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Posts tagged as “Tony Allen”

Taraji P. Henson and Chris Paul to Join President Biden’s HBCU Advisory Board

Actor and Howard University graduate Taraji P. Henson and former head of the NBA Players Association and NBA star Chris Paul are among the more than a dozen top education leaders, celebrities and athletes President Joe Biden announced he is appointing to his board of advisers on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), the White House said.

The presidents of five HBCUs – Alabama State University, Virginia State University, Norfolk State University in Virginia, Dillard University in New Orleans and Prairie View A&M University in Texas – have also been appointed to the board.

To quote cnn.com:

Biden’s move comes weeks after his administration touted a $2.7 billion in funding from the American Rescue Plan that was provided to HBCUs over the past year and as HBCUs continue working to keep campuses safe after dozens received bomb threats in recent months.

The group is made of “qualified and diverse leaders” and appointing them to the board “will allow the administration to build on that financial commitment with continued institutional support,” the White House said.

The 18 appointees will join Tony Allen, the president of Delaware State University, and Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover, who currently serve as chair and vice chair of the board.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/politics/biden-hbcu-advisory-board-appointees/index.html

MUSIC MONDAY: “Blackman Know Yourself” – Celebrating Afrobeat (LISTEN)

[Photo credit: Fela Kuti by Leni Sinclair / Getty Images]

The roots of Afrobeat began in Ghana during the early 1920s. When musicians incorporated influences like the foxtrot and calypso with Ghanaian rhythms like osibisaba (Fante).

Nigerian artists later solidified the Afrobeat groove in the late ’60s led by Fela Kuti. The sound is a complex fusion of jazz, funk, soul, Ghanaian highlife, psychedelic rock and traditional West African chants and rhythms.

This playlist features Kuti, his longtime collaborator Tony Allen, and his sons Femi and Seun. Plus The Funkees, Antibalas, Angélique Kidjo, Chicago Afrobeat Project, William Onyeabor, The Lijadu Sisters, and many other originators and modern practitioners of the art.

Enjoy, and don’t even try to sit still while it’s on.  Until next week, stay safe, sane, and kind.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:0F5CPmd4JNblXRZGsMTxan”/]

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

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)