• Sports

by Eric Moody

November 10, 2022

14-Year-Old Walking After Successful Open Heart Surgery Following Collapse on Football Field

---

It has been a rocky road to recovery for 14-year-old high school freshman Zaidyn Ward who collapsed in the end zone after scoring a football game’s final touchdown as his team huddled there.

Thankfully, this Texas student-athlete successfully received open-heart surgery two months after the August 31 incident at Monterey High School in Lubbock, Texas.

Ward had just finished playing his second game of the year when he suffered a seizure on the field, according to ABC affiliate KXXV. A medical team at the game provided CPR and eventually used a defibrillator twice to save Ward.

The teen was transferred to Cooks Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, roughly 300 miles away. Due to complications, KXXV reported that surgeons quickly realized Ward wasn’t getting blood flow in the left side of his heart and considered performing open heart surgery, considered rare for people his age.

A fundraiser was organized to help Ward and his family pay for the necessary medical expenses. The effort raised over $35,000 with an original campaign goal of just $8,000.

But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Ward’s scheduled surgery was reportedly delayed more than once.

“What they wanted him to do was come here and give, I guess, his lungs enough time to heal,” Ward’s mother, Cassandra Combs, told KCBD.

Despite the challenging road, Ward persevered and completed the surgery successfully.

“It feels good. They’re saying that I’m healing faster than what I am supposed to be, so that’s a good thing. I’m already walking after the surgery,” Ward told KLBK following his surgery. Doctors said complications amid an unknown birth defect involving the arteries caused Ward to pass out. 

 “He’s healing,” Combs added. “Zaidyn is pulling through. He’s been walking around, he had his tubes taken out, and he’s done his breathing treatments. He’s healing slowly, but so far, he’s doing pretty good.”

Overall, Ward is optimistic for his future as his doctors said he can return to the football field next year.

A man has received a lifetime ban from the Royal Opera House in London after he heckled a 12-year-old child during his performance.

Malakai M. Bayoh was making his debut as Oberta in the George Frideric Handel opera seria Alcina on Tuesday, November 8.

Bayoh is a music student at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London. According to The Daily Beast, when Bayoh took to the stage, the heckler yelled, “Rubbish!” and booed the young performer. Associate art editor of the Financial Times, Josh Spero, tweeted about the incident and asked who would do such a thing to a child.

“The nastiest thing happened @RoyalOperaHouse tonight during Alcina: a ~12yo boy was sweetly singing his lines when a man in the audience yelled ‘rubbish!’ and booed him. Who would do that to a child? Once the boy was done, the audience responded with wild applause and cheering.”

Wishing all the best to our Malakai who this evening makes his debut as Oberta at the @RoyalOperaHouse in their new production of Handel’s Alcina. #rohalcina pic.twitter.com/EeYEaKRIOz

— Cardinal Vaughan Music (@CVMSMusic) November 8, 2022

The Royal Opera House also tweeted about the offensive disruption and confirmed that the man was no longer welcome at the facility.

“Unfortunately, the opening night of Alcina featured an audience member who disrupted the show and the excellent performance by young singer Malakai M Bayoh. We are appalled that a member of the audience behaved in this way and steps have been taken to ensure the audience member in question does not return to the Royal Opera House.”

We are appalled that a member of the audience behaved in this way and steps have been taken to ensure the audience member in question does not return to the Royal Opera House.
[2/2]

— Royal Ballet and Opera (@rbo_org) November 9, 2022

The Royal Opera House also congratulated Bayoh on his excellent performance despite the rude disturbance.

“We would like to congratulate Malakai M Bayoh for his stellar performance as Oberto in our first night of Alcina,” said the spokesperson.

“Malakai is astonishingly talented—bringing great acting and beautiful singing to the role—a huge accomplishment for such a young singer.”

Bayoh received thunderous applause and cheering from the audience at the end of the show.

• Entrepreneurship

by Stacy Jackson

November 10, 2022

Meet the Black Woman Whose Company Washed 43,035 Seats in Preparation for 2022 World Series

---

A Black woman entrepreneur is proud that her company played a role in the Phillies’ World Series run.

After fans were cleared out from Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park by a rain cancellation last Monday night, Sheena Parker, owner of 4SYT Industries, a facilities maintenance company, said her crew stayed behind to uphold their duties.

“If we’re rained out or something is canceled, our crew is still there,” Parker said.

According to ABC6, the crew of 150 members made sure the stadium seats were ready for the next day. Preparation included pressure washing all 43,035 seats in Citizens Bank Park.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by 4SYT Industries (@4syt_industries)

“My guys work super hard and they work all night,” she said. “We do pressure washing, trash pickup, and janitorial.”

“It’s almost like a make or break. It must be done,” she added.

Parker shared how pleased she is to be one of the few Black-owned companies contracted with Citizens Bank Park where the team also preps the stadium for concerts and other events.

“It’s a labor that’s often overlooked,” said Parker.

“People just look at ‘Oh, I’m in my nice clean seat,’ but they don’t realize how much time it takes to ensure there is no debris in your seat. That there is no debris on the ground because that changes your entire experience when you’re walking into something that is not clean.”

As an Army veteran and woman in a male-dominated field, Parker revealed she is often the only Black woman when she visits sites. Aside from the stadium contract, 4SYT is responsible for all state buildings in Delaware and the Atlanta public school system. She also has contracts with companies and venues in six states along the East Coast.

With game three between the Phillies and Houston Astros being postponed, the remainder of the 2022 World Series schedule was pushed back by a day.

After the Brooklyn Nets issued demands for how point guard Kyrie Irving can rejoin the organization, the embattled basketball superstar finally met with NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

It was reportedly “a productive and understanding visit” between the two.

No details have been revealed from Silver, Irving, the NBA, or the Brooklyn Nets, but The Athletic’s lead NBA reporter Shams Charania mentioned the get-together via his Twitter account.

“NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Kyrie Irving met this morning and the sides had a productive and understanding visit, paving the way for the Nets and their suspended star to work through his steps on a potential path forward.”

Sources: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Kyrie Irving met this morning and the sides had a productive and understanding visit, paving the way for the Nets and their suspended star to work through his steps on a potential path forward.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 8, 2022

The Brooklyn Nets suspended the mercurial New Jersey native when the team stated that Irving was “currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets” for his “failure to disavow antisemitism” after tweeting a link to Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!, a film widely considered anti-Semitic, prompting a barrage of media attention.

The Nets made the decision after an outcry from the NBA commissioner. Silver criticized Irving for not offering “an unqualified apology.”

“Kyrie Irving made a reckless decision to post a link to a film containing deeply offensive anti-Semitic material,” Silver said in a statement.

“While we appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with the Brooklyn Nets and the Anti-Defamation League to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize.”

After meeting with Silver—and dependent on Irving completing the six rules the organization has set forth for the point guard in addition to completing a five-game suspension—it looks as if the mercurial superstar will likely be allowed to play again.

• News

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

November 10, 2022

18-Year-Old Iowa Teenager Who Killed Alleged Rapist Back in Custody After Escaping Facility

---

An Iowa teenager who killed her alleged rapist violated her probation when she escaped from a women’s center last week.

According to CNN, 18-year-old Pieper Lewis has been captured and is back in custody after being on the run for several days.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office announced that Lewis was sent to the center as part of a deferred judgment after she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and willful injury. She made the plea for killing of 37-year-old Zachary Brooks, her alleged rapist, as a 15-year-old in 2020.

The Iowa Department of Corrections stated that Lewis was found and apprehended in Des Moines and was brought back into custody Tuesday. She is currently being held at the Polk County Jail and faces an upcoming court date for violating her probation.

When she pleaded guilty, Lewis was looking at a possible 20-year jail sentence. After she escaped last week, according to a probation violation report, there was a request for a warrant for Lewis’ arrest. The report stated:

“It is further ordered that her deferred judgments (be) revoked and original sentence imposed.”

BLACK ENTERPRISE reported that Polk County District Judge David Porter deferred the 20-year prison sentence for Lewis because she said she was forced into sex trafficking.

Before the stabbing, Lewis allegedly ran away from her adoptive mother, who she claimed was abusive. She had gotten shelter from a 28-year-old man whom she said forced her into sex trafficking. She said he held her at knifepoint and ordered her to have sex with several men, including Brooks. Reportedly, he sexually assaulted Lewis multiple times before she retaliated and stabbed him.

The judge ordered the 18-year-old to serve 1,200 hours of community service, which would cover more than $4,000 in fines. Lewis is also required by Iowa law to pay $150,000 in compensation for the death of her victim.

She is now facing 20 years in jail.

With the loss of the Yeezy name, adidas has lowered its sales projections due to the elimination of Ye’s sneakers.

Adidas stated that due to the “termination of the adidas Yeezy partnership,” the previous projections have been altered to be lower than anticipated.

“Following the decision on October 25, 2022, to terminate the Adidas Yeezy partnership, adidas now incorporates the related top- and bottom-line impact into its guidance for FY 2022, reflecting the high seasonality of the adidas Yeezy business geared towards the fourth quarter. Consequently, adidas now expects currency-neutral revenues for the company to grow at a low-single-digit rate in 2022.

Billboard reported that the company cut its expectations by 50% for net profit from continuing operations to 250 million euros ($252 million) this year from a previously expected 500 million euros ($504 million).

In a conference call, adidas CFO Harm Ohlmeyer stated that the profit margin of the Yeezy brand was overstated because the costs solely included the expenses that were directly related to the items from the brand. It didn’t include the central overhead costs from adidas.

“In other words, it does not include any further central cost allocation for sourcing, digital, retail, or any other services that this part of our business has been benefitting from and that were essential for its success,” Ohlmeyer said. “At the same time, we will save around 300 million euros related to royalties and marketing fees; in combination, this will help us to compensate the majority of the top and bottom line impact in 2023.”

Last month, CNBC reported that, after stating previously that their relationship with Ye was “under review,” adidas officially ended its relationship with the controversial music producer.

“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”

When Ye appeared on the since-deleted Drink Champs podcast on Revolt, he practically dared the apparel company to act when he stated, “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”

Ibn Williams, a former basketball player who played for Coppin State University has filed a lawsuit against the educational institution claiming sexual assault and blackmail by an assistant coach.

Basketball head coach Juan Dixon, who appears on the television series The Real Housewives of Potomac, has been named in the lawsuit.

The State of Maryland, the University System of Maryland, Lucien Brownlee, and Derek Carter are also named in the paperwork filed.

According to the court documents, Williams “by information and belief” claims that Brownlee, the assistant basketball coach of Coppin State University catfished him online, passing on intimate photos and texts, and after doing so, blackmailed him into videotaping a private sexual act before revealing the encounter when Williams resisted his demands for sex.

Williams is suing for negligence, negligent hiring and retention, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and breach of contract, according to Baltimore Brew.

Brownlee also served as director of player development and director of basketball operations at the school.

Dixon is accused of not acting on the complaints Williams brought to him.

Williams’ attorney, Daniel “Donny” Epstein of the New Jersey law firm Epstein Ostrove, told Baltimore Brew that Dixon had prior knowledge of issues with Brownlee, which is mentioned in the complaint. He feels that the head coach should never have put Brownlee in a position of authority over the basketball players.

These alleged incidents took place throughout the 2018-2019 basketball season.

In the fall of 2020, the blackmail and threats reportedly did not stop and Williams ignored the repeated requests, that’s when “the material used to blackmail plaintiff was published and revealed to members of the team, staff and the public,” according to the lawsuit.

Epstein explained that the material appeared on Instagram but was eventually taken down. Williams was told after the material was posted that Dixon told him to come to practice the following day. The two talked and according to the complaint, “Dixon admitted that Lucien [sic] Brownlee was mentally ill or otherwise emotionally imbalanced and that his history was known to the coach, [Athletic Director Derek] Carter and the school.”

• Sports

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

November 10, 2022

Brooklyn Nets Co-Owner Announces Initiative To Invest in Black-Owned Businesses

---

Recent controversies have enveloped the Brooklyn Nets amid the firing of head coach Steve Nash and the suspension of one of its star players, Kyrie Irving.

The NBA team took time from the chaos to announce that they have launched an initiative to help boost Black-owned businesses.

According to The Associated Press, Brooklyn Nets co-owner Clara Wu Tsai has initiated a new program that will spend up to $6 million to assist Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) people to get their businesses going in 2023.

The accelerator program, named BK-XL, will be investing up to $500,000 in 12 individual startups that are led by BIPOC founders.

“Capital is one of the biggest impediments to wealth-building, particularly for BIPOC entrepreneurs,” Wu Tsai informed The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.

“We thought that investing in this segment was how we could create wealth, not only for the entrepreneurs but also through all the different jobs that they are going to create.”

After the well-publicized police killing of George Floyd back in 2020, many corporations and venture capitalists vowed to start providing financial support to Black-owned companies and startups in what may have amounted to “white guilt.” Crunchbase reported that before 2021, only 2.4% of all U.S. venture capital raised between the years of 2015 to 2020, was allocated to Black or Latinx business owners. Following the racial reckoning after Floyd’s death, Black entrepreneurs’ funding quadrupled in the first half of 2021 to $1.8 billion. Yet, investments for minority founders in 2022 have dropped considerably to pre-George Floyd numbers.

Wu Tsai stated that BK-XL “will be a mix of grants, loans, and investments into this borough which I think ultimately is going to result in strengthening the community and the building up of people.”

For the companies picked for the BK-XL program, the initial $125,000 investment will be given in exchange for a 7% equity in the startups. That percentage will be evenly divided between Wu Tsai’s Social Justice Fund and the investment platform Visible Hands. They will also be given an additional $375,000 investment from an uncapped SAFE upon meeting specific growth benchmarks and maintaining operations in Brooklyn for at least one year.

Applicants can start applying for BK-XL on Dec. 5, 2022. People can place an application until Jan. 20, 2023. Companies and individuals selected will be notified by early March 2023. The program is expected to begin in the middle of April 2023 and go until late June 2023.

• Women

by Derek Major

November 10, 2022

The U.S. Senate Still Has Zero Black Women After Demings, Beasley Suffer Midterm Losses

---

Since Kamala Harris became the vice president, the U.S Senate has been bereft of Black women, but it’s not due to lack of trying.

Two Black women, both Democrats, Florida Rep. Val Demings and Cheri Beasley in North Carolina, ran for the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections and did well, defying expectations and out-raising their opponents; however, both fell short. Demings fell to Rep. Marco Rubio, while Beasley lost to Rep. Ted Budd.

Both Black women sport impressive résumés. Demings has represented Florida’s 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House since 2017 and is a former Orlando police officer. Meanwhile, Beasley, a Duke University Law School graduate, has served as a  judge in the Tar Heel State for almost two decades and is the chief justice of the North Carolina State Supreme Court.

Impressive résumés are a constant for Black politicians as they often have to be overqualified to run for office, and it doesn’t guarantee success.

Chris Jones, who lost in the race for Arkansas governor to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is the son of two preachers, a Morehouse College and M.I.T. graduate, and a nuclear engineer with a Ph.D. in urban planning. Newly elected Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is a Rhodes Scholar, U.S. Army combat veteran, author, and the former CEO of one of the nation’s largest anti-poverty organizations.

In addition to being overqualified, Black women in politics often have to fight against racial stereotypes and, in many cases, are undermined by their opponents. Demings ($72 million) and Beasley ($33 million) had impressive fundraising hauls during their campaigns, and the larger share of their donations came from out of state, which isn’t surprising.

Black women have no choice but to nationalize their races because their money has to come from out of state and in state,” Stefanie Brown James, co-founder of the Collective PAC, which supports Black political candidates. “We don’t have these built-in wealth networks to just stay in state, and to just have what’s discussed in your state be the only thing you talk about. You have to connect it to a national narrative. That’s what these women have been able to do so well.”

James added that while there are zero Black women in the Senate, it may not be long before you see one.

“Don’t count these women out,” Brown told The 19th. “They are quality candidates, and we miss the larger message if we only look at Nov. 8. I think the larger message is that they will have another political battle in front of them.”