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Hip-Hop Band The Roots Grow Large in New Philadelphia Mural

By goodblacknews on June 3, 2013
Workmen sweep in front of a new mural honoring The Roots, Friday, May 31, 2013, in Philadelphia. As a teen growing up in Philadelphia, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter got busted for graffiti and was ordered by a judge to clean up such vandalism by painting murals. Now, Trotter and his Grammy-winning band The Roots are scheduled to attend Friday the unveiling of a city-sanctioned mural in their honor. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Workmen sweep in front of a new mural honoring The Roots in Philadelphia. As a teen growing up in Philadelphia, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter got busted for graffiti and was ordered by a judge to clean up such vandalism by painting murals. Now, Trotter and his Grammy-winning band The Roots are scheduled to attend Friday the unveiling of a city-sanctioned mural in their honor. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The house band for NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” is living large in its hometown of Philadelphia. Members of The Roots are now depicted on a multistory mural on the back wall of a school. The group attended a dedication of the project on Friday, May 31st.
The mural is called “Legendary.” It uses a colorful collage of images to trace the history of the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop group. Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson says it’s difficult to believe how far the band has come since its founding in the city in 1992. The art project was created by the city’s Mural Arts Program. There are more than 3,600 murals in Philadelphia.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com

Whitney Mitchell, Ex-Dancer and Quadruple Amputee, Works to Inspire Others

By goodblacknews on June 3, 2013
Whitney Mitchell (photo via pinterest)

article via newsone.com

When Whitney Mitchell (pictured) lost her arms and legs to an illness two and a half years ago, she was pursuing a career in dance. Her life has taken a different path since then, but she continues to dream big. Mitchell just took her first steps a few weeks ago with her new prosthetic legs. Her movements were small and paced, but the young woman plans on taking giant strides in the future, reports CBS Dallas.

“I really want to inspire people,” said Mitchell. “I want to tell them no matter what (their) circumstances (are) you can pull through and keep going.” The 21-year-old was celebrated at a fundraiser to cover her medical costs at the Chocolate Secrets and Wine Gardens in Dallas on Sunday night.

Her positive spirit has kept her forging ahead with new aspirations of becoming a fashion designer. Mitchell developed flu-like symptoms back in 2010, that ended up being diagnosed as sepsis, a bacterial infection of the blood. The then-aspiring dancer and performing arts university student was given a twelve percent, one week survival rate. The bacteria in her body was causing alarming levels of inflammation. In order to survive, doctors would have to amputate her arms and legs.

Y.N. Rich Kids New Single 'Khaki Pants,' Is This Summer's 'Hot Cheetos & Takis' (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on June 1, 2013

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQDN9j_kKV0&w=560&h=315]
From the group that brought you last summer’s hit “Hot Cheetos & Takis” comes another song on a subject hip-hop has heretofore seldom considered: school uniform swag.  The song, “Khaki Pants,” which dropped earlier this month, is an ode to school uniform bottom wear, and it comes complete with its own accompanying dance. According to the video, the song, presented by Y.N.Rich Kids, is performed by the NSJ crew (although, as Grantland points out, it’s unclear what the relationship between the two groups is).
Screen Shot 2013-06-01 at 4.47.45 PM“Walking through the school in my khaki pants, when they see how I be fresh, they do the khaki dance,” raps one member the group. “Yeah, we got ‘Hot Cheetos & Taki’ fans, but after this, you gon’ wanna do the khaki dance,” raps another member.
The video, which has more than 134,240 views on YouTube as of this writing follows last summer’s release of Y.N. Rich Kids’ video “Hot Cheetos & Takis,” which has over 6 million views on YouTube. The young group is a product of the North Community YMCA’s Beats and Rhymes program in Minneapolis.  The program is “designed to provide challenging, positive youth and career development opportunities for low income, culturally-diverse youth,” according to its website.
original article by Rebecca Klein via huffingtonpost.com; additions and updates by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

"After Earth" Star Jaden Smith Does Canopy Project PSA to Help Save Trees (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on June 1, 2013

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a0dnypRwx0&w=560&h=315]
Jaden SmithAs part of its mission to protect natural lands and preserve the environment for all people, Earth Day Network developed The Canopy Project. Rather than focusing on large scale forestry, The Canopy Project plants trees that help communities – especially the world’s impoverished communities – sustain themselves and their local economies. Trees reverse the impacts of land degradation and provide food, energy and income, helping communities to achieve long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Trees also filter the air and help stave off the effects of climate change.  
With the reality of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and more frequent and violent storms and floods, tree cover to prevent devastating soil erosion has never been more important. That’s why, earlier this the year, Earth Day Network made a commitment with the Global Poverty Project to plant 10 million trees over the next five years in impoverished areas of the world. Please join us to help make this commitment a reality.
Accomplishments:  
Over the past three years, The Canopy Project, has planted over 1.5 million trees in 18 countries. In the US, projects to restore urban canopies have been completed in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Flint, and Chicago.  In Haiti alone, where earthquakes caused landslides on deforested hillsides, leading to horrific devastation, Earth Day Network planted 500,000 trees. And in three high-poverty districts in central Uganda, we planted 350,000 trees to provide local farmers with food, fuel, fencing, and soil stability.
Our tree plantings are supported by sponsors and individual donations and carried out in partnership with nonprofit tree planting organizations throughout the world. We work in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme’s Billion Trees Campaign. Each tree planted is counted toward A Billion Acts of Green®.
Help Earth Day Network grow the Earth’s canopy by planting trees where they are needed most

45 Liberian Orphans Adopted By One North Carolina Community (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on May 31, 2013

[hulu id=ds1g_lldqnl1hoanuy6-ag width=512]
Ever wonder how a single act of kindness can prompt a domino effect of others? Meet Lysa Terkeurst, a mom of three girls, whose decision to adopt two members of a boys choir from war-torn Liberia has prompted several other families from her North Carolina community to do the same.
Liberian Orphans“These 12 beautiful boys from the other side of the world got up and started to sing from the depth of their soul, just the most beautiful music,” Terkeurst who lives near Charlotte, North Carolina, told TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager. “I was very challenged by the reality that these boys who had been singing and smiling and just had such joy in their life, that they had nothing.”
In the 10 years since Terkeurst’s decision to adopt two of the boys — Mark, who was 13 at the time and Jackson, who was 14 and had lived in an orphanage since the age of six after his parents were murdered — 45 other children have been adopted from the same orphanage, including fellow members of the boys choir that originally stole Terkeurst’s heart.  Watch video above for the rest of this heartwarming story.
article via huffingtonpost.com
 

Michelle Obama Garden Harvest 2013: Hurricane Sandy-Battered School Kids Join First Lady To Gather Summer Veggies

By goodblacknews on May 31, 2013

Michelle Obama
April showers brought more than May flowers for first lady Michelle Obama and a group of elementary school children from two New Jersey schools seriously damaged by Hurricane Sandy, Monday.  Students from Union Beach Memorial School in Union Beach, N.J., and Long Beach Island Grade School in Ship Bottom, N.J., joined Obama to harvest crops, such as lettuce and broccoli, planted in the White House garden in April.
“One of the reasons why we wanted to invite you guys is I understand that given all that you guys have been through,” she said. “Many of your schools got damaged in Sandy, right? — but despite that, you guys are still going to school every day, and you’re working on eating healthy … And it hasn’t been that easy, but you guys have managed to get through the school year way on top of the game, and we’re just very proud of you,” she added.
The children’s visit to the White House coincided with President Obama’s visit to their home state of New Jersey to highlight rebuilding efforts in coastal areas damaged during Hurricane Sandy last fall.

Quincy and Rashida Jones Raise Awareness for Prostate Cancer [VIDEO]

By goodblacknews on May 30, 2013

Rashida Jones and Quincy JonesThe clip, entitled “Cherishing Life’s Special Moments,” seeks to raise awareness about the importance of speaking with your doctor about prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death for men in the United States, affecting one in six men, according to PCF. In the U.S. alone, 2.5 million American men and their families are currently living with prostate cancer.
“As a father, I cherish the special moments in life and understand how they can fly by in an instant,” said Quincy Jones. “Prostate cancer has affected dear friends and family of mine, so I am honored to be part of this campaign with Stand Up To Cancer and the Prostate Cancer Foundation to reinforce how incredibly important it is for men to talk to their doctors about prostate cancer.”
“I was excited to shoot this PSA with my father,” said Rashida Jones. “We have to protect the men we cherish, so please talk to your fathers, your grandfathers, husbands, brothers and sons and make sure they speak to their doctors about this disease and how to reduce their risk.”
“Men are 40 percent less likely than women to have visited a healthcare provider in the past year…But talking to one’s doctor about prostate cancer is critically important,” said Stand Up To Cancer President & CEO Sung Poblete, PhD, RN.  “We are thrilled to have the father and daughter pair of Quincy and Rashida Jones spread that message through this PSA, and hope it empowers men to speak with their doctors about prostate cancer and when screening is right for them so they can make informed decisions.”
To learn more, visit StandUp2Cancer.org or PCF.org.
article via thegrio.com

"Bountiful's" Cicely Tyson Moves Broadway Audiences to Sing Along to "Blessed Assurance"

By goodblacknews on May 30, 2013

Not long after the curtain rises on the second act of “The Trip to Bountiful,” the Broadway revival of the Horton Foote play at the Stephen Sondheim Theater, something unusual happens. Cicely Tyson, as Mrs. Carrie Watts, sits on a bus station bench in a small Texas town. She is on the run from her abusive daughter-in-law and henpecked son in Houston, desperate to see the family farm in Bountiful once more before she dies.

Audience members join in as Ms. Tyson sings “Blessed Assurance.”  Overcome with emotion, she begins singing an old Protestant hymn, “Blessed Assurance.”

From the first note, there’s a palpable stirring among many of the black patrons in the audience, which the play, with its mostly black cast, draws in large numbers. When Ms. Tyson jumps to her feet, spreads her arms and picks up the volume, they start singing along. On some nights it’s a muted accompaniment. On other nights, and especially at Sunday matinees, it’s a full-throated chorus that rocks the theater.

First Lady and Kerry Washington Push for the Arts

By goodblacknews on May 29, 2013
Kerry Washington, Savoy Elementary School students and Michelle Obama (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Students from the Savoy Elementary School in Washington, D.C., crooned, somersaulted, Lindy Hopped and re-enacted scenes from the 1970s film Grease on Friday as a way to flex their school’s new muscles in arts education. They performed in the gym to an audience of their peers and two distinguished ladies cheering in the front row: First Lady Michelle Obama and actress Kerry Washington.
The showcase demonstrated the school’s involvement in Turnaround: Arts, a new initiative to beef up — and in some cases introduce — arts programs to eight low-performing public schools across the nation. The public and private committees that are funding this endeavor hope that student exposure to dance, music, drama and visual-arts classes will boost academic achievement.
Kerry Washington is a celebrity ambassador to the Savoy school — D.C.’s Turnaround school — which, she told reporters during a brief press conference after the performance, is quite fitting because she is known for “fixing” crises in the nation’s capital as Olivia Pope in the hit ABC series Scandal. The actress said that chronically underperforming schools need fixing, too, and she is convinced that arts programming should be included in reform strategies that attempt to do so. Other celebrities that serve as program ambassadors to Turnaround schools include Alfre Woodard, Sarah Jessica Parker and Forest Whitaker. 

50 Cent Uses Street King Brand to Promote Conscious Capitalism

By goodblacknews on May 29, 2013
Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson and DJ Pauly D
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 23: (L-R) Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson and DJ Pauly D host the Summer Kickoff Event at Hudson Terrace on May 23, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)

Rapper and mogul 50 Cent may have built his brand by carefully honing a tough guy image, but his recent actions demonstrate a complexity in his character, which is as charitable as he is creative.
“People always try and paint negative images about me[.] I’m the most genuine down to earth person and I didn’t forget where I came from,” the superstar performer and businessman recently wrote on his Facebook page.
50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson in Queens, NY, used the social media outlet to discuss his contribution to the funeral of D’aja Robinson, a fellow Queens native who was killed by a stray bullet on a city bus. He posted images of her funeral, held on Friday, on his Facebook page, and confirmed that he paid for the horse and carriage that carried the casket of slain 14-year-old.
“She was pretty, innocent and [didn’t] deserve to die like that,” 50 Cent wrote, according to New York’sDaily News. “R.I.P D’Asia Robinson.”
The softer side of 50 Cent
This softer side of 50 Cent might seem surprising, but it is an evolution that has been brewing for years. While the rapper has built a fortune through graphic songs, he has used a portion of his riches to fund important causes.
Jackson’s G-Unity foundation has been active for much of his career through giving grants to combat social issues. Most recently, when launching his Street King energy drink in 2011 (which has been rebranded as SK Energy), Jackson pledged to feed one billion people through a partnership to fight hunger with the United Nations.
The day before Robinson’s funeral, 50 Cent spent some time promoting SK Energy, and commented on the importance of giving within the context of business ventures.