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Mathematician Katherine G. Johnson, Slugger Willie Mays and the Late Shirley Chisholm to Receive Presidential Medals Of Freedom

By goodblacknews on November 17, 2015

Shirley Chisholm, Willie Mays and Katherine G. Johnson (photo via GBN)
2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom Honorees Shirley Chisholm, Willie Mays and Katherine G. Johnson (photo via GBN)

Ninety-seven-year-old Katherine G. Johnson was a pioneer in American space history.  A NASA mathematician, Johnson’s computations have influenced every major space program from Mercury through the Shuttle program.
Willie Mays, 84, who ended his esteemed baseball career with 660 home runs, became the fifth all-time record-holder in the sport.
Shirley Chisholm made history in 1968 by becoming the first African-American woman elected to Congress. She helped found the Congressional Black Caucus, ran for president in 1972, and served seven terms in the House of Representatives.
Now, they are among 17 Americans who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the U.S., to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
President Barack Obama will present the awards on November 24 during a ceremony at the White House.

“I look forward to presenting these 17 distinguished Americans with our nation’s highest civilian honor,” the statement reads. “From public servants who helped us meet defining challenges of our time to artists who expanded our imaginations, from leaders who have made our union more perfect to athletes who have inspired millions of fans, these men and women have enriched our lives and helped define our shared experience as Americans.”

Chisholm’s medal will be presented posthumously.
Click here to read the complete list of award-winners.
article by Lynette Hollowayvia newsone.com; additions by Lori Lakin Hutcherson 

President Obama Named GQ’s ‘Man Of The Year’

By goodblacknews on November 17, 2015

ObamaGQcover
One day after Barack Obama broke the Internet – talkin’ ‘bout “folks wanna pop off” – the President of the United States has been announced as GQ Magazine’s Man of the Year, gracing the cover for a second time.
In the accompanying interview with Grantland founder and “30 for 30” co-creator, Bill Simmons, POTUS reveals some interesting tidbits about his relationship with FLOTUS, Michelle Obama, and his teenage daughters Malia and Sasha.
Read some excerpts below, courtesy of UsMagazine.com:
How his daughters operate their cell phones:
“It’s so interesting watching my daughters. Both are complete ninjas on the phone, right? And they can do things that I don’t even understand — they’re doing it in two seconds,” Obama shared. “But I even see a difference between Malia, who’s 17, and Sasha, who’s 14. There’s almost a mini-generational gap in terms of Sasha being so connected seamlessly to this smartphone in a way that Malia, who was already a little bit older when it really started to take, is not.”
The five people he would answer the phone for while on a date with Michelle:
“Malia and Sasha,” Obama told GQ with a laugh. “And maybe my mother-in-law. My national security advisor, Susan Rice, and Denis McDonough, my chief of staff. Those are the only people whose call I would take during a date night with Michelle.”
The way some people look at Malia:
The president was asked if anyone has driven up to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to pick up his eldest daughter, Malia, for a date. “No,” he replied. “But I’ve seen some folks glancing at her in ways that made me not happy.” In fact, Obama joked that he tells the Secret Service to “keep an eye on him.”
He’s like Aaron Rodgers under pressure:
The leader of the free world compared himself to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers when he’s under pressure. “One thing I learned during the campaign was that I’ve got a good temperament. I don’t get too high and I don’t get too low. I’m able to stay focused even when there’s a lot of stuff going on around me,” he shared, saying he was “maybe Rodgers in the pocket, in the sense of you can’t be distracted by what’s around you, you’ve got to be looking downfield.”
The Sandy Hook shootings are among “the worst few days” of his presidency:
“Think about 2013, right after I’d been re-elected: Our goal was to lead with a big push on immigration reform,” Obama recalled. “And then, before the second inauguration has even happened, [the school shooting at] Sandy Hook happens. Which remains, by the way, the worst few days of my presidency. I went up and visited with those families and — you know, Bill, you’ve still got small kids. These are 6-year-olds, right? And you have 20 of them who’ve been massacred. Right away, our focus had to shift to ‘Is there a way for us to capture this moment to see if we can get over this incredible hump to try to put in place some common-sense gun-safety rules?’ And we knew it was a stretch, just because of the politics of Congress and the NRA. But we had to try.”
Read the entire interview HERE.
article via blackamericaweb.com

Air Zimbabwe Makes History With 1st All-Female Flight Crew

By goodblacknews on November 17, 2015

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Captain Chipo M. Matimba and Captain Elizabeth Simbi Petros (photo via Facebook)

Air Zimbabwe made aviation history with its first all-women flight crew on Saturday. Captain Chipo M. Matimba and Captain Elizabeth Simbi Petros safely flew Flight 737 from Harare To Victoria Falls.
This moment comes right after a Niger woman, Lieutenant Ouma Laouali, became the first female pilot to serve in the country’s Armed Forces.
After the flight, Captain Simbi Petros, wrote on her Facebook page, “Air Zim First:- All Women 737 Flight Deck Crew!!!! Flt to Vic Falls This Morning. Was A pleasure Skipper Chipo Matimba!!!!!!”
The excited captains posted pictures on Facebook of the awesome moment:
Screen Shot 2015-11-17 at 3.22.04 PM
article by Keyaira Kelly via hellobeautiful.com

Denzel Washington to Receive Cecil B. DeMille Award at Golden Globes

By goodblacknews on November 16, 2015
Denzel Washington Cecil B. DeMille
Denzel Washington (UNIMEDIA IMAGES/REX SHUTTERSTOCK)

Denzel Washington has been selected as the recipient of the 2016 Cecil B. DeMille Award, to be presented at 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 10 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The award was announced by Lorenzo Soria, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, on Monday.
“Washington’s long and storied career is earmarked by his countless roles in front and behind the camera,” he said. “It is the HFPA’s privilege to honor his contributions to the entertainment industry with the Cecil B. DeMille Award.”
Washington has been nominated for seven Golden Globes and won for “Glory” and “The Hurricane.” He won Academy Awards for “Glory” and “Training Day,” and has received two Emmy nominations, one Tony Award, one BAFTA Award, one NAACP Image Award and a Grammy Award for his narration of the legend of “John Henry.”
Washington most recently appeared in “The Equalizer,” directed by Antoine Fuqua. He will be seen in Fuqua’s “The Magnificent Seven,” starring alongside Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke.
Recent recipients include George Clooney (2015), Woody Allen (2014), Jodie Foster (2013), Morgan Freeman (2012), Robert De Niro (2011), Martin Scorsese (2010), Steven Spielberg (2009), Warren Beatty (2007), Anthony Hopkins (2006), Robin Williams (2005), Michael Douglas (2004), Gene Hackman (2003), Harrison Ford (2002), Al Pacino (2001), and Barbra Streisand (2000).
article by Dave McNary via Variety.com

MUST SEE: Trailer for "True Conviction", a Documentary on Black-Owned Detective Agency Run by Exonerated Men Who Fight to Free Others

By goodblacknews on November 16, 2015
"True Conviction"
John Lindsey, Christopher Scott and Steven Phillips work to exhonerate wrongfully convicted men just like they were in documentary “True Conviction” (photo via trueconvictionfilm.com)

As I combed my RSS Feed for stories to share on GBN today, I was particularly taken by an article posted by the indefatigable Tambay A. Obenson of Shadow And Act, (the most comprehensive site on black cinema, past and present, that I have ever come across).  It was an update on a documentary project now called “True Conviction” that Obenson has been tracking on his blog for about 2 years, starting with its Kickstarter fundraising campaign in early 2013. Today, he posted the link to a seven-minute preview of the film directed by Jamie Meltzer.
I opened it to watch and was immediately riveted by the story – how three men, each convicted, imprisoned and eventually exonerated for crimes they didn’t commit – banded together to form an agency to help countless other innocent people who are still unjustly serving time.  When one of the detectives, Christopher Scott, confronts Alonso Hardy, who confessed to having committed the crime for which Scott was imprisoned, it is a moment to which every person in America should bear witness, and hopefully begin to understand and help change our devastatingly faulty and racist criminal justice system.
Even though robbed of a large chunk of their adulthoods, Scott and his partners Johnnie Lindsey and Steven Phillips dedicate their lives to helping others, because, as Scott states so poignantly at the end of the trailer:

As much as I paid for his weakness, he didn’t do this to me. It was men much more powerful than Alonso. Cops, prosecutors, D.A.s, judges… The justice system wronged me so much, you know, I had to come out and try to make a change. My whole mission is to free as many people as I can before I leave this world.

I’d embed the video if I could, but it won’t allow me.  So I am posting the link to the trailer right here:  https://vimeo.com/145864128. Additionally, if you want to sign up to receive newsletters about the film, events related to it and upcoming screenings, you can do so at trueconvictionfilm.com. 
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Founder and Editor-in-Chief (follow @lakinhutcherson)
 

Black-Owned Female Empowerment Business, Girls Auto Clinic, Wins $50,000 Investment

By goodblacknews on November 16, 2015

Patrice Banks (Image: Banks)
Patrice Banks of Girls Auto Clinic (Image: Banks)

With access to capital hard to come by for small black business owners, Patrice Banks is the proud recipient of a $50,000 prize from Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic (K4-MA). The cornerstone of the Keiretsu Forum angel investment network recently announced the winners of its third annual Angel Capital Expo.
Girls Auto Clinic is a female-empowerment business, owned and operated by Banks, who is an engineer and technician. The big winner of the coveted $100,000 investment from K4-MA was Tassl, a college-centric social network application for smartphones.
Of the $50,000 investment, $25,000 is an investment from the founders of K4-MA, with $25,000 of which being services in kind from Keiretsu Forum sponsors Drucker & Scaccetti and BakerHostetler. Keiretsu Forum is a global angel investor network with more than 1500 accredited investor members throughout 39 chapters on three continents (accredited investors are individuals who earn at least $200,000 annually and have $1 million net worth). Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic consists of four chapters that function as a single entity – Philadelphia,  Washington, D.C. Metro, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Girls Auto Clinic is an organization dedicated to changing the perception of women in the automotive industry through both education and niche marketing. Roughly less than 2% of mechanics and auto technicians are women. Through Banks’ entrepreneurial efforts, Girls Auto Clinic has been able to support the role of women in the automotive environment through trust, education and, ultimately, inclusion by changing the way men look at their female counterparts; both for the better and for all time.
Banks was tired of being a victim of sexist discrimination with auto repairs. She took that frustration and turned it into a business venture. After seeing the glaring neglect of women working in the automotive industry, she made it her personal mission to empower and educate other women car owners with her knowledge. In 2012, she decided to enroll herself in classes to become a certified mechanic. She did so while still juggling her full-time job as an engineer for a year and a half.
For more information about the Girls Auto Clinic, click here.
article by Carolyn M. Brown via blackenterprise.com

America's 1st Slavery Museum Shifts the Focus from Masters to Slaves

By goodblacknews on November 16, 2015

Dr. Ibrahima Seck points toward a marble Wall of Honor, where the names of 350 enslaved people at Whitney Plantation have been engraved. (All photos by Michael Patrick Welch via Vice.com)

When you arrive at Whitney Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana, you’re given an enslaved person’s image and story to wear for the day. Mine was Ann Hawthorne, who was 85 years old when the Library of Congress’s Federal Writer’s Project recorded her personal story of growing up enslaved on the Whitney Plantation, one of many plantations along the Mississippi’s winding River Road. Each story is printed on a laminated card that you wear around your neck—a physical manifestation of the history of slavery; a reminder that real people lived here, died here.
Billed as America’s first-ever museum dedicated exclusively to American slavery, Whitney Plantation sits amid acres of sugar cane that, on the late afternoon of my visit, swayed in a wild wind from a passing tropical depression. The plantation’s swampy land lay heavy with ankle-deep water and hummed with voracious mosquitos. A long row of black and white umbrellas leaned against the visitors’ center and gift shop so that those who had paid $22 a head to tour the grounds were not made uncomfortable by the day’s fine, cool mist of rain.
As I waited for my tour guide, a black woman with long braids led a tour group past a white church, where statues of a young Ann Hawthorne and a dozen other enslaved children seemed to stare directly at—or, really, into—the visitors, who watched a video featuring their testimony.


The entire museum is similar: You walk the same pathways that victims of chattel slavery walked, you listen to their stories in their own words, you see and hear the pieces of history that aren’t printed in textbooks or told on other plantation tours. You won’t find much information on the wealthy slaveowners on this plantation. Instead, Whitney presents slavery through the stories of those who experienced it.
The museum’s creation is owed in part to Dr. Ibrahima Seck, a tall, dark man with a florid African accent, who built the museum along with Whitney’s owner, white New Orleans attorney John Cummings. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Antebellum South, and it’s clear that everyone working at Whitney regards him as a living exhibit.
“According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Database, 60 percent of the people in Louisiana came from Senegambia, my area of Africa,” Dr. Seck told me. “So there are very strong ties here from my home.”
Seck had agreed to give me a private tour, so we climbed into his golf cart and drove past a small, rusty jail. Through its cage bars, we could see the slave masters’ 220-year-old “Big House” in the distance.
“This jail wasn’t on this plantation,” said Dr. Seck, driving faster now so the mosquitos wouldn’t catch up. “It was found in Gonzales, Louisiana, buried in the mud. At the slave markets in New Orleans, this is where the slaves were locked up before being sold.”

There is no fiction here. There is nothing you can deny here. — Dr. Ibrahima Seck

Past seven small cypress wood cabins, which at one time slept dozens of slaves apiece, Seck stopped the cart at the marble Wall of Honor, which displays the names of over 350 people who were once enslaved at Whitney, plus how much each sold for and why. Seck, who originally gleaned all this information from documents found on the property, pointed out enslaved people who were deemed less valuable: a one-armed driver, a mentally-disabled woman, an old man with a hernia. Their prices were lower, but their fate was the same.
“Mentally-disabled or old slaves might be assigned to watch the master’s toddlers or something,” Dr. Seck said. “They sold for less, but were never retired. You worked till you died.”

30 HBCU Students Receive Scholarships from Apple in $40 Million Diversity Effort

By goodblacknews on November 16, 2015

(Image: Denise Smith Young - fortune.com)
Apple VP Denise Young-Smith (photo via fortune.com)

Apple made a $40 million dollar multi-year commitment, the largest and most comprehensive corporate investment ever given exclusively for students and faculty of four-year HBCUs.  Apple awarded 30 HBCU students a one-year college scholarship and a summer internship program at Apple’s headquarters at the Leadership Institute in Washington D.C., last weekend.
Hosted by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) the students were chosen from across 47 HBCUs. The 30 Apple scholars were announced by Denise Young-Smith, vice president for worldwide human resources, Apple. Young-Smith is herself a graduate of an HBCU; Grambling State University.
“The people at Apple don’t just create products—they create the kind of wonder that’s revolutionized entire industries,” remarked Young-Smith at the ceremony. “And it’s the diversity of those people and their ideas that inspires the innovation that runs through everything we do, from amazing technology to industry-leading environmental efforts,” she said.
The Apple HBCU Scholars Program is part of the new Apple and TMCF Diversity Initiative between Cupertino and TMCF. As part of the partnership, Apple made a $40 million dollar multi-year commitment, the largest and most comprehensive corporate investment ever given exclusively for students and faculty of four-year HBCUs.
“There are ‘scholarships’ and then there are ‘scholarship programs,’” said TMCF President & CEO Johnny C. Taylor Jr. “Apple has made an historic investment in a scholarship program that will transform the lives of HBCU star students by not only removing the financial barriers to college attendance, but by providing them additional non-financial program elements like Apple mentors and summer internships. These Apple HBCU Scholars will be the future tech industry leaders.”
The scholarship includes up to $25,000 for their senior year; a summer internship in Cupertino, California; participation in a year-round program to prepare for post-graduation careers; pairing with an Apple mentor during their senior year; the opportunity to serve as Ambassadors on their campuses to build awareness about the Apple and TMCF Diversity Initiative; an invitation to attend TMCF’s Annual Leadership Institute; and participation in the Apple HBCU Immersion Experience in Cupertino.
“This program is about exposing gifted students from HBCUs to a career in technology. We’re big believers that innovation will be strongest when talented people from diverse backgrounds are part of the creative process,” said Young-Smith. “That’s why we’re so proud to be partnering with TMCF to help us find the next generation of innovators.”
One of the Apple HBCU scholars, Lauren Patterson, previously interned at Apple. She introduced Young-Smith at the event.
“I learned a lot at Apple last summer. It was a great experience working with people from all backgrounds,” said Patterson. “I love to code,” she said. Patterson wants to do anything “code-related” for a career, including being a software engineer.
Here is the full list of the Apple HBCU Scholars and their schools:
Angelica Willis, North Carolina A&T
Bethlehem Zergaw, Alabama A&M
Bushra-Sultan Yagboyaju, Fisk
Chukwuemelie Onwubuya, Allen University
Dakari Franklin, Morehouse
Darnel Williams, Grambling State University
David Nesbeth, Howard University
Deshaun Crawford, Delaware State University
Ebenezer Nkrumah, Fisk University
Grant Pope, Morehouse
Khaliq Satchell, Elizabeth City State University
Lauren Patterson, Hampton University
Malik Jones, Hampton
Maurita Ament, Spelman
Mya Havard, Spelman
Nathaniel Spindler, Fayetteville State University
Naya Coard, Spelman
Nhan Mai, Alabama A&M
Nia Farmer, Howard University
Paris Griffin, Chicago State
Richard Igbiriki, Lincoln U (PA)
Ropafadzo Ropa Denga, Spelman
Sakshyam Dahal, Claflin
Taha Merghani, Jackson State University
Tatyana Matthews, Elizabeth City State University
Timothy Baba, Huston-Tillotson/Prairie View A& M (3-2)
Todd Boone II, Prairie View A & M
Xavier Crutcher, Alabama A&M
Zanetta Tyler, North Carolina A & T
Gaston Seneza, Philander Smith
Paul Hammond, North Carolina A&T
article by Samara Lynn via blackenterprise.com

Yale University Earmarks $50 Million for Faculty Diversity Efforts

By goodblacknews on November 15, 2015

Yale students stand in solidarity with University of Missouri protests (photo by Ken
Yale students stand in solidarity with University of Missouri protests (photo by Ken Yanagisawa)

Yale University has announced a five-year, $50 million program aimed at increasing the diversity of its faculty. The university will earmark $25 million over a five-year period for faculty recruitment, faculty appointments, and emerging faculty development. Participating schools will match these funds, earmarking a total of $50 million for the effort. In addition, the university will undertake faculty development programs and will expand programs aimed at increasing the number of minority scholars in the pipeline for faculty posts.
yale-university_416x416In a letter to the campus community, Yale President Peter Salovey and Provost Ben Polak, stated that “Yale’s education and research missions are propelled forward by a faculty that stands at the forefront of scholarship, research, practice, mentoring, and teaching. An excellent faculty in all of these dimensions is a diverse faculty, and that diversity must reach across the whole of Yale — to every school and to every department.”
The two university leaders added that they “are committed to investing the significant funding and human capital that will be necessary to make this initiative a success.” But they noted that “increasing the excellence and diversity of our faculty will take more than resources; it will require the dedication and efforts of colleagues from across the university. You, the faculty of today, are our crucial partners in shaping the faculty of tomorrow. We look forward to working with you toward this important goal.”
article via jbhe.com

Gospel Star Kirk Franklin Apologizes for Homophobia in the Black Church: The Bible Isn't Written to Attack Gays

By goodblacknews on November 15, 2015
Kirk Franklin (photo via bet.com)

The Black church has, for years, been known for not being the biggest supporter of the LGBT community, but today, Kirk Franklin, a respected force in the religious community, has come forward to apologize on their behalf.
“I want to apologize for all of the hurtful and painful things that have been said about people in the church that have been talented and gifted and musical, that we’ve used and we’ve embarrassed… and all this other horrible crap that we’ve done,” he told The Grio. “We have not treated them like people. We’re talking about human beings, men and women that God has created.”
The “I Smile” crooner explained the Bible was not written as an anti-gay work, but rather, the opposite: “The Bible is not a book that’s an attack on gay people,” he said. “It’s not a book written to attack gay people. It is horrible that we have made it where the Bible is a homophobic manual.”
Bringing it all together, Franklin said that he just wants all LGBT-identifying people to know that God is in their corner. “I mean, you want to talk about things that God gets at… pride and jealousy and envy and arrogance,” he said. “But what we also see is God sending his son to save us all, because we were all… straight, gay or whatever, lost and in need of a savior, and there’s room at the cross for all of us.”
article by John Justice via bet.com