And1, And One, Hot sauce, 30 years, street ball, basketball, tournament, tour

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

July 30, 2023

AND1 Open Run Tournament Returns For 30th Anniversary

AND1 is returning to Harlem for the return of its legendary Open Run Tournament in honor of its 30th anniversary.

The athletic apparel company kicked off the tour in Philadelphia ahead of a highly-anticipated game in Harlem’s iconic Kingdome this past Sunday, July 23. Attendees filled the bleachers as they watched a basketball competition, dunk contests, a Queen of the Court match, 5 v. 5 games, and dance contests, Hot 97 reports.

Icons from the original AND1 tour served as judges including OG Mixtape Players: Aaron “AO” Owens, Rafer “Skip 2 My Lou” Alston, Shane “The Dribble Machine” Woney, Phillip “Hot Sauce” Champion, Jamar “The Pharmacist” Davis, and former Harlem Globetrotter Briana Green.

The OGs built fanbases for themselves while playing in the original AND1 tour that dominated the streetball and hip-hop scene throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. A video posted to Instagram highlighted an Allen Iverson-inspired ankle breaker move one player displayed during the competition.

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Last year, the Mixtape OGs reunited to form the Blacktop Streetball Association to reignite the streetball competition style of playing the game, according to The Source. Original AND1 player Waliyy “Main Event” Dixon teamed up with Commissioner Linda Hick and his Partner & Co-CEO Mark Bullock to bring the original players together and start something new.

While AND1 initially was listed as a sponsor for the new tournament, the streetwear and footwear brand eventually signed on to take streetball to new heights.

“We respect the culture and will never compromise the integrity of Streetball,” Dixon said.

“We are in the trenches! Everyone wants the comfortability of playing inside, but this is streetball we play on the blacktop.”

The relaunch aims to give back to the culture and communities the players represent.

“Wealth to Black and Brown Communities is a major focus. We will give communities an opportunity to own a piece of franchises in the league,” Dixon said. “We also plan on building Streetball Stadiums owned by the community; the opposite of gentrification.”

Jadarrius Rose Speaks Out After Attack From K-9 Unit

by Daniel Johnson

July 29, 2023

Jadarrius Rose Speaks Out After Attack From K-9 Unit

Jadarrius Rose, the man from the viral video being attacked by an Ohio police dog has spoken out for the first time since the incident. As we previously reported, Rose was attacked following a traffic stop on July 4, 2023. The K-9 officer who released his dog onto Rose, Ryan Speakman, was fired by the Circleville Police Department following an investigation by the department’s Use of Force Board. According to their ruling Speakman “did not meet the standards and expectations we hold for our police officers” Rose says he called 911, as he told ABC News: “I was just hoping that they (911 dispatch) would be able to help me. I wanted to get out. I hadn’t committed a crime. It’s not like I murdered somebody, and they got their guns ready to shoot me. I just didn’t want to die. That’s what was going through my mind. I just didn’t want to die. That’s why I called them for help.”

Benjamin Crump, a national civil rights attorney, is representing Rose and he echoed the sentiments raised by the Ohio NAACP as he tells ABC News “We have to say, we will not tolerate this. We won’t go back to the days where they’re siccing dogs on unarmed Black people,” On another video, the trooper who told Speakman not to release the dog can be heard questioning aloud if he wasn’t loud enough or direct enough, and another officer can be heard telling the trooper that he heard the instruction, indicating that Speakman chose not to heed the direction.

Rose described the incident saying that there were about 10-12 officers with guns drawn on him, but he was walking in the direction of the officer who had instructed him to come toward him. Rose says he froze when he saw the K-9 officer and his dog running in his direction because he didn’t know what to do at that point. Rose then got on his knees and placed his hands up and once the dog started attacking he pleaded with the dog to let him go. Eventually, Rose says, the dog relented. Rose was treated at a nearby hospital and then booked on a fourth-degree felony charge of failure to comply. Rose’s mother Carla is just grateful to have her son back and Rose says that he has watched the body cam footage multiple times, feeling heartbroken as he views it.

Benjamin Crump is trying to make sure what happened to Jadarrius Rose never happens to anybody else again and he intimated that the police are trying to make it seem like they were justified to chase this man and threaten to shoot him over a missing mud flap. Crump describes the fear that the video elicits in Black Americans to ABC News: “Imagine the psychological trauma and the mental anguish that Black people go through in America when sirens and flashing lights come on behind them. That’s what the Jadarrius Rose video represents to every Black person in America, the fear of being the next hashtag.”

by Mary Spiller

July 29, 2023

IWPR Says Black Women Annually Earn $20,702 Less Than Their White Male Counterparts

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) released new data from a study on Tuesday, July 25, revealing more concerning information about the wage gap between Black women and white men in the United States. The IWPR declared that it would take until 2144 to resolve every state’s pay disparity.

The IWPR’s study looked closely at each state’s pay disparities in the time check of full-time, year-round, and even part-time workers. The study showed that on a median average, Black women earn just 63.7 cents to every dollar earned by a cisgender white man nationally. The standard is exaggerated in certain states and better in others. The median in Michigan, for example, shows that Black women make 57% less than their white male coworkers. The concerning total causes them to lose $20,000 yearly in complete wages. Despite the shocking disparity, Michigan is only 22nd in the country for gender pay disparity without including the racial intersection.

As reported by Michigan Advance, the IWPR’s chief strategy officer, Robyn Watson Ellerbe, highlighted how concerning the findings of the study were. She recognized that gender pay disparity is still highly prevalent but that women of color experience the steepest unfairness.

She said, “The gender wage gap is a national disgrace, and women of color feel the burden of that discrimination more than most. It is an injustice women — and women of color in particular — have had to endure year after year.”

Watson Ellerbe explained that the pay disparity expanded past the finite money that Black women make but impacts their economic position, access to health care, and emotional well-being.

“We cannot ask women in this country to endure this injustice decade after decade,” Watson Ellerby declared. She urged state leaders to introduce policy-based solutions, mentioning moves such as: “ codifying better pay and benefits, organization through labor unions, further enforcement to prevent harassment and discrimination and widening access to fields of work where Black women are currently underrepresented.”

She finished, “We know what needs to be done; we just need policymakers and leaders in the business community with the courage to stand up and do it.”

Faith in Florida, Black, toolkit. DeSantis

by Mary Spiller

July 29, 2023

Faith In Florida Creates Toolkit For Religious Leaders To Teach Black History

Faith in Florida is taking a stand against the new Black History curriculum in their state, issued by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. The statewide coalition has committed to teaching comprehensive Black history through the usage of its new toolkit program.

The nonprofit is now offering free educational “toolkits” to faith leaders so that they can teach their congregants unrestricted African American history. Faith in Florida reports the toolkit “explores the origin, impact and effects of institutional and systemic racism and the impact of faith and spirituality on our survival and progression as a people.”

In the face of DeSantis’ new mandate surrounding the teaching of Black History, the nonprofit hopes to include at least 1,000 separate leaders to use the toolkit in their houses of worship. The mission statement on Faith in Florida’s website explicitly calls out DeSantis. It reads, “The state legislature [has] resorted to policing Black existence. This is precisely why Faith in Florida is taking a stance. We will not be legislated into acquiescence, allowing Black history to be erased and Black voices to be silenced. We have committed to teaching Black history through the lens of truth, not through a lens that is exclusionary, revisionist, racist, and reeks of fascism.”

According to NPR, Pastor Ross Pierre of Greater New Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Miami signed up for the free kit.

Pierre said, “The goal is definitely through preaching. Definitely, through our youth ministry, we have spiritual enrichment classes we teach. And we’ll definitely use the toolkit for that.”

Another Reverend, Richard Dames of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Boynton Beach, signed up and said he’d be using them to teach during his Sunday School classes.

“So what we’re going to do due to the fact that our Sunday school is our teaching hour. We’re going to use our Sunday school period to teach this curriculum.”

The kits consist of eleven units separated into an easy-to-comprehend sectioned course progression. The units include coursework in the Black narrative, the history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Black Lives Matter protests, and even mass incarceration.

Adidas Continues Post-Kanye Yeezy Releases

by Daniel Johnson

July 29, 2023

Adidas Continues Post-Kanye Yeezy Releases

Adidas is continuing to profit from selling its unreleased stock of Yeezy shoes following its divorce from the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. As The Guardian reports, the shoe giant was stuck with millions of shoes in October of 2022 after his anti-Semitic rant that called for “Death Con 3”. Adidas was expected to have its first annual loss in 2023 as a result of dissolving the relationship with West.

Their first reduction of leftover Yeezy stock resulted in dropping 100 million off its expected loss of 400 million dollars in a period between late May and early June of 2023 and now they are gearing up to release more shoes from their vault. Some speculate the resell value of vintage pairs of the shoes approaches a few thousand dollars on the popular reseller site Stock X. Speculation also abounds that Adidas had received orders in the neighborhood of 583 million dollars for 4 million pairs, but was unable to meet that level of demand.

Adidas has partnered with the Anti-Defamation League, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, and the Philonese and Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change among other organizations dedicated to fighting the spread of racism and antisemitism. Although the company pledged to give a significant amount of its proceeds, it has not detailed an exact percentage as of yet. According to their press release, “The products will be available from August 2nd with a phased release to help manage demand whilst ensuring a fair and premium experience for consumers. Availability and timing of release will also vary depending on location.” Models to be released include the Yeezy Boost 350 V2, 500, and 700 as well as the Yeezy Slide and Foam RNR.

Meet Anthony Temple: Black Entrepreneur Making Moves In San Diego’s Mission Valley Mall

by Mary Spiller

July 29, 2023

Meet Anthony Temple: Black Entrepreneur Making Moves In San Diego’s Mission Valley Mall

Black entrepreneur Anthony Temple owns several businesses inside San Diego, California’s Mission Valley Mall. According to a recent interview with AfroTech on July 21, Temple is making big moves in the business world, driven by his unshakable family values and motivation.

Inside the Mission Valley Mall, Temple opened up three different businesses within one year of each other. The shops: Temple Barber Lounge, Temple Custom Jewelers, and Blu Temple Cigar and Wine Company are a testament to his work ethic and goals as an entrepreneur.

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In the exclusive interview with Afro Tech, Temple expressed, “I want to be used as a vessel to show my people this can be done.” He continued to talk about how it was growing up on the south side of Chicago and being discounted every step of the way. “I’m a kid that comes from the south side of Chicago, couldn’t read, write, getting in trouble, going to jail, getting locked up. We can do this. Odds were against me. So many people counting me out. I counted myself out. I didn’t think I was going to live to be past 22 years old because that’s just how the violence was. My reality was living in Chicago. So, I want to be used as a vessel to enter into these industries that I don’t typically see African Americans in.”

Early on, Temple admitted to turning towards the streets despite his father’s close guiding hand as he grew up. After selling drugs to make money, Temple’s turning point came when he was incarcerated.

“Once I ended up getting in trouble, facing 21 to 45 years in jail at 18 years old, selling drugs, I felt the disappointment in my father’s eyes, my family.”

At that point, Temple decided to turn his life around, crediting his father for his motivation. Against the odds, he began the groundwork for his own business ventures. His life was altered again after his dad’s death at age 53, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He described his “ambition and motivation” fading in the face of his grief.

In 2014, he made another big move to try and get himself back on track.

“We came here [to the West Coast]; we just started completely over,” Temple recalled. “We didn’t have a car. We didn’t have a place to stay or anything. When I came to California, I didn’t have a lot of money. I didn’t even have a good $10,000. I had enough money to buy a vehicle and get a plane ticket, and be able to go and get me some more tools. I was living off of all the liquidated funds. I was paying debt back that I owed, trying to leverage my life back out because still, at this time, I was young. I was still learning business. I had made so many different mistakes in business at this time, too as well. I felt that I needed to move somewhere where it was foreign to me, where I didn’t have the resources, to develop the new resources to even discipline myself more in saving money and investing money even more.”

Once in California, Temple built his current businesses from the ground up and worked to become a role model for young Black kids to look up to.

He explained how important it was to honor the people who stood by him as he got to where he is now. He said, “I named everything ‘Temple’ after my last name for family legacy to give my family something to be proud of, so any family member will be able to walk in, get training, get the understanding of how to run and operate a business,”

by Daniel Johnson

July 29, 2023

Netflix Posts AI Job Listing, Which Is Met With Concern

In what is most likely a terribly timed job posting, Netflix is searching for talent in the technology field to develop artificial intelligence-based algorithms. This does not sound too horrific when taken at face value. However, the news breaking during a protracted labor dispute while rumors of artificial intelligence being used to potentially write scripts are precisely what drives people to speculate about their motivations for having such positions in the first place. Netflix is perhaps first and foremost a tech company that happens to be in the business of creating films and TV shows, as SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher alluded to while delivering a speech about the reasons for the writers’ and actors’ united strike earlier in July: “The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. This is a moment of history that is a moment of truth. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business, who cares more about Wall Street than you and your family.”

At first glance, it would appear that Ms. Drescher’s words are ringing true. However, the truth is probably less insidious than it appears. Netflix, like every other technology company on the planet, is investing heavily in artificial intelligence and this shows up in the job listing’s reported salary of $900,000. What does make the company look bad from an optics standpoint is offering this kind of salary while the entertainment industry in Hollywood is paying some employees as little as 13 cents in residual income because of the way streaming numbers currently translate to payments. That, most assuredly, deserves to be called out because it is a glaring reminder of the income inequality that exists broadly in the United States, driven in large part by the technology industry’s acceleration of income inequality according to a 2019 article by Forbes.

As The Intercept first reported, there are, however, those who are alarmed that this foray into artificial intelligence is much more complicated than the job posting indicates. Ben Zhao, professor of computer science at the University of Chicago tells the outlet “It’s almost a guarantee that the use of this ‘research,’ when it gets commercialized, will be to build digital actors that replace humans,” Zhao also added a warning that the research side of their posting is largely a “bait and switch” tactic essentially agreeing with those who are currently worried about the rise in large language models’ usage of data scraped from the internet without any real protections for the data rights of the owners of that data. For their part, the studios seem conflicted about how to move forward with artificial intelligence even though they know it’s going to be an important part of their future, it does not come without its own set of risks according to Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO in a discussion with Disney investors: “ But it’s also clear that AI is going to be highly disruptive, and it could be extremely difficult to manage, particularly from an IP management perspective.”

by Derek Major

July 29, 2023

Meet India Rose, Creator Of The Martha’s Vineyard Black-Owned Business Directory

Black people who visit Martha’s Vineyard every summer know there’s one person to ask about Black businesses on the island.

“Because I live on the island year-round and grew up here, people often seek me out based on stuff I do in the community for Black-owned resources on the island,” India Rose told BLACK ENTERPRISE. “So I’d get messages from a lot of people I didn’t even know that would ask if I knew a Black-owned landscaping company or Black-owned restaurant?”

So in 2019, Rose created the Martha’s Vineyard Black Owned Business Directory. The directory provides a litany of Black-owned businesses on the island, including restaurants, hair & beauty salons, private chefs, and catering. The directory even has Black-owned home improvement services and realtors you can hire.

Instead of telling people where to go, she pointed them to the website. According to Rose, the first year the directory was available, it did pretty well. However, during the summer of 2020, the directory exploded.

“In 2020, with the pandemic hitting and with George Floyd and the world sort of being on fire, people were seeking it out, so the platform kind of organically exploded with traffic, with people going through the website, with allies, with people looking to intentionally support and what I noticed was people were printing from the website, and it was a scrolling site so it didn’t look great.”

When Rose realized the website had gotten so popular that people were printing it, she decided that wasn’t good enough and created the first physical directory to give even more people access to Black-owned businesses on the island. The first year the physical copy of the guide was released was 2021, and as the directory’s popularity has grown, so has its size. In 2021 the directory was 30 pages; this summer, it’s expanded to 92.

In addition to the physical directory, Rose, a mother of two, also owns Sideline, a motivational sportswear brand and community gathering space for events, pop-ups, and networking opportunities.

“Sideline is a motivational sportswear and streetwear brand inspired by me being a sideline mom,” Rose told Black Enterprise. “My son is a junior at the University of Rhode Island on the football team, and one of my biggest accomplishments is being a mom and attending my children’s events; I was the sideline mom, and the echos and the cheers, that’s what Sideline means.”

In the five years it’s existed, the directory has provided a way for Black visitors to spend their money with Black people, and last year Rose partnered with producer Sean “Diddy” Combs and his Ciroc vodka brand.

Rose told Black Enterprise that when she started the directory, she had no idea it would receive this much attention. She admitted she had some fears about it.

“When I announced it, I didn’t know whether it would be embraced, particularly by the locals,” Rose said. “I wondered if there would be backlash, would people ask why are you separating businesses or highlighting Black-owned businesses instead of just a business? Luckily it didn’t; I didn’t have to deal with the negativity from people who wouldn’t support this platform.”

Last month, Rose celebrated the fifth anniversary of the directory as Black-owned businesses from the guide participated in a pop-up marketplace. The celebration also included music from DJ Smooth B, Rose’s husband. However, Rose isn’t resting on the success of the directory. She’s always trying to improve the directory and is already working on next year’s edition.

“For next year, the biggest change is adding articles, just some additional highlights,” said Rose. “Right now, it’s laid out as a resource, but the plan for next year is also to highlight some of the businesses, just sort of a journalistic component of adding some articles and highlighting some of the businesses.”

by Sharelle B. McNair

July 29, 2023

‘Our Land’ Explorers Seek To Find Land Settled By Maroons in Georgia

Deep in Georgia, visitors may be stepping on sacred ground rooted in the history of slavery. The land in question comes from the descendants of the Maroons—the brave souls that escaped slavery to live in the wilderness, the New Yorker reports.

Novelist and nonprofit founder George Dawes Green and 13 others traveled to the land about 20 miles from Savannah, Georgia, to find any remains of a “fortress” built in the 1780s. Legend has it that close to 100 formerly enslaved people once lived there and secured their new homes with a wall, weapons, and guards until white military leaders found the sites and burned them to the ground.

After Dawes Green’s novel, The Kingdoms of Savannah, was published last year, several archeologists, historians, and wanderers are traveling there to see if they can find any artifacts buried within. However, archeologist Rick Kanaski said he didn’t think he would find much but would be able to get a sense of what life was like for the Maroons. “Eventually, we’ll be able to tell some life stories about these individuals who were essentially creating their own community, and reclaiming their own individuality, and their own personhood, and their own society, so to speak,” Kanaski said. “We’ll get a sense of place.”

The land is called Abercorn Island—also known as Belleisle. Kanaski and other explorers presented at an event in July, making a case to bring these stories out of the shadows. According to Savannah Now, he created a process that could identify the locations of the Maroons and possibly recover items from the communities. While it’s been close to 200 years since their demise, uncovering a lost history would draw wide support.

The Maroons didn’t just settle in deep Georgia. Some of them made it to Florida to Prospect Bluff within the Apalachicola National Forest.

by Sharelle B. McNair

July 29, 2023

Boston Business Owners Receive $2.8M Grant To Fill and Revamp Vacant Storefronts

A huge grant will help Boston revitalize empty storefronts throughout the city.

Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, 24 local business owners will receive assistance equaling up to $2.8 million to expand to vacant storefronts, WCVB reports. In partnership with the city’s Supporting Pandemic Affected Community Enterprises Grant—or SPACE—three-quarters of the businesses receiving funds are minority-owned or somewhat women-owned. Mayor Michelle Wu said all the recipients have unique and diverse stories catering to the city’s heart. “These first 24 recipients each have an incredible story of entrepreneurship, from immigrants sharing their culture through food to daycares filling a need seen in many of our communities,” Wu said.

“This program at its core is a win-win for Boston, filling vacant storefronts while helping our small businesses thrive.”

The first round of grants goes to businesses within industries like retail, art, bars, food, and daycare centers. A storefront will be a first for some owners and a chance to expand for others, like Dawne Brown, who owns a daycare. “When I got the grant I just started to cry,” Brown said. “I’m so appreciative.”

All grant winners will be awarded between $40,000 and $200,000 over the next three years, depending on their business needs. With over 350 applications submitted, the city’s Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, Segun Idowu, says he is proud of the response and attests to Boston’s drive to cater to small businesses. “Because of the intentionality of our team and our partners, the first round of awardees help to fill a gap in our neighborhoods and our Downtown, which will lead to increased foot traffic and patronage for the existing businesses in the area,” Idowu said, according to the City of Boston.

“By eliminating barriers to opening a new storefront or expanding one’s business, and by providing wrap-around, long-term technical assistance, the Wu Administration is ensuring the long-term success of local entrepreneurs.”

Applications for the next funding round will open on Oct. 2.