Black Excellence: Royal Ramey

https://www.npr.org/2024/07/18/nx-s1-5042174/wildfire-california-firefighters-prison-program

“I didn’t really know, like, you know, what a wildland firefighter was. But once I got there, as time went on, I actually embraced it and I fell in love with it. It’s definitely a dangerous job, right? But that kind of thing kind of, you know, thrilled me,” says Royal Ramey, the co-founder and CEO of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, a nonprofit based in California that helps formerly incarcerated firefighters find employment.

Black Excellence: Eric Ian Farmer

https://vocallygrown.com/bio

Born in State College, Pennsylvania and raised in North Carolina, Eric Ian Farmer has returned to his birthplace sharing his songs about relationships, social awareness, and finding one’s path in life while keeping alive classics by artists like Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, and Bob Marley. Eric learned how to become one with a song from Bonnie Carter and David Williams, singers in the church of his childhood just across the North Carolina state line in Danville, Virginia. Eric also draws inspiration as a singer from popular artists like Bobby McFerrin, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye. And his guitar playing is inspired by the percussive stylings of rock legend Bo Diddley.

Black Excellence: Mayor Cavalier Johnson

https://city.milwaukee.gov/mayor/About

Mayor Cavalier Johnson took office as Acting Mayor of the City of Milwaukee in late 2021 and set out immediately to build a safer city. He has prioritized violence reduction, economic development, and roadway safety. Before taking on his role as Acting Mayor, Johnson served as Common Council President while representing the city’s 2nd Aldermanic District.

In April of 2022, Mayor Johnson was elected as the forty-fifth chief executive of the City of Milwaukee, winning with more than seventy percent of the vote. He is the first Black Mayor elected in the city and only the fourth elected mayor in the past sixty-two years.

Black Excellence: Bingwa Thomas

https://www.cnn.com/travel/man-buys-cheap-house-italy-life-expectancy/index.html

He bought a cheap house in Italy to improve his life expectancy

Most people buying cheap houses in Italy are simply attracted by the idea of paying a bargain price for the opportunity to escape to somewhere warmer that has better food.

But what if it could also help you live longer?

That was the thinking for Bingwa Thomas, 72, originally from Kansas City, who purchased an old dwelling in Latronico, deep in Italy’s southern Basilicata region, hoping that the change in lifestyle would push him well beyond the life expectancy of his demographic in the United States. Of course, price was also a factor.

Black Excellence: Helen Wonjila

https://www.nola.com/gambit/events/foot-juggler-helen-wonjila-in-vaudeville-revival-may-26/article_7b029778-122e-11ef-8288-3396c5d93f2f.html

Foot juggling is an old Chinese and Russian circus trick. It’s not very common in the U.S.

Ethiopian-born performer Helen Wonjila learned foot juggling in China, at a school outside of Beijing. She calls it the result of “a happy accident,” and in recent months she’s performed at NBA and hockey halftime shows and elsewhere. In late May, she’ll be on “America’s Got Talent.”

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/watch-jaw-dropping-act-agt-173244576.html

Watch a Jaw-Dropping Act the ‘AGT’ Judges Have Never Seen Before