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STUDY: Student Activists Slowly but Steadily Forcing University Presidents to Address Racial Disparities

By goodblacknews on March 17, 2016
Members of Concerned Student 1950 celebrate after the resignation of Missouri University president Timothy M. Wolfe on the Missouri University Campus November 9, 2015, in Columbia, Missouri. Wolfe resigned after pressure from students and student athletes over his perceived insensitivity to racism on the university campus. (Photo: Brian Davidson/Getty Images)
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.

Watch: 107-Year-Old Virginia McLaurin Entertains with the Harlem Globetrotters

By goodblacknews on March 16, 2016
screen_shot_20160316_at_7.40.51_am
Virginia McLaurin and the Harlem Globetrotters (YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT)
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.
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]

First Lady Michelle Obama Writes Passionate Essay On Sacrifices Girls Make To Get An Education

By goodblacknews on March 16, 2016
First Lady Michelle Obama (SAUL LOEB VIA GETTY IMAGES)

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

How Drew Hawkins Went From Intern to 1st Black Managing Director in Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management Business

By goodblacknews on March 16, 2016

Drew Hawkins
Morgan Stanley executive Drew Hawkins (photo via black enterprise.com)

article by Courtney Connley via blackenterprise.com
As a University of Delaware finance major, Drew Hawkins recognized his love for stock markets and investing early.
After stumbling into the university’s career planning office, Hawkins was informed of a two-year unpaid internship with Morgan Stanley, then known as Dean Witter. He came on board as an intern in 1989 and as the cliché saying goes, ‘the rest is history.’
“I can remember my first couple of weeks where I saw things that intrigued me and some I found disappointing,” said Hawkins. “Number one, I didn’t see many African American financial advisors and I didn’t see that many African American clients.”
In an effort to change that dynamic, Hawkins worked his way up from intern, to financial advisor to eventually being named the first African American managing director in Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management business in 2008. Now, as head of the company’s global sports and entertainment division, which has approximately $37 billion in assets, Hawkins opens up to BlackEnterprise.com about his journey to climbing the corporate ladder.
BlackEnterprise.com: Talk about your journey to climbing the ranks at Morgan Stanley.
Hawkins: My career started out as a financial advisor. I received a call from my regional director one day who said I want you to come into my office and take the assessment exam to consider going into management. While the thought of going into a management role where I give up my entrepreneurial hustle was not compelling, it was coming from someone I respected a lot and being in management gave me the opportunity to lead and bring others into the industry.
Are there any specific challenges you faced as an African American?
There are things that are unique with being a person of color in this industry. There were some [people] I could connect with from a management perspective and get sound advice, but still they could not speak to my experiences because they hadn’t walked in my shoes. I had the experience of being the first black managing director in Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management business, and while I was excited to attain that title it was still a bit startling that in 2008 I was the first for that to occur. Fortunately, we’ve had a lot of others come in since then.
To read full article, go to: http://www.blackenterprise.com/career/drew-hawkins-intern-managing-director-morgan-stanley/
 

Senate Confirms John King Jr. as U.S. Education Secretary

By goodblacknews on March 15, 2016

John King, Jr. (middle) with President Barack Obama (photo via ischoolguide.com
John King, Jr. (middle) with President Barack Obama (photo via ischoolguide.com

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.

Motion Picture Academy Academy Increases Diversity Push by Adding Three Governors

By goodblacknews on March 15, 2016

Reginald Hudlin Gregory Nava Jennifer Yuh
Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Gregory Nava and Reginald Hudlin (REX SHUTTERSTOCK)

article by Tim Gray via Variety.com
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences furthered its efforts at diversity by adding three members to the board of governors, and six members to various board committees.
The board OK’d president Cheryl Boone Isaacs’s choices of Reginald Hudlin (directors branch), Gregory Nava (writers branch) and Jennifer Yuh Nelson (short films and feature animation). They will serve three-year terms, effective immediately.
“I’m proud of the steps we have taken to increase diversity,” said Boone Isaacs. “However, we know there is more to do as we move forward to make this a more inclusive organization.”
The board also appointed additional Academy members to each of the six board committees that provide oversight to specific Academy areas.
Actor Gael García Bernal joins the awards and events committee, chaired by first VP Jeffrey Kurland. Cinematographer Amy Vincent joins the preservation and history committee, chaired by VP John Bailey. Producer Effie Brown joins the museum committee, chaired by VP Kathleen Kennedy. Executive Marcus Hu and animator Floyd Norman join the education and outreach committee, chaired by VP Bill Kroyer.
Executive Vanessa Morrison joins the finance committee, chaired by treasurer Jim Gianopulos. Producer Stephanie Allain joins the membership and administration committee, chaired by secretary Phil Robinson.

Associated Press expands Race and Ethnicity Reporting Team Under Editor Sonya Ross

By goodblacknews on March 15, 2016
Race and Ethnicity Editor Sonya Ross. (AP Photo)
Race and Ethnicity Editor Sonya Ross. (AP Photo)

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

Nate Parker to Write Paralympic Wrestling Movie "Carry On" for Walden Media

By goodblacknews on March 14, 2016
Nate Parker Paralympic wrestling movie
Writer/Director/Actor Nate Parker (ROB LATOUR/ VARIETY/ REX/ SHUTTERSTOCK)

article by Dave McNary via Variety.com
“The Birth of a Nation” filmmaker Nate Parker will write the movie adaptation of the inspirational wrestling story “Carry On.”  Walden Media will develop, finance and produce “Carry On,” based on Lisa Fenn’s memoir that’s due to be published by HarperCollins in August.
Parker wrote, directed and starred in “The Birth of a Nation,” which debuted at Sundance in January and won the audience award and grand jury prize.
Fenn is an ESPN producer who went back to her hometown of Cleveland in 2009 to pursue a story about two disabled wrestlers who attended an impoverished public high school. Dartanyon Crockett, legally blind yet the best wrestler on the team, would carry Leroy Sutton, who had lost both his legs in a train accident when he was 11, to practices and meets.
Fenn formed a connection with the two young men and dedicated the next six years of her life to ensuring their success. Sutton graduated from college and Crockett won a bronze medal at the 2012 Paralympic Games.
To read more, go to: http://variety.com/2016/film/news/nate-parker-paralympic-wrestling-movie-carry-on-1201729655/

The Return of Black Panther: A Look at the Revival of Marvel’s 1st Black Superhero

By goodblacknews on March 14, 2016
Marvel / The Atlantic

article by Ta-Nehisi Coates via theatlantic.com

Last year I was offered the opportunity to script an 11-issue series of Black Panther, for Marvel. The Black Panther—who, when he debuted in an issue of Fantastic Four, in 1966, was the first black superhero in mainstream American comics—is the alter ego of T’Challa, the king of Wakanda, a mythical and technologically advanced African country.

By day, T’Challa mediates conflicts within his nation. By night, he battles Dr. Doom. The attempt to make these two identities—monarch and superhero—cohere has proved a rich vein for storytelling by such creators as Jack Kirby, Christopher Priest, and Reginald Hudlin. But when I got the call to write Black Panther, I was less concerned with character conflict than with the realization of my dreams as a 9-year-old.

The September 1976 cover of Jungle Action, the first Marvel series starring the Black Panther (Marvel Entertainment)

Some of the best days of my life were spent poring over the back issues of The Uncanny X-Men and The Amazing Spider-Man. As a child of the crack-riddled West Baltimore of the 1980s, I found the tales of comic books to be an escape, another reality where, very often, the weak and mocked could transform their fallibility into fantastic power. That is the premise behind the wimpy Steve Rogers mutating into Captain America, behind the nerdy Bruce Banner needing only to grow angry to make his enemies take flight, behind the bespectacled Peter Parker being transfigured by a banal spider bite into something more.
But comic books provided something beyond escapism. Indeed, aside from hip-hop and Dungeons & Dragons, comics were my earliest influences. In the way that past writers had been shaped by the canon of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Wharton, I was formed by the canon of Claremont, DeFalco, and Simonson. Some of this was personal. All of the comics I loved made use of two seemingly dueling forces—fantastic grandiosity and ruthless efficiency. Comic books are absurd. At any moment, the Avengers might include a hero drawn from Norse mythology (Thor), a monstrous realization of our nuclear-age nightmares (the Hulk), a creation of science fiction (Wasp), and an allegory for the experience of minorities in human society (Beast).

Justin Cornwell Cast as Co-Lead in CBS's "Training Day" Pilot

By goodblacknews on March 14, 2016
Cornwell
Justin Cornwell (photo via deadline.com)

article by Nellie Andreeva via deadline.com

Young Chicago actor Justin Cornwell has landed the co-lead opposite Bill Paxton in CBS’ drama pilot Training Day.

Written by Will Beall and directed by Danny Cannon, Training Day is a present-day reimagining of Antoine Fuqua’s acclaimed 2001 feature. Set 15 years after the film left off, the show centers on a bright, gung-ho, idealistic young African-American police officer, Kyle Craig (Cornwell), who is appointed to an elite squad of the LAPD where he is partnered with seasoned, morally ambiguous detective Frank Rourke (Paxton).
Cornwell’s Kyle is one of the good guys — an LAPD cop who is fearless in the face of terrible odds and driven to avenge the murder of his father, also a cop. Tapped to go undercover, Kyle is reassigned to the Special Investigation Section, where he’s supposed to take down rogue cop Rourke.
Cornwell, who started his acting career at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, is a local actor who has done guest stints on two series that film in the Windy City —  Fox’s Empire and NBC’s Chicago P.D. He also had a small part in Spike Lee Chicago-themed movie Chi-Raq.
To read more, go to: http://deadline.com/2016/03/training-day-justin-cornwell-cast-cbs-pilot-kyle-1201719908/