Category: Racial Justice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_%22Chuck%22_Harrison

Charles “Chuck” Harrison (September 23, 1931 – November 29, 2018)^[1] was an American industrial designer, speaker and educator. He was the first African-American executive to work at Sears, Roebuck and Company, starting in 1961 as a designer and eventually becoming manager of the company’s entire design group. He was involved in the design of over 750 consumer products, including the portable hair dryer, toasters, stereos, lawn mowers, sewing machines,^[2] Craftsman power tools, the see-through measuring cup, fondue pots, stoves, and the first plastic trash can,^[3] which has been credited with changing the sound of trash collection day.^[4] Perhaps his most famous achievement was leading the team that updated the View-Master in 1958, designing the classic Model F View-Master.^[5]

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY) continues to raise concerns about the future of its sex education programs following a lawsuit filed in response to federal policy changes impacting the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program.

The suit, filed earlier this month by PPGNY and several other affiliates, challenges a directive from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requiring funded programs to align with current Presidential Executive Orders. Educators and advocates say the change threatens access to evidence-based education for communities that already face barriers to care and information.

Since the lawsuit was filed, Morgan Little, Associate Vice President of Education and Training at PPGNY, said the organization has fielded a range of questions from community partners and participants.

“There’s been a lot of confusion from our community and partners in terms of if our programming will be available, or even if we’ll be able to have programming at their schools,” she said. “This interest from our partners and the investment in Project STAR really shows the value and importance of the program and the information that young people and their families are receiving.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kizzmekia_Corbett-Helaire

Kizzmekia “Kizzy” Shanta Corbett-Helaire (née Corbett, born January 26, 1986)^[1] is an American viral immunologist. She is an assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Shutzer Assistant Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute since June 2021, and was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Freeman Hrabowski Scholar in 2023.^[2][3][4][5]

She joined Harvard following six years at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health (NIAID NIH) based in Bethesda, Maryland.^[6][7] She earned a PhD in microbiology and immunology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) in 2014.^[8]

Appointed to the VRC in 2014, Corbett-Helaire was a postdoctoral scientist of the VRC’s COVID-19 Team,^[9] with research efforts aimed at COVID-19 vaccines.^[10][11] In February 2021, Corbett-Helaire was highlighted in Time’s “Time100 Next” list^[12] under the category of Innovators, with a profile written by Anthony Fauci.^[13]

As seen on OWN, CBS, SPECTRUM NEWS, and HGTV, Ashani Mfuko is an Award-Winning Cultural Competency Coach, Confident Communication Strategist, and the Host and Producer of the Anti-Racism School Is In Session™ Podcast. She is also a Digital Content Creator, Influencer, Professional Dancer, and the CEO of Ashani Mfuko Consulting Worldwide LLC, a global cultural competency leadership training consultancy; which specializes in cultural competency coaching, conflict resolution communication strategies, and diverse media and marketing services, based in the state of New York.

She teaches and trains socially conscious leaders, and parents worldwide, how to live by anti-racist values, principles, and practices, how to lead with a high level of cultural competency, and how to communication compassionately about difficult topics, like race and racism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainey_Umphrey

Albert Chainey Umphrey (born August 2, 1970)^[1][2] is a retired American gymnast. He was a member of the United States men’s national artistic gymnastics team and competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, helping the U.S. team to a 5th-place finish in the team all-around.

https://pres-outlook.org/author/jermaine-ross-allam

The Rev. Jermaine Ross-Allam serves as the inaugural director of the Center for the Repair of Historical Harms for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and is a Ph.D. candidate in social ethics at Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan. He is currently completing a book tentatively titled Trammeled by the Bonds of Union: The Social Ecology of Extralegal Violence and Impunity against Afro-Americans from the New York City Draft Riots in 1863 to the Wilmington, North Carolina, coup d’état in 1898, and he volunteers with Restorative Actions — an economic equity initiative born from the intersection of theology, justice and economics.

https://imgartists.com/roster/michael-sumuel

In the 26/27 season, American bass-baritone Michael Sumuel, lauded as having “vocals that are smooth and ingratiating” (Daily Camera) will return to LA Opera as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by James Conlon, a role he will also sing with the Boston Symphony and Andris Nelsons at the Tanglewood Festival, as well as with Boston Lyric Opera. Other opera performances include the title role in Porgy and Bess with Opéra de Monte Carlo, and Leporello in Don Giovanni with the Edinburgh International Festival. A sought after concert artist, Mr. Sumuel will appear with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Mozart’s Requiem, Jane Glover and the San Francisco Symphony for Haydn’s Creation, Jaap wan Zweden as Christus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Radio France, Jonathan Cohen and the Handel & Haydn Society for Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderatro, and Handel’s Messiah with Jane Glover and the Minnesota Orchestra and Kansas City Symphony, as well as with Mercury Houston. Finally, with the Sag Harbor Art Song Festival, Mr. Sumuel will join colleagues for several themed song evenings, accompanied by Robert Tweten.

YahNé Ndgo is a writer, singer and the mother of a young woman who is also a creator.

YahNé Ndgo has been developing Ubuntu Freedom for well over a decade. As the visionary for the project, she has been working with teams  of organizers as partners and advisors to develop a collection of freedom resources. These resources will support and network communities and individual’s ability to embody the Principles of Freedom inspired by Ubuntu – “I am because you are.”

While building these resources, she has brought Ubuntu Freedom into the world by supporting and developing projects that embody the principles, including The Care Space Project, Curbfest, Homegrown Maroons and the Annual Maroon Legacy Prisoners’ Families Brunch. She is a member of the Black Alliance for Peace.

https://humanityinaction.org/person/k-melchor-quick-hall

K. Melchor Quick Hall, PhD is a popular educator, writer, and researcher. Hall is the author of Naming a Transnational Black Feminist Framework: Writing in Darkness, and co-editor, with Gwyn Kirk, of Mapping Gendered Ecologies: Engaging with and Beyond Ecowomanism and Ecofeminism. She is both a Resident Scholar at Brandeis University’s Women’s Studies Research Center (WSRC) and the Executive Director of the African American Education & Research Organization (AAERO) @ Melchor-Quick Meeting House (MQMH), founded by her mother and first teacher, Paula Quick Hall.

K. Melchor Quick Hall is a popular educator, writer, and researcher. She is both a Resident Scholar at Brandeis University’s Women’s Studies Research Center (WSRC) and the Executive Director of the African American Education & Research Organization (AAERO) @ Melchor-Quick Meeting House (MQMH), founded by her mother and first teacher, Paula Quick Hall.

Hall is the author of Naming a Transnational Black Feminist Framework: Writing in Darkness, and co-editor, with Gwyn Kirk, of Mapping Gendered Ecologies: Engaging with and Beyond Ecowomanism and Ecofeminism. At Pendle Hill Quaker Retreat and Conference Center, Hall co-leads an artist-led freedom visioning workshop for individuals interested in our shared liberation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leilah_Babirye

Leilah Babirye is a Ugandan artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Outed in her native country as a lesbian and underground LGBTQ+ activist,^[1] Babirye’s work is of large-scale ceramics, wooden sculptures, African masks, as well as drawings and paintings on paper. Babirye has had exhibitions at the Gordon Robichaux Gallery and the Socrates Sculpture Park in New York, as well as the Stephen Friedman Gallery in London. She has also produced work for Heidi Slimane for Celine’s Art Project.