Gabrielle Union isn’t here for too many games. Recently, Tennesse governor, Bill Lee, signed a bill banning transgender health care for minors, and Union isn’t holding back her opinions on the anti-drag bill. 

Not only are Union and her husband Dwyane Wade advocates of the LGBTQ community, but their 15-year-old daughter, Zaya, is transgender. 

During an interview with Variety, Union spoke about citizens resisting laws that affect lives. 

“There is an army that rebukes you, that does not agree with you and that will not lie down while this fascist rule is instituted,” Union said.  “And that’s just one state. There are several states who were doing the same thing, and they will be met with resistance. People are not going to take this lying down. They’re just not. So if you thought this was going to be a cakewalk, you’re in for a rude awakening.”

Back in February, the couple received the president’s award at the 54th NAACP Image Awards. Union and Wade have been unwavering in supporting Zaya’s decision to identify as a girl. Wade dedicated his award to Zaya. 

“I want to take this moment to publicly speak to our daughter Zaya,” Wade said. “Zaya, as your father, all I’ve wanted to do was get it right. I’ve sat back and watched how gracefully you’ve taken on the public scrutiny. Even though it’s not easy, I watched you walk out of that house every morning as yourself. I admire how you’ve handled the ignorance in our world. I admire that you face it every day. To say that your village is proud of you is an understatement. Thank you for showing me that there’s more than just one way to communicate effectively. As your father, my job isn’t to create a version of myself or direct your future. My role is to be a facilitator to your hopes, wishes, and dreams.”

The anti-drag bill also bans adult cabaret performances in public or in the presence of children and within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, and places of worship. 

Those guilty of violating the anti-drag bill can be fined up to $2,500 or jailed for up to a year. Multiple violations of the anti-drag bill can face up to six years in jail. 

Recently, Zaya was granted a legal name change by the state of California. Zaya’s original name is Zion Malachi Airamis Wade. With the legal name change, she now goes by Zaya. 

• News

by Sharelle B. McNair

March 8, 2023

BREAKING: Justice Department Set to Review Memphis Police Department Following Death of Tyre Nichols

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The Justice Department has a magnifying glass up to the Memphis Police Department.

ABC News reported the department will be reviewing MPD, following the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols. A new set of eyes will be looking into the police department’s use-of-force and de-escalation policies, as well as the special police units deployed into the city. The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services will release a public report after the conclusion of the Justice Department’s review. A statement released from Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta claimed  several police chiefs have called for an assessment of the “special units.”

“In the wake of Tyre Nichols’s tragic death, the Justice Department has heard from police chiefs across the country who are assessing the use of specialized units and, where used, appropriate management, oversight and accountability for such units,” Gupta said.

The COPS office said they are working to create a guide for police chiefs around the country regarding the use of specialized units and how they should be properly supervised.

The review was requested by the mayor of Memphis, Jim Strickland, and Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn J. Davis. The announcement comes shortly before officials are expected to release more footage from the night of the beating.

According to CNN, records will be released from the city’s internal investigation into 13 police officers and four fire department personnel. Allegedly, the unreleased footage will include audio of what was said after the beating and after an ambulance took Nichols to the hospital. It may possibly play a role in whether the officers involved will face additional charges.

Tyre Nichols’ death made headlines after five Black police officers were accused of beating and kicking Nichols after a traffic stop that went bad. The incident occurred on Jan. 7 and Nichols died from his injuries three days later at the hospital. Video footage released contradicts the officers’ stories of what happened. All five officers were indicted on charges on Jan. 26.

• News

by Sharelle B. McNair

March 8, 2023

The International African American Museum in South Carolina Set to Open in June

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Prepare to witness history, as the International African-American Museum is scheduled to open in June.

Located in Charleston, SC, The Post and Courier reported the museum is the second-largest institution honoring African-American history. The historic building will open at the port where almost 40% of Africans, who were transported during the international slave trade, first set foot on United States soil. Museum president and CEO, Dr. Tonya M. Matthews, said the project has been in motion for 20 years, and is very excited for guests to have this experience. “The land that we sit on has a story to tell,” Matthews said.

Delays to the opening were due to conditions inside of the building. ABC 4 said that humidity was a main concern, as it could harm sensitive items. South Carolina Republican governor, Henry McMaster, was able to preview the museum and its beautiful element. He urged people from all over to pay a visit and shared some behind-the-scenes images via Twitter. “I encourage everyone to plan a trip to experience the museum’s powerful storytelling and its many lessons when it officially opens later this year,” McMaster wrote.

Yesterday I had the privilege of previewing the new International African American Museum in Charleston. I encourage everyone to plan a trip to experience the museum’s powerful storytelling and its many lessons when it officially opens later this year. pic.twitter.com/PZyB8mIS7h

— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) February 15, 2023

Matthews said viewers will witness a timeline starting in 300 B.C., the earliest known record of rice cultivation, housed in the Carolina Gold Gallery, which focuses on how slavery and the rice cultivation impacted the state, compared to cotton, the most popular cash crop people are familiar with. “This is how Charleston became the richest city in all the colonies and how South Carolina became the richest colony of the colonies,” Matthews informed. “Ultimately, rice is the foundation of American wealth.”

Other galleries will focus on Gullah Geechee culture and contemporary art. A variety of artifacts, like a “freed badge,” that free African Americans had to carry while walking around the city, are on display as well.

Comedian Mike Epps is caught up in a situation that’s not funny.

According to WHTR, the actor was caught carrying a loaded handgun at the Indianapolis International Airport over the weekend, and could possibly be facing charges.

Om March 5, police officers at the airport responded to a firearms investigation at a security checkpoint after it was determined that there might be a possible firearm inside a backpack. A report from airport officials stated that police officers discovered a .38 Special Airweight revolver inside Epps’ backpack. The gun was loaded with four rounds of Hornady .38 special ammo, and the spot in the cylinder with the firing pin was empty.

The officers confiscated the weapon as Epps told them he was in town for a show at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. He had forgotten that he had the handgun inside his bag.

• News

by Sharelle B. McNair

March 8, 2023

Swagger Like Us: Take A Look Inside This Year’s Oscars ‘Swag Bag’

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Celebrities attending this weekend’s 95th Academy Awards will walk away with more than a potential golden statue.

InStyle takes fans inside the infamous Oscars gift bag. The 2023 package is reportedly worth an estimated six-figures with ridiculously lavish gifts, thanks to Distinctive Assets. The Hollywood elite will walk away with facial rejuvenation procedures from Dr. Konstantin Vasyukevich and vacations to Italy and Canada. Distinctive Assets founder, Lash Fary, says the company is proud to set the standard year after year. “We are excited and proud to once again be creating what is known worldwide as the ultimate swag bag. While our gifts may be famous for being fun, fabulous, useful and unique, they also serve a grander purpose,” Fary said.

“Most of the brands we include are from a diverse and inclusive array of small businesses who meaningfully benefit from the global exposure that being associated with Hollywood’s Biggest Night affords them. This is celebrity marketing with a mission.”

Nominees like Angela Bassett and Rihanna will be gifted with simple gifts such as travel pillows from PETA, luggage and flip-flops from Havaianas, a silk pillowcase from Blush Silks and more beauty and skin care items from several brands. On top of that, attendees can sip some great wine from Frontera Wines or cater to their sweet tooth with Good Girl Chocolate.

However, if they get bored, they can leave the award show and jet to Australia as plots of land are also being offered. Fary says while the list looks over the top, its all about the marketing. “While this gift bag does, as always, have an impressive value, that is neither our focus nor goal,” Fary said, according to the press release. “This is a straightforward win/win. Marketing and advertising can and must co-exist with the ever-present reporting of bad news globally. This isn’t frivolity; it is basic economics.”

Find out who walks away with the ultimate prize when the Oscars air live Sunday, Mar. 12.

Au’loni Media Group, LLC has launched The Melanoid Chronicles, the first-ever encyclopedia series for the African Diaspora in the New Millennium and the first to ever be created in the United States of America.

So far, The Melanoid Chronicles have been featured on 43 Comcast networks including The OWN Network, Fox News, NBC, ESPN, The NFL Network, Entertainment Channel (E!), The Discovery Channel, TV Land, The Hallmark Channel, Music Television (MTV), Paramount, and USA. The series has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal (MarketWatch), on Fox News, and on local, national, and international radio stations and podcasts.

Au’loni Media Group, LLC was most recently selected as a Marquis Who’s Who in America, received the 2022 Philadelphia Award in the areas of Business and Coaching, and was inducted into The Philadelphia Media Founder’s Exchange with The Lenfest Institute of Journalism. In addition, our podcast #BlackWealthIsBack was rated #13 of the Top 90 Podcasts for “Black Wealth and Finance” by FeedSpot.

The first edition addresses the first 20 years of the new millennium. There’s no secret that black history as we know it, is a watered-down version of the many contributions that members of the African Diaspora have contributed to creating and developing America. As Michelle Obama said at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, “She lives in a house (white house) that was built by slaves.” Before she said it, how many people actually knew that?

In traditional educational institutions, very few trailblazers from the African Diaspora are featured outside of Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. This has created two issues in our society. An entire race who has been denied their history which we see the effects of every day and the idea that keeps racism at its highest levels, that only Caucasian/European-based races founded and created every aspect of our society.

The movie, Hidden Figures, which was released in 2016, is the perfect example. Three women who defined modern advances through mathematical and technological advances at NASA were never in the history books. In 2020 Katherine Johnson passed away and was honored as a staple in history when just 4 years before, no one knew who she was or her amazing contributions to STEM. These stories are repetitive in U.S. history and now have to be redefined in how “history” is documented for future generations.

We have taken a traditional way of providing education and literary work while using modern technology to make sure that these stories are not only well documented but will exist throughout time and continue to be relatable and available.

According to the creators of The Melanoid Chronicles, the reason their series addresses the year 2000 and beyond is that we can’t change our “lost” history. They comment, “Throughout time, we will still be discovering those “hidden figures” who were never acknowledged for their contributions to society. However, we can change the trajectory of how our stories are told from here on out in hopes that our future generations will NEVER experience what every generation before them had to endure by not being told or knowing their history and having the idea that only slavery defines them in the U.S.”

They continue, “In 100 years, our stories of today will help shape the ideas of our children and how they value themselves. This is a “historical piece of art” to lay the groundwork for future generations. If you are 23 years of age and younger, for the first time, your history is documented both physically and vaulted in the digital verse. The Melanoid Chronicles has arrived to be steadfast on that mission.”

The company’s mission is to merge traditional media with modern technology. Through broadcast, digital, and print media, we minimize the gatekeeper’s influence over the voice of the underrepresented and disenfranchised, to better strengthen our global community.

Learn more at www.amgroupllc.biz/melanoidchronicles or follow the brand on Facebook and Instagram.

In an exclusive interview with Refinery 29, Tessa Thompson revealed that she and the star and director of Creed III, Michael B. Jordan, attended couples therapy together in preparation for the movie.

Thompson plays the love interest to Jordan in the Creed series. Bianca (Thompson) and Adonis are now married with a child in the latest sequel. To “express” the realness that a couple may be going through things, the two actors went to couples therapy in character for the movie. Yet, Thompson said she feels that therapy can be a good thing for “all people,” as it helped her character in Creed III.

“I think the moral of Creed III is that all people should go to therapy because it’s something that I think really has helped Bianca, for example.”

She admitted that the therapy they attended together was the first time for both actors. And to do so in character was “weird.”

“But it ended up being like — the line sometimes between character and us get blurred because we bring so much of what we’re exploring personally to the characters in general. So funnily, it was the first time…. I’m probably saying too much. I’ll say it was an early experience in couples therapy for us both [personally], but it was as these characters, which is very weird. But I think it reminded us of our own personal lives that going to therapy, even when a relationship is good, can be a good thing if you’re trying to just sharpen communication and figure out how someone works. It’s useful in so many relationships.”

Thompson went into further detail as she reminded us that she and Jordan have been filming these movies over the course of nine years. The personal relationships the actors have had on their own, they’ve talked about throughout the years.

“OK, we were in therapy, yes, as Bianca and Adonis, but we were also reflecting on our own relationships. Since we’ve been making these movies for eight, nine years, we’ve seen each other through various stages in our own romantic things. So we know stuff about each other’s lives. We shared and talked about it. So therapy ended up starting at work and getting more personal. Also, it was a chance for us to really talk to a couples therapist and understand what are some of the things young parents who are trying to balance their own dreams and aspirations? What are the themes that you see? What are the things they might be up against? What might be their impediments to happiness or success as a couple? That was really fascinating also to hear from her and bring that into the stew.”

The sessions must have worked, as the chemistry of the two has helped the third movie in the series to its largest opening weekend box office total. According to Rotten Tomatoes, Creed III has already brought in $100 million internationally.

Who’s Having My Baby? A good question that has probably crossed Nick Cannon‘s mind over the past several years. Apparently, the baby-making machine has shown no signs of slowing down! We think…

Cannon, the father of 12 children, has something that he and Kevin Hart may have birthed in the form of a game show. The Masked Singer host posted on his social media accounts that “We’re expecting… a new show on E! Entertainment.”

On Cannon’s Twitter and Instagram accounts, a video clip revealed a new game show featuring his good friend Kevin Hart.

• Women

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

March 8, 2023

Famed Female Pilot Inspires Next Generation of Diverse Pilots at United Aviate Academy’s Women’s History Month Luncheon

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The United Aviate Academy tapped famed pilot and travel journalist Kellee Edwards to help kick off Women’s History Month by speaking to their class of diverse student pilots.

On Friday, United Aviate Academy hosted an honorary luncheon presented by the United Explorer Card from Chase at their base in Goodyear, AR. The exclusive event was open to female students and aimed at empowering women and people of color to become pilots.

During the luncheon, a diverse group of student pilots, consisting of women and people of color, gained industry insight from an established pioneer Black woman in aviation.

Edwards was proud to speak to the student pilots about her journey to gain her pilot license and how it helped propel her career in television. Edwards, who made history as the first Black woman to host a travel adventure show on The Travel Channel, spoke about her commitment to paying it forward and inspiring the next generation of women in aviation.

“What people don’t understand often is they see the limelight and the accomplishments, but it’s so hard to do the work that I do, especially being the first, often the only,” Edwards told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

Witnessing all of the diversity on the United Aviate Academy campus was an eye-opener for Edwards, who launched her aviation career often being the only woman, let alone the only Black woman.

“I didn’t have any female instructors like that. I was in a plane full of men all the time,” she said. “So, they have this community and I just told them all, ‘You guys are all going to be better pilots than me.'”

Elsewhere, we spoke with student pilot Abby Awosanya, a recipient of the Women in Aviation International scholarship, who shared her journey of wanting to become a pilot after taking long flights with her parents as a child to their native Nigeria.

“I knew I wanted to fly since I was six years old, during my first flight to Nigeria,” she told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

“You can ask me about my trip to Nigeria, and I couldn’t tell you anything about what I did when I was there, but I could tell you about my journey there and back.”

The luncheon comes two years after United Aviate Academy announced plans to train 5,000 new pilots by 2030 with at least 50% being women or people of color. The initiative is aimed at bringing much-needed diversity to an industry Black people once couldn’t enter unless they enlisted themselves in the military.

Now, with pilot schools like United Aviate Academy, learning how to fly a plane is more accessible than ever before. With pilots like Kellee Edwards and future pilots like Abby Awosanya, we are starting to see a shift in aviation that will make way for more Black pilots in the future.

“There’s a common stigma that when companies open up opportunities for underrepresented groups to join their industry, that the quality is compromised,” Awosanya said.

“However, that’s not the case. We are just as equally talented and qualified to do the jobs that are there.”

Cher and her boyfriend Alexander “A.E.” Edwards might be the next power couple in music.

The legendary singer announced that she has been working on new music that includes a collaboration with boyfriend Edwards, a music executive.

According to E! News, the two lovebirds are creating some fire tracks.

“I’m going to England to make two albums,” Cher told the outlet during the Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love taping on March 2. “Some of the songs Alexander gave me, so I’m pretty excited about that. He’s a producer and a writer and he does everything, so I’m happy about that.”

“I think like any artist,” she added, “when you’ve got something good, you’re excited.”

Cher also revealed plans to go on tour this year.

“I’m trying to get myself in shape,” she said.

The musicians were first spotted together in November 2022 when they were photographed holding hands in Los Angeles. Immediately following the snaps, the couple received heavy backlash about their age gap. Cher, 76, found herself defending her relationship with Edwards, who is 40 years younger.

 

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“Love doesn’t know math,” Cher responded to a tweet in 2022 when asked about Edwards, 36, who was in a previous relationship with model and television personality Amber Rose.

The criticisms haven’t only come from external parties. As BLACK ENTERPRISE recently reported, Cher’s two sons were unhappy at the news of the couple heading to Vegas to elope. The dysfunction among the family led to Cher contemplating cutting her two sons out of her will.

“Cher is mad at them. She’s ready to cut them out of her life completely,” a knowledgeable source shared in February. “She’s been hell-bent on marrying this guy and is speaking to her lawyers about adjusting her will to make A.E. her sole beneficiary.”