• Diversity, Equality, Inclusion

by Christian Spencer

April 30, 2021

Black Door Dash Driver, Working With Her Child, Chased By ‘A Racist Motherf***er’

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A Black female driver for Door Dash was cashed by a racist on the job while her 3-year-old was in the backseat.

Kiauna Larkins told CBS News that she was carrying out her order at Wyndham Ridge Apartments in Stow, Ohio, on April 17, when out of nowhere a White man verbally attacked her.

Related stories: Old White Man Busted By Police For Sending A Racist Email To Black Councilwoman 

James Rhodes got out of his car and yelled at Larkins, telling her to “Get the f*** out of here.” She recorded the weird incident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i69pVjnlcvM

“I pay $1,000 a month here. … F*** you,” Rhodes said to Larkins.

“I’m racist. I’m a racist motherf***er. I got an AK-47 right now in my f***ing godd*** car. I’ll blow your f***ing head off,” Rhodes told Larkins who child is present.

In another video, another woman got out of her car to defend Larkin, calling the man a racist. It was ineffective as the man owned up by a bigot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i69pVjnlcvM

“You don’t call her names because you’re pissed,” the woman scolded at Rhodes, calling him racist. “Yeah, I am [a racist]. … I’m tired of this sh** in this country … F*** you and everybody that looks like you.”

Rhodes got kicked out of his residential apartment for his bad behavior. The complex’s management has a zero tolerance policy to racism or intimidation.

“On Monday, April 19, Wyndham Ridge served the resident with a notice to leave the premises, and he has agreed to move,” management said in the post. “We are committed to creating a safe, secure, and inclusive environment at Wyndham Ridge, and we will continue to take proactive steps to resolve the situation.”

The police confronted Rhodes and charged him with aggravated menacing and ethnic intimidation, which is a felony hate crime. Rhodes was reportedly slightly remorseful about his actions, saying he lost his cool on the road, but tried to explain to the officers that he did not own any weapons like claimed.

The officers did not check to verify his statement because, possession or not, it is a crime threaten someone regardless.

On  the following Tuesday, Stow Mayor John Pribonic issued a statement regarding the incident, hoping it does not represent his city

“As a Stow resident for over 25 years, it saddens me to think that this incident could in any way define our City for those who are otherwise unfamiliar with Stow. The community that I know and love absolutely condemns the behavior displayed on the video, and instead, chooses the principles of kindness, tolerance and inclusivity to guide our daily actions and beliefs,” Pribonic said. “Let me be clear—there is no place for violence, racism or intolerance in the City of Stow.”

According to Area Vibes, Whites represent  92.74% of Stow’s population, while Black people make up less than 4%.

The Bryon Allen train doesn’t seem to stop. As he continues to add to his growing empire of television stations and properties across the United States, the entrepreneurial comedian has just acquired seven more!

According to Gray Television, the company has reached an agreement with Bryon Allen‘s Allen Media Group to acquire seven television stations for $380 million in cash.

“I truly appreciate Gray and Quincy, two of the best broadcast groups in the business, working with us to acquire and transfer these amazing assets. Over the past year-and-a-half, we’ve invested close to $1 billion to acquire best-in-class, top-tier, broadcast network affiliates,” said Byron Allen, founder, chairman, and CEO of Allen Media Group in a written statement. “We plan to invest approximately ten billion dollars to acquire more ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX television stations over the next two years with the goal of being the largest broadcast television group in America. All of our media assets, including these broadcast television stations, will work in concert to amplify our free-streaming service, Local Now.”

The seven television stations are:

KVOA (NBC), Tucson, Arizona (Nielsen DMA Rank 64)

WKOW (ABC), Madison, Wisconsin (DMA 81)

WSIL / KPOB (ABC), Paducah, Kentucky– Harrisburg, Illinois (DMA 84)

KWWL (NBC), Cedar Rapids, Iowa (DMA 92)

WXOW / WQOW (ABC), La Crosse–Eau Claire, Wisconsin (DMA 129)

WAOW / WMOW (ABC), Wausau–Rhinelander, Wisconsin (DMA 136)

WREX (NBC), Rockford, Illinois (DMA 139)

“We are thrilled to facilitate the transfer of these fine Quincy television stations to Byron Allen and Allen Media Group, who we are confident will continue the strong commitments to journalism and localism that have distinguished these stations under Quincy’s outstanding stewardship,” said Gary’s Executive Chairman and CEO Hilton H. Howell.

In addition to these new network additions and the Weather Channel, the Allen Media Group owns a syndicated company and 16 power four (ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX) affiliate broadcast stations. Allen’s 24-hour networks include Comedy.TV, Recipe.TV, and JusticeCentral.TV.

• News

by Trent Copeland

April 30, 2021

We Can All Breathe: Maxine Waters’ Comments are Not Going to Help Derek Chauvin and Judge Cahill Knows It

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From the moment the world learned of the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, there was a collective, and understandable, anxiety in the African American community that this death—like so many other deaths stemming from police misconduct—would either become a casualty of a white-washed investigation which ultimately cleared the officer involved, or would become the product of a limp, disinterested prosecution resulting in an acquittal of the officer. Whatever the course the case took, the results have historically been the same.

Given our judicial system’s long refusal to adequately recognize and vindicate the lives of people of color (mostly African American men), it’s no surprise that our collective psyche both expected and braced for the trauma of the loss of another Black life—that was neither acknowledged or seemed to matter to a legal system that has so often turned its back to these Black lives.

That all changed last week when a jury, more ethnically diverse than any jury to have sat in judgment of a white officer charged with killing a Black man, found Derek Chauvin guilty of the murder of Floyd. So it would seem reasonable to assume that we could now breathe a collective sigh of relief that the legal system had finally answered the door and provided a measure of accountability and justice in a moment that clearly compelled no other result.

But that is not the history of being Black in America. Every day we make, sometimes even the slightest, imperceptible calculations of our safety and our ability to trust the things we see. And so when Judge Cahill, the judge overseeing the Chauvin murder trial, openly suggested—only moments before the jury began its deliberations—that the public comments of Congresswoman Maxine Waters which encouraged demonstrators to “stay on the street” and to be more “confrontational” if the verdict was unjust were “disrespectful” to the legal system and likely provided Chauvin with a path for appeal, this was another trauma. And given the history of trauma in the African American community, it was not entirely unexpected.

But we should exhale. Because this moment is different and Judge Cahill knows it. There is virtually no legal basis to presume that Rep. Waters’ comments infected the trial or its deliberations. There just isn’t. Her 8 seconds of comments were no different than her comments of civic engagement and encouraging robust protests that have marked her long career in public service. In fact, in 1941 United States Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black—in a case involving a public official and a newspaper commenting on pending litigation—said, “It is a prized American privilege to speak one’s mind, although not always with perfect good taste, on all public institutions.”

Whether Judge Cahill approved or liked Rep. Waters’ comments, she had the absolute right, given the First Amendment, to make them. And on their face they were certainly not likely to have influenced the Chauvin jury.

Even assuming that Judge Cahill was genuinely asserting that the integrity of Chauvin’s right to a fair trial might have been impacted by the comments of Rep. Waters, he could have answered that question by simply polling the jury (ie. asking whether they had actually heard the comments) and if the comments had even impacted them. And so given Judge Cahill’s strong (arguably hostile) remarks about Rep. Waters’ comments, it’s nearly impossible to understand why he chose not to.

In the absence of Judge Cahill doing what many judges would have done if legitimately concerned about improper jury influence, he appears to be doing exactly what he claims to be so “abhorrent” and “disrespectful.” He is word-bombing an elected official who has chosen to exercise her right to freedom of expression in much the same way he has in responding to her comments. It’s hard not to conclude that Judge Cahill is suggesting that freedom of expression is a one-way street in Hennepin County and Rep. Waters doesn’t belong on it.

To be sure, Congresswoman Waters’ right to free speech is no greater or less than Judge Cahill’s right to make comments outside of the jury’s presence that resonate with him and reflect his views on the legal process and the respect he believes it is entitled. For Judge Cahill to argue otherwise—while doing absolutely nothing to canvass the jury about the Congresswoman’s comments—might suggest to some that his remarks were more personally motivated and not truly embedded with an eye toward justice.

It would not be much of a surprise if the next comment we hear is Congresswoman Waters repeating under her breath the same thing she recently said to Congressman Jim Jordan, who seemed to be elevating his own personal views above those of a congressional witness, when she not so-politely suggested to “shut your mouth.”

And while I am not suggesting that either Judge Cahill or Rep. Waters be muted of their freedom of expression, I am suggesting that we can all breathe … deeply … and with relief. The Congresswoman’s comments aren’t going to help Chauvin one bit, and Judge Cahill knows it.

Trent Copeland is a trial attorney and former CBS News Legal Analyst based in Los Angeles. These are his views and do not reflect the views of any other person or organization.

• Education

by Derek Major

April 30, 2021

Only 8 Black Students Admitted To Stuyvesant High School out of 749 Enrollments

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In yet another sign of New York City’s failure to desegregate schools and provide educational equity in its schools, the number of Black and Latino students admitted into the city’s specialized high schools dropped to its lowest level in three years.

According to The New York Times, Only 9% of admission offers made by specialized elite high schools including Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Technical High School, and Bronx High School of Science went to Black and Latino students this year. A two percent drop from last year.

Eight Black students were chosen among 749 open spots for Stuyvesant and just one Black student was selected out of 281 freshman spots for Staten Island Technical High School.

Gothamist reported 27,800 8th graders took the test in 2020 and 27,500 students took the test in 2019, but in 2021 approximately 23,800 students took the exam. A year of remote learning due to the coronavirus pandemic and the digital divide for minority students most likely led to the drop.

The numbers show a system of inequality and segregation in what many consider the country’s most progressive city. Despite Black and Latino children outnumbering white and Asian students in the city’s school system, white and Asian students make up the overwhelming majority of the city’s specialized schools.

Education officials and advocates have opposed the city’s specialized entrance exam and in 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio unsuccessfully tried to scrap the entrance exam for specialized schools. The city’s new school chancellor Meisha Porter, who started in February, said in a statement the numbers won’t change until the city’s approach does.

“I know from my 21 years as an educator that far more students could thrive in our Specialized High Schools, if only given the chance,” Porter said in a statement according to the New York Post. “Instead, the continued use of the Specialized High School Admissions Test will produce the same unacceptable results over and over again, and it’s far past the time for our students to be fairly represented in these schools.”

Lucas Liu, a member of District 3’s Community Education Council and co-president of PLACE NYC which pushed back against changes, saying the problem isn’t the test, it’s the city’s inability to prepare students for it.

“If you provide the same quality education to all kids starting in elementary school, so when they get to middle school and they’re going to take that screening test, they’re ready,” Liu told Gothamist. “But they don’t do that and they use the test to say it’s racist, versus the test is highlighting which students you’re not educating properly.”

Racism is alive and well and still being practiced by students involved in higher education.

According to The Undefeated, Morehouse College, a historically Black college and university (HBCU) withdrew from a debate tournament after members of rival teams mocked them with anti-Black sentiments and disrespect toward the team.

The decision to leave the tournament came after Morehouse participated during Round 5 of the USUDC (The United States Universities Debating Championship) when the Black college was being mocked by members of rival debate teams, including students from the University of Hawaii. The other rival teams were also being disrespectful toward the Morehouse team by turning their cameras on during the time that Morehouse was speaking, which was not allowed given the virtual format of the debate.

“It would be a mistake to say this was about one round and one team,” said Morehouse debate coach Kenneth Newby. “It was about anti-Blackness issues within the British Parliamentary debate space.”

When Morehouse decided to pull out of the tournament, other schools followed suit as well, including Spelman College, Clemson University, and Vanderbilt. University. When those schools left the tournament, it was canceled and a public forum took place for students and judges from across the country to discuss their discomfort within the tournament. They were also able to share their own stories of racism that took place during their debate careers.

In a statement released to the public, the USUDC 2021 CAP, Organizing Committee, and Equity Team took responsibility for the way the incident was mishandled.

“We as the USUDC 2021 Organizing Committee, CAP, and Equity team take full responsibility for the anti-Blackness and racism that transpired at the tournament this past weekend. As a team, we want to acknowledge our collective failure to recognize the importance of this equity complaint when it was brought to us and our failure to properly internally communicate about events as they unfolded. As a result we delayed appropriate action and we take full responsibility for the harm caused.”

• News

by Christian Spencer

April 30, 2021

Old White Man Arrested for Sending a Racist Email to Black Councilwoman

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A lonely, middle-aged white man was arrested for harassing and intimidating a Black councilwoman in Middlesex County, New Jersey.

On Tuesday, 52-year-old Adam Valvo of Old Bridge, New Jersey, was busted on two counts of fourth-degree bias intimidation and one count of harassment, New Jersey Advance Media reported.

Related stories: WHITE BAR OWNER ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY ATTACKING A BLACK FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENT AT HIS BAR

With a hatred for Old Bridge Councilwoman Edina Brown, Valvo sent her an email with profanities and racial epithets on March 8.

Brown, the only Black woman councilwoman and one of two Democrats out of the nine council people—all of the others are Republicans—forwarded the email to Mayor Owen Henry and Old Bridge police. The email, with Valvo using the alias “John Smith,” told Brown she needed to get her “n—a a– out of here,” reminding her that Middlesex County is a “Republican township.”

Local detectives joined forces with the members of New Jersey’s Bias Crimes Unit, tasked with investigating crimes motivated by prejudice against others based on race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability, and/or ethnicity under New Jersey’s Division of Criminal Justice.

The investigation determined Valvo “authored and sent the email,” Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Acting Chief Joseph P. Mandola, Jr. of the township police department said in a statement.

Brown told NJ Advance Media that the email used the n-word and made racist remarks about Black people and those who live in Newark, Trenton, and Paterson.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal condemned Valvo’s crime, signaling to anyone who wishes to harass or intimidate others through racist actions that they will be prosecuted.

“We have zero tolerance for acts of bias and hate in the Garden State,” Grewal said. “Hate has no home in New Jersey.”

Old Bridge is a predominantly white town with 73% of the residents being white and 7% Black, according to U.S. Census estimates, NJ Advance Media reported.

• Entrepreneurship

by Andrea Blackstone

April 30, 2021

Unique Storefront Opens in Old Louisville to Address the City’s Food Desert Issue

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Whitney Powers opened a store called Garden Girl Foods, in response to a food desert issue in Old Louisville, Kentucky, according to WDRB.  The Garden Girl Food’s website states that all products are non-GMO ingredients, locally sourced, and Black-owned. Products—many of which are sold out—include everything from vegetable soup to raspberry jam. Customers can shop and schedule pick-up times as well as sign up for cooking classes for adults and kids, too.

“After realizing my family lives in a food desert, meaning we don’t have access to fresh food within 10 miles or more, I began a little garden. I quickly realized the need to teach others how to use their inner-city spaces to grow their own foods and find ways to feed their family fresh,” a statement says on the website.

According to WDRB, Powers explains that people cannot always drive or walk blocks away for fresh food. Putting the store in Old Louisville, and having fresh grocery and ready-to-eat options, in addition to accepting EBT payment, is important.

Popular items include fajita bowls chicken, green beans, and macaroni and cheese.

“We are food manufacturers, We grow our own produce, and then create the means around the produce,”  a Facebook post explained.

Ironically, the concept of the Old Louisville storefront evolved during the pandemic. The Kentucky Daily News reported that the store, which started as a gardening quarantine project with her daughter, has now flourished with two locations.

Food insecurity and food desert issues have worsened during the pandemic. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 89.5% (116.0 million) of U.S. households were already food insecure throughout 2019. Food insecurity can be linked to being unable to acquire food, or not having enough to meet the needs of all household members, according to the USDA.

It seems like Jeffrey Atkins can’t catch a break at times. The rapper and actor that we all know as Ja Rule has been accused by the Internal Revenue Service of owing millions in taxes. After the news got out, his archnemesis, Curtis Jackson, also known as Hollywood executive producer and fellow rapper 50 Cent, clowned him in their never-ending feud.

According to Radar Online, Ja Rule and his wife, Aisha Atkins, owe the Internal Revenue Service over $3 million in taxes. Attorneys for the United States of America have filed a lawsuit that claims the married couple owes the country unpaid taxes from 2005 to 2010 and also for 2012 to 2017. The total owed from the duo is an astounding $3,139,237.76.

The Internal Revenue Service has claimed it has demanded payment for the aforementioned years several times and the rapper has, so far, refused to make any payments toward the hefty tax bill. It has asked the courts to enter a judgment against Ja Rule and his wife, Aisha, for $3.1 million. The Atkins haven’t responded but have hired his longtime attorney, Stacy Richman, to handle the case.

This is not the first time that Ja Rule has been in the crosshairs of the Internal Revenue Service. In 2011, the rapper and entrepreneur was sentenced to 28 months in prison because he had failed to file income tax returns for the years between 2004 and 2008. He had owed over $1.1 million in taxes during those years.

As he usually does whenever bad news hits Ja Rule, 50 Cent took to social media to clown him for his recent troubles:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by 50 Cent (@50cent)

Early in their rap careers, 50 Cent, who was shot numerous times but survived, pointed his finger at Ja Rule for the attempted hit. The two artists have thrown shots at each other throughout their careers.

• Health and Wellness

by Andrea Blackstone

April 30, 2021

NAACP, Planned Parenthood, and Prominent Black Women Pen Open Letter to Push for D.C. Statehood

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An open letter to Congress was signed by the head of the NAACP,  Planned Parenthood, and hundreds of prominent women of color who are in support of making Washington, D.C. a state, while stating that that the issue is related to racial justice and public health.

In a press release, the NACCP said that the open letter notes a number of ways the District’s lack of autonomy has put its residents’ health at risk. Attorney and television personality Star Jones; political strategists Donna Brazile, and Rev. Leah D. Daughtry; Beverly Evans Smith, the 2017-2021 National President CEO for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; Angela Rye, principal and CEO of IMPACT Strategies are some of the letters’ signers.

In part, high maternal mortality rates of Black residents was referenced in the letter in addition to the distribution of vaccines amid the pandemic.

“As the country works to distribute vaccines and end the COVID-19 pandemic — which has devastated Black and Latino communities with higher infection rates, death rates, and job losses — the District’s lack of autonomy has put residents’ health at risk. Large proportions of D.C.’s vaccine allotment has gone to federal agencies and to non-residents while Black residents are going without,” the letter said. “While D.C.’s Black residents have accounted for nearly half of  COVID-19 cases and nearly 70% of deaths, they’ve received only 37% of vaccines.”

Toward the end of the letter,  denying the people of Washington, D.C. representation in our democracy was described as having always been ‘morally reprehensible.’

Since the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 51 last week, signers of the letter want the U.S. Senate to take the next steps to make D.C. Washington, Douglass Commonwealth and pass the bill. CBS reported that if D.C. does gain statehood as the 51st state, it would have one seat in the House and two Senators to represent its population of approximately 700,000 people.

• Politics

by Christian Spencer

April 30, 2021

VP Kamala Harris Agrees with ‘Uncle Tim’: America Isn’t A Racist Country

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After Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-SC) remarks about America not being a racist country, Vice President Kamala Harris said she agrees–with reservations.

On Thursday, Harris spoke up about her feelings on America on Good Morning America, following up on Scott’s retort to President Joe Biden’s first joint speech to Congress on Wednesday, The Hill reported.

Related stories: BLACK REPUBLICAN TIM SCOTT SAYS AMERICA IS NOT RACIST, THEN IS SHOCKED AT BEING CALLED UNCLE TIM

“No, I don’t think America is a racist country,” Harris said. “But we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today. I applaud the president for always having the ability and the courage, frankly, to speak the truth about it.” 

“[Domestic terrorism by White supremacists is] one of the greatest threats to our national security. It doesn’t help to heal our country to unify us as a people to ignore the realities of that,” she continued.

“And so these are issues that we must confront, and it does not help to heal our country, to unify us as a people, to ignore the realities of that,” the vice president said, according to USA Today. “The idea is that we want to unify the country but not without speaking truth and requiring accountability where it is appropriate.”

As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, responded to President Joe Biden’s address to Congress Wednesday night, to which when Black Americans checked him.

During his 15-minute speech, Scott said Biden seems like a good man but is dividing the country by pursuing major legislation. Scott also gave credit for the coronavirus recovery to former President Donald Trump.

“It’s backward to fight discrimination with different types of discrimination. And it’s wrong to try to use our painful past to dishonestly shut down debates in the present,” Scott said Wednesday.

It was that point “Uncle Tim” was trending on social media, an apparent reference to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic novel about a happy slave.

The trending topic became so toxic that Twitter had to step up and remove it from its platform, the conservative National Review reported.

“This is in line with our policies on Trends, specifically: ‘We want Trends to promote healthy conversations on Twitter. This means that at times, we may not allow or may temporarily prevent content from appearing in Trends until more context is available. This includes Trends that violate The Twitter Rules,’” a Twitter spokesperson told National Review in an email.