s about saying, ‘Give people the opportunity to compete, give hardworking people the opportunity to get ahead and not just get by.’”
Harris’s trip to Atlanta marked the second time she has visited the city on her economic opportunity tour; she is expected to again visit Atlanta on June 18 to discuss gun violence.
The trip in April, according to a White House fact sheet, highlighted a $158 million investment from the Biden-Harris Administration given to Atlanta through its Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program, the first such program offered by the federal government. According to the fact sheet, The Stitch, the moniker given to the project, represents infrastructure projects awarded in 40 states.
It has been well-documented that the invention of America’s highway system meant the deaths of thriving Black communities and neighborhoods. According to civil rights lawyer and law professor Deborah Archer, “The interstate highway system stands as a….physical realization of our racialized norms and values. Highways were built through and around Black communities to physically entrench racial inequality and protect white spaces and privilege.”
According to the fact sheet, the economic opportunity tour represents an attempt from the Biden-Harris administration to grapple with and put resources towards addressing this history.
“The Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program is yet another way the Biden-Harris administration is advancing economic opportunity, while taking on the legacy of harm in communities that have grappled with decades of disinvestment or economic distress,” the White House said. “The administration is focused on supporting economic comebacks in communities across the country; especially those that have suffered from decades of disinvestment.”
Charlamagne Tha God Indicates He Won’t Vote Trump: ‘I’m Voting To Preserve Democracy’
The radio host did not outright endorse President Joe Biden.
During an exchange with Bill Maher on June 14, Charlamagne Tha God indicated that he would likely vote for President Joe Biden in the upcoming presidential election. The Breakfast Club host has refrained from explicitly endorsing a candidate this cycle but has previously used phrasing similar to Biden’s in appearances.
As The Hill reports, Maher told Charlamagne that he knew he wouldn’t endorse Biden, to which Charlamagne replied, “I’m not endorsing anybody. But that doesn’t mean I’m not voting.”
Charlamagne, whose real name is Lenard McKelvey, continued, “Here’s the thing though, Bill, whenever I have these conversations or I come on these shows, I say the same thing about Donald Trump. I think Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. I think he led an attempted coup in this country. He wanted to, you know, terminate the Constitution to overthrow the results of an election. And I say I’m voting to preserve democracy. So when I say those things that I just said, does it sound like I’m voting for Donald Trump?”
When Maher tried to press Charlamagne on why he wouldn’t just come right out and say that he supports President Joe Biden, Charlamagne turned the tables on Maher. “I watched your show a couple weeks ago. I saw, Ken Burke was up here. Ken Burke said he’s not … he doesn’t support Trump. Biden. And he’s not voting. You didn’t give him no push back on that? None.” Maher defended himself by claiming that he pushes back on such arguments “all the time.”
McKelvey has maintained that he believes neither candidate is worth an endorsement, even though he endorsed Biden during the last election. During an appearance on The View in May, Charlamagne told the hosts that he would rather stress that democracy needs to be preserved instead of endorsing a specific candidate. “The reality is I think both candidates are trash. If I think both candidates are trash, and I don’t feel like endorsing one, would you rather me endorse an individual or endorse the fact that, hey, we need to go out there and protect democracy?”
Real Men Cook Celebrates 35 Years Of Changing Perceptions And Strengthening Communities
Real Men Cook began in 1990 to counteract negative depictions of Black men in the media.
Real Men Cook, a group started in 1990 by Kofi and Yvette Moyo to counteract negative depictions of Black men in the media, is celebrating its impact over the last 35 years on Father’s Day. The group’s signature event appeared on the White House lawn during the Obama administration.
As Yvette Moyo told the Chicago Defender, the Chicago-based group aims to celebrate the contributions of Black men to their homes and communities.
“We wanted to celebrate the passion of men who, despite racism and discrimination, still get up every day and try to make a difference. When fathers with newborn babies come to us, they see Real Men Cook as a rite of passage because they want to be around other men who serve and have kept their family relationships together, no matter what the challenges.”
Real Men Cook also has a nonprofit arm, Real Men Charities, which seeks to support families year-round. According to Moyo, its building, The Quarry, is a popular spot for men in the community. “Men know that when they come to our facility, which we own, called The Quarry in South Shore, they know that we will have a special ear for them because we are a hub for their healing.”
Moyo noted, “Real Men Charities is a movement to change the way people view Black men, but also how Black men view themselves. We’re also attempting to communicate to them that their presence is more important than their money, that we don’t have to buy into capitalism that way.”
The group also has a very special alum, former President Barack Obama. Obama, who is from Chicago, attended Real Men Cook events when he lived in Chicago. According to Rael Jackson, son of Yvette Moyo and the current president of Real Men Cook, Obama carried the tradition to the White House. “I love the fact that we have pictures of Barack Obama in a bandana,” Jackson said. “We have pictures of him holding Sasha and Malia at Real Men Cook, and he actually wrote the foreword for our cookbook. And this is all before he became a national phenom.”
Jackson continued, “We know that that’s where he gets that understanding from because there were no other food events on Father’s Day before Real Men Cook.”
Jackson also echoed the comments of his mother about the impetus for the group’s creation, telling Block Club Chicago, “Thirty-five years ago, we were having conversations about the extinction of the Black male — basically a narrative about [how we were] going to jail, the War on Drugs was at its height, there were a lot of gang activities in Chicago and [murders] were higher than now. But we knew that men really wanted to take care of their kids, that men were really trying to work jobs and were regular people out there.”
Jackson added, “We wanted to balance the narrative out there in the media with the reality that we saw every day in our communities.”
Jackson would like to see the group transition into licensing eventually. “My real vision is licensing. I would love to see a Real Men Cook refrigerator in homes. I would love to see Real Men Cook become like the Brand Jordan of the kitchen. So, Real Men Cook knives, Real Men Cook cast iron skillets. It can become a symbol of quality in the kitchen,” he told the Defender.
Saks Fifth Avenue Apologizes To Black NBA GM For Racial Profiling Incident
The president of Saks shared the apology letter on LinkedIn.
Tony retail store Saks Fifth Avenue has apologized to Washington Wizards general manager Will Dawkins for a racial profiling incident that happened in November 2023.
The luxury department store sent a formal apology to Dawkins after security guards accused him of stealing clothing from its Miami location. According to Andscape, a Brickell City Centre security guard and a Miami Police Officer followed and detained Dawkins for the mistaken crime. However, surveillance video from the previous night showed they had misidentified him as the culprit.
Larry Bruce, president of SFA, the entity that operates Saks Fifth Avenue’s store fleet, shared the letter sent to Dawkins on LinkedIn. In the apology, he took accountability for the store’s actions and stated the termination of the security guard involved.
“I recently sent the letter below on behalf of Saks Fifth Avenue stores to apologize to Will Dawkins, the General Manager of the Washington Wizards, as well as to thank him for the way he has worked with us to create a positive outcome from the terrible experience he had in our Brickell store,” wrote Bruce on June 15. “There was a violation of our policies that never should have happened. It is an important reminder to our entire organization that we must continually work to ensure that every guest that comes through our doors is welcomed and treated with respect.”
Bruce also shared that donations were made to racial justice organizations on behalf of Dawkins in Massachusetts, Miami, and the greater Washington, D.C. area.
Dawkins hopes that despite his negative experience, the outcome will lead to better sensitivity training to prevent future racial profiling.
“My hope is that other stores see this and elect to readjust their policy or personnel and in turn those changes prevent at least one future event like this from happening to someone else,” he told Andscape. “Once I was able to reshape my thinking, I realized it was all worth it because this didn’t happen to me, it happened for me.”
Opinion: Reflecting On Persistent Misconceptions And Celebrating The True Role Of Black Fathers
We should highlight Black fathers who are doing the work of fatherhood.
Black fathers have long been perceived and presumed to be absent from their children’s lives due to racist stereotypes. Much of the public conversation about Black fathers that we have each year revolves around two sets of 2013 CDC reports. One positive report, which people have been pointing to since its release to make the point that Black fathers are present and active in their children’s lives, and another report, typically pointed out by conservatives, that says that Black fathers are less likely to be married than other groups of men. There have been several attempts since the release of those numbers to rectify and contextualize those two reports, but each year on Father’s Day they are inevitably rehashed.
In 2015, New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow addressed the statistic from the CDC report that said approximately 72% of Black children in 2013 were born out of wedlock versus 29% of white children. Blow attempted to correct the narrative propagated by this statistic.
“While it is true that Black parents are less likely to marry before a child is born, it is not true that Black fathers suffer a pathology of neglect. In fact, a C.D.C. report issued in December 2013 found that Black fathers were the most involved with their children daily, on a number of measures, of any other group of fathers—and in many cases, that was among fathers who didn’t live with their children, as well as those who did,” Blow said.
That study found that Black fathers who live with their children are more likely than white fathers to bathe, change, or dress their children daily, share meals with them every day, and assist with their homework every day.
“There is no doubt that the 72 percent statistic is real and may even be worrisome, but it represents more than choice. It exists in a social context, one at odds with the corrosive mythology about Black fathers.”
In 2016, Vox expanded on Blow’s column and his mention of the broader social context, which included the system of mass incarceration, which by definition removes Black men from society. If those Black men have children, by default, they are also removed from the homes they may have shared with their children. According to Vox, the stereotypes of Black fathers as absentee fathers does not provide the full picture, and it debunked the racist commentary that Black fathers are lazy, non-committal, or simply just flawed by nature of existing within Black culture.
“I wanted to turn the table on that narrative of Black fathers not being present in their children’s lives,” Winfrey said. “I remember the very first time I was doing a show on parenting, on single parents. And my way of showing or widening the screen at the time was just to include a Black father in that group of parents, but not make a big deal about it. We got a Latina parent, and we got a Black parent, and we got a gay parent. And I remember a woman standing up and later saying she had never seen a Black father reading to his children.”
Winfrey continued, “That was not an image anybody had seen on screen. And so a lot of the white people who were watching the show were like, ‘That’s a foreign concept to me.’ It’s chipped away at the fabric of who we are as a society and a world. The images on the evening news or portrayals in films, gangsters, stories that show absentee fathers, or focus on men being in prison, away from their children and not caring about their children, that’s what you’ve heard, but that isn’t what we know and feel.”
Winfrey also detailed things she saw while in her father’s barbershop.
“Men would come in, hardworking men, doing everything they could in their lives to support their families, working sometimes two and three jobs to do that,” Winfrey said. “So that’s the story I know of Black fathers—the ones I grew up with and the man I know. The narrative of the absentee father, it’s not accurate that that is the only picture. That’s what I want to say.”
Since the 2013 release of those reports, which have allowed contradictory narratives to go forth, Black men like Blow have had to defend Black men from those who would read racist stereotypes onto Black men based on one set of data while completely disregarding data from the other report. Instead of rehashing that old data each year, we should endeavor to do what Oprah did in 2021 and simply highlight Black fathers who are doing the work of fatherhood.
Last-Minute Spirit Brands To Cop For Dad On Father’s Day
Contrary to popular belief people lay down dollars for Father’s Day.
A running joke is that mothers get more love than fathers on their respective days.
Contrary to popular belief people lay down dollars for Father’s Day. A reported $22.4 billion is expected to be dished out for dad, according to the National Retail Federation. While that is almost $11 billion lower than spending for Mother’s Day, it’s still a grip.
Another widely held belief is Father’s Day gifts usually fall in the category of last-minute gifts. That might be up for question, but BLACK ENTERPRISE identified five spirit brands to grab for dad if you didn’t cop him something ahead of time.
If whiskey is your father’s fav, check out Uncle Nearest’s line of ryes. The 1856 is premium-aged, the 1886 is a small batch, and the rye is a straight rye whiskey. The brand has cocktail kits that include mixers and bitters.
DonQ’s range of rums features the Reserva 7, DonQ Crista,l and DonQ Piña. Each of these Puerto Rican rums have a distinctive taste that will delight dad. If he is watching his waistline, the Don Q Piña is a clear rum that fits into skinny diets.
Does Dad like to pop champagne? Then Ace of Spades is the premium way to go. The brand was bought out by Jay-Z in 2014. Retailing at $300 a pop, this bubbly brut is top of the line in style and taste. Your father will forever remember this toast.
Diddy Returns Key To New York City Following Mayor’s Request
Diddy returned the key to NYC nearly a week after Mayor Eric Adams' request.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has returned his key to New York City in response to his video attack on his former artist and girlfriend Cassie.
New York Mayor Eric Adams wrote letters to Combs’ offices in California and New York on June 4 rescinding the key. According to The Guardian, City Hall received the key on June 10.
In the letter, Adams “strongly” condemned the 54-year-old’s actions in the 2016 attack video, which became public in May. He stated the attack “deeply disturbed” him. “I strongly condemn these actions and stand in solidarity with all survivors of domestic and gender-based violence,” wrote Adams.
The video showed Cassie, real name is Casandra Ventura, attempting to flee her shared hotel room with the media mogul. Combs, wearing just a towel, ran after her, immediately slamming her into the ground upon catching up to her. The video also showed the entertainer kicking and dragging the R&B singer.
The video has added to the mounting allegations of sexual abuse and assaults against Combs. It also confirms the abuse Cassie described in her bombshell November 2023 lawsuit.
Combs has stepped down from his positions with numerous companies, including media platform Revolt and alcohol brand Cîroc. In March, the FBI raided Diddy’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami as part of his federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation.
Following all the controversy, Howard University has also cut ties, with the school’s Board of Trustees voting to revoke Combs’ honorary degree. The HBCU also returned a $1 million contribution he pledged to the school.
“Mr. Combs’ behavior as captured in a recently released video is so fundamentally incompatible with Howard University’s core values and beliefs that he is deemed no longer worthy to hold the institution’s highest honor,” Howard said in a statement obtained by CBS News.
Study: Racial Discrimination Has Harmful Long-Term Effects On Black Adolescents
The results showed that racial discrimination can increase the risk of depression and anxiety.
A new study published by JAMA Network Open has found that instances of racial discrimination may put Black adolescents at a higher risk of depression and anxiety.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Georgia, examined how Black adolescents process the traumas of discrimination, according to The Washington Post.
Assaf Oshri, lead author of the study, considered the avenues of child development and harmful cognition patterns in tangent with racist experiences. Oshri and his colleagues analyzed composite data from over 1,500 participants over the course of three years.
“We know discriminatory experiences are associated with a range of negative health outcomes,” Oshri said. “This study is showing that some brain patterns that are trying to process threats…can help [participants] cope with these types of experiences, but there might be an emotional toll.”
Focusing on the emotional center of the brain, the amygdala, the researchers assessed Black youth responses to racist threats. Alongside the MRI responses, researchers also looked at self-reported surveys from Black adolescents who had experiences with racial discrimination. They reported being more “scared or anxious, or sad or depressed.”
Oshri and his team identified internalizing and externalizing symptoms in response to stressors in their environment.
Oshri found a correlation between “youths whose amygdala shut down in response to negative stimuli and increased reporting of internalizing symptoms—including anxiety and depression” and those who experienced more instances of racism.
That particular amygdala response, found in 1 in every 5 participants, could be a sign of avoidant coping. “There’s a lot of implications,” Oshri said. “Discriminatory experiences are harming our children and [their] development.”
Ryan DeLapp, another researcher, agreed, “Looking at biological data can further substantiate what has been shown for decades, [which is] that individuals are significantly impacted by these experiences.” DeLapp added that personal anecdotes are needed in addition to such studies.
The researchers found that mindfulness exercises can help protect the brain from these harmful formative experiences.
Donald Trump Says He Can’t Be Racist Because He Has ‘So Many Black Friends’
Uh, what?
Donald Trump declared in a June 14 interview with Semafor that there’s no way he can be racist because he has “so many Black friends.”
“I have so many Black friends that if I were a racist, they wouldn’t be friends, they would know better than anybody, and fast. They would not be with me for two minutes if they thought I was racist—and I’m not racist!” he said in responses to claims that he’s a racist.
The 78-year-old former president went so far as to say that he can relate to Black voters because he claims that he’s being discriminated against by the criminal justice system.
“I think it’s through osmosis,” he explained. “They see what’s happening. And a lot of them feel that similar things have happened to them. I mean, they’ve expressed that to me very plainly and very clearly. They see what’s happened to them.”
As President Joe Biden and Trump approach the November election, their campaigns have focused on gaining the attention and support of Black voters.
According to an NBC News poll, Biden is leading against Trump with Black voters but has seen a decline in numbers. Biden leads “71% to 13%, but that’s down from 2020 exit polls, which found an 87% to 12% margin for Biden.”
This is not the first time Trump has boasted about his popularity with Black voters. Back in 2020, Trump claimed that he did more for the Black community than he gets credit for.
“I’ve said this and I say it openly and not a lot of people dispute it: I’ve done more for Black Americans than anybody with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln. Nobody has even been close.”
Trump’s claims have brought up some of his past infractions against minority populations, most notably his very public calls for the death penalty against the now-exonerated Central Park Five in 1989.
