BBN February '17 by Black Business News Group

Publisher's Message

f this xxx has not left your mouths gaping open, then the other and most significant problem we have as a culture, is the matter of the heart – when we no longer care or feel for each other. Most alarming is that these statistics reflect more of self-hatred, than of self-love. To my earlier point, I want to challenge each of you to make a new and/or renewed commitment to our current and future history. How? By incorporating the visions and goals of those who have labored before us. To choose better leaders. We can do this by: • Exercising our voting rights in a manner that we only go with candidates with a plan and a true commitment. • Supporting predominately Black faith-based Pubisher/Chief Executive Officer organizations and churches that lead by example – investing the donations and contributions received weekly from its members, back into Black-owned businesses. • Stop consenting to the innocent slaughter of our future (unborn babies in the womb), cloaked under the guise of Planned Parenthood…aka plans for Blacks not to have a future generation. • Economic Empowerment – Drawing from the lessons learned from Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, WEB DuBois, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Booker T. Washington, Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Matthew Gaines, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Mary McLeod Bethune, Charles Drew and many others who contributed to our society overall, led by example, and brought about positive change and encouragement to the African American culture, no matter their political affiliation.

Earl “Skip” Cooper, II

February is Black History Month, and is very important to us as a race, culture and people. Not for Blacks only, but for all Americans, as our contributions to this nation expand beyond blood, sweat and tears. Black History Month, also known as AfricanAmerican History Month in America, is an annual observance in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in February, and the United Kingdom in October. The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life

Black Business News Group P.O. Box 43159 Los Angeles, CA 90043 USA 1-323-291-7819 Fax: 1-323-298-5064

www.blackbusinessnews.net PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Earl “Skip” Cooper, II

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Sarah Harris Dean L. Jones Phyllis Dixon

ENTREPRENEUR EDITOR Kim Anthony

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Linda Ware

PRODUCTION MANAGER Narishima Osei

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dean Jones Linda Ware Ralph D. Sutton Timothy Lester, Jr. Veronica Hendrix Giavanna Foster P. Yvette Thomas Aman Williams LaSandra Stratton

GRAPHIC DESIGN Sarah Harris Tia Robinson

STORY EDITORS Wanda Flagg Jennifer Marie Hamilton

PHOTOGRAPHY Ian Foxx Sabir Narishima Osei

CONTENT ADMINISTRATOR La Sandra Stratton

LAYOUT/TYPESETTING Lion Communications Copyright © 2017 by Black Business News All Rights Reserved. The posting of stories, commentaries, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) on this site does not in any way, shape or form, implied or otherwise, necessarily express or suggest endorsement or support of any of such posted material or parts therein. 

see Publisher's Message on page 16 3  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

About

ABOUT THE BLACK BUSINESS NEWS GROUP… The mission of The Black Business News is to inspire and inform public and private sector industry representatives on the importance of smart small business growth. As a versatile source of socioeconomic development activity news, the publications of the Black Business News Group impart current local, national and international industry and social trends and news affecting small businesses across the United States of America (USA), providing guides to greater access to financial capital, management efficiencies, business education, mentorship opportunities and social media networks. The goals of the Black Business News Group include:

2017 Black Business Association Upcoming Events

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promoting USA-based black-owned business enterprises to a world wide audience.

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oﬀering business growth enhancing information on education, exhibitioning, international trading, technology, industry trends, and more.

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cexploring major public and private sece tor contracting methods to educate s. black-owned and operated enterprises.

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providing an aﬃrmative inﬂuence forr emerging entrepreneurs by sharing in-novative design and creative culturall content that exposes them to the history of black enterprises and urges them to participate in the USA’s future.

Salute to Black Music

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advocating and promoting on behalf of black-owned businesses by promoting the need for expanding an economic foundation that supports an unfettered and self-sustained urban society with USA job creation and economic opportunity, where usiness enterprises. blacks work, live and operate viable business

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Contents

Black Business News…February 2017 3

Publisher's Message

Government 12 13 14 18

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) MBDA $2 Million Solicitation for Special Projects and Programs Another Travel Ban - Revoke Passports for Unpaid Taxes IOT Home Inspector Challenge

Civil Rights Will Suﬀer Under Sessions

Business 33 42 50 54 60 76 77

Medium.com - a Business Builder. Websites for Life Long Learners Create a Winning Digital Platform What Beyoncé’s Record-Breaking Instagram Post Can Teach PR Pros RushCard Customers will get $10 Million in Restitution Google Launches Android Wear 2.0, LG Oﬀers First Watches Facebook Adds Tools for Finding Help to Safety Check Feature

Community/Public Interest 51 92 96 100 101 103

International

Entertainment 21

BBN Show Biz Buzz

Focus: Black History Month 24 25 28 43 70 73 86

Breaking Racial Barriers in Military Medicine If You Don't Remember, You'll Always Forget who You Really Are The Forgotten History of Black American Designers Young Harriett Tubman Bill Freeman - A True Renaissance Man The Crisis in Black Education: Crafting Mirrors Where Kids Can See Themselves The Crisis in Black Education: Reaching Students Where They Are

Editorials/Perspectives 30 34

New App Helps Students Find Their Ideal HBCU Brooklyn Principal Inspires Young Girls with Curriculum Built Around ‘Fierce Females’ Remembering Al Jarreau Walter 'Junie' Morrison dies at 62 Peter Abrahams, Pan-Africanist Tributes to Dorothy C. Randle

Trump Shows he Revels in Dangerous Chaos Songs In A Key Called Baltimore

105 106 107 108 112

Angola's President Dos Santos to Step Down International Mother Language Day Nadir Tati, Pearl of Angola AFCON 2017 Africans Take to the Rails

Columns 88 110 117 146 150 151

Take A Look! African Stock Exchanges Shopping Gallery Books to Consider... BBA Master Planner Resource Vault

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Government

NATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH, 2017 ------BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION

s we celebrate National African American History Month, we recognize the heritage and achievements of African Americans. The contributions African Americans have made and continue to make are an integral part of our society, and the history of African Americans exemplifies the resilience and innovative spirit that continue to make our Nation great. For generations, African Americans have embodied the shared progress of our Nation. Through toil and struggle and with courageous actions that have broken barriers, they have made America a better place to live and work for everybody. Women like Katherine Katherine Johnson receives Johnson, a pioneer Medal of Freedom from in space history whose work helped President Barack Obama America win the Space Race, and Madam C.J. Walker, who became one of the most successful female entrepreneurs of her time, paved the way for both women and African Americans in their respective fields. Robert Smalls, a man born into slavery, founded our Nation's first free and compulsory public school system. Later in life, he served as a lawmaker in South Carolina's State legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. The strength and determination of men and women like these remind us that our Nation brims with people whose contributions continue to make it stronger and better. This year, African American History Month calls upon us to reflect on the crucial role of education in the history of African Americans. It reminds us of the importance of teaching and reflecting upon the many roles African Americans have played in building this Nation and driving it forward. This year's theme also calls upon us to rededicate ourselves to the work of ensuring that all children in this Nation have access to quality educational opportunities that give them the skills, experiences, relationships, and credentials 8  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

that can empower them to follow in the footsteps of people like Katherine Johnson, Madam C.J. Walker, and Robert Smalls. As we journey toward a stronger, more united Nation, let us use this commemoration of African American History Month to serve as a reminder of the need for meaningful dialogue and shared commitment to collective action that uplifts and empowers, as well Robert Smalls, as of the strength, member, U.S. ingenuity, and p e r s e v e r a n ce House of required of us in Representatives the years to come. N O W , THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 2017 as National African American History Month. I call upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-first.  DONALD J. TRUMP. www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/02/ president-donald-j-trump-proclaims-february-nationalafrican-american

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Government

STDA released its FY 2016 Annual Report (www.ustda.

gov/news/press-releases/2017/ us-trade-and-development-agencyreleases-2016-annual-report), which

highlights its successful eﬀorts opening emerging markets for the export of U.S. goods and services while promoting sustainable development abroad. "The Annual Report articulates how USTDA's programs enable

U.S. companies to create partnerships with emerging markets and, most importantly, introduce U.S. solutions that can meet development challenges in those markets," - Director Zak The Report includes USTDA's toolkit (www.ustda.gov/sites/default/

programs are creating jobs at home while advancing economic growth abroad. The stories highlight publicprivate partnerships that are: • Deploying solar power generation in Jordan • Strengthening aviation safety and files/USTDA%202016%20Annual%20 security in Brazil Report_Agency%20Toolkit.pdf) and • Supporting integrated smart cities features success stories that across India demonstrate how the Agency's

UPCOMING USTDA EVENTS Global Smart Grid Regulatory Reverse Trade Mission Date: January 28 - February 4, 2017

Cities: San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA

USTDA is hosting the Global Smart Grid Regulatory Reverse Trade Mission. It will provide U.S. companies with opportunities to meet with over 20 utility executives and regulators from 9 high-growth emerging markets who are investing in advanced technology solutions for their electricity grids. The delegation will include Minister and C-level executives from the following countries: Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, South Africa, and Turkey

Global Smart Grid Business Brieﬁng Date: February 2, 2017

City: San Diego, CA

As part of the Global Smart Grid Regulatory Reverse Trade Mission, there will be a Breakfast Business Brieﬁng. This event will provide a forum for high-level representatives from distribution companies around the globe, including Brazil, South Africa, Colombia, Nigeria, and Panama, to share information with U.S. companies on their needs, upcoming procurements and plans for grid development.

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Government

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)

he Minority Business Development Agency is well positioned to take a pragmatic approach to increase the number of minority business enterprises (MBEs) that participate in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small

Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs and to assist in their success. As minority firms continue to face challenges in seeking the appropriate resources and capital to spur technology development, MBDA is prepared to collaborate with the 11 Federal agencies currently managing SBIR/STTR programs to maximize participation among MBE’s, academia and industry. The minority business community is uniquely situated to leverage federal R&D funds and private sector resources to bring viable products to market. Small Business Innovation Research The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a highly competitive program that encourages domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development (R/R&D) that has the potential for commercialization. Through a competitive awards-based program, SBIR enables small businesses to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from its commercialization. By including qualified small businesses in the nation's R&D arena, high-tech innovation is stimulated and the United States gains entrepreneurial spirit as it meets its specific research and development needs. The Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) is another program that expands funding opportunities

in the federal innovation research and development (R&D) arena. Central to the program is expansion of the public/private sector partnership to include the joint venture opportunities for small businesses and nonprofit research institutions. The unique feature of the STTR program is the requirement for the small business to formally collaborate with a research institution in Phase I and Phase II. STTR's most important role is to bridge the gap between performance of basic science and commercialization of resulting innovations. SBIR/STTR Learning Center The On-Line Tutorials is a set of courses designed to help interested parties learn more about the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. As individuals learn in different ways, information in each course is presented in three different formats. Online Courses - www.sbir.gov/tutorials SBIR/STTR Events - www.sbir.gov/events SBIR/STTR Funding - www.sbir.gov/sbirsearch/ topic/current Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) Program Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) Program is a competitive grants program designed to strengthen the technological competitiveness of small businesses. It improves the participation of small technology firms in the innovation and commercialization of new technology, thereby helping keep the United States on the cutting edge of research and development in science and technology. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and the American Samoa may receive funding for an array of services (e.g., outreach and technical assistance) in support of the Small Business Innovation Research SBIR/STTR programs. Need assistance with SBIR/STTR then contact a FAST representative today!  www.mbda.gov/pressroom/inclusive-innovation/smallbusiness-innovation-research-sbir-and-small-businesstechnology-transfer-sttr

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Government

MBDA has Announced a $2 Million Solicitation for Special Projects and Programs

he Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) has announced a solicitation for special projects and programs associated with MBDA’s strategic plans and mission goals, as well as to provide the general public with information and guidelines on how MBDA will select proposals and administer discretionary Federal assistance under this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA).

COMPETITION ID 2004926 This BAA is a mechanism to encourage proposals for new programs, education, outreach, innovative projects or sponsorships that are not addressed through the business center program. This announcement is not a method for awarding congressionally directed funds or existing funded awards.

Project/Award Period The total funding period for the awards made under this solicitation varies based on the proposal, but may be proposed for up to two (2) years. MBDA expects a total of approximately $2,000,000.00 per year to fund the financial assistance awards under this Announcement through FY 2017.

Program Priorities As the primary agency responsible for promoting and strengthening minority businesses, MBDA acts

in concert with those partners and stakeholders in the federal, state, and local governments, and in private organizations that share MBDA’s overall and strategic goals. Over the past few years, MBDA has established key priorities that correspond to activities designed to overcome the unique challenges faced by minority businesses. These are: 1. Inclusive Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship; 2. Business and Economic Rehabilitation in the Gulf States; 3. Federal Contracting Transition and Sustainability; 4. MBE Community Business Access to Capital; and 5. Business Innovation for the Next Generation.

adhere to the full Announcement of BAA. A completed application must be transmitted and time-stamped at www.Grants.gov no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on June 21, 2017. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

Questions Applicants with questions may contact Ms. Joann J. Hill, MBDA Chief of the Office of Business Development U.S. Department of Commerce, at (202) 482-1940 or jhill@mbda.gov; or Nakita Chambers, MBDA Program Manager U.S. Department of Commerce, at (202) 482-0065 or nchambers@mbda.gov. 

Eligible Applicants For-profit entities (including but not limited to soleproprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies and corporations), non-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, commercial organizations, individuals, state and local government entities, Indian Tribal governments are eligible to apply.

Submission Requirements Applicants must review and

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Government

Another Travel Ban: IRS Moves to Revoke Passports for Unpaid Taxes by Robert W. Wood President Trump's executive order on travel may be generating big protests, but an IRS missive on travel and passports may not go down too well either. More than a year ago, in H.R.22, Congress gave the IRS a new weapon to collect taxes. Tax code Section 7345 is labeled, “Revocation or Denial of Passport in Case of Certain Tax Delinquencies.” The law isn't limited to criminal tax cases, or even cases where the IRS thinks you are trying to flee. The idea of the law is to use travel as a way to enforce tax collections. It was proposed and rejected in 2012. But by late 2015, Congress passed it and President Obama signed it. Now, over a year later, the IRS has finally released new details on its website. If you have seriously delinquent tax debt, IRS can notify the State Department. The State Department generally will not issue or renew a passport after receiving certification from the IRS. The IRS has not yet started certifying tax debt to the State Department. The IRS says certifications will begin in early 2017, and the IRS website will be updated to indicate when this process has been implemented. Here is the new information from the IRS. Seriously delinquent tax debt is an individual's unpaid, legally enforceable federal tax

debt totaling more than $50,000 (including interest and penalties, but subject to an inflation adjustment) for which: • A notice of federal tax lien has been filed and all administrative remedies under IRC § 6320 have lapsed or been exhausted or • A levy has been issued Some tax debt is not included in determining seriously delinquent tax debt even if it meets the above criteria. It includes tax debt: • Being paid in a timely manner under an installment agreement entered into with the IRS • Being paid in a timely manner under an offer in compromise accepted by the IRS or a settlement agreement entered into with the Justice Department • For which a collection due process hearing is timely requested in connection with a levy to collect the debt • For which collection has been suspended because a request for innocent spouse relief under IRC Section 6015 has been made Before denying a passport, the State Department will hold your application for 90 days to allow you to: • Resolve any erroneous certification issues

• Make full payment of the tax debt • Enter into a satisfactory payment alternative with the IRS There is no grace period for resolving the debt before the State Department revokes a passport. Taxpayer Notification. The IRS is required to notify you in writing at the time the IRS certifies seriously delinquent tax debt to the State Department. The IRS is also required to notify you in writing at the time it reverses certification. The IRS will send written notice by regular mail to your last known address. Reversal Of Certification. The IRS will notify the State Department of the reversal of the certification when: • The tax debt is fully satisfied or becomes legally unenforceable. • The tax debt is no longer seriously delinquent. • The certification is erroneous. The IRS will provide notice as soon as practicable if the certification is erroneous. The IRS will provide notice within 30 days of the date the debt is fully satisfied, becomes legally unenforceable or ceases to be seriously delinquent tax debt. A previously certified debt is no longer seriously delinquent when: • You and the IRS enter into an installment agreement allowing you to pay the debt over time. • The IRS accepts an offer in compromise to satisfy the debt. • The Justice Department enters into a settlement agreement to satisfy the debt. • Collection is suspended because you request innocent spouse relief under IRC Section 6015. • You make a timely request for a collection due process hearing in connection with a levy to collect the debt. The IRS will not reverse

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certification where a taxpayer requests a collection due process hearing or innocent spouse relief on a debt that is not the basis of the certification. Also, the IRS will not reverse the certification because the taxpayer pays the debt below $50,000. Judicial Review. If the IRS certified your debt to the State Department, you can file suit in the U.S. Tax Court or a U.S. District Court to have the court determine whether the certification is erroneous, or the IRS failed to reverse the certification when it was required to do so. If the court determines the certification is erroneous or should be reversed, it can order reversal of the certification. IRC Section 7345 does not provide IRC Section 7345 does not provide the court authority to release a lien or levy or award money damages in a suit to determine whether a certification is erroneous. You are not required to file an administrative claim or otherwise contact the IRS to resolve the erroneous certification issue before filing suit in the U.S. Tax Court or a U.S. District Court. Payment of Taxes. If you can’t pay the full amount you owe, you can make alternative payment arrangements such as an installment agreement or an offer in compromise and still keep your U.S. passport. If you disagree with the tax amount or the certification was made in error, you should contact the phone number listed on Notice CP 508C. If you’ve already paid the tax debt, please send proof

of that payment to the address on the Notice CP 508C. If you recently filed your tax return for the current year and expect a refund , the IRS will apply the refund to the debt and if the refund is sufficient to satisfy your seriously delinquent tax debt, the account is considered fully paid. Passport Status. If you need to verify whether your U.S. passport has been cancelled or revoked, you should contact the State Department by calling the National Passport Information Center at 877-487-2778. If you need your U.S. passport to keep your job, once your seriously delinquent tax debt is certified, you must fully pay the balance, or make an alternative payment arrangement to keep your passport. Once you’ve resolved your tax problem with the IRS, the IRS will reverse the certification within 30 days of resolution of the issue. Travel. If you’re leaving in a few days for international travel and need to resolve passport issues, you should call the phone number listed

on Notice CP 508C. If you already have a U.S. passport, you can use your passport until you’re notified by the State Department that it’s taking action to revoke or limit your passport. If the Secretary of State decides to revoke a passport, the Secretary of State, before making the revocation, may— • Limit a previously issued passport only for return travel to the United States; or • Issue a limited passport that only permits return travel to the United States. If your passport is cancelled or revoked, after you’re certified, you must resolve the tax debt by paying the debt in full, making alternative payment arrangements or showing that the certification is erroneous. The IRS will notify the State Department of the reversal of your certification within 30 days of the date the tax debt is resolved.  www.forbes.com/sites/ robertwood/2017/02/02/another-travelban-irs-moves-to-revoke-passportsfor-unpaid-taxes/#260127bb7df6

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and History announced the second week of February to be "Negro History Week." This week was chosen because it coincided with the birthday of Abraham Lincoln on February 12 and of Frederick Douglass on February 14, both of which dates Black communities had celebrated together since the late 19th century. From the event's initial phase, primary emphasis was placed on encouraging the coordinated teaching of the history of American blacks in the nation's public schools. The ﬁrst Negro History Week was met with a lukewarm response, gaining the cooperation of the Departments of

steps ever taken by the Association," and plans for a repeat of the event on an annual basis continued apace. The expansion of Black History Week to Black History Month was ﬁrst proposed by the leaders of the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969. The ﬁrst celebration of the Black History Month took place at Kent State one year later, in February 1970. In 1976 as part of the United States Bicentennial, the informal expansion of Negro History Week to Black History Month was

Education of the states of North Carolina, Delaware, and West Virginia as well as the city school administrations of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Despite this far from universal acceptance, the event was regarded by Woodson as "one of the most fortunate

oﬃcially recognized by the U.S. government. President Gerald Ford spoke in regards to this, urging Americans to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of

Publisher's Message from page 3

endeavor throughout our history." At the time of Negro History Week's launch, Woodson contended that the teaching of black history was essential to ensure the physical and intellectual survival of the race within broader society: “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated. The American Indian left no continuous record. He did not appreciate the value of tradition; and where is he today? The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradition, as is attested by the Bible itself. In spite of worldwide persecution, therefore, he is a great factor in our civilization." Our past as business people has a long history as well – remember Black Wall Street? Additionally, the National Negro Business League (NNBL) was an American organization founded in Boston in 1900 by Booker T. Washington to promote the interests of African American businesses. The mission and main goal of the National Negro Business League was "to promote the commercial and financial development of the Negro." It was recognized as "composed of Negro men and women who have achieved success along business

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Government

Travel Ban Aﬀects US-Niger Trade Mission

US-NIGER & COTE D'IVOIRE TRADE MISSION RESCHEDULED The African Global Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) in collaboration with the Global Institute of Sustainable Development (Chicago State University) would like to inform you that due to visiting countries technical matters, the trade mission to Niger and Côte d’Ivoire has been rescheduled for a later date that will be communicated to you very soon. We present our sincere apologies to all business men and women that have expressed interest in participating in this mission. Deﬁnitely, we will consult with you for the new date. Once again thank you for your continued interest.  Team - Trade Mission (See January 207 Black Business News (xxx) page xxx for trade Mission announcement and details)

lines”. It grew rapidly with 320 chapters in 1905 and more than 600 chapters in 34 states in 1915. In 1966, the League was renamed

and reincorporated in Washington D.C. as the National Business League. It remains in operation. I want to challenge each of our readers to either make a ﬁrst time commitment, or renew an existing commitment to make each Black History month recognition and celebration truly historic. But ﬁrst let me start by saying we are long overdue from incorporating genuine care and love for ourselves and others of our culture. This is clearly evidenced from the continual surge of Black-on-Black crime, lack of

financial and social resources, the breakdown of our families and communities; and the sorely missed support of supporting Black-owned businesses. Our failure to support Black-owned businesses, and failed immigration polices has not only displaced many African Americans, but has had significant financial and a negative employment impact to Black people and the communities in which they live. The BBA will be hosting its annual Salute to Black Women Business Conference & Vendor Faire and Award Luncheon on March 25, 2017, in Los Angeles. As the President and CEO of the Black Business Association (BBA), I wanted to share how impressed I was and to remind our readers and see Publisher's Message on page 27

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$25,000 prize to winner of Internet of Things Home Inspector Challenge By: Lesley Fair

t’s a challenge that could result in a prize of as much as $25,000 for a creative tech tinkerer. The out-of-the-box innovators from “Ghostbusters” were famous for inventing a backpack-mounted positron collider to neutralize malicious ectoplasmic entities. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants to help protect consumers from something equally dangerous: security weaknesses in the software of home devices connected to the Internet of Things. So we’re sponsoring the Internet of Things Home Inspector Challenge, a contest to create a tool to address vulnerabilities caused by outof-date software in IoT devices

(www.ftc.gov/news-events/pressreleases/2017/01/ftc-announcesinternet-things-challenge-combatsecurity).

With the advent of the smart home, more of us are relying on internetconnected – and interconnected – devices to operate our appliances, manage home security, monitor our health, etc. The beneﬁts are undeniable, but those devices also pose potential security risks. Compounding the problem is that the nature of those risks changes, necessitating security updates and patches. As a result, ﬁrst-generation protections may be useless against second-generation threats. But how do consumers know if

their internet-connected devices they use at home have the most up-to-date security software? That’s where you and the IoT Home Inspector Challenge come in. We’re asking innovators to come up with a tech solution to the security vulnerabilities caused when IoT household products are running out-of-date software. Perhaps it’s a physical device people could add to their home networks that would install security updates for other devices on that network. Or it could be an app, cloud-based service, or dashboard. Or maybe it’s something entirely diﬀerent that you’ve been noodling through for some time now. Come up with the idea selected by an expert panel of ﬁve judges and you could win the big prize. (Submissions that earn an honorable mention could win up to $3,000.)

Here are some important details: Submissions will be accepted between March 1, 2017, and 12 noon EDT on May 22, 2017. In the initial stage, judges will assess each entrant’s abstract or video. Based on that, they will select up to 20 entrants to move to the ﬁnal round. That’s when the judges will review those entrants’ complete submissions. (Please read the rules, criteria, and registration

information carefully. We’ve posted some preliminary FAQs, but check the IoT Home Inspector Challenge homepage (www.ftc.gov/iot-homeinspector-challenge) for details as the March 1st opening date draws near.) Winners will be announced on July 27, 2017, or thereabouts. Even if you don’t enter the Challenge, there are other dos and dont’s that industry members should heed. Read the FTC’s Careful Connections: Building Security in the Internet of Things (www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/businesscenter/guidance/careful-connectionsbuilding-security-internet-things) and

Start with Security: A Guide for Business (www.ftc.gov/tipsadvice/business-center/guidance/ start-security-guide-business) for

compliance basics. Also, the Challenge in no way changes the fundamental principle that IoT companies must honor their privacy and security promises and refrain from unfair practices.  www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/ business-blog/2017/01/25000-prizewinner-internet-things-home-inspectorchallenge

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Use Your Senses to Spot a Gas Leak To help keep your community safe and secure, use your senses of sight, hearing or smell to alert you to any of the following signs of a natural gas leak. LOOK

WHAT TO DO IF YOU SUSPECT A GAS LEAK

• A damaged connection to a gas appliance

• Remain calm

• Exposed pipeline after an earthquake, ﬁre, ﬂood or other disaster

• Don’t light a match, candle or cigarette • Don’t turn electrical appliances or lights on or off or use any device that could cause a spark • Natural gas leaking from a plastic pipe can create static electricity which can ignite the gas • Immediately evacuate the area, and from a safe location, call 800-427-2200, 24 hours a day, seven days a week; or call 911

• Dirt or water being blown in the air • Dead or dying vegetation (in an otherwise moist area) over or near gas pipeline areas • A ﬁre or explosion near a pipeline

LISTEN • An unusual sound, such as a hissing, whistling or roaring sound near a gas line or appliance

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BBN Show Biz Buzz By Linda Ware

Serena Williams: The Greatest of All Time

Venus Williams Open women’s final also featured Serena’s sister, Venus Williams, 36, who is also excelling at an age when most other players have chosen to retire).  https://longreads.com/2017/01/30/serena-williamsand-roger-federer-the-greatest-of-all-time/

1A, New Radio/Podcast Show

Serena Williams

n January 2017, Serena Williams won the Singles Title at the Australian Open, the first major tennis tournament of 2017. The achievement by one of the greatest tennis players of all-time was remarkable for several reasons: Serena Williams set an Open Era record with 23 Grand Slam Women's Singles titles under her belt. Williams, at the ripe old tennis age of 35, demonstrated athletic excellence in a sport dominated by 20-somethings (I should also note that the Australian

Joshua Johnson

Stephen Voss/Courtesy of WAMU

21  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

on NPR/ WAMU

P R member station WAMU has announced a new live two-hour show called 1A to be hosted by Joshua Johnson, cocreator and host of the radio series Truth Be Told about race in America. The name of the new show is Donate to the Nigeria represeentative of one our most treasured national principals - the First Amendment. 1A launched at the start of the new year, with the first episode airing Jan. 2 at 10 a.m. ET. On the radio and as a podcast, the show will seek "to tell stories more creatively, to explore ideas beyond our own, and to refocus on serving others." Johnson spent more than five years as the morning news host for member station KQED in San Francisco and teaches podcasting at the University of California, Berkeley journalism school. 1A is produced at WAMU in Washington, D.C., but the station writes that the show will be "in touch with communities across the country." "With a name inspired by the 1st amendment, 1A will explore important issues such as policy, politics, technology, and what connects us across the fissures that divide the country. The program also will delve into lighter subjects such as pop culture, sports, and humor. ... The show will act as a national mirror — taking time to help America look at itself and to ask what it wants to be."  http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwoway/2016/11/16/502290355/as-diane-rehm-retireswamu-launching-new-midday-show-called-1a

Winter Olympics 2018 Tickets Going on Sale in February 2017

Bobsled Team on GOFUNDME.COM

he South Korean county is set to host the Winter Olympics in 2018 and tickets will officially go on sale on 9 February, which will mark one year until the launch of the games. While the Olympic Games tend to bring travellers from all around the world, organisers are hoping that 70% of tickets will be sold locally, and 30% of visitors will come from overseas. The games, which will run from 9-25 February, 2018, will likely appeal to residents of Asia as the Chinese New Year holiday falls over the middle weekend of the Games. While people in South Korea can buy their tickets on the official website, the National Olympic Committees of other countries will sell tickets through local authorised ticket re-sellers, which will roll out from February onwards. Costs will vary, but tickets for the opening ceremony are priced in four tiers, with the most expensive seats costing ₩1.2 million (US$1050), with the cheapest seats costing ₩200,000 (US$175). While the Pyeongchang region is more off-thebeaten-path than the 1988 host city of Seoul, there are efforts to make it more accessible for travellers. A new high-speed railway that will take travellers from Seoul to the ski slopes in less than two hours will be ready for testing this summer. Hope to cheer for Nigeria's Bobsled team at the games.  www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2017/01/26/ pyeongchang-olympics-tickets/#ixzz4XxPednaP see page 23

22  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

BBN Show Biz Buzz from BBN Show Biz Buzz on page 22

David Oyelowo on Why #OscarsSoWhite Isn't Over With his latest film, A United Kingdom, hitting theaters soon, David Oyelowo, 40, sat down with USA TODAY to talk about why #OscarsSoWhite is far from over and how Donald Trump's election has changed discussions at home with his children.

disproportionate amount of recognition for playing slaves domestic servants, criminals, sports stars and musicians," he says. "We are so much more than that." To see Spencer recognized for playing a positive, real-life role, "that’s a change. That’s different. I’m looking forward to more of that.” On why #OscarsSoWhite is far from over: "It would be naïve and very shortsighted to think this is the end of the challenges faced by people of color in relation to the movie industry. The infrastructure that enabled two years of #OscarsSoWhite is still very much in place," he says. "You could argue in relation to women (directors), it’s worse."

On why having a seat at the table matters in Hollywood:

David Oleyowo On why Octavia Spencer's Oscar nomination is so important: The actor seeks out roles that celebrate a different side of the black experience, which is partly why he’s overjoyed to see Octavia Spencer’s Oscar nomination for playing a NASA mathematician in Hidden Figures. “There’s a

Oyelowo, who has expanded his producing credentials with such projects as Captive, HBO's Nightingale and A United Kingdom, stresses how imperative is is to have people of color in decision-making positions in Hollywood. "I can insist upon who I want to direct a film, as a producer," says Oyelowo, who pushed for Amma Asante (Belle) to direct his latest film. "Basically, we’ve just got to accept that people are biased. They exercise their bias in daily life in what they do and in what they want to see in the world, and so you’ve just got to spread the love, so people of different backgrounds, races and genders can exercise their bias."

On why 'A United Kingdom' skipped the awards race: Fox Searchlight acquired A United Kingdom last fall at Toronto Film Festival, but decided to hold

the film until 2017 to avoid being crowded out by the crush of prestige projects at the holiday box office. "Awards season is wonderful when you’re one of those handful of films that gets anointed, and I really mean that," he says. "I don’t necessarily think it's always to do with the quality of the film. There’s kind of an alchemy that takes place and you can never predict it." On what he's teaching his sons after Trump's election: The British-Nigerian actor, who recently became a U.S. citizen, says the election has put the onus on parents. “As a father who wants his sons to have the utmost respect for women, to not objectify women ... and then that kind of behavior being condoned by being afforded the highest office in the land, you have to say, 'OK, fine, yes, we apparently live in a country where that can get you all the way — but not in this house,' " he says.  www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/ movies-oscars/david-oyelowo-on-whysupernumberoscarssowhite-isnt-over/arAAmFYDU?li=AA2qN5v&ocid=spartandhp

23  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Focus - Black History Month / "The Crisis in Black Education"

Breaking Racial Barriers in Military Medicine By Reviewer: A. A. Nofi, Review Editor African American Doctors of World War I: The Lives of 104 Volunteers by W. Douglas Fisher (Author), Joann H. Buckley (Author)

ormer Foreign Service officer W. Douglas Fisher and former university professor Joann H. Buckley, both of whom had grandfathers who served in the Great War, have joined forces to take a look at the lives and experiences of the small number of African American physicians who received commissions as medical officers to the Doughboys. They open with a short introduction reviewing the history of military service by African Americans and the political struggle to insure that black men would serve as officers when the U.S. entered the Great War, including medical officers. They then discuss how these physicians were recruited and the nature of the training they men received upon entering the Army. The authors the give us a profile each of the 104 men, several of whom were wounded at the front and one of whom died of wounds. Each profile follows a standard format. They open with

the background and medical education of each man, then outline their military service, and then follow them in their subsequent careers. The men came from all across the country and had varying military experiences. All of them encountered different degrees of racism in both society and the service. Postwar, most of the men went on to long and successful careers in medicine, some of them rising to prominence. This is an excellent work for anyone interested in the black military experience, and also for those seeking to investigate the state of military medicine in the period and the work of front line surgeons.  Note: African American Doctors of World War I is also available as an e-book ISBN 978-1-4766-2317-7.

https://www.amazon.com/ African-American-DoctorsWorld-War/dp/1476663157?Su bscriptionId=1TC13VP64SCJ5 CB73AR2&tag=thehundredyea rsw&linkCode=sp1&camp=202 5&creative=165953&creativeAS IN=1476663157

24  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Focus - Black History Month / "The Crisis in Black Education"

If You Don't Remember, You'll Always Forget who You Really Are By py thomas, staﬀ writer

love data, statistics and facts; and have found great value in utilizing them when making decisions, especially important ones. Our decisions will result in the direction of our lives, and the direction of others connected to us directly, or indirectly. History is full of events, even with some of them being distorted. But the facts and data, will always measure out the reality. In considering Black History Month, I’ve always enjoyed reading and learning about what our forefathers (and mothers) contributed and accomplished in their lifetime. I’ve come to realize that without knowing (and understanding) one’s history, it’s difficult to plot a “sustainable” future. It’s important that we maintain our history, but not forgetting the lessons of our past that have gotten us to the place where we are now. Albeit, we have made tremendous strides, yet in some of those strides, as a race of people, we have forgotten some very important core values as evidenced by these sobering facts:

UNEMPLOYMENT FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS. Black unemployment rate, 8.8%, is more than double the rate for Whites, 4.3%, and is actually closer to the 9% unemployment rates Whites experienced in the depths of the recession.1

BLACK-ON-BLACK CRIME. In 2013, a Black was six times more likely than a non-Black to commit murder, and 12 times

more likely to murder someone of another race than to be murdered by someone of another race. The overwhelming majority of Black homicide victims (93% from 1980 to 2008) were killed by Blacks.2 There is much media agonizing over Blackon-Black violence, but these figures show that only 40.1% of the victims of Black violence are Black, while people of other races account for nearly 60% of the victims of Black violence.3

in minority communities. Blacks make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America. It has been estimated that since 1973 Black women have had about 16 million abortions. Michael Novak

SYSTEMATIC BLACK GENOCIDE THROUGH PLANNED PARENTHOOD. P l a n n e d Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America. 78% of their clinics are

25  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

see page 26

Focus - Black History Month / "The Crisis in Black Education" Remember from page 25

had calculated "Since the number of current living Blacks (in the U.S.) is 36 million, the missing 16 million represents an enormous loss, for without abortion, America's Black community would now number 52 million persons. It would be 36% larger than it is. Abortion has swept through the Black community like a scythe, cutting down every fourth member." A highly significant 1993 Howard University study showed that African American women over age 50 were 4.7 times more likely to get breast cancer if they had had any abortions compared to women who had not had any abortions.4

DOLLARS RECYCLED IN AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES.

Compare these numbers about “dollar circulation” reported by the NAACP: “Currently, a dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days and white communities 17 days. How long

does a dollar circulate in the Black community? 6 hours!

SYSTEMATIC RACISM IN JUDICIAL SYSTEM. The incarceration rate of Blacks is more than three times higher

than the national average. In 2005, it was reported that Blacks were seven times more likely than whites to be in prison and Hispanics were three times more likely. It also concluded that high black arrest and imprisonment rates — often cited as

evidence of a racist criminal justice system5, clearly demonstrated by the efforts of the Innocence Project — were explained by the black share of offenders. *6

BLACK DIVORCE RATES. Marriage has been a declining institution among all Americans and this decline is even more evident in the Black community. In 2014 only 29% of African Americans were married compared to 48% of all Americans. Half or 50% of African Americans have never been married compared to 33% of all Americans.7 With statistical data like this, we should be scratching our heads (or kneeling in prayer) to come up with answers, as I’m sure we can all agree that these numbers are not, and should never be acceptable. Our history as people of color spans back to Biblical times, and times of warning for living outside of the Creator’s will. Research will demonstrate to those interested and searching for the root cause of our woes, will discover a common denominator over and over again, regardless of race, color or culture – rebellion against strong moral values.

26  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Strong moral values were once the foundation and fabric of our people. The further away we moved from these core values, the greater opening has been made to exploit and dismantle our ability to fully recover. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider what we can learn from some of our Hebrew ancestors, forced to come to America and be made slaves because of their rebellion against strong moral values and guidelines to live by. That’s the biggest story, and the one kept the most silent. How can we as a people fix anything, without first getting to the root of the problem? We can’t.

We’ve been busy mowing the tops of the weeds in our communities, families, and society, with each mowing allowing the roots to grow deeper and longer. Now would be a good time for some serious purging of the roots of our situations; and to stop blaming politicians, the Government and everyone else. We need to individually be accountable for our actions, decisions, what knowledge we embrace and apply, and that which we shun. It’s about choices and “proper” perspectives. Choose to be a part of the solution, get wisdom and knowledge, be teachable by wisdom; and apply wisdom and understanding – a sure

Publisher's Message

music icon Clarence Avant with the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at its upcoming awards dinner on June 20, 2017, in recognition of Black Music Month at the Millennium Biltmore hotel in Los Angeles. Let’s commit to make everyday a historic Black History day, by supporting each other, our homes, families, communities and businesses. That’s when Black Lives really matter. Thank you for reading and

from page 17

supporters of the importance that Black women have made in terms of their contributions to the aerospace industry, along with business, science, community, education, Black hair care industry, healthcare, politics and much more, by the recently released movie, “Hidden Figures.” In addition, the Black Business Association will honor

combination for success and not devastation. Check out the facts, leave the political rhetoric behind; and be set free to change your world and the world of others by operating in truth (the way we “used” to roll). Let that be our true Black History (every day).  http://www.npr.org/2016/02/05/465748249/ african-americans-face-uncertain-realitydespite-low-unemployment-rate 2 https://www.amren.com/the-color-of-crime/ 3 https://www.amren.com/news/2015/07/newdoj-statistics-on-race-and-violent-crime/ 4 http://www.blackgenocide.org/black.html 5 https://www.amren.com/archives/reports/thecolor-of-crime-2016-revised-edition/ 6 http://www.blackgenocide.org/black.html 7 https://www.amren.com/archives/reports/thecolor-of-crime-2016-revised-edition/ 1

supporting the Black Business News. On behalf of Black Business News Group and the BBA, a strong advocate for Black entrepreneurs and Black-owned business enterprises, we want to encourage you to join the BBA to take full advantage of the resources and opportunities they provide directly, and through many of their corporate, civic and community partners. 

27  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

www.bbala.org

Focus - Black History Month / "The Crisis in Black Education"

From Jackie Kennedy’s Wedding Dress to the Playboy Bunny Suit: the Forgotten History of Black American Designers By Marc Bain Lowe’s story, like those of many other black contributors to fashion history, is often forgotten, which can leave black Americans today feeling that they have no place in American fashion tradition. Hector began his project, he says, because he was trying to ﬁnd himself somewhere in that history. “I started searching out black contributions to the world of fashion years ago and realized that no one shines a light on some of these pioneers,” he says. Even contemporary designers are frequently overlooked. The Fashion Institute of Technology’s Museum at FIT, which has

Ann Lowe Jacqueline Bouvier wedding dress

o mark the start of black history month in the US, Claude Hector, who sells men’s suits in New York and has an interest in fashion history, began tweeting an ongoing thread about the often overlooked achievements of black fashion designers. His first post, on Feb. 1, was about Ann Lowe, a name many Americans won’t recognize, despite her historical significance. Lowe designed the wedding dress of Jacqueline Bouvier, who of course became Jacqueline Kennedy once she married. That dress, an exquisite piece of American history in ivory French taffeta and pink silk faille, is just

one part of Lowe’s legacy. Born in Alabama in 1898, Lowe learned to sew from her mother and grandmother, a former slave who set up her own dress shop after the American Civil War. Lowe took over the business at age 16, after her mother died. She eventually left for New York to enroll in a couture course, which she was nearly rejected from because of her skin color. In the years that followed, Lowe became a favorite for private commissions among the society crowd, and ultimately, American high-fashion’s ﬁrst black designer.

organized an exhibition on black designers (www.ﬁtnyc.edu/museum/ exhibitions/black-fashion-designers. php) that runs through May, points

out that they “make up only about one percent of the designers covered by VogueRunway.com, the most comprehensive online site for viewing collections from fashion weeks around the world.” It’s a shame given the impact

28  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

black designers have had, and continue to exert today, on fashion in the US and beyond. “Oftentimes they’re just left out of fashion history,” says Ariele Elia, co-curator of the Museum at FIT’s black fashion designers exhibition. “I know that when I was studying fashion history for my master’s course, none of these designers were ever mentioned.” Zelda Wynn Valdes, for instance, was a mid-century designer who created some of the extraordinary eveningwear worn by performers such as Josephine Baker, Dorothy Dandridge, and Ella Fitzgerald, though she’s probably most well-known as the manufacturer of the Playboy Bunny costume. (She didn’t design it, Elia says, but she won the commission to produce it.) She was also the president of a professional group in the 1950s that supported and helped raise the proﬁle of many black designers, at a time when the New York fashion industry was eﬀectively still segregated, not legally but in practice. Later, people such as Scott Barrie, Willie Smith, and S t e p h e n Two-tone evening Burrows helped dress in rayon jersey shape decades by Scott Barrie, circa American 1973. (Courtesy of the of Museum at FIT) sportswear.

Barrie, for example, was a master streetwear of Off-White’s Virgil of sexy matte jersey dresses, who Abloh, creative director for Kanye Elia says deserves to be regarded West, to the exquisite dresses of alongside Halston when people Eric Gaskins, who trained with think of those who defined the look couturier Hubert de Givenchy. of Studio 54 and the 1970s. It’s a point Elia says they wanted Patrick Kelly, whose clothes to emphasize with the exhibit at incorporated embellishments such FIT, which includes a quote from as clusters of buttons or ribbons, was designer Arthur McGee: “We are a sensation in Paris in the 1980s, not ‘black’ designers,” he said, “but and became the first American to American designers, the way Bill join the Chambre Syndicale du Blass is an American designer.” Prêt-à-Porter, France’s governing Their history is worth knowing.  body of ready-to-wear. https://qz.com/902834/from-jackieAnd black designers have, of kennedys-wedding-dress-to-studiocourse, had a major effect on 54-the-forgotten-history-of-blackmusic and youth culture. Cross american-designers Colours, founded by Carl Jones and TJ Walker, helped usher in the hip-hop influenced category of urbanwear that rose and fell in the 1990s. It led to labels such as Sean John, which had a direct influence on brands including Public School today. All these different threads are present among contemporary black fashion designers. LaQuan Smith designs high-impact glamor that has made fans of the Kardashians. Tracy Reese’s colorful and refined clothing has earned admirers such as former US first lady Michelle Obama. And Kerby Jean-Raymond, through his label Pyer Moss, infuses his sharp, street-ready sportswear with powerful political messages. This diversity of design underscores an important point about black fashion designers: There isn’t any single “black style.” That much is obvious when considering the work of designers from different countries, such as French-born Olivier Rousteing, creative director of Balmain, and designer Duro Olowu, who is based in London and was born in Nigeria. Michelle Obama supporting Detroit’s But even among Americans Tracy Reese. (Reuters/Jessica there is endless variety, from the Rinaldi)

29  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Editorial

Trump Shows he Revels in Dangerous Chaos

resident Donald Trump’s most recent provocation — suddenly issuing an order banning the admission into the United States of refugees and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries — created chaos and fury that had to be expected. Airports across the world were engulfed with demonstrators. Judges issued emergency orders s t a y i n g enforcement of parts of the order. Families found their children studying a b r o a d unable to return home, or their loved ones attending a funeral stranded in an airport. Translators who had risked their lives for American soldiers in Iraq

suddenly found their green cards useless and their lives at great risk. Both intelligence professionals and State Department diplomats have protested the order. Trump clearly revels in this chaos. He proves to his voters that he’ll fulfill his campaign promises, despite opposition. He shows them that he’s getting things done. He postures strong on securing Americans against foreign terrorists. He defines his opponents as bleeding heart liberals, more concerned about rights than security, more internationalist than nationalist. He views this all as a win. Trump’s act is based on a lie: that America is not careful in vetting those refugees from battle zones that seek refuge in our country from violence or persecution. In fact, our vetting is already among the most stringent in the world. Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network that Christians would be given preference over other religious groups, asserting falsely that under

30  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Obama, “If you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible.” In fact, last year we admitted virtually as many Christian refugees as Muslims, despite the fact that far more Muslims are at risk and seeking refuge. But this president has shown that he’s prepared to act on the basis of “alternative facts” when he so chooses. The real problem is that the unintended consequences are likely to be far more dangerous than doing nothing. For ISIS and al-Qaida, the order is a gift. It feeds their argument that the Muslim world is facing a war on Islam led by the Great Satan (the U.S.) intent on persecuting Muslims. The anger and hatred generated will make it more difficult for moderate Muslim leaders to cooperate with the U.S. At home, a Muslim community under siege — and faced with rising hate crimes — is likely to become more closed, not less, and less cooperative, not more. If we will not respect their rights and security, they will be less likely to be concerned for ours. Across the world, the order reveals an America that is frightened, not strong, and insular, not expansive. Trump has just mocked his own argument that our allies should bear a fair share of the defense burden, for he’s made it clear the U.S. will not do its part in offering refuge to the displaced — many of them driven from their homes by wars that we started or continue.

And America’s claim to be a champion of human rights has just been weakened by our own actions once more. The irony here is that Trump gets the threat wrong. Seven countries were singled out for special prohibition — a ban on all travelers, not just refugees for 90 days, visa or no visa. Not one person from those countries has killed any Americans in a terrorist attack inside the U.S. The perpetrators of American terrorist attacks in Boston, San Bernardino, Calif., Fort Hood in Texas, and Orlando, Fla. — did not come from the countries banned, and all were radicalized homegrown individuals. Similarly, the hijackers of 9/11 did not come from the countries that are banned. They came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon, none of which are on the list. There must be some other reason than terrorist threat for the selection. It may not simply be coincidental that the countries listed for bans are those where Trump’s company does no business, while the nations from which the 9/11 attackers came — and yet are exempted — are places where Trump has done or tried to do business. Democrats have said they would try to get the order rescinded for its trampling of human rights, its lack of preparation and confused definitions. The real question is whether Republicans embrace this action or make their opposition known. Trump is happy to mock Democrats. His aides know that he has to learn to work with Republicans who control majorities in both houses of Congress. Thus far, Republicans such as Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake have risked Trump’s wrath by objecting to the order. It is revealing that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chose to duck — saying the courts would decide whether the order is constitutional — while House Speaker Paul Ryan chose to embrace the order rather than criticize it. These are not profiles in courage.  www.rainbowpush.org

31  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Commentary

Frm Pres @ BarackObama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. Via Twitter: Kevin Lewis @KLewis44

Statement from Kevin Lewis, Spokesperson to Former President Barack Obama:

resident Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. In his final official speech as President, he spoke about the important role of citizens and how all Americans have a responsibility to be the guarddians of our democracy--not just during an election but every day. Citizens exercising their Constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake. With regard to comparisons to President Obama's foreign policy decisions, as we've heard before, the President fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion. 

www nydailynews com/news/thousands-protest-trump-muslim-immigration-ban-washington-squarewww.nydailynews.com/news/thousands-protest-trump-muslim-immigration-ban-washington-squarepark-gallery-1.2956300?pmSlide=1.2956281

Business - Tech Tools

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33  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Social Commentary

Songs In A Key Called Baltimore By Karsonya Wise Whitehead

I would like to write a song about peace/about reconciliation/about a city coming back together and working for the common good. I would like to proclaim that #BlackLivesMatter and then point to the ways in which this simple concept/screamed and shouted, cried over and prayed about/has transformed the city and altered our space. Brown v Board, when black and white spaces were clearly marked. I suspect (though) that it was not much different than it is now in places around Baltimore and places across America where the crime of breathing while black is still punishable by death. My heart always skips a beat when a cop's car is behind me while I am driving at night/ And though my sons are not old enough to drive, I am already frightened/concerned/angry/frustrated as I think about the day when they will be stopped for the crime of driving while black.

I would like to teach my sons about peace even though I am raising them in a city where peace has never been the norm/where peace is not taught on the playground/nor practiced in the school/nor modeled on the street corner. I try and hide my frustration because in the aftermath of the Uprising/a time when black and white people named their pain/life has settled back down to the familiar/to a time where black bodies are once again endangered, black life is once again criminalized, and black spaces exist, once again, only on the edges of both the city and our minds. I am not old enough to remember life before

There are days when being black in America overwhelms me and makes me want to spend the day in bed/and times when being the black mother of black boys in Baltimore City makes me wish I had enough money to move them somewhere where I could keep them safe. Safe from them--the ones who see their lives as expendable and unnecessary/and safe from us-those who look at them without realizing that they are mirrors that simply reflect all of who we are supposed to be. I often think about slavery and how different life was when you could see the hand that held the chain that was attached to the ball that was tied to your ankle. We come from a people who experienced this

34  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

daily and still chose to survive. Survival is our legacy. And since we survived the Middle Passage as involuntary passages on a trip that sealed our fate/ And we survived slavery, whips and latches by learning how to give way and stay small/ And we survived the Civil War by claiming freedom at the hands of those who looked like our oppressors/ And we survived Jim Crow by teaching our children the unwritten rules that were marked by our blood/ And we survived black mayors who moved from our communities, took a piece of our spirit but left their humanity behind-we will survive this. And though there are times when we are like strangers in a foreign land/We look around and wonder how we got here/We take stock and realize how little we actually have/We wonder how long we will continue to suffer and die at the hands of both the oppressor and of the oppressed--and despite all of this, we survive anyway. There are days when I look at my sons and my heart swells with pride/ As I think about all that they used to be and all that they can become/ And then I stop and catch my breath/ I grab my chest and clutch my pearls/ I blink back tears and shake my head/because I am the mother of two black boys being raised in a post-racial

world/where cries for justice for Freddie and for Tyrone West and for Rekia Boyd and for Sandra Bland and for Aiyanna Jones and for Tamir Rice still get swallowed up and suppressed. There are nights when I stand in the doorway of their room--not to wake them up for the revolution but to simply remind myself that, just for a moment, theyy are still safe and they are still here.. All I want is what every other motherr wants around this city--the simple comfort of knowing that my sons' lives matter-to those who look like them and those who don't/ and that my work, to pour love, light, and truth into them, m, will not be in vain. And with this very simple truth/as my songs of peace get lost in my never-ending cries for justice, I know we will survive. We will rebuild. We will move on. Survival is our legacy and surviving everyday--in this racist and unjust system--is our goal.  www.urbanitebaltimore.com/100/songs-in-a-keycalled-baltimore/#sthash.1vDOuwbF.ZWw1o1ke.dpuf

Middle Passage

35  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business

Don’t miss the 30th annual

Asia/Pacific Business Outlook (APBO) conference! March 27 & 28 The LA Hotel Downtown If you are looking for export and investment opportunities in the dynamic Asia/Pacific region, this is the one conference you can't afford to miss. The Asia/Pacific Business Outlook has been hosted by USC Marshall School of Business since 1988 years with the full support of the U.S. Commercial Service. Rapidly changing environments create opportunities for growth, but also pose challenges that companies must be prepared to overcome. At APBO, you can get practical and timely knowledge about what’s happening now in the Asian/Pacific economies—and how you can be equipped to take advantage of the opportunities and challenges.

Reserve One-on-One Meetings with Senior Trade Officers from U.S. Embassies & Consulates For each of the one-on-one meetings, the Senior Commercial Officers will come prepared with preliminary business assessments specific to your company in the markets of interest to you. They will discuss various topics during your meetings such as: * Strategies to hone in on best market opportunities * Sales potential and challenges in each of your markets * Understanding how to capitalize on the latest trade agreements * How the U.S. Commercial Service can identify new business partners and increase your sales Due to high demand, the limited number of One-on-One appointments always become fully booked. Sign up now to ensure priority for your meetings.

Register Now Register Today (and save $150 Early Bird deadline, FEBRUARY 15) http://apboconference.com/2017-register/?=CTA Bobby Hines – International Trade Specialist DownTown Los Angeles Export Assistance Center Bobby.hines@trade.gov

36  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

TO FIND OUT MORE: #BESUMMIT OR http://bit.ly/Bepitch

37  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - E-Commerce

38  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Off the Beaten Path in CUBA with Busy Bee! APRIL 20-24, 2017 bzboffthebeatenpathtours@gmail.com

Wanna Talk About CUBA? Call Busy Bee 1.202.550.7060

39  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Editorial

Civil Rights Will Suffer Under Sessions

onald Trump’s first three weeks in office have left Americans reeling from what Republican speechwriter Peggy Noonan called his “cloud of crazy.” His cabinet nominees seem intentionally perverse: an education secretary who has no clue about public schools; an energy secretary who wanted to eliminate the department; a treasury secretary from Goldman Sachs who ran a home foreclosure factory. So when a white nationalist sympathizer, Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, was confirmed to be attorney general, it passed by as just another absurdity. The coverage of the confirmation battle focused primarily on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s outrageous muzzling of Sen. Elizabeth Warren as she tried to read a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King criticizing Sessions (www.documentcloud.org/ documents/3259988-Scott-King-1986-Letterand-Testimony-Signed.html#document/p1).

The muzzling was an unforgivable indignity. Lost in the furor was the thrust of King’s letter. She was writing to urge the Republicanled Senate of the time to reject President Reagan’s nomination of Sessions to the federal bench because he had “used the power of his oﬃce as U.S. attorney

to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot.” Sessions had opposed the Voting Rights Act, made racist statements and falsely prosecuted black civil rights leaders seeking to register people to vote in Alabama. He was an ardent and unrelenting opponent of civil rights. The Republican Senate rejected his nomination. Sessions views have not changed. He opposed Supreme Court decisions striking down laws banning homosexual sex and same-sex marriage. He voted against equal pay for women and against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, and he argued that it would be a “stretch” to call grabbing a woman’s genitals — as the president boasted of doing — assault. He is leading opponent of immigration reform and supported Trump’s ban on Muslims. On civil rights he learned, as Strom Thurmond’s late operative Lee Atwater put it, that “you can’t say ‘n—–’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like … states’ rights and all that stuff.” Sessions remains a fierce advocate of states’ rights over civil rights. Even as he joined 97 senators in voting to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act in 2006, he gave a speech declaring its enforcement sections unconstitutional. When

the Supreme Court’s conservative gang of ﬁve gutted the law, he praised their decision, saying preposterously, “(I)f you go to Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, people aren’t being denied the vote because of the color of their skin.” Even as he was saying that, states across the South were preparing a raft of laws to make voting more diﬃcult for African-Americans and the young. Striking down the voter ID law in North Carolina, the federal appeals court found that the new provisions “target AfricanAmericans with almost surgical precision,” while providing “inept remedies” for an alleged problem of voter fraud that is nonexistent. Now Sessions will take his states’ rights views to the Justice Department. He will have more power than George Wallace ever had. Wallace had state power. Sessions has national power with a state agenda, with thousands of lawyers under his command. He will help shape the Supreme Court. And simply by inaction — by refusing to enforce the Voting Rights Act as states act to restrict voting — he can do more to undermine civil rights than Wallace could by standing in the schoolhouse door. Every senator who voted for this nomination shares the shame. This isn’t or should not have been a

40  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

www.documentcloud.org/docu ments/3259988-Scott-King ng-19866-L Let ette ter-and T Testim dti ony-Signed.html#document/p 1

Coretta Scott King

partisan question. This is a question of whether the Constitution that President Lincoln fought a Civil War to forge and Dr. Martin Luther King led a movement to enforce will be respected. Donald Trump and the Republican Senate have put in oﬃce someone who is committed to undermining that Constitution. He is in position to poison the well of justice for a long time. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump wooed African American voters, saying given disproportionate unemployment and poverty, they should vote for him. “What have you got to lose?” he asked. By making Sessions attorney general, Trump has shown us what

we have lost: a Department of Justice committed to equal rights, ready to defend the right to vote. People of color, immigrants, the LGBT and women are likely to experience justice denied directly, and the country as a whole will suﬀer as justice is deﬁled.  www.rainbowpush.org

41  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Learning for Life

150+ Educational Websites For Lifelong Learners By Janet Alexandersson With reference to the theme of the 2017 Black History Month Celebration - "The Crisis in Black Education" - we oﬀer this article providing information on a vast resource of education, training and information sources. This curated list does not "cure" or "resolve" the Crisis in Black Education, but it does present each of us, young and old, with open doors to educate ourselves when there are those who would close the doors. Thanks to Janet Alexandersson and Medium.com for sharing the Everlearners site. Black Business News Team 

f you are anything like me, you have discovered that the higher the level of traditional education you reach the more you are forced to specialize. And by the time people start doing research they have dedicated all their learning to a tiny niche. For most of us, this is not useful. We need to (and let’s face it, want to) collect knowledge from a broad spectrum of subjects. Educational variety helps us make interesting connections and learn more deeply. Everlearning lets you add more and more value to your life both personally and professionally in terms of career options. This list is a curated collection of both free and premium learning resources, more free than premium, and all the free resources have been marked with an *. Let’s not wait, dive into one or more of the sites and start learning!

www.everlearning.com Here are a few examples of what you will find on the everlearning.com site.

BOOKS: Audible - 150,000+ audiobook titles including bestsellers and new releases (www.audible.com) Sparknotes - Study guides and discussion forums offered on various academic subjects (www.sparknotes. com)

ARTICLES: Math Better Explained - Math lessons for lasting insight (https://betterexplained.com) Big Think - Expert-driven, actionable, educational content (https://bigthink.com)

VIDEOS: Brightstorm - Learn Math, Science, English & Test Prep from expert teachers (www.brightstorm.com) Gresham College - Free video lectures (www. gresham.ac.uk) MIT Video - Curated video produced by the MIT’s offices, laboratories, centers and administration (https://video.mit.edu)

AUDIO: iTunes U - Lectures from top teachers and professors (www.apple.com/education/itunes-u) Hidden Brain - Helps curious people understand the world — and themselves (http://www.npr.org/ podcasts/510308/hidden-brain)

ECONOMY: Planet Money - The global economy, explained (http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money) London School of Economics Podcast - Audio recordings from LSE’s programme of public lectures and events (http://www.lse.ac.uk/websitearchive/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/ publicLecturesAndEvents/Home.aspx)

LEARN HOW TO LEARN! To become an efficient lifelong learner take the free course Learning More Efficiently (https://everlearners. com/free-course). The course is designed to give you a solid foundation for becoming an Everlearner and you will get to explore the following: • benefits of lifelong learning • learning methods • learning styles • study techniques • how to retain knowledge  https://medium.com/@imaginetta/150educational-websites-for-lifelong-learners71c1d8e94843#.5ﬀ268ly3

42  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Focus - Black History Month

Breaking News: New Photo Shows Young Harriet Tubman By Jeremy Cox

previously undocumented photograph has emerged from the ether of history, showing the Underground Railroad "conductor" in her younger days — slim, impeccably dressed and confident. “I’m so excited because it shows her so young and beautifully dressed," said Kate Clifford Larson, a historian and author of a Tubman biography. “She’s strong. It’s just amazing.” “To find this photograph after all these years really contextualizes a different aspect of her life," said Robert Parker, superintendent of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park. "You see her as this beautiful, resilient and determined young woman.” Only a handful of photographs of the abolitionist and activist are known to exist, Larson said. Tubman was enslaved for 30 years before escaping in 1849 to Philadelphia. She returned over and over again, leading dozens of slaves to freedom in the North during a 10-year-period. For her efforts, she became known as “Moses” by African-American and white abolitionists. In 2016, the Treasury Department announced plans to make Tubman the new face of the $20 bill. Larson estimates that the newly found photograph was taken in Auburn between 1866-68, when Tubman was 43 to 46 years old. It is the earliest known photo of Tubman. Larson said the new photograph could be a game-changer. Reenactors typically portray her as an old woman, looking haggard and speaking in a raspy voice, she said. But the woman who defied slave masters and spied for the Union Army during the Civil War was full of energy. "It changes how I think people view Tubman," Larson said.  www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/newphoto-shows-%e2%80%98beautifulresilient%e2%80%99-harriet-tubman/arAAmQgNu?ocid=spartandhp

43  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative (ELI) acknowledges all of the Certified Ice House Facilitators trained from around the world this year including the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Australia, Mexico, South Africa, and Ireland. Onsite and public trainings were conducted in partnership with city governments, nonprofits, foundations, national associations, community colleges, high schools, and universities. We invite you to kick off the new year right and join us to develop your own entrepreneurial mindset at our next training in February 2017 hosted by UCLA. Seats are filling fast! Join us to develop your own entrepreneurial mindset as well as learn how to implement Ice House in your organization and community. All participants become certified to facilitate the Ice House Entrepreneurship Programs in their classroom, organization, or community. Register here: https://elimindset.com/events/facilitator-training-feb-15-17-2017/?utm_source= January+2017+Newsletter&utm_campaign=January+2017+Newsletter&utm_medium=email. February 15-17, 2017. The University of Los Angeles California will be our host. Hotel block ends this Saturday, January 14th. Save on your hotel and reserve now!

We told you that one of our resolutions for 2017 was to refresh and renew a home for you on entrepreneurship. org. We are thrilled to share that those updates have been made and are live. So what’s new? In short, we’ve made changes to the navigation and usability as well as added features to allow you to truly customize your learning. Additionally, to make the site feel like a home for you, we’ve changed the name to Kauﬀman Entrepreneurs. We hope you enjoy it!

Visit the site here: www.entrepreneurship.org

44  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

2017 Book World Prague

Exhibit 5 Titles at the 2017 Book World Prague for $200

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45 ï&#x201A;± February 2017 ï&#x201A;± Black Business News ï&#x201A;± www.blackbbusinessnews.net ï&#x201A;± 1-323-291-7819

Discover Central ntral & Eastern Europe with U.S.Comme U.S.Commercial Service

The U.S. Commerce Department is pleased to offer an opportunity to promote U.S. pet products in the Czech Republic at the FOR PETS Prague trade fair. A presentation on current trends in the U.S. pet market, featuring selected U.S. products, will take place on Friday, April 7, 2017. The fair, targeting Czech pet products importers and distributors, will be held at the Prague Letnany fairgrounds. U.S. company participants in the presentation will receive: x

An introduction to your U.S. company and its products/services.

Your company will be featured on U.S. Commercial Service web pages and in social media.

A list of Czech pet products importers/distributors.

$100 discount for potential follow on matchmaking services with CS Prague.

Registration Deadline March 15th, 2017 Fee $100 For more information contact Veronika Novakova Commercial Specialist Veronika.Novakova@trade.gov Tel: 00420 257 022 437

The 7th FOR PETS show will cover a wide range of pet products ranging from pet foods to pet cosmetics and services. It will be held concurrently with FOR FAMILY fairs. The combined fairs attract over 30,000 visitors each year.

46  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Focus - Black History Month / Diversity Commentary

By Sparks Editors “ACKNOWLEDGING that LGBT is a spectrum of individuals and interests. There is no ‘LGBT’ market. There are many markets under the LGBT umbrella, defined by age, gender identity, ethnicity, relationship status and place of residence, just like in the general market. LGBT belongs in the diversity conversation (along with other demographics), but diversity belongs in the LGBT conversation, too.” —Thomas Roth, MBA, president, Community Marketing & Insights “PREPARING myself and my team to create an environment of open-mindedness. Whether

its new ideas, unfamiliar cultures or eyebrow-raising phrases, we must be prepared and accepting of diversity in all things.” —Joshua Evans, founder of the company Enthusiastic You! “GIVING deliberate recognition to capability over color, skillset over skin tone, intelligence over ignorance and reality over racism.” —Julie Coker Graham, CEO and president of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau “SEEING the workforce trends that have been building for a while. But, when we speak of diversity, let’s make sure we talk of all the

ways that a company can practice diversity: ethnicity, gender, brain preference and thinking styles, and skillsets. Research shows that a heterogeneous team will outperform a homogenous team every time if they are patient and value everyone’s opinions. If they don’t (which is often the case), the homogenous team of people all alike will outperform them. The only people that have a chance at valuing diversity is those who have good self-awareness and humility.” —Shane Cragun, founding principal and CEO of SweetmanCragun  http://prevuemeetings.com/spark/ what-i-know/i-have-anticipateddiversity-by/

47  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

re you a Small Business interested in selling your product or services to Metro or to Prime Contractors that do business with Metro? Would you like to learn how to win contracts as a Prime Contractor through SB Prime, Metro's exciting set-aside initiative? If so, we invite you to come grow with us and learn about Metro Connect. Start now and register for a How to Do Business with Metro Workshop. Metro staff will show you how to take advantage of the vast array of products, services and transportation related opportunities projected over the coming weeks, months and year. As an added bonus, Metro's procurement staff will host informal interviews with firms before the workshop, starting at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, March 15, 2017 8:30 a.m.: Registration 9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.: One-on-One with Contract Administrators and Continental Breakfast 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.: Program

Metro Headquarters 3rd Floor, Board Room, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Topics: Highway Project Update, Procurement Update, Certiﬁcation Update, Small Business Prime Update, LA SAFE/511 Next Generation Update To learn more about how Metro Connect's Small and Disadvantaged Business Certiﬁcations can help open the door to contracting opportunities with Metro visit Metro Vendor Portal. For further questions, please contact Marisela Villar at VillarM@metro.net or via phone at 213.922.2235.

48  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business

5 Essential Steps to a Winning Digital Platform By Ariella Brown increasingly applicable to B2B and B2C companies." The reason some businesses hold back, he adds, is due to "a culture and/or legacy ways of doing business that make it w harder for them to change." Hintermann reports that Accenture does expect to see A ttraditional companies adopting digital platforms. However, doing so successfully, he says, "will require them to come up with new propositions, new pricing models and new ways to personalize the offerings that provide an ongoing customer experience." These companies may also have to adjust tto meet the needs of "a different fform of customer market, one tthat is broadened by the platform ecosystem."

A Agility Will Make the Difference

hile many businesses are embracing digital platforms—and that trend is expected to grow substantially in the next couple of years— Accenture's report on "Five Ways to Win With Digital Platforms" (www.

accenture.com/us-en/_acnmedia/ PDF-29/Accenture-Five-Ways-To-WinWith-Digital-Platforms-Full-Report.pdf)

cautions organizations that most new digital platforms will fail if they neglect the five essential steps for digital success. Success, Accenture states, is a matter of remembering the 5 Ps: • Proposition: to focus less on products and more on solving customers' changing needs. • Personalization: to customize

customer experiences based on their interests and needs. • Price: to move to new models like freemiums, discounts and surge pricing to match demand with supply. • Protection: to safeguard the data shared between platform players. • Partners: to work with others, such as app developers and payment providers, that enrich the customer experience and differentiate the platform. Francis Hintermann, global managing director at Accenture Research, expounds on the report's findings, saying, "We believe that digital platforms are

Hintermann explains that failure may be inevitable for many organizations that "do not have all the five Ps in place." As this is still early days for the platform economy, he says the situation is analogous to that of "the early days of the .com era." Just as many of those companies launched only to go bust, Hintermann believes that we are likely to "see a number of platforms that will fail as ambitious startups experiment." This is where agility will make the difference between a company that makes it and one that doesn't. Particularly for large traditional companies, having "openness to work in new ways will be critical to their adaption to platform business models," Hintermann advises.

50  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Focus - Black History Month / Crisis in Black Education

New App Helps Students Find Their Ideal HBCU By Elijah C. Watson

college student has created an app that makes ﬁnding someone’s ideal HBCU much easier. Grambling State University Junior and 21-year-old Jonathan Swindell has created an app called HBCU HUB, which helps students decide on what HBCU they would like to attend. Within the app’s database are all 86 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States. From there the app includes multiple features, including a

“Report Card” for each school that lists academics, costs and the overall ranking of an HBCU on a scale from A to F. Through the app you can also ﬁnd information on scholarships; participate in an online chat community; get tips for resumes and job interviews; and much more. “It’s a lot easier to get information on a PWI,” Swindell said in an interview with Southern Digest. “They’re a lot bigger and have a lot more resources behind them, whereas at an HBCU, the

information can be a bit scattered, so I saw a pain point within our community and HBCU HUB serves to ﬁx that.” Since its release, the HBCU HUB app has more than 1,000 downloads, and is being used in more than 32 states and ﬁve countries. The app is currently available to download on both Apple and Android devices for free. 

That can extend to changes in "the way they produce and distribute, the way they work with partners to innovate, and the way they serve customers and provide new customer experiences." Among the established companies Accenture identifies as pursuing a digital platform is Philips. The company is betting big on the platform business model by launching the Philips HealthSuite

platform with three cloud partners: Salesforce, Amazon AWS IoT and Alibaba AliCloud. The company's plan is to be able to scale up in order to process the data from hundreds of millions of patients. This platform approach not only enhances the quality and efficiency of patient care, but also opens up new opportunities for growth. It makes it possible to cover the entire gamut of health care needs, including healthy living, preventative care, diagnosis, treatment, recovery and

home care. The combined value of these comprehensive health markets exceeds $100 billion. Philips' vision is a paradigm of the transformative power of the digital platform. As the Accenture report points out, what this means for businesses is a shift "from selling products to selling outcomes." 

(www.usa.philips.com/healthcare/ innovation/about-health-suite)

www.okayplayer.com/news/21year-old-creates-app-that-helpsstudents-ﬁnd-their-ideal-hbcu.html

www.baselinemag.com/innovation/5essential-steps-to-a-winning-digitalplatform.html?utm_medium=email&utm_ campaign=BL_NL_BEP_20170217_STR2 L2&dni=397241430&rni=25652266

51  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Public Relations

What Beyoncé’s Record-Breaking Instagram Post Can Teach PR Pros By Sophie Maerowitz

eyoncé announced on Instagram that she is once again pregnant, a revelation that sent the social media world into a frenzy. The post, a photo of the star posing nearly nude holding her belly, won 6.4 million likes, breaking the record for most-liked post on Instagram (the previous record holder was Selena Gomez, with 6.3 million likes). While PR pros probably can't claim the nearly 100 million Instagram followers the pop icon boasts, there are a few major takeaways to consider the next time your brand has a big announcement:

Choose your channel wisely. While many influencers might

choose to announce a major life event on a text-based platform, Beyoncé posted her announcement on Instagram, the channel where she has the largest following, compared to Twitter (14.7 million followers) or Facebook (64.5 million likes). It's also the channel she posts most frequently to—the most recent posts on her Twitter and Facebook pages are from April 2016, when her visual album "Lemonade" was released. Posting her pregnancy announcement to Instagram rewarded Beyoncé's most loyal and largest group of social media followers, which is perhaps what made the post go viral so quickly. Likewise, PR pros should always make major announcements on the

channels where the largest portion of their audience spends their time.

Build it, and they will come... to your website. The Instagram post was one of several pregnancy photos—in fact, an entire photo album titled "I Have Three Hearts" was released—on Beyoncé's official website (www. beyonce.com) the day after the post. After dropping the bomb on Wednesday, the star waited for the internet to freak out before releasing the lion's share of her pregnancy photos. Communicators could experiment with a similar technique—giving audiences just a taste of content, and allowing buzz to build before the big reveal. The post and subsequent album release

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is also an excellent study in using the moment with her. These social media for a call to action. authentic, human moments lend themselves to high engagement Visual platforms thrive on on visual platforms like Instagram authenticity. and Snapchat. Modeling this idea, The shots reveal a more maternal, communicators might consider softer side of the fierce songstress adding a human element—an than we're used to seeing. The employee, a client, a fan—to their simple lingerie, rounded stomach next Instagram announcement, and veiled visage give the image an giving the audience an emotional intimate feel, like we're celebrating

point of connection.  http://www.prnewsonline.com/ beyonce-pregnancy-instagram?hq_ e=el&hq_m=3348672&hq_l=7&hq_ v=a877824e45 http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/ celebrity/i-have-three-hearts-beyoncebares-all-in-pregnancy-photo-shoot20170202-gu4hel

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Business - Health

RushCard Customers will get $10 Million in Restitution By Kathryn Vasel

Russell Simmons

he Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Mastercard and UniRush, which manages the RushCard, to pay around $10 million to consumers who weren't able to access their funds or were financially hurt from the disruption. The RushCard, which was cofounded by hip-hop pioneer and entrepreneur Russell Simmons, is a prepaid card, which means it's not linked to a bank account. According to the CFPB, many RushCard customers

are underbanked and are often economically vulnerable. RushCard customers can deposit money from other sources, like paychecks or government benefits, and then use the funds to cover things like rent and other bills. In 2014, Mastercard (MA) became the new payment processor for the RushCard. The conversion to the new system in 2015 did not go smoothly, due to what the CFPB called "a rash of preventable failures" by the companies. While an outage during the

process was expected, it lasted longer than anticipated. "The planned blackout period during the switch, when RushCard users could not conduct transactions, was supposed to last several hours," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray, on a press call Wednesday. "But immediately after UniRush switched to Mastercard, tens of thousands of consumers were jarred by a series of crippling service failures." From October 12-15, 2015, more than 13,000 cardholders were

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unable to access their account information, while around 1,110 customers had their accounts wrongfully suspended due to possible "fraud," according to the CFPB's consent order. Some customers weren't able to access their funds for weeks, the government agency said. "This incident was one of the most challenging periods in my professional career. I cannot thank our customers enough for believing in us, remaining loyal and allowing us to continue to serve their needs," Simmons said in a statement provided to CNNMoney. UniRush also delayed the processing of direct deposits for more than 45,000 consumers, the CFPB claimed. Some customers were given the wrong balances, which caused some to overspend. The government watchdog also claimed that UniRush did not have an adequate customer service plan to help cardholders, some of whom spent hours on hold trying to get

answers about their money. The amount of restitution customers receive will vary depending on how they were affected. For instance, customers who were denied a transactions during the initial blackout period on October 12, 2015 will get $25, while consumers who could not make transactions or access their account because it wasn't transferred to the new system can get $150. Customers can get paid out for multiple issues. Consumers who are owed money don't have to do anything to get their restitution. People who are still cardholders will see credits in their accounts, while former customers will be sent checks. A spokesperson from RushCard said the company did not engage in any wrongdoing. "The vast majority of our customers are incredibly loyal and have either remained with us or returned to RushCard. In fact, the last quarter of 2016 marked the

largest number of new customer sign-ups in our company's history," the company said via email. Mastercard said in an emailed statement that the company understands the role prepaid cards play in how people manage their money. "We are pleased to bring this matter to a close, allowing us to further enhance the best practices, policies and procedures for prepaid cards at our Payments Transactions Services business," a spokesman said. At the time of the switch to Mastercard, RushCard had approximately 650,000 active customers. The two companies also have to pay a $3 million civil penalty to the CFPB. UniRush was acquired by Green Dot Bank for around $147 million in a deal announced reently. http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/01/ pf/cfpb-ﬁnes-unirush-mastercardrushcard-blackout/

61  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Focus - Black History Month / The Crisis in Black Education

USBC on Black History & Black Future

he United States Black Chambers, Inc. (USBC) takes great pride in commemorating Black History Month with a tribute that honors Black history and anticipates an even greater Black future.

Black History: "The survival of African people away from their ancestral home is one of the great acts of human endurance in the history of the world." -unknown The endurance of Black people gave birth to the civil rights movement, ignited the future with the contributions from past & present trailblazers, innovators and entrepreneurs like: Frederick & Charles Patterson, the ﬁrst African-Americans to manufacture cars, activist Bree Newsome the fearless activist responsible for the removal of the Confederate ﬂag from the South Carolina state house, and countless others who have paved the way. Because contemporary tragedies like those in Charleston, Ferguson, Chicago and many others across the country, it is clear that we must support Black institutions (Black businesses, Black colleges, Black banks, etc.) and build new Black institutions in response to new challenges. The example set by Tulsa's "Black Wall Street" proves to us that when we have a solid economic foundation, we can begin to insulate ourselves from social, economic, and institutional downfall.

Black Future: "The economic sustainability of the Black community requires an urgent circulation of money and a collective patronizing of Black-

USBC Liberty Credit Card Bank-Black is the single most powerful economic movement currently taking place in Black America. “Now” is the time to utilize our Black banks as more than a place to hold our money, but as a resource for securing capital. In an eﬀort to help Black entrepreneurs obtain capital for personal or business use, we’ve created a Bank Card with one of the nation’s most trusted and historic Black-owned banks-- Liberty Bank. Join us in Banking-Black. Apply for your USBC Bank Card today. www.usblackchamber.org/bankblack

owned businesses & Black banks. Our future depends on it." -Ron Busby Economic sustainability is the core purpose of the USBC BankBlack Credit Card initiative. We're proud to say our BankBlack credit card initiative is making an economic impact in the Black community by providing much needed funding to Black entrepreneurs and individuals. This Black History Month we will be highlighting the economic impact of our initiative and showcasing our Bank-Black advocates.

Here at the USBC we're doing our part to support the economic development of the Black community by focusing on providing funding to help Black entrepreneurs and individuals grow Black-owned enterprises. As we honor Black History month we encourage you to do your part to make a positive economic impact in the Black community by supporting Black-owned businesses. Without question, your actions today become part of tomorrow's Black History!  http://usblackchambers.org/

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WE'RE CLOSING! *Half Price Blow Out Sale Liquidating inventory!

Beginning Monday, February 20th until: in stock furniture will be 1/2 oﬀ marked price including DESKS, CHAIRS, FILE CABINETS, BOOKCASES, CREDENZAS and other oﬃce items.

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www.blackenterprise.com/events/women-of-power-summit

www.paﬀ.org 67  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Publisher's Message

Bill Freeman - A True Renaissance Man

s many has seen in the movie, “Hidden Figures,” based on the true and untold story of three Black women crossing all gender and race lines to inspire future generations about the importance of dreaming big, and preparing oneself to achieve their dreams. While the movie does a great job in showing the struggles of racism that these dynamic Black women had to endure. It should also be noted, that African American males employed by the aerospace industry were also facing racism and discrimination in this ﬁeld during the 1950’s and throughout the 1960’s. As President and CEO of the Black Business Association (BBA), headquartered in Southern California, one of our long time BBA members, Bill Freeman, President and CEO of Freeman Alternative Staﬃng Resources, he was the Business of the Year in 2005, worked in the aerospace industry during that same period; along with other outstanding African American men, likewise they faced similar challenges of institutional racism in the workplace. He is well acquainted to the important roles and major contributions made by many African American men in the early years of the aerospace industry that have been unsung for the most part. Freeman’s commitment to persevere no matter the circumstances or challenges has inspired many, and led to the tenacity he demonstrated when starting Freeman Alternative Resources in 1987. Freeman’s achievements have included recognition as the “Minority Supplier of the Year”, in which he was awarded from the Southern California Regional Purchasing Council in 1989; and was nominated for another in 1991. Freeman’s success has resulted in opening the doors of success for many others. Freeman attributes the challenges he faced during his early years in the

aerospace industry, as one of the key inspirations for him to make a change and diﬀerence for minorities, which was to open more and greater doors for minorities with technical backgrounds in engineering, aerospace, environmental and research, construction, civil engineering, IT, human resources, telecommunications, legal, real estate, energy and utilities an opportunity to have the opportunity to work in their respective ﬁelds that have traditionally been dominated by non-minorities. 

Bill Freeman

70  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Buy Black! Bank Black! Educate Black! Invest Black!

Focus - Black History Month / Crisis in Black Education

The Crisis in Black Education: Crafting Mirrors Where Kids Can See Themselves By Betty Ray

he theme of Black History Month this year is “The Crisis in Black Education.” The scope of the crisis is considerable: Results from the National Assessment for Educational Progress—a test that’s also known as the Nation’s Report Card— show almost no change in the achievement gap between white and black students over the past 50 years. To help unpack the challenges facing African American students, we talked to educators who are tackling this crisis and implementing meaningful solutions. Sharif El-Mekki is the principal of Mastery CharterShoemaker Campus, a predominantly African American 7th- to 12th-grade school that was recognized by President Barack Obama as an exemplary turnaround school. El-Mekki has been immersed in the challenge of improving black education since he was an elementary student at a Philadelphia Freedom School in the early 1970s. El-Mekki was also a Principal Ambassador Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education under Arne Duncan, and he is the founder of Black Male Educators for Social Justice, a fellowship dedicated to supporting and recruiting more African American men into the teaching profession—a c r i t i c a l

Fasaha Traylor, principal and one of the founders at Nidhamu Sasa, teaching a class. Courtesy of Sharif ElMekki

component, El-Mekki believes, in creating more equitable schools. We spoke with El-Mekki about his educational background, his priorities as a school leader, and how he plans to inspire more African American males to become teachers. EDUTOPIA: Can you paint a picture of your childhood and when you first became aware of race as an issue? SHARIF EL-MEKKI: I went to a pan-African elementary school in the Freedom School model. It was called Nidhamu Sasa, which translates as “Discipline/Freedom Now.” A lot of our conversation was around Afrocentricity and social justice. And so it wasn’t this particular clarion moment outside of school where I experienced something that pointed out race to me. EDUTOPIA: Sounds like an amazing school. What was the curriculum like? EL-MEKKI: There were always conversations around justice, oppression, and Afrocentricity, and race was always a part of the dialogue. We took courses like political science and looked at colonialism and its impact around the world. Dr. Sonia Sanchez would come in and do lessons. Angela Davis came and did a

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see page 74

Focus - Black History Month / Crisis in Black Education about math or reading, but from page 73 how to help our students navigate the world. Another aspect of my mini-lesson, as did people from the past that I bring into my Wilmington 10. EDUTOPIA: So you learned school today is our mission about black history from the history that students should be able to lead and serve in makers themselves. EL-MEKKI: Yes, and we had this their community. We teach level of awareness of politicization them to be responsible in early on. It was always just part their community—that they have of the conversation, part of case to lift as they climb, and be a true studies, part of research and leader. EDUTOPIA: This is a great segue, our book reports. There was no since at Edutopia we strive to “February is Black History Month.” share practical tips for educators to improve student learning. What specifically would you say we can do to help our black and brown kids? EL-MEKKI: First of all, I think for our students of color, we need to recognize who they are, and I don’t mean from the media or just from hiphop culture. We need to understand and respect, and know who Sharif El-Mekki and one of his former they are by listening to students, Terrance Williams, who is them, understanding now a teacher in the Philadelphia area. what their aspirations Courtesy of Sharif El-Mekki are as well as their fears, what frustrates EDUTOPIA: How do these them, and what motivates them. I sensibilities and values from your past inform your priorities as a always stress to my teachers that they’re not just teaching content, school leader today? EL-MEKKI: I think there’s a they’re teaching children and then similar focus on intentionality the content. We need to make time around community. The thing that to show children that we care about is always on the forefront of my them by being genuinely curious mind now is “Who is in front of about who they are and what they our children?” We want talented, bring to the table, and then doing committed, and dedicated staff who what we can do to support them. I think the second thing is we are experts in content, and skilled at using a social justice lens to make have to make sure that the adults sure kids are empowered. We need in the building are operating with a teachers and staff who can also do high level of cultural competency. the emotional work of teaching, to It has to be every staff member make sure we’re not just talking in the building, the teachers and

Education Crisis

administrators, but even more importantly, the policy makers. If you have schools full of culturally competent adults working with children, but then you have policy makers who are not culturally competent and enacting policies like underfunding schools or deprioritizing the training needed to support cultural competence, build relationships with students, and respond to communities’ needs, then the system will fail. The whole ecosystem has to be supportive of black children, and we know historically it has not been and it still isn’t. So the work is not done. Yes, the school is the hub, but politicians need training around cultural responsiveness so that they can understand this is how we support schools in being the dynamic institutions that they should be in our communities. EDUTOPIA: Can you elaborate on how the educators in the building can help support black students? EL-MEKKI: I think we can help reinforce their identity in positive ways. We use this term—“windows and mirrors theory.” Typically, a black child’s education is like looking at windows. 80% of teachers are white females, and when our students look at the people in power, they’re usually white men. So they’re constantly looking at this window, at people who don’t look like them. We as educators need to carefully craft mirrors where these children can see themselves in these situations and experiences. Schools and districts have to be

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really cognizant of the experiences of our black kids as they go from room to room, from grade to grade, from school to school. What is that experience, and how do we make it an empowering experience by helping them see themselves? EDUTOPIA: In terms of creating more mirrors, you’ve been working to get many more black educators into the profession in the Philadelphia community via the fellowship Black Male Educators for Social Justice. Can you say more about that work? EL-MEKKI: There was a time when there were more black men in our schools, particularly in our cities, but the number is much less now. And of those black males, many feel isolated and need support. So we started the fellowship to support these educators, and to work as partners with our district, as well as universities and nonprofits who were also interested in diversifying the teaching field in our region. After a couple of years of that, we started working with the Department of Ed and their Teach to Lead series, which really helped us refine our program. From there we did surveys and got feedback from current and aspiring black male educators to figure out where our work could be most effective. From that experience, we came up with three pillars for the fellowship: The first is that we hold convenings two or three times a year for black male educators. The second is that we do a lot of advocacy work, whether it’s the Department of Eds at the federal or state levels, with the district, or within schools. And then the third pillar is trying to influence the pipeline. We found that the pathway to becoming the leader of a classroom starts in middle and high school, so we ask: How do we engage middle and high school students to think about teaching as a career? Two years

ago, only 28 black men graduated from teacher colleges in the entire state of Pennsylvania. We meet so many black men who are intensely interested in education, mentoring, and other social justice issues, but a lot of them never thought about teaching. When we asked them, “How many black male educators have you had?” the answer was usually, “Oh, one,” or “Two,” or “Zero.” So just helping to change that narrative, we think, is an important part of the work. EDUTOPIA: Is the fellowship open to educators outside of Philadelphia? And if so, how might they join? EL-MEKKI: Absolutely it is. And our membership is not just black males. Anyone who’s interested in diversifying and supporting current and aspiring black male educators can be members. If anyone is interested in joining, they can sign up at our website, 1000x2025.org, which refers to our goal of having 1,000 black male educators in Philadelphia by 2025. EDUTOPIA: So that we end this discussion of a crisis on a positive note, what gives you hope? EL-MEKKI: We’ve been grappling with the challenge of figuring out how to support students in really leading and serving in their communities. One of our young teachers, Gerald Dessus, who used

to teach literature, is now teaching social justice. Students start off the year by discussing the meaning of identity and community. And then they start diving into different social justice efforts that were led by youth, and dissecting those by looking at case studies. What I love about this—what gives me so much hope and inspiration— is that they’re digging deeper to understand what they did well, and what they struggled with. They ask themselves, “As I pick and choose how I want to lead and serve in my community, what lessons can I learn from them?” That is so motivating to me, to see 130 eighth graders preparing to go into high school, where they’ll take African American history and then other history classes and have a sense of who they are and what they stand for. I also draw inspiration from alums who are like, “Hey, you know what? I’m going to be a teacher.” I know some people cringe when they hear the idea of social justice warriors. But I embrace that. I love it, and I love seeing our youth leading the charge.  www.edutopia.org/article/crisis-blackeducation-crafting-mirrors-where-kidscan-see-themselves-betty-ray?utm_ source=SilverpopMailing&utm_ medium=email&utm_ campaign=030117

A Freedom School

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Business - Mobil Tech News

Google Launches Android Wear 2.0, LG Offers First Watches

oogle has introduced Android Wear 2.0, the latest version of its operating system for wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. The update means devices can manage more tasks on their own, without relying on a connected smartphone. The Google Play app store is available directly from the device, and users can add app features to the home screen of the device, such as calendar alerts, fitness goals or news. Android Wear 2.0 also brings the Google Assistant to the wrist, so users can reply to a message, set a reminder or ask for directions through voice commands. They can respond to messages by dictating a response, or handwriting the answer on the screen in apps like Facebook Messenger, Hangouts, Telegram or WhatsApp. With the new Smart Reply feature, the device can intelligently suggest different responses based on the message received.

LG Watches

The LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style will be the first to run Android Wear 2.0. The smartwatches will start their global roll-out in the US 10 February, to be followed by markets in Europe and Asia later this month. Google said that will include carriers and retailers in Canada, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, UAE and UK in the coming weeks. In addition, Android Wear 2.0 will roll out as an update to some existing smartwatches, such as the Asus ZenWatch 2 & 3, Huawei Watch, LG G Watch R and Watch Urbane, Moto 360 and Tag Heuer Connected. The LG watches feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear

2100 processor, circular displays and a rotating side button for scrolling through apps or messages. The Sport Watch comes with GPS and LTE connectivity, allowing it to run more apps without a phone, as well as support for Android Pay and updated Google Fit app. The watch features a 1.38-inch P-OLED display, Gorilla Glass 3 and a dust and water resistance rating of IP68. The smaller Watch Style has a 10.79mm thick case and IP67 rating and will be available in a choice of three colours.  https://www.telecompaper. com/news/google-launchesandroid-wear-20-lg-offers-firstwatches--1183056

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Business - Mobil Tech News

Facebook Adds Tools for Finding Help to Safety Check Feature By Shelly Hagan

acebook Inc.’s users often connect on the social network to seek relief and provide support during times of crisis. Now, the company is updating its Safety Check feature to make it easier for people to find or give help such as food, shelter or transportation during local disasters. Safety Check lets users in a certain geographic area mark themselves as safe after disasters, such as the earthquake in Nepal or terrorist attacks in Paris, giving friends and family members relief from worry about whether someone was affected. The new Community Help tool will let users post requests for assistance or offers of help from within Safety Check, and can be filtered by category and location,

according to Preethi Chethan, a product designer at Facebook. Facebook first started Safety Check in response to the 2011 tsunami in Japan. The company faced criticism after the 2015 Paris attacks for not activating its safety checks more often. Facebook has since implemented these alerts for many events, including some that didn’t seem to merit the warning, like an explosion in Bangkok that caused a panic when Safety Check was activated, but turned out to be small firecracker bombs as part of a protest that caused no injuries. Community Help will be initiated for natural disasters and accidents, like earthquakes or building fires, according to a blog post by Naomi Gleit, a Facebook vice president. It

will be tested in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Saudi Arabia before becoming available for all countries and incidents. “With every activation, we are continuing to learn how to make Safety Check and features like Community Help better for people in need,” Gleit wrote. “We will continue listening to feedback to make the tool more useful and relevant in the future.”  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/ technology/facebook-adds-toolsfor-finding-help-to-safety-checkfeature/ar-AAmJw12?li=AA4Zoy&o cid=spartandhp

77  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

From: Cornell William Brooks, President and CEO, NAACP

ne of the most troubling prospects for 2017 is the nomination of Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions for Attorney General. Senator Sessions stands against everything that you and I fight for: He's spoken out against the Voting Rights Act, and has described the work that the NAACP and ACLU do to protect civil rights as "un-American." We must do all we can to prevent him from rolling back the rights and protections our parents and grandparents worked so hard to gain, and we've worked so hard to preserve. Please make a donation today — even $4 can make a real difference — to help us fight back in 2017. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. And our president-elect has appointed Jeff Sessions, a man who's actively threatened to strip us of our rights throughout his career. Can we trust someone with our rights — and our lives — with a track record like this? • Sessions was denied appointment as a federal judge because of racist comments he made to a colleague. • He opposed and criticized the removal of the Confederate flag from public spaces. • He once joked that he approved of the Ku Klux Klan until he learned its members smoked marijuana. Too many of our brothers and sisters have sacrificed for the rights we have today. We're ready to battle for our rights in 2017 — and we need your support. P l e a s e contribute what you can right now and help us resist: http://action.naacp.org/StopSessions

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It Can Wait.

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Business - Finance

HBCU Money’s 2016 African American Owned Bank Directory

Another BlackOwned Bank Closes By Gail MarksJarvis

O Founders of Merchants & Farmers Bank in Durham, North Carolina

ll banks are listed by state. In order to be listed in our directory the bank must have at least 51% African American ownership. You can click on the bank name to go directly to their website. OTHER KEY FINDINGS: • African American Owned Banks (AAOBs) are in 17 states and territories. Key states absent are Florida, Mississippi, New York, and Ohio. • Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee, and Wisconsin each have two AAOBs. • 2016 Median AAOBs Aseets: $107 551 000 ($113 470 000)* • 2016 Average AAOBs Assets: $210 292 000 ($233 583 000)* • African American bank assets saw a 1.2% decrease or net loss of approximately $57 million in assets in 2015. • AAOBs control 0.03% of America’s $15.7 trillion Bank Owned Assets. • AAOBs control 2.3% of FDIC designated Minority-Owned Bank Assets, which is down from 2.6%

• • •

• •

in 2015. There has not been an AAOB started in 16 years. Only 8 of 2016’s 22 AAOBs saw increases in assets. For comparison, Asian American Owned Banks have approximately $46.1 billion in assets spread over 68 institutions. They control 6.0% of Asian America’s buying power. *Previous year in parentheses There are 22 African American owned banks (AAOBs) with assets totaling approximately $4.6 billion in assets or approximately 0.43% of African America’s $1.1 trillion in buying power. 

ne of Chicago's few blackowned banks, Seaway Bank and Trust Co., was closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday and is being sold to State Bank of Texas of Dallas, the FDIC announced. All 10 branches of Seaway Bank and Trust will continue to be open during normal business hours under the new ownership, the FDIC said. During the weekend, people with deposits will be able to access their money by writing checks or using ATMs or debit cards. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC The FDIC reported Friday that the bank had about $361.2 million in total assets and $307 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of Seaway's deposits, State Bank of Texas agreed to purchase $309 million of the failed bank's assets, said the FDIC. The FDIC estimates that the cost to its deposit insurance fund will be $57.2 million.  www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ct-fdic-takes-over-seaway-bank0128-20170127-story.html

https://hbcumoney. com/2016/03/08/2016-africanamerican-owned-bank-directory/

83  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

FOR

Valentine's Day

OR ANY SPECIAL OCCASION

Focus - Black History Month / Crisis in Black Education

The Crisis in Black Education: Reaching Students Where They Are By Betty Ray

The theme of Black History Month this year is “The Crisis in Black Education.” The scope of the crisis is considerable: Results from the National Assessment for Educational Progress—a test that’s also known as the Nation’s Report Card—show almost no change in the achievement gap between white and black students over the past 50 years. To help unpack the challenges facing African American students, we talked to educators who are tackling this crisis and implementing meaningful solutions.

r. Bettina Love is a professor of education at the University of Georgia who grew up immersed in hip-hop culture in the early 1980s. She developed Real Talk: Hip Hop Education for Social Justice, a Common Core– aligned after-school program for elementary students that "positions the culture, social context, learning styles and students’ experiences at the center" of the curriculum. Love believes that hip-hop is a valuable, highly engaging teaching tool that can help African American students deepen their understanding of racial identity, political power, and social justice—and develop crucial skills including critical thinking, problem solving, and communication. We talked to Love about why hiphop shouldn’t be treated as mere entertainment, how civics education can be integrated into curricula to power positive change, and why she doesn’t think there’s a crisis in black education.

EDUTOPIA: You’ve spoken about the power of hip-hop to help students develop valuable skills. Can you say more about that? BETTINA LOVE: If you look at most schools’ mission statements, they say they want students to have skills like critical thinking, problem solving, agility, social responsibility, grit, optimism, self-advocacy, and integrity. These are all skills that can be fostered in hip-hop culture. Young folks who are creating hip-hop are critical theorists grappling with understanding and deconstructing race, writing political critiques in poetic forms, and setting them to music. They’re collaborating together, looking at themselves and their communities critically, building knowledge of self, and telling their own stories. It’s all the four Cs of creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication all at once. And on top of that, they’re using digital and internet technology to build their audiences on social media and distribute their music. Look at someone like Chance the Rapper—he won three Grammy awards this year and doesn’t even have a record deal. He recorded, released, and promoted all his own music himself. So we say we have all these outcomes we want for our students, and there they are, sitting in our classrooms waiting for us with bated breath to get started. But instead of engaging them in a modality where they’re already engaged and succeeding, we give them this dry, oftentimes out-of-touch material

that’s not relevant to them. So we hear school administrators say, “These kids just don’t have these skills.” I beg to differ—they have the skills. These administrators are just not seeing it because they’re not looking in the right place. EDUTOPIA: The theme of Black History Month this year is “The Crisis in Black Education.” Do you think we’re in a crisis? How would you describe what’s going on for black students in their K–12 education? LOVE: I don’t think there’s any such thing as a crisis in black education. There is an educational justice crisis. Schools are just mirrors of our society, and when communities of color are deliberately gutted of their public services, jobs, housing, and health care, these human beings who are the most vulnerable in society become trapped by economic and racial isolation. We have a series of failing and interdependent systems: Educational justice is connected to economic justice, racial justice, environmental justice, religious justice, queer justice, citizenship justice, and disability justice. We need to bring civics education back. A better world is not going to just fall out of the sky and create itself. EDUTOPIA: Do you think there’s anything that those of us who are invested in improving education can do? What are the changes within education we should consider? LOVE: In my opinion, there are five major issues that need to be addressed. First of all, educators need to have a deeper understanding of America’s racial history and how its policies—and therefore its schools—promote racism, both consciously and unconsciously. Secondly, policymakers and educators also need to address the education debt that is owed

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Chance the Rapper

Dr. Bettina Love to children of color and Native American children. They need to prioritize the success of these communities who have been underserved for so long. Furthermore, creativity needs to be a central part of education. Students need to know that using their imaginations in meaningful ways is critical to their education and, ultimately, their lives. And the educational system needs to support that. We also need to recruit and retain educators that are committed to anti-oppressive education. Teachers must be willing to not only teach youth, but also march with youth, protest with youth, and show commitment to developing and improving as educators. And finally, we need to bring civics education back. A better world is not going to just fall out of the sky and create itself. We must ground our civics education with a commitment to youth culture, and deeply

examine the sociopolitical lives of youth, their communities, and how racism functions in America and its schools. When we center civics, activism, and intersectional justice in our teaching, we are helping to create a more just society. EDUTOPIA: To that end, let’s talk about Get Free, the civics curriculum you designed for elementary students that uses hiphop to teach social justice. LOVE: It’s a multimedia civics curriculum for youth and young adults of all ages. I was inspired by the exuberance, ingenuity, political energy, resistance, love, and DIY model of underground hip-hop, and created this program to push and extend ideas of democracy, community, civic engagement, and intersectional justice. I wanted to introduce young people and educators to a national network of young community leaders, artists, and activists who advocate for social change and democratic

inclusion driven by grassroots organizing. So, just as the the style and music of hip-hop is hyperlocal, this curriculum is designed to provide hyperlocal lenses into different communities, and facilitate cohesion within these communities for social activism. EDUTOPIA: As you think about this curriculum and your other work, what gives you hope? LOVE: I’m inspired by young folk who are just embracing who they are and truly queering their spaces and identity. I’m inspired by the DIY model, and young people doing things for themselves. I just think it’s an amazing time to watch young folk carve out a space for themselves to do the work that they want to do. I am truly inspired by their exuberance and their joy. www.edutopia.org/article/ crisis-black-education-reachingstudents-where-they-are-bettyray?col=484961

87  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business Technology:

Take A Look! by LaSandra Stratton

heck out what these ﬁrms and organizations have to oﬀer for your personal interests, personal wealth building, and business expansion opportunities.

HumaGrams

www.arhtmedia.com/about

ntroducing the smARHT™ Platform. The world’s ﬁrst complete end-to-end solution for the creation, delivery and monetization of human holograms, aka HumaGrams™. Through the smARHT Platform we can deliver HumaGrams in real-time to any event anywhere in the world through the public internet. This robust technology stack consists of: HumaGrams™ Design and create living, deceased and ﬁctional human holograms (digital humans). Live or pre-recorded, all our HumaGrams interact with their viewers.

3D Holographic smARHT Stages Easy to use holo-stages with our patented multi-plane display (MPD) technology. These kits that are scalable, repeatable and transportable holostages. Our kit’s that can setup in an event space (of any size – Arena to Window display) in 2 -4 hours with one or two people. Our holostages are a fraction of the cost of a Pepper’s Ghost stage. smARHT TV’s Patented 3D TV’s (without the need for special glasses). Live or pre-coded HumaGrams as a form of digital signage with touch screen features; this format will provide massive market potential into retail and other signage networks as we scale. VR/AR Headsets We are able to beam our HumaGrams into VR/AR smARHT Events. This market will grow and scale quickly through 2017 – 2020 Every Mobile Device All of our HumaGrams and related MPD content can be ﬂattened (2D) and delivered to a standard mobile device – phone, tablet, computer, TV, etc. The ARHT Engine Is the little magic box that beams the best in the world to the rest of

the world. The technology of the engine makes possible: • HumaGram delivered via smARHT STREAM for realtime, two delivery through the public internet. • Programmatic delivery of all content – live or pre-recorded, based on viewer and attendee engagement • Scalable to a global level for distribution and mass deployment with our cloud service portal for all content and device IP management • Open API for proximity based mobile marketing tools – Beacons, coupons etc. ARHT Analytics – Comprehensive Data capture and reporting for viewer and attendee  www.arhtmedia.com/technology

Hotel Room for a Day

ayuse.com is a platform that is popularizing the daycation trend. More than just a room to rest in, Dayuse.com oﬀers an ideal environment for workers. Whether you need a quiet place to sit and think or inspiration from new surroundings, hotels are the new working-space. 3D Holographic smARHT Stage

Notorious B.I.G. 88  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

you ﬁnd the right hotel for your project, however crazy it may be. With hotels in 16 countries, Dayuse.com works exclusively with handpicked establishments to meet our customers' high expectations for a unique business experience. And because we know business is sometimes unpredictable, cancellation is free up until the very last minute. We have adapted

Dayuse.com turns hotels into a playground for your work life. Dayuse.com offers you the opportunity to work differently and hold client meetings in new, unusual spaces thanks to our daytime bookings. You can now move your office for just a few hours. Traveling for work and need a place to work between meetings? Want to make the most of that stopover to finish off your project? Whichever airport, train station or business centre you’re near, we’ll find the right hotel just around the corner. Your team could probably do with an away-day… Get them out of the office and throw some new ideas around for a change! Inspiring views, rooftops, jacuzzis, pools or saunas could all be your next meeting room... So you're supposed to treat your clients like kings...Use Dayuse.com to find an incredible setting for your next meeting, shoot or interview and make sure they never forget. With prices up to 75% less than traditional overnight bookings, our customer service is there to help

our service to suit your needs for flexibility by offering different time slots depending on the hotel you pick. No bank details will be necessary upon booking, payment is only due once you pick up the key, for 100% discretion.  www.dayuse.com Submitted by LaSandra Stratton, Chief Content Administrator of the Black Business News.

Coming to your e-mail box.

Read Back Issues at: https://issuu.com/blackbusinessnews

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Community/Public Interest

Brooklyn Principal Inspires Young Girls with Curriculum Built Around ‘Fierce Females’ By Tiare Dunlap

ikki Bowen tells PEOPLE “I was the only black kid in my class until the 4th grade, so I learned really quickly what it meant to be different and what it meant to be poor and black.” Bowen grew up in a cramped one-bedroom apartment she shared with her mom and little sister in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Bowen’s mom knew the neighborhood school couldn’t offer the quality education she wanted for her girls, so she sent them to a public school on the other side of Brooklyn. Every morning, Bowen and her sister would wake up at 5:30 a.m. to take an hour-long bus ride to Brooklyn’s affluent Mill Basin neighborhood. At the time, it was hard for the girls to understand why they couldn’t join their friends at the school in their area. “I would fight my mom every morning because we had

to wake up so much earlier to catch the yellow school bus and our friends would make fun of us,” Bowen, 30, recalls. If the bus wasn’t running, Bowen’s mom, a social worker who worked at a halfway house on weekends to make ends meet, would pay for a van service to drive her daughters to school. “She sacrificed so much to make sure I had every opportunity,” Bowen says. Bowen took those opportunities and ran with them. Her academic success led to admission to a gifted and talented middle school, and then scholarships to a Connecticut boarding school and Princeton University. “Going to all of these schools made me realize how unfair it is that our country has really low expectations for kids who come from low-income communities,” she says. After graduating from Princeton in 2008, Bowen decided to tackle this problem head-on by becoming a teacher through Teach for America (www. teachforamerica.org). Today, she serves as principal of

Nikki Bowen with students at Excellence Girls. © Courtesy Uncommon Schools

Excellence Girls, a public K-8 school in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood where 98 percent of the students are either African American or Hispanic and 78% qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school’s curriculum is focused on fierce females – women of color who have faced adversity and overcome enormous challenges – and it has been a tremendous success with students. In 2016, the school became the first-ever all-girls school to be awarded the National Blue Ribbon Award by the Department of Education (www.ed.gov). The award “recognizes public and private elementary, middle and high schools based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups,” according to the DoE website. “It means the world to me,” Bowen, 30, says. “When we think about the field of education it’s rare that people, teachers and schools get recognized for all the awesome work that’s happening day to day.” Excellence Girls aims to educate a new generation of female leaders by instilling confidence and providing role models who students can relate to. “Through talking about fierce women who had struggles in this life and who had people doubt what they could do, seeing them triumph really reaches our girls,” Bowen says. “It helps them know there is a path

for them and there is a way that they’re going to make their mark on the world.” Past fierce females have included Maya Angelou, Lupita Nyong’o, Tammy Duckworth and Mary McLeod Bethune. “Our girls respond to our fierce females,” Bowen says. “They love them, they look up to them and they try to embody their qualities.” The parents of Excellence Girls have noticed the curriculum’s impact on their daughters’ confidence levels. Precious Overton-Adkins says the change in her daughter and step-daughter, both 6 and in the first grade at Excellence Girls, has been remarkable. “My stepdaughter has become more outspoken and my daughter is very eager to come home and show us what she learned in school. They have become very confident in what they do and if they get something wrong they don’t give up they want to try again.” “The girls look at Ms. Bowen and see a young African American female who is making a difference,” she says. “They see her and say, ‘Well if this is what Ms. Bowen is doing I know if I want to be a teacher or a principal or the president I can do it too!’ “  www.msn.com/en-us/news/good-news/brooklyn-principal-inspiresyoung-girls-with-curriculum-built-around-%E2%80%98ﬁercefemales%E2%80%99/ar-AAmFVB7?li=AAk6ORB&ocid=spartan dhp

93  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Community/Public Interest

Readers Wax Positively on General Price's Memoir - Life, on the Other Side of You

n his book "Life, on the Other Side of You: A Study of Life, Death and Renewal," General Price has shared the complexities and nuances of life after losing a spouse. The narrative captures the journey through a love story and unveils the strong emotions that emerge through experiencing tragedy, victory, relapse and the final heartbreak of death via cancer. Attendees to a recent discussion of the book by General Price offered these comments. "Spending time in conversation with Dr. Barrye Price, a retired Major General in the United States Army, was a transformative experience for me. He shared a part of his journey that was profoundly personal, yet extremely inspirational. This is a man who has fought in the Middle East, earned a Ph.D., devoted his life to ministry, and lived through the untimely deaths of his wife and many close family members and friends. Yet through it all, he has emerged as one with a gift and a desire-in-action to help others pull through the darkest of times in their own lives. There is something awe inspiring about being in the presence of a Major General, and this one, in particular. To experience the depth of his pain and path to healing is a rare privilege, not to be missed or walked away from unchanged." Arlene Warmack Williams "The multi-layered, intertwined plot twists and turns contained within the recent literary work of Major General Barrye L. Price derive from the best story-generator of all time: life. In “Life, on the other side of you”, General Price has crafted a book for all of us - and most particularly for those of a certain age – who have ever had a significant You in our lives. Themes that run throughout the passages within this beautifully crafted narrative – love, loss, faith, challenges, redemption, renewal, restoration and more – are all described in heart-felt and earnest language that causes a reader to smile at the familiar resonance of triumph on one page and then tear-up over a sense of bereftness on the next. Wry ironies and God-winks all abound as your mind and heart follow along while the tale is told, so it is not advisable to think it’s over until it’s really over.

General P r i c e ’ s writing, which h demonstratess not only hiss God-given talent forr creative expression but also his erudition in the field of history, takes you precisely to the touchstones where you will find the gems he has embedded to be discovered. Anyone and everyone who sits down with this fast-read of a book will encounter many valuable threads of truth, wisdom, and inspiration that they won’t soon forget." Wanda Flagg "It's an inescapable fate that, if we live long enough, we will experience the loss of someone we love. Barry L. Price's slim book - "Life, on the other side of you," offers profound and comforting thoughts about living with the loss of someone who was important to our life. Drawing on his experience with the drawnout illness of his young wife in the prime years of their love and marriage, and her eventual death, Price digs deep into his personal experience to offer some profound reflections on how to live a good life after death. He writes easily and honestly about his experience, and the lessons learned that led him to renewed love and hope for the future." Felicia Bragg The bookwas featured in the Books to Consider section of the Black Business News is now available for purchase a local book stores and on Amazon. com. 

94  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Community/Public Interest

Help Richard Overton Have 24/7 Homecare: A GoFundMe Campaign By Major General (Retired) Barrye L. Price

www.gofundme.com/Help-Richard-Overton

ichard Overton is 110 years old and is the oldest living United States veteran. He is a veteran of World War II and currently lives in his home in Austin, Texas. Richard has out lived all of his closest relatives and is in need of 24/7 home care. We are asking for donations to keep him living

in his home instead of a nursing home. Please make your donation through this GoFundMe campaign. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR VETERANS. www.gofundme.com/HelpRichard-Overton

95  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Community/Public Interest - Obituary

Remembering Al Jarreau (1940-2017) By Chocolate Vent

l Jarreau’s unique vocal style is one of the world’s most precious treasures. His innovative musical expressions have made him one of the most exciting and critically-acclaimed performers of our time with seven Grammy® Awards, scores of international music awards and popular accolades worldwide. It’s not surprising that he has

perfected his technique to such an art. After all, he has been singing since the age of four, harmonizing with his brothers and performing solo at a variety of local events in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Music, however, was not always the major force in his life. He excelled in sports and was an above-average student throughout high school and college.

Enrolling at the respected Ripon College in Wisconsin, Jarreau continued singing for fun, performing locally with a group called The Indigos during weekends and holidays, and graduated with a Bachelor Of Science degree in Psychology. After moving on to the University of Iowa to earn his Master’s Degree in Vocational Rehabilitation, Jarreau

96  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

subsequently relocated to San Francisco to begin a career in rehabilitation counseling. In San Francisco, Al’s natural musical gifts began to shape his future. He found himself performing at a small jazz club with a trio headed by George Duke, and by the late 60s, he knew without a doubt that he would make singing his life. Relocating to Los Angeles, he began his apprenticeship in such famed nightspots as Dino’s, the Troubadour and the Bitter End West. Shortly thereafter, he branched out to New York City as well, where he gained national network television exposure with Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, David Frost and Mike Douglas. Al teamed with guitarist Julio Martinez to “spell” up-and-coming comics John Belushi, Bette Midler,

Jimmie Walker and others at the famed comedy venue, The Improv. In 1975, following an extended stint at the Bla Bla Cafe in Los Angeles, he was spotted by Warner Bros. Records talent scouts and was signed to a recording contract. His debut album for the label, We Got By, was released to unanimous acclaim. It was a reception that spread across the continent and over the Atlantic when Jarreau was awarded a German Grammy for Best New International Soloist that same year. A second German Grammy came his way with the release of his follow-up album, Glow. Al’s career breakthrough came in 1977 when Warner Brothers Records released Look to the Rainbow, his live double album, which was culled from his first

Robert Klein, David Brenner,

world tour from that same year,

and earned the vocalist his first Grammy® for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. His fourth album, All Fly Home, was released in 1978 to further accolades and a second Grammy for Best Jazz Vocalist. It was followed by a string of innovative and original offerings, including 1980’s This Time, and the million-selling Breakin’ Away, which brought him a broader audience and two more Grammy’s with awards for Best Male Pop Vocalist and Best Male Jazz Vocalist. In 1983 Jarreau was released, followed closely the following year by High Crime. Both albums spawned a string of R&B and pop hits, and further cemented him as an international superstar. Al Jarreau- Live in London, recorded before a SRO crowd at Wembley Arena in 1985, continued to solidify Jarreau’s reputation as a worldclass master of both studio and stage. Following the live album, Jarreau teamed with top producer Nile Rodgers for L Is For Lover, which brought some new styles and sounds to the singer’s repertoire. He continued to top the stateside charts in 1987 and became a weekly guest in America’s living rooms singing the Grammy® nominated theme song for the hit television series Moonlighting. With hardly time to take a breath, he launched into the recording of the Heart’s Horizon album, which contained the #2 R&B smash “So Good” and earned him another GRAMMY® nomination, this time for Best R&B Album. After touring the globe for nearly two years, he returned to the studio – this time with Narada Michael Walden – to fashion the sound that would launch him into his third decade of music-making. The result was 1992’s Heaven and Earth for which he received his fifth GRAMMY® for

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see page 98

Community/Public Interest - Obituary Al Jarreau from page 97

Best R&B Vocal Performance. With this, he became one the rare artists to have won GRAMMY’S® in the three categories of jazz, pop, and R&B. In 1994, Tenderness was released. On this Marcus Millerproduced gem, Jarreau is joined by an all-star cast (David Sanborn, Kathleen Battle, Joe Sample, Steve Gadd, to name a few) to bring us a host of familiar contemporary compositions and to revisit a few Jarreau classics. 1996 brought some exciting

career challenges. While on a break from touring, Jarreau accepted a three-month stint on Broadway playing the role of Teen Angel in the hit musical Grease! Other recent credits include guest star appearances on New York Undercover, Touched By An Angel and a national McDonald’s commercial with R&B sensation, Vesta Williams. In 1999, for the first time, Al Jarreau teamed up with symphony orchestras throughout the U.S. and Europe performing his most popular hits as never heard before as well as some favorites from Broadway and the Classics, which received outstanding review. Al continued

to perform symphony shows on a regular basis. Called “the voice of versatility” by the Chicago Tribune and “one of the world’s greatest natural resources” by the Detroit News, Jarreau added a new chapter to his twenty-five-year recording career with Tomorrow Today (2001), his GRP Records debut. Al Jarreau received his own Star on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame”, in March 2001, commemorating his status as one of the best singers of his generation. Al spent the remainder of 2001 touring the United States, Europe and South Africa and working on his next album, All I Got (2002), where he teamed up with Verzion Telecom as a “Champion for Literacy”. This was followed on by the Grammy® n o m i n a t e d Accentuate The Positive (2004) on GRP Records/ Universal Music Group. Al’s 30th year in the music business saw another landmark with the pairing up with his peer the legendary R&B guitarist & singer, George Benson, for the album Givin’ It Up. Recorded in Spring of 2006, this record featured many guest artists including Herbie Hancock, Sir Paul McCartney, Jill Scott, Chris Botti and Patti Austin, amongst others musical veterans. Givin’

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It Up was released to critical acclaim on October 24, 2006 by Concord Music Group/Monster Music and garnered 3 Grammy® nominations for; Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, for “Breezin’” (nomination only), and two Grammy® wins in 2007 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for “God Bless The Child” featuring Jill Scott, and Best Pop Instrumental for “Mornin”. Early in 2008, Al handpicked his favorite romantic tunes spanning three decades for his Love Songs, a 14-track compilation that was released in January 2008 on Rhino/ Warner Music Group. He also helped the Playboy Jazz Festival celebrate its 30-year anniversary by headlining a sold-out opening night at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles A few months later on October 14, 2008, Al released his firstever Yuletide album, Christmas. The album features his warm and inimitable voice interpreting a dozen holiday classics, including ”The Christmas Song”, “Winter Wonderland” and “Carol Of The Bells”. Still one of the hardest working

men in show business, 2009 saw Al take in a 6-week European spring tour visiting theatres & festivals in Germany, France, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and N. America. In the middle of all this, Al also found the time to put together The Very Best of Al Jarreau: An Excellent Adventure. The 16-song collection highlights some of Al’s best-known songs, alongside one new track ‘Excellent Adventure’, which was produced by Richard Nichols and The Randy Watson Experience (Grammy® winning songwriter James Poyser and The Roots drummer Amir “Questlove” Thompson) – who have also produced songs for Erykah Badu, Al Green and The Roots (among other notable artists). Some of the albums represented include 1976’s Glow (“Rainbow In Your Eyes” one of Al’s first ever charting tunes), 1977’s Look to the Rainbow (“Take Five”), 1980’s This Time (“Spain”, “Never Givin’ Up”), 1981’s Breakin’ Away (“Roof Garden,” “We’re In This Love Together”), 1983’s Jarreau (“Mornin’,” “Boogie Down”), 1984’s High Crime (“After All”), 1988’s Heart’s Horizon (“So Good”) and

Accentuate The Positive (“Cold Duck”), along with other hits “Moonlighting”, the theme from the hit TV series; Grammy®-winning virtuosic “(Round, Round, Round,) Blue Rondo A La Turk”, and “We Got By” (from Al’s debut album of the same name). After more than 30-years Al Jarreau is undoubtedly one of the greatest performers and innovative vocalists the music world has ever known. Time Magazine called him ‘the greatest jazz singer alive’ and ‘Excellent Adventure’ illustrates perfectly the reason why. Al Jarreau passed away on February 12, 2017. He was surrounded by his family & a few close friends. The family is asking that all contributions be sent to the Wisconsin Foundation for School Music, a wonderful organization which supports music opportunities, teachers, and scholarships for students in Milwaukee and throughout. Al Jarreau was not just a hitmaker, he was also a history-maker. He will be missed.  https://chocolatevent. com/2017/02/13/remembering-aljarreau-1940-2017/

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Community/Public Interest - Obituary

Ohio Players and P-Funk Legend Walter 'Junie' Morrison dies aged 62 By Michael Hann

ne of the great musicians and producers of funk, Walter “Junie” Morrison, has died, at the age of 62. Morrison was a multi-skillled musician, writing, producing, singing and playing keyboards with the Ohio Players, with George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic, and as a solo artist. His death was announced on Twitter by Dam-Funk, who had featured Morrison on his 2015 album Invite the Light. He said Morrison’s daughter Akasha had called him with the news.

Though Morrison was at his most commercially successful in the 1970s, the influence of his music echoed down the decades in hiphop, with his work with both the Ohio Players and P-Funk being widely sampled. His own track Suzie Thundertussy, from his 1978 album, Suzie Super Groupie, was sampled on Kanye West’s No More Parties in LA. Others who have used Morrison samples include J Dilla, the Coup, Madlib and Kriss Kross, whose international hit Jump was one of many hip-hop records to use the Ohio Players’

Funky Worm, which was also the basis of the G-funk sound in the 1990s. He was the inspiration for the song Junie on Solange’s album A Seat at the Table. Morrison believed strongly in the power of intuition and instinct in music. When asked by the Fader if he had known Solange before she recorded Junie, he replied: “I instinctively knew Solange, only through the connection we all have as beings on this planet. Strangely enough, it was almost akin to what one would call fate, especially since her brother-in-law [Jay Z] started his career by sampling one of my early creations called Ecstasy.” That reflected his belief that artists didn’t make music of their own, so much as find music that already existed somewhere in the ether. “People are filters,” he told New York Rocker in 1981. “Idealism is prior to creation. No matter what you say – ‘I did this’ or I’m gonna do that’ – the moment that you actually believe it’s you is when you

Walter "Junie" Morrison 100  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Community/Public Interest - Obituary

Peter Abrahams, Pan-Africanist By Tyler Fleming (Edited by BBN)

n January 18, the world lost an icon. Only much of the world did not know it. South African-Jamaican writer Peter Abrahams died at 97 in Jamaica, where he has been living for more than 60 years. Abrahams was proliﬁc, insightful, and poignant. Unfortunately, he is also largely overlooked and often forgotten, especially in the country of his birth. As a young student, Abrahams “was always yearning for far-away places” with a desire “to show the white man that he was equal to him.” By age 19, he had not only published a collection of poetry, A Black Man Speaks of Freedom, but also relocated to England. In London, Abrahams linked up with the burgeoning pan-Africanist circles. Alongside the likes of Padmore, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Ras Makonnen, he helped organize the 1945 Manchester

Pan-Africanist Congress. As director of publicity for the event, Abrahams helped insure that the energies inspired by Marcus Garvey could embolden black liberation movements across the globe. Informally, at home, he hosted countless numbers of Caribbean and African students and exiles “in of a few hours of congenial warmth in an otherwise cold and lonely place.” In Britain, Abrahams put pan-Africanism into action. During this period, Abrahams also published the novels Song of the City (1943), Mine Boy (1946), which became a classic, The Path of Thunder (1948) and Wild Conquest (1951) all while reporting for the BBC and other media outlets. His writing was unapologetically black, railed against notions of racial inferiority, and promoted racial uplift through education, work ethic and pan-African solidarity.

have trouble. When you’re open to creative forces and The Vibe that is inherent in all men, and realise the immortality of mankind and those that have come before you – only then will you be able to achieve a view comparable to that which is considered to be wise … If you allow yourself to be aware of these things, or beware, then you’ll never run out of stuff. But when you say ‘This is me’ or ‘This is my goal,’ that’s when you’ve stopped.” Morrison joined the Ohio Players – a long-running soul band from Dayton, Ohio – in the early 1970s, when they re-formed as a funk band. The group’s first big hit, Funky

Worm (1973), was built around Morrison’s distinctive squealing synthesiser line, the sound of the funky worm itself. He left the Players in 1974, recording three solo albums before joining George Clinton in ParliamentFunkadelic in early 1978 as music director, co-writing several of their biggest hits, including One Nation Under a Groove, and sometimes using the pseudonym JS Theracon, a name he also used for some solo recordings. Clinton described working with Morrison in his 2014 memoir Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?

In 1956, Abrahams relocated with his family to Jamaica. There, he published Jamaica: An Island Mosaic (1957), A Night of Their Own (1965), This Island Now (1966), The View from Coyaba (1985), and The Coyaba Chronicles (2000). Abrahams not only championed pan-Africanism, he lived it, but also remained brave enough to challenge those within it. http://africasacountry.com/2017/02/ pan-africanism-was-peter-abrahamscountry/

“Junie was a fascinating person to work with,” he wrote. “He could do it all, and if you weren’t careful, he would … He could do brilliant things while you weren’t looking … With Funkadelic, he put himself back in the group environment, and it started to pay dividends immediately.” Morrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 as a member of ParliamentFunkadelic.  www.theguardian.com/music/2017/ feb/17/junie-morrison-dead-ohioplayers-parliament-funkadelic-dies

101  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Community/Public Interest - Tributes

BBA PRESIDENT’S TRIBUTE TO DOROTHY C. RANDLE

t is with heartfelt sadness that the Black Business Association (BBA) announces the loss of our close ally, friend and colleague, Dorothy C. Randle. Dorothy’s passing after a long battle with illness has created a surreal moment for me personally, as well as for others in the African American and minority business Dorothy C. Randle and Earl "Skip" Cooper II communities. As the President of the BBA, and Publisher of Black Business News, I extend our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of our dear Dorothy. Dorothy’s long list of professional achievements is so profound because her labor, commitment and love for small and diverse-owned businesses allowed so many individuals and business owners to reap the benefits of her dedication. Just last September, the BBA was proud and pleased to recognize Dorothy at the our “2016 Infrastructure Spending & Capital Access Program & Award Luncheon,” naming her as the “Minority Business Advocate of the Year.” Dorothy Randle was the Executive Director of the Council District 9 Business Resource Center, located in Councilman Curren D. Price, Jr.’s District Office on Central Avenue and 43rd Street. Through the CD9 Business Resource Center (BRC), she assisted entrepreneurs and business owners to gain easy local access to business development tools, services, and training. Dorothy’s primary role was to create programs and events that would nurture the growth of private sector companies, faith-based and nonprofit organizations. She also developed strategic alliances with public agencies and corporate partners to offer technical assistance services, access to exports, resources, capital and contracts, and business organization affiliates to the constituents she served in Council District 9. Before joining Councilman Price’s team in July 2013, Dorothy worked in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Office of Economic & Business Policy for seven years, serving minority business enterprises, under a federallyfunded grant program of the U.S. Department of Commerce - Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). Over the course of her professional career she helped numerous small businesses navigate through public sector and commercial contracting processes. Her passion for serving the business community earned her several awards and recognitions. Dorothy had an excellent reputation for being a strong advocate and serving diverse emerging business enterprises. She was known for working diligently to connect the dots for minority businesses, to make available business resources and capital and contract opportunities. Dorothy Randle graduated Magna Cum Laude from Biola University with a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership and held a Bachelor of Arts in Communications Journalism (high honors) from California State University Dominguez Hills.  102  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Community/Public Interest - Tributes

“God’s Board of Directors for His Heavenly Place” God looked around the board room of His heavenly place. He noticed that there was a seat to be filled with the person who had the face of an angel and a heart of gold. God then looked down upon earth and saw Dorothy Randall’s beautiful face. But more than this, He saw her heart was filled with love and grace and the desire to heal and save the human race. Dorothy’s life on earth as a devoted wife, mother, friend, and L.A.’s COMMUNITY LEADER, ADVOCATE AND SUPPORTER will be sorely missed. However, we all know that God wanted a board member who practiced random acts of kindness every day and a board member who had the ability to honor everyone as an authentic creation of God’s work in action. The Officers and Board members of The Hazelle Catherine Bass Institute of the ARTS share Dorothy’s vision, passion and understanding for how the arts can make a difference in one’s life, career and ability to appreciate the arts as a viable source for all human kind.

Poem written by Dr. Ruth Bass-Green Connie Bass, Contributor March 10, 2017

International

Angola's President Dos Santos to Step Down

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos AFP

ngola's long-time President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has confirmed he will step down before August's poll and has announced his likely successor. He told a meeting of the governing MPLA party that Joao Lourenco, the defence minister, would be the party's presidential candidate. But the 74-year-old is to remain leader of the influential ruling party. He is one of Africa's longestserving leaders, becoming president of the oil-rich nation in September 1979. Mr. Dos Santos has previously said he would stand down only to change his mind. Many Angolans credit him for leading the country to recovery after the end of its 27-year civil war in 2002. But some accuse Mr. Dos Santos of being authoritarian, staying in

office for too long and failing to distribute the proceeds from the oil boom more widely. Last year, the president appointed his daughter Isabel dos Santos to head state-run oil firm Sonangol. "He's pursuing a legacy plan with family members retaining control of key financial institutions," Darias Jonker, Africa director of political risk consultancy at Eurasia Group, told the Reuters news agency. "We see signs that he plans to retain some power behind the throne."

Who is Joao Lourenco? A former general, the 62-year-old is part of the president's inner circle and is currently the MPLA's deputy leader. As a young man he fought against Portuguese colonial rule, and in the civil war that followed

independence in 1975. Joao Lourenco has a reputation as a moderate. Like Mr. Dos Santos, he was a student in the former Soviet Union before going into politics. According to his biography posted on the Community of PortugueseS p e a k i n g C o u n t r i e s (CPLP), he used to play football and do Shotokan karate and also enjoys chess and horse-riding. He is married with six children and speaks Russian, Spanish and English.

Will he become president? Angola no longer directly elects a president, so the winning party in the parliamentary vote chooses the head of state. As the MPLA faces no real political opposition, it is likely that Mr. Lourenco will become president. Soren Kirk Jensen of the Londonbased Chatham House think tank says Mr. Lourenco has a reputation as a moderate. "He is probably the right person to be the bridge as Angola goes through a transition," he told the AFP news agency.  www.bbc.com/news/worldafrica-38856597 Image copyright AFP

105  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

International

International Mother Language Day 2017 Theme: Towards Sustainable Futures through Multilingual Education

o foster sustainable development, learners must have access to education in their mother tongue and in other languages. It is through the mastery of the ﬁrst language or mother tongue that the basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy are acquired. Local languages, especially minority and indigenous, transmit cultures, values and traditional knowledge, thus playing an important role in promoting sustainable futures. International Mother Language Day (www.unesco.org/new/en/ international-mother-languageday/) was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientiﬁc and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999 (30C/62). On 16 May 2007 the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution A/RES/61/266 called upon Member States "to promote the preservation and protection of

all languages used by peoples of the world". By the same resolution, the General Assembly proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Languages, to promote unity in diversity and international understanding, through multilingualism and multiculturalism. International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The date represents the day in 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bangla, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, were shot and killed by police in Dhaka, the capital of what is now Bangladesh. Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible

heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.  http://www.un.org/en/index.html

106  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

International

Nadir Tati, Pearl of Angola By In Fashion Africa

adir Tati is the symbol Nadir Tati of the excellence of Angola in fashion world. She entered and made a good start into the fashion world, coming firmly and to stay. She creates exclusive and unique collections following her own inspiration without copying any other stylists. Her master pieces are personalized and therefore she has never made two matching tiles, what distinguishes it from various designers and it also increases more and more her creativity. She is constantly creating and searching for new inspiration for each piece that is created. In her collection, she tries to bring up places,countries where she lived, and retelling them through her collections. She was the first stylist to dress the first lady in her country, Ana Paula dos Santos. In short time she reached the panorama of fashion participating in events like Moda Lisboa with its collection freedom which was inspirited in 40 years of independence of Angola. She dressed the Congolese actress Rachel Mwanza on the occasion of the First Lady Ana Paula dos Santos presentation of the film during the Oscars for best foreign language film. Was also named by Forbes magazine, who spoke of her “Dress Her showrooms are located in Lisbon, Cascais and of 10 million dollars.” This name won when displaying Johannesburg, South Africa.  her gown in a auction, that reached that incredible www.infashionafrica.com/nadir-tati-pearl-angola/ price.

107  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

International

AFCON 2017: Cameroon claims Africa Cup of Nations title with dramatic win over Egypt

wo second-half goals completed a stunning comeback for Cameroon against overwhelming favorite Egypt. Just as the game seemed to be heading for extra-time, the underdogs scored late on to record a famous victory. Cameroon, a team devoid of eight of their best players after they refused call ups to the Nations Cup, produced a modern football fairytale by beating record seven-times champions Egypt 2-1 in the final in Gabon. The Indomitable Lions achieved the near impossible thanks to a stunning individual goal from Vincent Aboubakar two minutes from time, the bulky striker chesting the ball down, flicking it over a defender and burying a volley into the corner of the net. Two substitutes, Nicolas Nkoulou and Aboubakar, had turned the game around in the second half after Mohamed Elneny's opener for Egypt midway through the first period. It is Cameroon's fifth Nations Cup title and easily

the most unexpected. The team and coach Hugo Broos had also been at war with their federation over bonuses during the tournament, nevermind having to cope with missing over half a team. "It's true that when I came to Cameroon nearly a year ago I found a group of players who were old, not motivated, so I had to change that," Broos told reporters. "So I brought in some new young players and we started working. We did a good job and now today we have a team. I am very happy that we won the Cup of Nations today and I am happy for the players -- this is not a group of football players, they are a group of friends." Egypt coach Hector Cuper was gracious in defeat, the latest in a long line in ﬁnals for the Argentine. "Cameroon deserved to win. I have deep sorrow for my players but it was too much for them, they were too tired. For myself, losing another ﬁnal, I don't want to say I'm getting used to it," Cuper said.

108  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Cameroon upset the odds when they overcame Ghana in the semifinals and the team demonstrated their irrepressible spirit again by dancing and singing their way into the stadium on their arrival for the final in Libreville. The fans of the Indomitable Lions, who vastly outnumbered a small pocket of Pharaohs supporters, showed their teeth by booing the names of the Egypt players as they were read out. A huge firework display then rounded off the closing ceremony before kickoff and FIFA president Gianni Infantino was among the dignitaries to meet the teams for the sell-out game. Normally defensive Egypt, boosted by the return from injury of Arsenal midfielder Elneny and 44-year-old keeper Essam El Hadary shrugging off a cold, initially tried to be more enterprising than they were in the rest of the tournament with Mohamed Salah inevitably at the center of things. Cameroon were too nervous and careless with their final ball in the first half to hurt their opponents and they were made to pay on 22 minutes. Salah was involved again and Elneny was given too much room inside the box before firing high into the net from a tight angle. For perhaps the first time this tournament, Ondoa was found wanting. He may have thought Elneny was going for a cross, but it was still a lackluster attempt to save.

Continually pounded their drums Despite going behind, Cameroon fans continually pounded their drums and the decibels increased with the sight of striker Aboubakar - the top international scorer in the squad - coming on for the second half. Cautious Egypt reverted to type and the game looked like it was drifting towards the Pharaohs' favorite score this tournament – 1-0 – until Nkoulou rose superbly to power in his header from Benjamin Moukandjo’s perfect free-kick on 59 minutes. The Lyon defender beat Ahmed Hegazy too easily in the air and there were question marks over whether El Hadary could have done more too. The Stade de l’Amitie went into raptures as the ball hit the net, the Cameroon fans among the 40,000 had begun to think it was not their year and the sudden delight made the noise even more ear-splitting. It looked like it was heading for extra-time until second substitute Aboubakar produced his moment of magic, one of the great goals in Nations Cup ﬁnals. The fairytale was complete. Supposedly the worst Cameroon side ever had lifted the continental title for a ﬁfth time, with eight of their best players at home having not bothered to come. And Cameroon will host this tournament next in two years. www.dw.com/en/afcon-2017-cameroon-claimafrica-cup-of-nations-title-with-dramatic-win-overegypt/a-37422973

109  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

African Stock Exchanges • Bolsa de Valores of Cape Verde - www.bvc.cv (in Portuguese) • Bond Exchange of South Africa - www.bondexchange. co.za • Botswana Stock Exchange www.bse.co.bw • Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres - UEMOA (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) - www.brvm.org • Casablanca Stock Exchange (Morocco) - www.casablancabourse.com/bourseweb/index. aspx • Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (Tanzania) - www. dse.co.tz • Douala Stock Exchange (Cameroon) - www.douala-stockexchange.com/index_us.php • The Egyptian Exchange - www.

• • • • •

• • •

egx.com.eg/English/homepage. aspx Ethiopia Commodity Exchange - www.ecx.com.et Ghana Stock Exchange - www. gse.com.gh Johannesburg Stock Exchange (South Africa) - www. jse.co.za/Home.aspx Khartoum Stock Exchange (Sudan, in Arabic) - www.kse. com.sd Libyan Stock Market - www. lsm.ly/_layouts/membership/ login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fEnglis h%2fPages%2fdefault.aspx Lusaka Stock Exchange (Zambia) - www.luse.co.zm Nairobi Stock Exchange (Kenya) - www.luse.co.zm Malawi Stock Exchange - www. mse.co.mw

• Mozambique Stock Exchange (in Portuguese) - www. bolsadevalores.co.mz • Namibian Stock Exchange www.nsx.com.na • Nigerian Stock Exchange www.nse.com.ng/Pages/default. aspx • Stock Exchange of Mauritius www.stockexchangeofmauritius. com • Swaziland Stock Exchange www.ssx.org.sz • Tunisia Stock Exchange - www. bvmt.com.tn • Uganda Securities Exchange www.use.or.ug Read the lastest issue of The Exchange Magazine www.nse.co.ke/media-center/ecommunique/exchange-magazine/ category/50-free-version.html

110  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

International

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Google Play Store Search: "Zambia USA Chamber"

Find links to the chamber website and facebook page, and embassies; access business resources; receive breaking news; view relevant video presentations; communicate via Twitter, smartphone and e-mail.

www.zambiausachamber.org 111  February 2016  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

International

Joyous Africans Take to the Rails, With China’s Help By Andrew Jacobs

Much of that spending has been directed at rail projects that planners hope will transform the way Africans travel and do business with one another, and the rest of the world.

he 10:24 a.m. train out of Djibouti’s capital drew some of the biggest names in the Horn of Africa last month. Serenaded by a chorus of tribal singers, the crush of African leaders, European diplomats and pop icons climbed the stairs of the newly built train station and merrily jostled their way into the pristine, air-conditioned carriages making their inaugural run. “It is indeed a historic moment, a pride for our nations and peoples,” said Hailemariam Desalegn, the prime minister of Ethiopia, shortly before the train — the ﬁrst electric, transnational railway in Africa — headed toward Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. “This line will change the social and economic landscape of our two countries.” But perhaps the biggest star of the day was China, which designed the system, supplied the trains and imported hundreds of engineers for the six years it took to plan and build the 466-mile line. And the $4 billion cost? Chinese banks provided nearly all the ﬁnancing. Having constructed one of the world’s most extensive and modern rail networks at home, China is taking its prodigious resources and expertise global. Chinese-built subway cars will soon appear in Chicago and Boston, Beijing is building a $5 billion high-speed rail line in Indonesia, and the Chinese government recently christened new rail freight service between London and Beijing. Another ambitious system in the works, the 2,400-mile Pan-Asia Railway Network, would link China to Laos,

Thailand and Singapore. But few places are being reshaped by China’s overseas juggernaut like Africa, a continent that has seen relatively little new railroad construction in a century. Despite years of steady economic growth, sub-Sahara Africa remains hobbled by an infrastructure deﬁcit, according to the Africa Development Bank, with only half of its roads paved and nearly 600 million people lacking access to electricity. Chinese companies, many of them state-owned and grappling with an economic slowdown at home, have stepped unto the breach, spending some $50 billion a year on new ports, highways and airports across the continent, according to the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Many of the projects are part of Beijing’s new Silk Road initiative, a $1 trillion eﬀort intended to deepen ties between China and its trading partners in the developing world.

Chinese-built and -financed projects include a two-year-old lightrail system in the Ethiopian capital; a $13 billion rail link between the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and the port city of Mombasa that will open later this year; and an ambitious rail modernization project in Nigeria that includes an urban transit system for Lagos. “For the longest time, railroads across Africa were limping along and in decline, but with the Chinese, that’s definitely changing,” said Andrew Grantham, the news editor at Railway Gazette International, a trade publication. China’s enthusiasm for constructing railroads, schools and stadiums in Africa stands in marked contrast to the role of the United States, which has largely shied away from financing infrastructure on the continent. One of the few exceptions, Power Africa, a $9.7 billion initiative announced by President Barack Obama in 2013, has fallen far short of its goal of providing electricity to 20 million

112  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

households within five years. When it comes to trade, China surpassed the United States in 2009 to become Africa’s biggest trading partner. It remains unclear how that calculus might change under the Trump administration. President Trump has questioned the benefits of free trade agreements, and a questionnaire from his transition team that was sent to the State Department last month expressed skepticism for foreign aid and development efforts in Africa. That worries some African officials and longtime experts, who fear the loss of American influence and largess — and the good will that is often produced by desperately needed infrastructure projects. Amadou Sy, director of the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said the United States was also missing opportunities to cultivate loyal customers.

“If you’re looking for new markets, Africa is the place to be,” he said. “But right now, the U.S. is not leveraging Africa’s huge potential. By contrast, the Chinese are there, and they are willing to take risks.” China is placing more than $14 billion worth of bets here in Djibouti, a geopolitically strategic speck of a country beset by soaring poverty and unemployment. The projects include three ports, two airports and a pipeline that will bring water from Ethiopia, its landlocked neighbor and a regional economic power that depends on Djibouti’s ports for 90% of its foreign trade. Also on the drawing board are a series of Chinese-built, coalﬁred power plants that would ease summertime electricity failures and help fuel a new taxfree manufacturing zone that oﬃcials hope will turn Djibouti into a Hong Kong-style entrepôt and international shipping hub.

Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of the Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority, said he hoped the new railway linking his country to the Ethiopian capital would be just the ﬁrst leg of a long-dreamed trans-Africa route, from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. “The train is already a gamechanger,” he said, noting that it will cut to 12 hours what until now had been a grueling three- or four-day trip by truck. Mr. Hadi praised the Chinese for going all in after Western banks declined to help ﬁnance the nation’s glaring infrastructure needs. “We approached the U.S., and they didn’t have the vision,” he said. “They are not thinking ahead 30 years. They only have a vision of Africa from the past, as a continent of war and famine. The Chinese have vision.”  www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/world/africa/ africa-china-train.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

113  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

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International

One Africa:

Tell the US Government that North Africa is Africa Too!

oin with and support the United Africa Organization’s campaign to petition the U.S. Department of State to include the whole African continent under its Bureau of African Aﬀairs.

Why? The State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, led by Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson, currently excludes Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara from its agenda. Instead, the aforementioned countries are grouped with the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, together with Iran, Iraq, Israel and others. This artificial distinction between North Africa and the rest of Africa

negatively impacts US foreign policy relations throughout the entire continent of Africa. We unequivocally reject the argument that North African countries are outside the scope of African affairs. North Africa is geographically and historically part of the African continent, and all fifty-three (53) independent African states, including North African countries, are represented in the African Union (AU). It would be far more productive for the State Department to engage with the entire continent of Africa, including North Africa, under its Bureau of African Affairs. We are one Africa, from the Cape to Cairo, indivisible and bound together! Therefore, no square inch of African

land should be excluded from African aﬀairs.

Sign The Petition!!! Go to www.change.org/petitions/ one-africa-tell-us-state-departmentthat-north-africa-is-part-of-africa and sign the online petition to support this important proposition. Next tell everyone you know to sign. 

www.uniteafricans.org

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Experience our exciting array of products from Cards to Cupcakes, African Masks, Asian Teacups, Healthy Herbal Teas, Gourd Purses, Candles, to Furniture Hope to see you soon!!! In the meantime visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/pages/CulturalInteriors-West/140688362658236

126  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

New Location Leimert Park Village 3347 W. 43rd Street Los Angeles, CA 90008 1-323-299-6383 www.zambezibazaar.com shop@ zambezibazaar.com

127  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

1-484-459-6625 zimbabwegallery@yahoo.com www.shonasculpture.com @ZimbabweGallery www.facebook.com/Zimbabwe Gallery P P 3500 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30326 G M 2841 Greenbriar Pkwy SW, Atlanta, GA 30331

Downtown Culver City: 9537 Culver Blvd. 310-202-5453 Open Sunday-Thursday 11am-10pm Friday-Saturday 11am-11pm www.honeyskettle.com

Buy Black! Bank Black! Educate Black! Invest Black!

Shop for all of the NoMu products at: https://shop.nomu.co.za and www.amazon.com

Bernahu Asfaw & Getahun Asfaw

1041 S. Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90019 323-938-8827 or 323-938-8806 • Fax: 323-932-6047 messob@gmail.com • www.messob.com

Open 7 days a week • 11am - 11pm

Krispy Kruchy Chicken is in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, Los Angeles. Krispy Krunchy Chicken is a cajun-style chicken (bone-in and tenders), served fresh, never frozen and fried in zero trans fat oil. Their menu also includes signature dishes of Traditional Wings; Krispy Wings; Cajun Sweet & Sour Wings; Cajun Tenders; Red Beans and Rice; Jambalaya; Boudin Bites (Cajun rice balls); Krispy Shrimp and Honey Butter Biscuits. For additional information, please call Krispy Kruchy at 1-323-293-3332 or visit www. krispykrunchy.com. 132  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Parker House Sausage (www.

parkerhousesausage.com) was started by Chicago entrepreneur, Judge H. Parker who came to Chicago from Montgomery County, Tennessee with little more than the conviction that there was a potential market for homemade sausage products prepared according to his mother’s recipes. By 1919 Judge Parker began selling his unique blend of herbs and spices mixed with ﬂavorful, savory sausage from a horse drawn cart on a retail basis. Recognized as one of the oldest family owned businesses in the U.S. In 2014 Parker House expanded its product line to include chicken products including breakfast sausage, hot links, and smoked sausage.

SHOP ONLINE! //shop.parkerhousesausage. com

We invite you to browse through our store and shop with conﬁdence. Need a dinner idea. Go to the Recipe Page on our website. Thanks for visiting!

ince people from all walks of life really enjoy Down South cooking, NFL Pro Reggie Kelly thought, why not bring a piece of the South to their homes. Reggie and his wife founded KYVAN® FOODS. KYVAN® Foods is a supplier to great customers like Kroger, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Firehouse Subs, Performance Foodservice, Hot Shots Distributing and more. As stated by Reggie, “It’s my goal to pass down to my kids (Kyla & Kavan) and to everyone the gift passed down to me… An Appreciation Of Good Food.” Thanks and God Bless! Website: http://kyvan82.com Shop Online: http://kyvan82.com/store Store Locator: http://kyvan82.com/storelocator

www.wosa.us

http://aaavintners.org

http://shallwewine.com

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Ma's Best is a bakery specializing in the production of home-style yeast rolls and baked products. www.facebook.com/masbestrolls/#!/masbestrolls/?tab=page_info#!/masbestrolls/info

Try all 3 flavors!

In your local grocery store or shop online for syrups, recipes, and books. Learn about our special projects and join the recipe contest.

MICHELE FOODS, INC. 1-708-331-7316 www.michelefoods.com

140  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

The Plan Workbook Lays out a simpliﬁed step by step guide for parents to use, beginning from before their children are born, to plan the steps they will take to prepare African American boys throughout their developmental years all the way to manhood.

143  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net ness ne ssne news ws net  11-323-291-7819 3233 29 32 2911 78 7819 19

Eso Won Books African American Books 4327 Degnan Boulevard Leimert Park, Los Angeles

Give G the Gift of Books and Music Come see our unsurpassed collection of books, music, videos, children’s books, and games!

1-323-294-0324

www.esowonbookstore.com  //esowon.booksense.com for Calendar of Events

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Books to Consider

Books to Consider...

after Emancipation, Miller highlights how food-related work slowly became professionalized and the important part African Americans played in that process. His chronicle of the daily table in the White House proclaims a fascinating new American story. 

The President's Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas

by Adrian Miller

ames Beard award–winning author Adrian Miller vividly tells the stories of the African Americans who worked in the presidential food service as chefs, personal cooks, butlers, stewards, and servers for every First Family since George and Martha Washington. Miller brings together the names and words of more than 150 black men and women who played remarkable roles in unforgettable events in the nation's history. Daisy McAfee Bonner, for example, FDR's cook at his Warm Springs retreat, described the president's final day on earth in 1945, when he was struck down just as his lunchtime cheese souffle emerged from the oven. Sorrowfully, but with a cook's pride, she recalled, "He never ate that souffle, but it never fell until the minute he died." A treasury of information about cooking techniques and equipment, the book includes twenty recipes for which black chefs were celebrated. From Samuel Fraunces's "onions done in the Brazilian way" for George Washington to Zephyr Wright's popovers, beloved by LBJ's family, Miller highlights African Americans' contributions to our shared American foodways. Surveying the labor of enslaved people during the antebellum period and the gradual opening of employment

Adrian Miller

https://www.amazon. com/s/ref=nb_sb_ ss_c_2_34?url=searchalias%3Dstripbooks&ﬁeld-keywords=the+president%27s+ki tchen+cabinet+adrian+miller&spreﬁx=%22The+President% 27s+Kitchen+Cabinet.%22%2Caps%2C615&crid=LST7PB A7BNAQ

Rest In Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton, Tracy Martin

n a February evening in 2012, in a small town in central Florida, seventeen-yearold Trayvon Martin was walking home with candy and a can of juice j in hand and talking on the phone with a friend when a fatal encounter with a gun-wielding neighborhood watchman ended his young life. The watchman was briefly detained by the police and released. released Trayvon’s father—a father a truck tru

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Books to Consider driver named Tracy—tried to get answers from the police but was shut down and ignored. Trayvon’s mother, a civil servant for the City of Miami, was paralyzed by the news of her son’s death and lost in mourning, unable to leave her room for days. But in a matter of weeks, their son’s name would be spoken by President Obama, honored by professional athletes, and passionately discussed all over traditional and social media. And at the head of a growing nationwide cam-

Tracey Martin & Sabrina Fulton paign for justice were Trayvon’s parents, who—driven by their intense love for their lost son—discovered their voices, gathered allies, and launched a movement that would change the country. Five years after his tragic death, Travyon Martin’s name is still evoked every day. He has become a symbol of social justice activism, as has his hauntingly familiar image: the photo of a child still in the process of becoming a young man, wearing a hoodie and gazing silently at the camera. But who was Trayvon Martin, before he became, in death, an icon? And how did one black child’s death on a dark, rainy street in a small Florida town become the match that lit a civil rights crusade? Trayvon Martin’s parents take readers beyond the news cycle with an account only they could give: the intimate story of a tragically foreshortened life and the rise of a movement.  www.amazon.com/Rest-Power-Enduring-TrayvonMartin/dp/0812997239

Ancestral Voices: Spirit is Eternal by Dalian Y. Adofo This book is a ground breaking exploration of humanity’s oldest documented faith practice; African Spirituality. A term often criticised for assuming homogeneity in African philosophy and culture that apparently does not exist. However, these research findings reveal intricate and broad commonalities across the various systems that clearly evidence a high level of unison in the Cosmological philosophies and practices of African people. The Author explores the topic across millennia from the times of the Ancient Black Egyptians to contemporary practices on the Continent and in the Diaspora. Evidenced are striking commonalities in the spiritual philosophies and practices over time and space, showing they are derived from a common mind or source. That what we term Vodou, f Kandomble, Palo Mayombe, Kemetic Vodun, Ifa, Spirituality and the like are all but localised offshoots of the same tree so to speak. As such, African Spirituality is shown to be an apt umbrella term for the various expressions the world over, one that will give its adherents official recognition and rights in the same manner various sects within mainstream religions are protected by law. The book also gives practical advice and suggestions from various systems on how to cultivate an African Centred Spiritual life, so it is not just an essential piece of scholarly Dalian Y. Adofo work to read but also an

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end, but it is the beginning of a new chapter of your life. Success is still within reach. Let me show you want you can achieve by sharing with you my story and experiences. Together, we will go on a journey of self-discovery where you will shed the skin of hopelessness for hope. I want to show you the path to achieving your dreams and create a ﬁnancially stable life, free of poverty, for you and your child! Topics Covered:

invaluable manual of instruction to have for cultivating one’s personal spiritual development.  www.amazon.com/Ancestral-Voices-Eternal-DalianAdofo/dp/1537260634/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=14 85894145&sr=8-1&keywords=ancestral voices&utm_ source=phplist710&utm_medium=email&utm_ content=HTML&utm_campaign=Kmt+Abibitumi+Kasa+Onli ne+Discussion+Series%3A+Dalian+Adofo+Ancestral+Voic es+Talk+Live%21

Millionaire M.O.M. & L.O.V.E for Teen Moms: You CAN Still Have Lives Of Vision & Empowerment

by Alicia Bowens

licia Bowens, author, business consultant, speaker, life coach, single mother, and most importantly, a success story, has collected and combined stories of teen moms who faced poverty, abuse, and rejection in her latest volume. These mothers found their voice and were able to defeat their demons by conquering their obstacles by eliminating their negative thoughts, tying them down. These teen moms – now adult women – share their inspiring stories in the hopes of waking another young mom’s suppressed dreams and encouraging her to write her own inspiring story. story

hen you have a child at a young age, you feel isolated and ashamed. You want to surrender to life. Before you can raise your hands up in defeat, understand that not all is lost. This is not the

• • • • • • • • • •

Lift Aft b After th the B Baby Finding the Support You Need Developing Positive Parenting Habits After the Breakup Going Back to School Planning and Applying for College Managing Your Money Learning to Forgive and Love Yourself Again Protecting Yourself and Your Future Setting Your Vision in Motion  http://aliciabowens.org/?page_id=661

I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Michael Eric Dyson

educed to sound bites and videoclips, Martin Luther King's image has become one of a starry-eyed dreamer and conformist, contends Michael Eric Dyson (Making Malcolm, etc.) in this attempt to reclaim the man he views as heroic and flawed from biographers, conservatives and cultural pundits who, Dyson maintains, have molded King's myth to fit their own political agendas. Readers looking for a linear, biographical text will not find it here. Rather, this is a bracing, at times willfully subjective, political and cultural analysis in which Dyson's signature style is

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just as surprising and revolutionary as what he presents as King's true message. As usual, this Baptist minister employs poetic, sometimes

accusations of plagiarism against him and the troubles in King's marriage. His attempt to resurrect King as an evolutionary and revolutionary thinker who was not ""down"" with the status quo brings home that his stance on economic equity and the Vietnam War intensified the FBI surveillance that Dyson believed led to his death. In the end, Dyson successfully proves how vital King's true political views and personality are to struggling and frustrated black youth today.  http://www.publishersweekly.com/9780-684-86776-2

b ti h t i it acrobatic gospell rhetoric, with multiple references to black youth music. One shock to the system is his point-by-point comparison of the similarities between King's and slain rapper Tupac (2pac) Shakur's philosophies. In addition to going on the offensive against the deliberate editing, misquoting and misinterpretations of King's speeches, Dyson tackles such difficult issues as the exclusion of women activists from civil rights organizing. He also deals adeptly with King's adulterous liaisons, his disillusionment with whites, the

The Power of Broke:

How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage by Daymond John

aymond John has been practicing the power of broke ever since he started selling his home-sewn t-shirts on the streets of Queens. With no funding and a $40 budget, Daymond had to come up with out-of-the box ways to promote his products. Luckily, desperation breeds innovation, and so he hatched an idea for a creative campaign that eventually launched the FUBU brand into a $6 billion dollar global phenomenon. But it might not have happened if he hadn’t started out broke - with nothing but a heart full of hope and a ferocious drive to succeed by any means possible. Here, the FUBU founder Michael Eric and star of ABC’s Shark Tank Dyson

shows that, far from being a liability, broke can actually be your greatest competitive advantage as an entrepreneur. Why? Because starting a business from broke forces you to think more creatively. It forces you to use your resources more efficiently. It forces you to connect with your customers more authentically, and market your ideas more imaginatively. It forces you to be true to yourself, stay laser focused on your goals, and come up with those innovative solutions required to make a meaningful mark. Drawing his own experiences as an entrepreneur and branding consultant, peeks behind-the scenes from the set of Shark Tank, and stories of dozens of other entrepreneurs who have hustled their way to wealth, John shows how we can all leverage the power of broke to phenomenal success.  https://www.amazon.com/PowerBroke-Greatest-Competitive-Advantage/dp/1101903597

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BBA Master P lanner March 201 7 BBA Salute to Black Women Business Conference

The conference highlights the achievements of African American women entrepreneurs, offers workshops and a retail pavilion. For particiation information call 1-312-291-9334 or send an inquiry to mail@bbala.org 

June 201 7

BBA Salute to Black Music Taking place at the LA Hotel Downtown, the awards dinner will highlight the achievements of African American entrepreneurs and the government agencies and corporate entities that provide positive supports for African American businesses. For particiation information visit www.bbala.org. 

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Resource Vault Media/Information Africa Interactive Multimedia Press/Content Agency in Africa -- www.africa-interactive.com Africa World Press Books -- www.africaworldpressbooks.com African Trade Magazine -- www.africantrademagazine. com African Vibes Magazine -- www.africanvibes.com The Africapitalist -- www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/ africapitalisminstitute/africapitalist-magazine The African World -- www.theafricanworld.tv Africast TV -- www.africast.tv Afritorial -- www.afritorial.com www.facebook.com/Afritorial AllAfrica (news) -- http://allafrica.com Black Wall Street Times -- http://bwstimes.com Black Business News Group -- www.blackbusinessnews.net Black Children's Books and Authors -- http://blackchildrensbooksandauthors.tumblr.com BlackPast.org -- www.blackpost.org Black Press USA -- www.blackpressusa.com Black Then -- https://blackthen.com BridesNoir -- www.bridesnoir.com The Chocolate Voice -- www.thechocolatevoice.com CuisineNoir -- www.cuisinenoirmag.com DiasporaVoice -- www.blogtalkradio.com/diasporavoice Publish Africa -- http://wow.gm/publishafrica Rock Me Africa -- //rockmeafrica.com YouTube Educational Channels -- http://teacherswithapps.com/197-educational-youtube-channels-know United Nations -- http://webtv.un.org World Library -- www.worldlibrary.org

Zambia-USA Chamber of Commerce -- www.zambiausachamber.org

Investment/Development Africa Reports -- www.africareports.com African Development Bank -- www.afdb.org African Export-Import Bank -- //afreximbank.com/ afrexim/en AfrigadgetTV -- www.afrigadget.com Disrupt Africa -- http://disrupt-africa.com/ The Exchange Magazine -- www.nse.co.ke Silicon Harlem -- http://event.siliconharlem.net Ventures -- www.ventures-africa.com

U.S. Government Commerce Department -- www.doc.gov International Trade Administration -- http://trade.gov Minority Business Development Agency -- www. mbda.gov Power Africa -- www.usaid.gov/powerafrica Small Business Administration -- www.sba.gov State Department -- www.dos.gov Trade Africa -- www.usaid.gov/tradeafrica White House -- www.whitehouse.gov

Culture/Arts Cultural Events/Content -- www.okayafrica.com Hungry Black Man -- https://thehungryblackman.com

Commerce/Entrepreneurship African Success Stories -- www.risingafrica.org #IAMWANDA -- www.facebook.com/IamWANDAorg She Leads Africa -- http://sheleadsafrica.org

Organizations African Leadership Forum -- http://afrialeadership.org African Union -- www.au.int/en Black Business Association -- www.bbala.org CauseCast -- www.causecast.com www.causecastfornonproﬁts.com Pan African Film Festival -- www.paﬀ.org United African Organization -- http://uniteafricans.org 151  February 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819