• Celebrity News

by Black Enterprise

March 9, 2022

Project Heal: Travis Scott Announces $5 Million Community Initiatives

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Artist and performer Travis Scott announced Project HEAL, a multi-tier, long-term series of community-focused philanthropy and investment efforts.

Kicking the effort off, $1 million in pledged scholarships for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will be available to give a leg up to students in need. With Scott’s support, the Waymon Webster Scholarship Fund will grant $10,000 scholarships to seniors who have reached academic excellence (averaging 3.5 or higher GPA) but who are facing the last-minute challenge of financial adversity in their second semester senior year – and risk not graduating. The scholarships will help bring 100 students over the finish line, diploma in hand. This is the second year that Scott has supported HBCUs and represents a tenfold increase.

Past recipients include students at Howard University, Morehouse College, Texas Southern University, Grambling State University and Prairie View A&M University – Scott’s grandfather’s alma mater where he also served as an educator. The scholarship is named after Waymon Webster to honor his lifetime of dedication to academic excellence. Applications are now open online.

“My grandfather was an educator who made a difference in thousands of young lives throughout his life. He is a major influence on me and countless others, whose dreams he believed in, whose hopes he invested in, and whose futures he made big. It’s in his spirit that we are creating projects and programs that will look to the future of our communities and create hope and excellence in as many lives as possible” Scott said.

Jordan Webster, project manager at the Cactus Jack Foundation’s HBCU Program, Howard University student and sister to Travis Scott, said, “I know personally how deeply important my grandfather’s academic legacy at HBCUs is to Travis and to my entire family – my twin brother Josh also attends an HBCU, at Prairie View A&M University. Travis creates hope and makes a real difference to 100 of our HBCU peers who will be able to graduate without going into crushing debt. As a third generation HBCU student, I cannot be prouder to partner with Travis on the second year of this exceptional initiative.”

“When I announced that I planned to attend Morehouse College, a lot of people told me I was making the wrong decision and that I’d be putting myself in too much debt. Thanks to the Cactus Jack Foundation’s support, I am one step closer to accomplishing my dreams of being not only the first in my family to attend an HBCU but the first to graduate with a four-year degree,” shared Nasire Branch, a recipient of the first annual Waymon Webster Scholarship and current Morehouse College student.

The second pillar of HEAL addresses the country’s skyrocketing mental health crisis – and focuses much-needed resources to support services for young people in lower-income communities of color, many of whom have few available, accessible, affordable mental health options.

With seven figures in pledges to fund digital counseling and telephone hotlines, Scott will provide free programs with licensed professional counselors and social workers. Houston-based behavioral health expert, Dr. Janice Beal, will lead the effort with Scott’s support. Beal is the programing director of “Well Being in Color,” a peer mental health education program for students of color in addition to her private practice. Most recently, Dr. Beal developed mental health pipelines for the Houston Independent School District durin the COVID-19 pandemic. She serves as a member of the Mayor of Houston’s task force for special needs and advises United States Congress members on youth mental health issues.

Dr. Janice Beal stated, “Mental health has traditionally been a taboo subject. As life begins to return to normal, many young people are still suffering and need help to re-adjust after serious disruptions to their experiences at home, in school and within their community. With Travis Scott’s help, HEAL’s programs will help empower young people to overcome mental health issues and become the best they can be.

The third pillar, in conjunction with Scott’s Cactus Jack Foundation, is a seven-figure expansion of the CACT.US Youth Design Center at TXRX Labs in Houston, a nonprofit maker-space for young artists, designers, tech innovators, including free studio space, workspace, tool spaces, job and apprenticeship training, youth education and events. HEAL will fund a new comprehensive creative design education program for the Center – existing where fashion, art, technology, and music intersect – through a strategic online partnership with a historically black college or university.

The fourth and final pillar is to address safety challenges for large-scale live events through funding the U.S. Conference of Mayors Task Force on Event Safety and a tech-driven device currently in development. This solution is a culmination of stakeholder inputs from key experts from the tech sector, government, emergency response, event management, health and public safety experts.

This will be the first time all these stakeholders will work together to most effectively address the safety challenges faced by future large-scale events, which will culminate in a comprehensive report of recommendations. HEAL will work towards advocating that this report serves as the new safety and security blueprint for all festivals and large-scale events.

“Travis Scott’s generosity will directly help Black youth and families in need. From providing academic scholarships to critical mental resources and inspiring educational programs, Travis Scott is standing up for the Black community by providing the support needed to ensure that our God-given potential is recognized and realized, and soon. We need more leaders who are willing to step up in times of need like this, and I commend Travis and his team,” said Rev. Dr. Johnnie Greene, president of Mobilizing Preachers and Communities (“MPAC”) and senior pastor at the Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem, N.Y.

Rev. Dr. D.Z. Cofield, MPAC member and pastor of the Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, said, “At a time when the Black community is still struggling to overcome the twin crises of the pandemic and racial injustice, and all their negative impacts on our physical, financial, mental and spiritual health, Travis is providing unmatched assistance with HEAL. I applaud him for doing what his community needs at such a critical time.”

• Lifestyle

by Atiya Jordan

March 9, 2022

LeBron James Invests In New Livestreaming Platform, Kittch, For Chefs And Creators To Connect

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NBA star LeBron James, a known food lover, has just joined on as an investor of Kittch, a new live streaming platform for food-obsessed creators to connect and learn from star chefs all over the world, Page Six reports.

Last month, BLACK ENTERPRISE reported that the NBA champion expanded his foundation’s partnership with Tex-Mex-style food brand Old El Paso to open its first-ever fast-casual dining establishment in 2023— The Taco Shop by Old El Paso.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, Kittch’s co-founders birthed an idea to help chefs add important revenue outside the restaurant and in the digital space. Following a four-month beta run, the application was officially released on March 8.

 

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A post shared by Kittch (@kittch)

Kittch positions itself as the Twitch and TikTok of the culinary world and promises free access to 24/7 live streams as James Beard Award-winning, Michelin Star, and up-and-coming chefs prepare meals from their homes or their restaurants. According to Fast Company, chefs can also opt to charge viewers for more extensive cooking classes and workshops, and users can directly tip them.

The star lineup slated to share their expertise includes Marcus Samuelsson, Amanda Freitag, and Amanda Schulman, as per Page Six.

“The goal is to be a diverse, democratic place whereas you build a following, you build the ability to monetize, and you’re able to really take advantage of the platform as a place of discovery, and a place of community,” Kittch CEO Brian Bedol told Fast Company.

“In two years, we would love to see 10,000 or 20,000 chefs on the platform. We don’t envision it as a place that is trying to be exclusive and exclusionary. We envision it sort of like Twitch, where you’re able to see who the most popular creators are.”

In honor of its release on International Women’s Day, every new registration will prompt Kittch to donate to a women’s hospitality initiative.

Former NFL player and current college coach Deion Sanders is currently on an amazing run at Jackson State University, but he announced that he recently had two toes amputated.

According to USA Today, Coach Prime, in a recent interview on the Barstool Sports YouTube page, revealed that he recently had surgery on his injured foot. Doctors had to amputate two toes on his left foot during that procedure. The series details his experience as he stayed at a Mississippi hospital for three weeks.

The 54-year-old Jackson State University football coach had his big toe and the second toe on his left foot amputated, and he lost 35 pounds in the process of his hospital stay. Doctors informed him that he was diagnosed with three femoral arterial blood clots, which they determined were life-threatening.

Doctors informed him that the blood clots started at his calf and ran down the length of his leg. He developed compartment syndrome, which involves muscle pressure reaching levels that can restrict the flow of blood and oxygen in the leg.

When doctors gave him the diagnosis and told him he needed surgery, Sanders reached out to tell his mother. She informed him they had family members, herself included, who had been diagnosed or had died from blood clots.

Sanders had surgery in September for a dislocated toe and an inflamed nerve. He eventually returned to the university to coach while he stood on the sidelines with crutches and sometimes used a golf cart and a push scooter to move around. Sanders had to use a wheelchair to get around for the latter part of the football season.

“They were first talking about the amputation of toes, then the amputation of my leg from knee down, and then they were trying to ensure that I had life,” Sanders said.

“It’s been a long journey. I am on the road back. But I am here, and I am thankful.”

• Business

by Jasmine Jackson

March 9, 2022

4 Ways Black Women-Owned Small-Retail Brands Changed the Game

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Black women have pioneered numerous successful strategies that all small retailers could learn from.

From major brands closing to e-commerce seeing massive year-over-year growth, the face of retail looks very different than it did a few years ago. Industry experts are all trying to figure out how retail brands (large and small) can stay relevant through all of these changes. To answer this question, I’m going to look at one section of retail that rarely gets its due: Black women-owned brands, which have helped change the face of small retail and multi-million dollar businesses alike by doing things a bit differently. Every retail owner, regardless of their background, should take notes and implement these four strategies exemplified by Black women entrepreneurs.

1. Creating a community

The word “community” has been thrown around a lot and can mean many different things to different people. But for Black women small-retail owners, community means one’s tribe. They’ve learned that before a new customer buys, they want to feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves. This new-era customer doesn’t just want to like the products they buy or brands that they buy from; they want to feel like those brands get them and understand their unique needs and wants.

Black women-led brands really took hold of this idea through their marketing efforts. By homing in on a target audience that’s majority Black women, they demonstrated an awareness that many of their customers haven’t felt seen by many other brands, especially mainstream ones. They knew that if they addressed this need to be seen and heard, their brands would stand out among the crowd and attract a buyer that is longing to be acknowledged and and have her dollar valued.

Many Black women-led brands designed their websites around this theme by speaking about community and how their products were designed with site visitors in mind. They used email marketing to really sharpen the tribal aspect of their brand. While marketing isn’t new, these brands went far beyond merely communicating what’s going on with their brand and what it’s selling. These brands used email marketing to truly connect with their tribe by soliciting their feedback, offering advice, checking on their customers’ well-being and making sure to be on-trend with current social issues their customers cared about.

2. Creating the VIP social media experience

If a small retailer wants to be relevant these days, they have to be on social media. How many times a day or week a small retailer should post is often up for debate. Many believe it should be every day; others believe it should be two or three times a day. Truly successful brands are somewhere in the middle, posting multiple times a week. This is true for almost every retail brand out there.

While mostly all retail brands live by a well-designed social media plan, many of the Black women-owned brands took this method a little bit further. Piggybacking on the tribal marketing method, they used social media to solidify their connections with customers in their tribe by creating a more personal and behind-the-scenes look inside their brand. Their guidebook might read something like this:

– Simply socialize with your tribe/customers.

– Get feedback on a new product or line before it is launched to the general public.

– Touch base with your tribe and communicate what’s going on with the brand.

– Bring value to your tribe by featuring industry leaders they’d love to hear from but normally wouldn’t have access to.

– Offer VIP access to your brand’s founders/owners/CEOs to make customers feel even more connected.

The main idea is to ensure that their customers stay loyal and feel like they’re a part of the decisions that are made. Again, this is something that many mainstream brands don’t offer Black women buyers.

3. Creating products that serves your tribe

The recent explosion of Black women-owned retail brands stems from many of them filling huge voids in the market. From hair care and beauty to home goods and tech, many Black women consumers feel that they’ve been ignored in the mainstream market. Black women make up a large portion of the $1.2 trillion of Black consumer buying power, and yet they feel that their voice (and their dollars) don’t matter. The new group of Black women-led brands became successful by listening to their tribe and giving them what they truly want, not what they thought they wanted.

Brands like Mented, Beauty Bakerie and Chic Geeks all saw a void that they knew they could fill that, if approached correctly, would have millions of raving fans all clamoring to be a part of their tribes. Black women consumers (and women consumers in general) became tired of the status quo and were just waiting for someone to truly hear them.

The above companies, and many other Black woman-led brands, heeded the call to give this consumer what they wanted. Understanding that many Black women saw a lack of lipsticks and foundations that truly matched their skin tone, Mented and Beauty Bakerie became some of the first brands to develop a truly “nude” lipstick and skin-matching foundation for Black women. And Chic Geeks understood that women wanted to look stylish and flashy in every part of their lives, thus creating one of the first computer cases and accessories brands geared towards women techies.

Every decision that these brands made stemmed from meeting the needs of their tribe and growing their brand and community from there.

4. Creating more market share through brick-and-mortar

The majority of the new retail owners sprouting up over the last few years have been located online. And while online retail can be very successful, it can also be a challenge to expand a brand’s market share.

Many new small retailers are content in remaining online and growing this business alone. However, just as many Black woman-owned brands wanted something more. They knew that to truly reach more people and create a true impact, they would have to go offline as well.

And despite perceptions, customers do still like to shop at brick-and-mortar stores. They enjoy actually touching and trying a product and getting the instant gratification of an in-store purchase. Smart e-commerce brands understood that getting their products in physical stores would grow their brand’s market reach and improve customer connection.

Plus, going brick-and-mortar can take on a few different forms:

– Being on shelves in large big-box retailers like Walmart and Target.

– Being a part of extended categories offered in major department stores like Macy’s, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Ave.

– Being a part of a store-within-a-store model of an already established brick-and-mortar brand.

– Opening their very own brick-and-mortar store.

By being in brick-and-mortar locations, these Black women-owned brands increased their market share and became industry/product leaders within their respective niches.

The key to staying relevant and successful in retail is to understand that today’s customer has also changed. They want more from their brands. They want a sense of community and a real connection. They want to know that their voice is being heard through products that are created with them in mind. And they want various ways to interact with their favorite brands so they truly feel a part of a special and unique tribe. By taking some cues from many of the successful Black women-led retail brands, any small-retail owner can nurture a brand that is relevant, profitable and here to stay.

• Politics

by Atiya Jordan

March 9, 2022

U.S. Senate Unanimously Passed The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act

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A week after the House passed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act of 2022, the Senate is now onboard with making lynching a federal hate crime.

This Monday, the Senate passed the bill with a unanimous vote and is now awaiting the approval of President Joe Biden, CNN reports. The support of both legislative branches is a long-anticipated and sought-after goal for Congress.

“After more than 200 failed attempts to outlaw lynching, Congress is finally succeeding in taking the long-overdue action by passing the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. Hallelujah. It’s long overdue,” said Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in remarks on the Senate floor after the bill’s passage.

Efforts to pass anti-lynching legislation date back to 1918. Over a century later, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and then-Sen. Kamala Harris first introduced anti-lynching legislation in 2018 and subsequently made ambitious efforts to help lead its unanimous passage on the Senate floor in February 2019. After stalled efforts, Booker reintroduced the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act last month to amend the United States Code and specify that lynching is a crime that warrants an enhanced sentence under existing federal hate crime statutes.

“I am proud to say that Congress has finally passed legislation to criminalize lynching, a shameful instrument of terror used to intimidate and oppress Black Americans,” Booker said in a statement. “During the 19^th and 20^th centuries, more than 4,000 African-American men, women, and children were lynched and between 1936 and 1938, the national headquarters of the NAACP hung a flag with the words’ A man was lynched yesterday,’ solemn reminders of the dark eddies of our nation’s past.”

This bill not only makes lynching punishable by up to 30 years in prison, but it also honors 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was a victim of a heinous beating and shooting during the summer of 1955. His murder drew international attention and exposed the brutal reality of Jim Crow.

“It is an important step forward as we continue the work of confronting our nation’s past in pursuit of a brighter and more just future,” Schumer said, adding that he looks forward to Biden “quickly” signing the bill into law.

• Women

by Derek Major

March 9, 2022

Lawmaker Says It Will Be ‘Very Difficult’ To Get Detained Basketball Player Brittney Griner Out Of Russia

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Family and friends of WNBA forward Brittney Griner are desperate for her release after she was detained in Russia on drug charges last month.

CNN reports Griner, 31, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury in the summer and plays in Russia for UMMC Ekaterinburg, has been detained since last month after the Russian Customs Service said they found cartridges of hash oil in her luggage. CNN also released a video of Griner at the airport and her booking photo on Twitter.

“The customs inspection of the hand luggage being carried by the US citizen confirmed the presence of vapes with specifically smelling liquid, and an expert determined that the liquid was cannabis oil (hash oil), which is a narcotic substance,” the Customs Service said in a statement.

The 6’9” forward has won a championship in the WNBA and has spent the past seven years playing in the Euroleague in the winter, where she makes $1 million per season and in 2021 won a Euroleague Women’s Championship with UMMC Ekaterinburg.

In 2015, UMMC Ekaterinburg paid former UConn star Diana Taurasi more than $1 million to skip the WNBA and rest for the Euroleague season, which she did.

The news of Griner’s detainment comes during a contentious time for the U.S. and Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. has placed heavy sanctions on Russia following the invasion, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has remained steadfast, calling the sanctions “equivalent of a declaration of war.”

According to several people with knowledge of the situation, it’s unclear exactly when she was detained, and a member of the US House Armed Services Committee told CNN, “It’s going to be very difficult to get Griner out of Russia.”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Joe Biden Monday. Griner is not only a Black female far from home, but she is also part of the LGBTQ community, and Russia has almost no protections against LGBTQ discrimination.

A petition for Griner’s release on Change.org started by journalist Tamryn Spruill currently has more than 32,000 signatures.

• Lifestyle

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

March 9, 2022

Chris Brown Drops Voice Message Receipts From Alleged Rape Accuser After She Made Assault Claims

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Earlier this year, a young lady filed a $20 million lawsuit against R&B singer Chris Brown alleging he assaulted her in December 2020.

Brown has denied the allegations. Now, the entertainer has posted on his Instagram account a voice recording allegedly from the woman claiming she wants to see him again as she stated Brown was giving her “mixed signals.”

According to Radar Online, “Jane Doe” filed a lawsuit against him accusing the singer of drugging and raping her on a yacht outside Diddy’s residence back in December 2020. Now, Miami police officials are in possession of text messages between Brown and the woman that shows she was in contact with Brown after the alleged incident.

The messages between the two reveal that the young lady sent Brown selfies of herself while using racy dialogue towards the Run It singer. The exchanges took place after the alleged assault she describes in her lawsuit.

In a series of Instagram Story posts, there is a voice recording of a message she left Brown which may give doubt to the story she has stated in her lawsuit.

“Well, you’re giving me mixed signals. You’re like reading my messages and stuff and you haven’t blocked me yet so I’m guessing you don’t hate me. I just wanna see you again, I mean, you just answered the phone and then you just hung up. Like, just let me know. Like, if you want me to leave you alone I definitely will, but I really just want to f**k with you again.”

In response to the proof Brown has publicly released, he has a message towards the media as he expresses if they will “keep that same energy” they had when reporting the alleged assault charges against him.

“No more dragging me through the mud. “CLEARLY YOU CAN ALL SEE THE 🧢. Now let’s see if the media will keep that same energy they had trying to destroy me, to Run the real story.”

Brown also says that his legal team is “taking action on this situation.”

Chris Brown shares an alleged voice message from the woman suing him of r*pe and says he plans to take legal action against her. pic.twitter.com/anKszbKWJI

— Rap Alert (@rapalert6) March 8, 2022

Brown attorney George Vrabeck of Vrabeck Adams & Co. Inc., said in a written statement that they intend “to hold ALL parties accountable so that we might begin to eradicate this behavior from our society. Our client deserves justice. The same justice that all victims of sexual abuse deserve.”

• Men

by Derek Major

March 9, 2022

Quarterback Russell Wilson Has Been Traded To The Denver Broncos And Could End Up Playing For The NFL’s First Black Owner

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After several weeks of quiet negotiations, the Seattle Seahawks have traded their franchise quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos.

ESPN reports in return for Wilson and a fourth-round pick, the Seahawks will get quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant, defensive lineman Shelby Harris, two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and a fifth-round pick.

Wilson, who is married to the recording artist Ciara, took the Seahawks to Super Bowl XVLIII, in 2014 where they defeated the Broncos 43-8. He then took the Seahawks to a second consecutive Super Bowl in 2015, but the Seahawks lost to the New England Patriots 28-24.

During the 2020-21 season, Wilson carried the Seahawks to a 12-4 record, but this year the Seahawks went 7-10 as he missed multiple games after having surgery on one of the fingers on his throwing hand during the season.

Wilson, who played college football at North Carolina State University before transferring to the University of Wisconsin waived his no-trade clause in order for the trade to go through, which will end his ten-year tenure with the Seahawks, which included nine Pro Bowls.

The quarterback will still have to pass a physical for the trade to become official, but he preferred being traded to Denver over other teams including the Washington Commanders.

Wilson could become the first Black quarterback to play for the NFL’s first Black owner. The Broncos are currently being sold by the family of their previous owner Pat Bowlen, who died in 2019. Both Black media mogul Byron Allen and Black billionaire Robert Smith have expressed interest in purchasing the team.

While Wilson did not outright request a trade, there was interest from both Wilson and the Seahawks to get a deal done. Wilson was expected to count for $37 million against the NFL’s hard salary cap next season for the Seahawks. With the trade, the Seahawks will now save $11 million towards next year’s salary cap.

However, the Seahawks will also pay Wilson $26 million in dead money (money that goes to a player no longer on that team paying him).

It’s no secret that Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook hasn’t been having a very productive season since joining his hometown team.

Adding to the frustration of the team not jelling with Westbrook, sports pundit Skip Bayless has been relentless in chastising LeBron James and purposefully misspelling and mispronouncing Westbrook’s name.

Westbrook’s has had enough and has called out the Fox Sports host for calling her husband “Westbrick.”

Nina Westbrook took to her Twitter account to let Bayless know she is not going to allow the name-calling to continue. In defense of not only her husband but to her and any family member who shares the last name, she told the announcer “to stop calling people out of their name.”

You’ve got to stop calling people out of their name. You are very disrespectful and a bully. This is why so many young people think it’s okay to exhibit this type of behavior. Social media has become such heinous place because of people like you. My name is Westbrook.

— Nina Westbrook (@ninawestbrook) March 4, 2022

I’m tired you you @RealSkipBayless calling my husband out of his name. It is extremely childish. That is my name as well, and many other peoples name. You’re disrespectful, and I’m extremely offended by your behavior. You should apologize.

— Nina Westbrook (@ninawestbrook) March 4, 2022

As Nina Westbrook went on her Twitter rant, she expressed the frustration of having to constantly hear him disparaging the Westbrook name. She reminded Bayless that there is a difference between name-calling and “telling one’s truth” and that having a platform “requires a certain level of responsibility.”

Russell commented on the situation after last night’s basketball game, according to NBC Sports.

“I a hundred percent stand behind my wife and how she’s feeling because it’s not just about this year. Right now, she’s reached a point, and my family has reached a point, to where it’s really weighing on them. And it’s very unfortunate just for me personally because it’s just a game. This is just a game. This is not end-all, be-all. And when it comes to basketball I don’t mind the criticism of missing and making shots. But the moment it becomes where my name is getting shamed, it becomes an issue.”