article by Michael Cavna via washingtonpost.com
JUST LAST month, Akilah Johnson was “surprised and overwhelmed” when she learned that she was a national finalist in the “Doodle 4 Google” contest for grade-schoolers.
Akilah, a sophomore at Eastern Senior High School in Northeast Washington, has just been named Google’s big winner in the national contest, topping the 53 state and territory champions, whose work had been culled from about 100,000 student entries.
“It is really overwhelming,” Akilah tells The Post’s Comic Riffs, minutes after receiving the news Monday during a ceremony at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. “I was so excited, I started crying,” Akilah says. “I didn’t even look at anybody — I was just looking at the framed copy [of the Doodle] they gave me.”
Akilah is the contest’s first winner from Washington, as D.C. was not eligible to enter the states-only competition in past years. (The Post’s Comic Riffs had joined the chorus of voices urging that the District be included.)
This year’s contest theme was: “What makes me…me.” Akilah drew a box-braided Doodle titled “My Afrocentric Life,” using color pencils, black crayons and Sharpie markers. The Doodle includes symbols of black heritage and signs representing the Black Lives Matter movement. “Although it felt like forever making this picture, it only took me about two weeks,” Akilah told Comic Riffs last month.
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Beyoncé has launched her new “Formation” line, and model Jillian Mercado, who has muscular dystrophy, has been announced as the face of the new line.
Source: Beyoncé enlists model with muscular dystrophy as face of new line | theGrio
article by Tommy G. Meade Jr. via hbcubuzz.com
Wiley College officially announced early Sunday that “Beyond the Lights” and “The Great Debaters” actor Nate Parker, who is also a director, producer, writer and musical performer, is starting a film and drama school there to help empower young people in East Texas and across the country.
(The film The Great Debaters depicts the black college debate team beating Harvard College in the 1930s, though, the team actually didn’t face off against Harvard. At the time, historically black Wiley College was David and University of Southern California was Goliath, and indeed David defeated Goliath in this matchup.)
KLTV reported on Friday that Nate Parker has been keeping tabs on the black college and “even using their a capella choir for the soundtrack of his film The Birth of a Nation,” as well as announcing his election to the college board of trustees, in which Parker said he’s “honored” to serve at the position.
Now when exactly does classes begin? Here’s what we know:
- The first classes for the Nate Parker School of Film and Drama will be held in the fall.
- Before that though, about 30 high school and college students, after being picked, will have the opportunity to join a nine day summer institute as a pilot program for the school.
- In addition, ten current seniors at the black college have already been picked to serve at the institute this summer as staff.
But those are short-term goals for the school. Nate Parker also wants to “bring Hollywood back to East Texas” and to “create a pipeline toward filmmaking physically through developing the college, having filmmakers be nurtured and cultivated here, and then having somewhere for them to go with respect for them actually being able to engage in filmmaking here in East Texas, then it kind of serves multiple purposes,” he said.
“You control the moving picture, you control the masses. So really getting them rallied around the idea of re-claiming the narrative of America, specifically through the eyes of people of color,” Parker said.
article via jbhe.com
The University of Cincinnati has announced that it has created the Provost Graduate Fellowship that will provide financial aid for students from underrepresented minority groups in the university’s graduate programs. The new program will provide a three-year, $25,000 fellowship that include free tuition for doctoral studies at the university.
Beverly Davenport, provost at the University of Cincinnati, stated that “as the chief academic officer of the university, I want to invest in graduate education. There are a whole host of academic issues that I could invest in, and I try to choose the ones that need the most support. There was a void at the university level for these types of fellowships, so I wanted to fill that. Your budget should follow your values.”
Dr. Davenport added her reasons for funding fellowships for minority students because “diversity adds value in every way. It brings a broader array of perspectives and intellectual contributions. It also changes the questions we ask, the ways in which we approach them, the creative endeavors we produce, and the results of our work. We cannot solve the world’s great challenges if we continue to sit at the table with people trained exactly the way we were.”
article by Desire Thompson via newsone.com
The Maryland Senate voted on Thursday in favor of removing lyrics connected to the Confederacy from their state song, The Washington Post reports.
The 38-to-8 decision occurred Thursday after debate about the song, “Maryland, My Maryland.” It was penned by James Ryder Randall in 1861 following the death of his friend, who was shot while protesting against Union troops. The lyrics represent the anger Randall felt towards the North and calls on Marylanders to join the South’s battle against the Union.
Lyrics from the song (including those calling Northerners “scum”) will be replaced with a poem by John T. White about the state’s appearance and natural beauty.
Via The Washington Post:
“I think it’s time to get rid of the verse that basically criticizes and makes us look bad,” said Sen. Ronald N. Young (D-Frederick). “The [song] is degrading to Maryland and should not represent us moving forward.”
However, Sen. Robert G. Cassilly (R-Harford) said Maryland should use the opportunity as a teaching lesson, instead of erasing bad moments from history.
Listen to “Maryland, My Maryland” by clicking here and read the poem here.
article by Kenrya Rankin via colorlines.com
A new study from the American Council on Education says that student-led protests are having an impact on college and university campuses across the country.
“Racial Climate on Campus: A Survey of College Presidents” anonymously surveyed 567 college and university presidents to uncover how they feel student activism is changing the way students and faculty alike address race-related issues.
The results show that students at nearly half (47 percent) of the four-year institutions surveyed have organized around racial diversity concerns. And 75 percent of the folks presiding over four-year programs say that campus events related to Black Lives Matter, immigration and Islamaphobia have increased the racial dialogue at their school. That number drops to 62 percent for two-year schools.
While one president reportedly wrote: “The national issues have manifested at my campus as a genuine focus on eliminating the disparity in student academic achievement by ethnicity and on being more proactive in diversifying the faculty,” the increase in conversation has only lead to modest administrative action.
On four-year campuses, just 55 percent of presidents said that the racial climate has become more of a priority, and 1 percent said its importance has actually decreased. Just 44 percent of leaders on two-year college campuses feel that it is more important now than three years ago.
A new study from the American Council on Education says that student-led protests are having an impact on college and university campuses across the country.
“Racial Climate on Campus: A Survey of College Presidents” anonymously surveyed 567 college and university presidents to uncover how they feel student activism is changing the way students and faculty alike address race-related issues.
The results show that students at nearly half (47 percent) of the four-year institutions surveyed have organized around racial diversity concerns. And 75 percent of the folks presiding over four-year programs say that campus events related to Black Lives Matter, immigration and Islamaphobia have increased the racial dialogue at their school. That number drops to 62 percent for two-year schools.
While one president reportedly wrote: “The national issues have manifested at my campus as a genuine focus on eliminating the disparity in student academic achievement by ethnicity and on being more proactive in diversifying the faculty,” the increase in conversation has only lead to modest administrative action.
On four-year campuses, just 55 percent of presidents said that the racial climate has become more of a priority, and 1 percent said its importance has actually decreased. Just 44 percent of leaders on two-year college campuses feel that it is more important now than three years ago.
article by Yesha Callahan via theroot.com
Virginia McLaurin, the 107-year-old woman who danced with President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama last month, is now hanging out with the Harlem Globetrotters.
Virginia McLaurin, the 107-year-old woman who danced with President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama last month, is now hanging out with the Harlem Globetrotters.
On Tuesday, while volunteering at the Roots Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., McLaurin had a chance to meet Moose Weekes and Zeus McClurkin and show them her ball handling and dancing skills. On top of that, McLaurin was also presented with her own jersey with No. 107 on the back. The basketball players also donated 107 tickets to the school so the students can attend an upcoming game.
Take a look at the charming video of McLaurin and the Harlem Globetrotters:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y80tL7lsO44&w=560&h=315]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y80tL7lsO44&w=560&h=315]
article by Alana Vaggianos via huffingtonpost.com
As a follow up to her #62MillionGirls social media campaign, First Lady Michelle Obama is encouraging people to take the Change.Org 62 Million Girls pledge to help support more girls in school. Obama announced the pledge in an essay featured in Wednesday morning’s Lenny Letter just hours before she took the stage for her SXSW keynote event in Austin.
“So often when people talk about the issue of global girls’ education, they dive right into the policy weeds,” Obama began her essay. And while policy is important, the First Lady explained why experience is just as integral to the conversation.
“It’s also very much about attitudes and beliefs,” Obama wrote. “The belief that girls should be valued for their bodies, not their minds; the belief that girls simply aren’t worthy of an education, and their best chance in life is to be married off when they’re barely even teenagers and start having children of their own.”
Obama explained that the issue is personal to her because she’s met many of these young girls while traveling as First Lady. “They are so smart and hardworking, and so hungry for an education,” she wrote. “I’ve met girls who make long, dangerous journeys each day to school and then come home and study for hours each night. I’ve met girls studying at rickety desks in bare concrete classrooms who are raising their hands so hard they’re almost falling out of their chairs.”
Big stars like Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monae, Missy Elliot and more have already signed the 62 Million Girls pledge. Obama commissioned the artists to create a song about women’s empowerment titled “This Is For My Girls,” produced by MAKERS, AOL’s digital platform that highlights women’s stories.
To Preview “This Is For My Girls”: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/this-is-for-my-girls-single/id1093266044
article by Emma Brown via washingtonpost.com
The Senate voted on Monday to confirm John King Jr. as U.S. Education Secretary, a move that shows that education has become a rare issue on which a polarized Washington can reach bipartisan compromise.
Seven Republicans joined Democrats in voting 49 to 40 in favor of King’s confirmation at a time when key GOP senators are refusing to even consider an Obama nominee to the Supreme Court.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) — chairman of the education committee who previously served as education secretary under President George H.W. Bush — urged his colleagues to confirm King, arguing that the education department needs a leader who can be held to account as the nation implements a sweeping new education law that replaced the long-maligned No Child Left Behind.
“This vote is not about whether one of us would have chosen Dr. King to be the education secretary. Republicans won’t have the privilege of picking an education secretary until we elect the president of the United States,” Alexander said Monday, 25 years to the day after his own Senate confirmation. “We need a United States Education Secretary confirmed by and accountable to the United States Senate so that the law to fix No Child Left Behind will be implemented the way Congress wrote it.”
King, 41, has been serving as acting secretary since his predecessor Arne Duncan stepped down at the end of 2015. A former teacher, principal and charter-school founder, he led New York’s state education department from 2011 until 2014, when he joined the U.S. Education Department.
article via ap.org
NEW YORK — The Associated Press is significantly expanding its coverage of race and ethnicity issues and their impact on the United States, the news cooperative announced today.
The existing team, under the direction of Race and Ethnicity Editor Sonya Ross, will increase in number with reporters, photographers, videographers and others from across the country dedicated to delving more deeply into the race issues of the day, including a sharp focus on the 2016 campaign and its impact on people of color.
“Events of the past year have underscored just how much this coverage matters. There is an increased industry demand for it, and we intend to meet that demand,” said Ross.
The team is comprised of veteran journalists based in Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., who consistently break news and produce well-received enterprise on trends and issues.
Ross will be assisted by Pauline Arrillaga, AP’s national enterprise editor in Phoenix, and Amanda Barrett, who drives enterprise planning at AP’s global Nerve Center in New York.
“There are few issues that demand more interest and attention in the U.S. in 2016 than race and ethnicity,” said Sarah Nordgren, director of U.S. news operations. “By adding resources to our already strong journalistic team, we believe we will be in an exceptional position to tell the most important stories for our AP news consumers.”
About AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats.
To read more, go to: http://www.ap.org/Content/Press-Release/2016/AP-expands-race-and-ethnicity-reporting-team