Category: Black Excellence

Black men in the U.S. are more likely to be professional football players than public school psychologists.

It’s a startling statistic. But for Chase McCullum, a Black man who became a school psychologist over a decade ago, it’s just reality.

“Education is not a field that I think a lot of people from my background would typically pursue,” he says.

Growing up in southern Mississippi during the ’90s, McCullum planned on becoming a lawyer.

“I really did not know what a school psychologist was.”

But when he learned about the profession – through an internet search as a college student at the University of Mississippi – he was sold. “Once I found out what it was, and all the things that school psychologists can do, I fell in love with it.”

Psychologists play a critical role in K-12 schools. They support students with their mental health, help prevent bullying and promote conflict resolution between students. They’re often the only person in an entire school who is trained to assess a student’s behavioral, emotional and academic needs. A key element of that is assessing whether a student has a disability.

That representation of a Black male professional in the school building, it’s almost priceless … It impacts the entire school.

Bobby Gueh, Georgia State University’s Department of Counseling and Psychological Services.

And yet there’s a clear mismatch between the demographics of school psychologists and the student populations they serve. According to survey data from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), more than 85% of school psychologists are white, while most K-12 public school students are not.

The exact number of Black male school psychologists is hard to pin down, but NASP estimates they make up fewer than 1% of psychologists in U.S. public schools.

Other groups, including Asian Americans and Hispanics, are also underrepresented. But, some experts are particularly worried about the dearth of Black male psychologists. Black children, especially boys, are disproportionately likely to be disciplined in school, handled forcibly by police and referred for special education services.

“That representation of a Black male professional in the school building, it’s almost priceless,” says Bobby Gueh, who teaches at Georgia State University’s Department of Counseling and Psychological Services.

And it isn’t only Black boys who stand to benefit. “It impacts the entire school,” he says.

The history of special education may be turning people away from school psychology

Federal law guarantees students with disabilities the right to a “free appropriate public education,” and school psychologists play a key role in evaluating what “appropriate” means. For any given student, that could mean providing occupational therapy, counseling or time with a paraprofessional. School psychologists also help make the call about whether to place students into separate special education classrooms.

For decades, Black students have disproportionately been referred for special education services. The National Center for Learning Disabilities finds that Black students are 40% more likely than their peers to be identified as having a disability, including a learning disability or an intellectual disability. They’re also more likely to be identified as having an “emotional disturbance,” a label advocates have long criticized as stigmatizing.

“Representation matters,” says Celeste Malone, an associate professor of school psychology at Howard University. “What does it mean to have a predominantly white profession working with predominantly kids of color, within a racist society?”

She believes the history of special education may discourage Black people from pursuing school psychology as a career.

“It could be hard to reconcile wanting to be in a profession and wanting to support kids that look like you,” with the role that school psychology “has played in the special education evaluation system,” she explains.

Malone, who is also the president of NASP, notes that at some historically black colleges and universities, psychology departments don’t direct their students toward school psychology because of “the historical legacy” of the field.

Black men don’t always feel there’s a place for them in education

Another challenge, several experts tell NPR, is that Black men often are steered away from education as a career.

“The conversation most Black boys are having is ‘you need to go into a field that makes a lot of money,’ ” says Gueh of Georgia State.

McCullum, the school psychologist in Mississippi, agrees: “I don’t think men feel like there’s a place for them in education.”

He discovered school psychology after volunteering at a Boys and Girls Club while in college, and realized he wanted a career where he could support young people. A Google search led him to school psychology, which came as a surprise to his family.

“It was kind of like, ‘Why would you go into that when you could pursue something else?’ ” he says. “I think the perception is, if you’re going to go to college and you’re trying to take care of your family and do those types of things, you probably go into another field.”

A solution may lie in targeted recruitment

With such an extreme shortage of Black men in a field that desperately needs them, some leaders are working on solutions.

NASP is expanding its Exposure Project, where school psychologists of color deliver presentations to undergraduate and high school classes in an effort to find recruits. “If you see more people from different backgrounds,” says McCullum, “and recognize that we are all doing the same work, I think that can really change how we see the field.”

Some school psychologists are focusing on changing the profession’s practices. Byron McClure, a school psychologist in Houston who advocates for more representation in the field, says that to bring more Black men in, there needs to be a major shift in the role school psychologists play.

Instead of relying on assessments to separate some students into special education, McClure says, school psychologists should use their expertise more broadly. For example, by creating restorative justice policies or helping design a more culturally responsive curriculum.

Doing all this requires more resources. NASP recommends one school psychologist for every 500 students. But most school districts don’t even come close to that goal. With such limited resources, school psychologists spend much of their time on evaluations for special ed.

McClure has launched a networking and recruiting organization that he hopes will help increase the number of Black male school psychologists.

We can’t just complain about the problem, he says. “We have to do something about it.”

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/29/1113045369/black-men-special-education

Part 3 of TED Radio Hour episode The Food Connection

Social entrepreneur Jasmine Crowe has one mission: feed more, waste less. Her company Goodr is tackling food waste and getting food to those who need it most.

About Jasmine Crowe

Jasmine Crowe is a social entrepreneur and the founder of Goodr, a startup based in Atlanta, Georgia that is leveraging technology to combat hunger and food waste.

Goodr collects surplus food from organizations like Turner Broadcasting Systems, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and others, and redirects that food to nonprofits who distribute the food to people experiencing food insecurity. The company also works directly with cities and governments to purchase quality food for certain communities.

Crowe has collected and donated more than two million food items worldwide and fed more than 80,000 people through the Sunday Soul Homeless feeding initiative as well. The initiative started out as formal pop-up dinners for the homeless community of Atlanta.

Crowe is also in the process of writing “Everybody Eats,” a children’s book to inspire the fight against hunger.

This segment of TED Radio Hour was produced by Diba Mohtasham and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Twitter @TEDRadioHour and email us at TEDRadio@npr.org.

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/03/1033869498/jasmine-crowe-what-can-we-do-to-tackle-food-waste-and-hunger

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence throughout the year! Feel free to send us suggestions!

For many Black Kentuckians and Tennesseans, the Eighth of August is a special day – a time for barbecue, reuniting with loved ones and marking their freedom from slavery. These annual celebrations are in the same spirit as Juneteenth, but their roots predate those of the now national holiday.

There’s an over 150-year history of Black communities – including those in Paducah, Hopkinsville and Russellville in Kentucky and Clarksville and Knoxville in Tennessee, among others – celebrating on the Eighth of August. Many take the late summer day to mark their freedom with homecomings, historical remembrances and usually a good party.

Marvin Nunn, the president of the W.C. Young Community Center in Paducah, is one of the lead organizers for Paducah’s Eighth of August celebration. He’s been celebrating the occasion for all of his life and he treasures his memories of the Eighth of August growing up.

“[Thousands of people] used to come to Paducah for the Eighth of August and the big celebrations and people from all over – St. Louis, Louisville, Chicago – had parties. It’d be an all day thing,” the 70-year-old west Kentucky native said. “People barbecued and had family reunions, the park would be full of people and we’d have a legendary Eighth of August dance, where everybody dresses up real nice. You’d go to the dance and you’d see old friends, middle school friends, elementary friends. It’s just a beautiful occasion.”

Nunn hasn’t tried to change things now that he’s one of the annual celebration’s planners. This year’s events – which concluded earlier Monday with a traditional emancipation breakfast – included a parade, a dance, a basketball clinic, a gospel concert, a fashion show and a block party, among other things.

Nunn’s family moved from Paducah to Detroit when he was a kid, but he always used to come home for the Eighth.

“Matter of fact, the only time I’ve missed an Eighth of August celebration, that’s when I was in the military and overseas,” Nunn said. “And I was depressed because I couldn’t make it to Paducah for the Eighth of August. I’ve always done it.”

Even now in towns across Kentucky and Tennessee, many Black families, schools and churches host reunions and homecomings on the Eighth of August.

Origin stories

All of these festivities are aimed at fostering community and commemorating when freedom first came to slaves in parts of the region.

According to the Beck Cultural Exchange Center – a Knoxville, Tennessee-based nonprofit that works to preserve and teach Black history – future U.S. president Andrew Johnson freed his own slaves in Tennessee on August 8, 1863.

Johnson, then military governor of the state, did this because the Emancipation Proclamation earlier that year didn’t include Tennessee, which was then under Union control. Kentucky wasn’t included because it was a neutral border state in the Civil War. All of the slaves in Tennessee would be freed by Johnson in October 1864 and slavery remained legal in Kentucky until federal law forced the state’s hand to abolish it in December 1865.

When the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – which ended slavery – went to the states to be ratified, Kentucky didn’t ratify it. The state waited over 100 years to symbolically ratify it in 1976.

William Isom is the director of Black in Appalachia, a nonprofit that documents African American contributions to the Mountain South. He says one of those slaves, Samuel Johnson, organized the first Eighth of August celebration on August 8, 1871 in Greenville, Tennessee.
“It was a parade with Andrew Johnson in attendance and some other elected officials and Samuel Johnson,” Isom said. “In several newspaper accounts in east Tennessee, he’s credited with being the one that spread the Eighth of August as Emancipation Day.”

Though this is the most historically supported origin of the tradition, there have been others connected to it over the years. A historical marker in downtown Paducah says the day was “chosen because it was when slaves in Santo Domingo (Haiti) earned their freedom.” Some say it’s when western Kentucky residents got news of the Emancipation Proclamation, though historians say neither narrative is supported by evidence.

How the tradition continues

Other Eighth of August celebrations started happening in communities across the region throughout the late 1800s. Historians like Isom and Alicestyne Turley – the director of the Freedom Stories Project, which focuses on African American and Appalachian history – think the tradition likely spread as Black Appalachians moved out across the region seeking a better life and fleeing racial persecution during the Reconstruction era.

“There was a whole hearted effort to run them out of the mountains. Many of them leave the mountains and come over here to western Kentucky on the river. People literally by community are leaving the mountains looking for work. Many of them come over and work on the river, work on the docks,” Turley said during a talk in Paducah as part of this year’s celebration. “I think if you look at the exodus or the expulsion of African Americans from Appalachia, you’ll be able to draw pretty much a straight line.”

Isom says at one point there were communities in 12 states celebrating the tradition. Another historian – Michael Morrow, the curator of the SEEK (Struggles for Emancipation and Equality in Kentucky) Museum in Russellville – agrees with Isom and Turley about the way the tradition spread. He also says there are historical records showing widespread celebrations in the state, though it’s faded in many places.

“I’ve done research on it and I can tell you 150 communities in Kentucky that used to have it that don’t have it now,” he said.

Though some places have stopped celebrating the Eighth of August, most everywhere has started celebrating Juneteenth since it was elevated to a federal holiday. But that hasn’t hurt the celebrations in the region; many communities that do celebrate the Eighth of August just mark both occasions now.

“All we’ve done different this year is celebrate Juneteenth, too,” Morrow added. “You’re not going to take away from the freedom [by celebrating both], we’re just gonna add to it. It’s just another day to celebrate: the day that the Lord saw fit to set millions of people free.”

West Kentucky native Ronda Smith grew up celebrating the Eighth of August. Though Juneteenth is now nationally recognized, she wasn’t really familiar with the Texan tradition turned federal holiday until pretty recently.

“I’m 64. I was 63 when I first celebrated Juneteenth, and I wouldn’t have done it then if my daughter wasn’t cooking fish. I wouldn’t have got up and went,” she said with a laugh.

Juneteenth and the Eighth of August aren’t the only widespread celebrations of Black freedom in America. Many Black Americans also mark January 1 as the day the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, although there are also regional celebrations on varying dates of historical significance in Washington D.C., Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi and Virginia.

Though some say these regional celebrations have gotten smaller over the decades, many are still going strong and organizers hope they’ll be planning events like the Eighth of August for decades to come. No matter what the date, historian William Isom says celebrations of emancipation help people to recognize progress, even if there’s still a long way to go.

“People have been celebrating Emancipation through Reconstruction, through Jim Crow, through the Red Summer, seasons of racial atrocities, and even today with the spate of rampant police violence and murder against Black folks in America,” Isom said. “People continue to celebrate the hope of freedom, regardless of the current conditions, and I think that that’s really important. It’s like a reminder of where people came from, and how far we have come as a nation.”

https://www.wkms.org/society/2022-08-08/black-kentuckians-tennesseans-celebrate-emancipation-with-eighth-of-august-events

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence throughout the year! Feel free to send us suggestions!

Skinflint. Vulvodyinia. Metal Orizon. Wrust. Demorogoth Satanum.

You probably haven’t heard of these names, but they’re just some of the many African heavy metal bands featured in Edward Banchs’ new book, Scream for Me, Africa! Heavy Metal Identities in Post-Colonial Africa. The book examines the hard rock and metal scenes in Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Togo to understand why artists and fans flock to this extreme subculture — and how bands have turned this predominantly white, Western musical genre into something uniquely African.

Africans have been fans of popular metal bands like Metallica, Motörhead and Iron Maiden since the 1970s, says Banchs, 43, a Pittsburgh, Pa.-based researcher and freelance writer who calls himself a “lifelong metalhead since I was in grade school.”

What draws them to this music, known for its screeching vocals, distorted guitars and nasty drum and bass rhythms, he adds, is that “metal bands are quick to hold a mirror right back to society — and [listeners] are responsive to the raw, human emotion.”

While many African metal bands are heavily influenced by these early pioneers — they put their own spin on the music, writing lyrics that call for social justice and celebrate African heritage and traditions.

“The band Dark Suburb, for example, speaks of fighting the incessant poverty ravaging Ghanaians in slums,” says Banchs. “And Arka’n Asrafokor from Togo uses their music to identify pre-colonial traditions they grew up being taught in their Ewe culture, like [preserving and caring for the] environment. They perform in the Ewe language as well.” https://www.youtube.com/embed/x6Nl0A_nVxU?rel=0 YouTube

Despite a growing fanbase, few African metal bands have been able to cross into the Western metal scene and gain international recognition. “The reality is the economics of Africa. Playing in a band is expensive. The ability to access good instruments is not easy,” says Banchs. “Furthermore, electricity [required to power electric guitars, microphones and amps] remains inconsistent in certain places.”

The band Overthrust from Botswana is one African act that’s overcome barriers. In 2016, the band played at Wacken Open Air in Germany, the world’s biggest heavy metal festival. Banch interviews lead singer Tshomarelo “Vulture” Mosaka — and we reached out to him to hear his story and vision. He lives in the village of Letlhakane in central Botswana, where he lives with his girlfriend and two young children, and works as a private security officer when he’s not rocking out with his band. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you get your nickname? Sounds hardcore.

One day when I was around 13 or 14, my parents were expecting visitors. They had food inside the kitchen. When my parents were chatting outside with other people, I went to eat the meat — all of it. I sat down next to the visitors like nothing happened. Then my uncle said to me: “Go get the food for the visitors.” I went to the kitchen and got the food, which was covered with a lid. My heart was beating so hard. When the guests took off the lid, there was no meat. I was frozen. And my uncle [pointed at me and] said: “It’s this guy! This guy is a vulture! He stole the meat!”

And ever since then, that’s what people called me: Vulture.

And that’s your stage name, too. You’ve been a fixture in Botswana’s metal scene for decades. How did you get into heavy metal?

I think I was around 10 years old. In my home village of Rakops in Botswana, one of my uncles was always playing heavy metal music. He had cassette tapes by Motörhead, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Sepultura, and I fell in love with it. When he found out I liked metal too, he was like: “Are you sure you want to be a metalhead? It’s more than just the music. It’s a lifestyle.” And I said: “I’m ready!”

And from that early fandom, you started getting into Botswana’s metal scene.

Botswana had its own pioneering bands: Metal Orizon [which formed in the early 1990s and is regarded as the country’s first heavy metal band] and Wrust, another group, followed. We were all part of one scene, and we were like a family. There were no limits between the artists and the fans.

And you say this scene supported your own musical journey. You’re the frontman of Overthrust, the four-piece heavy metal band you started in 2008. What are some of the themes you sing about? https://www.youtube.com/embed/T-S7jbt67dc?rel=0 YouTube

Our intention is to spread messages [about issues]that people don’t usually talk about, like false prophets. For example, we know of some pastors [in Botswana] who will preach in one way, but behind people’s backs they’ll do something different. And so with our music we actually criticize them.

Can you share some lyrics from a song about that?

The name of one song is “Bogus Vicars.” These are [some of] the lyrics:

“With the Bible you deceive
Congregate, blind, mystify them
[Gnash] their spirits with your phony parables
In trance rip their innocence
Consume their funds, awful priest” https://www.youtube.com/embed/4VbJSHI5noE?rel=0&start=909 YouTube

Haha, you’re telling me these lyrics while you’re smiling and laughing — but yeah, that’s pretty metal all right!

We always have this conflict between us and religious people.

What’s the beef?

Most of the stereotypes we faced as a band in Botswana were from religious people. They fail to understand that nobody knows the truth and we are all the same.

When we first started our band Overthrust in our small township, they were against our music, especially because we were very extreme. So they started labeling us locally as the devil. And I remember around 2014, there were a lot of accidents in the township and they were blaming us, saying we were casting evil spirits in the town.

But luckily the leadership in the town was open-minded. They said: This is just music, let people do their thing. They’re not doing anything wrong.

Apart from loving metal music, what does it mean to be a metalhead in Botswana?

We have our own unique style going on here. We have a dress code: spikes, chains, leather pants, cowboy boots and hats.

Cowboy boots and hats?

We have a huge cattle culture in Botswana.

Does the heavy metal scene help boost the economy in Botswana? According to the World Bank, 59% of the population lives under $5.50 a day — the poverty line for upper-middle income countries.

About 500 people attend our fest, the Overthrust Winter Metal Mania Charity Festival, every year. It’s been going on for 14 years. People pay a fee to get in and part of those proceeds go to charity. We try to identify beneficiaries who are disadvantaged. That includes orphans, people or children with a disability or who are affected by HIV/AIDS. And then some of the proceeds of the festival are given to those people for their needs — basic things like food baskets, clothing or funds for education or to start a small business. In 2021, for example, we donated $400 to a maternity ward in central Botswana.

When we do these festivals, people who work around the festival also benefit: hotels (people do travel from other countries), people selling foodstuffs, even local game reserves and national parks [where artists and festival-goers from out of town go and sightsee before and after the festival].

It’s hard to imagine religious groups calling you evil when you’re helping the community.

The little I got I will share with those in need.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/08/07/1114616272/scream-for-me-africa-how-the-continent-is-reinventing-heavy-metal-music

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence throughout the year! Feel free to send us suggestions!

Lewis Morrison was one of the most prominent stage actors of his time. He was best known worldwide for his portrayal of “Mephistopheles” in Faust. He was also the first black Jewish officer to serve during the Civil War.

Lewis Morrison was born in Kingston, Jamaica on September 4, 1845. He was named Morris W. Morris at birth, although some sources claim that Moritz W. Morris is the correct spelling. Very little is known about his family history. After the Civil War, he changed his name to Lewis Morrison for unknown reasons. His great great grandson, Phil Downey, later claimed that Morris changed his name to escape his African and Jewish heritage.

Morris left Jamaica for the United States as a youth. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, the first official black military regiment in the Confederacy, with other free blacks. He soon rose to the rank of lieutenant, becoming the first black Jewish officer to serve in the Confederate Army. When the Louisiana State Legislature banned people of color from serving in the Confederate Army in February 1862, the regiment was disbanded.  Morris and about 10% of the other former 1st Louisiana Native Guard joined the Union Army in September 1862 and were organized into a new unit that was assigned the same name.  There Morris became the first black Jewish officer in the Union Army.

Lewis Morrison made his stage debut in New Orleans in The Loan of a Lover. He gradually secured additional acting work, including a supporting role to Edwin Booth’s lead role as “Richelieu.” Morrison moved to San Francisco in 1874 to perform at the California Theater for the next three years.  When he returned east, he gained recognition for his performance in The Legion of Honor at Park Theater, under Henry E. Abbey’s direction.

By the 1880s, Morrison had joined performers at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia where he played leading roles opposite famous stage actors of that time, including Adelaide Nelson, Lucille Western, and his first wife (1866-1886), Rose Wood, a prominent English-born stage actress.  After Morrison rose to fame for his role in Victor Durand, he formed his own touring company and performed around the world with second wife (1892-1906), Florence Roberts, as his leading lady.

Morrison became a worldwide icon for his portrayal of “Mephistopheles” in Faust, which opened in New York in 1889. While Morrison tried to introduce newer plays to the theater-going public, Faust was the most successful. He played “Mephistopheles” for fifteen years without a break until his death of complications from stomach surgery in 1906.

Morrison and Wood were grandparents to Constance and Joan Bennett, two successful Hollywood actors.

Morris W. Morris/ Lewis Morrison (1845-1906)

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence throughout the year! Feel free to send us suggestions!

Soccer star Briana Scurry still remembers the day she knew she wanted to be an Olympian: It was 1980, and Scurry, then 8 years old, watched on TV as the underdog men’s U.S. Olympic ice hockey team beat Team USSR in Lake Placid, NY.

“I was so inspired, I rose up from the couch and declared to my parents that I wanted to be an Olympian,” Scurry says. “They, thankfully, were nurturing of that little inspiration and helped me hone my skills in all different sports through high school.”

Scurry would go on to become one of the top goalkeepers in the history of U.S. women’s soccer. She won two Olympic gold medals, in 1996 and 2004, and a World Cup in 1999. But her soccer career ended abruptly in 2010, when she was playing in the new Women’s Professional Soccer league and a member of the opposing team collided with her, crashing her knee into Scurry’s right temple.

“My whole life changed from that moment,” Scurry says. “I knew there was something really wrong. … That was the last soccer game I’ve ever played.”

The collision left Scurry with a traumatic brain injury, which resulted in constant, excruciating headaches, blurred vision, cognitive problems and depression. She was unable to work and the league soon collapsed, leaving her without a medical team or training facility to help her. To make matters worse, Scurry’s insurance company refused to cover the surgery she needed to repair the nerve that was the source of her pain, and she was reduced to pawning her two gold medals.

“It was the most difficult thing I’d ever done in my life,” Scurry says of selling her Olympic medals for $18,000. “But it was the patch and the temporary fix that I needed to get some stability in order to continue to press forward and get the help I needed.”

Scurry credits Chryssa, the woman who would become her wife, with helping to pressure the insurance company into covering her surgery and therapy — and with helping her buy back her Olympic medals. In 2017, Scurry became the first Black woman to be inducted in the National Soccer Hall of Fame. She tells her story in the new memoir, My Greatest Save.

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Interview highlights

On fighting for equity in resources with the U.S. Soccer Federation — like per diems, air travel and prize money

We felt in 1995 that we had some leverage at that point in time because the Olympics were just around the corner and we were, in fact, favored to win. So myself and eight of my other teammates basically decided to go on strike against the Federation. We risked not only our livelihoods, but also our dreams. … I was an 8-year-old girl who wanted to be an Olympian, and here I was at the precipice of potentially achieving a lifelong dream, and I was risking it for something that was greater than myself. We knew that the Federation would have to cave eventually, but boy, were they mean and nasty in the process. They said some very unsavory things about us as players, and all we were trying to do was provide equity for not only ourselves, but for all the women that would come behind us and don the jersey and represent the United States of America in soccer. We wanted to make sure that that playing field was more level and they were very, very strong willed and had an iron fist about it — but eventually we got what we wanted.

On the penalty kick save that paved the way for Team USA’s win against China in the 1999 Women’s World Cup

The goalkeeping shootout for a major game like that is a very interesting proposition. We train for it pretty much every day in training leading up to that event. And then you also actually hope you don’t have to be in a shootout, but when you find yourself in one, like I did in ’99, I was supremely confident. We had trained it. We had talked about it. I had done some sports visualization with the sport doc on that. And that third kicker, my normal MO, method of operations, for penalty kicks is to not look at my team kicks, nor do I really look at the opposing player walking up to the penalty spot. And on that particular kicker, that third kicker, as I was walking into the penalty area to present myself for the save, I heard something in my mind say, “Look.” So I actually looked at her and watched her approach a penalty spot, which is something that I normally didn’t do. And I knew right then that that was the one I was going to save.

On oftentimes being the only Black player on a team

I was in a Boys & Girls Club event and one of the young girls who was 12 years old, roughly, a young African American girl, she said to me, “I didn’t know Black people played soccer.

It was difficult to not see more people like me. I was so driven and was so passionate about my dream of being an Olympian. … I didn’t have too much difficulty being the only one because I knew I was blazing a trail for myself and for others to come behind me. But I also knew that more representation for women of color on the team was necessary and relevant. And so I really advocated for more women of color to play on the team. … I work[ed] with different organizations, like the Boys & Girls Club of America, different sponsors like Allstate and Pepsi, who helped me essentially go to the urban areas and tell young girls in junior high and high school about the game of soccer. … And I had one incident, I was in a Boys & Girls Club event and one of the young girls who was 12 years old, roughly, a young African American girl, she said to me, “I didn’t know Black people played soccer.” And right there in that moment basically encapsulates the whole problem. She didn’t know. So I took it upon myself to be my job to help grow the game in the urban areas, and the U.S. Soccer Federation and Foundation also helped me do that.

On her life-changing traumatic brain injury in 2010

In the first half I bent over for a low ball coming from my left-hand side, and as I was going to make that save and I was bent over, the attacking player came from the right-hand side and, trying to get her toe on the ball in front of me, crashed into the side of my head with her knee. And I never saw her coming. [Because] I didn’t see her, I couldn’t brace at all for it. So I was completely exposed. She crashed into me. We bundled over. And, of course, my first thought was, Did I make the save? Sure enough, I had the ball in my hands. …

I had had concussions before — you get some blurry vision, you get some sensitivities. And then … it fades away, like the wave of the emotions and the issue fade away and you get clarity again. But I wasn’t getting clarity. I was tipping to the left. The names on the jerseys were blurry. And at half time, which blew maybe seven or eight minutes later, I was walking off the pitch and … my trainer came into the pitch to meet me, and she grabbed my hands and she said, “Bri, are you okay?” And I said, “No, I’m not.” …

For the longest time, I was mad at [the player who crashed into me]. I found out what her name was and exactly who she was. And for several years, I was angry at her for putting me in this position, for not avoiding contact with me. I realized over time that my anger towards her wasn’t helping me and … for a long time wished I could undo that hit. And when you’re in an emotional state like a concussion, you are essentially disconnected from yourself. And I had all these symptoms and I was so angry at her. And I prayed so many days. I was like, “Why couldn’t you have just missed me?” BecauseI was a different person now. I changed emotionally, I was different. My confidence, my focus, all these different things. And I was so lost in the wilderness.

On having suicidal thoughts because of her emotional and physical symptoms

I was in that state of emotional distress. I had emotional and physical symptoms. I had depression. I once stood on the ledge of a waterfalls in Little Falls, New Jersey, and contemplated suicide. The railing where the falls were was really low and the water was just rushing over the falls and I could feel the mist of that water on my face. And I contemplated jumping over and I knew if I did that I wouldn’t survive it because I couldn’t swim. And the water was so high because it had rained just recently. I knew if I go into this water, I’m never coming out. But what stopped me was the image of my mom and some official, some law enforcement official knocking on her door and notifying her that her baby was gone. I couldn’t do that to her. So that image got me off the ledge and onto some solid ground, literally. And after that, I decided I wasn’t going to commit suicide while my mother was alive because I just couldn’t do it to her. And that was the beginning of my journey back to me.

On how her now wife Chryssa, who has a PR company, pressured the insurance company to get her the brain surgery she needed

The insurance company definitely didn’t want the headline to be “Two-time Olympic gold medalist, World Cup champion, battles insurance company over clear issues and obvious payments that they should make.” They didn’t want that to be inthe USA Today, The L.A. Times, The New York Times and the like. And so when Chryssa and I finally did speak, I told her all about my plight, all about what I was dealing with. And she said, “OK, let me speak to your lawyers and we’ll talk about what we can do.” And so Chryssa spoke to them. And the lawyers are the ones that went back to the insurance company and said, “Look, here’s the deal. You need to do the right thing. You need to pay for this surgery. We already went to court and it was found that you were liable and that you need to pay. So do it or this is what’s going to happen. The media is going to find out this story and it’s not going to look good for you.” At that moment, they did a complete 180. I got my surgery. I got a whole year of therapy after that. And I was able to settle with that insurance company during that year as well. …

When I came out of surgery, I remember opening my eyes and just being so happy, I started crying. Because when you have chronic pain like that, that I had for three years, you don’t realize how painful and how much energy it takes up until it’s gone. And then when it was gone, I was just so excited.

On being featured in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

I was so humbled and so thrilled to be honored to be in the same building as Oprah Winfrey, as Rosa Parks, Tiger Woods, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King. I didn’t really think that my contribution was necessarily going to be worthy of that type of honor. And then when I spoke to them, they wanted me to be the Title IX example for the Title IX exhibit within the Game Changers exhibit at the museum, and I was more than honored and thrilled to do so. So in that Game Changers exhibit is the jersey that I wore for the Women’s World Cup that I made that penalty kick save in. That is the actual jersey in that exhibit.

Sam Briger and Susan Nkyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Ciera Crawford adapted it for the web.

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/27/1112731819/soccer-briana-scurry-my-greatest-save-brain-injury

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence throughout the year! Feel free to send us suggestions!

Baltimore native Ivy Wells, one of many women of color in trucking

By J.J. McQueen
Special to the AFRO

With a record number of female drivers flocking to the trucking industry, more women are hitting the road and leveling the playing field in a male-dominated industry. The influx of Black women in the industry is paving the way for other women of color and has historically done so, too. In the late 1800’s, Mary Fields became the first licensed African-American female driver who worked for the United Postal Service. 

Ivy Wells chose to charter the same road as the pioneering women before her. Having been raised by a single mother who worked as an educator in the Baltimore City Public School system, she has always been a hard worker. And as a mother of three herself, Wells strives to be successful for her family.

At the age of 44, Wells boasts a multitude of notable experiences, like her time working with the legendary band Earth Wind & Fire, of which she uses to remain inspired to dream beyond her days in her rig even when it gets challenging. 

“It’s a tough job because you have to think for everyone around you. I’ve had unpopular moments when I’ve been stopped by law enforcement because they were curious to see a Black-female driver. In those moments I shrugged off the things that I can’t control, and urged the officers to proceed with whatever checks that they had to make as a result of the procedure of being stopped. Some things you just deal with and keep it moving.”

The Baltimore Poly graduate hopes to continue to be someone that inspires the next wave of African-American female truckers. When asked what advice she wants to leave for other females interested in trucking she said, “I recommend for them to enroll in a good reputable driving school. One where you’re really being taught vs watching someone else drive all day.”

Wells also wants people to practice safety on the road and realize what factors can be hazardous for truck drivers, too. “I want people to make safe driving decisions. For instance, when people flash their lights to go around us it’s blinding. Many don’t realize that it temporarily makes us lose visibility, and it increases the chances of crashes. I’d rather for people to just go around us safely.”

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Baltimore native Ivy Wells, one of many women of color in trucking

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence throughout the year! Feel free to send us suggestions!

Three Black Spanish podcasters find humor as they deal with prejudice and stereotypes

When Spanish rapper Frank T heard a quip from Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, it stuck in his mind.

The comedian brings an audience member on stage for a rap battle, and the person was wearing a shirt that said “Free Tibet,” to which Chappell said, “ain’t no n—– in Tibet!”

And for Frank T,he knew he would use that somehow.

“I told myself if I ever started something, I’d name it ‘there are no Black people in Tibet,’ ” he told NPR’s Michel Martin.

Of the many challenges facing immigrants in Spain, especially those who arrive from sub-Saharan Africa, he is among three comedians are taking on one — the lack of visibility in Spain’s media for Black people.

And they’re doing it with a podcast that launched this yearand with a title that plays with Chappelle’s line: No hay negros en el Tíbet.

It means “There are no Black people in Tibet” in Spanish.

Frank T — along with his co-hosts, comedians Asaari Bibang and Lamine Thior — want to put the issues facing Black Spaniards front and center.

“For the first time, we have the space to talk about what we want and what we’re going through and what we are concerned with as Black people,” Bibang, who is also a writer, told NPR during a group interview.

One of the ways they’re doing this is merely by talking about their lived experience of growing up Black in Spain.

“There was a time where [the police] stopped me four times in a day, and it was always for different things,” said Thior. “[The police would say] ‘there was a car robbery somewhere around here, and you fit the profile.’ The Black profile.”

Thior, who also posts comedy videos on Instagram, and Frank T exchange stories about who has gotten profiled more.

“There comes a time where it’s so absurd that it makes you laugh. When they stopped me for the 29th time, I’m just like ‘what do you need from me? You want me to pat myself down?'” added Thior. “At the end of the day, it’s the only way [to deal].”

For Bibang, the discrimination takes a different form, through people assuming that she’s either a maid or a sex worker. She says this is a common occurrence in Spain.

“A lot of the time, when you watch TV or movies, the Black women are generally vulnerable and at the mercy of someone who’s acting as a white savior, or they’re prostitutes. I’ve done five films in my career as an actress. And in four of them, I’ve been a prostitute.”

The hosts said comedy is cathartic and helps them deal with the challenges they face in a society where they ebb between invisibility and discrimination.

Frank T adds that it’s helped deliver their message, too: “Humor allows us to bring these issues up to the audience and show them how absurd it is.”

The trio said they hope No hay negros en el Tíbet will bring a more nuanced conversation about race to Spain. They want to add to the conversation in a more profound way and to create a space where Black people’s concerns are central to the discussion and treated with respect.

So far, the reception has been mostly positive.

Bibang said the podcast has opened up conversations about race in her own life — and she now engages with listeners via social media on the topics they discuss on the podcast. And those interactions are helping to create change.

“I think No hay negros en el Tíbet is adding to conversations [about race]. It’s true that things are changing,” she said. “We now have colleagues who are doing roles that have nothing to do with the color of their skin.”

And — Bibang noted — there could be drawbacks for her personal career.

“It’s true that talking about issues of race doesn’t [always] open doors for us, it closes them,” she said. “But for me its worth it.”

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/23/1113206670/no-hay-negros-en-el-tibet-spain-podcast-black-diaspora

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence throughout the year! Feel free to send us suggestions!

Richard Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) was an American comedian, civil rights leader and vegetarian activist.^[1][2] His writings were best sellers. Gregory became popular among the African-American communities in the southern United States with his “no-holds-barred” sets, poking fun at the bigotry and racism in the United States. In 1961 he became a staple in the comedy clubs, appeared on television, and released comedy record albums.^[3]

Gregory was at the forefront of political activism in the 1960s, when he protested the Vietnam War and racial injustice. He was arrested multiple times and went on many hunger strikes.^[4] He later became a speaker and author, primarily promoting spirituality.^[3] Gregory died of heart failure, aged 84, at a Washington, D.C., hospital in August 2017.^[3]

Early life

Gregory was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Lucille, a housemaid, and Presley Gregory.^[5] At Sumner High School, he was aided by teachers, among them Warren St. James; he also excelled at running, winning the state cross country championship in 1950.^[6] Gregory earned a track scholarship to Southern Illinois University (SIU),^[7] where he set school records as a half-miler and miler.^[8] He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. In 1954, his college career was interrupted for two years when he was drafted into the United States Army. At the urging of his commanding officer, who had taken notice of his penchant for joking, Gregory got his start in comedy in the Army, where he entered and won several talent shows. In 1956, Gregory briefly returned to SIU after his discharge, but dropped out because he felt that the university “didn’t want me to study, they wanted me to run.”^[9]

In the hopes of becoming a professional comedian, Gregory moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he became part of a new generation of black comedians that included Nipsey Russell, Bill Cosby, and Godfrey Cambridge, all of whom broke with the minstrel tradition that presented stereotypical black characters. Gregory drew on current events, especially racial issues, for much of his material: “Segregation is not all bad. Have you ever heard of a collision where the people in the back of the bus got hurt?”^[10]

Comedy career

Gregory started helping his family with the gigs he started to get at a young age. He was always involved in sports and in social groups in high school. He enrolled in Southern Illinois University in 1951. He was named the university’s outstanding student athlete of the year in 1953. The same year he left college when he was drafted into The United States Army, where he performed comedy shows hosted by the Army after encouragement by his Commanding Officer. In 1961, Gregory made his New York debut at The Blue Angel nightclub, also recording a live set there, “Dick Gregory at the Blue Angel” for his album East & West.^[11][12] He soon came back to Chicago and finally got his big break at the Playboy Club in Chicago, also in 1961, that was supposed to be one night and ended up being six weeks and earned him a spot in Time and a guest appearance on Jack Paar’s show and other night clubs shows, etc.

Gregory began his career as a comedian while serving in the military in the mid-1950s. He served in the Army for a year and a half at Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Lee in Virginia, and Fort Smith in Arkansas. He was drafted in 1954 while attending Southern Illinois University. After being discharged in 1956, he returned to the university but did not receive a degree. He moved to Chicago with a desire to perform comedy professionally.^[10]

In 1958, Gregory opened the Apex Club nightclub in Illinois. The club failed and landed Gregory in financial hardship. In 1959, Gregory landed a job as master of ceremonies at the Roberts Show Club.^[13]

While working for the United States Postal Service during the daytime, Gregory performed as a comedian in small, primarily black-patronized nightclubs. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Gregory described the history of black comics as limited: “Blacks could sing and dance in the white night clubs but weren’t allowed to stand flat-footed and talk to white folks, which is what a comic does.”^[14]

In 1961, Gregory was working at the black-owned Roberts Show Bar in Chicago when he was spotted by Hugh Hefner.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I understand there are a good many Southerners in the room tonight. I know the South very well. I spent twenty years there one night.

Last time I was down South I walked into this restaurant and this white waitress came up to me and said, “We don’t serve colored people here.” I said, “That’s all right. I don’t eat colored people. Bring me a whole fried chicken.”

Then these three white boys came up to me and said, “Boy, we’re giving you fair warning. Anything you do to that chicken, we’re gonna do to you.” So I put down my knife and fork, I picked up that chicken and I kissed it. Then I said, “Line up, boys!”

Gregory attributed the launch of his career to Hefner. Based on his performance at Roberts Show Bar, Hefner hired Gregory to work at the Chicago Playboy Club as a replacement for comedian “Professor” Irwin Corey.^[15]

Gregory’s comedy occasioned controversy in some conservative white circles. The administration of the University of Tennessee, for instance, branded Gregory an “extreme racist”^[16] whose “appearance would be an outrage and an insult to many citizens of this state”,^[17] and revoked his invitation by students to speak on campus. The students sued, with noted litigator William Kunstler as their counsel, and in Smith v. University of Tennessee, 300 F. Supp. 777 (E.D. Tenn. 1969), won an order from the court that the university’s policy was “too broad and vague”. The University of Tennessee then implemented an “open speaker” system, and Gregory subsequently performed in April 1970.^[16]

In 1964, Gregory’s book, Nigger, was published. Since then, the book has never been out of print. In 2019 a trade paperback was published as well as an audio version.^[18]

Post-standup career

Gregory was number 82 on Comedy Central‘s list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of all time and had his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.^[19]

He was a co-host with radio personality Cathy Hughes, and was a frequent morning guest, on WOL 1450 AM talk radio’s The Power, the flagship station of Hughes’ Radio One.^[20] He also appeared regularly on the nationally syndicated Imus in the Morning program.^[21]

Gregory appeared as “Mr. Sun” on the television show Wonder Showzen (the third episode, entitled “Ocean”, aired in 2005). As Chauncey, a puppet character, imbibes a hallucinogenic substance, Mr. Sun warns: “Don’t get hooked on imagination, Chauncey. It can lead to terrible, horrible things.” Gregory also provided guest commentary on the Wonder Showzen Season One DVD.^[22] Large segments of his commentary were intentionally bleeped out, including the names of several dairy companies, as he made potentially defamatory remarks concerning ill effects that the consumption of cow milk has on human beings.

Gregory attended and spoke at the funeral of James Brown on December 30, 2006, in Augusta, Georgia.^[23]

Gregory was an occasional guest on the Mark Thompson’s Make It Plain Sirius Channel 146 Radio Show from 3pm to 6pm PST.^[24]

Gregory appeared on The Alex Jones Show on September 14, 2010, March 19, 2012, and April 1, 2014.^[25][26][27]

Gregory gave the keynote address for Black History Month at Bryn Mawr College on February 28, 2013.^[28] His take-away message to the students was to never accept injustice.

Once I accept injustice, I become injustice. For example, paper mills give off a terrible stench. But the people who work there don’t smell it. Remember, Dr. King was assassinated when he went to work for garbage collectors. To help them as workers to enforce their rights. They couldn’t smell the stench of the garbage all around them anymore. They were used to it. They would eat their lunch out of a brown bag sitting on the garbage truck. One day, a worker was sitting inside the back of the truck on top of the garbage, and got crushed to death because no one knew he was there.^[28]

Towards the end of his life, he was featured in a Fantagraphics book by Pat Thomas entitled Listen, Whitey: The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965–1975, which uses the political recordings of the Civil Rights era to highlight sociopolitical meanings throughout the movement.^[29] Gregory is known for comedic performances that not only made people laugh, but mocked the establishment. According to Thomas, Gregory’s monologues reflect a time when entertainment needed to be political to be relevant, which is why he included his standup in the collection. Gregory is featured along with the likes of Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Langston Hughes and Bill Cosby.^[30]

Political career

Gregory began his political career by running against Richard J. Daley for Mayor of Chicago in 1967. Though he did not win, this would not prove to be the end of his participation in electoral politics.^[31]

Gregory ran for President of the United States in 1968 as a write-in candidate of the Freedom and Peace Party, which had broken off from the Peace and Freedom Party. He garnered 47,097 votes, including one from Hunter S. Thompson,^[32] with fellow activist Mark Lane as his running mate in some states. His running mate in New Jersey was Dr. David Frost of Plainfield, a biologist, Rutgers professor, and Chairman of NJ SANE (Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy). Famed pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock was the running mate in Virginia^[33] and Pennsylvania^[34] garnering more than the party he had left.^[35] The Freedom and Peace Party also ran other candidates, including Beulah Sanders for New York State Senate and Flora Brown for New York State Assembly.^[36] His efforts landed him on the master list of Nixon’s political opponents.

Gregory then wrote the book Write Me In about his presidential campaign. One anecdote in the book relates the story of a publicity stunt that came out of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago. The campaign had printed one-dollar bills with Gregory’s image on them, some of which made it into circulation. The majority of these bills were quickly seized by the federal government,^[8] much in part to the bills resembling authentic US currency enough to work in many dollar-cashing machines of the day.^[37] Gregory avoided being charged with a federal crime, later joking that the bills could not really be considered United States currency, because “everyone knows a black man will never be on a U.S. bill.”^[38] On October 15, 1969, Gregory spoke at the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam demonstration in Washington, D.C., where he joked to the crowd: “The President says nothing you kids do will have any effect on him. Well, I suggest he make one long-distance call to the LBJ ranch”.^[39]

Political activism

Anti-Apartheid

On July 21, 1979, Gregory appeared at the Amandla Festival where Bob Marley, Patti LaBelle, and Eddie Palmieri, among others, performed.^[40] Gregory gave a speech before Marley’s performance, blaming President Jimmy Carter, and showing his support for the international Anti-Apartheid Movement.

Civil rights movement

Gregory was active in the civil rights movement. On October 7, 1963, he came to Selma, Alabama, and spoke for two hours on a public platform two days before the voter registration drive known as “Freedom Day” (October 7, 1963).^[41]

In 1964, Gregory became more involved in civil rights activities, activism against the Vietnam War, economic reform, and anti-drug issues. As a part of his activism, he went on several hunger strikes and campaigns in America and overseas. In the early 1970s, he was banned from Australia, where government officials feared he would “…stir up demonstrations against the Vietnam war.”^[42]

In 1964, Gregory played a role in the search for three missing civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who vanished in Philadelphia, Mississippi. After Gregory and members of CORE met with Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence A. Rainey, Gregory became convinced that the Sheriff’s office was complicit. With cash provided by Hugh Hefner, Gregory announced a $25,000 reward for information. The FBI, which had been criticized for inaction, eventually followed suit with its own reward, and the rewards worked. The bodies of the three men were found by the FBI 44 days after they disappeared.^[43]

At a civil rights rally marking the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Gregory criticized the United States, calling it “the most dishonest, ungodly, unspiritual nation that ever existed in the history of the planet. As we talk now, America is 5 percent of the world’s population and consumes 96 percent of the world’s hard drugs”.^[44]

Feminism

Gregory was an outspoken feminist, and in 1978 joined Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, Margaret Heckler, Barbara Mikulski, and other suffragists to lead the National ERA March for Ratification and Extension, a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the United States Capitol. Gregory was invited to join the march by actress and activist Susan Blakely.^{[citation needed]} There were over 100,000 on Women’s Equality Day (August 26), 1978, to demonstrate for a ratification deadline extension for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution, and for the ratification of the ERA.^{[45][citation needed]} The march was ultimately successful in extending the deadline to June 30, 1982, and Gregory joined other activists to the Senate for celebration and victory speeches by pro-ERA Senators, members of Congress, and activists. The ERA narrowly failed to be ratified by the extended ratification date.

JFK assassination and the Warren Commission

Gregory became an outspoken critic of the findings of the Warren Commission concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald. On February 3, 1975, in Washington, D.C., Gregory introduced photographic forensic investigator Stephen Jaffe and assassination researchers Robert J. Groden and Ralph Schoenman to the members and lawyers for the presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission who gave testimony and presented evidence. A month later, on March 6, 1975, Gregory and researcher Robert J. Groden appeared on Geraldo Rivera‘s late night ABC talk show Goodnight America. An important historical event happened that night when the famous Zapruder film of JFK’s assassination was shown to the public on TV for the first time.^[46] The public’s response and outrage to its showing led to the forming of the Hart-Schweiker investigation, which contributed to the Church Committee Investigation on Intelligence Activities by the United States, which resulted in the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Gregory and Mark Lane conducted landmark research into the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., helping move the U.S. House Select Assassinations Committee to investigate the murder, along with that of John F. Kennedy. Lane was the author of conspiracy theory books such as Rush to Judgment. The pair wrote the King conspiracy book Code Name Zorro, which postulated that convicted assassin James Earl Ray did not act alone. Gregory also argued that the moon landing was faked and the commonly accepted account of the 9/11 attacks is incorrect, among other conspiracy theories.^[1][47]

In 1998, Gregory spoke at the celebration of the birthday of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., with President Bill Clinton in attendance. Not long after, the President told Gregory’s long-time friend and public relations consultant Steve Jaffe, “I love Dick Gregory; he is one of the funniest people on the planet.” They spoke of how Gregory had made a comment on Dr. King’s birthday that broke everyone into laughter when he noted that the President made Speaker Newt Gingrich ride “in the back of the plane,” on an Air Force One trip overseas.^[48]

Native American rights

In 1966, Gregory and his wife were arrested for illegal net fishing alongside of the Nisqually people in Washington state in a protest fish-in. The tribe was protesting against the state laws that ban forms of fishing other than hook-and-line because it barred their rights guaranteed to them through a federal treaty that allowed them to fish in their traditional ways.^[49] He was later released from jail in Olympia, Washington after six weeks of fasting to call attention to the violation of Native American treaties by the United States government.^[49]

Pollution

In 2008, Gregory stated he believed that air pollution and intentional water contamination with heavy metals such as lead and possibly manganese may be being used against black Americans, especially in urban neighborhoods, and that such factors could be contributing to high levels of violence in black communities.^[50]

US Embassy hostage crisis in Iran

Gregory was an outspoken activist during the US Embassy hostage crisis in Iran. In 1980, he traveled to Tehran to attempt to negotiate the hostages’ release and engaged in a public hunger strike there, weighing less than 100 pounds (45 kg) when he returned to the United States.^[51]

Vegetarianism and animal rights

Gregory became a vegetarian and fasting activist in 1965 “based on the philosophy of nonviolence practiced during the Civil Rights Movement.”^[52] His 1973 book, Dick Gregory’s Natural Diet For Folks Who Eat: Cookin’ With Mother Nature, outlined how fasting and going vegetarian led to dramatic weight loss.^[52] He developed a diet drink called Bahamian Diet Nutritional Drink and went on TV shows to advocate his diet to help the morbidly obese. He wrote the introduction to Viktoras Kulvinskas’ book Survival into the 21st Century.^[31] A talk he gave at Amherst College in 1986 inspired Tracye McQuirter to become a vegan activist.^[52]

In 1984, he founded Health Enterprises, Inc., a company that distributed weight-loss products. With this company, Gregory made efforts to improve the life expectancy of African Americans, which he believed was being hindered by poor nutrition and drug and alcohol abuse.^[53] In 1985, Gregory introduced the Slim-Safe Bahamian Diet, a powdered diet mix.^[54] He launched the weight-loss powder at the Whole Life Expo in Boston under the slogan “It’s cool to be healthy.” The diet mix, if drunk three times a day, was said to provide rapid weight loss. Gregory received a multimillion-dollar distribution contract to retail the diet.^[55]

In 1985, the Ethiopian government adopted, to reported success, Gregory’s formula to combat malnutrition during a period of famine in the country.^[56] Gregory’s clients included Muhammad Ali.^[57]

In 2003, Gregory and Cornel West wrote letters on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to Kentucky Fried Chicken‘s CEO, asking that the company improve its animal-handling procedures.^[58]

Gregory saw civil rights and animal rights as intrinsically linked, once stating, “Because I’m a civil rights activist, I am also an animal rights activist. Animals and humans suffer and die alike. Violence causes the same pain, the same spilling of blood, the same stench of death, the same arrogant, cruel and vicious taking of life. We shouldn’t be a part of it.”^[59]

Personal life

Gregory met his future wife Lillian Gregory^[60] at an African-American club; they married in 1959. They had 11 children (including one son, Richard Jr., who died two months after birth): Michele, Lynne, Pamela, Paula, Xenobia (Stephanie), Gregory, Christian, Miss, Ayanna, and Yohance.^[10] In a 2000 interview with The Boston Globe, Gregory was quoted as saying, “People ask me about being a father and not being there. I say, ‘Jack the Ripper had a father. Hitler had a father. Don’t talk to me about family.'”^[20]

Health and death

Gregory was diagnosed with lymphoma in late 1999. He said he was treating the cancer with herbs, vitamins, and exercise, which he believed kept the cancer in remission.^[61]

Gregory died from heart failure^[62] at a hospital in Washington, D.C., on August 19, 2017, at the age of 84.^[51] A week prior to his death, he was hospitalized with a bacterial infection.^[63]

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

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence throughout the year! Feel free to send us suggestions!

Isha Joseph owns Make Manifest, a clothing and jewelry store in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, which also functions as a workshop space for the community. She remembers the first days of the pandemic in 2020.

“I was just like … this can’t be it,” she says.

In the next few months, nationwide, the pandemic took a massive toll on the economy. Especially hard hit were Black-owned businesses like hers. Joseph watched as the vibrant activity on Tompkins Avenue, where her store is located, came to a halt.

“It was like a ghost town,” she says. “It was more the despair. Just people feeling very uncertain. Not knowing what’s going on, not knowing what’s happening.”

To counter some of the uncertainty, she and other women who owned businesses on Tompkins banded together. They and some of their customers pledged to support one another through the most difficult of times, so no one would have to close down. It worked.

Today, as the pandemic wanes, the number of Black-owned businesses in the U.S. is currently around 30% above pre-pandemic levels. That growth is being driven by Black women like Joseph and her fellow nearby entrepreneurs.

Their efforts kept their doors open eventually earned the nickname “Black Girl Magic Row.”

While Joseph and the others celebrate their success, they also acknowledge the challenges they faced.

Tompkins Avenue has been heavily gentrified in recent decades but commerce remains significantly Black-owned

Even in the dead of New York winter, Bedford Stuyvesant, or Bed-Stuy, is gorgeous. Under a canopy of bare trees, lined by stunning old brownstones, it’s always been a hub of Black culture, home to artists like Lena Horne and Jay-Z.

And while it has been heavily gentrified in recent decades, commerce on Tompkins Avenue remains significantly Black-owned. On any given day you can walk by and smell some smoky jerk chicken from a local stand, mixed with incense wafting out from one of the neighborhood stores that specializes in local Black designers and African textiles.

Khadija Tudor grew up around here in the 1980s. She has a lot of fond memories, like listening to music with friends. “I am a card-carrying member of the New Edition fan club!” she says, with a full laugh.

But it was also difficult. This neighborhood was hard hit by drugs and violence. “I had a really good friend, we were like maybe 12 or 13 years old,” Tudor remembers. “And we would walk around in our neighborhood, but we would look down, we would never really look up. Because we didn’t really want to see what was around us. But we would talk about what we wanted it to look like.”

Part of that vision was having her own business. Tudor is now a massage therapist, and she co-owns the Life Wellness Center with her partner.

“When I started doing this work I started seeing that, it didn’t matter what the socioeconomic background was,” she says.

She takes pride in the symbiotic relationship between her store and her clients. Especially women. She depends on them to stay in business, and many of them depend on her, for their wellbeing.

But in early 2020, as the city went into lockdown, the entire symbiosis of Tompkins Avenue was tested.

“What happens to designers and entrepreneurs if they can’t open their doors?”

Hekima Hapa co-owns Botanical Life Style, which sells locally designed home décor and clothing. She’s also the founder of the nonprofit “Black Girls Sew,” which teaches tailoring to young Black women. She remembers one evening, in March 2020, when one of her students walked in, and made a strange request.

She wanted to make face masks.

“And I kinda laughed. Like … what a silly thing.” It was so unusual, Hapa posted a picture of the self-made mask, on Instagram. “And maybe two, three days later, we found out we were going to have to close down our space. And I just remember thinking: ‘What happens to designers and entrepreneurs if they can’t open their doors?’ “

Her concerns were well founded. Nationwide, by April 2020, Black-owned businesses dropped by 41%.

The situation proved especially dire for folks like Khadija Tudor. After all, massage and acupuncture require a level of physical contact that was being actively discouraged by health authorities.

People like Goldwyn Lewis Wilkinson, a retired nurse who is one of Tudor’s regulars, says she was too scared to go out. “I remember a particular moment where I knelt to the side of my bed, and I said ‘I’m scared. I’m scared.’ “

The coronavirus killed four people in Wilkinson’s family, including her daughter.

“She was 39. Just married two months,” Wilkinson says. “She got married in February and she died in April.”

The pandemic battered this community, but also brought out its fighting spirit

Tiecha Merritt owns a juice bar in this area, The Bush Doctor. “When I shut down, I said, ‘If I’m going through this issue, so are the [other] merchants.’ “

Merritt, who is also the president of the Tompkins Avenue Merchants Association (TAMA), says she immediately called every store owner and helped them apply for loans and grants.

“All the businesses that are part of TAMA received grants, which was a number one press for us,” she says. “To keep their business afloat.”

In addition, TAMA helped owners move their businesses online, and outside: they closed down the avenue, and had sidewalk sales.

For many entrepreneurs, it was also about responding to new customer needs.

Hekima Hapa, the sewing teacher who shared a picture of the face mask her student made that last day of class, says she woke up the next day, checked her social media, and, “There was literally 100 people saying: ‘where can I get a mask?’ “

Although at first she hesitated, she gave in to the requests. It paid off: For the next two years, she says it was precisely the sale of handmade masks that helped keep her business afloat.

But it was a lot more than that. The Tompkins Avenue owners checked in on each other every day, in a WhatsApp group. They’d compare notes about PPP loans, the cost of new hygiene requirements.

“So much information coming at you,” says Tudor. “You’re a small business owner, and you’re just trying to figure out how to open up, and sell online.”

Isha Joseph says banding together was huge.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Truly,” Joseph says.
“The landlord was very supportive. I mean we had to pay the rent eventually- but he wasn’t on top of us. He understood that he was in the same situation. And he believed in us too.”

In an area where gentrification has pushed the price of housing into the millions, she says that was a very important gesture.

Tompkins Avenue was dubbed “Black Girl Magic Street” after news about their efforts were reported. Joseph smiles when she hears the nickname. “Black women have been able to really rise up in times that you just have to get it done,” Joseph says. “It’s like a magical thing. Like you can turn chitlins into a gourmet dish. Black girl magic is all about how women literally can turn dust into gold.”

Customers say the “Black Girl Magic” magic keeps them coming back to Tompkins Avenue

Still, it took many months for “Black Girl Magic Row” to re-open fully.

Goldwyn Lewis Wilkinson had been a long-time customer at Khadija Tudor’s. After her daughter’s death, Wilkinson needed care more than ever, but she couldn’t bring herself to go anywhere. She’d spent years going to Tompkins Avenue, but this time, Tompkins Avenue reached out to her.

Tudor and her partner called her, and offered to bring her in on a day when no one else came, so she’d feel safer.

Wilkinson says as she lay there, she felt “a sense of calm, and relief.”

She told the massage therapist, “She’s here you know. She’s watching us. She’s smiling at us. ‘Who are you talking about?’ the therapist asked. I said, ‘My daughter. She’s right here, she’s happy that I’m taking care of myself.’ “

Afterward, Wilkinson says, she sat in silence for a while, holding on to that feeling.

That magic, it helped get her through.

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/13/1082519078/black-business-ownership-is-higher-than-pre-pandemic-women-are-driving-that-grow