• Business

by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors

May 4, 2022

National Urban League and PepsiCo Foundation Celebrate Black Restaurant Accelerator 100-Grantee Milestone with Expansion of Historic New Orleans Business

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The Black Restaurant Accelerator (BRA), a joint initiative of the National Urban League and the PepsiCo Foundation, today marked the milestone of its first 100 grant recipients with the soft opening of a new restaurant, made possible by the program.

Part of PepsiCo’s $400 million Racial Equality Journey commitments, the BRA is a five-year, $10 million investment from the PepsiCo Foundation in partnership with the National Urban League to preserve and support Black-owned restaurants.

• News

by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors

May 4, 2022

‘Was That Will Smith?’ Comedian Dave Chappelle Tackled On Stage at Hollywood Bowl – Reports

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May 4 (Reuters) – U.S. comedian Dave Chappelle was tackled on stage during his show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, according to multiple U.S. media outlets, citing witnesses at the “Netflix is a Joke” festival and videos.

Footage circulating on social media showed a man charging onto the stage and tackling Chappelle as he was performing. The comedian was immediately dragged off by security, the videos showed.

#davechappelle attacked at #hollywoodbowl #netflixisajoke pic.twitter.com/oP04S0de90

— abazar 🦇🔊 (@abazar) May 4, 2022

Chappelle was performing at a new, 11-day comedy festival called “Netflix is a Joke,” according to organizers.

Chappelle’s Netflix comedy special “The Closer” was criticized last year by some who saw it as ridiculing transgender people. Supporters of the comedian viewed it as a cry against cancel culture. read more

The onstage altercation comes a month after actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars, for which he was banned from the event for 10 years.

Chappelle asked repeatedly for security to remove the man from the stage, the ABC report added.

Brianna Sacks, a journalist for BuzzFeed News who said she was at the show, tweeted that the man who charged at Chappelle on stage got kicked by at least 10 people.

Just came out of the Hollywood Bowl where a man charged and tackled Dave Chapelle on stage and got his ass kicked by at least 10 people.

LAPD and LAFD are now loading him into an ambulance pic.twitter.com/7SXPe9e8az

— Brianna Sacks (@bri_sacks) May 4, 2022

“The altercation occurred just when Chappelle’s performance ended and later the actor Jamie Foxx went on stage after the incident looking absolutely shocked,” she tweeted.

Chris Rock was at the event and reportedly came out after the attack and joked, “Was that Will Smith?”

A representative for the Hollywood Bowl said in an email statement to Reuters that the incident was subject to “an active investigation” and that it was unable to comment further.

Officials for the Los Angeles Police Department did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. A spokesperson for Chappelle could not be immediately reached for comment.

HBCU Fayetteville State University has been awarded a multimillion grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance its support and assistance of undergraduate students majoring in STEM.

According to a press release statement, a $2.3 million grant was bestowed to professor James E. Raynor Jr., Ph.D., to establish the Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE) program. This program was launched to provide scholars from historically marginalized communities with resources needed to smoothly transition into biomedical research-based Ph.D. programs.

FSU Professor Receives $2.3M NIH Grant to Support Undergraduate Research Initiative

Read more here: https://t.co/3cTWQ3RUgJ pic.twitter.com/Mexp0PJwuP

— Fayetteville State University (@uncfsu) April 27, 2022

Professor Raynor served as the program director of the former FSU-RISE program for 14 years. Under his leadership, Raynor served over 300 underprivileged students, resulting in high graduation rates. Many students transitioned into advanced medical degree programs at schools such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, and more.

A quarter of Black graduates with STEM degrees come from HBCUs. Between 1995 and 2004, HBCUs graduated 46% of Black women who earned degrees in STEM disciplines, the United Negro College Fund reported.

Over the years, HBCUs have launched initiatives and invested more resources into providing the guidance that Black STEM students often lack long before entering college.

“FSU has been hard at work ensuring that students have access to everything they need to be successful,” said Dr. Monica Leach, provost and senior vice chancellor for the Academic Affairs Division of Academic Affairs. “From reducing tuition to rethinking our organizational structure to better serve students, we believe in keeping our students’ best interest at the heart of what we do. This grant helps us take another step in the direction of providing unfettered access to fields of study that, historically, have been inaccessible to students from underrepresented communities. We are excited about the promise U-RISE holds for FSU’s students.”

The U-RISE program, operated through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, will also provide mentoring, research training, and professional development activities for students beginning their sophomore year of college through their senior year. In addition, trainees will receive a monthly stipend, tuition, health insurance, and support for travel to scientific conferences.

For the upcoming fall, applications are now available for the U-RISE program.

• Money

by Bertrand H. Ngampa

May 3, 2022

Securing the Bag and Your Piggy Bank — 3 Fail-Proof Ways To Save Money

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The average American family has around $9,000 saved in the bank. However, 69 percent of adult Americans have less than $1,000 in a savings account.

Saving money can mean the difference between starting ahead or falling behind quickly. A savings account is a great way to build your financial runaway, so you can live life more freely and deeply. We focus so much on getting money, starting businesses and investing.

The conversation about saving money is not spoken about enough.

Here are three fail-proof ways to go from dry savings to effortlessly stashing large amounts of cash in your savings account.

Save 20 percent every time you get paid

On your budget, add a savings line of just 20 percent of your paycheck. People often look at me strangely and think they will not be able to pay all their bills if they do.

The main problem is many people have spending issues. They are overspending each month, and then after spending everything, they believe they have nothing to save. It should be the opposite: pay your savings account first and then use the rest of the money to pay all the other bills.

I put $300 a week and $500 bi-weekly in my savings accounts. In total, I put $2,200 away each month. Usually, it is more because I throw extra money into my savings account when I am not traveling.

Have $100,000 as a goal and milestone points

Pull out a piece of paper and fold it in fourths. On the first and the third line, write “Saved Amount.” On the second and fourth lines, write “Milestone.” Under the saved amount, start at $1 and go up by $10 until you reach $100. When you reach $100, go up by $100 until you reach $1000. From $1,000, go up by $1,000 until you reach $10,000. Finally, go up by $10,000 until you reach $100,000.

Let $1, $10, $100, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $25,000, $50,000, and $100,000 be your milestone points. For each milestone point, I highly recommend you do something for yourself. For example, once I saved $5,000, I started a podcast. At $10,000, I started dating again, and at $50,000, I will have sex again.

You don’t have to be extreme like me, but you can certainly pick things that excite you to get to work and challenge you. Reach for $100,000 saved, because if you fall short and only save $50,000, that’s great.

I promise you will live, feel, and experience life differently just by having a good amount of money in your savings.

Automate the saving process

Sending money into your savings is hard! Trust me, even with all the knowledge and power I know about saving money, it does not get easier. So, I don’t make a choice for myself anymore. You can automate how much money you want to send to your savings in your bank app. The best part is that you can make it weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly.

Take the willpower out of your hands and send up an automatic transfer to go into your savings account. Within a couple of months, you will celebrate how quickly 20 percent will grow into $5,000, $10,000 and beyond.

Of course,  it helps if you have more money to save.

Increase your income

The fastest way to save more money is by having more money. The hidden key in all the personal finances and getting out of debt books and programs is increasing your income. The average American makes $500 a week, of which 20 percent would be $100. If you doubled your weekly income by another $500, then it would be $200 you would be able to save each month.

This table below shows how much just saving 20 percent will do for you.

Put it together

Start saving 20 percent of your income, make $100,000 your major goal, automate the whole process, and maximize your income and time. But knowledge needs to be put to the test by working it out in your life. Your future self will be happy when you have more money in your bank account than ever before.

Bertrand Ngampa is the founder of The 1% Man and the host of “The 1% Man Podcast.” He is a best-selling author, high-performance coach, business strategist, speaker, consultant, and Army veteran.

• Sports

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 3, 2022

Ex-NBA Star Stephon Marbury: Stephen A. Smith ‘One of the Biggest Uncle Tom’s on the Planet’

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Many have spoken against the antics of ESPN’s omnipresent personality Stephen A. Smith for years, especially about his constant rants against Black athletes and not meeting the same fervor when discussing white athletes.

Just last week, comedian Jamie Foxx spoke about those same tactics when discussing Brooklyn Nets player Ben Simmons. Now, Smith has a former NBA All-Star calling him an Uncle Tom after his criticism on Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving.

Brooklyn native and former New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets star Stephon Marbury took to Twitter to blast Smith. “We are witnessing one of the biggest uncle Tom’s on the planet,” Marbury wrote after Smith called Irving “one of the most delusional athletes in American history.”

We are witnessing one of the biggest uncle Tom’s on the planet in @stephenasmith https://t.co/I1Ar1M2EGA

— I AM PEACE STAR (@StarburyMarbury) May 1, 2022

The tweet that set Marbury off:

We are witnessing one of the most delusional athletes in American history. @KyrieIrving pic.twitter.com/WWgSouy0zg

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) April 29, 2022

Smith responded to Marbury by saying he is not going to insult Marbury…right before insulting Marbury.

“I’m not going to insult Stephon Marbury. I will say Stephon Marbury has had a problem with me since 2009 because we thought he was a bit bizarre when he was eating Vaseline, literally on video like it was bunch of cheeseburgers.”

@famouslos32 pic.twitter.com/T78o3jYCzk

— Michael Musa (@WhoMusa) May 1, 2022

To refute Smith’s claim, Marbury went a little deeper into his irritation, claiming that Smith was fed information by Larry Brown during Marbury’s time with the Knicks.

Lol.. I had a problem @stephenasmith when you was calling yourself a source after Larry Brown was feeding you information which were lies that you reported to build your reputation. You never put your name on the lies. You break down black athletes for gain and fame. https://t.co/RkVA9mrYbU

— I AM PEACE STAR (@StarburyMarbury) May 3, 2022

In March, when Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, and Nike renewed their partnership, it was announced the newest shoe would honor  Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, who died with her basketball legend father in a January 2020 helicopter crash.

The Kobe 6 Protro “Mambacita Sweet 16,” was released this week on Gigi’s birthday, May 1. She would have been 16 years old.

The Kobe 6 Protro “Mambacita Sweet 16,” is a colorway that symbolizes Gigi Bryant’s impact on basketball and represents her goal to create a better, more inclusive future for  basketball. All profits from the sale of the latest shoe will benefit the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation.

Vanessa Bryant acknowledged her late daughter and the release of the sneakers in an Instagram post.

“I’m so happy with the way these Mambacita shoes came out in honor of my daughter, Gigi. Thank you @nike #Mambacita #2 #Forever #BabyGirl ❤️ #16 #SweetSixteen #5106 ❤️ #PlayGigisWay I love you Gigi! ❤️”

In a note included with photos on the post, Vanessa Bryant wrote, “The ‘Mambacita Sweet 16’ is inspired by her resilient spirit and the love she had, not only for the game, but for her family, friends, and community. Gigi continues to touch so many people around the world. Part of her legacy is about building a better future for all girls and women in sport, one step at a time. Playing Gigi’s way.”

The sneaker sold out in two minutes.

“Sold out in 2 minutes. Thank you for supporting the foundation and being here with us to kick off Gigi’s Sweet Sixteen. Happy Birthday Gigi, we love you 🖤🤍 #2 #PlayGigisWay #MambacitaForever #5106“

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mamba & Mambacita Sports Fdn (@mambamambacitasports)

Family members who are descendants of and survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre may have some legal recourse soon after Tulsa County District Court Judge Caroline Wall ruled Monday that a lawsuit seeking reparations for the rampage can move forward.

Civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons filed the lawsuit in 2020 under the state’s public nuisance law. He sought a speedy decision due to the age of several of the plaintiffs, Lessie Benningfield Randle, 107; Viola Fletcher, 107; and Hugh Van Ellis, 101.

“We believe this is the last opportunity for these survivors to have their day in court,” Solomon-Simmons said, . “We want to ask (the judge) to move forward and move forward as soon as possible.”

The racist rampage was carried out by a white mob on June 1, 1921, that killed hundreds of Black people and burned the city’s prosperous Greenwood district to the ground. The centennial of the event was acknowledged at several events in the city last year.

At one, Rev. William Barber II said, according to Oklahoma Watch, “The only way we can honor those that were killed and murdered is we must be more powerful than even they were so that nothing like this ever happens again in public policy or in public violence.”

The 100-year-old event is also still affecting Black homeownership in the city.

Solomon-Simmons’ suit claims the damage is ongoing, a fact disputed by Chamber of Commerce attorney John Tucker who told the Associated Press, “What happened in 1921 was a really bad deal and those people did not get a fair shake…but that was 100 years ago.”

The city and many insurance companies never fairly compensated the victims. The lawsuit claims that city and county officials actively thwarted the community’s effort to rebuild and neglected the Greenwood and predominantly Black north Tulsa community in favor of overwhelmingly white parts of Tulsa.

In addition to the Chamber of Commerce, other defendants include the Tulsa County Board of County Commissioners, Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, Tulsa County Sheriff, and the Oklahoma Military Department.

• Technology

by Derek Major

May 3, 2022

Krista Bourne Worked Her Way From The Mailroom To a Verizon Chief Operating Officer

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In 1999, Krista Bourne started her first job at Verizon in the mailroom.

“My first role was supporting the mailroom, collecting the items, getting them ready to go and specifically there were customer inquiries that were being managed that really needed some attention,” Bourne tells BLACK ENTERPRISE.

“So I took the time to just kind of look at those letters, I was being a little nosey wondering why people would write what was Frontier at the time with so much detail, but I learned in those letters was just a lot of opportunities to improve the company.”

That job was the beginning of a two-decade career at the telecom giant, where Bourne climbed up the ranks to become the chief operating officer of Verizon’s Consumer Group. As COO, Bourne has helped more than 100 million customers and has helped delivered more than $88 billion in annual revenue. In her time at Verizon, Bourne has held eight positions including senior vice president, regional president, sales director, and customer service director.

Bourne said the one constant in all the positions is the ability to manage and navigate change, both in the industry and in the company itself.

“With the complexity of our industry and competitive nature of our space, everything is always changing” She says. “And so being able to manage through that change, not just manage what is going to be different. But how will you show up differently? What do you think about working with your peers?”

Bourne also credits Verizon for giving her a canvas of opportunity to prove her worth and allowing her the time and space to grow as an employee, something not all companies are willing to do, especially for Black women.

Black female COOs are scarce. According to Zippia, less than 5 percent of COOs are Black females. Bourne knows how rare it is to be in her position, but believes more Black women should be in her position. They’re not only capable, she says, but then can look at things from a female and minority perspective—paramount points in driving inclusion efforts.

“What Verizon has done first and foremost is give me a canvas of opportunity,” Bourne told BLACK ENTERPRISE. “So, again, you start in the mailroom and then you move through your organization doing operations, customer service, work sales, work leadership, work synergy, planning each of those moments gives you an opportunity to really build your skill-set.”

In her role as COO Bourne, who started the position on January 1, will drive Verizon’s market leadership, work synergy in connected 5G experiences while continuing to transform Verizon Consumer Group into a fully integrated technology company. However, she looks at her position a bit differently.

“My job as chief operating officer is to deliver the promise that we make to our customers every day. My job is to take the aspiration of our value proposition and customer propositions and make sure that it can be delivered through the journey and touchpoints that a customer or employee experiences at Verizon.”

Bourne knows she is not only part of the Verizon team and a leader. But she never envisioned going as far as she has.

“I never actually imagined I would get to this level in the company,” Bourne says. “What I imagined was that I would do something really good with my time” while using her platform to develop her skills. 

“Verizon is very committed to developing skills and capabilities so every role you have there is worth looking at,” Bourne tells BLACK ENTERPRISE. “That allows you to grow and develop those skills to be transferable across the company. Verizon has also done a great job in providing a platform so we’re able to leverage our employee resource group, which allows us to learn from communities that we have things in common with.”

• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

May 3, 2022

State Department: WNBA Star Brittney Griner ‘Wrongfully Detained’ In Russia

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On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of State determined that WNBA star Brittney Griner is being “wrongfully detained by the Russian government.”

The change in official classification will garner a more aggressive approach to ensuring her safe release and return to the United States, NBC News reported.

Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA), will now oversee the case in coordination with the State Department’s Office of Consular Affairs.

Griner has been in Russian custody since February after a search of her luggage at an airport near Moscow found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. If found guilty of the drug smuggling charges, Griner could face a 10-year sentence.

“The welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad is among the highest priorities of the U.S. Government,” a department spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday.

While authorities work to get Griner released, the State Department will continue to “undertake efforts to provide appropriate support to Ms. Griner.”

The SPEHA office handles the government’s diplomatic efforts in securing the release of American citizens wrongfully detained in other countries. Their classification change means more flexibility in efforts to negotiate Griner’s freedom since SPEHA doesn’t have to wait for Russian legal proceedings to secure a release, CNN reported.

“When it comes to our efforts to free Americans, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Ambassador Carstens, he will go anywhere, he will talk to anyone if it means that we’re able to come home with an American, to reunite that American with her or his family,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

Last week, Carstens and his team played a major role in securing the release of U.S. citizen and former Marine Trevor Reed from Russia. The Richardson Center, which was also involved in Reed’s release, is also working on behalf of the Griner family to try to secure her release.

The Phoenix Mercury star has a hearing scheduled for May 19.

• Technology

by Derek Major

May 3, 2022

Black Tech CEO Bill Spruill Turned His Employees Into Millionaires

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Black tech entrepreneur Bill Spruill turned his employees into millionaires when he sold his startup Global Data Consortium for an undisclosed amount.

Axios reported the North Carolina tech company was sold to the owner of the London Stock Exchange. The financial details have yet to be disclosed, but Spruill described the amount as a “Bronto-level transaction,” which NetSuite bought for $200 million in 2015.

When Spruill started the Global Data Consortium he was only able to raise $5 million from investors, which left most of the company’s equity in the hands of its employees. Spruill and Data Global co-partner Charles Gaddy made sure the employees had enough equity to receive significant payouts.

The sale has turned more than 20 of the company’s employees into millionaires and Spruill will step down as CEO to focus on boosting minority talent in tech. In 2020, Spruill led a campaign to get more of Raleigh’s tech scene to place their case reserves with Black-owned banks, including M&F Bank, one of the oldest Black-owned banks in the country.

The tech industry is still overwhelmingly white and male today, but Spruill and others have been pushing to add diverse talent to some of the largest tech companies. Apple, Amazon and Microsoft have all started HBCU partnerships to get more young Black people into the tech industry.

Spruill, who has spent most of his career in tech, remembers feeling alone in the industry with no mentors and no one to act as an example. He added it was a challenge to find Black mentors both locally and nationally. His goal is to create more Black mentors and senior leaders in the industry.

Cities in the South, including Raleigh and Atlanta, are turning into diverse tech hubs. They provide space, a lower cost of living, and improving infrastructure than long-standing tech hubs such as New York City.