After running Sean “Diddy” Combs’ company, Combs Enterprises, for two decades while overseeing brands Ciroc, Aquahydrate, Sean John, and the brand that started it all, Bad Boy Entertainment, former president of Combs Enterprises, Dia Simms, now controls the fate of her own brand, HANDS L.L.C. She and her partner, Erin Harris, also an executive at Combs Enterprises, have recently launched Saint Liberty Whiskey.

Saint Liberty Whiskey not only supports the women of today through its commitment to return 5% of gross sales to women’s empowerment, entrepreneurial, and educational efforts, but it is also guided by an all-female board of advisers.

Simms took a break from making moves to speak to BLACK ENTERPRISE about the origins of Saint Liberty Whiskey and how they plan on keeping the strength of women empowerment moving forward.

What made you decide to launch your spirits brand?

A lot of lost energy goes into trying to change existing brands and businesses. Often, the best way to make a change is through ownership and entrepreneurship. If you can’t change the game, make a new game. In this spirit, Harris & Simms (HANDS) has acquired a meaningful stake in Saint Liberty Whiskey alongside Mark SoRelle, the founder and chief historian of the brand, and Ndamukong Suh of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. HANDS is a boutique spirits advisory company that offers strategic guidance and investments in spirit brands. Headquartered in Los Angeles, my partner Erin Harris and I focus on original and authentic brand stories paired with outstanding liquids such as Saint Liberty Whiskey.

Saint Liberty Whiskey highlights groundbreakers and rebels who have broken barriers during the 1920s when freedoms were granted, and freedoms were taken away. While women secured the right to vote after nearly a century of protest, the 18th Amendment introduced prohibition and a ban on all alcohol sales. Saint Liberty celebrates these heroines of the Prohibition including Bertie Brown, Josephine Doody, Mary Curley, and many more.

What’s the story behind Saint Liberty whiskey and how do you anticipate making the brand successful?

Saint Liberty Whiskey embraces the true diversity of the history of America through their celebration of the untold stories of the pioneering, Prohibition-era women bootleggers. Each woman bootlegger is paired with a unique craft whiskey and distillery to highlight and honor their individual story. The first expression is Bertie’s Bear Gulch Bourbon Whiskey honoring an African American homesteader named Bertie “Birdie” Brown, known for making the “best moonshine in the country.” She was an enterprising, entrepreneurial Black woman at a time when those attributes put her life in jeopardy.

The whiskey that honors her legacy is packaged in a signature embossed coffin flask bottle which was inspired by the antique bottles of the American frontier. The flagship whiskey, Bertie’s Bourbon, offers flavors of rich dark molasses, caramelized vanilla, apricots, some burnt brown sugar, and a hint of smoke. Bertie’s Bear Gulch Straight Bourbon Whiskey is exceptionally smooth and balanced with a wonderfully warm finish.

We believe that success comes with innovation and expanding diversity within the industry. At Saint Liberty, we are committed to building an exceptional craft whiskey brand that recognizes a diverse group of unsung female heroes. We are proud to honor the courage and legacy of these pioneering women bootleggers. The women in the spirits industry today—myself included—owe a debt to these frontierswomen. Additionally, being that Saint Liberty is guided by an entirely female board of advisers, we have committed to spending 5% of gross profits toward women’s empowerment issues, entrepreneurial, and educational efforts to create opportunities for women like Bertie Brown, who fought and died for their rights.

With the recent coronavirus outbreak, how were you able to launch a new brand with business being operated in a different way than what’s been normal? 

One thing that has not changed is consumers desire to drink a premium Whiskey at a great price point, which is what we are offering with Saint Liberty. Now more than ever, people are getting creative and adventurous in their cocktail selections and happy hour hasn’t stopped, it has just moved from the bar to your living room. Bertie’s Bear Gulch Straight Bourbon Whiskey is now available in over 10 states through the U.S. with a suggested retail price of $44.99 for a 750ml bottle. Saint Liberty Whiskey is available at Total Wine & More, BevMo, and Spec’s Wines and Spirits or SaintLibertyWhiskey.com.

How has working with Sean Combs prepared you for starting your own company?

Sean Combs has built incredible alumni of successful entrepreneurs [with] his beliefs in the impossible and the power of Black excellence. He’s been an incredible mentor in business not just for me but for thousands of successful game-changers. As Sean became increasingly successful, he truly embraced the spirit of Reginald F. Lewis and felt it was not about how many millions you make but how many millionaires you help create. That’s how we change our legacies. That level of commitment to our community has been the single most important lesson that I take with me.

What would you advise someone who is interested in becoming an entrepreneur to do in order to start their road to success? 

Start with what you have. No matter what your circumstance, if there is breath in your lungs, then you already have the most valuable asset at your disposal. Time. Starting a new business is scary as hell but not scarier than wondering what might have been.

• Criminal Justice Reform

by Dana Givens

August 31, 2020

North Carolina Man Freed After 44 Years In Prison For Wrongfully Convicted Crime

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In 1976, Ronnie Long of Concord, North Carolina, was accused of raping a 54-year-old White woman after she reported that an unknown assailant had attacked her in her home and then fled.

Long received a life sentence. On Thursday, he was finally released from prison after his conviction was vacated by the state of North Carolina.

“It’s been a long road,” Long said in front of reporters following his release, according to CNN. “But it’s over with. It’s over with now.”

U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote that since Long had been convicted a “trickle of post-trial disclosures has unearthed a troubling and striking pattern of deliberate police suppression of material evidence,” which prompted the state’s request. The evidence in question—including semen samples and fingerprints from the crime scene that did not match Long’s—was revealed be deliberately withheld by law enforcement.

Then there was the small matter of who tried him. “Mr. Long, a Black man, was tried in ‘small town’ 1970s North Carolina by an all White jury for the rape of the White widow of a prominent local business executive,” Judge James Wynn of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals also wrote in the request.

“Because of the deceit that occurred at trial, Ronnie and his counsel at the time didn’t have the benefit of that evidence to present to the jury,” Jamie Lau, Long’s attorney and a law professor at Duke University, told CNN. (Lau also serves as the faculty adviser for the Duke Law Innocence Project, which helps people like Long.) “So he’s been wrongly incarcerated for 44 years.”

“I’m 64, going on 65. They took my life away from me when I was 20 years old,” Long told CBS News.“I ain’t got nothing but memories. But yet, and still, you say the evidence collected in the case was immaterial?”

• News

by Dana Givens

August 31, 2020

Trump Grants Alice Johnson’s Request For Full Pardon

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Alice Johnson first made news when reality television star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian West pleaded for her release to President Trump as part of her work in criminal justice reform. Johnson had already served 21 years of a life sentence after she was convicted on drug charges when her case started to appear in headlines.

In 2018, Trump commuted the nonviolent, first-time offender’s sentence after Kardashian West spoke with him on the matter. On Friday, Trump granted Johnson’s request for a full pardon during a sit-down in the Oval Office.

“We’re giving Alice a full pardon. I just told her,” Trump said as he sat alongside Johnson. “We didn’t even discuss it. We just—you were out there; I saw you in the audience last night. And I asked the folks if you could bring Alice over, and we’re going to give a full pardon. We’re going to do it right now.”

“Alice had done an incredible job since she’s been out, and—recommending other people,” he added. “We said, ‘How many people are there like you?’ There’s only one Alice, as far as I’m concerned. But how many people are like you or your circumstance, where they were given this massive sentence? And they’re good people, great people. And she said, ‘So many. They’re in jail. So many.'”

Since her release, Johnson has become a criminal justice reform advocate. She appeared at last week’s Republican National Convention expressing gratitude to Trump for seeing her as a person and advocating for the First Step Act.

“It was real justice reform,” Johnson said, according to CNN. “And it brought joy, hope, and freedom to thousands of well-deserving people. I hollered, ‘Hallelujah!’ My faith in justice and mercy was rewarded. Imagine getting to hug your loved ones again. It’s a feeling I will never forget. And to think, this first step meant so much to so many.”

• News

by Derek Major

August 31, 2020

Christian Site Raises $97K For Kenosha Shooting Suspect Kyle Rittenhouse

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A fundraising effort on a Christian crowdfunding website said it has raised more than $97,000 for Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooting suspect Kyle Rittenhouse.

Other crowdfunding campaigns supporting Rittenhouse on GoFundMe and Fundly were taken down within hours of being created following his arrest Wednesday for shooting three protesters, two of whom have died.

However, GiveSendGo, which identifies itself as “the leader in Christian funding,” decided to keep the campaign active on its platform. One of the site’s founders, Heather Wilson, told Newsweek the site is “committed to giving both sides of the political culture in our society an equal chance to let their voices be heard.”

The creators of the campaign identified themselves as friends of Rittenhouse’s family in Athens, Georgia. In the campaign’s description, the creators wrote the campaign was started to raise money for Rittenhouse’s legal defense, because “Kyle and his family will undoubtedly need money to pay for the legal fees.”

“Kyle Rittenhouse just defended himself from a brutal attack by multiple members of the far-leftist group ANTIFA—the experience was undoubtedly a brutal one, as he was forced to take two lives to defend his own,” the campaign description said. The description went on to say that Rittenhouse was “unfairly charged” with murder for an incident that “was clearly self-defense.”

Rittenhouse was arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree intentional homicide. The four people involved in the incident were on the street in Kenosha where protests were taking place after the shooting of Jacob Blake.

Blake, an African American man, was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha police officer. Blake is now paralyzed according to his lawyer Ben Crump. Protests began the night after Blake was shot.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called in the state’s National Guard on Monday to assist local law enforcement efforts. Rittenhouse said he traveled to Kenosha from Illinois the night of the shooting to prevent rioters from destroying property. Rittenhouse was arrested in Illinois and an extradition hearing Friday was delayed for 30 days.

A Maryland state official was fired Saturday after sharing social media posts supporting Rittenhouse. Arthur “Mac” Love IV, who served as deputy director for the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives, reposted a picture of Rittenhouse cleaning graffiti with a caption, written by the original poster, that said: “I’m grateful that conservatives are rallying behind this kid. He genuinely seems like a good person.”

• News

by Dana Givens

August 31, 2020

Rioters and Looters Could Lose Unemployment Benefits Under New Bill

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The protests over police brutality and racial injustice have spread across the country. Millions of Americans have called for political reform from their local police departments. However, many incidents have also led others to infiltrate peaceful protests and start looting local businesses in the process.

One congressman is looking to introduce a bill that will potentially take away federal benefits from rioters.

Last week, Congressman Jim Banks (R-IN) proposed the “Support Peaceful Protest Act” that would strip those accused of rioting and looting of federal benefits made accessible during the COVID-19 pandemic, including additional unemployment assistance made available via the CARES Act.

‘”Many of these people are not working,” said the congressman in an interview with 93.1FM WIBC.“They have the time to show up every day at some of these violent protests like in Washington, D.C., and they’re getting $600 a week of unemployment to do it, and that’s got to stop.”

Hey @SpeakerPelosi, these are my constituents. They are good people.

If you told these mobs to stop, I have a feeling they would … https://t.co/l5qIT52XM4

— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) August 28, 2020

The bill still needs to be passed by House, which is led by the Democrats, and the Senate before it becomes law. If it’s passed, Banks hopes the new law would help quell the behavior where many are trying to protest peacefully and not derail the original message.

“Antifa thugs are descending on suffering communities, disrupting peaceful protests and leaving violence, looting and vandalism in their wake. They turned Milwaukee, Seattle, and Portland into war zones, and now they’re moving the chaos to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Who knows which community is next?” added Banks in a statement.

“Due to enhanced federal benefits, taxpayers are giving wages to jobless rioters that are destroying our communities. We need to cut them off from their funding and make them feel the full financial consequences of their actions.”

President Trump’s plan to defer payroll taxes was initiated Friday as the Treasury Department outlined the executive action.

The Internal Revenue Service released guidance earlier this month postponing some payroll taxes that would normally be due between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31 to between Jan. 1, and April 31, 2021. Under the plan, employees earning less than $104,000 will keep the 6.2% payroll tax that represents their share of Social Security taxes.

However, employees would still be responsible for the taxes under the plan, meaning those who stop taking payroll taxes now will be withholding twice as much next year. Employers can either opt-in or out of the plan, but without a guarantee the deferred payments will be forgiven, many employers have yet to embrace the plan.

Employers are terrified they will be stuck with the bill, especially if an employee leaves their job before 2021.

Trump added that if he is reelected he will eliminate payroll taxes completely, although White House officials say that plan is not currently under consideration. However, Trump has no control over that, because it would require an act of Congress to wipe out the liability altogether.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is scheduled to speak in southwest Pennsylvania on Monday, is asking voters if they’re safe in Donald Trump’s America.

The question is an effort to turn President Trump’s words against him. Trump has recently pushed a law-and-order agenda, supporting police departments across the country and their actions against citizens. Biden’s speech will combine the country’s coronavirus death toll and subsequent economic downturn with allegations by Democrats that Trump has a tendency to “fan the flames of division and encourage chaos in our cities.”

At the same time, Biden will pitch himself to the country as a Band-Aid that can “calm tensions and heal this country.”

In recent days Biden issued his most forceful condemnation yet of protest violence, stating that he “unequivocally” denounces violence on both the left and right and challenging Trump to do the same.

“The job of the president is to lower the temperature,” Biden said according to Forbes, accusing Trump of “fanning the flames of hate” and of a “failure to call on his supporters to stop seeking conflict.”

Biden’s comments come after Trump and Republicans spent much of last week creating their own narrative about Biden’s agenda as part of the Republican National Convention.

Speakers at the RNC called Biden an environmentalist extremist, in favor of government-run healthcare, defunding the police, and dismantling the border wall—none of which is true.

Trump’s lackluster coronavirus response and the corresponding effects have left him vulnerable as the U.S. confirmed death toll draws closer to 200,000 and the unemployment rate still sits above 10%. According to the RealClearPolitics average, Trump’s coronavirus disapproval rating is near 60%.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released Saturday shows not only do more people think a Trump reelection would make the country less safe, but 46% of respondents said Trump is “the source of chaos” in the country.

In the wake of LeBron James and many NBA players speaking up against systemic racism and police brutality against Blacks, there has been a lot of talk about the fears of Black men in America. James made a statement last week, sharing his fear as a Black father, that Black people in America “are terrified.”

‘We are scared as Black people in America. Black men, Black women, Black kids, we are terrified,’ Los Angeles Lakers basketball star LeBron James said after Sunday’s police shooting of Jacob Blake pic.twitter.com/2ReeOYrPp6

— Reuters (@Reuters) August 25, 2020

In response to James’ position, a Black father penned an open letter to the Los Angeles Lakers player. The man, Patrick D. Hampton, also a Trump supporter, posted a letter on his Facebook page and advises James to “stop blaming the police and help build better fathers.”

The full letter is below:

Dear LeBron James,

You don’t speak for me and my boys.

I’m a father of four brown boys. It is my responsibility as a father to protect and serve them. There is no need for police in my home because as the father, I’m the authority in my home.

Police are needed where fathers and law and order are absent. When there is no father to protect and serve children, police have to move into that community to protect and serve.

Where there is no father or authority in the home or neighborhood, young men rebel. This is why police is having a hard time gaining compliance with fatherless boys on the side of the road. They refuse to sit down, be quiet, and comply. Why? Because the police are the first men to tell them NO and assert their authority. These boys have spent years under no ones authority. This is the main problem.

#AcceptingAuthority

So please don’t speak for me and my boys. Me and my boys are not terrified of the police because we respect the police and accept their authority. That’s because they first had to respect me as their father and accept my authority. Actually one of them want to be a police officer.

We are terrified of the black men that kill each other in their black neighborhoods everyday. We are afraid of the black men that threaten us and call us cūns and uncle toms for desiring to live a peacefull and successful life. We are aware of the fact that 93% of all black homicides are by black men. (Justice Bureau of Statistics)

If you really want to help fatherless boys like yourself, stop using fear tactics and guilt trips. Help promote legislation like “EQUAL SHARED PARENTING” that helps divorced dads and single dad have more time with their children without paying more child support.

Help get legislation passed to make child support more fair and equal. Fund programs like my #GoodGuys #GoodGirlst that help young black youth save sex until marriage, respect police, develop work ethic and accomplish their goals.( https://youtu.be/1ZxCe3JXp3M ).

Stop blaming the police and help build better fathers. Stop saying police need more training and train more dads and young black boys on the the rule of law and police protocols.

Remember, there are millions of black and brown boys out here that are not being killed by police. They are alive and doing quite well. How? We obey the law. Comply with police and if the police does something wrong or unethical, they live to fight in court and not the side of the road.

Signed,
Patrick D. Hampton

The Patrick Perspective

• Health and Wellness

by Dana Givens

August 31, 2020

Chadwick Boseman’s Death Sparks New Conversation About Colon Cancer Among Black Men

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Over the weekend, the news of Chadwick Boseman’s sudden death disrupted social media with many mourning the loss of the Black Panther actor. In a statement released from his team on his social media, Boseman died after battling colon cancer for four years in secret. The cause of his death has now sparked new conversations about colon cancer rates within the Black community, specifically Black men.

According to a report from the American Cancer Society, Black people have the highest rates of colon cancer of any racial-ethnic group in the country, with men having a 30% higher chance of diagnosis than women. One in 23 men will be diagnosed with the illness in their lifetime.

“Overall, Black individuals are about 20% more likely to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 40% more likely to die,” said Rebecca L. Siegel, the American Cancer Society’s scientific director of surveillance research to ABC News. “We’re expecting about 50,000 deaths from colorectal cancer this year in the U.S., overall.”

When asked about the cause of the high rates within the Black community, many doctors still are searching for those answers. “I wish I had an answer for that, I think, you know, there is a lot of research that is going into trying to answer that question,” says Dr. Brooke Glessing, medical director of Endoscopy for University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center to News 5 Cleveland.

“We do know that in the United States that African Americans have a higher incidence of both colon polyps and being diagnosed with colon cancer.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

It is with immeasurable grief that we confirm the passing of Chadwick Boseman.⁣ ⁣ Chadwick was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, and battled with it these last 4 years as it progressed to stage IV. ⁣ ⁣ A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much. From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. ⁣ ⁣ It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther. ⁣ ⁣ He died in his home, with his wife and family by his side. ⁣ ⁣ The family thanks you for your love and prayers, and asks that you continue to respect their privacy during this difficult time. ⁣ ⁣ Photo Credit: @samjonespictures

A post shared by Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) on Aug 28, 2020 at 7:11pm PDT

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

August 31, 2020

Arkansas Sheriff Resigns After Audio Recording Reveals Him Using Racial Slur Nine Times

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The tale of the tape has landed another law enforcement officer on the unemployment line. After a five minute recording was played on Facebook, an Arkansas sheriff was forced to resign his position after repeatedly using the “N-word” a reported nine times, according to USA Today.

Arkansas County Sheriff Todd Wright has resigned after he was heard on a recording using racial slurs against Black people. The since-deleted five-minute audio recording had been posted last week according to the Pine Bluff Commercial. Wright was chastising a woman he was with for communicating with a Black person in a grocery store.

In the recording, the woman, Desiree Middlebrooks, was called a “n**** lover” by Wright.

“I don’t understand why you’re so mad at me,” she says on the audio recording.

“Why you got to holler at f****** n****** when I’m around,” he responded.

“Todd you talk to people all the time,” the woman said.

Middlebrooks secretly recorded Wright as he expressed his anger and repeatedly used the racist slur against Black people.

A special Quorum Court meeting was held last Friday morning at the Arkansas County Courthouse to discuss Wright’s behavior and present a resolution requesting his resignation.

“After viewing and hearing the video I was terribly upset to know that we have someone out here that’s supposed to be taking care of us, protecting and serving to have that kind of opinion of me – I’m using me as a race because of my color,” said Justice of the Peace Inez McLemore.

“If the head is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt.”

“I’m a Christian man. I read my bible every day,” Wright said in response to the recording. “I am by no means a racist. That video does not show the true picture of me.”

“If it’s in your heart, in your mind and you say it, you mean it,” responded McLemore. “What you did on that video brought a world of separation.”

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge tweeted the resignation of Wright was the right thing to do.

The resignation of the sheriff from Arkansas County is appropriate. There’s no excuse for bigotry & hatred. Such discrimination in no way reflects our values as Americans, Arkansans & law enforcement officers.

— Leslie Rutledge (@AGRutledge) August 28, 2020