White Tears: Marjorie Taylor Greene Compares Being Called a White Supremacist To The N-Word
Marjorie Taylor Greene is claiming “victim” after Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) called her a white supremacist.
During a press conference early Thursday, the far-right Republican congresswoman told reporters she was offended by the name and equated it to being called another racial slur. “Calling me a white supremacist, which I take great offense to, that is like calling a person of color the N-word,” Greene said.
“Calling me a white supremacist, which I take great offense to, that is like calling a person of color the N-word” – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene pic.twitter.com/9hPHKSM5Qg
Greene and Bowman got into an argument on May 17 on the steps of the US Capitol, Forbes reports. While Rep. George Santos (R-NY) was being interviewed, Bowman began yelling for the indicted congressman to resign. “New Yorkers need better,” Bowman shouted. “You’ve got to kick him out. That’s when Greene approached Bowman and started chanting “impeach Biden,” told him to close the U.S.-Mexico border, and “save the country.” Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) allegedly stepped in to stop it.
During the press conference where Greene introduced articles of impeachment against President Biden, she claimed Bowman was “yelling, shouting and raising his voice.” She also said she feels “threatened by him.” “There’s a lot of concern about Jamaal Bowman, so I am concerned,” she said, according to The Guardian.
Bowman, who is known for calling out far-right Republicans, released a statement explaining how dangerous Greene’s claims against him are.
“Marjorie’s attack is beyond a dog whistle. It’s a bull-horn,” Bowman wrote. “And it’s reckless and dangerous. This is historically what white supremacists do. They try to dehumanize Black people, Black skin, and Black humanity—so that we can be targeted for harm.”
GloRilla ‘So Embarrassed’ By Meme of Her Holding Gun When She Was Younger
After Ja Morantwas captured displaying a gun in a recent Instagram video, the world has been commenting on and discussing his latest infraction. Memes began to circulate, and one, in particular, stood out of a young GloRilla holding a large weapon.
The reaction mostly sparked social media to react with jokes and humor, but GloRilla herself didn’t find the image comical as she reposted it, stating that she was “so embarrassed,” calling herself a menace in high school. The original poster displayed a young GloRilla in the captioned photo saying, “Ja Morant every month.”
West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg posted various memes poking fun at Morant, his agent, and his PR team.
In the latest Morant news, the backlash has gained steam! TMZ reported the sneaker that Nike recently released, The Ja 1, has been removed from the sneaker giant’s website. The sneaker was released on April 19, but as of May 18, it is no longer available on the sneaker brand’s site.
Morant and the rest of the sports world are waiting to see the penalty from the NBA for his latest gun incident.
Black State Representative Honored at White House For Her Model Bill for Nursing Mothers
In 2018, Rep. Roslyn Henderson-Myers filed her first bill, “The South Carolina Nursing Mothers Act.” Today, the Spartanburg-bred community activist and leader is officially receiving her flowers.
Henderson-Myers, a Democrat representing House District 31, is proud to have witnessed her bill gain traction from the state house all the way into federal legislation. The purpose of her bill was to “incentivize public and private employers to add private nursing areas to their buildings and provide breaks for employees who are nursing.”
It took two years since the original filing for South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster to sign the “South Carolina Lactation Support Act into law, which also requires employers to pay an hourly employee for any time spent pumping milk while on the job. PUMP was signed into law on Dec. 29, 2022, by President Biden.
“I was extremely honored,” she told the Herald-Journal. “I don’t know how many states have legislation that goes through Congress after becoming state law.”
Proud to announce that I have just filed my first bill – “The South Carolina Nursing Mothers Act”.
This bill would incentivize public and private employers to add private #nursingareas to their buildings and provide breaks for employees who are nursing. pic.twitter.com/6STp4gVtPS
The federal law comes when more women are in the workforce than ever before. But the hardships Black woman professionals face are present in every workplace, from entry-level to executive roles.
Breastfeeding on the job is among many challenges, especially without the proper protections. According to Congress, working mothers of color have the right to pump safely and avoid serious health consequences.
“No new mother should face unfair treatment in the workplace because their employer refuses to provide them with reasonable break time and private, clean space needed to adequately express breast milk while at work, forcing them to choose between their health and the health of her child, and earning a paycheck,” the White House recorded in a statement of administration policy.
“Yet millions of new working mothers, disproportionately working mothers of color, face this challenge every day.”
Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter LaTosha Brown Receives Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Award
LaTosha Brown received her flowers as an advocate for equality during the prestigious Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Award gala.
Brown, a co-founder of the voting rights group Black Voters Matter, posted a picture on Instagram of herself receiving the award at the luxurious Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan. “I’m so honored to be one of the recipients of the 2023 Women of Vision awards,” Brown wrote in the caption.
The annual gala celebrated its 50th anniversary as one of the nation’s oldest women’s foundations and kicked off its largest fundraising campaign ever, with a goal of $100 million over the next 12 months, Associated Press reports. The money will be used to continue the foundation’s initiatives catering to equity and the mission of advancing women’s collective power.
Awarded alongside Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, Brown received her award from fellow movement leader Tarana Burke, founder of the me.too movement. Burke led the crowd in song before Brown made her way to the stage to give a moving speech. “Even pain has a purpose,” she said. She continued by referencing the nation’s temperature regarding the war on politics. “It really is a question about what is it that we’re going to do collectively to lean into this moment of discomfort and recognize it as an opportunity to get it right because we haven’t gotten it right.”
Brown was able to take some candid photos with other beloved celebrities like journalist Tiffany Cross. She celebrated Cross with the caption, “Thank you for always supporting me and our community.”
Black Voters Matter started in 2016 as a voting rights and community empowerment organization to increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities. The work continues for Brown and BVM now that the awards ceremony is over. The group announced “The Block Is Hot” tour via Twitter, hoping to “blaze a trail for environmental justice.”
After Being Denied Permit for Car Show, Rick Ross Wants to Run for Mayor in Georgia
After being denied a permit to host a car show in Fayetteville, Georgia, recording artist Rick Ross has stated that he wants to run for mayor of the small town.
On a recent Instagram Story, Ross promoted a car and bike show planned for June 3 and seemed genuinely excited even after being denied the permit, which led to his decision to run for mayor. He expressed his love for the small town, influencing his mayoral announcement.
However, WSB-TV reported the town’s residents complained to the Fayette County Board of Commissioners and urged officials to deny the rapper a permit. City officials confirmed the director of planning and zoning for Fayette County denied the permit because the planned event did not comply with the Fayette County Zoning Ordinance.
Although his permit wasn’t approved, the Miami native continued to promote his car show, defying the order, and ended the video clip by saying, “I love Fayetteville so much. Next year I’m running for mayor. That’s right. The boss Rick Ross is running for mayor of Fayetteville.”
He followed up, asking for advice from “young students” partaking in legal studies.
Rick Ross announces that he wants to run for mayor after officials reject his car and bike show permit request. pic.twitter.com/SMOg437Hf9
“I wanna know how many votes did it actually take to vote in the mayor of Fayetteville. I need to know that ’cause we gon’ become that. We gon’ make that happen, and we gonna have a good time. We gon’ give some people opportunities, we gon’ give some people raises and, of course, we gon’ have to clean some people out.”
In another clip, Ross says he becomes “great during the challenges.”
Only time will tell if Rick Ross will soon assume the title of Mayor Ross.
Remembering Sean Bell On His 40th Birthday, The Father And Groom Killed By Police The Night Before His Wedding
It’s nearing 20 years since the tragic police shooting of Sean Bell, the 23-year-old father, and husband-to-be, who was violently shot by police the day before his wedding.
Bell and two of his close friends were leaving a Queens strip club where they went to celebrate his bachelor party when they were shot a total of 50 times by five uniformed and plainclothes undercover officers with the New York Police Department, the Amsterdam Newsreports.
While Bell’s two friends survived, Bell was struck in the neck and arm and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. His friend, Joseph Guzman, was left in critical condition after being hit 11 times and Tent Benefield, arrived in stable condition.
When Guzman and Benefield arrived at the hospital, they were shackled to their beds. None of the three men had a firearm despite police claiming they heard one of them make mention of a gun.
The shooting took place after Guzman got into an argument with another male outside Club Kalua, a club that was reportedly housing a prostitution ring. During the altercation, Guzman reportedly made mention of a gun, which prompted Officer Gescard Isnora to let him know that he was an officer, Black Pastreports.
However, Isnora assumed one of the three men was reaching for a gun and started firing into Bell’s car. Other officers joined and fired 50 rounds into the vehicle, killing Bell.
The tragic murder sparked outcry across the city with many demanding justice for Sean Bell at a time when social media wasn’t anywhere near where it is today. The shooting was likened to the police shooting of Amadou Diallo in 1999.
Al Sharpton and other activists protested in the streets and outside police headquarters in hopes of seeing the officers stripped of their titles and arrested for the murder. Three of the five officers were indicted on March 16, 2007.
Isnora who fired the first shot and Officer Michael Oliver, who fired 31 of the 50 shots, were both charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter, second-degree careless endangerment, and first- and second-degree assault. Detective Marc Cooper was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment. All three detectives pleaded not guilty.
In April 2008, all three officers were acquitted of all charges. Bell left behind his fiancee and two daughters, Jada and Jordyn. In November 2019, 13 years after his murder, his fiancee Nicole Paultre-Bell spoke against the acquittal of the officers.
“Thirteen years after Sean’s death the pain hasn’t subsided and I’m still seeking solace following so many unanswered questions about a criminal justice system that failed our daughters and took away their father,” Bell said.
“With the negligence, the assault, the civil rights violations, and the egregious misconduct all pointing to guilt, the police officers are still acquitted.”
Sean Bell’s death remains one of the many instances and examples of the brutal police brutality that runs rampant in a country deep-rooted in racism and criminal injustice.
In 2011, the Sean Bell Community Center was opened in Jamaica Queens, NY Daily News reports. The center offers mentoring, GED and tutoring programs for children and adolescents, as well as job-training referral programs for adults, via NBC NY.
Kobe Bryant’s Daughter Natalia Among Names Credited in Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance World Tour’
According to UPROXX, Beyoncé dropped the massive list of credits May 17.
The world is already going wild over the videos circulating of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance World Tour,” but some may not have taken time to view the list of credited individuals helping coordinate the highly anticipated shows. Now, they can.
Fans who scroll to the section labeled Parkwood Entertainment will notice Vanessa and Kobe Bryant’s daughter, Natalia Bryant, listed as an intern on the tour. As Queen Bey makes her way around the world this summer, it looks like Bryant will tag along for the ride—interning, of course.
The Beyhive has sounded off. Fans have been tweeting about the 20-year-old’s role on the tour, leaving their comments of approval.
One Twitter user posted about Bryant’s internship, showing the list along with a few emotional emojis.
The tweet has sparked some conversation about nepotism since going viral, but the fans seem to be here for it. “Unabashedly love this nepotism sawry,” one user tweeted, while another agreed. “If I were a nepo baby I would utilize the forces that is my last name to get me an internship with Beyoncé,” another user wrote.
“What’s the point of parents working hard and not sharing with their kids? And Natalia is a [college] kiddo too, she’s getting an education,” a third user said about Bryant, a student at the University of Southern California.
This isn’t Bryant’s first time working with the Renaissance artist. She made an appearance in Beyoncé’s November 2021 Ivy Park campaign.
“Love you so much Auntie BB,” Bryant added in a caption along with the ad she posted to her Instagram page.
Other familiar names have also been spotted on the list of credits, including singer Dani Leigh who has been credited for choreography; the famous dancing duo Les Twins, who have graced the stage for several other Beyoncé performances; and, of course, Beyoncé’s very own mother, Tina Knowles Lawson, who has been credited under Costume Design.
Beyoncé mentioned her friends and family at the top of her list of Special Thanks. Which city are you headed to see Queen Bey in action?
Rep. Cori Bush Calls For $14 Trillion In Reparations: ‘It’s Time To Pay’
While Black Californians could be getting some deserved reparations, Rep. Cori Bush is calling for the federal government’s atonement for all Black Americans.
NPR reported that the first Black congresswoman in Missouri’s history brought a new $14 trillion proposal to the table. With reparations for Black Americans in mind, the legislation wants the United States government to address and compensate for the dehumanizing practice of chattel slavery and the ongoing decades of disparities in healthcare, housing, and policing.
“Every step of the way, Black Americans have been intentionally pushed back economically. A debt is owed. It’s time to pay that debt. It’s time for reparations,” Bush wrote in a Twitter post.
Slavery.
Black codes.
Jim Crow.
Redlining.
Mass incarceration.
Every step of the way, Black Americans have been intentionally pushed back economically. A debt is owed.
It’s time to pay that debt. It’s time for reparations.
The colonial system of slavery was one of the most profitable institutions in history during the 17th and 19th centuries. By 1860, about 4 million American slaves, who were exploited as unpaid labor, became the “largest single financial asset in the entire U.S. economy, worth more than all manufacturing and railroads combined,” Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote in his Slavery Made America.
In addition to monetary compensation, Bush said in a Wednesday news conference that the United States has a “moral and legal obligation” for the devastating Black experience more than 150 years after slavery was abolished, per NPR. From infant mortality rates to the widening racial wealth gap, inequality for Black Americans plays out over the course of a lifetime.
“We know that we continue to live under slavery’s vestiges. We know how slavery has perpetuated Jim Crow. We know how slavery’s impacts live on today,” Bush said, per NPR.
Bush’s introduction of the trillion dollars is an effort among other state-wide level movements toward reparations. The nine-member California Reparations Task Force voted May 6 to recommend that state lawmakers provide billions of dollars in compensation payments to qualified Black residents and to issue a formal apology for slavery, The Los Angeles Times reports.
But the decision still hangs in the balance without Democratic Gov.Gavin Newsom’s support.
“Many of the recommendations put forward by the Task Force are critical action items we’ve already been hard at work addressing — all while investing billions to root out disparities and improve equity in housing, education, healthcare, and well beyond,” Newsom said, per Mercury News.
How Warrick Dunn and WD Communities Aims To Change The Stigma of Homeownership in Black Communities
Our economy seems to be all over the place as of late, however, real estate is a key industry that continues to thrive.
By providing investment opportunities in communities that are often overlooked, National Real Estate Day on May 17 celebrated how the industry and its leaders are changing the lives of those around us.
Former NFL running back Warrick Dunn has set his mark in the real estate industry for years. Always passionate about giving back to the community, Dunn started Warrick Dunn Charities in 1997 with a program, Homes for the Holidays in Tampa, Florida, that furnished homes for needy families. That same year, he handed over the keys to the program’s first fully furnished home. The program expanded to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Dunn’s hometown, a year later. But, he felt more needed to be done.
In cities nationwide, affordable housing is scarce, especially in Black communities. Data from Lending Tree show Atlanta is the seventh city in the nation with the lowest percentage of Black homeowners. As a former Atlanta Falcon, Dunn, 48, decided to step up and do something about that. He created WD Communities, a nonprofit on “a mission to break the cycle of generational poverty by assisting communities through a housing-first approach,” according to the website.
His nonprofit believes strongly in the value of partnership, and with a strong stigma surrounding homeownership in the Black community, Dunn hopes to change that narrative. To create generational wealth, he believes “it starts with homeownership, but there are many factors that contribute to parents understanding that they can create a stable environment for their kids,” Dunn told Black Enterprise. “It’s education and understanding the steps one has to take to put themselves in a position to purchase a home. We try to educate and want families to create better habitats to sustain for the long term.”
WD Communities builds housing for families close to 80% below the median household income level. They also provide programs for financial literacy, health and wellness, and workforce development for underprivileged communities. Having a strong love for Georgia and seeing a need for housing, Dunn partnered with Hawthorne Welcher of the Augusta Housing Authority after meeting through a mutual friend. He pitched his concept and got to work. “For years, everyone has thought I was building homes for families based on my charity’s work providing down payment assistance,” Dunn remembered.
“I started exploring the idea of building housing for families. I explained my vision and how I wanted to expand what I was doing at the charity and help families with housing and not just single-parent families.”
Being a successful homeowner takes lots of education and a hands-on approach. Dunn remembers being an investor early on in his career, taking calculated risks, and described his approach as “just putting money up, watching, and learning.” As time passed, he realized it’s more about investing your time. “Today, I am a much more hands-on investor,” Dunn said. “I like to go over the financials, strategize, analyze, and actively lead business growth.”
With all the information at your fingertips because of social media, a person can get sucked into false information that could put an investment at risk. It also can cause aspiring real estate agents to use phony practices. Dunn advises those taking advice from social media to be cautious. “You have to understand the landscape, and that includes data to help drive your decisions. Most importantly, the investor needs to see things for themselves,” Dunn said. “You also have to have people on the ground that know and understand your end goal.”
Dunn’s end goal has moved past Georgia, entering Florida. Recently, he partnered with the Big Bend Habitat for Humanity in Tallahassee to help single parents achieve the goal of first-time homeownership. The Tallahassee Democrat reports the families were surprised with a $5,000 down payment assistance check each from Warrick Dunn Charities and $10,000 worth of furniture from Aaron’s. As a Florida State alum, the state’s capital always has a place in his heart. “Tallahassee is always going to be home for me and played a vital role for my development and growth, Dunn said.
For Atlanta, WD Communities is coming in strong to develop housing for those in need. Partnering with local municipalities, Dunn and his team hope to continue a legacy of stability in Black neighborhoods. “We are creating a model that can be replicated in other markets but also includes wrap-around services to help create that long-term stability that is needed.”
Russell Westbrook Wants To Become A Billionaire ‘Sooner Than Later’
NBA player Russell Westbrook aspires to become a billionaire “sooner than later.”
In an exclusive discussion with Forbes, the Los Angeles Clippers point guard wants to join the company of fellow athletes LeBron James, Tiger Woods, and former player Michael Jordan in achieving billionaire status. He is a little more than a third of the way there, as the media outlet estimates his net worth currently sits at $375 million.
Westbrook said he lives by the mantra, “Why not?’ I live by that. It took 75 years for somebody to average a triple-double. Well, I did it four times,” the former MVP continued.
His current salary allowed him to make the Forbes World’s Highest-Paid Athletes list at No. 14, making him the fourth highest-paid basketball player behind James, Stephen Curry, and former teammate Kevin Durant. Out of an estimated $82.1 million he pulled in over the last 12 months, $35 million stems from endorsements.
Not to mention Russell Westbrook Enterprises (RWE), which he started three years ago. When he is not guiding his basketball team on the court, he is propelling his company forward, according to one of his business partners who said, “He is intimately involved in every transaction. I am amazed at how much he participates in all decisions.”
His company’s current clientele includes AT&T, Nike, PepsiCo, American Airlines, Varo Bank, and A+E Networks. The Clippers player’s recently launched digital advertising business, RW Digital, created to help brands reach diverse audiences, is projected to bring in $37 million in revenue this year.
With his sights set on reaching that billionaire high point, he knows his work is cut out for him.
“It’s what I want to be,” Westbrook says. “In the business realm, that is a pinnacle that people where I come from don’t make it to.”
With his playing days nearly completed, Westbrook is ready to lead his business team down that financial court of success.
