The Cole family achieved a dream together and got the chance to celebrate as a father, son, and daughter all earned their Master’s degrees in education from Mississippi State University (MSU).

WXXV reports Commondre Cole, 45, his son, Jacoby Cole, 25, and daughter Lesha Gully, 27, were all awarded master’s degrees at MSU’s 2022 commencement on May 12. The Cole family shares a love and passion for education and said it’s part of the bond they share.

“The love and passion for it, you’ve got to have the love and passion,” Commondre Cole said.

The father credits his wife, Jessica Gully-Cole, an educator, as the reason he went back to school to earn his master’s degree. She also convinced their children to follow in their footsteps. Jacoby Cole, who works as a physical education teacher in Meridian, Mississippi, said his dream was to be a coach, and it was his mother who told him coaching and teaching go hand-in-hand.

“I just wanted to coach, teach kids how to play baseball and things like that,” Cole told Atlanta Black Star. “Mom said you should just go into teaching because to be a coach, you need to be a teacher also, so she was like, ‘You might as well go ahead and get your education.’”

Meanwhile, Lesha Gully, a special needs teacher, took a different path to education as she studied criminal justice and held positions as a truck driver and a waitress before her mother’s words finally got to her.

Graduating together meant the three also took some of the same classes while earning their degrees, which made some of the challenges of earning a master’s degree easier.

Jacoby Cole added he and his father did a lot of group work together on Zoom and all three kept each other motivated, helping each other with assignments and informed on when assignments were due.

“It was almost like a competition, trying to have the highest GPA, have the highest grade on tests and assignments, and the teachers would always point that out,” Lesha Gully said, adding she slowed her coursework to graduate with her dad and brother.

Commondre Cole has 11 years of experience as a physical education teacher. Jacoby Cole is entering his third year as a physical education teacher. Lesha Gully teaches special needs children in second grade in Meridian.

• News

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

June 2, 2022

Report: McDonald’s in Massachusetts Purposely Sold and Placed Bacon on a Fish Sandwich to Muslim Family

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A fast-food restaurant in Massachusetts is being sued by a Muslim woman who alleges that workers at a McDonald’s purposely placed some bacon on a Filet-O-Fish sandwich that the woman ordered for one of her children.

The Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MA) has announced that it has filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD). The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Muslim woman after employees allegedly stuffed her fish sandwich full of bacon.

According to the lawsuit, employees at a local McDonald’s restaurant located in Chicopee, Massachusetts, placed three to four strips of bacon on a fish sandwich ordered by Ghadir Alahmar. She ordered the sandwich, which she explicitly ordered plain for her 7-year-old child. It was obvious that Alahmar is Muslim, as she was wearing a hijab, or Islamic headscarf, and abaya, a long Islamic dress.

“Anti-Muslim bias takes many ”forms,” said CAIR-MA Legal Director Barbara J. Dougan in a written statement. “But you can’t can’t go much lower than tampering with the food of a young child. We hope McDonald’s will find these actions as appalling as we do and take all needed measures to ensure that something like this never happens again at the Chicopee store or any other location. Religious discrimination at a place of public accommodation is not only illegal but also morally reprehensible.”

CBS News reports that Alahmar received their order, including fries and cookies, and walked to a nearby school playground. When one of her sons opened the bag, he noticed the bacon. Alahmar instructed her son not to eat the sandwich, but he said he was hungry and ate the lower half of the bun and part of the fish filet.

Not only did the sandwich have bacon, but it also had extra strips in it. Based on a copy of the receipt submitted with the lawsuit, they were charged an additional $1.5“ for “ONLY Two Half Strips ”aAlahmar’shmar’s husband went back tMcDonald’snald’s with the uneaten portion of the sandwich later that evening and was given a refund of the purchase price, as well as the bacon upchMcDonald’snald’s had no comment.

• Women

by Derek Major

June 2, 2022

Former ESPN Co-Host Jemele Hill Explains Why She Was Paid $200k Less Than Co-Host Michael Smith

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Former ESPN journalist Jemele Hill and His and Hers co-host appeared on Revolt TV’s Assets Over Liabilities with hosts Rashard Bilal and Troy Millings to discuss her time at the network.

During her time at the network, Hill was not quiet about her issues with the sports world and politics, her eloquent tweets providing a stark contrast to ESPN’s “stick to sports” philosophy. She famously tweeted that former President Donald Trump was a White supremacist which prompted Trump demanding ESPN to “apologize for untruth.”

Weeks later, she went after Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for his anti-kneeling stance on former quarterback Colin Kaepernick‘s anthem protest. “Change happens when advertisers are impacted.” Hill tweeted. “If you feel strongly about JJ’s statement, boycott his advertisers.”

Hill told Bilal and Millings that those tweets and others that made headlines shouldn’t have been viewed as controversial.

“I didn’t consider it speaking out,” Hill said. “I considered it ‘telling the truth,’ which is a core principle in journalism. We’re supposed to be truth-tellers on top of being storytellers, and we’re also supposed to hold those in power accountable.”

Hill added that her time at the network really taught her about the business of sports journalism and how much money was involved.

“It wasn’t until I got to ESPN that I really got serious about the business side of journalism because I got to see what people made. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s possible?!’ ESPN forced me to really grow up because it’s a different game being played at that level than it is at the previous places I had been,” Hill told the Revolt hosts. “This is the first time I had an agent and the first time I really had to learn how to manage my money.”

One of the things she found out on the business side was that fellow journalist and co-host Michael Smith made significantly more than she did despite doing the same amount of work.

“I was making $200,000 less than him even though we were doing the same job,” she told Assets Over Liabilities. “It’s not so much about what you’re worth, it’s about what you will negotiate. I started at ESPN at such a low salary to begin with.”

Hill added that her contract at ESPN was one of the worst she ever signed. She earned $125,000 her first year as an independent contractor, so she had to pay her own medical insurance and taxes.

The Michigan State alumnus left SportsCenter and eventually ESPN in 2018, saying she was no longer happy. Working on SportsCenter wasn’t her dream job like it was for others at the network.

Hill was slated to host a show on CNN Plus with another former ESPN host, Cari Champion. However, CNN  discontinued the streaming news network. Hill is still hosting her Unbothered podcast.

• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 2, 2022

Families Sue After 3 Elderly Women Die in Senior Building During Heat Wave, Landlord Accused of Leaving Heat On

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Last month, family members filed a lawsuit after three elderly women were found dead in senior apartments with no air conditioning during a recent Chicago heat wave.

Gwendolyn E. Osborne, 72, Janice Reed, 68, and Delores McNeely, 76 were found dead inside the James Sneider Apartments during a sweltering heat wave on May 14, Block Club Chicago reported. Osbourne’s son, along with family members of Reed and McNeely, are suing over claims the building’s landlord kept the heat on during 90-degree temperatures which led to the deaths.

After dedicating her career as a trailblazing journalist in the community, Osbourne’s son is devastated his mother didn’t get a chance to fully enjoy her retirement.

“We lost somebody way too early who was actively fighting on behalf of other people,” Osbourne’s son, Ken, said.

“This is the last thing we ever expected would happen to my mother,” he added. “We just have to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office has yet to determine the causes of death for the three women. But the victims’ families have already shared their plans to file wrongful death lawsuits against the building’s owners and managers.

“These are senior residents, residents with health conditions (and) they should not be in these conditions,” City Council member Alderman Maria Hadden said in a Facebook video shot outside the apartments.

Hadden recalled visiting the building and experiencing the sweltering temperatures, including one unit that hit 102 degrees. She said the building’s management company believed they weren’t allowed to turn off the heat and turn on the air conditioning until June 1, due to the city’s heat ordinance.

The city council member noted that the ordinance has no such requirement. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump has gotten involved in seeking justice for the victims’ families.

“This was a tragedy that was completely preventable,” Crump said. “How cold could your soul be to know these people are suffering from the heat and you do nothing about it? No human should die in this horrible way.”

• Business

by Derek Major

June 2, 2022

President Biden Visits Tulsa To Mark The 101st Anniversary Of The Tulsa Race Massacre

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President Joe Biden marked the 101st anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre by commemorating the hundreds of Black men and women killed in one of the country’s worst incidents of racial violence.

“This was not a riot; it was a massacre,” President Biden said in a statement Wednesday. “As many as 300 Black Americans were killed, and nearly 10,000 were left destitute. Homes, businesses, and churches were burned. A generation of Black wealth was extinguished.”

According to the White House, Biden is the first president to visit the site since the 1921incident in which a white mob descended on the town of Greenwood, a thriving Black community nicknamed Black Wall Street, and destroyed its 35 city blocks and killed hundreds of its 10,000 residents.

According to a 2001 report from an Oklahoma commission to study the riot, Greenwood residents filed numerous lawsuits over the matter equaling $1.8 million ($29 million today). The city rejected all but one lawsuit. A white shop owner was compensated for guns taken from his store.

Bloomberg reports two of Greenwood’s wealthiest Black men at the time, O.W. Gurley and J.B Stradford, lost more than $300,000 combined in the riot. The commission estimates the financial toll of the Tulsa Race Massacre is more than $200 million worth of Black property in today’s dollars.

In addition to Biden visiting the site, he also touted two expanded efforts to help communities like Greenwood build wealth—an aggressive effort to combat racial discrimination in housing and a bold commitment to increase the share of federal contracts going to small disadvantaged businesses, including Black- and brown-owned small businesses, by 50% by 2025.

“We cannot bury pain and trauma forever,” Biden said in a statement. “As I said in Tulsa, great nations do not hide from their histories. We are a great nation, and by reckoning with and remedying the injustices of the past, America will become greater still.”

• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 2, 2022

Teacher Goes Viral With TikTok Showing The Reality For Educators Amid Uvalde School Shooting

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A seventh-grade teacher went viral through a powerful, thought-provoking TikTok video shedding light on what teachers are dealing with in wake of the school mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

A video posted by educator Taylor Mora has garnered over 14 million views and over 20,00 shares. Made in memory of the lives lost in the recent mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Mora shared the grim reality for teachers and students amid the rising number of mass shootings across the country.

“Praying for Uvalde, teachers, students, parents and all that have been affected by this,” Mora captioned the post.

@mrs.taylormoraPraying for Uvalde, teachers, students, parents and all that have been affected by this.♬ original sound – Taylor Mora

The video shows Mora giving a visual recap of the daily steps she has to take in order to keep her students safe.

“Being a teacher and student is scary right now and it doesn’t have to be this way,” she says in conclusion.

The 26-year-old teaches English and language arts at Garner Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, not too far from where the Uvalde shooting took the lives of 21 students and teachers at Robb Elementary school.

“I wanted to show people that, as teachers, we don’t just teach content and grade students,” Mora told People. “It’s much more than that. We have to protect kids in ways we never signed up for, and I wanted people to see that. We just want to keep our students safe — keep us and our students safe.”

In addition to the more than three million likes and 17,000 comments, Mora also says people from across the globe have reached out for clarity on how mass shootings became a reoccurring issue in the United States of America.

“Looking in the comments, it’s an American thing,” Mora said.

“I’m getting messages from people from Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and they’re telling me, ‘We don’t understand why those things keep happening.'”

Mora hopes her video sparks necessary change from political leaders who continue to seemingly overlook the ongoing issue of gun violence in the country.

“We shouldn’t have to go to school feeling on edge and unsafe,” Mora said.

“I know people love their guns here. But how many kids have to die before things change?”

She continued: “If I had to give up anything — anything — to make school shootings stop, I would. Being a teacher in America now, it’s very scary, very frightening, and we need changes.”

• Lifestyle

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 2, 2022

Bride Prays For Her Single Friends Instead of Tossing Bouquet

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After sharing a video of her heartfelt prayer for her single friends who attended her wedding ceremony, a life coach has gone viral.

Lakeisha Dixon Jones prides herself on “teaching women how to embrace and perfect their gifts,” as noted in her Instagram bio. She stayed on-brand for her wedding day by opting out of a traditional bouquet toss for an impromptu prayer session.

With so many women she loves in the room, Coach Dixon Jones found it hard to give her bouquet to only one person. Instead, she broke off a piece of the bouquet for each and added a powerful word to the special gift.

“Anyone who knows, [knows] I love my friends. I don’t subscribe to drop your single friend now that you got a man,” Dixon Jones captioned the touching post.

“That’s a passed-down tradition, and it’s not necessary. Do I believe in boundaries? Yes! But I believe God has called me to make an impact and be a blessing.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Coach Lakeisha Dixon Jones (@thebreakthroughstrategist)

“I had visions when I was single about how I would gather my single friends and place them in a circle and speak a blessing,” she continued.

“These women have prayed for me and covered me so many times. I decree that my marriage will start a slew of suddenly in my girl’s life.”

She noted how her wedding was a “blessing” to her single friends.

“My hope and my joy is that your wait will not be in vain,” the life coach told her friends.

“And my joy is that God is going to bless you with a suitable man that’s right for you.”

The special moment was reposted across the internet, with many applauding Dixon Jones for extending blessings of love and marriage to her single friends.

“Never in a million did I expect God to shine like this, but He did, and we give Him glory,” she said in response to all of the support.

• Lifestyle

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 2, 2022

Raven Symoné Takes Pride in Her 40-pound Weight Loss Transformation, Twitter Reacts

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Actress Raven Symoné has become a trending topic after showing off her 40-pound weight loss in a comical, and subtly sexy TikTok video.

The former child star posted a short video clip Tuesday responding to some of the comments left by haters and critics. But, it was her choice of attire that got everyone talking.

“Ooh I’m telling Disney, You ruined my childhood, You got old, She’s still relevant,” Raven wrote over the video.

The That’s So Raven star spelled out her typical “public response” to stay silent before punching at the camera to share what she’s really thinking in her head.

“36 years in the game and people can’t handle the truth that imma do what makes me happy,” Raven wrote. “Wifed up, stacked up, and minding my own DAMN business.”

@ravensymone #🌈 #wlw #truthoflife ♬ original sound – Millennial32

Raven sported a white pantsuit with a floral print emblazoned on the front. Her choice of shirt…none. The former The View host went topless under the blazer to show off her cleavage and toned torso.

The post garnered praise across social media with many giving The Cosby Show actress the flowers she deserves.

“The icon that is Raven Symone,” one fan tweeted.

https://twitter.com/aramibygoddess/status/1531861170667282433?s=20&t=7HipPAQLu3rIYcAUXjhV4g

“Raven Symone said stop playing with her she been fine,” added someone else.

Raven Symone said stop playing with her she been fine

— C H A Y S E (@chaysemanhatten) June 2, 2022

https://twitter.com/bettynixx/status/1532041032103256064?s=20&t=7HipPAQLu3rIYcAUXjhV4g

One fan pondered “why” she felt so “attracted to Raven Symone.”

Why am I attracted to Raven Symone rn??????

— A. (@doseofaliah) June 1, 2022

https://twitter.com/Raez1988/status/1532320384539889668?s=20&t=7HipPAQLu3rIYcAUXjhV4g

On Tuesday, Raven attended a Pride event at West Hollywood hotspot Poppy, where she debuted her 40- pound weight loss transformation in the same plunging white pantsuit from her TikTok video.

Her toned appearance comes after Raven told The View in March she shed her former 210 pound weight by quitting sugar and fasting without working out, Daily Mail reported.

Now that Raven is happy with her results, she’s letting the girls say “hi” for Pride Month.

James Beard Award-nominated writer and producer Nicole A. Taylor finally brings her vision for a Juneteenth-inspired cookbook to life.

Taylor had plans to write the book for years. But after the killing of George Floyd ignited racial and political unrest. Taylor knew it was time to make the book a reality.

Her new book, Watermelon and Red Birds, was published just in time for the Juneteenth holiday. This year’s celebration marks one year since the day became an official national holiday.

Now that the country is on board with recognizing the day formerly enslaved people learned of their freedom, Taylor is helping to guide readers into the significance of the holiday and culture with the addition of delicious recipes.

“The word celebration doesn’t mean “every day,” so I wanted to make sure that readers have this canon of celebration food that the African American community will always have at the table,” Taylor told Civil Eats.

The book’s title serves as a nod to the native African fruit that became a signature in American culture while also paying homage to a Black and Indigenous proverb associating red birds with ancestral guidance. The book was broken up into multiple parts to include a list of kitchen essentials featuring a collection of BIPOC-owned brands and drink and food recipes to get groups through the summer.

Taylor also included a section called “Everyday Juneteenth,” where she shares dishes and drinks that celebrate Black American culinary history.

“We are not a monolith. And I think I wanted to say that in the book,” Taylor said. “I wanted the recipes to say everyone does not have fried chicken at every single celebration.”

“Yes, that is a part of our tradition, but there’s always this person who’s gonna do their potato salad just a little different, and people still love it.”

• Leadership

by Derek Major

June 2, 2022

Sarah Mensah Discusses Being First Black Woman VP Of Nike North America

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Last year, Sarah Mensah made history by becoming the first Black woman vice president at Nike North America, the apparel giant’s biggest geographical location.

Mensah told Footwear News (FN) that her appointment shows the brand’s commitment to diversity and elevating women. The Oregon University alum added the appointment is something she takes seriously.

“It’s important to me personally and to our athletes, our employees, our consumers. We talk a lot about listening to them, and the best way to listen is to reflect them,” Mensah said.

“I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility because Nike means so much to the Black community. To be the first Black woman leading this geography is an incredible mandate.”

The state of Oregon has always been close to Mensah’s heart. In addition to earning two degrees from the University of Oregon, she spent almost two decades with the Portland Trailblazers NBA franchise, where she worked her way up from corporate sales manager to executive vice president/chief operating officer.

After joining Nike, Mensah spent five years with its Jordan Brand. In 2018 Mensah became the vice president of the brand’s Latin America and the Asia Pacific regions. Today she’s running Nike’s North America region where consumer spending is pushing demand for the brand, which beat its Q3 projections as digital sales jumped 33%, and overall sales increased nine percent.

Like many other companies, Nike is still dealing with supply chain and delivery issues. According to Mensah, every part of Nike’s business is seeing significant change as a result, including retail development, operations, and staffing in the U.S. and Canada, and more.

“It’s a challenge every day, the largeness of it. Part of the surprise is that we’re navigating it,” Mensah said.

“The secret sauce is a tremendous amount of empathy and communication.”

Mensah added that communicating with her team and giving them the ability to be open and honest about their challenges has been a priority, especially during the pandemic. She also acknowledged that she does not have all the answers and, as a result, is comfortable listening to her team’s suggestions and solutions to problems.

The Nike executive also advises her staff to listen to their gut and follow their emotions, especially when it comes to career decisions, because the road typically traveled may not always be the best or most efficient.

“So many of us, especially in my generation, spent a good portion of our time in business trying to emulate what the guys were doing, thinking there would be some reward at the end,” she said.

“The best way to unlocking success is to trust that gut and know that your voice matters.”