• Education

by Andrea Blackstone

May 5, 2021

D.C. Scholar, 16, Who Was Dually Enrolled in College and High School Decides to Attend FAMU in the fall

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Curtis Lawrence III’s journey of excellence proves that early scholastic preparation can turn out to be extremely rewarding. FOX 5 reported that the 16-year-old who graduated high school early decided to attend Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Lawrence will be double majoring in biology and computer science at the HBCU. Also, FOX 5 also reported that Curtis was accepted to 14 colleges and has received $1.6 million in scholarships.

Before National College Decision Day, FOX 5 interviewed Lawrence, along with his father and brother. During the segment, it was shared that Curtis had been dually enrolled at School Without Walls in D.C. and George Washington University. However, Lawrence is elated that the long-term college application process is complete.

“I am very excited. It has been a very wild trip, I guess I can say, applying to all of these colleges, and then waiting very anxiously for decisions. So now that it’s all over and I’ve been accepted,  I’m very, very happy,” Lawrence said during the interview.

His father told FOX 5 that a lot of work, time, and energy has been put into raising two African American boys.

“I am giddy inside knowing that all of these colleges and universities are after him  (Curtis Lawrence III) and want him to be a part of their college experience,” Curtis Lawrence Jr. said.

Curtis Lawrence III is no stranger to a college campus. At just 14-years-old, he began his freshman year of college at George Washington University. WTOP previously reported that Lawrence III was enrolled in a special program between his high school and George Washington University. WTOP also said that the young scholar took the SATs when he was 10 years old, and even studied abroad in China and improved his Mandarin. And in 2019, The GW Hatchet reported that the 14-year-old college freshman made history as one of the youngest full-time students who attended George Washington University.

• News

by Derek Major

May 5, 2021

NYC Public Schools Will Shift To Remote Learning On Snow Days For 2021-’22 School Year

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New York City’s Department of Education announced changes to the 2021-’22 school year, which is slated to begin in early September.

The DOE released its school calendar for the 2021-’22 school year. The first day of the school year will be Sept. 13, 2021 and the last day will be set for June 27, 2022.

https://twitter.com/NYCSchools/status/1389554636483436546?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the virtual learning experiment and as a result, the city’s students will lose their snow days. For the upcoming school year, any school days that are declared snow days, will replace in-person learning with virtual learning.

The DOE has also replaced Columbus Day with Italian Heritage/Indigenous People’s Day. Many cities and states across the country have replaced the day to recognize and celebrate Native American peoples and commemorate their histories and cultures. At the same time, the day will also recognize the heritage of Italian Americans.

Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery on June 19, 1865 has also been added to the calendar. During last year’s Black Lives Matter movement and protests, many states, including Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Virginia, Kansas and Illinois passed bills to celebrate the day. Companies including Nike, Citigroup, and Twitter have also begun to give their employees off for the day.

New York City, which had more than 500 people dying per day early in the pandemic has rebounded through an aggressive vaccination effort and widespread and relentless mask-wearing that continues today.

The 2020-’21 school year has been ravaged by the pandemic and Mayor Bill de Blasio‘s inconsistencies when deciding between in-person learning and remote learning. De Blasio, who was determined to open schools last fall, closed schools last November due to the city breaking the 3% positivity threshold.

Less than a month later de Blasio reversed course despite coronavirus rates increasing to 5% during the shutdown. That led to thousands of students being kept in their homes for the rest of the school year as parents quickly grew tired of de Blasio’s decision-making and feared for their children’s lives.

• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

May 5, 2021

Yamiche Alcindor Announced As New Moderator of “Washington Week”

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Yamiche Alcindor, the White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour, is set to take on moderating duties on Washington Week.

Alcindor was announced as the successor of Robert Costa who left the show in January after moderating since 2017, Deadline reports. Alcindor had been filling in as guest moderator following Costa’s exit and is set to begin her official role on Friday.

“This show has an amazing legacy, and I am thrilled to step into it. I hope to build on it, to expand it and to bring this show forward distinctively into these times of challenge and controversy,” she said in a statement. “In doing so, my guiding light will be serving our audiences and not shying away from the hard conversations about power and politics.”

“With composure and tenacity, she has covered some of the most momentous political stories of our time, continually demonstrating the highest standards of journalism,” Sharon Percy Rockefeller, president and CEO of WETA, the show’s producer, said of Alcindor.

Alcindor will continue her correspondent work on PBS NewsHour as well as her contributor roles on MSNBC and NBC News. She took to Twitter to share the big news with her followers.

“I’m honored to become the next moderator of @washingtonweek, a show that meant so much to Gwen Ifill when she helmed this chair,” she tweeted. My guiding light will be focusing on the impact of politics on everyday people and vulnerable populations. Join me this Friday.”

I’m honored to become the next moderator of @washingtonweek, a show that meant so much to Gwen Ifill when she helmed this chair. My guiding light will be focusing on the impact of politics on everyday people and vulnerable populations. Join me this Friday. https://t.co/6WqpjcIL6k

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 4, 2021

Washington Week is a roundtable discussion among news journalists about the last week in review. Past hosts of the show include Gwen Ifil who helmed the show from 1999 until her death in 2016. The show first premiered back in 1967, with John Davenport as the first moderator.

Alcindor is a distinguished news reporter whose work has garnered her notable accolades including the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House Coverage from the White House Correspondents’ Association and the Gwen Ifill Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation, The Root reports.

• News

by Derek Major

May 5, 2021

House Democrat Introduces Bill To Release Surveillance Files Of Black Panther Leader Fred Hampton

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A Democratic lawmaker introduced a bill Tuesday that would require the government to release records from its Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) on the Black Panthers and Fred Hampton.

The bill, introduced by Bobby Rush (Ill.) would require the government to release COINTELPRO’s files within six months of enactment. Additionally, the bill would remove J. Edgar Hoover’s name from the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.

In a statement, Rush said it’s time we find out what happened, how the government viewed Hampton, Martin Luther King Jr. and other Black celebrities and politicians and close this chapter of history.

“I want to shine a bright light on this dark chapter of our nation’s history,” Rep. Rush said in a statement introducing his proposal. “And I think it is very timely and very important that we do it at this moment.”

According to CNN, Rush and Fred Hampton, who was the chairman for the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers were close friends. Hampton created the first Rainbow Coalition before being killed by Chicago police in a morning raid on Dec. 4, 1969.

“As a victim of COINTELPRO, I want to know, with honesty, with clarity, and with no redactions, the full extent of the FBI’s nefarious operations,” Rush added in his statement. “I want to know the breadth and depth of the conspiracy to assassinate Fred Hampton and how taxpayer dollars were spent on his assassination. I want to know why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a focus of the FBI, why Billie Holiday was a focus of the FBI – I want to know why so many young activists were harassed by the FBI. What was the justification for the impact that it had on their lives?”

Hampton was just 21 at the time of this death and no one has been arrested or charged for his death or the death of Hampton’s friend and associate Mark Clark. Members of the Black Panthers have maintained that members of the Chicago Police killed the men after serving a warrant for illegal weapons.

Seven Panthers were charged with attempted murder but the charges were dropped. The situation wasn’t resolved until 1982 when the City of Chicago, Cook County and the federal government reached a settlement with Hampton and Clark’s families.

G. Flint Taylor, an attorney for the plaintiffs, who spent years working on the case, told The New York Times after the settlement, the incident will forever be a reminder of how far the government will go to suppress someone.

”The settlement is an admission of the conspiracy that existed between the F.B.I. and Hanrahan’s men to murder Fred Hampton,” Taylor said. ”The case may be almost over in the legal sense but it will live on as a reminder to people of how far the Government can and will go to suppress those whose philosophies it does not like.”

• Lifestyle

by Andrea Blackstone

May 5, 2021

Meghan Markle Pens Children’s Book Inspired by Prince Harry and Her Son, Archie

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Penguin Random House says pre-order sales of Meghan Markle’s first children’s book, The Bench, are underway.

The book is already the top release in Children’s Black & African American Stories on Amazon, which describes The Bench as the special relationship between a father and son seen through a mother’s eyes. The book will be released on June 8, just before Father’s Day.

“In The Bench, Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, touchingly captures the evolving and expanding relationship between father and son and reminds us of the many ways that love can take shape and be expressed in a modern family,” according to the description on Amazon.

A press release said that The Bench started as a poem Markle wrote for Prince Harry on Father’s Day, the month after Archie was born.

“That poem became this story,” Markle said in the press release. “Christian [Robinson, the book’s illustrator] layered in beautiful and ethereal watercolor illustrations that capture the warmth, joy, and comfort of the relationship between fathers and sons from all walks of life; this representation was particularly important to me, and Christian and I worked closely to depict this special bond through an inclusive lens. My hope is that The Bench resonates with every family, no matter the makeup, as much as it does with mine.”

During an interview with The Today Show, Robinson revealed that creativity was his way over having some say over his circumstances–his mother was in and out of prison for most of his childhood. Robinson, who explained that his grandmother was his caregiver, also remarked the pictures’ power

“They are tools used to communicate, and so I feel a responsibility to to tell stories that reflect experiences that look like mine. Experiences that aren’t often seen in picture books, and so it’s really important for me to create pictures that are empowering to as many different kids as possible,” Robinson said.

A press release mentioned Markle will narrate the book’s audiobook edition.

Somehow, the forthcoming book has already stirred up a controversy. Children’s book author Corrine Averiss dismissed claims that Markle’s forthcoming book closely mirrors her book, The Boy on the Bench.

Like the rest of us, Bad Boys For Life actor and Hollywood heavyweight Will Smith has put on the pounds during this deadly coronavirus pandemic. As some of us have witnessed, not being able to attend to our regular routines has left a lot of us unsatisfied with how we look after basically being immobile for over a year. Smith has intentions to alter that.

The highly paid entertainer has vowed to get back into the “best shape” of his life–and YouTube will be there to record it.

According to Entertainment Weekly, YouTube will feature a docuseries of Smith getting himself back into shape that is expected to debut in 2022.

“This new six-part fitness unscripted series from Westbrook Media and YouTube Originals is the story of Will Smith, looking up one day to find himself in middle age, rebuilding his body into the best shape of his life and getting his groove back along the way. This is the fun, funny, inspirational, wildly adventurous, and deeply entertaining story of Smith challenging himself to improve every aspect of his fitness, from agility to power to recovery and more, teaming up with guests including pro athletes, scientists, and experts, and top YouTube creators.”

“This is the body that carried me through an entire pandemic and countless days grazing thru the pantry. I love this body, but I wanna FEEL better. No more midnight muffins…this is it! Imma get in the BEST SHAPE OF MY LIFE!!!!! Teaming up with @YouTube to get my health & wellness back on track. Hope it works! 😬 📷: @westbrook @aidan”

 

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A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)

Smith is not only concerned about fitness and wellness but social justice as well. The Men in Black actor recently announced that he and director Antoine Fuqua will no longer film their movie in Georgia due to the recent change in election laws.

The Governors Ball makes its triumphant return to New York later this year with a slew of artists slated to perform over several days for the event’s tenth anniversary, according to Revolt. Last year’s event was cancelled because of the coronavirus.

Tickets have already gone on sale for the shows that will take place on September 24, 25, and 26. The three-day event, which will take place rain or shine, will be held 11:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day at Citi Field in Queens. There’s a limit of six tickets per person.

 

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Several of the acts scheduled to perform include ASAP Rocky, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Burna Boy, 21 Savage, Young Thug, Leon Bridges, and Freddie Gibbs with The Alchemist.

“Building a recovery for all of us means reconnecting with the iconic events that make New York City the greatest travel destination in the world,” NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a written statement. “As more New Yorkers become vaccinated by the day, we’re proud to support arts and culture and welcome back Governors Ball and their fantastic lineup, including New York City’s own Princess Nokia, A$AP Rocky, and King Princess, among others.”

Here’s the description of the weekend on The Governors Ball website:

• News

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

May 5, 2021

Facebook’s Decision to Suspend Donald Trump’s Accounts Upheld by Oversight Board

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Earlier this year, after populating his social media feeds with election fraud and conspiracy theories about the election being “stolen,” former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter and suspended from YouTube. Facebook and Instagram also banned Trump from accessing his account on their social media platforms.

According to a recent announcement from Facebook, its oversight board has upheld Trump’s suspension.

“Today, the Oversight Board upheld Facebook’s suspension of former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. As we stated in January, we believe our decision was necessary and right, and we’re pleased the board has recognized that the unprecedented circumstances justified the exceptional measure we took.

“However, while the board has not required Facebook to immediately restore Mr. Trump’s accounts, it has not specified the appropriate duration of the penalty. Instead, the board criticized the open-ended nature of the suspension, calling it an “indeterminate and standardless penalty,” and insisted we review our response. We will now consider the board’s decision and determine an action that is clear and proportionate. In the meantime, Mr. Trump’s accounts remain suspended.”

Facebook was referring to a video Trump posted after he was accused of inciting the riot at the Capitol on January 6.

In the video, Trump said:

“I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt. It’s a very tough period of time. There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace.”

After Facebook removed the video, Trump posted this statement that allowed the social media platform to suspend his accounts.

“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love in peace. Remember this day forever!”

• Business

by Andrea Blackstone

May 5, 2021

Amanda E. Johnson, Mented Cosmetics Co-Founder, Will Speak at BLACK ENTERPRISE’s Small Business Summit

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BLACK ENTERPRISE will present its first Small Business Summit on Thursday, May 6. A lineup of game-changing business leaders and industry innovators will participate in this virtual event.

Among the speakers will be Amanda E. Johnson co-founder and COO of Mented Cosmetics, who will participate in “How Your Business Can Profit from Diversity, Equity & Inclusion” from 2:35- 3:05 p.m. The panel is hosted by Wells Fargo.

Mented Cosmetics is KJ Miller and Johnson’s collection of beauty products for women of color. BLACK ENTERPRISE also reported about the African American women raised $1 million in capital for their business.

According to Mented Cosmetics’ website, the idea for the company began when Miller and Johnson asked themselves why it was so hard to find the perfect nude lipstick.

“That conversation sparked an idea, and that idea became the brand we are building today. We created Mented Cosmetics because we believe every woman should be able to find herself in the world of beauty, no matter her skin tone,” according to the company.

The Startup mentioned that Miller and Johnson met at Harvard Business School and launched Mented (short for “pigmented”)  Cosmetics in 2017 with a line of versatile nude lip colors.

Johnson offered advice for entrepreneurs with ideas in an Essence interview.

“Start the process and just go for it. If you’re passionate about the idea, you will hustle to make your dreams come true. And if it’s not the business for you, it will quickly become apparent. The beauty industry is crowded and you have to provide a true differentiator so consumers are compelled to try your product,” Johnson said. “Gone are the days where you can just put your name on a general product and make millions. The point is that you must be more optimistic than fearful about your idea and you have to have the bravery to start.”

Learn more about how Johnson is taking the beauty industry by storm. Register for BLACK ENTERPRISE’s first Small Business Summit by clicking here.

• News

by Derek Major

May 5, 2021

New York City Is Springing Back To Life One Year After COVID-19 Put It To Sleep

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More than a year after the coronavirus pandemic put New York City to sleep, traffic is back, restaurants are open, and the city is awake.

Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are down. Late last month Governor Andrew Cuomo announced more than 50% of residents 18 and older have had at least one dose of the vaccine. Museums, gyms, bars and movie theaters are open and increasing in capacity. Additionally, beginning May 10 the subway will resume running 24 hours a day for the first time in a year.

According to Bloomberg News, parks and outdoor area are being flooded with city residents now that the weather is changing. Crowds at Central Park, Prospect Park, and Washington Square Park have all surpassed their pre-pandemic levels and 80,000 city employees are set to go return to their offices next week.

The city is also expanding its open streets program in an effort to boost the bar and restaurant industry, while making the city greener and allowing residents to explore their neighborhoods.

The pandemic shut down New York City almost overnight last year. At the height of the pandemic, more than 2,400 people died in the first seven days of April. Millions of jobs were lost overnight and hospitals across the city were near capacity.

As a result, the city went all out when the vaccine arrived. Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and the Jacob Javits Convention Center were giving vaccinations 24 hours a day at one point. Other sites such as Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn served local communities.

New Yorkers got vaccinated so fast, any city resident can go and get the vaccine without an appointment today.

Other cities are setting dates for their reopenings as well. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has announced the city’s reopening for Independence Day. Los Angeles has hit its least restrictive tier, which would allow businesses, gyms, stadiums, museums and amusement parks to open at a larger capacity.