March 6, 2026
This Christmas, unlike any other in our lifetime, is a time to forgive, be thankful, grateful, generous, kind and compassionate.
Good Black News thanks you all for your support and goodwill over the years and especially in 2020 when we have collectively experienced so much challenge.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas, a blessed and bountiful Kwanzaa and what we all hope will be a healing new year.
Love and Peace,
The Good Black News Team
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)
Whether you are among those celebrating the Christmas holiday with loved ones (via Zoom or in the same room) or doing it solo, you may want some mellow-yet-festive holiday music playing as you spend the day.
Earlier this month, Good Black News offered the comprehensive, 465-song Ultimate Soul of the Season Christmas Soundtrack on Spotify as well as Silver Bells: An Afroclectic Christmastime Playlist for 2020. Today, on Christmas Eve we offer 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.
[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:2rCXw95SjIgNZllitaQ8Fb”]
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 tomorrow and in the coming new year. Enjoy!
[Photo: Meek Mill via facebook.com]
Yesterday hip hop artist and activist Meek Mill along with his Dream Chasers record label delivered toys, clothes, and new Xbox consoles to 35 families in Philadelphia impacted by the criminal justice system.
In partnership with the REFORM Alliance, Puma, GoPuff, and DocuVault, the rapper helped arrange the deliveries, and saw the families receive everything from MacBook Air laptops or iPads, to baby clothes and Xbox Series X consoles.
To quote from complex.com:
“It’s been a tough year for all of us, but through all the ups and downs, I’ll always do my part to support and give back to the Philly community that raised me,” said Meek. “I remember not having much growing up, so it’s important to use my platform to give back, especially to the families trying to provide for their kids while also dealing with the criminal justice system.” Among the recipients was Anthony Morse, who fosters five kids as well as raising his own children.
Conducted with social distancing protocols, Meek personally FaceTimed some of the families to hear their stories as the deliveres were conducted. He also announced that he has donated $30,000 to the Philadelphia chapter of volunteer organization Twelve Days of Christmas, which aims to help families make it through the holiday season. His contribution will go towards 30 families across North Philadelphia, include those who went to his old school, James G. Blaine Elementary School.
Robert Rihmeek Williams aka Meek Mill was born and raised in Philadelphia and was executive producer and subject of the 2019 Free Meek documentary on Prime Video detailing his own personal battles with the criminal justice system.
by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)
Happy Holidays, in this fifth day of Chanukah. I’ll keep it brief this time. Other contributors are also offering Christmastime collections.
Though as is my style, this one is pretty free-wheeling. This collection has Soul, Reggae, Gospel, Ska, and Jazz Christmas tracks. (I included a few Christmas songs by the late Charley Pride too.)
[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:09mJ2j43zg3TB9ULmoJpxF”]
There are Yuletide classics from legendary artists like Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye, to recent cuts by Lil Nas X, Daveed Diggs and Sharon Jones.
I have again included tracks about food, cold weather, and songs like Love’s “Alone Again Or” that is particularly apt for Christmas 2020.
I hope these collections have been as sustaining for you to listen to as they have been for me to make them. Please enjoy this Afroclectic playlist selected for this holiday season.
There are a couple of funky Chanukah tracks include, not only because they are great, but this year in particular the Festival of Lights that celebrates a small victory in the midst of battle, has a lesson and meaning for us all.
Whatever lights you have in your window this year, it is a stalwart signal of joy and tenacity in these toughest of times.
As always stay safe, sane, and kind.
by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)
I spotted Christmas decorations in Costco by early October and Hallmark Channel has been airing non-stop holiday movies already for weeks, but like many, our family has always marked Thanksgiving to be the point where we officially kick off the holiday season, including breaking out the yuletide tunes.
With that in mind, Good Black News is happy to offer the “Ultimate Soul of the Season Christmas Soundtrack” as a playlist to guide you through the holidays with ease.
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This is a mega-playlist – 25 hours of music in honor of the 25 days of Christmas leading up to the big day. It is not meant to be listened to all in one sitting – but rather to be just one-click away as your go-to soundtrack for the month. You can set it and forget it, or hit shuffle and mix it up.
Our inspiration was to capture the mood of those many radio stations around the country that turn to a festive Christmas musical format in the month of December – but with our own specific Good Black News twist.
In our playlist, ALL the songs are by or feature Black artists. Have it on in the background for decorating, cooking, wrapping presents, or just sitting in front of the fire sipping eggnog – and in the process you’ll be supporting Black artists through your streams.
According to the Associated Press, Juneteenth has officially become a state holiday in Virginia after lawmakers unanimously approved legislation during the Virginia General Assembly special session.
Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when news of the Emancipation Proclamation and the abolition of slavery reached Texas via a Union Army general Gordon Granger, setting off celebrations among the newly freed.
Governor Ralph Northam proposed making Juneteenth a state holiday in June during a press conference that included musician and Virginia native Pharrell Williams, and issued an executive order that gave executive branch employees and state colleges the day off. Northam signed the statewide legislation on Oct. 13.
https://twitter.com/WTOP/status/1318492155321536512
by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)
No matter what your take on “Independence Day,” July 4th weekend usually provides an opportunity for Americans to get together around good food and good music.
This year however, due to the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve got to find other ways to stay connected to community and family. So although Good Black News can’t serve good food, we can serve good music!
Today we’ve got the perfect musical background for your entire weekend, as we journey back in time to offer up a massive mega-playlist of exclusively ’70s slow jams from artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Stylistics, Norman Connors, The Spinners, Shalamar, Phyllis Hyman and Rose Royce that lasts even longer than a D-Nice DJ set on Instagram.
Just set it and forget it – whether you are cooking on the BBQ, laying by the pool, reading in the shade, social distance drinking from red Solo cups in the backyard, watching the kids squirt the hose at each other, or just cleaning up the house by yourself with the windows open and the ceiling fans spinning. Crank it up and enjoy!
[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:1QeF6xFDI5kJiee98DPUu7″/]
Good Black News joins in the honoring and remembrance of the women who gave us life, nurtured and raised us, and also offered us solace, counsel and wisdom.
Many of us can’t be with the mothers or mother figures in our lives today in person due to the global COVID-19 crisis, but we are with you in voice, online and always – in spirit!
To all the mothers out there – be they Aunties, Grandmothers, Cousins or Friends – thank you for all you do!
Happy Mother’s Day!
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)
To honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2020, CBS This Morning aired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s children, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, and his granddaughter, Yolanda King, reading part of the civil rights icon’s insightful, inclusive “The American Dream” sermon, which built upon and extended his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech from 1963’s March on Washington. (See a brief history of that speech here.)
MLK Jr. originally delivered the “American Dream” speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta in 1965. To hear King himself, listen below:
To read the full transcript of “The American Dream,” go to: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/american-dream-sermon-delivered-ebenezer-baptist-church
Good Black News would like to kick off this new decade by thanking our readers and followers, old and new, for making 2019 another strong year of progress and perseverance. Even when times and events are challenging, your steady support always keeps us going!
Please continue to read, share and spread the word as GBN continues to strive to share positive information with you as often as we can as much as we can.
Best of everything to you in 2020 and beyond. Happy New Year!
