July 2020

Introducing Shabaka Hutchings Born in London and raised in Barbados, 35-year-old Hutchings is an award-winning multi-reed player who can alternate between saxophone and clarinet.  He leads the bands Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors. He is also a member of The Comet Is Coming, performing under the stage name King Shabaka.

After Serena Williams gave birth to her first child, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., via emergency C-section on September 1, she joined a growing number of women, primarily Black women and women of color, who are facing death after ushering in a new life. In the February issue of Vogue, Williams recounts how she discovered blood clots on…

May 31, 1921: Tulsa Massacre From May 31 through June 1, deputized whites killed more than 300 African Americans. They looted and burned to the ground 40 square blocks of 1,265 African American homes, including hospitals, schools, and churches, and destroyed 150 businesses. White deputies and members of the National Guard arrested and detained 6,000…

Trevor Noah Is Paying Daily Show Crew Furloughed by COVID-19 Out of His Own Pocket by Ishena Robinson Trevor Noah reminds me of Barack Obama in a lot of ways. He’s written a successful memoir about his upbringing and mixed identity, he’s extremely well-spoken and handsome with slightly protruding ears that somehow manage to make him…

Summer Favorite – Peach Cobbler (Anytime favorite but best with fresh peaches) I mix my spices (cinnamon and nutmeg) with the sugar before adding it to the peaches. I add a little cornstarch, about 1/4 cup, to the sugar also. I don’t precook my filling, I just pour it into the crust. I use a bottom…

Black and Brown People Have Been Protesting for Centuries. It’s White People Who Are Responsible for What Happens Next. BY SAVALA TREPCZYNSKI  JUNE 1, 2020 1:32 PM EDT In this country, we have thousands of white people who consider themselves aware of the pain racism can cause, and who could never imagine themselves inflicting it—but then…

Arthur Ashe Statue in Virginia Vandalized With ‘White Lives Matter’ By Sandra E. Garcia Published June 17, 2020 Updated June 18, 2020, 12:25 a.m. ET A monument to the black tennis legend Arthur Ashe in Richmond, Va., was vandalized with spray paint that read “WLM” and “White Lives Matter” on Wednesday. Passers-by said they saw a man in a blue…

By Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Derrick Bryson Taylor June 5, 2020 While the death last week of George Floyd in Minneapolis has unleashed a wave of protests across the country, fury over the killing of an African-American medical worker in Louisville, Ky., by the police has also been growing, driving tense demonstrations in that city. Shortly after midnight on March 13, Louisville…

BabyNames.com changes home page to honor slain black Americans: They were ‘somebody’s baby’ BY MARINA PITOFSKY – 06/09/20 11:44 AM EDT Each one of these names was somebody’s baby. EMMETT TILL – ERIC GARNER – JOHN CRAWFORD III – MICHAEL BROWN – EZELL FORD – DANTE PARKER – MICHELLE CUSSEAUX – LAQUAN MCDONALD – TANISHA ANDERSON – AKAI GURLEY…

Protests That Changed America: The March on Washington June 10, 2020 by Neely Tucker The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was one of the most significant protests in American history, bringing more than 250,000 marchers from across the nation to state an unforgettable claim for racial and economic equality. With its written-in-lightning keystone moment…