by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 17, 2022

Stephen Curry Obtains College Degree 13 Years After Being Drafted by the NBA

You can always go back! Golden State Warrior superstar basketball player, Stephen Curry has recently graduated from college.

The NBA sharpshooter announced on his Twitter account over the weekend that he has achieved, yet another goal. He is now a college graduate. Originally, he was supposed to graduate with the Class of 2010 at Davidson College where he played his collegiate sport, but this thing called a Hall of Fame basketball career derailed his plans a bit but he accomplished his goal of graduating 12 years later.

Although Curry graduated, he couldn’t attend the ceremony due to trying to bring another NBA title back to Golden State as his team has advanced to the next round of the playoffs.

According to Davidson College, Curry just needed to complete one semester to graduate from the college. With the assistance of several professors, two from Davidson, one from Stanford, and another from UC Santa Cruz who taught Curry while they were both at Davidson, the future Hall of Famer was able to finish the coursework. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a major in Sociology.

 

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The Golden State Warriors also acknowledged their star player’s recent off-the-court achievement.

Last month, the NBA All-Star announced a new program to help student-athletes in underrepresented neighborhoods across the country.

UNDERRATED Golf was conceptualized to become a purpose-driven business initiative to provide equity, access and opportunity to student-athletes from every community. This program will balance participation in the sport to truly reflect how our society looks. UNDERRATED Golf has a goal to increase participation amongst competitive golfers from diverse communities and will have players competing with their peers who represent the vast majority of today’s golfers.

by Derek Major

May 17, 2022

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Explains Why She Got Emotional During Sen. Cory Booker’s Speech

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson explained why she became emotional when New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (D) spoke up for her during her Supreme Court nomination hearings.

In an interview with The Washington Post, `Brown Jackson said Booker’s closing comments brought her to tears and made her feel like someone truly understood how grueling the nomination process had been for her to get to that moment.

“It had been 18 hours of questioning. I was exhausted and also, in a sense, relieved — it felt like someone understood how difficult it had been and how much this particular position meant to a lot of people,” Brown Jackson said in the interview.

In his closing statement, the New Jersey Democrat praised the judge for making it through a confirmation process that included accusations that she went easy on child predators and called former President George Bush a war criminal.

“You have earned this spot, you are worthy, you are a great American,” Booker told Brown Jackson in his emotional closing statement. “Don’t worry, my sister, don’t worry, God has got you, and how do I know that? You’re here, and I know what it’s taken for you to sit in that seat.”

Brown Jackson called Booker’s words “a breath of fresh air.”

Video of Booker’s speech shows both of them getting emotional in the moment as Brown Jackson was brought to tears, and Booker could not contain how excited he was for her to get through the confirmation process.

Brown Jackson’s interview with the Post is her first public remarks since her confirmation. She also talked about the pressure of being the first Black woman on the High Court and her joining the court at a time when it is being attacked due to the leaked draft opinion on abortion rights.

“It’s not about me personally, in a sense,” Brown Jackson told The Post. “I’m embodying this progress that many people feel we’re making by having me appointed to this seat. And so it’s pretty daunting in a lot of ways.”

24-Year-Old Heart Transplant Survivor Urges ‘Don’t Take Your Health Lightly’ As She Celebrates New Organ
by Atiya Jordan

May 17, 2022

24-Year-Old Heart Transplant Survivor Urges ‘Don’t Take Your Health Lightly’ As She Celebrates New Organ

Heart transplant survivor Jaelyn Kinchelow is celebrating new beginnings.

After suffering a heart attack at age 14, the now 24-year-old is sharing her story to raise awareness about organ donation and heart disease risks among women, Good Morning America reports.

“I would say to anybody, don’t take your health lightly,” Kinchelow told the outlet. “Although I was 14, I knew something was not right. It’s important to pay attention to anything that feels different.”

The Avon, Indiana, native recalls feeling a tightness in her chest one day during her middle school track practice. She collapsed during the unexpected episode. After arriving at the hospital, she was diagnosed with a heart attack and had to undergo open-heart surgery to save her life.

Permanent damage ensued after falling into a coma for eight days and spending nearly a month in the hospital. Still, she was sent home, where she maintained an active lifestyle, attended high school, and obtained her bachelor’s degree with dreams of becoming a nurse.

Earlier this year, Kinchelow learned she needed a heart transplant shortly after experiencing shortness of breath. Although she was skeptical about the organ donation process, Kinchelow and her family decided it was the best decision for her health. While awaiting that fateful call, the young woman was anxious, thinking she would be among the hundreds of thousands still on the waiting list. The resilient aspiring nurse only had to wait less than 21 days.

On March 27, Kinchelow received the call, and a 12-hour surgery took place the next day, as per GMA. She received the life-saving gift days before her birthday.

Photo Courtesy: GMA

“I wasn’t really like big on donating. It wasn’t a priority of mine,” Kinchelow told FOX 59, “but when you’ve actually gone through it, or you know somebody that’s gone through it, you learn really quickly how important it is.”

According to the news outlet, Kinchelow has been in recovery for over two weeks and was recently transferred to IU Methodist, adjusting to her new heart. She is grateful to her donor as she embarks on her new journey with a better-functioning heart. She received a heartwarming letter from the heart donor’s family, who “jumped through hoops to make sure they got a letter” to her.

Now, as she looks forward to her new life, Kinchelow has advice for others.

“Whether that be an advocate for people being donors, I just know that there’s something bigger that I need to accomplish,” she said. “With this whole transplant thing, it’s going to take me pretty far… Farther than what I was thinking that I would before.”

Funeral GoFundMe for Kevin Samuels Allegedly Fake; Family Declines Money
by Corey Lee

May 17, 2022

Funeral GoFundMe for Kevin Samuels Allegedly Fake; Family Declines Money

A GoFundMe page that was set up to accept donations toward funeral services for recently deceased social media relationship agitator Kevin Samuels was reportedly not sanctioned by his family. 

TMZ cites a source familiar with Samuels’ family who said they did not create it and had no interest in keeping the funds. Everyone who donated will get their money refunded. The page has also been taken down. 

As previously reported by BLACK ENTERPRISE, Pastor Jamal Bryant condemned Samuels and his message from the pulpit at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church last Sunday after his passing, 

Although he never publicly said his name, his congregation quickly deduced who he was referring to when questioned, “How can a man say that you are of low value after 35? How can a man say that you don’t have the level of traction of a high-powered man when that man has to get a GoFundMe for his funeral?”

Bryant has reportedly retracted those statements.

Samuels reportedly had a net worth of $4 million. 

The self-proclaimed relationship guru died May 5 in his apartment in the company of a woman who desperately tried to save his life. In an 18-minute phone call, the woman frantically told 911 that she believed the 57-year-old Samuels had suffered a cardiac event. 

Known for his controversial remarks, Samuels went viral just days before his death after calling unmarried women over the age of 35 “leftovers.” 

“Kevin Samuels has made a career off of shamelessly disgracing Black women for profit. He emboldened the most toxic individuals to project tired and harmful narratives about Black women. Dead or alive, what a disgraceful life to live. That’s all I’ve got for that misogynist,” writer Ernest Owens wrote on Twitter following Samuels’ death. 

Two weeks after his death, Samuels made his acting debut on the FX series Atlanta in an episode called Rich Wigga, Poor Wigga, directed by the series creator, Donald Glover. 

Son of Buffalo Mass Shooting Victim Is In Disbelief That A Tragedy Happened When He Wasn’t There
by Atiya Jordan

May 17, 2022

Son of Buffalo Mass Shooting Victim Is In Disbelief That A Tragedy Happened When He Wasn’t There

On Saturday, Celestine “Stiney” Chaney, 65, was one of the 10 victims killed in the racially motivated mass shooting at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York. Her son, Wayne Jones, who says he usually goes grocery shopping with her, spoke out about the tragedy.

“We went grocery shopping, that was what we did. As she got older, I’d take her grocery shopping,” he told Insider. “It’s ironic that the one time we didn’t go together, there’s a tragedy,” Jones said, according to Insider.

Chaney was visiting her sister when the two went to the grocery store to get strawberries for a shortcake, the New York Times reported.

Wayne Jones, left, and his aunt JoAnn Daniels holds a photograph of his mother, Celestine Chaney.
Photo Courtesy:  (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported that 18-year-old Payton Gendron was arrested and charged with first-degree murder at Buffalo City Court. Police officials confirmed that the suspect intentionally targeted Black people, all while live-streaming the shooting on Twitch.

Sadly, the Twitch livestream is where Jones discovered that his beloved mother had lost her life. In fact, when he received a screenshot of the video from his daughter, he was forced to confirm his mother’s identity.

“She inboxed me the picture, and it was mom, lying there, with the barrel of the gun over her,” Jones told Insider.

“It was because he live-streamed the whole video … I don’t want to see that. I’ve already seen the pictures. There’s enough pain right now. Just watching that, seeing the damage over and over again, I don’t think that’s good.”

According to data reports, Buffalo has a Black population of approximately 36.53%. Gendron reportedly took this into account in his plans to open fire on the high percentage of Black residents and shoppers in the targeted community.

The Buffalo News reported that the gunman’s semi-automatic gun had the N-word written on the barrel in white paint and the number 14. The white supremacist was also in possession of an alleged 180-page manifesto that outlined his plans for the shooting and noted a white-supremacist conspiracy theory that believes people of color will eventually replace white people.

“It’s crazy because you would never think this would happen to you. Like, I’ve never dreamed of nothing like this,” Jones said. “I’ve thought about different situations … but never would I think a white supremacist would find the only Black Tops in your state at the time that my mom was there. You can’t dream this.”

Amid his shock, Jones said he is maintaining his strength for his children.

“My mother, she’s got six grandkids. I’ve got to make sure I’m strong enough to handle that part. I have to be strong for them. I have to be. I have to make sure they maintain their sanity through all of this,” he said.

Twitter Users Recognize Police Treatment of Heavily Armed White Killers in Comparison to Unarmed, Innocent Black Victims
by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 17, 2022

Twitter Users Recognize Police Treatment of Heavily Armed White Killers in Comparison to Unarmed, Innocent Black Victims

It’s no secret that Blacks are treated like criminals, even when they are not. Several times over the years, we’ve seen racist white killers be treated with kid gloves by police officers, who wouldn’t hesitate to shoot an unarmed Black man. The latest racist killer, Payton Gendron, killed multiple people, many of whom were Black. Gendron has also been handled gently, despite killing 10 people.

The 18-year-old suspect was apprehended and charged with first-degree murder at Buffalo City Court Saturday night after firing bullets inside of Tops grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y. His targets were innocent, unarmed Black shoppers who had no clue they were being preyed upon. The white male live-streamed his criminal act on the social platform, Twitch.

Social media users took the police force to task because of how they handled the suspect. In several Twitter posts, users compared how no force was used to apprehend the white killer, yet, just weeks earlier, in Syracuse, N.Y., an eight-year-old boy was forcefully taken off his bicycle because it was alleged that he stole a bag of potato chips from a store.

Some users listed Black victims of police officers as unarmed citizens who had committed no crime, while naming white criminals who committed heinous crimes but were treated as if they were not perpetrators.

 

Of course, how can we forget the alleged nonviolent crime George Floyd was accused of. Floyd was killed because he happened to be an unarmed Black man who lost his breath as a white police officer kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes.

There were also mentions of other armed, white killers who did not suffer a scratch when apprehended.

The Tamir Rice killing by police officers who “feared for their lives” was another example of how officers have zero respect for Black lives, even if it’s the life of a Black child only 12 years old holding a toy gun.

Sadly, there are many more examples of how white criminals are treated versus how unarmed innocent Blacks are slaughtered.

by Corey Lee

May 17, 2022

Janet Jackson Celebrates 56th Birthday with a Star-Studded Bash in Las Vegas

During the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, Janet Jackson took the stage to present R&B legend Mary J. Blige, with the Icon Award. “Mary J. Blige represents truth,” Jackson said. “Her work has always given us comfort because she sings me, she sings you.” 

Later that weekend, Jackson was celebrated at her 56th birthday party at On the Record at Park MGM.

According to Yahoo News, the party was a surprise. It was attended by producer Jermaine Dupri—her ex-boyfriend, her producer/collaborator Jimmy Jam, Usher, Nelly, and producer/songwriter Bryan-Michael Cox. Sounds for the party were provided by Anderson. Paak as the DJ. 

Jackson also attended a performance by Silk Sonic, the 70s-inspired fusion group featuring Paak and Bruno Mars. On Instagram, she called the show a “must-see.” 

RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Peppermint also honored Jackson with a recreation of one of the star’s hit music videos.

“I have always modeled my live performances after Janet’s,” Peppermint said in a statement, “but up until this moment, most of those are just memories with nothing to show and no way to look back on. Now that I have the ability, I wanted to do those performances justice. I gathered a bunch of friends who are also big fans of Janet to put together a dance tribute video of ‘If’ from her 1993 album Janet. Happy birthday, Miss Jackson!!”

Earlier this year, Jackson shared some insight into her early life and career with a two-part Lifetime documentary called Janet. The documentary event marked the 40th anniversary of Jackson’s first album, the self-titled Janet Jackson, released in 1982.

The four-hour documentary was over five years in the making and featured appearances by Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, Paula Abdul, her brother Tito Jackson, and her longtime dancer Whyley Yoshimura.

She Leads: Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes Becomes First Black Woman Commissioner of The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference
by Atiya Jordan

May 17, 2022

She Leads: Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes Becomes First Black Woman Commissioner of The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference

Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes, a transformative leader in her previous role at Dillard University, is now stepping into a trailblazing role to create opportunities through sports for generations to come on a national level.

According to Crescent City Sports, Baker Barnes is transitioning from her athletic director position at the New Orleans HBCU into her newly appointed role as the first Black woman commissioner of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC). This historic achievement was announced in March.

The conference comprises members representing historically Black colleges and universities and is only one of five in the United States across all intercollegiate sports made up of HBCU institutions.

“I am honored to have earned the trust and confidence of my colleagues for the purpose of leading the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference into the future,” Baker Barnes said, as per the outlet.

“My commitment is to bring creative vision, excellence, direction, and strong partnerships that will advance the conference and the competitive landscape for our student-athletes. As I embrace this new opportunity, I am especially grateful to my colleagues, staff, and student-athletes at Dillard University for our collective work in rising from adversity to winning championships and becoming a national model of student-athlete success.”

Baker Barnes is departing from Dilliard University after 16 years, where she was named interim athletics director and head coach of the women’s basketball team in 2006. Her contributions were celebrated during the campus’ long battle to recover after Hurricane Katrina. She is responsible for establishing three new sports teams and the first athletics endowed scholarship, among her many feats.

“During Women’s History Month, it is fitting that we celebrate Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes. She made history as the first female and Black president of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and as the first Black woman commissioner in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics,” said Dr. Roderick L. Smothers Sr., Philander Smith College President and Chairman of the GCAC Council of Presidents.

The self-proclaimed athletic strategist is no stranger to the commissioner’s duties for the GCAC.

In 2019, the GCAC Council of Presidents appointed Baker Barnes to serve as interim commissioner of GCAC—a position she has held while simultaneously maintaining her dedication to Dillard.

Throughout her career, Baker Barnes has taken pride in elevating women athletes. In her new position, she strives to transcend her mentoring and coaching experiences and achievements beyond athletic programs.

“It’s about them knowing that it’s possible,” Baker Barnes previously told Sports Illustrated. “And I feel like because of my path, I have an obligation to ensure they are aware of what those opportunities look like and how they can successfully navigate and achieve their goal in leadership.”

She continued: “Each person has a unique thing about them that makes them powerful. We each have our own way. I’m Kiki, and ain’t nobody better at being Kiki than me. You can’t win. You’ll never win because this was the way I was created to lead and to make a difference in this world.”

Baker Barnes will officially assume the permanent commissioner role at the end of the academic year, according to a GCAC press release.

NASA Releases Equity Action Plan to Make Space More Accessible To All
by Derek Major

May 17, 2022

NASA Releases Equity Action Plan to Make Space More Accessible To All

Under President Joe Biden‘s Executive Order 13985, advancing racial equity in the federal government, NASA has released its inaugural equity action plan.

NASA’s equity action plan establishes key focus areas that will allow the agency to track its progress toward improved diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and accessibility both internally and externally.

“We’ve prepared a series of reports, a 90-day report, which was our plan to determine how we would do a barrier analysis on what were the things that would potentially impede progress and success of advancing racial equity and procurement in grants. We submitted that report in April 2021,” NASA Senior Procurement Executive and Assistant Administrator for Procurement Karla Smith Jackson told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

“The 200 Day Report, which was the result of the barrier analysis, was submitted in August. After that, we were required to do an annual Equity plan that talks about how we are going to continue our program and identify and continue to remove barriers. Once that was submitted and approved, OMB (Office of Management and Budget) asked us to put together an action plan.”

The four key focus areas identified in NASA’s analysis, which the plan addresses, are:

  •      Increasing integration and utilization of contractors and businesses from underserved communities and expanding equity in NASA’s procurement process 
  •       Enhancing grants and cooperative agreements to advance opportunities, access, and representation for underserved communities 
  •       Leveraging Earth Science and socioeconomic data to help mitigate environmental challenges in underserved communities 
  •       Advancing external civil rights compliance and expanding access to limited English proficient populations within underserved communities 

NASA is working to achieve its DEI goals through increased outreach and education. The agency is going to HBCUs and minority-serving institutions to talk to them and recruit talent. The agency is also reaching out to small businesses representing the LGBTQ+, disabled, and veteran communities about navigating its procurement process.

“The first one is the idea that they don’t know,” Smith Jackson told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

“They don’t know we’re out soliciting. Where would they get information, and how do we communicate that opportunity? To answer that particular barrier we stepped up our outreach. So we’re planning this year to double our engagements with small businesses, HBCUs, and minority-serving institutions. We also have a couple of collectives working with LGBTQ communities that will go into the community and brief them on our procurement requirements.

Smith Jackson added that in addition to outreach, NASA is also focusing on teaching those communities how to operate within the federal procurement system.

“Basically, how do you do business with the federal government? In those cases, we are doing matchmaking with the Small Business Administration. They have a number of virtual trainings every month, plus they have downloadable recorded training on how to respond to a solicitation, write a proposal, and one-on-one interactions, so we’re trying to make sure that people know those resources are available to them.”

Additionally, NASA will lean into its DEI goals by continuing to analyze and assess the feedback it receives from initial requests for information. The initial request solicited insight from the public on whether and to what extent NASA programs and policies perpetuate barriers and limit benefits for people of color and other underserved communities.

According to Smith Jackson, NASA’s outreach signifies that the agency is committed to identifying spaces and places across the U.S. where they typically haven’t looked, including the Southwestern U.S.

“One of NASA’s core values is inclusion, our core values are safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and then inclusion has been about the business of diversity inclusion. For a long time, this particular executive order has helped us shine a brighter light and get a little more support for this initiative. The history of NASA is we’ve had a lot of cooperative agreements which is a form of a grant and coalition-building in the minority-serving institution as well the HBCU community,” Smith Jackson told BLACK ENTERPRISE.

Billionaire Hip-Hop Mogul Jay-Z Invests In Altro, A Black-Led No-Cost App Helping To Build Credit Through Existing Spending Habits
by Derek Major

May 17, 2022

Billionaire Hip-Hop Mogul Jay-Z Invests In Altro, A Black-Led No-Cost App Helping To Build Credit Through Existing Spending Habits

Grammy Award-winning artist and entrepreneur Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter has invested in Altro, a Black-led, free app helping users build credit through existing spending habits.

TechCrunch reports Altro was founded by friends Michael Broughton and Ayush Jain, who bonded over the belief that credit access should be free. The two men are now helping people build their credit through recurring payments, including subscriptions to apps like Netflix, Spotify, and other streaming services.

The two men have built a platform that finds a person’s recurring transactions and connects them to a tradeline, a line of data that goes directly into a bureau’s system that reports to all three credit bureaus.

Citi Ventures, Black Capital Fund, Concrete Rose Fund, Jay-Z’s Marcy Ventures, and individual investors helped Altro raise $18 million in a Series A funding round. The funding will be used to continue growing Altro’s credit and financial literacy program and expand its team.

“What we built is not an alternative or supplemental,” Broughton said. “We’re not creating our own score, but rather it is a direct correlation to your actual score being improved over time, which a user can see in our app.”

Participating services in Altro include YouTube Premium, Dollar Shave Club, Adobe Creative Cloud, Amazon Prime, Xbox Live, HBO Max, Disney Plus, and others.

Altro entered numerous pitch competitions, raising about $100,000, until one summer day in 2020, an analyst for Marcy Ventures was in the audience when the two men gave their pitch. A day later, Marcy Ventures wrote the two men a check for $250,000, kicking off the funding round.

Altro will soon also allow its users to build credit by making rental payments on time, which the app is bringing back after suspending that option. Altro makes its money by charging the subscription partners a fixed percentage of what its users are paying the partners directly, building relationships with Visa and Mastercard, and bringing on FICO board member and Altro investor Joanna Rees. 

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