White Woman Charged With Hate Crime for Harassing Black Amazon Delivery Driver
by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 22, 2021

White Woman Charged With Hate Crime for Harassing Black Amazon Delivery Driver

A white woman in California has been charged with a hate crime after she made it her business to follow a Black Amazon delivery driver because she didn’t like how he was driving.

The Alameda County district attorney’s office charged 35-year-old Julie Warland with a hate crime on Wednesday, June 16 after she tracked down a Black Amazon driver in April and called the cops on him, according to the NY Post.

Warland told cops that “he was trying to escape” after accusing him of speeding. But, Kendall McIntosh said he feared for his life after Warland and her boyfriend followed behind him while hurling racial slurs. At one point, Warland even jumped into his vehicle and tried to take control of the steering wheel.

Witnesses stepped in and began to film the violent encounter. McIntosh said he was finishing up deliveries in the Berkely area when Warland accused him of speeding.

“That’s when the harassing started happening,” he told KRON4. “I was just trying to do my job and she wouldn’t allow me to, she closed both double doors in the van I was trying to leave out of.”

He said Warland was aggressive during her approach and her boyfriend stood behind the delivery truck to prevent him from leaving.

“Instantly just started cursing me out like, first sentence I’m getting cursed at,” McIntosh said. “Very derogatory language, you know I was getting constant F bombs thrown at me. I was getting just racially profiled from the jump.”


McIntosh is thankful for the neighbors who stepped in to film and defend the Amazon worker from the attack.

“What constantly was running through my mind was you know it could be me in handcuffs instead of her so no matter what the situation is, just protect yourself,” McIntosh said. “If you feel like you have to videotape it or anything, definitely do that because I felt like if there wasn’t a video. It wasn’t being recorded, she probably could’ve gotten away with saying this.”

Warland’s hate crime charges include suspicion of false imprisonment, battery, using offensive words and willfully threatening a person based on their appearance.

New York Mother Killed In Front of Her Two Children
by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 22, 2021

New York Mother Killed In Front of Her Two Children

On Monday, Rochester police identified the woman who was fatally shot in front of her two small children.

Genuine Ridgeway, 31, was killed Friday afternoon while sitting inside a car with her two young children nestled inside, the Democrat & Chronicle reported. Ridgeway was pronounced dead at the scene from the shooting that occurred around 2:15 p.m. in the Corn Hill neighborhood of Rochester, NY.

“At three, you should be worrying where your teddy bear is, what your snack is going to be, not worrying about dodging bullets and watching your mom die,” Rochester Police Department Interim Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan said.

Her two children, ages 3 and 8, were not injured in the attack, police said. Witnesses stepped in to comfort the girl and boy after they realized their mother had died.

More than one person was seen exiting a car before firing multiple rounds at Ridgeway’s vehicle, People reports. Ridgeway reportedly drove into the apartment building parking lot before a second car pulled out minutes later. One or more people exited the second car and fired multiple shots into the vehicle Ridgeway was in with her children.

An eyewitness said he was with Ridgeway during her final moments and watched her take her last cough as he sheltered her children.

“He says she was shot approximately 17 times,” a tweet from reporter Adria Walker read.


No arrests have been made, and investigators have yet to identify any potential suspects. The motive behind the murder remains unknown. A GoFundMe page was set up to help Ridgeway’s children.

“I’m really hoping, praying that someone that maybe has kids that age or relatives that age that could only try to imagine what those kids went through could find it in themselves to come forward and tell us what they know,” rochester’s interim police chief, cynthia Herriot-Sullivan, said.

“People were out there and saw what happened,” she continued. “I hope it makes you angry. I know I am.”

United Airlines Flight 1258 Celebrates All-Black Flight Staff On Juneteenth
by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 22, 2021

United Airlines Flight 1258 Celebrates All-Black Flight Staff On Juneteenth

United Airlines Flight 1258 celebrated its Juneteenth in the sky with an all-Black flight staff.

Everyone from the pilot to the flight attendants and gate agents were Black, CNN reported. Water gallons were blasted out ahead of the flight to commemorate the special moment that came on the same day as Juneteenth.

Juneteenth received more national attention this year after President Biden signed a bill last week making the day a federal holiday. The all-Black flight crew flew from Houston to Chicago on Saturday morning.

Ahead of the flight, a celebration commenced that included a speech from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a saxophone performance from one of the pilots, Sal Crocker, and water cannons blasted on the tarmac.

“Now, we’re soaring amongst the stars,” Turner told KTRK. “Let me tell you, for our ancestors, my parents, if they were still alive, they would just be amazed.”

United pilot Deon Byrne acknowledged how advances in racial and gender equality led to her being included among the small percentage of Black female pilots.

“Years ago, I was not able to fly in the capacity as a pilot,” Byrne said. “This is just amazing to represent a section of our culture.”

Studies show that only 2.47% of United States aircraft pilots and flight engineers are Black, according to Data USA.

“It is very difficult being a Black person, a Black woman, in the aviation industry,” Byrne said. “There’s not a lot of encouragement, and there’s absolutely mentorship for the future generation, but when I came in, it was very difficult to find the funding, the resources, and the connections to get started in the industry.”

After 25 years of working in the aviation industry, Byrne said Saturday was the first time she had ever flown with an all-Black staff.

“A lot of people say, ‘Oh, what’s the big deal, a bunch of Black people are just flying from here to there,’ but it is a big deal,” Byrne said. “In the aviation industry, people have always questioned if we were as safe or as competent. And we are careful. We’re very competent.”

On The 60th Anniversary Of ‘Freedom Riders’, Voting Rights Activists Push President Biden To Do More
by Derek Major

June 22, 2021

On The 60th Anniversary Of ‘Freedom Riders’, Voting Rights Activists Push President Biden To Do More

Reuters – Activists traveling through the South to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the historic “Freedom Riders” are urging President Joe Biden to do more to protect voting rights for Black Americans, as Democrats and Republicans battle over ballot access.

Dozens of civil rights campaigners, traveling on five customized buses, were greeted in Atlanta on Monday by hundreds of local activists and Georgia residents, a local band and performances of the “Electric Slide” line dance in front of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Slain civil rights champion Martin Luther King served as a pastor at that church in the 1960s.

“I am hoping that we will see the same kind of tenacity, commitment and passion around protecting the civil rights of Black voters as we’ve seen with other policies,” LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the group Black Voters Matter, which organized the tour, told Reuters on Monday.

Participants are trekking this week from Jackson, Mississippi to the U.S. capital to push for voting rights legislation six decades after activists called “Freedom Riders” protested against segregated bus terminals in the South.

Biden has named Kamala Harris, the first Black U.S. vice president, to lead an effort against a slew of Republican-backed voting restrictions passed at the state level including sweeping changes in election battleground states including Georgia https://www.reuters.com/world/us/big-changes-under-georgias-new-election-law-2021-06-14. Democrats have said the Republican measures disproportionately affect Black voters.

The activists said appointing Harris is not enough.

“I think he (Biden) needs to look for the next John Lewis,” Shenita Binns, 42, a civil rights activist from Atlanta, told Reuters.

Lewis, who died last year at age 80, was a U.S. congressman who earlier was one of the original “Freedom Riders.” https://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/from-the-vault/posts/john-lewis-freedom-rider He also was instrumental in lobbying for passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that barred discriminatory voting laws adopted in many southern states to prevent Black people from casting ballots.

Biden “needs to look right here in Atlanta because we are the ones who have been on the ground fighting against voter suppression. … We are the ones who put Biden into office,” Binns added.

Biden won the 2020 election by prevailing in Georgia and a handful of other states had that backed former President Donald Trump four years earlier. His fellow Democrats control both chambers of Congress because the party won two Senate runoff elections in January in Georgia.

The Senate is due on Tuesday to consider a sweeping Democratic-backed voting rights bill that faces an uphill battle amid stiff Republican opposition. The White House on Monday pledged to pursue other initiatives to boost voting rights even if the legislation is passed.

The bus tour heads on Tuesday to South Carolina, then North Carolina, and will stop on Thursday in Charleston, West Virginia, home state of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who opposes the legislation coming before the Senate on Tuesday but has offered a compromise proposal.

“There’s more that we think the White House could do, and that involves continuing to put pressure on folks like Manchin,” said Cliff Albright, executive director and co-founder of Black Voters Matter.

“When I say pressure, we don’t even care what it looks like,” Albright said. “It could be the carrot or it could be the stick, it doesn’t just have to be pressure. It could be, ‘Look what does it take for this to be done with,’ to be honest.”

(Reporting by Merdie Nzanga; Editing Will Dunham, Heather Timmons and Michael Perry)

Chicago-Based Black-Led Health Care Insurer Expanding To 32 More States And D.C.
by Jeffrey McKinney

June 22, 2021

Chicago-Based Black-Led Health Care Insurer Expanding To 32 More States And D.C.

Zing Health, a Black-founded Medicare Advantage insurer, is expanding into 32 additional states and the District of Columbia with its acquisition of Lasso Healthcare.

The deal will allow Chicago-based Zing, a Black doctor-led insurer of healthcare plans, to buy Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based Lasso, a provider of Medicare-related services for thousands of Americans.

Both companies aligned on a deal because of their like-minded approach,  Dr. Eric Whitaker, the CEO  and a founder of Zing Health, told Home Health Care News. He told Black Enterprise by email what makes this acquisition unique. “Other Medicare Advantage acquisitions have been by companies that have had multi-lines like commercial insurance or employer insurance — ours is strictly Medicare Advantage.”

Zing was started in 2019 by two Black physicians/entrepreneurs, Whitaker and Dr. Kenneth Alleyne, and co-founder Black healthcare executive, Garfield Collins.  The firm provides Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to under-resourced seniors largely in the Midwest who are often minorities living in low-income and/or rural areas who may otherwise not have access to adequate healthcare. Lasso has a national reach and business model offering  affordable coverage to seniors across the country.

Reflecting on the deal, Zing Health reports the Lasso addition provides  “a national footprint to reach diverse communities with innovative Medicare Advantage health plans that lower the cost of high-quality care.” Zing joins other new and existing health insurance firms using acquisitions and mergers to boost Medicare-related business that have been growing steadily, observers say.

The pact means Zing will expand into rural markets that could help it target Medicare-eligible seniors who are perhaps facing difficulty gaining access to traditional insurance networks.

“The rural community piece is a big one,” Whitaker told Black Enterprise by email. “Heretofore, we’ve been focusing on urban diverse communities and having rural as part of that as an addition that’s impactful.”

   Financial terms of the deal and how it will impact Zing’s revenues were not disclosed. But Whitaker said the acquisition was funded with a combination of cash and stock. Once the pact closes — expected to occur by late third quarter of 2021 — Lasso will be operating under Zing’s leadership but continue to offer its Medicare Savings Account (MSA) plans like it always has.

In general, a Medicare Advantage Plan, like an HMO or PPO, is offered by private companies approved by Medicare. They are sometimes referred to as “Part C” or “MA” plans.

Whitaker noted the Lasso Medicare Advantage plan includes a medical savings account. “We believe that as more employers have offered health savings accounts as part of insurance, that the potential customers will have more familiarity with this potential product, and we hope to be the leading company that offers this option across the country.”

So how does this acquisition set Zing apart from other insurance providers?

“This is a capital-intensive business,” Whitaker says. “Most of the other players we’re competing against have raised near $1 billion plus. We are Black physician founded. We are targeting both urban and rural diverse populations. That sets us apart from other insurers; that’s not their mission.”

Plus, Zing is eyeing home-based care providers as potential partners as it expands and targets seniors.

“I think that home health and home care is a critical component to the health of senior members living their best lives,” Whitaker told Home Health Care News. “And we’re excited — as Zing Health and Lasso Healthcare — to be working with the industry to come up with new and better ways to serve our senior members.”

Whitaker reflected on how the deal came to be.

“Our investors were trying to understand third-party distribution. Ritter Insurance Marketing, which owned Lasso, is the fourth largest field marketing organization in the country. In the midst of doing due diligence on another topic, we came across Lasso. We didn’t seek to go get an acquisition of any kind. It just was opportunistic.”

 

Jazmine Sullivan Calls Out Macy’s For Alleged Racist Encounter on Juneteenth
by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 22, 2021

Jazmine Sullivan Calls Out Macy’s For Alleged Racist Encounter on Juneteenth

Singer Jazmine Sullivan was minding her business enjoying her Juneteenth holiday when the R&B hitmaker said she experienced racism at a Philadelphia Macy’s location.

The “Need U Bad” crooner and Philly native took to her Instagram story on Saturday to recall the encounter she had at the Macy’s, AceShowBiz reported.

Sullivan said she was checking out after shopping at the department store with her boyfriend’s mother and noticed the cashier display a dislike toward them.

And with the incident falling on the same day as Juneteenth, Sullivan said she wasn’t going to remain silent about the alleged encounter.

“Wow to look racism in the eye, and especially on Juneteenth was a wakeup call,” Jazmine wrote. “Mary King at Willowgrove Macy’s look of disgust while ringing up my boyfriend’s mother will forever be etched in my mind.”

The “Pick Up Your Feelings” singer claimed “an honest mistake” resulted in the cashier treating them poorly during their checkout, in a screenshot.

“An honest mistake (the store’s mistake btw) should’ve been met with understanding and kindness,” Sullivan continued. “But if you’re prejudice and prejudge people as soon as they walk up to the register then that’s obviously too much to ask.”

The Grammy-nominated singer reminded the unidentified cashier that Black people like herself can afford to drop racks at department stores.

“Newsflash Mary…Black people got money, good jobs and ain’t tryna get over on your boy cut frumpy looking racist a**,” she added.

She also thanked a Black staff worker who jumped in and tried to help ease the tension during the shaky checkout experience.

“Thank God for the Black employee who tried to rectify the situation (that u didn’t listen too,” Sullivan added. “I wonder why u didn’t take her advice Mary?). This coulda went a whole different way. U need to be grateful we know Jesus b***h!”

The Suites Launches As A Private Network For Chief Executives And Entrepreneurs Of Color To Build Strategic Business Relationships
by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors

June 22, 2021

The Suites Launches As A Private Network For Chief Executives And Entrepreneurs Of Color To Build Strategic Business Relationships

A powerful and diverse network of 50 top executives are rallying behind a new platform and business community, the Suites.

The Suites was founded by entrepreneur, investor and corporate finance attorney Shimite Obialo, who while working in New York City for diverse tech companies and venture funds, recognized a void particularly for people of color in what she has coined the 3Cs of business building: connections, coaching and capital.

Arlan Hamilton of Backstage Capital joins the stage with Shimite Obialo (the Suites) and Morgan Simon (Candide Group) and shares with the Suites business community how growing up poor for most of her life has made her a better leader, and how Black women need to embrace a sense of privilege and entitlement. This virtual event was filmed during the Suites launch party on May 21, 2021.

The founding community includes prominent investors like Arlan Hamilton of Backstage Capital, whose firm has invested in more than 175 startup companies led by “underestimated founders” and Morgan Simon, of Candide Group who in 2020 alone supported over $50M of investments into companies and funds, the majority led by women and people of color.

Global power brokers like Chris Lwanga, a senior executive at Microsoft, have also signed up to become “Council Members” in support of the Suites’ mission.

In addition, the company is attracting a growing roster of partnerships including: Insperity; AchieveNEXT; OneValley Passport; SoGal Foundation and Aux21 Capital.

Suites Members have access to:

  • a mobile platform for intimate networking with high caliber executives
  • curated events and investor mixers
  • peer masterminds to exchange ideas to creatively tackle business challenges
  • bespoke capital raising support

The Suites is disrupting existing business networks, some of which have been around for decades, but have failed to capture the needs of executives of color, and is delivering a new look at entrepreneurialism grounded in the fact that success is anchored by strong relationships.

Entrepreneurs and business executives looking to join a diverse community offering a deep bench of experienced leaders, vetted business experts, and strong capital relationships are encouraged to visit www.jointhesuites.com and apply for membership, to become one of the 150 Founding Members. Applications for Founding Membership will close in September.

Social Media: @insidethesuites

Black Man Sues 7 LA Officers After Vicious Beating Left Him Blind in One Eye
by Jeroslyn JoVonn

June 22, 2021

Black Man Sues 7 LA Officers After Vicious Beating Left Him Blind in One Eye

A Black man is suing seven Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies after a vicious beating during a 2020 arrest that left him blind in his left eye.

Christopher Bailey filed a civil rights lawsuit against the deputies and the Sheriff’s Department involved in his May 2020 beating in LA’s Inglewood suburbs, according to KTLA. Bailey and his lawyers held a press conference on Monday explaining the details leading to his violent arrest.

Bailey said he was driving home from his job for the U.S. Postal Service when cops pulled him overaround 2 a.m. for straddling a lane.

His lawyers argue that Bailey complied with the officer’s requests. But he was still attacked and accused of resisting arrest.

“I was screaming out (that) I wanted to live,” Bailey recalled. “I really feared for my life, I thought I was going to die.”

His attorney, Toni Jaramilla, said Bailey was hit numerous times, lost teeth, suffered broken bones in his face, and is now blind out of his left eye,

“He sustained 64 to 86 total body and face hits. He was pummeled in the face approximately 35 to 44 times,” Jaramilla said. “Mr. Bailey recalls that he heard deputies say, ‘Pull his pants down,’ and he could feel tugging in his pants, and he was Tasered in the lower abdomen near his groin area.”

Officers charged Bailey with three felony counts of resisting arrest, but the charges were later dropped, his attorneys said. Now, they are suing and they want the deputies involved criminally charged.

“This was a gang-like beatdown of a Black citizen,” Jaramilla said.

Cellphone footage captured the aftermath of the violent arrest and shows Bailey being lifted into an ambulance, ABC7 News in Los Angeles reported. Someone can be heard saying, “He doesn’t even look human.”

The sheriff’s department released a brief statement saying, “all use of force incidents which result in injury are unfortunate,” but couldn’t offer more information due to the pending legal case.

Father Blames New York State Trooper For Death Of 11-Year-Old Daughter
by Christian Spencer

June 22, 2021

Father Blames New York State Trooper For Death Of 11-Year-Old Daughter

A father recalled the day a New York State Trooper allegedly killed his 11-year-old daughter in  a crash while they were heading to see family up North.

Driving on the I-87, Tristin Goods said he was pulled over, questioned about drugs and guns in the car, pepper-sprayed in the face and rammed twice at high speed, which ultimately led to the death of Goods’ daughter, The New York Daily News reported.

Related stories: WHITE MICHIGAN TROOPER CHARGED WITH FELONIOUS ASSAULT AFTER ALLOWING POLICE DOG TO ATTACK A BLACK MAN FOR NEARLY FOUR MINUTES

Monica Goods was killed riding inside a 2017 Dodge Journey without a seatbelt on Dec. 22, 2020, and she was laid to rest on Jan. 15, 2021.

Her father Tristin blames the trooper who aggressively approached the vehicle.

Tristin said Trooper Christopher Baldner pulled over the family car on the highway in Ulster County around 20 minutes before midnight. Baldner yelled at the Goods family to stop the car, reportedly without a reason.

He was screaming at me, ‘You were going 100 miles per hour and you shook my car!’ Tristin said.

“I said ‘The tractor-trailer in front of me shook your car.’ I had my hands on the steering wheel. I didn’t get out of the car. I was no threat to him,” Goods said. “I asked for a supervisor.”

Baldner and Tristin engaged in a verbal dispute before Baldner went to his cruiser and came back to the car and pepper-sprayed him.

“He didn’t warn us he was going to use pepper spray,” Goods said. “He didn’t say ‘Get out of the car’ or ‘You’re under arrest.’”

Tristin drove off, with his wife April and both of his daughters, 11-year-old Monica and 12-year-old Tristina, who were both crying, fearing for his family’s lives.

“I didn’t know what he was going to do next,” Goods said. “I was like, ‘Holy s–t. This guy is going to kill me now.’”

Baldner used his state police car to ram the back of Tristin’s SUV, and after the second ram the SUV flipped over and Monica was ejected from the car. She died at the scene.

Tristin got out of the car to locate his daughter’s body, but Baldner tracked him down, pulled a gun on him, asking Tristin again if there were guns or drugs in the car.

The family has since filed several lawsuits against Baldner and the state police.

The NY Daily News filed a Freedom of Information request and received a partially redacted statement regarding high-speed pursuits should be “minimized” and they prohibit “reckless or hazardous measures” unless the driver is doing so too.

“The pursuit must be terminated when it becomes apparent to the officer that the immediacy of apprehension is outweighed by a clear and unreasonable danger to the public,” the policy reads.

Baldner is on assigned desk duty, according to the department’s spokesman, William Duffy.

“While we understand the desire for answers to the many questions surrounding this incident, we can’t address the details until these investigations are complete,” Duffy said.

by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors

June 22, 2021

Beyoncé Fans Drag Trick Daddy For She ‘Can’t Sing,’ Comment + Jay-Z Diss

Somebody call 911 because Rapper Trick Daddy was stung and dragged for filth by the BeyHive after fixing his lips to say, “Beyonce can’t sing.”

The Miami-based, “Oh You Don’t Know Nann” rapper apparently didn’t know you can’t come for the Queen Bee after her online stans hit back at Trick’s criticism of the music mogul during an interview on the Clubhouse app this week, Newsweek reports.

Trick, whose government name is – Maurice Samuel Young— rubbed folks the wrong way with his unpopular analysis of Bey’s vocal abilities.

“Beyoncé ain’t trying to give back to music, and Beyoncé don’t write music,” he said. Before adding his kiss of death declaration: “Beyoncé can’t sing.”

He continued: “Beyoncé is to R&B what Jay-Z is to New York.”

Trick dug a deeper hole and took a shot at her rap husband Jay-Z by saying, Hova has “never won the greatest rapper alive” title. He went on to assert that New Yorkers were thirsty for a new hip hop star after the death of the Notorious B.I.G. And because of that they latched on to Jay-Z, he said.

“New York lost Biggie and they needed a hero,” Trick Daddy asserted.

Those comments got 46-year-old Trick Daddy immediately canceled by the BeyHive committee who reminded him about his decomposing musical career.


Another commenter attacked his career and his whole existence saying: “I forgot Trick Daddy even existed but did somebody leave him in the microwave to long or sum cause ikyfl. like sir in 15 years no one will barley if even remember you at all worry about that instead of two people leaps and bounds more talented and successful than you.”


Yet another commenter shared receipts to show that even his top artist, Trina, doesn’t think Trick has any relevancy.
“Ik damn well Trick Daddy ain’t talkin shit bout Beyoncé and Jay-Z like his ass relevant still. Let’s run this back…”


Even though Beyonce always keeps it classy and never responds to negativity, her legion of fans went on the defense and unleashed on Trick and littered his Instagram with a barrage of comments in support of the Queen Bee.


Trick’s debut album Based On a True Story, was released in 1997 when Beyonce was only 16. He’s more known for his popular duet “Nann N—,” featuring Trina, and “I’m a Thug.”

Here’s some audio of what Trick had to say.


At this point, he’s gonna need more than a defibrillator to resuscitate his career.

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