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Families of Charleston Church Massacre Victims Reach $88 Million Settlement with U.S. Justice Department

Families of Charleston Church Massacre Victims Reach $88 Million Settlement with U.S. Justice Department

By goodblacknews on October 28, 2021

The U.S. Department of Justice announced today it has reached an agreement to settle the civil cases arising out of the June 2015 Mother Emanuel AME Church mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

Nine people were killed when 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof entered Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church during Bible study and began shooting the congregants. He later confessed, saying he acted in hopes of igniting a race war.

Plaintiffs agreed to settle claims that the FBI was negligent when it failed to prohibit the sale of a gun by a licensed firearms dealer to Roof, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, who specifically targeted the 200-year-old historically African-American congregation.

The settlement provides $63 million for families of those killed in the shooting rampage and $25 million for survivors, according to lawyers involved in the agreement. For those killed in the shooting, the settlements range from $6 million to $7.5 million per claimant. For the survivors, the settlements are for $5 million per claimant.

The parties have been in litigation since 2016, including before the district court and the federal court of appeals.

“The mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church was a horrific hate crime that caused immeasurable suffering for the families of the victims and the survivors,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Since the day of the shooting, the Justice Department has sought to bring justice to the community, first by a successful hate crime prosecution and today by settling civil claims.”

On June 17, 2015, Mother Emanuel congregants welcomed a stranger who had entered their church. They invited him to participate in their Wednesday night bible study.

Tragically, at the close of the bible study, Roof shot and killed Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Tywanza Sanders, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Daniel L. Simmons, Ethel Lee Lance, Myra Thompson, Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor and Mother Emanuel’s pastor, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, also a South Carolina State Senator.

The families of the Emanuel Nine, as well as the five survivors who were inside the church at the time of the shooting, sued the government. They sought to recover for wrongful death and physical injuries arising from the shooting.

Plaintiffs asserted that the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (NICS) failed to timely discover that the shooter was a person prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm. Plaintiffs alleged that because of this delay, the shooter was able to purchase the handgun that he used to commit the atrocity.

The families sued after the FBI revealed that its system for conducting background checks failed to catch a fact that should have blocked the sale of the gun Roof used in the shooting. He bought the Glock 41 two months earlier at a shopping mall in West Columbia.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/28/1050035997/charleston-church-shooting-doj-settlement-families

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-multi-million-dollar-civil-settlement-principle-mother-emanuel

Poet and Activist Sonia Sanchez, 87, Wins the $250,000 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for 2021

Poet and Activist Sonia Sanchez, 87, Wins the $250,000 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for 2021

By goodblacknews on October 22, 2021

Esteemed poet, professor and activist Sonia Sanchez, 87, has been awarded the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for being an artist who “has pushed the boundaries of an art form” and “contributed to social change.” The prize includes a cash award of $250,000.

Sanchez has been a leading figure of the 1960s Black Arts Movement, having written more than 20 books including Homecoming, We a BaddDDD People, I’ve Been a Woman, A Sound Investment and Other Stories, Homegirls and Handgrenades, Under a Soprano Sky, Wounded in the House of a Friend (1995), Does Your House Have Lions? (1997), Like the Singing Coming off the Drums (1998), Shake Loose My Skin (1999), Morning Haiku (2010) and most recently, Collected Poems (2021).Her subjects range from Black culture, feminism, civil rights, philosophy and peace, and Sanchez, according to the New York Times, “is known for melding musical formats like the blues with traditional poetic forms like the haiku and tanka, using American Black speech patterns and experimenting with punctuation and spelling.”“When we come out of the pandemic, it’s so important that we don’t insist that we go back to the way things were,” Sanchez said to the New York Times. “We’ve got to strive for beauty, which is something I’ve tried to do in my work.”

Other notable recipients of the Gish Prize include artists such as Ava DuVernay, Spike Lee, Suzan-Lori Parks, Walter Hood and Chinua Achebe.

Among dozens of distinguished honors that Sanchez has received throughout her life Sanchez has also received the 1985 American Book Award for Homegirls and Handgrenades, the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Humanities for 1988, the Langston Hughes Poetry Award for 1999, the Wallace Stevens Award of the Academy of American Poets, the Robert Frost Medal and the Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, and the Academy of American Poets’ inaugural Leadership Award.

Howard University Receives $5 Million from Alumni Eddie C. Brown and C. Sylvia Brown, the Largest Alumni Donation in its HistorySylvia and Eddie Brown

Howard University Receives $5 Million from Alumni Eddie C. Brown and C. Sylvia Brown, the Largest Alumni Donation in its History

By goodblacknews on October 15, 2021

Howard University recently announced a $5 million gift from alumni Eddie C. Brown (B.S.E.E. ’61) and C. Sylvia Brown(B.S. ’62), donated to support the Graduation Retention Access to Continued Excellence (GRACE) Grant for students facing financial barriers. It is the largest donation from alumni in the HBCU’s 154-year history.

Eddie Brown is the founder, chairman and CEO of Brown Capital Management, a Baltimore-based asset management firm that is the second oldest African-American-owned investment management firm in the world.

“We are extremely grateful to Eddie and Sylvia for making this historic gift to Howard University,” said Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick. “The GRACE Grant has helped to eliminate financial barriers to education for Howard students, and I am thrilled that the Browns were inspired to commit such a generous gift to this important fund. My hope is that students will be inspired by their story and generosity and that others in our alumni community will consider the many ways they, too, can impact current and future generations of Howard students.”

The Browns met on Howard’s campus in 1957. Eddie came to Howard from Allentown, Pennsylvania at just 16 years old as a student in the College of Engineering, and Sylvia came to Howard from King William, Virginia as a student in what was then the College of Liberal Arts.

While equally committed to education, the couple recall two very different stories as it pertains to their opportunities to pursue a college education. Whereas Sylvia came from a family of educators and always knew she had the support to pursue higher education, Eddie’s journey to Howard was made possible because of a caring teacher and anonymous “angel” donor.

GBN Giveaway: “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar 2022 – Congratulations to the 1st Winner!

GBN Giveaway: “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar 2022 – Congratulations to the 1st Winner!

By goodblacknews on October 12, 2021

In celebration of today’s official release of our “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2022 in stores and online, as promised GBN has selected the first winner of a free copy.

Congratulations to Daphne Gervais! 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, you can order using code: GOODBLACKNEWS at Workman.com from now until December 31 and receive 20% off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Onward and upward… and good luck!

(paid links)

Maya Angelou to Appear on U.S. Quarter as Part of the 2022 American Women Series

Maya Angelou to Appear on U.S. Quarter as Part of the 2022 American Women Series

By goodblacknews on October 11, 2021

The Maya Angelou Quarter will be the first coin to be issued from in the American Women Quarters™ Program in 2022.

Other women being honored in the series include Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, Nina Otero-Warren, a leader in New Mexico’s suffrage movement and the first female superintendent of Santa Fe public schools, Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood and Dr. Sally Ride, physicist, astronaut, educator, and the first American woman in space.

Each woman will appear on the reverse (tails) side of the quarter, with George Washington’s image remaining on the obverse (heads) side of the coin.

A celebrated writer, performer, and social activist, Maya Angelou rose to international prominence  after the publication of her groundbreaking 1969 autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou’s published works of verse, non-fiction, and fiction include more than 30 bestselling titles.

Angelou’s remarkable career encompasses dance, theater, journalism, and social activism. She appeared in Broadway and off-Broadway plays, including Cabaret for Freedom, which she wrote with Godfrey Cambridge.

At the request of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Angelou served as northern coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.Angelou read “On the Pulse of Morning” at the 1992 inauguration of President Clinton. Angelou’s reading marked the first time an African American woman wrote and presented a poem at a presidential inauguration.

Angelou received more than 30 honorary degrees and was inducted into the Wake Forest University Hall of Fame for Writers. In 2010, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

She was also the 2013 recipient of the Literarian Award, an honorary National Book Award for contributions to the literary community.

(paid amazon links)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Mind Playing Tricks” – a Soulful Halloween Collection for 2021 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Mind Playing Tricks” – a Soulful Halloween Collection for 2021 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on October 11, 2021

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

“I walked forty-seven miles of barbed wire / I got a cobra snake for a necktie / A brand new house on the roadside / and it’s a-made out of rattlesnake hide / Got a brand new chimney put on top / and it’s a-made outta human skull / I’ve got a tombstone hand and a graveyard mind / I’m just twenty-two and I don’t mind dying.”

Just a few lyrics from Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love” that go a long way towards illustrating the nature of the Halloween collection. Of course, there’s Screamin Jay Hawkins and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross vocalizing overt spooky tales.

Though there are many tracks in this collection that simply reference dark imagery to warn of the perils of romantic love, and make social commentary.

Geto Boys, Brittany Howard, Funkadelic, and others all are here to tell of real-world horrors. While Alice Smith is present with an umpteenth version of “I Put A Spell On You,”  and sista manages to transform it into a statement all her own.

There are several versions of  St. Louis true folktale “Stagger Lee.” You can bet there are songs aplenty of about vampires, ghosts, and zombies too. More chills to come next week.

Until such time, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
GBN Giveaway: Enter For Chance to Win Free “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2022!

GBN Giveaway: Enter For Chance to Win Free “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2022!

By goodblacknews on October 5, 2021

Good Black News, in collaboration with Workman Publishing, is getting into the holiday spirit early — by giving away copies of our “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2022!

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 GBN will be announcing one winner a month until January 2022.

To enter 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 choose at random one winner per month and announce their names here.

As the calendar’s official drop date is next Tuesday, October 12, that’s when we will announce the first winner.

In case you can’t wait to see if you’re the lucky winner or want to buy copies for gifts to family, friends or loved ones, you can order at Workman.com using code: GOODBLACKNEWS from now until December 31, you will receive 20% off.

Onward and upward… and good luck!

MUSIC MONDAY: “Strange Things” – a Halloween Collection of Reggae (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Strange Things” – a Halloween Collection of Reggae (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on October 4, 2021

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

Happy first Monday of October! It’s your friend and selector, Marlon, back with another GBN offering.

‘Tis the season again. Halloween season, that is. Here’s the first of four October offerings. “Strange Things” is a collection of reggae, ska, and calypso hand-picked for this time of year.

This ain’t the collection to scare kids off your porch with. Though it is almost certain to make you (and them) move. Here’s a casket of new and classic reggae trucking in duppies, ghosts, vampires, zombies, and other undead creatures.

It’s scary, just how many reggae tunes there are that fall into this ghoulish category once you start, wait for it… digging.

Dad jokes aside, this playlist gathers tracks dealing with monsters and devils from the earliest ‘60s rocksteady to today’s reggaeton. More Halloween season tunes to follow next week.

Until then, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
Ibram X. Kendi, Jordan Casteel, Desmond Meade Among 2021 MacArthur “Genius” Fellows Awarded $625K Grant

Ibram X. Kendi, Jordan Casteel, Desmond Meade Among 2021 MacArthur “Genius” Fellows Awarded $625K Grant

By goodblacknews on October 2, 2021

Every year, the MacArthur Fellows Program awards its recipients a $625,000 “no strings attached” grant, an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential so they may continue to “exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society.”

In 2021, 12 of the 25 “geniuses” that have been selected and were announced this week identify as Black.

Among them are historian Ibram X. Kendi, who founded and directs the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University as well as wrote the best-selling books How to Be an Anti-Racist (2019) and Stamped From The Beginning (2016), and civil rights activist Desmond Meade who helped strike down restrictive voting laws for formerly incarcerated citizens in Florida.

Artist Jordan Casteel, internet studies and digital media scholar Safiya Noble, biological physicist Ibrahim Cissé, art historian and curator Nicole Fleetwood, film scholar, archivist and curator Jacqueline Stewart, and choreographer and dance entrepreneur Jawole Willa Jo Zollar are among the other 2021 MacArthur Fellows.

A full list (in alphabetical order) of the Black fellows and summaries of their work follow below:

Hanif Abdurraqib is a music critic, essayist, and poet using the lens of popular music to examine the broader culture that produces and consumes it. Many of the essays in Abdurraqib’s first collection, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us (2017), grew out of reviews and articles he wrote while a journalist; taken together, they form a deeply personal consideration of self-identity and the continued suffering inflicted on Black bodies at the hands of police and others. For example, he writes about attending a Bruce Springsteen concert days after visiting a memorial for Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, and struggling to reconcile his technical appreciation of the music with the racialized and gendered stories told by the lyrics.In his book Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest (2019), Abdurraqib traces the three-decade history of the pioneering hip-hop group and its impact within the larger hip-hop movement. He writes with clear affection for the group, and his assessment of the social and political atmosphere in which it operated includes reflections on how those same forces shaped his childhood and his experience of the music.

Abdurraqib delves more deeply into historical research for his most recent book, A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance (2021). His thought-provoking observations on key artists and cultural moments in music, film, dance, and comedy—ranging from William Henry Lane, a nineteenth-century minstrel dancer who performed for White audiences in blackface, to Beyoncé’s 2016 Super Bowl appearance and the dance and music television show Soul Train—form a focused analysis of Blackness and a celebration of Black identity.

New York City Public School District to Implement Black Studies Program for All Students in Grades K-12

New York City Public School District to Implement Black Studies Program for All Students in Grades K-12

By goodblacknews on September 30, 2021

The New York city school district announced a groundbreaking curriculum change yesterday to teach all children in grades K-12 in all five boroughs about the history and contributions of Black Americans, according to abc7ny.com.

The initiative will teach children about the early African civilizations, the Black experience in America and the contributions and accomplishments and contributions of the African diaspora.

To quote abc7ny.com:

“It was not until I stepped foot onto the campus of Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, a historically black all women’s college, that I gained that deeper knowledge — not just the beginning of slavery in America,” said  City Council Member Adrienne Adams, co-chair of the Black Latino and Asian Caucus.

The BLAC secured $10 million in next year’s budget for the program. That money will go to a handful of organizations including the Black Education Research Collective at Columbia University and the Eagle Academy Foundation who will help craft the curriculum.

“In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, the ensuing social unrest, and the calls for racial justice that followed the need for a systemic approach to cultivate a better a deeper appreciation of the contributions of black people within New York City Schools was more pressing than ever,” said Jawana Johnson with the Eagle Academy Foundation.

“I am so proud to be a chancellor who ushered our children back into school, but what I know is in ushering them back, they have to see and experience themselves every single day in the curriculum,” said Chancellor Meisha Porter.

The program is expected to be implemented next year.

Read more: https://abc7ny.com/amp/nyc-public-schools-black-studies-americans-african/11061658/

[Photo via video screen capture at abc7ny.com]