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#GirlsCan: Soledad O’Brien Teams Up With Covergirl To Empower Young Women To Break Barriers (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on August 13, 2015

Soledad O'Brien Partners with #GirlsCan for Cover Girl (photo via hollywoodreporter.com)
Soledad O’Brien Partners with #GirlsCan for Covergirl (photo via hollywoodreporter.com)

Covergirl has recently launched the second year of their #GirlsCan movement and celebrated it with a video series, produced by journalist and documentarian, Soledad O’Brien. This Covergirl program is a movement with a mission to empower young women to overcome barriers, break boundaries and be the next generation to rock the world!
“Women today are out there breaking barriers and setting records in all sectors of their lives but are still facing challenges that many people wouldn’t expect in the new millennium,” said Soledad O’ Brien. “We are so excited to work with Covergirl and share our series on how these courageous women are changing society. Their struggles are all real and relatable while their stories are inspiring.”
At a time when girls are preparing to go back to school and they, along with their mothers and fathers, are thinking about the future, Covergirl aims to inspire more women and girls to strive to make strides in areas where women are currently underrepresented, from technology and engineering, to media and sports, to entrepreneurship and beyond.
In the first year of #GirlsCan, as part of the $5 million-over-five-years donation, Covergirl collaborated with two non-profit partners to help impact change including Girls Who Code and Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation.
https://youtu.be/KhxwRpOuSls
O’Brien’s Covergirl video series features powerful stories of four women who have faced challenges, forged ahead and defied the odds to achieve their dreams, setting an example for many other women to follow. The pioneering women featured in the series include:
Covergirl Becky G, an inspiring young Latina rap star, who has broken through on the charts in a male-dominated industry.
Geena Rocero, a transgender woman who has not only graced the cover of top magazines and ads for fashion brands, but is also an entrepreneur with her own production company.
Tina Garnanez, a former female military veteran coping with PTSD, who fought for years in the military, where women make up just 15 percent of the population.
Rochelle Ballantyne, college student, and currently the closest female in the United States to achieving the chess title of “Master” —there are only 50 female masters out of 846 in the US!
The series is available to view on the COVERGIRL YouTube channel.
article by Danielle Young via hellobeautiful.com

Dubuque Barber Courtney Holmes Gets Kids Reading with Free Haircuts

By goodblacknews on August 12, 2015

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Courtney Holmes gives free haircuts to reading youths (photo by Mike Burley/Telegraph Herald via AP)

DUBUQUE, Ia. —Children who read books to a local barber have received a free haircut as part of a community event in Dubuque to help families prepare for the upcoming school year.
Barber Courtney Holmes traded the tales for trims on Saturday during the second annual Back to School Bash in Comiskey Park, the Telegraph Herald reported.
Tayshawn Kirby, 9, of Dubuque, read from “Fats, Oils and Sweets,” by Carol Parenzan Smalley, informing Holmes that the average person eats 150 pounds of sugar each year. Before Tayshawn’s 10-year-old brother, Titan Feeney, took his turn in the barber chair, he told his brother the new look was great.
“I just want to support kids reading,” Holmes said.
St. Mark Youth Enrichment gave away books during the event, some of which were read to Holmes. Outreach coordinator Beth McGorry with St. Mark said she enjoyed watching Holmes help young children sound out the words they didn’t know yet.
Caitlin Daniels, grade-level reading coordinator with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, also helped struggling readers in the barber chair.
“It’s great. All the kids, they want to have a good haircut to go back to school,” she said. “They’re paying through reading.”
The city’s acting resource manager, Anderson Sainci, coordinated the event, which involved nonprofits and other community partners.
More than 100 people learned about free resources and before- and after-school opportunities available to families and students. The first full day of classes in Dubuque is Sept. 1.
article by Associated Press via desmoinesregister.com

Phenomenal African Women Celebrated in Posters for South Africa's National Women’s Day

By goodblacknews on August 9, 2015

Lupita Nyong’o, Miriam Makeba, Alek Wek, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Wangari Maathai are just a few of the dynamic women featured in Ruramai “Rudo” Musekiwa‘s Sibahle poster series. The Zimbabwe-born, Johannesburg-based artist and activist created the collection to acknowledge the contributions made by both well-known and unsung heroines from the continent in time for South Africa’s National Women’s Day on August 9th.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning Nigerian novelist
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning Nigerian novelist

“The Sibahle Poster Series is an ongoing body of work paying tribute to phenomenal African women,” Musekiwa said in a press release. “The statement it seeks to make, is that our young girls can and should find inspiration right here, within the continent, within our context as a people. Women are the pillars of our society and it is imperative that we pay homage to inspirational women that not only radiate authenticity and passion within their respective crafts, but also understand how their purpose is connected to others (Ubuntu).”
Also spotlighted in the collection are Lira, Mpho Sebina, Albertina Sisulu, Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Noni Gasa, Simphiwe Dana, Claire Mawisa, Lebo Mashile, Lufuno Sathekge and Nandi Mngoma. “These are some of the most exceptional and influential African women of today,” Musekiwa says.
The posters are part of Musekiwa’s larger Sibahle movement, which you can learn more about here and via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

See more at: http://www.okayafrica.com/news/african-women-poster-series-ruramai-rudo-musekiwa-south-africa-womens-day/#slide3

Michael Brown Remembered With March, Moment of Silence on 1-Year Anniversary

By goodblacknews on August 9, 2015
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Michael Brown Sr. leads a march on August 8, 2015 in Ferguson, Mo. (SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES)

One year after unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot by Darren Wilson, a white ex-officer in Ferguson, Mo., family and activists gathered Sunday to commemorate the shooting that touched off a movement against police violence.
Scores gathered Sunday to participate in 4.5 minutes of silence, and a silent march to Greater St. Mark’s church, according to The Associated Press. The march was scheduled to get just before noon at the site where Wilson gunned down Brown on Aug. 9, 2014. “A grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November,” writes the news outlet.
The events are among several this weekend in Ferguson and nearby St. Louis.
The still grieving Michael Brown Sr., Brown’s father, led a march of about 100 people on Saturday. He called for a nonviolent weekend.  “I want to have a peaceful weekend,” said Brown, according to KSDK. “No drama, no stupidity.”
In a recent NPR interview at the White House, part of which aired Sunday, President Obama told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep that had Ferguson flared up in his first term, he would have addressed it, brushing back criticism that he failed to address issues of race after entering office.
“That I don’t buy,” Obama told NPR.”I think it’s fair to say that if, in my first term, Ferguson had flared up, as president of the United States, I would have been commenting on what was happening in Ferguson.”
Read more at Yahoo News, KSDK and NPR.
article by Lynette Holloway via theroot.com
Archive of African American Women Soldiers’ Letters Donated to Harvard University

Archive of African American Women Soldiers’ Letters Donated to Harvard University

By goodblacknews on August 8, 2015

Myraline Morris Whitaker (Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer)
Maryline Morris Whitaker (Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer)

Maryline Morris Whitaker is the founder of the Sister Soldier Project, a grassroots organization that provides hair care products to African American women soldiers to help them comply with the militaries requirements for hair. “If hair is longer than your ears, it has to be pulled back and tucked under, and as a Black woman I just don’t understand how that happens without the right product,” Whitaker says.
In 2008, Whitaker raised enough money and donations to send 1,000 packages of hair care products to African American women serving in combat areas overseas. She received a large number of thank you letters from the women soldiers. “These women never complained,” said Whitaker, commenting on the letters she received. “They just talked about their lives in the service. They were happy to be there. They talked about the families they left behind, and they’d send pictures of their children.”
Whitaker realized that she had a treasure trove of letters documenting the experiences of African American women serving overseas in the armed forces. She volunteered to donate the archive to the Smithsonian museum but the museum was not interested.
But Whitaker found a home for her archive at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. The Schlesinger Library holdings date from the founding of the United States to the present and include more than 3,200 manuscript collections, 100,000 volumes of books and periodicals, and films, photos, and audiovisual material. The library holds many collections from African American women including Mildred Jefferson, the first Black woman graduate of Harvard Medical School, author June Jordan, civil rights activist Pauli Murray, and author Dorothy West.
article via jbhe.com

Gloria Steinem: Black Women Created the Feminist Movement

By goodblacknews on August 8, 2015

Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pittman-Hughes 1972 and 2014 (photo via viralwomen.com)
Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman-Hughes 1972 and 2014 (photo via viralwomen.com)

In a recent interview with Black Enterprise, feminist journalist and activist Gloria Steinem had some refreshing things to say about Black women’s progressive history in the fight for gender equality.
“I thought that [Black women] invented the feminist movement…I learned feminism disproportionately from Black women. ”
Steinem explained that in earlier years, surveys showed that African American women were twice as vocal and biased towards feminist issues and beliefs as their White counterparts. She also spoke on her personal practice of giving the floor to other young women (whether or not they self-identify as feminists) to address concerns for people of varying socioeconomic backgrounds. If she is challenged by younger Black women who say that feminism doesn’t speak to them, Steinem says:
“I don’t say anything. I listen because the point is that we help each other to get dignity and autonomy and freedom. We’re here to help each other.”
Steinem has a history of working with Black feminists. In 1972, Steinem founded Ms. Magazine with Dorothy Pitman-Hughes, the author and child welfare advocate. Steinem was also affiliated with the deceased lawyer Flo Kennedy and worked alongside Alice Walker, making Walker one of the earliest Black editors at Ms. 
The famous feminist spoke on the issues of police brutality as well, noting the importance of equally employing women in the police force to calm racially tense situations.
“[W]e haven’t been raise with our masculinity to prove. All the studies show that if a woman cop arrives on the scene, she de-escalates the situation by her presence and a man cop escalates. So while we’re talking as we should about cops looking like the community, how come we don’t say they should be half women?”
Check out more Steinem’s insightful commentary here at Black Enterprise.
article by Monique John via hellobeautiful.com

NBA Players Bring Joy of Reading and Freedom of Play to At-Risk Children in South Africa

By goodblacknews on August 5, 2015
NBA players interact with the children during the NBA Cares Court Dedication as part of the Basketball Without Boarders program on July 31, 2015 at the SOS Children's Village in Ennerdale, South Africa. (Getty Images)
NBA players interact with the children during the NBA Cares Court Dedication as part of the Basketball Without Boarders program on July 31, 2015 at the SOS Children’s Village in Ennerdale, South Africa. (Getty Images)

Last Friday, National Basketball Association players, legends and executives visited the Ennerdale location of SOS Children’s Villages (SOS), an organization that builds stable, loving families for orphaned, abandoned and other vulnerable children, as part of their ongoing commitment to support and strengthen communities in need.  This is the third consecutive year the NBA family has visited SOS, one of three organizations set to benefit from the first NBA Africa Game that took place this past weekend in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In celebration of the 13th annual Basketball without Borders (BWB) Africa and the NBA Africa Game, NBA players participated in a number of activities with local children, including playing soccer, drawing and dancing. The NBA family also took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate a renovated local library and new basketball court made possible by NBA Cares and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Foundation.

“I think the most important thing is to give children an opportunity play, an opportunity to get an education, an opportunity for a better future. And I think this is a wonderful place for you kids to accomplish that,” said Pau Gasol of the Chicago Bulls to the children present at the event.
Present at the event were NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Chris Paul (Los Angeles Clippers), Luol Deng (Miami Heat), Pau Gasol (Chicago Bulls), Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzles) and other NBA players, coaches and executives.

 “Children don’t forget. Many of the youth we work with have been through trying and traumatic circumstances before finding their way to SOS,” said Siphiwe Maphanga, National Director of SOS Children’s Villages South Africa. “We are incredibly thankful for the NBA family’s unwavering commitment to support Ennerdale’s most vulnerable children. They are playing a pivotal role in the development of children who desperately need their support.”
For over 30 years, SOS Children’s Villages South Africa has supported children, families and communities through its family support and care programs, medical centers, and schools. The Ennerdale village, located south of Johannesburg, provides children the love and long-term support they need to shape their own futures. Since 2013, NBA players have visited this village as part of BWB Africa’s efforts to encourage positive social change throughout the African continent.

article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)

Commanding Officer Kim Royster To Become Highest Ranking Black Woman In NYPD History

By goodblacknews on August 5, 2015

Deputy Inspector Kim Royster has been nominated for the Freedom Medal Award for getting guns off the street.
Future NYPD Deputy Chief Kim Royster

There’s a new boss in charge over at the New York Police Department and she’s making history with her seat at the top of the totem pole.
Kim Royster is currently the Commanding Officer in the NYPD’s Public Information Office and is set to be promoted to Deputy Chief at the end of this month, which will make her the highest ranking African-American woman in the history of the NYPD. As her history with the department goes, Kim is a 30-year NYPD veteran who first got her start in 1985 as a police administrative aid and has since worked her way to her current position as commanding officer.
Among Kim’s most notable accomplishments is her reputation for being the “driving force” behind NYC’s gun buy-back program, which has been credited with the removal of over 8,000 weapons off of the streets, according to the New York Daily News.
The million dollar question, of course, is how much of an impact Kim will be able to have on making necessary changes within the NYPD in the wake of the current tension between police and the Black community, and the answer is that she’ll reportedly be in a position to make things happen at her discretion. A “high-ranking source” tells the NYDN that as the Deputy Chief, one of Kim’s primary responsibilities will be to over see the recruitment process for the police academy and remain involved with the process through its’ completion.
Congratulations to Kim Royster on her promotion. We look forward to seeing ways in which she is able to bring about a change for the better within the NYPD.
article via clutchmagonline.com

NAACP Begins 860-Mile Justice March From Selma to Washington D.C.

By goodblacknews on August 2, 2015
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On November 29, 2014 in Ferguson, Mo., members of the NAACP and their supporters began the first day of Journey for Justice, seven-day 120-mile march from the Canfield Green apartments where Michael Brown was killed to the Governor’s mansion in Jefferson City, Mo. (SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES)
NAACP leaders on Saturday kicked off a 40-day “Journey for Justice” march across the South, beginning with a rally in Selma, Ala., a city that played a pivotal role in the the 1960s civil rights movement, according to The Associated Press.
The goal of the march is to “call attention to the issue of racial injustice in modern America,” the report says. The trek will span across eastern seaboard states before ending in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 15.
The event began on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where peaceful marchers were attacked by police in 1965 spurring the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which was signed into law 50 years ago this week. In November, the group led a march from Ferguson, Mo., to Jefferson City, Mo., in protest after Darren Wilson, a white police officer, was not indicted in the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen.
“We know we can do the distance because our lives, our votes, our jobs and our schools matter,” said Cornell William Brooks, president and chief executive of the NAACP, reports Reuters.
“Let us march on, let us march on, let us march on till victory is won,” said Brooks, as he led about 200 marchers across the bride on the first leg of the journey, Reuters writes.
article by Lynette Holloway via theroot.com

U.S. Department Of Education Creates Second Chance Pell Pilot Program for Inmates to Earn College Degrees

By goodblacknews on July 31, 2015
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The Department of Education announced a pilot program that will make some incarcerated people eligible for Pell Grants. (KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)
Some people in state and federal prisons will be eligible for Pell Grants under a program announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Education. The Second Chance Pell Pilot Program aims to help the incarcerated “get jobs, support their families and turn their lives around,” the department said in a press release.
The Higher Education Act of 1965 established Pell Grants as a type of federally funded financial aid for college students that students do not need to repay. The government decides how much aid to award each student based on financial need, cost of the school, enrollment status and future enrollment plans. The maximum amount per student for the upcoming school year is $5,775.
In 1994, Congress passed a bill that made people in state and federal prisons ineligible for Pell Grants. By that time, according to The Washington Post, 25,168 of the 3.3 million students who received the grants were prisoners, costing the government $34.6 million of the $5.3 billion it spent on the program. Some politicians felt that slice was too much of the pie. “Law-abiding students have every right to be outraged when a Pell Grant for a policeman’s child is cut, but a criminal that the officer sends to prison can still get a big check,” a congressman said at the time.
On Friday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in the press release: “America is a nation of second chances. Giving people who have made mistakes in their lives a chance to get back on track and become contributing members of society is fundamental to who we are—it can also be a cost-saver for taxpayers.”
Studies show that prison education programs help reduce recidivism rates, which in effect save taxpayer money. In its release, the Department of Education cites a 2013 RAND Corporation study, commissioned by the Department of Justice, which found that incarcerated people who participated in education programs were 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than inmates who did not participate.
“We found that for every taxpayer dollar spent on correctional education, there is a five dollar savings due to released inmates desisting from crime and not returning to prison. From a straightforward public spending and public savings perspective, correctional education is a smart investment,” Robert Bozick, a sociologist at the RAND Corporation who worked on the study, said via email.
He added: “Many folks question the benefit of providing education to criminals. However, the reality is that the majority of incarcerated individuals in this country will be released back into the community, living and working in our neighborhoods. Therefore, preparing them to successfully integrate back into our communities and resist returning to crime is in everyone’s best interest.”
Without grants, incarcerated people must pay for their own education while behind bars, said Alex Friedmann, managing editor of Prison Legal News, a publication of the Human Rights Defense Center, a nonprofit group. “You have to be able to afford it and most students of course can’t afford it if they’re locked up because they make pretty low wages,” he said. “So this new development, which we heard about earlier this year, is certainly a welcome change.”