• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

May 25, 2021

Charleston Church Massacre Shooter Wants His Death Sentence Overturned

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The white nationalist on federal death row for the racist mass shooting against nine Black church members in Charleston, SC, is pleading to have his death sentence overturned.

Lawyers for Dylann Roof appeared in court on Tuesday where they claimed the convicted murderer was unable to stand trial due to being “disconnected from reality,” CNN reported. Making their arguments before a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, VA, they requested that an appellate court vacate Roof’s 33 convictions and death sentence, or remand his case to court for a “proper competency evaluation,” the Associated Press reported.

“The federal trial that resulted in his death-sentence departed so far from the standard required when the government seeks the ultimate price that it cannot be affirmed,” the lawyers wrote in regards to Roof representing himself during his trial.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel held two hearings where it was determined that Roof could act as his own attorney.

But his appellate team claimed that “every defense expert agreed Roof suffered a delusional belief he would be rescued by the victors of a race-war, which prevented him from understanding the threat of execution was real.”

“When Dylann Roof represented himself at his capital trial, he was a 22-year-old, ninth-grade dropout diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder, autism, anxiety, and depression, who believed his sentence didn’t matter because white nationalists would free him from prison after an impending race war,” a 321-page motion filed last year read.

Prosecutors responded to the appellate team by presenting evidence of Roof’s pride in the massacre through writings from his jailhouse journal.

“I would like to make it crystal clear. I do not regret what I did,” Roof wrote. “I am not sorry. I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed.”

Robin-Vergeer’s Justice Department colleague, Ann O’Connell Adams, argued that Roof was competent to stand trial and pointed to evidence of Roof’s high IQ, saying he “didn’t have a shred of doubt” that he faced the risk of death in the case.

• Business

by Andrea Blackstone

May 25, 2021

Meet the HBCU Graduate Building Up Black Businesses in Mississippi

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Tim Lampkin, raised on the Mississippi Delta, is on a homegrown mission to make efforts to narrow disparities around the racial wealth through social entrepreneurship.

Lampkin, the co-founder and CEO of Higher Purpose Co. (HPC), is a proud HBCU graduate of Mississippi Valley State University. He is currently finishing his doctorate at the University of Arkansas. Lampkin leads the 501c3 economic justice nonprofit to build community wealth with Black residents across Mississippi. This goal is accomplished by supporting the ownership of financial, cultural, and political power.

Lampkin told Forbes that Higher Purpose Co. offers a continuum of capital to get businesses the funding they need to move forward. In the interview, Lampkin said Mississippi is one of the Blackest states in the country.

“There is progress yet to be made to close the gender and racial wealth gaps resulting from institutional racism and under-investment in our communities,” Lampkin said. “So in 2016, we started HPC to get things moving in a new direction. We work with 200 Black entrepreneurs, farmers, and artists in our business membership. The majority of our members identify as Black women, many of them single mothers starting businesses to increase their monthly income. Our farmers are typically mature in age and experience—less often young people due to the stigma of working on land associated with the cotton industry and slavery. Artists in our membership range from photographers, painters, and musicians.”

RELATED CONTENT: Mississippi Woman Provides Vaccine Transportation for Local Community

Lampkin also told Forbes that HPC is the only Kiva hub in Mississippi. It is able to offer zero interest loans up to $10,000, without requiring a minimum score or collateral. Other forms of support include $2,500 business growth grants, equity investments, and traditional loans from larger banks.

Lampkin’s idea to shift communities in Mississippi in a positive way is spreading.

RSF Social Finance launched the Racial Justice Collaborative, a philanthropic fund providing diverse forms of capital to U.S.-based social enterprises whose owners and leaders are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

The Higher Purpose Co. was one of four inaugural organizations to receive funding.

“RSF supported the organization with a $100,000 loan guaranty in 2020 to enable more loans to Black women entrepreneurs; the $50,000 grant from the Racial Justice Collaborative contributes to HPC’s $1 million capital campaign for phase one of its new headquarters, designed to serve as a hub for Black entrepreneurs, farmers, and artists in the Delta,” RSF Social Finance said. “The building will house HPC offices, mission-aligned business tenants, a food hall, a retail store, a civil rights museum, a creative conference room, and a multipurpose theater.”

• Women

by Derek Major

May 25, 2021

Rep. Maxine Waters Wants To End Qualified Immunity For Police Officers

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Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) is adamant about ending qualified immunity for police officers across the country and is not afraid to say it.

On The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart, Waters said she is uninterested in any discussion of removing qualified immunity from police reform bills and the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act.

“I am not giving up on qualified immunity,” Waters said on the show. “I do not want to send any message to anybody that I am willing to support legislation that does not have it in it. I think we have got to be tough, we have got to be consistent and understand that we have got to hold police officers accountable.”

Qualified immunity grants police officers immunity from being sued by citizens unless the plaintiff shows the officer violated “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.”

Many believe qualified immunity and police records that are unavailable to the public act as a shield and a license to kill for police, who can shoot first without worry and ask questions later. Waters, along with civil rights activists and other Democratic lawmakers, believe ending the practice would stop police from attacking and shooting people since they could be taken to court.

The deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor led to nation and worldwide protests and a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. However, it did not stop police from killing or shooting Black men as Daunte Wright, Rayshard Brooks and Andrew Brown have been shot by police in the year since Floyd’s death.

Waters has support for her stance. Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) told the Washington Post she “wasn’t prepared” to offer her colleagues a bill that does not address qualified immunity, even if she gets everything else that she wants in the legislation.

“I’m not prepared to do that,” Bass told the Post. “I think qualified immunity is essential to be in the bill.”

A year after George Floyd’s murder, Black Americans are still marching and protesting for police reform, but things seem to going backward a bit. Los Angeles is going back on its commitment to cut the LAPD’s budget; Meanwhile Florida and Oklahoma have passed laws protecting drivers who hit and run protestors. Tennessee lawmakers tried to pass a similar bill, but that effort failed.

Last month, New York City became the first major city to reform qualified immunity. While the city didn’t completely abandon the practice, it eliminates qualified immunity for city police officers. Corrections officers and child services officials are still protected by qualified immunity.

We had neither seen nor heard anything about or from former NBA player Kwame Brown, in, literally, years. In the past week, his name has come up more often now than possibly in his NBA playing days. Power 105’s Charlamagne Tha God named himself “Donkey of the Day” for his comments directed at the former first-round draft pick.

According to Complex, “The Breakfast Club” host went after Brown last week when he went into details of his personal life. They are both from South Carolina, so Charlamagne is privy to information that isn’t widely publicized. He said he went too far when being disrespectful toward Brown, adding that friends and mutual associates told him to apologize for airing dirty laundry.

RELATED CONTENT: Former NBA Player Kwame Brown Responds to Criticism and He Did Not Come To Play

A clip of his apology is shown on the Instagram account of The Breakfast Club:

“Since I unintentionally caused trauma, I need to be intentional about causing healing” – @cthagod

“I’m sure I caused pain for not only Kwame Brown but for his family—‘specially, his family in my hometown of Moncks Corner, South Carolina. You know how I know? Because I spoke to a few of them. I was apologizing for triggering them.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Breakfast Club (@breakfastclubam)

Brown, the first overall pick of the 2001 NBA draft, ripped former players who showed disrespect toward his playing skills on a recent podcast. Retired basketball players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, on a recent episode of their “All the Smoke” podcast, discussed Brown’s trade to the Memphis Grizzlies for future Hall of Fame center Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles during the 2007-08 season. During that talk with current Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, Jackson questioned Brown’s basketball skills. Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas, several weeks before, also dissed Brown on the podcast.

“I’m saying all that to say, leave Kwame alone. That man has been quiet for twenty years, he don’t bother nobody,” Charlamagne said. “Clearly all that ‘he’s a bust up’ gets to him. You don’t know what people are going through or have been through.”

Master P has been so busy lately, but not busy enough where couldn’t pick up a college degree

The successful entrepreneur and No Limit soldier recently picked up an honorary doctorate degree from Lincoln University. Master P,  real name Percy Miller, posted the acknowledgment on his Instagram page over the weekend.

“I guess I got to change my name to, Dr. P. Miller.

Prominent schools had their eyes on the younger Miller, including Vanderbilt, LSU, USC, and UCLA. Despite the prestige associated with these universities, Miller wanted to show athletes that more quality options exist.

“I want to be a leader and a dream of mine and a goal of mine is to change the narrative,” Hercy Miller told the Tennessean. “I want to show people you don’t have to go to one of these big schools, Power Five conference schools, just to be great. There are a lot of great people who came out of HBCUs or mid-major schools. I want to be the next one.”

• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

May 25, 2021

Samaria Rice Calls Out Those “Hustling Black Death” for Their Own Personal Gain

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Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, is continuing to speak out against those she feels hustle off “Black death.” After losing her 12-year-old son in 2014 to a fatal police shooting in Cleveland, Rice has become an outspoken critic of the Black Lives Matter movement and social justice advocates she feels don’t do enough for the families left grieving the loss of their loved ones.

“All of the families should be getting therapy, and all of them should be getting the tools to speak for themselves, not have people speak for them,” she told The Cut in an interview published on Monday.

Back in March, Samaria Rice spoke out after activist Tamika Mallory appeared at the Grammy Awards for rapper Lil Baby’s stage performance. She blasted public figures like Mallory and accused her and others of “benefitting off the blood” of police brutality victims, Cleveland.com reported. She reiterated this stance during her recent interview asking, “Where was you at?”

“They should not be standing on the front line like this was they child,” she said, as reported by The Grio. “You supposed to be uplifting the family, the community, teaching us how to love on each other, not bickering and fighting about who gon’ get the next case or who gon’ be on TV next. It’s a mess.”

She further criticized Tamika Mallory and brought up her referring to her social justice work as a “job.”

“I heard her say this is a job. Who hired you? Who sent you? Are you showing up as an activist or an entertainer,” Rice said.

She also claimed to have never spoken to activist Shaun King despite his claims of raising money for the Rice family at their request. “I ain’t never talked to Shaun King a day in my life,” Rice declared in the interview, which ran on The Cut. “Shaun King raised all that money [for Tamir] and sent me a $60,000 check. I ain’t know Shaun King from a hole in the wall.”

As she fights to have her son’s case reopened and investigated after Donald Trump silently closed it during the final days of his presidency, Rice shared her hopes for leaders to show genuine support for those left broken by the system.

“I think they can make things right with the community and try to show the community that they are working and not just talking…you got these corporate people listening to you like you doing the work, and you not doing the work if you not in these streets,” she said.

Rice recently begged the Ohio Supreme Court not to reinstate, Timothy Loehmann, the former officer who killed her son, according to Cleveland 19.

• Health and Wellness

by Andrea Blackstone

May 25, 2021

Halle Berry Says 30-Year Keto Diet Helps Manage Diabetes and Slow Down Aging

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According to Insider, the keto diet, helped actress Halle Berry to manage her diabetes. Berry—who has followed it for 30 years—was found to have diabetes at 22 years old. Insider remarked that the 54-year-old said that the discovery directed the actress’ toward a health journey.

“Because I’m diabetic, nutrition has been a big part of my life,” Berry said to Insider. “For the past almost 30 years I have been following the ketogenic lifestyle.”

If you are not familiar with the keto diet, The Mayo Clinic explains the basic premise of it.

“The ketogenic — or keto — diet emphasizes high-fat foods and severely restricts carbohydrates. In fact, about 60% to 80% of calories should come from fat, according to Jason Ewoldt, RDN, LD, a wellness dietitian at Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program (HLP). He notes that a true keto diet also includes only moderate amounts of protein, and less than 50 grams of carbohydrates a day,” the Mayo Clinic said.

In the article, Ewoldt remarked that foods such as nuts, seeds, full-fat cheese, and other dairy products, plain Greek yogurt, non-starchy and fibrous vegetables, oils, along with smaller amounts of meats, eggs, and fish, are keto diet mainstays.

Women’s Health reported that early in Berry’s acting career, she focused on weight workouts for body sculpting. However, she later shifted to yoga and stretching, sprinting fast, working with her own bodyweight, weights, and resistance bands, and practicing martial arts.

“After I found out I had diabetes at 22, though, things started to change and I began to see fitness as a way to care for my health and my body. As a result, throughout the next few decades, my perspective (and my workouts!) shifted. I began to focus on feeling fit more than looking fit and my workouts became acts of self-care,” Berry told Women’s Health.

Staying in great shape and eating habits merge in Berry’s lifestyle. In 2018, she shared an Instagram post about being healthy and staying in great shape.

“Keto is a very low-carb food plan which actually forces your body to burn fat like crazy. I also believe it’s been largely responsible for slowing down my aging process. The keto lifestyle offers so many benefits such as weight loss, (moms that’s how we get rid of our baby bellies), appetite control, more energy and better mental performance,” Berry said on her Instagram account. “If you’re like me, you can possibly reverse type 2 diabetes, you’ll experience better physical endurance, better skin and also less acne if that’s an issue. And it even helps control migraines! I’m sharing two links (check Stories!) that will explain the lifestyle in detail and it also offers a plan to help you get started! So today I encourage you to say yes to keto, give it a try… what do you have to lose?! 💪🏽.”

• Black Lives Matter

by Derek Major

May 25, 2021

Haitian Immigrants In the U.S. Can Apply For New, 18-month Temporary Protected Status Designation

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The Biden administration announced it will grant temporary protected status to tens of thousands of Haitian immigrants living in the U.S. without legal status.

Haitian immigrants granted protected status will be exempt from deportation for 18 months, at which point  the administration could extend or renew the designation.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas cited security concerns, social unrest, human right abuses and extreme poverty for the decision. Haitian immigrants in the U.S. were initially granted protected status in 2010 following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed 250,000 citizens.

• Black Lives Matter

by Derek Major

May 25, 2021

A Year After The Death Of George Floyd, Black Americans Are Still Looking For Change

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Reuters – Americans on Tuesday marked the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd beneath a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee, which catalyzed the largest U.S. protest movement in decades over police brutality against Black people.

In Washington, members of Floyd’s family are set to meet privately with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House and with lawmakers in the U.S. Congress, where police reform legislation in Floyd’s name has stalled.

Derrick Johnson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) civil rights group, said he also would meet with lawmakers to urge passage of the legislation.

“It’s hard to say if race relations, specifically, are better now than they were a year ago because change takes a lot of time,” Johnson said in an interview. “We can’t change everything in a few months or in a year. But there’s a there’s definitely a new tone in this country.”

In Minneapolis, a foundation created in Floyd’s memory by some in his family organized an afternoon of music and food in a park near the downtown courtroom where Derek Chauvin, the former officer, was found guilty last month of murdering Floyd during a landmark trial in U.S. policing.

Chauvin, 45, faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced on June 25. The three other officers at the scene have pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting Chauvin, and will go on trial next year. The Minneapolis Police Department fired all four officers the day after Floyd was killed.

RELATED CONTENT: Biden Hosting George Floyd’s Family at White House On One-Year Anniversary of His Death

Later on Tuesday, mourners are set to gather for a candlelight vigil at the stretch of road where Chauvin knelt on the neck of a handcuffed Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man in handcuffs, for more than nine minutes.

Darnella Frazier, a teenage bystander, recorded the killing on her cellphone, uploading video to Facebook that horrified people around the world. Floyd had been suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes.

People took to the streets of cities across the United States and around the world following Floyd’s death, protesting racism and police brutality.

Legislation has been pursued in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia to increase the accountability or oversight of police, and 24 states have enacted new laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The laws have included the mandating of body-worn cameras for officers, criminalizing neck restraints or making it easier for the public to see police officers’ disciplinary records.

Still, some activists say such measures, which in some jurisdictions have been on the books for years, are insufficient to address systemic racism in the criminal justice system.

‘INCREMENTAL PROGRESS’ ON LEGISLATION

Biden is expected to discuss the progress of the federal George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in Congress, which Floyd’s family has supported, in his meeting with the relatives on Tuesday.

“He has a genuine relationship with them, and the courage and grace of this family and especially his daughter, Gianna, has really stuck with the president,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

Floyd’s daughter and her mother, along with Floyd’s sister, brothers, sister-in-law and nephew are expected to attend.

Biden had wanted U.S. lawmakers to finish the legislation overhauling police practices by the anniversary of Floyd’s death, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate have been working toward that end.

Senator Tim Scott, the lead Republican negotiator, told reporters last week that they were making only “incremental progress” and there was no chance of striking a deal in the coming week.

The biggest sticking point has been qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that shields individual police officers from lawsuits in certain circumstances. Republicans oppose provisions in the bill rolling back such immunity, while many liberal Democrats say they would only support a bill that abolished it.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Susan Cornwell in Washington; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York and Nick Pfosi in Minneapolis, and Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney)

The push to make the Black experience at HBCUs even better is getting the necessary push in Congress!

The IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act has been presented by a bipartisan panel to improve the structural foundation and support needed for students to continue to thrive in their higher education pursuits.

The panel, Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.), Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Rep. French Hill (R-Ariz.) have announced the Institutional Grants for New Infrastructure, Technology, and Education at HBCUs Act (IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act). This legislation would make historic investments in historically Black colleges and universities to rectify over a century of systemic neglect.

“The IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act is the most transformative legislation for Historically Black Colleges and Universities in history,” said Congresswoman Adams, founder, and co-chair of the Bipartisan HBCU Caucus in a written statement. “For over 150 years, HBCUs have been agents of equity, access, and excellence in education, despite being ignored and marginalized by federal and state governments. This historic, bipartisan bill changes that. The IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act invests in our HBCU facilities to give students state-of-the-art learning environments and enables HBCUs to continue to be a critical source of diversity in the workforce for another century and beyond.”

RELATED CONTENT: Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock Secure $84 Million in HBCU Funding

“Historically Black Colleges and Universities open doors to opportunity for thousands of students each year, many of whom come from underserved communities,” said Sen. Tim Scott, co-chair of the Bipartisan HBCU Caucus. “For decades, HBCUs have educated and produced top-notch graduates in every field—all while operating on minimal budgets. I can only imagine what more they will accomplish with proper funding, and I am proud that my colleagues and I have come together to support this transformational, bipartisan bill.”

“Historically Black Colleges and Universities have long been institutions advancing equity and academic excellence as they train the future generation of community leaders, innovators, educators, and freedom fighters,” said Sen. Chris Coons, co-chair of the Bipartisan HBCU Caucus. “Funding for HBCUs is critical to providing educational resources for low-income students, first-generation college students, and those most at risk of not entering college. HBCUs, like Delaware State University, consistently produce our next leaders, and we must ensure they have the resources to effectively attract students and continue to promote success. The IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act will modernize campuses across the country—ensuring that HBCUs have the technology, facilities, and resources to continue their transformational work.”

“Arkansas is home to four HBCUs and I am pleased to co-lead this bipartisan and bicameral bill with my colleagues to further bolster HBCUs,” said Rep. French Hill, co-chair of the Bipartisan HBCU Caucus.”The bipartisan IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act reflects a good faith effort to work across the aisle in order to ensure that HBCUs have a bright future ahead of them so they and their students will continue to succeed.  This measure encourages private philanthropy accompanying public state and federal investments on HBCU campuses to boost their long term competitiveness.”

The IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act invests in infrastructure at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The IGNITE HBCUs Act recognizes the contributions of these institutions in the most important way possible: by affording them the support and investment needed to deepen their transformational work. Specifically, it would authorize funds to:

• Renovate, repair, modernize, or construct new campus facilities, including instructional, research, and residential spaces;
• Provide access to campus-wide, reliable high-speed broadband to support digital learning and long-term technological capacity;
• Develop campus facilities to support community-based partnerships that provide students and community members with academic, health, and social services;
• Procure equipment and technology needed to facilitate high-quality research and instruction;
• Preserve buildings with historic significance; and
• Ensure the resilience, safety, and sustainability of campus facilities.