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Posts published in November 2021

MUSIC MONDAY: “Cool Yule” – A Jazzy Christmas Collection (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Cool Yule” – A Jazzy Christmas Collection (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on November 29, 2021

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

With Thanksgiving firmly in our rearview, it is officially time to bring on the peppermint, egg nog and, best of all (at least in my mind), Christmas music playlists!

This season Good Black News is starting off with a playlist chestnut we dropped last Christmas Eve, perhaps missed by anyone who was traveling, already out and about or otherwise engaged in the spirit. So one more again, I am happy to bring to you “Cool Yule”: A Jazzy Christmas Collection:

From Take 6 to Duke Ellington to Geri Allen to Oscar Peterson, this playlist includes vocal and instrumental jazz renditions of traditional and modern Christmas and end-of-year classics for all to enjoy.

Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Etta James, Dinah Washington, Esperanza Spalding and Billie Holiday are among the female jazz vocalists represented on “Cool Yule,” with Billy Eckstine, Nat King Cole, Leslie Odom, Jr. and Louis Armstrong lending their deeper pipes to the playlist.

Also represented are jazz titans Miles Davis, John Coltrane, the Count Basie Orchestra, Benny Carter, Kenny Burrell, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, the McCoy Tyner Trio, Jimmy Smith, the Elvin Jones Quintet and the Ramsey Lewis Trio.

Wishing you all the best as we warm into the winter season, and in the coming new year. Enjoy!

“A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2022 Available for 30% Off Now Through November 30

“A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2022 Available for 30% Off Now Through November 30

By goodblacknews on November 26, 2021

In case you missed it, earlier this fall A Year of Good Black News, the Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022 we’ve done in partnership with Workman Publishing, is now available online and in select stores for purchase! And from now until November 30, it’s available for 30% off at workman.com Code: CYBER2021 with free shipping on orders over $20.

A Year of Good Black News is filled with facts, history, bios, quotes, jokes and trivia in easy-to-read entries delivered on the daily, and is a great gift for family, loved ones, teachers, friends, and pretty much anyone from 3rd grade on who wants to learn a lot of great stuff about us in the U.S. (and beyond)!

Good Black News is also giving away two free copies of the calendar in December — thank you to all who have entered so far – you are still in the running as we will continue to announce winners through  January 2022. To those who have yet to enter – it’s not too late!

For a chance to win, send your name and email address with the subject heading “A Year of Good Black News Giveaway” to goodblacknewsgiveaways@yahoo.com from now until December 31.

One entry per email, and we will continue to choose at random and announce the winners’ names here.

A Year of Good Black News is also available at the online retailers below:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523514299?tag=goodblacknews-20

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781523514298

Books-A-Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781523514298

Designer Debra L. Mars Offers HBCU Santas and Black Nutcrackers for the Holidays

Designer Debra L. Mars Offers HBCU Santas and Black Nutcrackers for the Holidays

By goodblacknews on November 26, 2021

Designer and long-time Black Santa collector Debra L. Mars has added her own contribution to the canon by partnering with several HBCUs to offer Black Santas this holiday season.

The Inglewood, CA resident and entrepreneur has created Black Santas repping Howard University, Morehouse College, Grambling and FAMU, in addition to offering Black nutcrackers, Santa-themed bracelets and other holiday swag through her etsy.com store, Restore The Hope.

Mars, who has worked in marketing and supplier diversity for Frito-Lay, began collecting Black Santas over 35 years ago.

“I traveled the country and would pick them up whenever I saw them, especially in the Southern states,” Mars said. “My fascination came about when I reflected on how my mother only had one childhood toy; it was a white doll that looked nothing like her—that was triggering for me.”

Debra L. Mars (photo courtesy Debra L. Mars)

Designing and selling Black Santas is about more than the bottom line for Mars.”[It’s] more about storytelling than the product itself. They are designed as triggers to hopefully remind people what a precious gift they are to this world,” Mars said.

“The Santa to me is symbolic of spiritual gifts and talents rather than what’s in the box under the tree. It saddens me that so many people feel worthless and undervalued. That is why our branding tagline for the Black Santa Cause Collective is ‘unwrap your gifts’.”

Mars also has a goal to align and partner with other creators to tell the Santa “Cause” story.

“I am most proud of a woman I found who is exclusively making Black Santa leather bracelets for our line,” Mars stated. “Each one is hand crafted and features a lighter skinned and darker skinned Black Santa in the design to communicate the variety of melanin in the African American race. This alliance with her has created a stream of supplemental income for her and more importantly, a clear validation of her gifts and talents.”

Even though she’s had to work through several obstacles and supply chain challenges, Mars feels she is finally dwelling in her passion.

“This dream was planted in me over 25 years ago to create this line. This has been a master class on perseverance. Having the opportunity to represent our sacred jewels: The HBCUs is an honor that I do not take lightly,” Mars said.

“When I did the research on the game changers that attended these iconic institutions from Thurgood Marshall to Kamala Harris to Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson, I am so proud and a little remorseful that I did not attend a HBCU.”

Good Black News Wishes You and Yours a Very Happy Thanksgiving

Good Black News Wishes You and Yours a Very Happy Thanksgiving

By goodblacknews on November 25, 2021

Today, when family, loved ones and friends come together for a special meal to offer gratitude for  each other, survival of life’s most humbling challenges, to celebrate joy, peace and the capacity for them, GBN wants to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

We’d also like to express our gratitude to you, our readers and followers, and offer thanks for your continued presence, positivity and support. Love and community are more important than ever – enjoy, and be safe!

All Three Men Found Guilty of Murdering Ahmaud Arbery

All Three Men Found Guilty of Murdering Ahmaud Arbery

By goodblacknews on November 24, 2021

The verdicts have just come in.

Jurors found Travis McMichael guilty of murder Wednesday for chasing and fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, as he jogged last year through a neighborhood in Glynn County, Georgia.

Ahmaud Arbery

McMichael now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jurors convicted him of one count of malice murder and four counts of felony murder.

Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael’s father, has been found guilty of felony murder.  McMichael now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., one of three men, who filmed what they did to Arbery, has been found guilty of felony murder.

Bryan now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.  Jurors convicted him of felony murder but acquitted him of the malice murder charge.

Any other outcome would itself been criminal.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/ahmaud-arbery-killing-trial-verdict-watch-11-24-21/index.html

Shalanda Young Nominated by President Biden to Become White House Budget Director

Shalanda Young Nominated by President Biden to Become White House Budget Director

By goodblacknews on November 24, 2021

President Joe Biden announced yesterday he is nominating Shalanda Young to serve as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. This key administration position has gone unfilled for months, according to washingtonpost.com.

If confirmed by the Senate, Young will become the first Black person to fill the director position. The budget office works with federal agencies to coordinate and oversee the execution of spending programs approved by Congress.

To quote washingtonpost.com:

Young has served as the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget since the spring, but the White House will now tap her to officially lead the office as the administration faces multiplying challenges in implementing its economic agenda.

She must be confirmed by the Senate to serve in the role, but she was confirmed to her current role by a 63-to-37 vote in March with support from more than a dozen Republicans.

Young, a longtime veteran of the House Appropriations Committee staff, has enjoyed broad bipartisan support and the backing of top Democratic leaders. Young went on maternity leave this fall. She would be the first Black woman to lead the office.

“In her eight months as acting director of OMB, she’s continued to impress me and congressional leaders as well,” Biden said in a pre-recorded video announcing the nomination. “Shalanda will not only be a tremendously qualified director, she’ll also be a historic director.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/11/23/white-house-shalanda-young/

MUSIC MONDAY: Redemption Songs – Thanksgiving Music for 2021 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: Redemption Songs – Thanksgiving Music for 2021 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on November 22, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

This week many of us will be with friends and family to give thanks, cherish each other, and delight in good eats. For most of us it will be the first time in two years.

Here’s another Monday Music offering of songs and music to enjoy on our national day to give thanks.

These tracks are spread across various time periods and genres. They are all about grace, redemption, thanks, and yes, good food.

Hope you enjoy this collection with folks you love.

Please take good care, and as always stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
Authors Jason Mott and Tiya Miles Win 2021 National Book Awards for Fiction and Non-Fiction

Authors Jason Mott and Tiya Miles Win 2021 National Book Awards for Fiction and Non-Fiction

By goodblacknews on November 18, 2021

The National Book Foundation announced the 2021 National Book Awards winners list yesterday. Author and poet Jason Mott won the fiction prize for Hell of a Book, while author and historian Tiya Miles garnered the nonfiction prize for All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake.Mott’s Hell of a Book tells the story of an author on a promotional tour and his haunted past and present in a surreal, narrative style.

“I would like to dedicate this award to all the other mad kids, to all the outsiders, the weirdos, the bullied,” he said in his acceptance speech. “The ones so strange they had no choice but to be misunderstood by the world and by those around them. The ones who, in spite of this, refuse to outgrow their imagination, refuse to abandon their dreams and refuse to deny, diminish their identity, or their truth, or their loves, unlike so many others.”

Miles’ All That She Carried traces the history of an American family through a cotton sack an enslaved ancestor gave to her daughter in the 19th century as they were about to be separated and sold apart.

In her acceptance speech, Miles thanked her editor Molly Turpin for championing her decision to write a book about “an old bag.” “Your face lit up,” Miles said. “You were so curious. You were so receptive. You were the perfect editor for this project.”

Other winners include Malinda Lo for young people’s literature with Last Night at the Telegraph Club — a story of same-sex, cross-cultural love set in the 1950s.

Martín Espada took the poetry prize with Floaters, and best translation went to Elisa Shua Dusapin‘s Winter in Sokcho, translated from French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.

Winners in competitive categories each receive $10,000.

Established in 1950, the National Book Awards are intended to celebrate the following core beliefs:

  • Books are essential to a thriving cultural landscape
  • Books and literature provide a depth of engagement that helps to protect, stimulate, and promote discourse in American society
  • Books and literature are for everyone, no matter where the reader is situated geographically, economically, racially, or otherwise

Judging panels looked through more than 1,800 submitted books. This year’s judges included  acclaimed authors such as Eula Biss, Ilya Kaminsky and Charles Yu, winner in 2020 of the National Book Award for fiction.

[Photos: Tiya Miles via tiyamiles.com; Jason Mott via jasonmottauthor.com]

MUSIC MONDAY: “Smokin Out The Window” – The Best of 2021 Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Smokin Out The Window” – The Best of 2021 Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on November 15, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

As we head into the holidays and a brand new year, this Music Monday we’re taking a look back in the rearview at some of the best soul, jazz, hip hop and reggae releases of 2021.

This playlist offers Silk Sonic, “Apple Crumble” with vocals by Idris Elba, Doja Cat, The Weeknd, Leon Bridges, Drake, Tinashe, Diana Ross, emerging new Isley vocalist Alex Isley, Amber Mark, Jon Batiste, wonderful instrumental and vocal jazz from Ron Carter, Jose James, and others.

Please enjoy. And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
GBN Giveaway: “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar 2022 – Congratulations to November’s Winner!

GBN Giveaway: “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar 2022 – Congratulations to November’s Winner!

By goodblacknews on November 13, 2021

In celebration of our “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2022, as promised, GBN has selected November’s winner of a free copy.

Congratulations to Ife Jacobs! We will be contacting you shortly via email to arrange delivery of your free calendar.

Thank you to all who have entered so far – and you are still in the running as we will continue to announce one winner a month until January 2022. To those who have yet to enter – it’s not too late!

For a chance to win, send your name and email address with the subject heading “A Year of Good Black News Giveaway” to goodblacknewsgiveaways@yahoo.com from now until December 31.  One entry per email, and we will continue to choose at random one winner per month and announce their names here.

Already the #1 new release in Multicultural Calendars on Amazon, A Year of Good Black News is filled with facts, history, bios, quotes, jokes and trivia in easy-to-read entries delivered on the daily.

If you want to buy copies for gifts to family, friends, teachers or loved ones, from 11/16-11/21 ONLY use the code: CYBER2021 at Workman.com to receive 30% OFF site-wide, plus Free Shipping over $20!

Or, if you prefer, you can also order from the retailers below:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523514299?tag=goodblacknews-20

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781523514298

Books-A-Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781523514298

Bookshop: https://www.bookshop.org/a/368/9781523514298

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781523514298?aff=workmanpub

Onward and upward… and good luck!

(paid links)