Georgetown Basketball Coach and NBA Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing Returns Home After Being Treated For COVID-19
Current Georgetown Hoyas basketball coach and former New York Knick Patrick Ewing has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home after contracting the coronavirus his son said earlier this week according to the NBA.
“I want to thank all of the doctors and hospital staff for taking care of my father during his stay, as well as everyone who has reached out with thoughts and prayers to us and since his diagnosis,” his son Patrick Ewing Jr., said in a statement this past Monday.
“My father is now home and getting better. We’ll continue to watch his symptoms and follow the CDC guidelines. I hope everyone continues to stay safe and protect yourselves and your loved ones.”
Last week, the Hall of Famer and former NBA player had announced he had gotten COVID-19. Officials at Georgetown University, where Ewing is the head coach of the men’s basketball team, had also announced that Ewing was the only person in the program to test positive for the virus.
I want to share that I have tested positive for COVID-19. This virus is serious and should not be taken lightly. I want to encourage everyone to stay safe and take care of yourselves and your loved ones. pic.twitter.com/a2fMuhIZyG
While attending Georgetown, Ewing helped the Hoyas win the 1984 NCAA men’s basketball championship and took the team to two other title games. During his four years, Georgetown went 121-23, a winning percentage of .840.
In the first NBA lottery draft, Ewing was taken as the No. 1 pick by the New York Knicks, where he played 15 seasons. Ewing was able to lead the Knicks to the 1994 NBA Finals, where they lost to Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets.
After retiring as a player, he went into the coaching ranks as an assistant or associate coach with four different NBA teams. In April 2017, he returned to his alma mater to become a head coach.
In his first three seasons at his alma mater, Ewing’s teams went 49-46 and this past season, Georgetown finished the season with seven consecutive losses and a 15-17 record.
African American celebrities and activists are reacting to the death of a black man Monday, after a video showed a white officer kneeling on the man’s neck for several minutes as three other officers stood by.
“Do you understand NOW!!??!!?? Or is it still blurred to you??” Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James wrote on Instagram Wednesday, reacting to the death of George Floyd.
James also shared a photo that drew a comparison between the violent act of Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin committed on George Floyd, and former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s peaceful demonstrations during the U.S. national anthem where he took a knee to protest police brutality against African Americans.
According to MarketWatch, while citizens protested in the streets in Minnesota, Ava DuVernay posted a memorial to Floyd. Comedian Jamie Foxx and rapper Snoop Dogg also shared James’ photo on their social media pages.
“In the words of @tyrinturner ‘now you get it,’” Foxx wrote Tuesday.
“No justice just us,” Snoop Dogg wrote.
Comedian and producer Michael Rapaport posted a profanity-laced monolouge on Twitter slamming the officers and calling them “murderers.”
Floyd was killed Monday afternoon after police approached him because he matched the description of a suspect in a forgery case at a grocery store. Floyd was eventually pinned to the ground by officer Derek Chauvin who put his knee on Floyd’s neck and ignored repeated pleas to get off Floyd.
Attorney Benjamin Crump, who represented the family of Trayvon Martin in the case against George Zimmerman, announced that Floyd’s family has retained him as the attorney to represent them in the case against the Minneapolis Police Department. The esteemed attorney is also representing Georgia shooting victim Ahmaud Arbery and police shooting victim Breonna Taylor.
The situation has become so dire that even President Donald Trump has commented, although he has yet to choose a side in the situation.
“We’re going to look at it, and we’re going to get a report tomorrow when we get back, and we’re going to get a very full report. But a very sad day,” Trump said during a press conference in Florida.
This Massachusetts Teenager Got Accepted To Every Ivy League University
College acceptance letters can be the most stressful time of the year for high school seniors eagerly waiting to see where their future starts. In Springfield, Massachusetts, one teenager beat all the odds and was accepted to all eight Ivy League institutions..
Eighteen-year old Roberta Hannah has always been an overachiever. In an interview with Western Mass News, the Springfield High School of Science and Technology student-athlete who runs track and field said it was no easy feat often taking more AP classes to prepare herself.
Initially the high school senior was only planning on applying to three schools but her sister encouraged her to apply to all eight schools.
“Originally, I was only going to apply to three, but then my mom and my sister were like, ‘You should just apply to all eight,’ so I didn’t really have a choice,” Hannah told Western Mass News. “I was really anxious getting up to the day, and then I started opening the letters, and I was like ‘Oh, I keep seeing ‘yes,’”
Hannah plans to attend Columbia University in the fall to major in biochemistry and African-American studies.
“So my goal is to be a medicinal chemist, but with making medicine and kind of the one researching it,” she said. “I want my focus to be on increasing accessibility and making the medicine more affordable.”
Hannah credited her sister and mother for helping her reach her goal. “I think because of the fact my mom didn’t go to college, she always pushed us a little extra hard.”
Arizona Man Pulls Gun On Black DoorDash Delivery Driver
An Arizona man was arrested and charged Sunday after pulling a loaded gun on an African American delivery driver. According to CNN, Valentino Tejada was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct involving weapons after he pointed a gun at Dimitri Mills, who was making a delivery at the complex on behalf of DoorDash.
Mills told CNN he had just arrived at an apartment complex in Mesa on Sunday, when a man holding a gun confronted him.
“When I exited my vehicle, he had his gun drawn to me,” Mills told CNN. “I knocked on the customer’s door and let her know that her order was outside and that we need help because a guy had pulled a gun out on me.”
The man holding the gun was later identified as Tejada. Mills said he explained several times to Tejada that he was at the complex to deliver food and meant Tejada no harm. After making the delivery, Mills said Tejada blocked him from returning to his car.
“The guy was in between me and the car and wouldn’t let me go past him,” Mills said.
Residents at the complex called the police at Mills’ urging. Tejada told police that he was almost hit in the parking lot by Mills’ vehicle and that prompted him to follow Mills, gun in hand. However, according to CNN, the arrest report notes “no witnesses were identified to corroborate his statement.”
Tejada was cooperative with police and was taken into custody without incident.
Mills’ attorney, Benjamin Taylor, told CNN, “We want to get justice in this case and we want to make sure this person is prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
The incident follows a disturbing pattern of African American men being killed by white men. Ahmaud Arbery was killed in February while jogging through a Georgia suburb. Doug Lewis, a 39-year old African American man, was shot and killed by Anthony Trifiletti following a minor traffic accident.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: ‘We’ll Continue to Point Out Incorrect or Disputed Information About Elections Globally’
In an apparent statement to President Donald Trump that he and his company will try to stop the spread of false information on his social media platform, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took to Twitter to reaffirm the company’s stance, according to Fox News.
Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.
Per our Civic Integrity policy (https://t.co/uQ0AoPtoCm), the tweets yesterday may mislead people into thinking they don’t need to register to get a ballot (only registered voters receive ballots). We’re updating the link on @realDonaldTrump’s tweet to make this more clear.
Dorsey also took a swipe at Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg for his company’s stance. “We have a different policy than, I think, Twitter on this,” Zuckerberg told The Daily Briefing in an interview scheduled to air in full on Thursday. “I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online,” he added. “Private companies probably shouldn’t be, especially these platform companies, shouldn’t be in the position of doing that.”
This does not make us an “arbiter of truth.” Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions.
Earlier this week, Twitter placed fact-check links below two of Trump’s tweets, which allegedly shared misinformation and lies about mail-in voting. The links lead to a fact page on mail-in voting.
There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone…..
Twitter released a statement on its decision Tuesday night.
“These Tweets contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labeled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots. This decision is in line with the approach we shared earlier this month.”
Trump will sign an executive order on social media companies on Thursday, White House officials said, after he threatened to shut down websites he accused of stifling conservative voices.
27-Year-Old MTV Host Jamila Mustafa Makes History As Bennett College’s Youngest Commencement Speaker
At just 27 years old, Jamila Mustafa speaks with the command of a woman nearly twice her age. Each of her words is intentional and delivered in an authoritative tone that reflects her self-assurance. Yet, her charisma, stage presence, and career highlights as a host on MTV, ESPN, and BET make her a relatable voice for her generation. Hence, there’s no wonder why the award-winning broadcast journalist, actress, and entrepreneur became Bennett College’s youngest commencement speaker in the HBCU’s 147-year history.
“They said 2020 was the year of clear vision,” said Mustafa, addressing the class of 2020 in a virtual speech on May 9, “but I don’t think any of us saw this coming.”
Jamila Mustafa (file)
During her address, the Delaware native shared a glimpse of her journey as a small-town girl who moved to New York City to pursue her dreams in the media and entertainment industry. After graduating from Delaware State University, Mustafa landed a gig hosting a pilot series on BET.com, where she worked for minimum wage and woke up each day at 3 a.m. to research, write, and do her own hair and makeup in preparation for the show.
“Fast forward three years later and that show that I helped to launch on BET became BET’s top digital daily series,” she told the grads, adding, “I, personally, had grown to become a desired talent not only by BET Networks but by the majority of the media platforms surrounding the globe.”
At another point in her speech, Mustafa recalled the “wise words” imparted by her grandmother, Fannie Carroll, who graduated from Bennett in 1949. “Never let success get to your head and failure get to your heart,” she said. “See this game called life will teach you, but you have to play to learn and understand that whatever won’t fold you will mold you.”
Mustafa, who hosted MTV’s TRL: Top 10, a reboot of the network’s wildly popular Total Request Live (TRL), also addressed Bennett’s financial struggle. The school, which became the first higher education institution for black women in the country in 1926, lost its accreditation in February 2019, despite almost doubling its fundraising goal of $5 million within six weeks. However, a court ordered the accreditation to remain in place pending the school’s lawsuit against the accreditor.
“I’m not sure of another group of women, who when their backs were up against the wall, raised $9.5 million in 60 days to save their institution,” she said. “That is resilience.”
A Full-Circle Moment
Mustafa says she was personally asked to address the class of 2020 by Bennett College President Suzanne Walsh. The two originally met at the 2014 BLACK ENTERPRISEWomen of Power Summit. At the time, Walsh was serving as the deputy director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Postsecondary Success division. Meanwhile, Mustafa was one of 10 HBCU students who were sponsored by the foundation to attend the event. Hungry and driven, Mustafa used the opportunity to conduct onsite video interviews with the speakers and ended up making an unforgettable impression on Walsh. In addition, she caught the attention of both conference leaders and organizers and was the only student asked to return for a second year.
“What I really remember is that when we attended a conference together in 2014 and she brought with her (as a college student) all of her equipment and started interviewing women who were interesting to her,” said Walsh during the commencement ceremony. “She took advantage of that moment.”
BLACK ENTERPRISE CEO Earl “Butch” Graves Jr. and Jamila Mustafa at the 2014 Women of Power Summit (file)
Walsh continued, “When I thought about who would be the best speaker to represent this moment in time, we needed to have somebody special,” she said. “We needed somebody who was inspiring and dynamic, likes to take on new challenges and some risks. We wanted someone who could capture and hold people’s attention through a virtual experience.”
In addition to being the keynote speaker, Walsh tapped Mustafa to conceptualize and help produce the school’s first-ever online commencement through her production company. “Jamila helped to create an experience that was exactly right for our graduates and their families and friends. She helped us create an emotional journey honoring the past and celebrating the present. I wish I could find the words to truly express how perfect, Ms. Mustafa’s commencement address and leadership were for this moment in history,” said Walsh in a press release post the event.
Joining the ranks of past commencement speakers such as Maya Angelou, Phylicia Rashad, and BET co-founder Sheila Johnson, Mustafa says delivering the address was an honor and a true full-circle moment.
Like she told the graduates, “It takes a special kind of soul to be able to inspire the masses and move mountains.”
Watch Bennett College’s 2020 Commencement ceremony below. (Jamila Mustafa’s keynote starts around the 26:25 mark.)
White Sheriff’s Deputy Recorded Brutally Punching Unarmed Black Woman In Michigan
In another case of police brutality against an unarmed black citizen, a white Michigan sheriff’s deputy was recorded repeatedly striking an unarmed black woman in a video that has gone viral, according to Channel 7 Action News/WXYZ Detroit.
Sha’Teina Grady El was with her husband at the scene of a shooting in Ypsilanti Township , a suburb of Detroit, on early Tuesday morning. The unidentified deputy is seen approaching the unarmed Grady El and as the video shows, takes a swing at her face before he lifts her off her feet and slams her down to the ground. He is also seen throwing a series of punches to her head and face.
But, it doesn’t end there as other police officers joined in the seemingly unprovoked attack on Sha’Teina. Another police officer released a shot from his Taser gun at her husband, Dan Grady El. Many witnesses of the attack can be heard shouting at the officers in disbelief.
🇺🇸 The black woman who was protesting the murder of a black man named #GeorgeFloyd by the police officer in #Detroit city of the USA was punched by the police again. pic.twitter.com/917oEZBtIe
— Crackdown Chronicles (@CrackdownReport) May 27, 2020
Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry Clayton said that several of the police officers that were involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave, while an internal investigation is underway.
“There is absolutely no doubt, and no argument from me, that the images in the video are disturbing,” Clayton told WXYZ. “It warrants a complete investigation.”
“She was arrested for no reason. She was beaten for no reason,” Jaquisy Diggins, the daughter of Sha’Teina and Dan Grady El, told 7 Action News. “The officer was yelling and he Tased my father.”
“They were just standing there and they asked them to back up and I guess they got upset because they didn’t remove themselves from recording and that’s why they attacked my mom,” Diggins said.
Diggins said after her parents were arrested, she allowed deputies to search her home; nothing was found nothing.
In a statement, Clayton said that the deputies were trying to arrest the two when they refused to leave the area where deputies were looking for a shooting suspect. The deputy’s use of force, he added, is also under investigation.
As of yesterday afternoon, Dan Grady El was reportedly in the process of being released and Sha’Teina Grady El was being held so Taylor Police coud pick her up on an outstanding warrant.
For Real Change In Hollywood, Datari Turner Says Black People Must Flip The Script
Change in Hollywood. From Oscar Micheaux and Gordon Parks to Spike Lee and Ava DuVernay, black people have been working to flip the script and change the narrative of the film industry for decades. The push for change in Hollywood was most recently and memorably expressed via the #OscarSoWhite campaign of 2015.
As the featured guest for Black Enterprise‘s Beyond The Hype interview series, independent filmmaker and producer Datari Turner asserts that creating real change in Hollywood requires black people to shift their focus beyond writing, directing, and starring in films, to the power and money found in film production. Since founding Datari Turner Productions in 2010, he has become one of the most prolific independent producers in film, producing and helping to finance more than 30 feature films, including seven that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Turner’s most recent film, Uncorked, starring Courtney B. Vance and Niecy Nash, premiered on Netflix, becoming the No. 1 movie in America.
However, Turner’s original Hollywood ambition when he left a successful career in the fashion industry in New York City, after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, was not production, or even acting, but writing.
“Producing wasn’t first; I wanted to be a writer,” Turner explains. “But what I started to realize is that the richest people in Hollywood were the producers. The most powerful people in Hollywood were the producers. The people who built Hollywood were the producers.”
“Even when you think about people like Steven Spielberg, the first thing that comes to mind for people is ‘Oh, he’s the most successful commercial, blockbuster movie director of all time,’ ” says Turner. “However, his wealth comes from producing; he’s produced close to 200 movies. And he founded a studio, DreamWorks SKG, with David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg—all billionaires, by the way.”
TURNER’S CAREER PLOT TWIST
Turner’s aspirations in the film industry went from writing to producing when he recognized how the latter role offered a far greater capacity to effect broader and more impactful change in Hollywood. Producers can have multiple, even dozens, of projects in development at the same time.
“I pivoted because I spent seven years writing, and rewriting, and rewriting my first film Video Girl [starring production partner and long-time friend Meagan Good]. Once I realized how powerful the producers were in Hollywood, I saw that I could get a lot more done being a producer. I could produce multiple things at the same time.”
UNLIKE STARS, PRODUCERS ARE NOT “DISCOVERED”
Don’t expect an invitation to audition or even a cattle call for the role of film producer, says Turner. Unlike acting and other jobs in Hollywood, the industry won’t come looking for you to produce, not even when diversity and inclusion is a priority.
“They’re not advertising jobs to be a producer in Hollywood. Most of the jobs they advertise to people of color if you want to be in the entertainment business is to be the artist, to be the actor, to be the musician,” Turner asserts. “I don’t want to say that they don’t want you to be the producer, or they don’t want you to be an owner, but that’s definitely not what they’re advertising for kids that look like me.”
HOLLYWOOD SUCCESS THROUGH A NEW LENS
Turner says that to increase the numbers of successful black producers like him, Will Packer, Tyler Perry, and Broderick Johnson, we must redefine what it means to truly succeed in Hollywood for future generations of black people aspiring to film industry careers.
“If we really want true change, then we have to inspire and encourage people who look like us to be producers, to want to be the studio heads,” says Turner. “Everybody can’t be the movie star.”
In order to make real change in Hollywood, he concludes, “We have to change our mindset of who we want to be.”
In another case of racial profiling, the black men, the entrepreneurs behind Team Top Figure, a social media consulting firm, shared the encounter in the Mozaic East building, where they rent space from a WeWork on site. They were entitled to use the gym.
The white man, Tom Austin, a venture capitalist who runs the F2 Intelligence Group, approached the men questioning whether they belong there.
Austin provided Business Insider a written statement:
“Yes, I f—-d up. Should have handled it differently. Not my job to have done anything. Building management had been complaining that tenants were allowing their friends to trespassing and use a private gym that was authorized only for building tenants. Said hello to everyone when I walked in. But after working out for 10 minutes, I noticed that one of the tenants seemed to have brought 4 friends and I complained to them that this isn’t right. One guy was letting his other 4 friends in and out of the building with his pass card FOB. Four guys didn’t have a FOB. When I said something, they got in my face accusing me of racial profiling. I said it wasn’t racial profiling and it was all about suspicious activity/behavior. Because they were in my face and didn’t have pass cards, I took photos and called the property manager. I only called the building property manager! Never called 911. I told them I’d have done the same thing if they were white, or even a bunch of girls who were trespassing. What surprises me is that we worked out in gym together for another 45 minutes. I had already apologized to them for making them feel it was a race issue and I listened to all their grievances about “being black.” When I left the gym, at the end of the night I said “Have a great night, hope we’re good.” and did a fist bump with each of them! There is way more to the story. Fake news!”
The Star Tribune reported that Stuart Ackerberg, CEO of Ackerberg Group, which owns the MoZaic East building, has terminated Austin’s lease. Ackerberg said he was still heartbroken from seeing the video of police brutality victim George Floyd when he viewed the video clip of the confrontation.
“My heart hurts,” he said. “This is not how we do business. … I’m alarmed by what I saw.”
He said that two WeWork members used their key fobs to access the gym and he assumes the other people in the Top Figure group also were employees.
“It appears they had every right to be there and to use that amenity,” he said.
Ackerberg said he spoke to Austin on Wednesday and expressed his dismay.
“I shared with him that I did not think it was handled well and there are other ways to go about this,” he said. “It’s unfortunate. Our goal is to create a safe and inviting experience for everybody.”
How This L.A. Attorney Found Success As An Expat Living In Kuwait
Each year, thousands of Americans leave the United States to find opportunities in international markets. Oftentimes, these expats are able to obtain higher salaries in addition to other benefits in these countries for their American education and work experience. For a Los Angeles-based lawyer, moving to another country to continue her law career brought on a new set of opportunities along with a memorable cultural experience.
Najmah Brown already had several years of experience working in entertainment law when she was offered the chance to expand her career internationally with a job at the Al-Adwani Law Firm located in Kuwait. Her clients included the Oprah Winfrey Network, Al Jazeera America, and CBS.
After her first trip to the country in 2015, she decided to return on business where she was introduced to Kuwaiti lawyers after meeting a diplomat. “He asked if I would work with him and run his firm’s national department,” Brown said in an interview with Downtown Los Angeles News.“My experience before that had been in media, so I was unsure as to how that would translate to working in an Arabic country.”
“But after accepting the position, the first client I worked with was a telecommunications company. I immediately noticed there were a lot of similarities between my work there and my previous work in media. I was still working with contracts and paperwork, just in different industries.”
Brown was able to find success working in the firm’s international department providing transactional legal services to local companies within the country. She continues to work with a range of both foreign and local Kuwaiti clients including entertainment, by getting overseas talent to perform within the country. She also wrote for a wrote a legal column for the Arab Times publication and has consulted with the U.S. embassy on local matters when it needed an English-speaking lawyer.
“In the United States we follow a common law system, whereas Kuwait follows civil law,” Brown said. “When we were working with international companies, they were always concerned with how a judge would apply the law in their case.”
“Because there’s no precedent, any judge can interpret the law the way he wants to. Their system is not as complex as ours and their laws aren’t as detailed, so you don’t know what is going to happen until you get in front of the judge.”
