Kanye West And Balenciaga Raise $1 Million After Releasing DMX Tribute Shirt
The prayers and well-wishes for Earl Simmons AKA DMX have been well-documented as his life is being celebrated throughout the hip-hop world. Fellow hip-hop artist, Kanye West has collaborated with Balenciaga to release DMX tribute shirts that will benefit the family of DMX.
According to Complex, the shirts, commissioned by West and designed by Balenciaga, have raised approximately $1 million. The shirts were promoted on DMX’s Instagram account:
The shirts, which have sold out in just 24 hours, were priced at $200 a piece and the net profits are going toward DMX’s family.
During the rapper’s recent funeral service over the weekend, two sisters in the movement– Erica Ford, cofounder of Life Camp, and Priscilla Echi, a community activist from Westchester County, revealed that the state of New York declared Dec. 18– Earl “DMX” Simmons Day.
“Today NYS Senate introduced a resolution on the floor to honor Earl “DMX” Simmons.
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Andrea Stewart Cousins, and Sen. Jamal T. Bailey, spoke eloquently about his work, and the impact he’s had on us all.
“Earl you are written into history! Incredible day for Hip-Hop as a whole. It was so powerful!
Thank you to our amazing Senators who made it possible!!@andreastewartcousins & @jamaaltbailey36!
May God be pleased with his work.
Long live Earl “DMX” Simmons 🕊🙏🏾.”
The iconic rapper was admitted to the hospital on April 2nd after a drug overdose. He suffered a heart attack and was taken off life support while at White Plains Hospital. DMX was surrounded by family during his final days.
NYPD Departures and Retirements Up 75% Percent As Officers Leave Force In Record Numbers
Amid anti-police sentiment, reforms in how police operate, and renewed vigor to prosecute police misconduct, retirements and departures in the New York Police Department (NYPD) have skyrocketed.
According to the New York Post, more than 5,300 NYPD officers have either retired or left the force, a 75% increase from 2019 when 3,053 officers departed. Approximately 2,600 officers have left the force while another 2,746 have filed for retirement.
Joseph Giacalone, a former NYPD sergeant, told Yahoo News the anti-police climate in the city has led to a significant increase in departures.
“Cops are forming a conga line down at the pension section and I don’t blame them,” Giacalone said. “NYPD cops are looking for better jobs with other departments or even embarking on new careers.”
The NYPD has faced increased scrutiny among the public over its tactics last summer during the Black Lives Matter protests. A report by the city’s Department of Investigations on the NYPD’s response to the protests stated the department lacked a defined strategy and escalated tensions with its use of force.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing the NYPD over its handling of the protests. Last month, the New York City Council enacted a series of police reforms including the end of qualified immunity and a mandate that all NYPD officers must live in New York City.
Giacalone told Yahoo he expects another tumultuous summer after the city council made those changes because it’ll not be easier to sue officers, which will turn “the job into a minefield.”
Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch, who slammed Democratic policing policies during a speech at the Republican National Convention last year, told the Post between budget cuts, the loss of plainclothes units, and the end of qualified immunity, the city is trying to abolish the NYPD.
“They’ve kept our pay absurdly low. They’ve ratcheted up our exposure to lawsuits. They’ve demonized us at every opportunity. And they’ve taken away the tools we need to do the job we all signed up for, which is to keep our communities safe,” Lynch told the Post.
“Now the NYPD is spending money on slick recruiting ads to replace the experienced cops who are leaving in droves,” Lynch added. “City Hall should just admit the truth: police abolition-through-attrition is their goal. They won’t stop until the job has become completely unbearable, and they’re getting closer to that goal with every passing day.”
White High School Canceled Its ‘Slave Auction’ After Black People Complained
The high school rodeo club for a predominately white high school in Faith, South Dakota, canceled its Slave/Branding Auction fundraiser, which it insists has nothing to do with the school, on April 26.
The offensive “slave auctions,” to be held at Legion Hall, has been a staple at the high school for the past four decades and consists of auctioning off rodeo members to the highest bidder to do chores for local ranchers, The Washington Post, reported.
It wasn’t until the flyer posted on social media that the school felt pressured into canceling the event.
“How such a racist and hurtful name could be used in 2021,” host Glenda McGinnis recalls from reading comments against the Slave/Branding Auction said.
“AUCTION. Faith High School Rodeo Club’s Slave/Branding Auction. Pancake Supper – 5:30 p.m. Slave/Branding Auction – 6:30 p.m. Followed by a Pie Auction. April 26, 2021. Legion Hall. Faith, SD,” the flyer read.
Each rodeo member would offer a day of service, e.g. waiting tables to hauling hay or moving cattle, in addition to auctioneer buying craft items from the “slaves,” according to a 2011 article by the Butte County Post.
Understandably, back in 2012, Black resident in South Dakota were not pleased with the name and demand it to be changed, but the club refused with Faith School District Superintendent Kelly Daughters saying it has nothing to do with the high school.
As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, a group of white students at a Texas high school who attended the Aledo Independent School District has been disciplined for cyberbullying their Black classmates and holding a fake slave auction online. A screenshot that has been widely shared on social media showed a Snapchat group with various names including “Slave Trade” and “N-word Auction.” One person in the group typed they would spend $1 on a student, while another said they would spend $100 on a student.
U.S. Supreme Court Takes Case On New York State’s Restrictions On Concealed Carry Of Handguns
Reuters – The U.S. Supreme Court stepped back into the heated debate over gun rights on Monday, agreeing to hear a challenge backed by the National Rifle Association to New York state’s restrictions on people carrying concealed handguns in public in a case that could further undermine firearms control efforts nationally.
The justices took up an appeal by two gun owners and the New York affiliate of the NRA, an influential gun rights group closely aligned with Republicans, of a lower court ruling throwing out their challenge to the restrictions on concealed handguns outside the home.
Lower courts rejected the argument made by the plaintiffs that the restrictions violated the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The lawsuit seeks an unfettered right to carry concealed handguns in public.
The case could lead to the most consequential ruling on the scope of the Second Amendment in more than a decade. The court’s 6-3 conservative majority is seen as sympathetic to an expansive view of Second Amendment rights.
A state firearms licensing officer had granted the two gun owners “concealed carry” permits but restricted them to hunting and target practice, prompting the legal challenge.
The debate over gun control in the United States has intensified in the wake of a spate of recent mass shootings. A day after an April 15 mass shooting in Indianapolis in which a gunman killed eight employees at a FedEx facility and then himself, President Joe Biden called gun violence in the United States a “national embarrassment.”
Biden, a long-time advocate of gun control, has taken some steps to tighten federal firearms regulations. But major policy changes would require congressional passage, and Senate Republicans stand in the way of Democratic-backed gun control measures already passed in the House of Representatives.
The case taken by the justices centers on New York’s law on carrying concealed handguns, which requires a showing of “proper cause.” Under the law, residents may obtain licenses that are restricted to hunting and target practice, or if they hold certain jobs, such as a bank messenger or correctional officer.
But to carry a concealed handgun without restriction, applicants must convince a firearms licensing officer that they have an actual – rather than a speculative – need for self-defense.
The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, along with two of its members from the upstate capital region, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, sued in federal court. Both men said they “do not face any special or unique danger” to their lives but want carry a handgun for self-defense.
‘RIGHT TO DEFEND OURSELVES’
“We’re confident that the court will tell New York and the other states that our Second Amendment right to defend ourselves is fundamental, and doesn’t vanish when we leave our homes,” said Jason Ouimet, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action.
Gun control advocates said that the stakes are especially high given that gun violence has risen during the coronavirus pandemic. A ruling weakening gun control “could make it even harder for cities and states to grapple with this public health crisis,” said Eric Tirschwell, managing director of the Everytown Law legal activist group.
The Supreme Court in a landmark 2008 ruling recognized for the first time an individual’s right to keep guns at home for self-defense, and in 2010 applied that right to the states. The plaintiffs in the New York case asked for that right to be extended beyond the home.
A ruling invalidating New York’s law could imperil similar laws on the books in other states setting various criteria for a concealed-carry license. Seven other states and the District of Columbia impose restrictions that give authorities more discretion to deny concealed firearm permits.
Gun control advocates are concerned that the conservative justices could create a standard for gun control that could imperil measures that states already have implemented such as expanded criminal background checks for gun buyers and “red flag” laws targeting the firearms of people deemed dangerous by the courts.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
The Gathering Spot Preparing for Expansion in Los Angeles
The Gathering Spot has become a staple among Black professionals in Atlanta and Washington D.C. with its private, membership-only co-working space model. Now the Black-owned business is preparing to spread its wings with its first West Coast location set to open in Los Angeles.
Since its inception, founders Ryan Wilson and T.K. Peterson turned The Gathering Spot into a hub that brings diverse professionals across industries together. The two Georgetown graduates opened the first location in Midtown Atlanta before opening doors to a second location in the same city. TGS’s D.C. hub made history as the first modern private membership club for Black professionals
“As an undergrad and law student at Georgetown I would go to Chinatown Coffee or an alternative coffee shop looking for a place to get some work done,” Wilson told Black Enterprise in 2018. “I became frequently frustrated when I could not find a space to work or meet with people. I would get that tap on the shoulder letting me know that my time had pretty much expired.”
“As we began looking at what spaces we could go to, the only places that emerged were country clubs,” he continued. “Everything that I like as far as the community of people, atmosphere, music, and dining experience I could never find in a country club. This is how and where the ideation process of The Gathering Spot came about.”
Now five years since its launch, The Gathering Spot is gearing up to open its first West Coast location as well as a deep virtual expansion into other markets. In addition to its L.A. launch, major cities like Chicago, Detroit, Houston, New York, and Charlotte are set to join the companies’ virtual Connected Cities initiative. The growth will allow more professionals from diverse backgrounds to take part in TGS’s signature keynote conversations, networking opportunities, workshops, and social experiences.
Atlanta Rappers Gunna and Young Thug Post Bond For 30 Low-Level Offenders
Two Atlanta rappers helped reunite low-level offenders with their families by posting bail for them over the weekend.
According to WSB-TV, hip-hop artists, Jeffery Lamar Williams, better known to the world as Young Thug, and Sergio Giavanni Kitchens, who uses the rap moniker Gunna, generously posted bonds for 30 inmates at the Fulton County Jail whose families and friends couldn’t put up the bail money.
“This is where we are from,” said Young Thug, in an interview with WSB-TV. “We just woke up and went to the jail with the lawyer and you know DA’s and the prosecutors, you know, the bonding companies and just got as many people as we can out.”
Revolt TV also reported that the label for both artists, Young Stoner Life Records, filmed an emotional video of the people they helped post bond reuniting with their families. They plan on using the footage for an upcoming YSL music video. The families were then treated to a home-cooked meal.
“You never know what somebody been through. There was people sitting out three or four years and couldn’t get out on a bond,” said Gunna. “If they did the crime, then they can do the time, then it’s all right. But it’s like you’re giving them a bond higher than what they stole.”
“It feels so good to the point where you start feeling that’s why God put me here; he put me here to do this,” Young Thug added.
The rappers have also said that this will not be a one-time thing as they plan on doing this again in the future. They didn’t disclose how much money they spent.
Fulton County Jail, according to a WSB-TV report in February has 2900 inmates, about 400 over capacity. “This is some of the worst conditions I’ve ever seen,” councilman Michael Bond told the station at the time.
Simone Biles Vacates Nike Partnership to Join with Athleta
One of the most recognizable Olympic athletes in the world has left one of the most recognizable athletic companies.
Athleta recently announced that it has inked a long-term partnership with the most decorated gymnast in World Championships history, Simone Biles. Biles will also help with a shared vision that will be designed to empower women and girls.
“Using my voice has been very empowering for me and I am grateful to embark on this new journey with Athleta to inspire young girls and women to do the same,” said Biles in a written statement. “The opportunity to encourage young girls to reach their full potential and be a force for change is incredibly powerful. I admire Athleta for their commitment to recognize and support women’s individual and collective strength and, together, I believe we can help girls to confidently and passionately take on the world in their athletic endeavors and beyond.”
Biles and Athleta plan on working together on select initiatives with a particular focus toward Athleta Girl that will encourage millions of girls to rise and own their limitless potential. Biles will contribute by collaborating with Athleta’s design team to help develop signature products for aspiring athletes, including plans for multiple capsule collaborations for Athleta Girl.
“We are excited to welcome Simone to the Athleta family and work together to further our mission of empowering women and girls,” said Mary Beth Laughton, president, and chief executive officer of Athleta. “Simone believes in championing the next generation of female athletes as much as we do, and we are confident this partnership will continue to build community with our customers and enrich our brand.”
Athleta is also planning to co-create Biles’ own signature activewear line that will bring a piece of her to girls everywhere.
“Simone embodies our brand through her advocacy, mentorship, and work in the community,” said Jana Henning, chief product officer of Athleta. “Our team is looking forward to working collaboratively with her to bring the same elements of confidence, strength, and grace she demonstrates on and off the mat into future collections for girls.”
Atlanta HBCUs Require Students, Staff, and Faculty Get The Vaccines To Be On Campus
Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College are among the many Atlanta universities this upcoming fall semester that will require students, faculty members, and staff to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
On April 19, at the Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC), where all the schools received representation, made the announcement that employees and students need to be vaccinated, Atlanta’s WAGA-TV reported.
Those who need two or more shots need to verify that they have completed their vaccination. One-shot vaccine recipients only need to show that they got their single-dose vaccine.
“As AUCC member institutions plan for summer programming and the fall semester, using the latest scientific data to implement vaccination protocols is the next step in keeping our community safe,” a collective statement from the leaders of the AUCC members said. “Vaccination of our community members is critical to continue meeting our highest priority—maintaining the safety and wellbeing of our constituents.”
The schools will offer vaccinations on campuses and at the AUCC Student Health and Wellness Center.
Each university has specific information regarding how students will receive or confirm that students and staff have received at least one vaccine.
There are exceptions from vaccination for students and staff, but the process varies at each institution.
As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, the announcement to enforce college students, including Rutgers, Brown, Duke, Cornell, and Northeastern, into getting their shots is becoming a trend. However, what makes this trend particularly interesting is that it is happening to HBCUs. Some Black people have a stigma of being hesitant to get the vaccine. On the other hand, access to getting the vaccine has been a problem in Black communities.
According to NPR, at least half of adults in the United States–or 84 million people–have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
RuPaul Reveals Cory Booker is his Cousin on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season Finale
A revelation was revealed last week that possibly not too many people were privy to. On the season finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race, RuPaul Andre Charles, simply known as RuPaul, brought in a special guest via video. The guest, a state senator and former Democratic presidential hopeful, announced the rules of the Lip Sync Smackdown during the season 13 finale, where it was revealed that New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is actually the cousin of RuPaul.
“Now, to explain the rules of the Lip Sync Smackdown, please welcome United States Senator, and my cousin, Cory Booker,” RuPaul said as he addressed the final four contestants: Gottmik, Rosé, Symone, and Kandy Muse, according to People. “No, really, we are related.”
Booker then said, “Thank you cousin RuPaul. You all already know the rules so I just want to say thank you. In life we were not born to fit in, we were born to stand out, to make the most out of ourselves, and always elevate and enrich the lives of others. John Lewis, one of my heroes, said it best: ‘Never let anyone, any person or any force, dampen, dim or diminish your light.’ Thank God for you, thank God for America, and thank God for my cousin RuPaul.”
According to theGrio, the two found out they were related in an episode of the PBS series Finding Your Roots, back in October 2020. The series had revealed that Booker, a former football player at USC, and RuPaul, the actor and international glam icon, share a long stretch of identical DNA on their first chromosome.
“He looks like my kin,” RuPaul said. “There’s a sweetness about him that I’ve always loved and an intellect that’s undeniable. But every time I’ve ever seen him, he reminds me of my cousin Eulah… How about that.”
TikTok Video Shows White Woman Harassing Group Of Black Soldiers, Calling Them ‘S***bags’ at Virginia IHOP
Last week, there were video clips posted to social media platform TikTok that showed a white woman harassing some Black soldiers at an IHOP restaurant in Virginia.
According to The Army Times, the incident took place last Monday at an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) when a white woman appeared at a table that seated several Black soldiers, sat down, and started bothering them as she called them “s***bags. The confrontation was shared on the TikTok platform.
One of the soldiers asked her to “please walk away” after she gets in the face of another soldier as she continued to call them names. The soldier then asks her to leave and he had to step into another booth as she was blocking him in where he was seated.
Joe Jeffers Jr. who utilizes the screen name musiqcitizen on TikTok posted the following video clip:
As other customers intervened to get rid of the woman, she started to cause issues with some of the other patrons at IHOP as she continued to make a spectacle of herself during her mini tirade. As an Air Force vet steps in to assist, the belligerent woman threatens the man as he comes to the defense of the soldiers.
