Publisher's Message “THE WALL IS AN ANTIQUATED SYMBOL OF PURE RACISM”
A
s the Publisher/Editor of Black Business News Group and the President and CEO of the Black Business Association (BBA), I take the position that “The Wall” the Trump Administration is proposing to build is not the answer to our nation’s immigration problems. Simply put, “THE PROPOSED WALL IS AN ANTIQUATED SYMBOL OF PURE RACISM.” “Where is the wall that protects Americans from domestic terrorist? “Where is the wall that protects Americans, African Pubisher/Editor-In-Chief Americans and other minorities from domestic terrorist, white supremacists, white militia groups, and white nationalist groups?” The real wall we need, is the wall to end racial discriminatory ideologies; predatory lending; delivery of tainted water to Americans, especially those in the poor inner cities; unwanted and unsolicited sexual advances between men (and women); and inequality in the justice system. We need a wall to keep our children and loved ones safe from the sexual predators and human traffickers with stiffer and more severe sentencing. More recently, the President has made good on his threat to shut down the Government over funding for the “Wall.” This has caused over 800,000 federal government employees and contractors not to receive their paychecks, many who statistics show live paycheck-to-paycheck for their basic expenses creating an additional hardship on them. This has sadly only served to create more security problems throughout the nation in addition to alienate and frustrate more and more American citizens who rely on our Government to “serve the needs of ALL of its citizens, videoblocks.com in accordance with keeping and upholding the Constitution,” whether we have a wall up or not. Neither the wall nor shutting down the Government accomplishes the core responsibilities and duties of our elected officials, however, they lead many to question the leadership (or lack thereof) of this nation. Does America’s immigration policies need to be overhauled? Yes. Is the Wall the answer? No. The Wall is no more an answer, than trying to lead and build relationships through intimidation and fear. As an American citizen and a Vietnam Veteran, I believe and understand the importance of protecting the freedoms of all citizens, and those who desire to become “law-abiding” citizens. However, erecting a border wall along all the Border States in the U.S. is simply not the answer. If America is ever to be “great” at all, it needs to deal with eradicating all symbols of racism it has all over its landscape, and not erecting more, such as the border wall the current White House Administration wants to build. Not only would funding this
Earl “Skip” Cooper, II
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
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see Publisher's Message on page 52 3 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
About
ABOUT THE BLACK BUSINESS NEWS GROUP‌ The mission of The Black Business News (BBN) 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 (a division of the Black Business Association) impart current local, national and international industry and social trends and news aecting small businesses across the United States of America (USA), providing guides to greater access to ďŹ nancial capital, management eďŹƒciencies, business education, mentorship opportunities and social media networks. The goals of the Black Business News Group include: •
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or providing an aďŹƒrmative inuence for nemerging entrepreneurs by sharing inal novative design and creative cultural content that exposes them to the his-tory of black enterprises and urgess them to participate in the USA’s fu-ture.
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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 blacks work, live and operate viable business enterprises.
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Contents
Black Business News…January 2019 3
Publisher's Message
Government 6 8
10
12 13 13 14 16
New Year’s Day is Also Emancipation Day 116th Congress Ushered in a Historically Diverse Freshman Class Maxine Waters Issues 96 Warning to Wall Street Kamala Harris’ New Book Builds her Case for a White House Bid Sen. Kamala Harris Announces 2020 Presidential Bid Historic Swearing-In Cyntoia Brown Granted Clemency Air Force to Hold Pitch Day for Tech Firms
Editorials/Perspectives 26 38 56
Remembering Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Rereading King in Critical Times: Mapping and Making Our Way Forward A Petulant President Shuts Down Government and Insults Working People
Entertainment 20
33 36 40
72
Community/Public Interest 81 82 82 84 85
Metrolink Hires its First Black, Female Chief Executive: MTA's Stephanie Wiggins If You are an Entrepreneur, Money is but a By-Product of who you are Want to Learn Something New — All You Need is 20 Hours The Retail Apocalypse is Old News.
MBDA Awards Nearly $2 Million to HBCUs 400th Commemoration Year of Enslavement 1619-2019 Boris Kodjoe Hosted a Trip Back To Ghana Out of Tragedy, Antonio Davis Finds his True Calling This Teenager is Making a Positive Difference for Other Youth
Obituary/Memorials 86 87 88
Remembering Lamin Sanneh, Yale Expert on World Christianity Comedian Kevin Barnett Dies: ‘Rel’ CoCreator Was 32 Bidding Farewell to 'Hello, Dolly!': Actress Carol Channing Dies at 97
International 91 94 96 97
BBN Show Biz Buzz
Business 30
62
Now What? African American Travel Represents $63 Billion Opportunity Queen Latifah is First Partner for Essence Fund For African-American Content
Kagame: Africa is a Source of Opportunity Not Risk After delays, Egypt's new Megamuseum Scheduled to Open in 2020 Iddris Sandu, Tech Leader Ethiopian Airline to Open Ethiopian Skylight Hotel
Columns 48 90 102 153 157 158
Take A Look! African Stock Exchanges Shopping Gallery Books to Consider... BBA 2019 Master Planner Resource Vault
5 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
72
Opinion
New Year’s Day is Also Emancipation Day Our nation must fulfill the hopes unleashed by the Emancipation Proclamation. By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
“Then Moses said to the people, ‘Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand.’” — Exodus: 13:3.
L
ate in the night of Dec. 31, in African-American churches across the country, congregants gather to welcome the new year. They sing songs of freedom and overcoming. They testify to how far their faith has brought them and how much faith and courage they will need to face another year. The tradition is called Watch Night, and it dates back 156 years to when President Abraham Lincoln set forth an essential document of freedom that most Americans have probably never read or thought much about: the Emancipation Proclamation. The night before the proclamation went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, free blacks in the North and their enslaved brothers and sisters in the South sat vigil in churches, in shabby slave shacks and in moonlit plantation woods to watch, pray and hope throughout the night to hear news that Lincoln’s promises of freedom had been officially issued and millions of our ancestors were legally free. The president kept his word — although two more years of slaughter and civil war lay ahead.
African-Americans emerged from that long night of waiting and watching with the right to pick up arms and join the military struggle to save the Union as soldiers and aboard “vessels of all sorts.” The proclamation declared that those enslaved in the Confederacy were now “forever free,” and the might of the United States government, “including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.” The proclamation was the most consequential executive order in the history of the United States. It should be celebrated and honored. For every American who cherishes freedom and democracy, New Year’s Day should mean far more than college bowl games and parades. The nation must revive and reclaim the true meaning and significance of Jan. 1, Emancipation Day. This Jan. 1 is even more significant in that the year 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the first documented African slaves’ forced arrival on the shores of the New World that was to become the United States of America. This anniversary year should be a time of commemoration and celebration, reflection — and action — on how far we have come and how far we must still travel to reach the mountaintop. The journey from slavery to
freedom was largely completed in 1865 with the adoption of the 13th Amendment. The march from freedom to equality is far from over. I spent Christmas morning — as I have for more than 40 years — visiting and praying with the inmates and staff at Cook County Jail, the sprawling warehouse of the poor and dispossessed on the West Side of Chicago. As I looked out over the faces crowded into the jail’s gym, I saw that they were overwhelmingly black and brown. Although African-Americans make up just 24% of the population of Cook County, nearly 74% of the jail’s population is black. This story of inequality was four centuries in the making. It began in August 1619, when some 20 frightened, bewildered and beleaguered Africans arrived in Jamestown, VA., as prizes that had been pirated from Spanish ships on the open seas. Even as revolutionary Americans rebelled against the British monarchy, declaring all men created equal, the founding fathers at the Constitutional Convention bowed to the South with three slave compromises that still haunt our nation: permitting the international slave trade; counting slaves as three-fifths of a person for congressional representation; and establishing the Electoral College, giving the South congressional representation disproportionate to its voter eligibility. Yet in the darkness of chattel slavery, the enslaved were able to
6 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
action program in history and show what true equality for all Americans means and looks like. We must examine how much such repair will cost, what failure to repair has already cost, and the continuing cost to the nation in terms of human and economic underdevelopment if we fail to even the playing field for African-Americans and other people of color. In 2020, there will be another presidential election. As the candidates campaign in the next two years, they must be challenged to share their vision of what an equal, nondiscriminatory, multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious and nonsexist society looks like, and how they propose to take us there. In the meantime, we the people — red, brown, yellow, black and white — must do what African-Americans have done for 400 years, from bondage to emancipation, from lynch mobs to great migrations, from the back of the bus to Rosa Parks, from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis to President Barack Obama on the balcony of the White House. Keep hope alive. sustain enough of their humanity to maintain a light of hope for a better day, for freedom and for equality. African-Americans were able to see the dimly lit outlines of a more just social, economic and political order, even during slavery, apartheid and centuries of discrimination. But black people did not wait for freedom to fall from the sky. The Colonial era and beyond bristled with slave rebellions and resistance. The lies, myths and insanity of white supremacy contaminated the soil and the soul of America. The Academy said African-American minds were inferior. The medical establishment said our bodies were inferior; the church, our morality.
The banks determined that we were unworthy for loans or investment. These barriers have yet to be completely broken down. We are free but unequal. Yet still we rise. History is an unbroken continuity that cannot be denied. Americans should not hide from the past nor engage in an extended exercise of rehashing 400 tragic years. Although there can be no plan for the future without comprehending the past, we cannot go forward while only looking backward. 2019 must be about the vision of a fully equal society. In the coming year, we must set goals and a timetable for the most profound and in-depth corrective
www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/ opinion/new-years-day-emancipationproclamation.html?action=click&module =Opinion&pgtype=Homepage Image credit: George McCalman, naija247news.com
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
7 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Government
116th Congress Ushered in a Historically Diverse Freshman Class By Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press
C
heering Democrats returned Nancy Pelosi to the House speaker's post Thursday as the 116th Congress ushered in a historically diverse freshman class eager to confront President Donald Trump in a new era of divided government. Pelosi took the gavel saying U.S. voters "demanded a new dawn" in the November election that swept the Democrats to a House majority and are looking to "the beauty of our Constitution" to provide checks and balances on power. The new Congress is like none other. There are more women than ever before, and a new generation of Muslims, Latinos, Native Americans and AfricanAmericans is creating a House more aligned with the population of the United States. However, the Republican side in the House is still made up mostly of white men, and in the Senate Republicans bolstered their ranks in the majority. In a nod to the moment, Pelosi, the first female speaker who reclaimed the post she lost to the GOP in 2011, broadly pledged to make Congress work for all Americans — addressing kitchen table issues at a time of deep economic churn — even as her party readies to challenge Trump with investigations and subpoena powers that threaten the White House agenda. Pelosi promised to "restore integrity to government" and outlined an agenda "to lower health costs and prescription drug prices and protect people with preexisting medical conditions; to increase paychecks by rebuilding America with green and modern infrastructure from sea to shining sea." The day unfolded as one of both celebration and impatience. Newly elected lawmakers arrived, often with friends and families in tow, to take the oath of office and pose for ceremonial photos. Then they swiftly turned to the shutdown. It's a time of stark national political division that some analysts say is on par with the Civil War era. Battle lines are drawn not just between Democrats and Republicans but within the parties themselves, splintered by their left and right flanks.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York nominating Rep. Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House dogonvillage.com
Pelosi defied history in returning to the speaker's office after eight years in the minority, overcoming internal opposition from Democrats demanding a new generation of leaders. She will be the first to regain the gavel since Sam Rayburn of Texas in 1955. Putting Pelosi's name forward for nomination, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the incoming Democratic caucus chair, recounted her previous accomplishments -- passing the Affordable Care Act, helping the country out of the Great Recession -- as preludes to her next ones. He called her leadership "unparalleled in modern American history." One Democrat, Rep. Brenda Lawrence of Michigan, cast her vote for Pelosi "on the shoulders of women who marched 100 years ago" for women's suffrage. Newly elected Rep. Lucy McBath of Georgia, an anti-gun violence advocate, dedicated hers to her slain teenage son, Jordan Davis. As McCarthy passed the gavel to Pelosi he said voters wonder if Congress is "still capable" of solving problems, and said this period of divided government
8 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
TOP PICTURE: From left in center row, Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill. (youngest black women ever in Congress), Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y, hold hands during an opening prayer as the House of Representatives assembles for the first day of the 116th Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) BOTTOM PICTURE: The ceremonial swearing-in of the Congressional Black Caucus at The Warner Theatre on Jan. 3, 2019, in Washington. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
is "no excuse for gridlock." The halls of the Capitol were bustling with arrivals, children in the arms of many new lawmakers. Visitor galleries included crooner Tony Bennett and rock legend Mickey Hart, both guests of Pelosi. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., opened the House prayer asking at "a time fraught with tribalism at home and turbulence abroad" that lawmakers "become the architects of a kindlier nation." Overnight, Democratic Rep-elect Ilhan Omar of Minnesota tweeted a picture with her family at the airport. The House rules were being changed to
allow Omar, who is Muslim, to wear a head scarf on the chamber floor. She wrote, "23 years ago, from a refugee camp in Kenya, my father and I arrived at an airport in Washington DC. Today, we return to that same airport on the eve of my swearing in as the first Somali-American in Congress. https://lasvegassun.com/news/2019/jan/03/new-congressgavels-in-with-nod-to-history-warning Associated Press writers Matthew Daly, Alan Fram, Kevin Freking, Mary Clare Jalonick and Laurie Kellman contributed to this report./
9 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Government
Maxine Waters Issues Warning to Wall Street
D
emocratic Rep. Maxine Waters issued a fresh warning to Wall Street as she outlined her agenda as the new chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, saying she won't let the banks and financial institutions “run amok” and lead the country into another crisis. Speaking at the Center for American Progress Action Fund in Washington, DC the California lawmaker promised to protect working Americans from big banks. “The crisis was a result of Wall Street running amok,” Waters said, in reference to the 2008 financial crisis. “Large Wall Street banks are not subject to anybody and do great damage to our economy.” Waters, a frequent and vocal critic of President Trump and his administration, now has some in the financial industry on edge given her newly obtained congressional powers — especially after the sector benefited from the Trump administration’s rollback of financial regulations implemented after the last recession. “I don’t want to be the next financial institution to mess up,” Isaac Boltansky, a Washington policy analyst for the investment firm Compass Point Research & Trading, told The Washington Post. “We will have big bank CEOs raising their right hand a lot more.” Waters, who will be joined on the Financial Services Committee by liberal freshman Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, has already hinted she is interested in ramping up the pressure on banks that have been accused of widespread abuses. “The CEOs of the banks now are saying, ‘What can we do to stop Maxine Waters because if she gets in she’s going to give us a bad time?’” the congresswoman said during a speech in Los Angeles last November. “I have not forgotten that you undermined our communities. I have not forgotten that you sold us those exotic products, had us sign on the dotted line for junk.” Waters added: “What I am going to do to you is fair. I’m going to do to you what you did to us.” In a letter to her Democratic colleagues on the committee sent late last year that was obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Waters called Wells Fargo one of the country’s “recidivist financial institutions” that would be punished under a bill she introduced last year allowing regulators to break up big banks that “repeatedly harm consumers.” Over the past few years, Wells Fargo has been hit with a number of controversies that have made them a target of Waters’ ire. Wells Fargo has also been accused of consumer abuses tied to the bank’s mortgage and auto-loan businesses, which led to a record $1 billion fine from federal regulators in April, and the Federal Reserve earlier this year ordered the bank to stop growing until it could prove that
it can prevent consumer abuses. In a statement sent to Fox News last November following the midterm elections, Wells Fargo said the bank is willing to work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and hopes to restore consumers' trust in the financial institution. "Wells Fargo remains committed to working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Congresswoman Waters,” a spokesperson for the bank said in the statement. “Our priority is to continue sharing the progress that we have made to transform our company, make things right with customers, and give back to our communities." Her power in the new Congress
10 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
RRepresentative Maxine Waters celebsiren.com will be limited as Democrats only hold the majority in one chamber, with the Republican-led Senate likely to act as a cooler for any aggressive regulatory efforts should they advance in the House. But the committee perch would give her the ability to investigate and subpoena. “I just don’t know who is going to be in her crosshairs,” Richard Hunt, president of the banking industry trade group the Consumer Bankers Association, told Fox News. “Is it going to first be [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin and Trump or is it going to be the banks?” One bank with close ties to President Trump that Waters has already singled out is the German
financial institution Deutsche Bank. “I am committed to strong oversight and following the Trump money trail, starting with Deutsche Bank,” she wrote last year. The banked doled out about $630 million in fines to U.S. and British regulators after it failed to stop the transfer of around $10 billion out of Russia in violation of anti-money laundering laws. Waters has pushed to see any suspicious activity reports the bank filed with the Treasury
their lending to Trump – she also hasn’t ruled it out. Deutsche Bank spokesperson Troy Gravitt said in a statement sent to Fox News that the bank is willing to cooperate with whatever action Waters takes. “Deutsche Bank takes its legal obligations seriously and remains committed to cooperating with authorized investigations,” Gravitt said. “Our recent record of cooperating with such investigations has been widely recognized by regulators. We intend to keep working in this spirit if we get an authorized request for information.” http://fntalk.com/politics/maxinewaters-issues-warning-to-wall-street-
RReps. Maxine Waters, Jeb Hensarling zimbio Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and while she hasn’t explicitly discussed plans to subpoena bank officials to come before the committee – to testify about either their records or
lays-out-agenda-as-head-of-powerfulcommittee/ www.foxnews.com/politics/waterslays-out-agenda-for-house-financialservices-committee-promises-to-notlet-wall-street-run-amok
11 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Government - Candidate Profile
Kamala Harris’ New Book Builds her Case for a White House Bid By Evan Halper
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amala Harris hasn't launched a bid for the presidency yet, but she has launched the narrative around which her campaign would be built. Based on the book’s evidence, Harris likely will claim, for example, that her tenure as California attorney general established her bona fides as an economic populist. A nationwide deal was on the table with the big banks that had been sued by multiple state attorneys general for duping consumers into taking on mortgages they could not afford. California had been offered up to $4 billion as part of the deal. Harris decided that was not nearly enough. She frames the fight she waged against pushback from other Democrats, other attorneys general worried the deal would collapse and the nation’s most politically powerful financial interests as a career-defining moment. There’s an obvious campaign message in all this: that Harris has the backbone and expertise to champion a new economic order. Harris is under added pressure to prove herself qualified after Sen. Dianne Feinstein said recently that her California colleague can’t compete with the experience of a Joe Biden, a likely primary rival for Harris. Along with the detailed policy narrative, Harris offers a deeply personal story. The senator has been dismissive of speculation that her background as a black
and Asian woman positions her well in a party looking for a fresh, non-white face to lead the fight against President Trump and his anti-immigrant agenda, history of misogyny and hostility toward the racial-justice movement. Even so, the family story she tells has the potential to captivate party activists much as former President Obama’s life story did. Harris writes how her Indian-born mother first came to the United States when she flew to Berkeley in 1958 to pursue a career in breast cancer research after graduating from the University of Delhi at the age of 19. It was there she met Harris’ father, a fellow Berkeley student who was born in Jamaica. Her parents would divorce when she was young, but Harris’ mother had an outsize influence on the senator even after Shyamala Gopalan Harris died of colon cancer several years ago. Caring for her mother through the illness increased Harris’ resolve to protect the Affordable Care Act from GOP attack, she says.
The book foreshadows how Harris’ background as a child of immigrants would shape a White House run. Harris makes clear through the book that she takes the approach — embracing California as a policy ideal that Democratic voters can aspire toward. A recurring theme in the book is pioneering California measures that Harris had a hand in championing. Sticking to the theme of the California way of doing things being a path forward for Washington, the senator makes the case for outsidethe-box innovation in a chapter that could be mistaken for a campaign white paper. She takes the Left to task for too often favoring slogans over substance and portrays herself as a detail-oriented wonk in a section of the book titled “embrace the mundane.” A spirited endorsement of a New Deal-style experiment in Stockton with guaranteed income, an idea popular with progressives, comes with a caveat. “Would it work?” she writes. “If it’s part of ‘the Plan’ you’re running on, you’re compelled to say yes. But the better answer is ‘Let’s find out.’” www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-kamalaharris-book-20190108-story.html
12 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
said that within 30 minutes of her announcement, Harris had received donations from individuals in all 50 states. On policy, she has tacked toward the progressive end in the Senate, Sarlin including signing onto a Medicare For All bill backed by Sen. Bernie Asian or African American heritage Sanders, I-Vt. Her own legislation to hold the White House. The includes the LIFT Act, which would Harris campaign noted that her create a monthly tax benefit as high announcement not only coincided as $500 for working families, and with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but a bill with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also fell on the same week 47 years that would encourage states to ago that Shirley Chisholm became reform their cash bail system. The Harris campaign will be the first black woman to launch a bid for a major-party presidential headquartered roughly an hour north of Washington in Baltimore, nomination. “Truth, justice, decency, equality, with a second office in Oakland, freedom, democracy: these aren’t Calif. Juan Rodriguez, who just words, they’re the values we as managed Harris’s 2016 Senate run, American cherish. And they’re all will again serve as her campaign on the line now,” Harris said in her manager. announcement video. “Let’s claim www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/ sen-kamala-harris-announces-2020our future.” presidential- bid-n960821 A campaign spokesperson
Sen. Kamala Harris Announces 2020 Presidential Bid By Lauren Egan and Benjy
S
en. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., announced on Monday, January 21st., that she will run for president in 2020. “I am running for president,” Harris, the first African-American to formally enter the 2020 fray, said on an early-morning Martin Luther King Jr. Day interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America." “This is a moment in time where I feel a sense of responsibility to stand up and fight for the best of who we are,” she said. If elected, Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, would be the first woman president and the first woman of
Historic Swearing-In By TBTMews
J Juliana Stratton made history Monday, January 14, 2019 as she was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. She is the first black woman to hold the office.
uliana Stratton is an American lawyer and politician, the 48th and current lieutenant governor of Illinois, since 2019. She previously served as a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 2017 to 2019. She is the first African American woman to become Illinois' lieutenant governor. 2civility.org
Government - Justice
Cyntoia Brown Granted Clemency By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent StacyBrownMedia
Human trafficking victim and convicted murderer, Cyntoia Brown, was granted clemency Jan. 7 by outgoing Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Haslam.(Reuters)Screen capture from video.
A
t long last, one of the greatest injustices in recent history has been corrected. The Associated Press reports that Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam granted clemency on Monday, January 7th to a woman serving a life sentence for murder who says she was a victim of sex trafficking. The outgoing Republican governor, whose term ends in just two weeks, chose to show mercy to the now 30-year-old Cyntoia Brown by releasing her Aug. 7. Brown was sentenced to life in prison for killing a man when she was 16. She will remain on parole supervision for 10 years on the condition she does not violate any state or federal laws, as well as holds a job and participates in
regular counseling sessions, the AP reported. “Cyntoia Brown committed, by her own admission, a horrific crime at the age of 16. Yet, imposing a life sentence on a juvenile that would require her to serve at least 51 years before even being eligible for parole consideration is too harsh, especially in light of the extraordinary steps Ms. Brown has taken to rebuild her life,” Haslam said in his statement. Brown’s case has attracted national attention from criminal justice reform advocates, and attention has amped up as Haslam’s second and final term entered its final weeks. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian West and singer Rihanna threw their support behind the fight for her release.
The governor’s office was inundated with thousands of phone calls and emails from supporters. “Thank you Governor Haslam,” West tweeted soon after news of the clemency decision broke. Brown was convicted in 2006 of murdering 43-year-old Nashville real estate agent Johnny Allen two years before. Police said she shot Allen in the back of the head at close range with a loaded gun she brought to rob him after he picked her up at a drive-in in Nashville. However, according to her lawyers, Brown was a victim of sex trafficking who not only feared for her life but also lacked the mental state to be culpable in the slaying because she was impaired by her mother’s alcohol use while she was
14 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Government - 400 Hundred Year Commemoration Commission
400th Commemoration Year of Enslavement 1619-2019
I
n August 1619, 20 enslaved Africans were brought to Point Comfort in the English colony of Virginia. Point Comfort is now part of Fort Monroe National Monument.
Related Links •
400 Years of AfricanAmerican History Commission Act (Public Law 115-102) - www.nps. gov/orgs/1892/upload/PLAW115publ102.pdf
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African American Heritage—stories of the African American experience preserved in our national parks and historic places www.nps.gov/subjects/ tellingallamericansstories/ africanamericanheritage.htm
•
Fort Monroe National Monument - www.nps.gov/ fomr/index.htm
Contact Information The Commission is administered by the National Park Service - www.nps.gov. Christine Lucero, Commission Liaison 400 Years of African-American History Commission P.O. Box 210 Yorktown, VA 23690 1-757-856-1213 www.nps.gov/orgs/1892/ africanamericanhistorycommission. htm
in the womb. Brown expressed thanks in a statement released Monday by her legal team. “I am thankful for all the support, prayers, and encouragement I
have received. We truly serve a God of second chances and new beginnings. The Lord has held my hand this whole time and I would have never made it without him,” Brown said. “Let today be a
testament to his saving grace.”. www.afro.com/the-lord-has-held-myhand-this-whole-time-cyntoia-browngranted-clemency/
15 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Government - Contracting
Air Force to Hold Pitch Day for Tech Firms By Will Roper, Acquisitions and Technology, US Air Force
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any mind-blowing ideas are being birthed in U.S. startup companies, but the Pentagon largely misses out on them. For our big bureaucracy, awarding a contract in months is a flash. The Pentagon must
do business at the speed of ideas: inspiring and accelerating startup creativity toward national security challenges. The smaller the company, the faster we must move. We accept that challenge. Welcome to Air Force Pitch Day.
"Pitch Days are new fast tracks for startups to work with the Air Force. Modeled after commercial investment pitch competitions, our goal is to award $40 million to startups using one-day, onepage contracts. These awards use
16 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
We are excited to see your ideas! Our mission is broad, so Pitch Day is open to all ideas furthering national security in air, space and cyberspace. Our Inaugural Pitch Day will have special emphasis on three areas. Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence and Network James Broadwell 781-225-2787 james.broadwell.2@us.af.mil More Information: https:// s b i r. d e f e n s e b u s i n e s s . o r g / topics?topicId=30311 Battlefield Air Operations Family of Systems Technologies Gordon Broadbent 937-623-7107 gordon.broadbent.1@us.af.mil More Information: https://sbir. defensebusiness.org/topics?topicId =30312&AspxAutoDetectCookieSu pport=1 Digital Technologies Dave Setser 781-225-5098 david.setser@us.af.mil More Information: https:// s b i r. d e f e n s e b u s i n e s s . o r g / topics?topicId=30313
Eligibility Requirements convenient credit card payments— we want partnering with the Air Force to be easy and energizing!" Dr. Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.
Topic Types
All startups and small businesses that are: • U.S. based for-profit Business • More than 50% owned by U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens • No more than 500 employees • Additional requirements apply For more information about other
eligibility requirements visit https:// www.sbir.gov/about
How to Submit Companies will have from January 8th to February 6th 2019 (at 8:00pm ET) to submit proposals and pitch decks. Companies submit applications via https://sbir.defensebusiness. org/. Air Force will notify selected companies for in-person pitches by February 15, 2019.
Resources • Pitch Day Basics: www. afsbirsttr.af.mil/Portals/60/Pages/ AFPitchDay/AF_pitch_day_3.pdf • Pitch Day Step-by-Step: www. afsbirsttr.af.mil/Portals/60/Pages/ AFPitchDay/Pitch%20Day%20 Step%20by%20Step.pdf • Pitch Day One Page Contract Sample: www.afsbirsttr.af.mil/ Portals/60/Pages/AFPitchDay/ Pitch%20Day%20One%20 Page%20Contract_sample.pdf • Ask Me Anything Overview: www.afsbirsttr.af.mil/Media/ Videos/videoid/650933/ • Ask Me Anything Overview\ Contracting: www.afsbirsttr. af.mil/Media/Videos/ videoid/653483/ • Ask Me Anything Technical Verticals: www.afsbirsttr.af.mil/ Media/Videos/videoid/653688/ • Google: Air Force Pitch Day www.afsbirsttr.af.mil/Program/AirForce-Pitch-Day/
17 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
BBN Show Biz Buzz By Linda Ware
Schomburg Center's 7th Annual Black Comic Book Festival
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he Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture invites comic book fans of all ages to participate in its 7th Annual Black Comic Book Festival. The festival will be held on Friday, January 18 from 12 PM 7:30PM and on Saturday, January 19 from 10 AM to 7:30PM. The full program will be announced at a later date. Registration for both days is free and is open to the public. Each year, the Schomburg’s Black Comic Book Festival brings creators, illustrators, writers, and independent publishers together with thousands of collectors, blerds and nerds for two days of programming and activities. The highly-anticipated community event includes interactive panel discussions, a vendor marketplace featuring exclusive titles by Black creators, a cosplay show, and more. Black Comic Book Festival participants are encouraged to wear their favorite cosplay costumes and to register on-site for the annual cosplay show. For festival updates, follow the Schomburg Center on Twitter and Instagram @SchomburgCenter, #BlackComicBookFest. For questions about the Schomburg Center 7th Annual Black Comic Book Festival program, email SchomburgEd@nypl.org.
www.nypl.org/events/programs/2019/01/18/schomburgcenters-7th-annual-black-comic-book-festival
Stream "Five Fingers for Marseilles" to Enjoy South African Tale Told in Wild West Style
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ive Fingers for Marseilles (Menoana e Mehlano ea Marseilles) is a western set in the rural town of Marseilles in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. The film stars an all-South African cast. The Western-style thriller dives deep into the sociopolitical sphere of South Africa, and is the culmination of eight years spent taking the film from concept to screen, including a 5,000-mile research trip around South Africa. The film begins with a group of kids called the Five Fingers, who frequently challenge their town’s brutal and oppressive apartheidera police force. During a showdown with the police, one member of the group, Tau, kills two policemen and flees the town to escape the authorities. He is eventually arrested and sent to prison in Johannesburg. There is a connection between Tau and Lerato, who have shared a kinship since they were children. Each of these characters is seeking one thing with the exception of the antagonists and that is peace within the community. Tau becomes the King of his people in the metaphorical sense when he fights to protect what is left of the town that has been corrupted by vigilantes and has scared the townspeople into losing all hope of what is left to be salvaged. Tau inevitably carries the weight of his duties and responsibilities to not only his people but to himself. While not completely without hope, Five Fingers for Marseillesdoes not attempt to gloss over the violence of the situation (not entirely fictitious), nor does steer clear or a harsh look at those people and institutions that turn a blind eye to these problems. Wrap this in the iconography of the western, and you get a distinctly South African syntax of how these images can be
20 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
reinvigorated in a new form. https://whereyouwatch.com/movies/five-fingers-formarseilles/
Netflix Hires Channing Dungey
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etflix Inc. has tapped former ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey as a Vice President of Original Content, the latest evidence of the growing rivalry between the streaming-video giant and ABCparent Walt Disney Co. D u n g e y, who starts in February, follows other Channing Dungey prominent people from ABC’s stable who have moved to Netflix. She will be reunited there with “Scandal” creator Shonda (L-R) Tendo Nagenda, Lupita Nyong'o, Rhimes and David Oyelowo indiawest.com “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, both of whom have signed deals to make content for Netflix. Earlier this year, Netflix hired Tendo Nagenda, a top Disney movie executive for a senior role in its film unit. Netflix created a new position to land Dungey. She will report to Cindy Holland, Netflix’s vice president of original content. Netflix said Dungey will work closely with Rhimes and Barris as well as with other top Netflix talent. www.marketwatch.com/story/netflix-hires-former-abcentertainment-chief-channing-dungey-2018-12-17
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NAACP Image Awards 50th Anniversary
he NAACP Image Awards will be airing on March 30, 2019 on TV One. For the 50th anniversary of this groundbreaking event, the show will air live—for the first time ever—from the Dolby Theatre
in Hollywood, CA. It’s going to be a truly memorable night. This multi-cultural show is one of the most respected events of its kind, bringing visibility to the outstanding achievements of African Americans in entertainment, literature, and arts, and raising awareness of the ability for all to use their platform to advance social justice. This year, in honor of the 50th anniversary, we will spotlight the significant contributions of the NAACP and the impact the organization has had in the fight to make America the country it should be for all of its people. Our anniversary show is going to be the most powerful of our shows to date. https://naacpimageawards.net/
Eddie Murphy Confirms 'Coming To America' Sequel Is “Moving Forward”
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sequel to Coming to America is “officially moving forward,” three decades after the original film hit theaters. Eddie Murphy confirmed the news in a statement to Entertainment Weekly Friday (Jan. 11). “After many years of anticipation, I’m thrilled that Coming to America 2 is officially moving forward,” Murphy said. The 57-year-old comedian went on to reveal that the film has already locked in Craig Brewer, who directed him in the forthcoming film, Dolemite. “We’ve assembled a great team that will be led by Craig Brewer, who just
21 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
see page 22
BBN Show Biz Buzz from BBN Show Biz Buzz on page 21
Regina King and son Ian Alexander Jr. attend the 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on Jan. 6, 2019. © Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon
Eddie Murphy Getty Images did an amazing job on Dolemite [Is My Name], and I’m looking forward to bringing all these classic and beloved characters back to the big screen.” www.vibe.com/2019/01/eddie-murphy-coming-to-americasequel-moving-forward
Golden Globe 2019 Winners
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he full list of winners may be found at many locations including: www.msn.com/en-us/tv/golden-
globes/golden-globes-winners-list-updating-live/arBBRSXEo?OCID=ansmsnnews11.
The following winners are of special interest to the Black Business News: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy “Green Book” (WINNER) Best Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture Regina King (“If Beale Street Could Talk”) (WINNER) Best Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture Mahershala Ali (“Green Book”) (WINNER) Best Motion Picture – Animated “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (WINNER) Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie (“Green Book”) (WINNER) We congratulate the nominees and the winners. www.msn.com/en-us/tv/golden-globes/golden-globeswinners-list-updating-live/ar-BBRSXEo?OCID=ansmsnnews11
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture for "The Green Book" winner Mahershala Ali poses with the trophy during the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on Jan. 6, 2019. © Mark RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
22 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
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"Black Panther" co-stars Chadwick Boseman, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong'o and Michael B. Jordan give the Wakanda salute while presenting during the 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills on Jan. 6, 2019. © Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
et your alien blasters ready b e c a u s e Sony Pictures has debuted the first trailer for its 2019 summer tentpole, “Men In Black: International.” The film is the fourth entry in the “Men In Black” film franchise, and it’s the first to not feature Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in the lead roles. Additionally, director Barry Sonnenfeld is sitting this installment out and F. Gary Gray is instead in the director’s chair. “Men In Black: International” stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa
Here Come the Men in Black
F. Gary Gray chicagotribune.com Thompson as Agent H and Agent M, respectively. The two agents are are forced to team up to solve a murder mystery that spans the globe. Liam Neeson plays the head of the U.K. branch of M.I.B., while Emma Thompson stars as the head of the U.S. branch. The supporting cast includes Kumail Nanjiani, Rafe Spall, and Rebecca Ferguson. www.indiewire.com/2018/12/men-in-black-internationaltrailer-chris-hemsworth-tessa-thompson-huntaliens-1202029808/ see page 24 23 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
BBN Show Biz Buzz from BBN Show Biz Buzz on page 24
Norway Authorities Investigating Tidal ‘Fake Streams’ Claims
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orway’s authority for investigation of economic and environmental crimes (Økokrim) has launched an investigation into claims that Tidal has falsified streaming numbers, the Norwegian publication Dagens Næringsliv (via Music Business Worldwide) reported this morning. Last year, the paper, which has aggressively investigated Tidal, accused the company of intentionally falsifying streaming numbers for Beyonce’s “Lemonade” and Kanye West’s “Life of Pablo” albums and consequently paying inflated
royalties to the artists’ labels. The company, which is primarily owned by Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z, has steadfastly denied the reports. Økokrim’s chief public prosecutor, Elisabeth HarboLervik, confirmed that an investigation by Norwegian authorities was launched late last year and is “still in an early stage.” The paper claims that at least four former Tidal employees have been interviewed before a judge, facing over 25 total hours of questioning. https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/tidal-under-investigationfake-streams-1203107041/
ICM Partners Names Lorrie Bartlett to Board of Directors
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CM Partners veteran Lorrie Bartlett has been appointed to the company’s board of directors, marking a first for an African-American woman at a major Hollywood talent agency. Bartlett, a partner and co-head of ICM’s talent department, has emerged as a leader at the agency and in the industry. She was among the early organizers of Time’s Up in late 2017 and serves on its executive board. Bartlett has also become a prominent
voice in the creative community’s efforts to advocate for diversity and inclusion at all levels of the business. “I have been very proud of the way our company has expanded and grown in a really gender-neutral way,” Bartlett told Variety. ICM Partners was among the first industry players to commit to the 50-50 by 2020 pledge, or a vow to ensure that 50% of leadership roles at the agency are held by women by next year. At present ICM said that 50% of its employees are female, and about half of its 22 departments are headed or coheaded by women. Bartlett is respected for her keen eye for talent. Her prominent clients at present include the red-hot multihyphenate Regina King, who has won three Emmys in three years and branched out into directing, in addition to being an Oscar contender for her role in Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Other notables on Bartlett’s roster include Michael Keaton, Ruth Negga, Anna Gunn, Laverne Cox, Linda Cardellini and Busy Philipps. Bartlett said her milestone appointment for the agency business has come at a moment when the entertainment industry is focused on inclusion and
Lorrie Bartlett diversity at all levels. The challenge is to build on the momentum born of the #MeToo struggle and the heightened awareness of the stubborn lack of meaningful progress at the leadership level for women and minorities. “We need to change the narrative on the way people think about the way to go about hiring people,” Bartlett said. “Inclusion is no longer an after-thought for companies. And there’s no room for complacency.” Bartlett noted that ICM has made a point of recruiting in underserved communities including through the network of HBCU schools. It’s important step simply to educate youths about the array of jobs available in the
24 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
production arena. “This job opportunity just doesn’t come naturally to some people,” Bartlett said. “We have to create this pipeline so that there’s not just one female gaffer on a set and not just one female assistant director on a set. We want those numbers to change.” https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/ lorrie-bartlett-icm-partners-board-timesup-1203106285/
Oscar Nominations 2019 Best Picture: Black Panther, Kevin Feige, Producer BlacKkKlansman, Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee, Producers Bohemian Rhapsody, Graham King, Producer The Favourite, Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos, Producers Green Book, Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga, Producers Roma, Gabriela Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón, Producers A Star Is Born, Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor, Producers Vice, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers
Directing: BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee Cold War, Paweł Pawlikowski The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos Roma, Alfonso Cuarón Vice, Adam McKay
Actor in a Leading Role: Christian Bale, Vice Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born Willem Dafoe, At Eternity's Gate Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Actor in a Supporting Role: Mahershala Ali, Green Book Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Sam Rockwell, Vice
Black Panther
Actress in a Supporting Role Amy Adams, Vice Marina de Tavira, Roma Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk Emma Stone, The Favourite Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Animated Feature Film Incredibles 2 Isle of Dogs Mirai Ralph Breaks the Internet Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Costume Design The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Mary Zophres Black Panther, Ruth Carter The Favourite, Sandy Powell Mary Poppins Returns, Sandy Powell Mary Queen of Scots, Alexandra Byrne
Music (Original Score) Black Panther, Ludwig Goransson BlacKkKlansman, Terence Blanchard If Beale Street Could Talk, Nicholas Britell Isle of Dogs, Alexandre Desplat Mary Poppins Returns, Marc Shaiman Music (Original Song) All The Stars, from Black Panther I'll Fight, from RBG The Place Where Lost Things Go, from Mary Poppins Returns Shallow, from A Star Is Born When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings, from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
25 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Commentary
Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com
King Memorial, Washington, DC parade.com
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oday (January 15, 2019) would have been the 90th birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King was born on Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta. He was killed on April 4, 1968, in Memphis. The civil rights activist is commemorated in many places in Birmingham, including with a statue in Kelly Ingram Park, and throughout Alabama. He was the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery from 1954-60, where he rose to national prominence as a spokesman for the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-56. He led civil rights marches in BIrmingham in 1963 that reverberated throughout the nation. King was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent campaign against segregation. We asked civil rights historian the Rev. Wilson Fallin Jr., a friend of King, about his favorite King quote. Fallin, professor of history at the University of Montevallo and author of "A Shelter in the Storm," said it was this one:
That quote sums up much of the philosophy of King, who has a federal holiday dedicated to him, which will be observed Monday, Jan. 21. AL.com has compiled some additional quotations that help capture the essence of King and his fight for justice, drawing from the King Center and other sources.
"We will live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." "If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well." "No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
26 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
"We refuse to believe there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation." "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." (From the book, "I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World)
"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." (Speech, Feb. 25, 1967, The Nation Institute, Los Angeles)
"Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity. (Letter from Birmingham Jail) "True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice." (From the book "Stride Toward Freedom") "I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together." (From "I Have a Dream" speech
some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty." (From "Letter from Birmingham Jail") "Let us march on segregated housing. Let us march on segregated schools, until ... Let us march on poverty, until ... Let us march on ballot boxes, until we send men ... who will not fear to 'do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.'" (Delivered on March 25, 1965, in Montgomery) "When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice." (From the book, "The Words of Martin Luther King")
"The promises of the Great Society have been shot down on the battlefields of Vietnam, making the poor white and Negro bear the heaviest burden both at the front and at the home."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (center) marches through Selma. (left) Rev. Ralph Abernathy. John Lewis (right) was injured in the event. He would later run for U.S. House as a Democrat. httpjournalsaolcomjenjer6steph.blogspot.com
to civil rights marchers in Washington on Aug. 28, 1963)
"Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in
(April 1967 speech at U.N. Plaza in New York)
"We only assemble here because of our desire to see right exist. My friends, I want it to be known that we're going to work with grim and bold determination to gain justice on the
27 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
see page 28
Commentary Remembering Dr. King from page 27
buses in this city. "And we are not wrong; we are not wrong in what we are doing. If we are wrong, the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. If we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong. If we are wrong, Jesus of Nazareth was merely a utopian dreamer
3, 1958 and found guilty of loitering and fined him)
"And I'll tell you, I've seen the lightning flash. I've heard the thunder roll. I felt sin-breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul. But I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. No, never alone. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone." (Mount Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago on Aug. 27, 1967)
"I often feel like saying, when I hear the question 'People aren't ready,' that it's like telling a person who is trying to swim, 'Don't jump in that water until you learn how to swim.' When actually you will never learn how to swim until you get in the water. And I think people have to have an opportunity to develop themselves and govern themselves. (Interview, March 6, 1957)
Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love. ("Loving Your Enemies" sermon, delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Montgomery, Nov. 17, 1957.)
"The reason I can't follow the old eye-for-an-eye philosophy is that it ends up leaving everyone blind." (At Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, May 5, 1963)
"The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and moments of convenience, but where he stands in moments of challenge and moments of controversy." (At Nobel Peace Prize Recognition Dinner, January 27, 1965)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr & Bayard Rustin
"World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. "Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built. deeppencil dot com
that never came down to Earth. If we are wrong, justice is a lie, love has no meaning. And we are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream . . . (King addressing the First Montgomery Improvement Association at Holt Street Baptist Church a few days after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat in the whites-only section of a public bus)
"I could not in all good conscience pay a fine for an act that I did not commit and above all for brutal treatment that I did not deserve. With all due respect to you and your court, I am inwardly compelled to take this stand. (After being arrested Sept.
("Dreams of Brighter Tomorrows," Ebony Magazine, March 1965)
“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.” (Sermon, “Loving Your Enemies,” delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Montgomery, Nov. 17, 1957) www.al.com/life/2019/01/remembering-martin-luther-king-jr-on-his90th-birthday.html Image Credits: parade.com, httpjournalsaolcomjenjer6steph. blogspot.com, deeppencil dot com
28 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
400th Commemoration Year of Enslavement 1619-2019 ALL ANCESTRY TEST KITS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL Don't be fooled by other ancestry test kits pushing highly discounted prices this holiday season. Over the years, countless people have called us disappointed with the lack of specificity from other ancestry test kits. Get the results you want, the first time. Order today! Get the results you want, the first time. Order at https://shop.africanancestry.com Sincerely, Gina Paige President, African Ancestry Maternal Country of Ancestry: Nigeria Maternal Tribe of Ancestry: Fulani
www.africanancestry.com
Business - Profile
Metrolink Hires its First Black, Female Chief Executive: MTA's Stephanie Wiggins By Laura J. Nelson
Stephanie Wiggins, shown in 2015, has been hired as the next chief executive officer of Metrolink, Southern California's commuter rail agency. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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irectors at Southern California’s commuter rail agency recently hired a new chief executive officer — the first woman and the first African American to hold the position in Metrolink’s 26-year history. She starts Jan. 2. Stephanie Wiggins, 49, has worked at three of the transportation agencies that fund and govern Metrolink. She most recently was the deputy chief executive officer at Los Angeles County’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a position she has held since 2015. Previously, she worked in the transportation field in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. “I look forward to having a laser focus on enhancing the customer experience for current and future riders,”
Wiggins said in a statement. She replaces Arthur Leahy, who announced his retirement in October. Wiggins joins Metrolink at a critical period for Southern California transportation, as driving continues to increase and as officials work to draw commuters off the region’s congested freeways and onto public transportation ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games. The agency, with a budget of $251 million, operates trains on 512 miles of tracks and serves about 39,000 riders every weekday. Trains run through Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties. In an interview, Wiggins said she would focus on rolling out and finding additional funding for an ambitious $10-billion plan to improve commuter rail service, adding reliability in an effort to reduce driving and better serve visitors during the Olympics. The plan already has about $1.1 billion in funding, including an $875-million grant awarded by California officials earlier this year that will jump-start the upgrades, including grade separations and new stretches of track. “People want more frequency, they want more choices, they want to have a link to the greater Southern California region,” Wiggins said. Trains will run more frequently “when the business model is ready to support it.” She also will oversee Metrolink’s ongoing efforts to replace its aging diesel-powered engines with clean-air locomotives. So far, seven of the agency’s 40 engines have been replaced with so-called Tier 4 locomotives, which are designed to emit up to 85% less pollution than the older models. In addition, Wiggins will oversee an effort to consolidate three separate contracts for train operations, track maintenance and signal maintenance into one mega contract. The process will take about two years, Metrolink Chairman Andrew Kotyuk said. Multiple contractors working on the rail system sometimes led to conflicts over who was responsible for problems, but with one contractor, he said, “there’s not going to be fingerpointing.” At Metro, Wiggins led several high-profile projects, including the creation of Los Angeles County’s first toll lanes on the 110 Freeway and, more recently, the
30 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
creation of a “transportation boarding school” that will serve at-risk youth. “She has been a tremendous asset to Metro and will be a fantastic CEO,” Metro Chief Executive Phil Washington said in a statement. “We look forward to
continuing to work with her and the Metrolink team to deliver great mobility options for our region.” www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-metrolink-ceo-20181214story.html
31 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
California State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) Individual Company Export Promotion Program (ICEP) The following are edited guidelines for STEP/ICEP. Complete guidelines are located at: https://californiaexport.org/icep. For a copy of the complete guidelines, send a request to: bobby.hines@trade.gov Request: California STEP
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he ICEP program will be used to reimburse eligible California small businesses up to $3,000 USD for specific export promotion related expenses performed on trade promotion related activities.
ICEP will open: • •
November 1, 2018 – January 31, 2019. April 1, 2019 – July 31, 2019.
Qualifying California companies must: • Be organized, operating and or incorporated in the U.S.A. • The applicable industry-based small business size standard established under section 3 of the Small Business Act; or • The alternate size standard applicable to the program, under section 7(a) of the Small Business Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 695 et seq.) • The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) size standards for your business based on your NAICS code: www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/ Size_Standards_Table_2017.pdf • Registered to do business in the State of California and in good standing with the California Secretary of State: http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/ • If a company is registered as a sole proprietorship with a fictitious name, the applicant must be registered and in good standing with the county in which the business is located. • Must be in business for at least one year at the time of the approved ICEP activity takes place • Have sufficient resources to bear the costs associate with trade, including the costs of packing,
shipping, freight forwarding, and customs brokers. • Agree to provide information on export sales data resulting from the ICEP reimbursement funding, and respond to all subsequent STEP surveys on a timely basis.
Qualifying Expenses: The ICEP program provides the opportunity for eligible companies to apply for direct financial assistance to implement an export promotion activity(s). Events/ activity(s) eligible for reimbursement may include : • Participation fees for international trade missions that support U.S./California exports. • Participation fees for international export trade show exhibitions • Export research tool subscriptions used to assist STEP clients with market research (up to $1,000 maximum) • Website translations, search engine optimization, localization services (up to $1,000 maximum) • Cost of compliance testing of an existing product for entry into a foreign market (maximum of $2,000) • Fees for shipment of sample products internationally (up to $2,000 maximum) • Other export initiatives determined to be appropriate.
How to apply? Please go to https://californiaexport.org/register/ to register for STEP indicating interest in the “Individual Company Export Promotion” program 30 days in advance of the event for which reimbursement is being sought.
32 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Business - Opinion
If You are an Entrepreneur, Money is but a By-Product of who you are By Rajiv Talreja uccess is not simply about making huge sums of money; it is about making the person who will, in turn, make the money. An entrepreneur is responsible for the success, failure, or stagnation of his business. If the company is not producing the desired results, he will need to introspect and see what needs to change from his own side, so that the shift can occur. Business is a great equaliser: it rewards the deserving and punishes the undeserving. Your educational qualifications, your financial background, your family connections – all of these amount to nothing in business if you are not a capable entrepreneur. The mistake most entrepreneurs make when they are unable to get the desired results in their business is that they justify their own failures with blame and excuses. Or at best get pushed by failure to set aggressive goals in the desperation to prove to themselves. This results in others having to end up working hard, without escaping the trap of failure. The key to making money as an entrepreneur is to work on your own capabilities. Money is like your shadow. The more you run after your shadow, the more your shadow moves away from you. The only way to get your shadow to follow you is to move forward. In a similar manner, the only way of making money in business is to not be focused on the money itself, but rather, to focus on growing your capabilities as an entrepreneur. This will enable you to add massive value to your customers and then, scale the reach of the value you can add. Once this process is complete, only then will you be able to make money. Here are three must-have capabilities for an entrepreneur to be able to build a successful business: Ability To Learn: The ability to learn allows you to observe, listen, and identify the needs of your customers. It keeps you humble and grounded, keeps
S
you connected to the requirements of the market and helps you stay relevant in business. It’s proven historically that the moment brands stop learning, they stop listening to the market and become complacent and arrogant - which, in most cases, is the primary reason for their downfall. The key is to constantly reinvent and never get stuck in your comfort zone because as they say “if you want to earn, you got to learn”. Ability To Teach: Great entrepreneurs become great not just on the virtue of innovating a useful product or service, but on their ability to replicate their brilliance by building leaders in their business. If you want to grow your business, you need to build a second-line team of leaders who will translate your vision into reality with rigorous execution. Leaders are not mass produced. You can build leaders only by hand-crafting them, which is possible only if you are an effective teacher. Ability To Sell: Successful entrepreneurs are amazing storytellers. They have the ability to inspire people to buy their products or services. These entrepreneurs have conviction in their ability to make a difference. They have conviction in the quality of their products and services. They have conviction in the price they are charging for their products and services. This conviction is what makes them great salespeople. They say, “The most difficult sale to make, is the one you make to yourself.” Successful entrepreneurs are sold on the value they can provide and therefore sell fearlessly and skillfully. The source of any great success is human capability. The difference between what makes one business successful and another business in the same segment a failure is the ability of the entrepreneur behind the business. While struggling entrepreneurs focus on how they can make more money, successful entrepreneurs understand that money is a by-product of who they are and, therefore, they focus on learning and improving their capabilities even in times of distress. Struggling entrepreneurs often carry the mindset of “I know it all”, which is the highest form of ignorance, whereas successful entrepreneurs operate from the mindset of “I don’t know, I need to learn”, which is a sign of intelligence. To conclude, all I would say is “There is no small business, there is only a small business owner”. Every business has endless opportunity to make money, provided the entrepreneur builds his/ her capability by constantly learning, perfecting their business model, offering relevant solutions to customers, and teaching effectively to build a team and selling their solutions with conviction. https://yourstory.com/2018/12/entrepreneur-money-product/?utm_ medium=40digest.prsonly.20181226.carousel&utm_ source=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=campaign
33 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
U
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chronicle and compilation of history between The United States of America and Africa, with a special focus on the Obama Administration’s eight-year engagement with the continent’s leaders and peoples. The narrative of this 300-plus-page book is primarily based on the 4 Pillars of the Administration’s strategy toward engagement with sub-Saharan Africa that was signed and issued by President Obama in June 2012 - Strengthen Democratic Institutions; Spur Economic Growth, Trade and Investment; Advance Peace and Security; and Promote Opportunity and Development. The book highlights key initiatives and US-Africa partnerships through important presidential and governmental statements, speeches, White House Fact Sheets, historic photographs, and follows the trajectory of bilateral and multilateral relations wherever it leads. The uniqueness of United States and Africa Relations: The Obama Presidency lies in its simplicity in sharing information on bilateral and multilateral relations intertwined with the Barack Obama historic presidency. It was jointly published in 2017 by AMIP News and The Africa Society. For inquiries call 1-202-460-3912 or 1-202-460-3906
BREAUX Capital (www.breauxcapital.com), is a financial savings and financial education company meant to improve the financial welfare of Generation Y’s and young Black entrepreneurs. The founders, three Morehouse graduates, believe the first step to financial wellness is through saving. BREAUX Capital offers an online automated savings platform, where users can decide how much money they would like to be set aside and allows members to build their savings over time. There are three tiers in the BREAUX community: BREAUX 20, BREAUX 50 and BREAUX 100 all of which gives members access to automated savings as well as access to the “wealth building forum.” The company creates a community for Black, male millennials with similar financial aspirations and provides them with a platform to connect with one another. Attend BreauxComing and TechGrove events and watch out for Little BREAUX.
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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, February 12, 2019 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
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Business - Personal Development
Want to Learn Something New — All You Need is 20 Hours By Mary Halton
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riter Josh Kaufman, author of The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything … Fast and The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business has figured out why so many of us get stopped in our tracks during this early learning period. “Feeling stupid doesn’t feel good, and the beginning of learning anything new is feeling stupid,” he says. Through trial and error, he has come up with four steps that can help you scramble up the sharp slope of the learning curve in as little as 20 hours. Why 20? As he puts it, “20 hours is doable — that’s about 45 minutes a day for about a month, even skipping a couple of days here and there.” 1. Break down a skill into its components. The first thing you need to do is to decide what you want to learn, and then break it down into smaller, manageable pieces. Let’s say you want to bake your own bread. It’s a multi-step process that includes making dough, letting it rise, punching it down, shaping it into a loaf, and baking it in the oven. You’ll start by identifying the different tools and skills behind each step. Or, if you choose yoga as your new hobby, begin at home with a video that shows you the basic poses and breathing techniques — and then go try a class. 2. Learn enough to know when you’re making a mistake. “Get three to five resources about what it is you’re trying to learn,” says Kaufman. “It could be books, it could be DVDs, it could be anything, but don’t use those as a way to procrastinate.” After all, you won’t learn how to bake bread or do yoga unless you break out the flour or yoga mat and do something. Set a limit on the number of resources you’re consulting — there’s no need to buy every book or watch every YouTube video on the subject; there’s time to do that later — and jump in. 3. Remove any and all barriers to practice. This may require stowing away your electronic devices while you tackle your hobby. Or get creative and combine your favorite distraction with your new activity.
In a TEDxPenn talk, behavioral scientist Katherine Milkman advocates a technique called “temptation bundling”: pairing something you know you love to do with something you’re trying to get yourself to do. Turn on your favorite podcast while you bake, or you could turn your weekly coffee with a friend into a weekly athome yoga session with the two of you. 4. Practice for at least 20 hours. To overcome what Kaufman calls the “frustration barrier” — that period in the beginning when you’re painfully incompetent and you know it — you must commit to sticking with your new activity for at least 20 hours. By that point, he says, “you will be astounded at how good you are.” VIEW THIS TEDTalk at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWn Y&feature=youtu.be https://ideas.ted.com/dont-have-10000-hours-to-learnsomething-new-thats-fine-all-you-need-is-20-hours/?utm_medi um=sundayedition.20190106.421.1&utm_source=email&utm_ content=article&utm_campaign=10-for-today---4.0-styling
Every weekda y for the month of Janu ary, TED Ideas is publis hing a new post in a serie s called “How to Be a Better Human,” cont aining a helpful piece o f advice from a speake r in the TED commun ity. https://ideas.t ed.com
36 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Commentary
Rereading King in Critical Times: Mapping and Making Our Way Forward By DR. MAULANA KARENGA
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n these critical times which unavoidably raise the pressing questions of mapping and making our way forward regardless, a thoughtful rereading of Dr. Martin Luther King’s historical speech, “Where Do We Go From Here?” offers us an excellent point of departure. Given in 1967 at the height of the Black Power period of the Black Freedom Movement, it reflects the tenor and tension of the times, a righteous rebellion of youth, a year we of Us designated as the “Year of the Simba Wachanga,” the Year of the Young Lions of Us, and others similarly engaged in radical and revolutionary resistance to the established order. It is his last address as SCLC president and some argue his most radical. For he not only defends the integrity, dignity and ultimate worth of Black people, but also questions the very structure and functioning of U.S. society and calls for a radical critique and transformation of its capitalist, racist and militaristic character. He also wrote a book of the same title. Dr. King tells us in his address that if we, today, are to know where we should go from here in the troubled times, ice-cold climate, and cruel and mean-spirited spaces in which we live and struggle, “We must first honestly
recognize where we are now,” i.e., at a persistent, d e e p disadvantage of wealth, power and conditions of life in relationship to Whites, those who dominate. He asserts that “Of the good things in life (the Black person) has one half of those of Whites.” King then cites a list of what we now call “disparities” in housing, income, employment, infant mortality, education, support for education, college enrollment, and other areas which disadvantage, disable and often dispirit us. And he concludes, “When we view the negative experiences of life, the (Black person) has a double share.” “This is where we are,” he states, in this “system that still oppresses us” in varied ways. And only by righteous and relentless struggle can we end what Malcolm called our nightmare and reconceive and achieve what King called our longedfor dream. So, the question becomes where do we go from here, what is to be done, how do we map out and make a way forward in our struggle for liberation, justice and other goods in this country and the world? The first step forward, King tells us, is a reaffirmation of our identity, dignity and worth as a people. Thus, Dr. King says, “First we must stand up amidst a system that still oppresses us and develop an unassailable and majestic sense of values. We must no longer be ashamed of being Black,” but embrace it in all its historical, ethical, spiritual, cultural and aesthetic meaning. King speaks of the language Dr. Martin L. and treatment to inferiorize Black people, deny their contribution and King, Jr.
38 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
strip them of their personhood and peoplehood. It is a process and practice, he says, of “cultural homicide,” a cultural killing of Black persons and people which is “as old as the earliest history books and as contemporary as the morning’s paper” and must be resisted. In the ugly and inferiorizing face of this deculturalization and dehumanization, Black people must resist and achieve a “psychological freedom,” standing up, declaring ourselves as we are—a people of “dignity and honor” with a “rich and noble history,” second to none and certainly no less sacred. Thus, King says, “Yes, we must stand up and say, ‘I’m Black and I’m beautiful’ and this self-affirmation is Black (people’s) need, made compelling by the White man’s crimes against (them).” And he warns that this cultural grounding and self-affirmation is indispensable and that “any movement for (Black) freedom that overlooks this necessity is only waiting to be buried.” Secondly, Dr. King tells us that “Another basic challenge is to discover how to organize our strength in terms of economic and political power.” For “Indeed one of the great problems that the (Black person) confronts is his (her) lack of power.” Careful to define power in positive and compelling ways in the period of Black Power, King assures the timid and threatened that “power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose,” and in the context of the Black Freedom Movement is an ethical goal and capacity. “It is the strength needed to bring about social, political and economic changes” directed toward freedom, justice and other good in the world. Here King is speaking of the need to join and build organizations and institutions, structures that house our aspirations and advance our interests as a people and then unite these structures into an overarching Movement for freedom, justice, equity and power over our destiny and daily lives. Dr. King knows that if we are to claim respect for the humanity and dignity of a person, we must be concerned that they live lives of decency which honor this dignity. Thus, he also stresses the need to struggle for our economic security, a context in which “the dignity of the individual will flourish” and people will be able to improve and push their lives forward in positive and productive ways. In this regard, he argues for a guaranteed annual income and full employment for economic security and as a protection against “dislocations in the market,” “the prevalence of discrimination,” and “constant or frequent unemployment against our will.” He also advocates “new forms of work that enhance the social good.” Dr. King does not discuss political power here, but in his book Where Do We Go From Here: Community
or Chaos,” develops his ideas about this. He rejects funded programs as power and calls for our diligent work “to organize our strength into a compelling power so that government cannot elude our demands.” This, he reminds us, requires not only our own organization and Movement, but also coalitions and alliances with other oppressed, progressive and struggling people. Finally, King having urged us to avoid hate and violence, tells us that in all our strivings and struggle, ultimately, we must “honestly face the fact that the Movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society.” We must question the existence of millions in poverty in the midst of such riches, the inequitable distribution of wealth, the monopoly on resources, and the cold calculus of a capitalism that puts profit above human life and the well-being of the world. Furthermore, it is not only capitalism we must confront, but also two other “interrelated evils,” racism and militarism. For, he says, “When I say question the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see that the problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation and the problem of war are all tied together.” He concludes calling us to battle, motivated by a commitment to freedom, love of justice, and the nurturing of a “divine dissatisfaction” until victory is won. It will be a divine dissatisfaction with and well-won victory over unfreedom, injustice, uncaring, hypocrisy in high and low places, poverty, economic insecurity, political non-participation and powerlessness, warmongering, police violence and racism in its raw and disguised forms. He confesses that “the road ahead will not always be smooth.” There will be rocks, twists and turns, frustration and fatigue, setbacks, shattered dreams and heartache. But no matter how difficult and painful the struggle is, we must continue to push and move forward “with an audacious faith in the future,” respecting the sacrifices of those before us and the demands of our history, as reflected in the Black National Anthem and realizing that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, The Message and Meaning of Kwanzaa: Bringing Good Into the World and Essays on Struggle: Position and Analysis, www.AfricanAmericanCulturalCenter-LA.org; www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org; www.MaulanaKarenga.org. Los Angeles Sentinel, 01-09-19, p.A6 Image credits: vimeo.com, apollotheater.org
39 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Business - Strategic Planning
The Retail Apocalypse is Old News.
Now What? By David J. Katz
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n 2019, regardless of size, tenure or segment of business retailers, brands and suppliers must recognize that they can no longer navigate the new landscape with old maps. Tomorrow’s retail winners will be nimble, data-driven, fast-to-market and cost efficient. They will have the foresight, fortitude and fearlessness to disrupt their own identity and legacy models.
Do or do not. There is no try. The rate of change will escalate. There is no time for deep contemplation. Winners will leap, measure and then optimize. Failing fast will be a requirement, not an option. Succeeding fast will be a requirement, too.
The Alchemist's Retail Prophecies for 2019: 1) After a strong 2018, the retail industry will slow down in 2019. Labor markets and basic economic indicators will remain strong. However, geopolitical factors, consumer confidence, inflation, and demographic shifts will influence spending patterns and slow retail spending. 2) “The Retail Apocalypse” will be exposed as “fake news” for math-challenged, headline-grabbing media. While closed stores and lost retail jobs are painful and disruptive, they are not apocalyptic. Online sales get the buzz. Mortar-and-brick gets the dollars. Ecommerce will remain a minority of total retail sales, somewhere between 10% and 15% of total. The vast majority of sales, over 85%, will continue to take
The Network Effect
place in brick-and-mortar stores. Both channels will continue to grow in real dollars. In 2019, physical stores will contribute 50% of all retail growth. 3) "Network Effects" will yield a “winner takes all” retail playing field. 2019 will see a clear bifurcation of winners and losers. Growth will accrue to a small number of big winners: companies that control access to consumers and can leverage network effects to increase both scale and efficiency. However, niche players can win with “go small, or go home” strategies. 4) Consumers will continue to expect more… and they'll find someone to provide it to them. Delivering ever-increasing consumer satisfaction will require innovation and massive spending which in turn will compress margins and driving all but the strongest players out of business. In 2019, delivery models will build, or destroy, retailers. Promising, and then delivering, virtually immediate delivery – often at no cost to consumers – has been an expensive, polarizing game changer. It’s a game most companies cannot afford to play, or to lose, or to win… 5) The Three C’s of Retail will be critical differentiators: “Choice,” “Cost,” and “Convenience.” Successful retailers will have one, or more, of the best assortment, the best prices, or the best service. “Convenience and service” versus “assortment and price” illustrate consumer’s evolving “Money Value of Time” (MVT). 6) Off-Mall will outperform In-Mall. This shift represents a fundamental change in preference, demographics and convenience. This will be good for Kohl’s and not so good for JCPenney. 7) In 2019, we will still have too many stores, too much retail space, and too much inventory. Store closures and bankruptcies will continue as retailers continue to right-size their door count and selling space. Too many stores and too much product results in an over-supply of mass market goods, driving down prices and favoring off-price stores, branded outlets, and web sites competing for that can sell this over-supply for the lowest price. It becomes a race to the bottom.
40 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Off-price retail will continue to gain market share. 8) Surplus selling space turns retailers into landlords. Will these new tenants add value beyond lowering real estate costs? Kohl’s has Amazon and Aldi as tenants; a play for foot traffic. Macy’s has added Samsung and B8ta and Marketplace with Facebook as tenants, some of whom sub-let their space to other third-party brands; a play for new consumers and data. JCPenney has Sephora as a tenant; a play for relevance. 9) The battle for tomorrow’s consumer will make enemies of friends… and friends of enemies. Competitors will emerge from sectors previously perceived as irrelevant. 10) Online commerce will be costlier than ever to execute. The cost of customer acquisition will grow significantly. The cost of customer acquisition will shrink significantly, for a handful of industry leaders. For gateway players, those companies that can leverage network effects, the cost of customer acquisition will actually decrease with growing scale. Examples include Amazon, Google and Facebook. Online fulfillment costs, both outbound and inbound, along with the associated labor, materials, freight, warehouse space, inspection, refurbishing, I.T. and “reverse logistics” will be an essential retail performance indicator, separating winners from losers. Online shipping will also create a truly outstanding amount of corrugated waste. Nearly one third of all online shipments will be returned. This deluge will escalate as shoppers increasingly demand fast, simple and free returns. In 2019, the speed, efficiency and customer service-level retailers provide regarding shipping and returns will be a critical factor in determining which companies make money, and which will fail. 11) In 2019, “Brand Relevance” will beat “Brand Authenticity.” Consumers crave quality, utility, uniqueness, value. They have new ways of validating these features and benefits: social media, reviews, peers, and transparency. Therefore, fewer brands will be meaningful at scale. New brands will proliferate in niches. Private Uniqlo “Puffer Label will grow,
and some will scale. 12) Retail will Pop-Up everywhere. Pop-Ups inside malls and Macy’s will also pop-up inside WeWork buildings, hotel lobbies, and apartment complexes. Vending machines will become pop-ups in previously unexplored locations. Take note of the Uniqlo “Puffer Jacket” vending machines in airports. 13) Immersive, aka “experiential” retail gets real. The Canada Goose see-through freezer dressing rooms, where customers can try on outerwear and step into a 12-degrees-below-zero locker. This is a selfiemagnet that elevates consumer experience, brand awareness and sell-thru.
Canada Goose Freezer Dressing Room
The Casper Dreamery cost $25 for a 45-minute nap in a cool, quiet compartment with fresh sheets, pajamas, eye masks and a break from the daily grind. No hard sell, just relaxation reinforcing the value of quality sleep. Note: you can’t purchase a mattress at the Dreamery. The Nike “House of Innovation“ is fueled by digital commerce tools. Customers can text to have clothing delivered to dressing rooms in the size and color of their choice, schedule appointments with an in-house stylist or fitness expert, scan mannequins for product information, use the “scan and go” mobile checkout, or pick up reserved items at digital lockers, unlocked with their phone. Showfields was imagined and built around customer experience. Housed in a historic New York City four story building, the store is a cavalcade of ever-changing workshops, brands and classifications filled with online and offline engagement. Similar to B8ta and Macy's Market, brands can lease turn-key space within the store. Poorly conceived experiences, however, will continue
Jacket”
41 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
see page 42
Virtual Influencers
The Retail Apocalypse from page 41 to proliferate at retailers who just can't see the goal line. Compare the winning models above with feeble attempts at relevance via barber shops, espresso bars, pool tables, and photo ops. And then there's Amazon 4-star... the odd mix of brands, products and cashier-less shopping is designed around data collection rather than customer experience. I anticipate that Amazon's human and artificial intelligence will make these stores more consumer-centric over time. 14) Loyalty Programs will matter, and cost, more than ever before. The battle for consumer loyalty will intensify in cost and value. Amazon Prime is a highly effective loyalty program. Kohl’s and Macy’s loyalty programs have real potential. Never underestimate the consumer. Banks presumed that premium loyalty rewards would encourage credit card users to spend more, earning the banks more interest and boosting their returns. They were wrong. Consumers figured out how to game the system in their own favor. But wait, there's more. 15) Sustainability will move from “buzz” to “ding,” the sound of cash registers ringing. 16) Checkout-free technology will expand, quickly. 17) Artificial Intelligence will be widely used to influence and aid in purchasing, and shopping experiences. 18) Social and text messaging will become more
important as data and trust become currency of great value. 19) Privacy issues will reach an inflection point. 20) Virtual Influencers, artificial digital beings, will grow in popularity and influence. 21) Augmented and virtual reality (AR & VR) will begin to show positive retail ROI. 22) Shopping via voice… will still not be ready for primetime. Amazon stated, without providing sales data, that the "use of Alexa for shopping more than tripled" this (2018) holiday season compared with last year's. My read; growing, yet not statistically significant. 23) Image Recognition will become a meaningful, widely-used, tool for consumers and retailers. 24) Robots will be critical for supply chain efficiency. Yet they will remain behind the curtain… R2D2 is not ready for consumer interface. 25) Mobile Payments will become the de facto standard. 26) Products will replenish themselves and subscription models will proliferate; some will even succeed. 27) Walmart will become more like Amazon: investments in online commerce and last-mile delivery. 28) Amazon will become more like Walmart: investments in food & drug and mortar-and-brick retail. 29) BOPIS (Buy Online Pick-Up In Store) will continue to grow, along with associated labor, inventory and technology costs. 30) 2019 may see the “Death of Free Trade.” Trade wars and geopolitical uncertainty will unsettle retailers, brands and consumers. Shifting a supply chain takes time, money and commitment. Expect cost increases to consumers to feed into 2019 inflation. All predictions and errors herein are strictly my own. --------------------------Partial Bibliography and Sources of Inspiration available when you access the article at: www.linkedin.com/pulse/retail-apocalypseold-news-now-what-david-j-katz/?trk=eml-email_feed_ecosystem_ digest_01-recommended_articles-7-Unknown&midToken=AQGeO KMVkySJSg&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=1sHzD--XxrqEA1
42 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
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Business - Commentary
Over 40% of Activity on the Internet is Fake By Cal Jeffrey
cagle.com
I
n context: New York Magazine published an interesting piece in its "Intelligencer" section opining that most of the internet (including its users) is fake. While I don't necessarily agree with everything put forth in the article, it does make several salient and interesting points. White Ops (www.whiteops.com/company) recently reported on the indictments of two advertising-fraud operations — Methbot and 3ve. Both scams involved fooling advertisers into thinking their ads had been placed on prominent websites and received copious amounts of attention. However, it turned out that everything from the ad views to the sites was fake. This led New York Magazine to the question: “How much of the internet is fake?” Perhaps stating that more than 40% of the internet is fake is not a surprise, but it is interesting to note nonetheless. Some studies have shown that less than 60% of traffic on the internet is human. Bots became so widespread on YouTube in 2013 that developers were afraid their algorithms would start interpreting bot behavior as human and human traffic as bots. The prevalence of bots on the internet is no secret, but it has led to the point of not knowing what is real on the internet. In October, Facebook was sued for overestimating how much time users spend watching videos on the platform. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook contends that it only slightly misjudged the figure by 60 to 80%. The plaintiffs say that it was more like 150 to 900%. Regardless of which party is right, Facebook has admitted to misreporting other metrics. So, according to NYM, “The metrics are fake.” It also points out the growth of click farms. These are services that will guarantee to get you a certain number of views for a price. Of course, these clicks are generated by bots rather than people in most cases, which prompted YouTube to purge what it deemed as
“spam accounts” earlier this month. So “the people are fake.” Cambridge Analytica (www.techspot.com/tag/ cambridge+analytica) showed us that political groups are willing to buy our information from social media sites to influence our political opinions. What’s more, NYM contends that political discourse on the internet has devolved into arguments accusing each other of “virtue signaling” or claiming that the other person is a Russian bot. So, “our politics are fake.” "Years of lucrative manipulative systems have created an environment where it makes more sense to be fake online than it does to be real." Even “we ourselves are fake.” It used to be that the idiom of “keeping up with the Joneses” meant buying everything you saw your neighbor buy so as not to be left out socially. Now it means we cheat on meaningless online quizzes and post the results on social media to “prove” we are smart. We pretend we are proud of our kids by posting pictures of them when all we really want are the likes. Likewise, we compulsively click the like button on someone else's post even when we don't like what it says, just so that we will continue to be liked by them. Of course this is not true for everyone, but it seems to be more and more people are falling into an abyss of fake-ism created by the internet in general and social media in particular. “Years of metrics-driven growth, lucrative manipulative systems, and unregulated platform marketplaces have created an environment where it makes more sense to be fake online — to be disingenuous and cynical, to lie and cheat, to misrepresent and distort — than it does to be real,” NYM wrote in closing. “Fixing that would require cultural and political reform in Silicon Valley and around the world, but it’s our only choice. Otherwise, we’ll all end up on the bot internet of fake people, fake clicks, fake sites, and fake computers, where the only real thing is the ads.” www.techspot.com/news/78029-over-40-percent-activity-internetfake.html?utm_medium=techboard.fri.20181228.pro&utm_ source=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=campaign
44 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Business - Self-Improvement
400 Free Ivy League University Courses You Can Take Online in 2019
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he eight Ivy League schools are among the most prestigious colleges in the world. They include Brown, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, and Columbia universities, and the University of Pennsylvania. All eight schools place in the top fifteen of the US News and World Report 2017 national university rankings. These Ivy League schools are also highly selective and extremely hard to get into. But the good news is that all these universities now offer free online courses across multiple online course platforms. So far, they’ve created over 494 courses, of which around 396 are still active. Review the full collection and the course contents of all of them at: https://qz.com/1514408/400free-ivy-league-universitycourses-you-can-take-onlinein-2019/?utm_medium=10today. ad1.20190104.421.1&utm_ s o u r c e = e m a i l & u t m _ content=article&utm_campaign=10for-today---4.0-styling. The listing
in Quartz's Good News section is split into courses in the following subjects: Computer Science (31 courses)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Columbia University Computational Thinking for Problem Solving University of Pennsylvania Animation and CGI Motion Columbia University Business (74 courses) Introduction to Marketing University of Pennsylvania Customer Analytics University of Pennsylvania Entrepreneurship 2: Launching your Start-Up University of Pennsylvania Humanities (69 courses) The Civil War and Reconstruction – 1865-1890: The Unfinished Revolution Columbia University Power and Responsibility: Doing Philosophy with Superheroes Harvard University English for Career Development University of Pennsylvania Social Sciences (66 courses) Justice Harvard University Moral Foundations of Politics Yale University American Government: Constitutional Foundations Harvard University
By Dhawal Shah
Art & Design (21 courses) Gamification University of Pennsylvania Music and Social Action Yale University Pyramids of Giza: Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology Harvard University Health & Medicine (27 courses) Improving Global Health: Focusing on Quality and Safety Harvard University The Opioid Crisis in America Harvard University Essentials of Global Health Yale University Data Science (21) People Analytics University of Pennsylvania Data Science: Visualization Harvard University Data, Models and Decisions in Business Analytics Columbia University Education & Teaching (18 courses) Saving Schools: Reforming the U.S. Education System Harvard University
46 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
T
The Obama Presidency
he Black Business News Group has published our three-part commemorative coverage of "The Obama Presidency." These publications are available for review and study in the Black Business News digital publication library - www.issuu.com/blackbusinessnews - along with all of the Black Business News Group family of publications - Black Business News, Black Business News International and Black Business News Travel Africa. These special commemorative issues include text and images that reflect public commentary, legislative issues, international relations, ground braking policies, campaigns, White House staffing and family profiles to chronicle the most historic presidency of our times. ď &#x192; MĹ´Ĺ´Z Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2014;Â? ÂŞÂ&#x20AC;ŸŴŴ G @@ @
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How to Apply to College University of Pennsylvania Introduction to Online and Blended Teaching University of Pennsylvania
The Climate-Energy Challenge Harvard University
Find Your Calling: Career Transition Principles for Returning Veterans Columbia University
Mathematics (13 courses) Fat Chance: Probability from the Ground Up Harvard University Calculus Applied! Harvard University Causal Inference Columbia University Science (26 courses) Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science Harvard University Imagining Other Earths Princeton University
Engineering (18 courses) Robotics: Aerial Robotics University of Pennsylvania Robotics: Vision Intelligence and Machine Learning University of Pennsylvania Robotics Columbia University Personal Development (5 courses) Introduction to Negotiation: A Strategic Playbook for Becoming a Principled and Persuasive Negotiator Yale University Success University of Pennsylvania
Programming (7 courses) CS50â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mobile App Development with React Native Harvard University CS50â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Introduction to Game Development Harvard University Software Development Fundamentals University of Pennsylvania ď &#x192; https://qz.com/1514408/400-free-ivyleague-university-courses-you-can-takeonline-in-2019/?utm_medium=10today. ad1.20190104.421.1&utm_ source=email&utm_content=article&utm_ campaign=10-for-today---4.0-styling
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Business - Technology Technology:
Take A Look! Skype Adds Live Captioning and Subtitles for Improved Accessibility
M
icrosoft's Skype video calling, web conferencing and chat application now has live captioning and subtitles to make it easier to use for users who are deaf, have hearing disabilities or who speak different languages. The new live captioning and subtitle capabilities will also arrive natively in Microsoft PowerPoint in early 2019, according to a recent post on the Microsoft Accessibility Blog by Jenny Lay-Flurrie (https://blogs.
msdn.microsoft.com/accessibility), the company's chief accessibility officer. The improvements are available immediately in Skype as an automatically scrolling caption, she wrote, but the feature will be expanded soon to use a side window where users can peruse the text that was previously displayed on the screen. In addition, Skype will soon be adding translation support for more than 20 languages to help users who speak in different languages. "As someone with deafness, I'm incredibly passionate about captioning," wrote Lay-Flurrie. "It's part of my daily toolkit of accommodations I use to navigate my day in addition to my wonderful American Sign Language interpreters." While captioning has become a standard at Microsoft events and in the company's videos, the new Skype and upcoming PowerPoint captioning capabilities will add long-needed services for deaf and hard-of-hearing users to make the applications more inclusive, she said. The captioning and subtitle services mean that
users will be able to see real-time transcriptions of a presenter's spoken words onscreen either in the same language or in a different language. When the services launch as part of PowerPoint, they will support presentations in one of more than 10 spoken languages and captions and subtitles on the screen in one of more than 60 text languages, wrote Lay-Flurrie. For Skype users, the captioning and subtitle options can be turned on easily as needed, providing services for users that are fast, continuous and contextually updated as people speak. Over the next few weeks, Skype will roll out translation support for more than 20 languages and dialects, she wrote. The captioning can be used for a single call or left on for all calls, depending on the user’s requirements. The captioning services are powered by Microsoft's artificial intelligence research. The live captions and subtitles in PowerPoint will begin rolling out in late January 2019 and will be available for Office 365 subscribers worldwide for PowerPoint on Windows 10, PowerPoint for Mac and PowerPoint Online, according to Microsoft. The new accessibility tools were unveiled as part of the company's recent recognition of the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities. With more than a billion people with disabilities around the world, Microsoft said it is releasing the new tools as part of its continuing efforts to create more accessible and inclusive technology experiences for users. www.eweek.com/enterprise-apps/skype-adds-livecaptioning-and-subtitles-for-improved-accessibility?utm_ medium=email&utm_campaign=EWK_NL_EP_20181226_ STR4L2&dni=460505751&rni=25652266
Satechi Launches 30W and 75W USB-C Chargers
S
atechi has announced two new USB-C PD chargers at CES 2019. The 30W and 75W travel chargers feature both USB-C and USB-A for convenience to charge any device. Notably, the 75W
48 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
charger offers two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports, perfect for simultaneous charging of a MacBook, iPad Pro, iPhone, and more. Satechi detailed the new USB-C PD chargers in a press release: The 75W Dual Type-C Travel Charger integrates two powerful USB-C ports, ideal for the 2018 iPad Pro and fast-charging the iPhone XS Max/XS/XR, and two USB-A ports for additional charging capabilities. Alternatively, the 30W Dual-Port Wall Charger features one USB-C PD port and an additional USB-A port to simultaneously charge another USB device. Both chargers will be available direct from Satechi (https://satechi.net/products/75w-dual-type-c-pd-travelcharger?rfsn=1154357.kvmtmjr&subid=jqpjlwewk60 1pbwy05f2m) as well as Amazon (www.amazon. com/dp/B07M97XGNZ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ref=myi_title_ dp&linkCode=sl1&tag=tucktuck0e-20&linkId=e7bffd979bd5 b11ceb66e7960ee80d40&language=en_US).
https://9to5mac.com/2019/01/08/usb-c-chargermacbook-ipad-iphone/?utm_medium=techboard. tue.20190108&utm_source=email&utm_ content=&utm_campaign=campaignImage credits: thepinsta.com
Squad: New Screen Sharing Chat App
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ith Squad (https://squadapp.io), you fire up a video chat with up to six people, but at any time you can screenshare what you’re seeing on your phone instead of showing your face. You can browse memes together, trash talk about DMs or private profiles, brainstorm a status update, co-work on a project or get consensus on your Tinder swipe. It’s deceptively simple, but remarkably alluring. And it couldn’t have happened until now. Next, Squad wants to let people tune in to screenshares via URL to unlock a new era of Live broadcasting, and equip other apps with the capability through a Squad SDK. “People under 24 do video chat way different than people 25 and above” says Crawford. Adding screensharing is “an excuse for hanging out.” https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/17/squad-screenshare/?utm_ medium=40digest.7days2.20190117.carousel&utm_source=email&utm_ content=&utm_campaign=campaign Curatted by LaSandra Stratton, Chief Content Administrator of the Black Business News.
49 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
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Publisher's Message
tucson.com
from page 3
wall be a boondoggle, but it will not solve the problems associated with illegal immigration, especially from a humane and socially just standpoint The idea of building a border wall is an outdated notion. We see this time and time again in our evolution as a society when an original idea mandates updating either because of advancements in the development of technologies, the economic impact, or societal views and/or legislation has changed. The musket rifle, used in the American Revolution in the 1700’s, is no longer relevant when fighting against enemies armed with AK-47 assault rifles. In this day and age, with the advances of technology, our ability to put satellites and men in space, one would think that the current Administration would leverage its influence to involve lawmakers, technology entrepreneurs, the U.S. military and the intelligence community to develop more efficient, cost-effective, and most importantly, more humane ways of dealing with those trying to enter the U.S. legally and illegally. It is the hope of many Americans, that the President and his Cabinet engage in some genuine soulsearching to come up with other ideas to address the immigration problems. Many questions beg to be asked. For instance, what message is “The Wall” sending to those families seeking a better life - that Americans don’t want them?
If America desires to tout and extol the virtues of human and civil rights, can we afford the luxury of contradiction to our citizens and global neighbors? While it’s important for our nation to be willing to afford opportunities to others seeking either asylum, or just better opportunities for themselves and their families, there is a way to do it…by obeying our nation’s laws, and not breaking them. It bears repeating that our consciences have been awakened to the ugly truth that the border wall is an “ANTIQUATED SYMBOL OF PURE RACISM.” This “Wall” represents racism in the worst way, and does not and will not solve America’s illegal immigration problems. Instead it will only send the loud resounding message that America is not the ‘land of the free’ and the American dream has limits for poor people of color, which would be the saddest indictment on a nation which takes great pride in boasting that it is the land of opportunity, but for whom? This President, his administration and the elected Republicans in Washington, D.C, have to do a much better job on behalf of America, American Citizens and the taxpayers, if America is ever to truly become “GREAT AGAIN”. There is no greatness in a border wall that represents an “ANTIQUATED SYMBOL OF PURE RACISM.”
52 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
www.bbala.org
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Editorial
A Petulant President Shuts Down Government and Insults Working People By Jesse Jackson
T
he partial government shutdown continues, and 800,000 federal employees are going without pay, either furloughed and forced not to work or deemed “essential” and forced to work without pay. On Christmas Day, President Trump suggested that the workers supported the shutdown that he earlier said he would be “proud” to cause: “Many of those workers have said to me, communicated, stay out until you get the funding for the wall.” This is a billionaire’s conceit. Federal employees are not wealthy. Like most Americans, many live paycheck to paycheck. The shutdown, which started on Dec. 22, stopped all paychecks just as the holiday approached. It also terminated all paid time off for workers, even for those who have scheduled leave for the holiday and will lose the paid time off if they don’t use it by the end of the year. It is hard to imagine anything more disruptive, or more callous. Unlike the president, Trump’s Office of Personnel Management recognizes the plight that workers face in the shutdown. It issued
suggestions on how employees might negotiate with landlords and creditors over missed payments, even suggesting that they offer to do “painting or carpentry” in lieu of rent. Even if Congress eventually votes to reimburse employees for back pay, it isn’t likely to cover the fines, penalty fees, late fees, and hit
to credit ratings that the shutdown will cause. For years, conservatives have maligned federal workers as overpaid, inefficient and intrusive. Ever since President Ronald Reagan quipped that the most dangerous words in the English language are “I’m from the
56 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi Vice President Mike Pence
President Donald Trump
government and I’m here to help,” federal workers have been scorned and mocked. This is just plain ignorant. Federal workers are public servants — they do the public’s work. They are air traffic controllers, park rangers, border patrol officers and prison employees. They guard our coasts, they protect our air and water, they care for public lands, they administer our Social Security and Medicare. We rely on them in big and little ways. When Republicans cut the public servants in the Internal Revenue Service, the wealthy and corporations find it easier to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. When OSHA inspectors are cut, employees are at greater risk in the work place. When the Justice Department cuts back on anti-trust, private monopolies and fraud fleece millions of Americans. When we
get stuck waiting in lines or find getting help from a federal official difficult, we should remember that it isn’t because the employees are incompetent, it’s because right-wing attacks on government and cuts in resources have rendered them less able to do their work. Conservatives say they believe in markets, not government, but free and efficient markets depend on government to enforce laws, break up monopolies, police against fraud. Without an active and efficient government, the criminal and the grifters drive out the honest and the decent from the marketplace, and we are all worse off as a result. Trump’s shutdown is simply the most recent of his assaults on the employees of the government that he was elected to run. He’s scorned them as part of the “swamp,” sought to freeze their pay, cut their retirements and undermine their labor organizations.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
Instead of paying tribute to their service, he’s demeaned their capacity, even while cutting the resources needed to do their jobs. Not surprisingly, the non-partisan Best Places to Work report finds a decline in employee engagement and morale under Trump. The shutdown will do real damage to many federal employees and their families. And it will do real damage to the services that we need and expect from our government. For Trump and the right, this is a sucker’s play. They demean federal employees, shut down parts of the government, cut back resources and staffing to do needed tasks and then use the resulting inefficiency as evidence that government can’t work. www.rainbowpush.org Image credits: newsweek.com, infiniteunknown.net
57 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Business - Entrepreneur Start-Up
How to Leverage Your Skills to Start a Side Business By Abdo Riani, Guest Writer
A
ccording to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2016 report
( w w w. b a b s o n . e d u / a b o u t / n e w s events/babson-announcements/ global-entrepreneurship-monitorunited-states-report), more than 25
million Americans have initiated entrepreneurial ventures. Being an entrepreneur is synonymous with being a risk taker, and one of the best ways to minimize this risk is by starting on the side, from home. In fact, according to the same report, more than half of U.S. entrepreneurs start and operate their businesses from home. Many aspiring entrepreneurs fail to start a business due to lack of funds and business knowledge. The truth is, in most cases, none of that is required. Entrepreneurs get rewarded for solving people’s problems exactly the way employees get paid for their services. Starting a business is about creating value by solving problems and addressing needs, therefore, capturing an opportunity to serve others and getting compensated for your work is entrepreneurship in its purest form. Especially for service-based businesses, this does not require a website, marketing campaign, business plan, round of investment funding or any other assets but your existing skills, knowledge and a laptop. In my experience mentoring entrepreneurs with different backgrounds and visions, I found
that most aspiring entrepreneurs worry too much about their 100th customer when they haven’t even acquired their first. Most entrepreneurs worry about growth stages before building a foundation. This article shares three simple steps to help you clear your thoughts and focus only on the activities that matter in the beginning of a business venture.
1. Define your service. The key is to stick to your area of expertise. While you may have plans to start a thriving business with many products, services and customer segments, thinking too big too soon will have failing consequences. The challenges entrepreneurs face trying to run before they walk is overwhelming, and this causes failure. What is it that you do today? This will be your service. If you were hired to do a job, chances are you are good at what you do. If you are a social media marketer, other companies need your services and consulting. The same applies to project managers, designers, programmers, teachers, engineers, researchers, assistants, scientists, coaches, speakers, etc. Grab a piece of paper and write down your solution -- “I offer X.” Before defining your ideal customer, start by writing down your service. It's fine if your solution is as general as, "I offer social media, consulting, accounting or research services." Defining your ideal customer in
the next step will help you become more specific and targeted.
2. Define your ideal customer. Service providers are often challenged with the ideal customer definition. This is understandable because virtually speaking, using some of the services mentioned earlier, many companies of different sizes need project management, design, programming, teaching and coaching services. Focusing on the ideal customer doesn’t just save time and money in finding and serving the customer but more importantly, it helps in the outcome of your contribution and your results. An ideal customer is “ideal” because you know how to help them get results. They need people like you. The ideal customer definition process starts exactly like service definition. Start with the company that trusted you to do a job -- your existing or previous employer. Chances are, many
58 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Image credit: Westend61 | Getty Images
similar companies need your help and expertise. You may want to avoid serving your employer’s competitors, however, using them and their needs as a benchmark will quickly help you identify similar companies in different categories or industries. No matter how competitive your space is, the barriers to acquiring the first customers will still be much lower than learning a new skill to serve customers in less competitive industries. Stick to your background. Especially in the beginning, focus on customer segments with the least players. The bigger the company, the longer the sales cycle. In this case, even if your experience is in helping Fortune 500 companies scale, you may want to focus on smaller companies with similar profiles and help them grow as big as your current or previous employers. Your value proposition combines service and ideal customer definition. I help [ideal customer] with [your service],
and I do it differently or uniquely by [how are you different]. For example, I help professionals leverage their skills to launch service-based businesses by providing them with a clear roadmap to paying customers, and I do it uniquely through a tested and proven framework that aims to minimize costs and reduce time to acquisition while bringing clarity and trust in the entrepreneur’s journey.
3. Define your acquisition channel. This step is simply about connecting the first two steps. In other words, how do you convey your service to your ideal customer? Use this as a rule of thumb. Your first customers are hand picked. Yes, social media, SEO, funnels, affiliate marketing and all other marketing strategies can help, but you must get your hands dirty to close your first customers quickly. When you start and don’t have proof or case studies, people will invest in you, therefore, presenting
and selling yourself is your best bet. From experience, here are the two best channels to accomplish this goal. Cold emailing, including using the power and network of LinkedIn. Drafting a personalized email or message that goes directly to your potential customer’s inbox is one of the best ways to grab their attention, especially when you are addressing businesses. Keep your message short, mention an interesting fact about their industry, comment on one of their recent posts or accomplishments, and present your services and how it can help them drive
results. In-person events, especially smaller conferences, meetups or social events. Defining your acquisition channels is essentially about finding a way to signal your availability to your ideal customer. Local and national events are a great way to build personal relationships that can soon turn into business partnerships. Spend time developing and nurturing relationships and the rest will follow naturally. Finally, and above all, the world needs your skills and expertise, and people are ready to compensate you for your contribution. We are all entrepreneurs in one way or another. Entrepreneurship is about creating value through solutions. You do that already, so it’s about time you capture other opportunities on the side or full-time. www.entrepreneur.com/ article/324174?utm_medium=40digest. prsonly.20190109.carousel&utm_ source=email&utm_content=&utm_ campaign=campaign
59 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
2
018 was a transformative year for the nation’s foremost civil rights organization, and it was our supporters who made every success and every victory possible. You organized and mobilized to turn out voters of color in record numbers for the midterm elections and raised the red flag at all signs of voter suppression. You fought back against the politics of hate and called out the incidents of #LivingWhileBlack. You helped to grow the NAACP’s reach, giving generously of both your time and money to move our collective initiatives forward. As you enjoy time with family and friends over the next few weeks, I hope you find a spare moment to reflect on the important role you’ve played in making America a better nation. On behalf of the entire NAACP family, I wish you the happiest of holidays and a wonderful start to the new year. Sincerely, Derrick Johnson President and CEO NAACP
60 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Business - Fashion
African American Travel Represents $63 Billion Opportunity Source: Mandala Research
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he second study in a series documenting the impact of African American travelers demonstrates their growing contribution to the United States travel and tourism economy to the tune of $63 billion in 2018. The new study, completed by Mandala Research, follows up on the firm’s original study in 2010 establishing the benchmark for understanding this segment of the traveling population. The survey polled 1,700 respondents representative of the African American population that travels. Key takeaways from the survey: • The economic value of African American travelers has increased in 2018 to $63 billion from $48 billion in 2010. African American “cultural” travelers are the highest spenders, with an average per trip spend of $2,078 versus $1,345 for all African American travelers. • More than half reported that their most recent leisure destination was between 100-500 miles from home with Florida, New York City/New York, and Atlanta being top US destinations and Caribbean/ Bahamas (38%) and Mexico (26%) mentioned as leading international destinations • Food and shopping are leading spend categories with nearly half of travelers spending on local and/ or regional cuisine on their most recent leisure trip. Shopping continues to be a popular activity for vacationers, most often at malls (41%) and outlet malls (34%), but also downtown (28%). The report also highlights where and how African Americans source information on where to go, the activities they participate in, and segment analysis, looking at family reunion travelers, cultural travelers, and leisure travelers who also travel for business. Mandala added, “We’ve been able to confirm through our many studies among domestic and international travelers that the African American story in America is one that resonates with cultural travelers of all types – the general market traveler, the international visitor -- because the story of African Americans is the story of America. African Americans have contributed to the evolution of almost every facet of our culture – music, food, dance, art, literature, academics and social
change movements. The success of attractions such as the Civil Rights Trail, Mississippi Blues trail, historic Overtown in Miami, and tours of Harlem gospel choirs, all of which are attended heavily by Germans, Japanese as well as American travelers, is testament to the universal draw of the African American experience. According to Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO William D. Talbert, III, CDME, “The African American traveler is very important to the tourism market in Miami. Arts, culture and diversity make up the fabric of the community and key findings from this report show obvious alignment with interests of African Americans to the experiences and multicultural points of interest that Miami offers to both the leisure visitor and convention attendee.” Kevin Dallas, CEO of Bermuda Tourism Authority and study sponsor comments, “Given the rapid growth in this market segment, increasing the number of African American travelers to Bermuda is a strategic goal of our recently released National Tourism Plan. The Mandala research, paired with other qualitative and quantitative data, has convinced us that the African American travel market presents an exciting business opportunity for Bermuda’s tourism industry – we believe our destination has the cultural touchpoints that make African American travelers feel right at home out here.” The importance of African American culture and history also plays a role in destination choice for these travelers. 64% of cultural African American travelers, the highest spending segment of travelers, say the availability of African American cultural and heritage
62 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
attractions is very important to their choice of destination for their leisure travel. For family reunion travelers, the importance of African American cultural and heritage attractions is 43%. While the major barriers to travel are similar to the general travel market, with 28% saying they are too busy to travel and 25% reporting they can’t afford it, 15% say that concerns about racial profiling play a role in their travel decisions, similar to the impact of not having anyone to travel with, or airport hassles (13%). According to Gloria and Solomon Herbert, publishers of Black Meetings and Tourism Magazine, "Since the last historic Green Book (Negro Travel Guide) was published in 1966, the growth in numbers and frequency of travel among African Americans continues to increase at unprecedented rates. In 2001, the African American market was identified by the United States Travel Association (USTA) as the number one fastest growing segment in the travel industry.” They added, “Historically, Black people have tended to travel in groups for camaraderie and to some extent for protection. Now with the increased popularity of black travel clubs and networks, African American 'baby boomers', with more time and money, are exploring the world in a way they were never able to before. For Millennials of color, travel is being considered somewhat of a rite of passage. Now this market is actively courted through marketing and promotions by prime destinations such as Baltimore, Bermuda, Miami, Virginia, and other key markets. Their outreach makes them attractive locations for African American leisure and business travelers."
About the 2018 African American
Traveler Study The 2018 African American Traveler Study is based on interviews with 1,747 African-American leisure travelers in the United States in March and April of 2018. The data was collected online using nationally representative online partner panels. To qualify for the survey, respondents must have taken at least one trip within the United States in the past 12 months for pleasure, vacation, or personal purposes that was 50+ miles away from home one-way OR where the traveler spent at least one overnight and have shared or have sole responsibility for travel planning. Sufficient sample sizes exist for many cities and states who desire an analysis of African Americans who have visited their destination versus those who have not visited. For a copy of the report email info@mandalaresearch. com Sponsors of the study include: Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, Bermuda Tourism Authority, NYC and Company, Virginia Tourism Corporation, Visit Baltimore, The Shop America Alliance, Black Meetings and Tourism Magazine, The Vonne Group, the Manumission Tour Company. About Mandala Research Mandala Research is one of the leading travels and tourism research companies. The firm has pioneered the “firsts” of many niche studies in the travel industry and offers extensive knowledge of several growing demographics and trends, including U.S. Hispanic travelers, wine and culinary tourism, Gay and Lesbian travelers, The International Shopping Traveler, Travelers from Growth and Emerging Markets and the African American Traveler. Mandala’s clients include destinations, major travel brands, government agencies, associations and more, with extensive expertise in brand tracking, brand equity and brand identity research. For more information visit www. MandalaResearch.com.
About Black Meetings and Tourism Magazine – Media Sponsor Publishing for over 25 years, Black Meetings & Tourism is the exclusive, award winning, U.S. Travel Industry trade publication, devoted to reporting on the business of African American Meetings, Hospitality and Travel. www.BlackMeetingsandTourism.com. https://globenewswire.com/newsrelease/2018/12/20/1670310/0/en/African-AmericanTravel-Represents-63-Billion-Opportunity.html Image creditd: history.com, shutterstock.com
63 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Business - Beauty
Queen Latifah is First Partner for Essence Fund For African-American Content By Bruce Haring
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he Essence Creators and Makers Fund has a $20 million endowment from Essence Ventures, the parent company of Essence Communications. The fund will support and partner with creators and makers of color in an effort to mitigate the barriers faced in securing financing for the development and production of projects. The fund will create and finance film, television, digital and documentary-style content that reflects the lives and experiences of women of color. It will also seek to collaborate with content creators globally focused on Essence’s core audience of black women, with the content produced encompassing themes that relate and connect across audiences. Essence will have the first right to produce and finance future film, television and digital content associated with the creators. In addition to capital, the Essence platform – including print, digital and live events – will be used to market and promote projects funded by the Essence Creators and Makers Fund. “The real value in content creation is ownership, and if you look at the funding challenges that creators and makers of color have – whether in film, television or other verticals – they are not getting the capital needed to develop projects,” said Richelieu Dennis, founder and chairman of Essence Ventures.
“More importantly, they are not getting equity in the projects that they are creating. This results in a structure where they basically become work-for-hire rather than equity partners in the content that is driven by their creative ideas and energy around our culture. They are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to the economics, and that has to change. We and our partners will be focused on creating an ecosystem that does just that and elevates opportunities for the creators and makers who need it most.” The Flavor Unit partnership was announced at the recent Essence Festival. The company, founded by Latifah and business partner Shakim Compere, has produced films including Beauty Shop, The Perfect Holiday, Just Wright and Bessie, as well as HBO’s Life Support, which earned Latifah a
Golden Globe Award. “Essence has always celebrated our culture and was there when it was hard to find stories and images for people who look like me,” said Queen Latifah. “Shakim and I have built our business on creating content, whether it be film, television or music, for those very same people. We have realized that although they come from our perspective, these narratives are universal, so for us to join forces is thrilling.” Queen Latifah will serve on the fund’s investment committee, which will approve of any investment. Additional members of the investment committee will be added as new partners and creators join the fund. https://deadline.com/2018/07/queenlatifah-is-first-partner-for-essenceventure-fund-for-african-americancontent-1202426503/
72 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Business - Investment
An Introduction to Voice Engine Optimization (VEO) By Andrew Schulkind
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arketers should be looking at voice engine optimization (VEO) as a growing and important part of their digital marketing. That doesn’t mean you need to run out tomorrow to add VEO to your arsenal. How quickly VEO becomes critical to your business depends on what business you’re in. For locationbased and time-dependent businesses like local retail, you’re already late to the party. Most B2B businesses have some time before VEO becomes critical. Before you get too comfortable waiting, recognize that voice-driven search already goes beyond the now-familiar, “Hey, Google. Where can I get a pizza right now?” Unexpected examples include universities using smart speakers to allow students to check schedules, set alarms, and review meal plan details and balances. Similarly, hotel chains are piloting smart speakers to let guests adjust room lighting and HVAC in addition to finding local attractions, eateries, and transportation.
Why VEO Stakes Are Higher Getting VEO right is even more critical than getting SEO right. Yes, we’d all like the very top organic spot on search engine results pages, but there’s still hope for spots 2-10. They typically garner about two-thirds of search clicks. But VEO has only the top spot. If you’re not in it, you’re not anywhere. How do we improve our odds of being in that one-and-only spot?
Here are a few ideas. Easily Understandable Content Usually, when we talk about content that’s easy to understand, it’s the human audience for whom we want content that’s easy to digest. In this case, it’s the search engines that need to grasp it quickly and easily. Tools like Semantic HTML 5 and structured data markup make it much more likely that the search engines will understand what your web page is about. These tools can help provide context for everything from your contact information to details about the products or services you offer. This is particularly true for Google. According to Tim Peter, the e-commerce and Internet marketing expert, “For Google Home, the key is less about voice specifically and more about targeting the featured snippet in Google's search results or ranking well in local, depending on the nature of the query and the searcher's intent. Your goal is to improve your ranking for the feature box or the local pack to ensure you're offered as an answer in voice search. The great thing there is that you then gain the benefit from both voice and traditional search.”
Longer Search Queries / Question Answers Voice search is frequently done in the form of fully-formed questions rather than the shorthand so many of us have been trained to use by our earliest search experiences. (Though that’s far less necessary now.) More conversational content can help you perform better in voice searches. Website Performance Though true for SEO, as well, site performance is even more important for VEO. The underlying reasons are very much the same as for mobile SEO. This is partly because, as Mr. Peter notes, “Many voice searches are conducted via mobile and tend to have either an explicit or implicit location intent.” Ranking better for local search will help in voice search, and fast-loading pages will help for both. Test, Test, Test If your business depends on VEO – or soon will – don’t be a cranky privacy paranoiac like me. Buy one – or all – of the voice assistants and test how well you perform for the customer questions you hear most frequently. If your competitors are outperforming you, reverse engineer their success and improve your own results. One last note: it will be interesting to see how nomenclature and acronyms develop over time. “VEO” is actually “VEO™” as it is a registered trademark of Chatmeter. I get the sense this may wind up joining "Kleenex" and "Xerox" (and "Google" as a verb ...) in popular usage. www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/anintroduction-to-voice-engine-optimizationveo/#ne=4a21b9167bf658408191e7c491 40a9aa&utm_source=today-%40-targetmarketing&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_ campaign=2019-01-14
Government - Trade
Discover Business Opportunities in the Indo-Pacific Region The 2019 U.S. Commercial Service Trade Winds program includes an Indo-Pacific focused business forum in New Delhi, India consis ng of regional and industry specific conference sessions as well as pre-arranged consulta ons with U.S. Diplomats represen ng commercial markets throughout the region. Customize an op onal business matchmaking schedule, based on input from our Commercial Specialists throughout the region, and grow your interna onal sales through mee ngs with pre-screened poten al buyers, agents, distributors and joint-venture partners in the following Indian ci es on May 8-10: New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata Op onal business matchmaking appointments may also be arranged in Bangladesh or Sri Lanka on May 13. • Learn how to increase profits and overcome barriers in the Indo-Pacific region during business development conference. • Network with the region’s leading industry and government officials and experienced U.S. and global companies Want to learn more about these dynamic markets? Click on each to access their Country Commercial Guide: India - www.export.gov/ar cle?id=India-Market-Overview Bangladesh - www.export.gov/ar cle?series=a0pt0000000PAtGAAW&type=Cou ntry_Commercial__kav Sri Lanka - www.export.gov/ar cle?series=a0pt00000000GteAAE&type=Count ry_Commercial__kav. h ps://live.even a.com/en/tradewinds19/Registra on/# Deadline to Register for Trade Winds: February 15, 2019 Bobby Hines, Interna onal Trade Specialist/1-213-894-4231 DTLA Export Office: U.S.D.O.C. | Interna onal Trade Administra on 444 S. Flower St, 37th FL, LA, CA 90071 Tex les/Apparel/Spor ngGoods Team Page h ps://2016.export.gov/industry/apparel/index.asp Virtually promote your USA Apparel/Tex le/Spor ngGoods h ps://emenuapps.ita.doc.gov/ePublic/newRegistra on. jsp?SmartCode=8Z0C
FOR
Martin LKing Day OR ANY SPECIAL OCCASION
77 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Community/Public Interest
Community/Public Interest
Minority Business Development Agency Awards Nearly $2 Million to Historically Black Colleges and Universities The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), is announcing grant awards of nearly $2 million to four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In June 2018, MBDA invited HBCUs to propose projects that will achieve one or more of the following objectives: increase their ability to compete for and receive Federal research and development funds; establish partnerships with Federal laboratories and other technology resources; increase Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) entrepreneurship; and compete for Federal contracts. “Historically Black Colleges and Universities served as the catalyst to creating the black middle class in America and will continue to be the incubator for minority business talent, innovation, and leadership. These important schools generate billions in economic impact annually and are engines for job creation in their local economies across the United States,” said MBDA National Director Henry Childs II. “These grant awards will provide seed money for these institutions to pursue innovative projects and to build more revenue-generating infrastructures to better serve our nation’s future entrepreneurs and workforce.” • • • •
The HBCUs that received grant awards include: Clark Atlanta University ($499,497) to develop a STEM entrepreneurship curriculum that increases student interest in the innovation economy at three Atlanta University Center Consortium campuses. Howard University ($359,891) to design a technical support model for 11 HBCUs in the mid-Atlantic region to compete for Federal research and development funds and leverage partnerships with Federal laboratories. South Carolina State University ($404,992) to launch regional training sessions for HBCUs to compete for Federal research and development funds. Tougaloo College ($695,412) to establish a partnership among multiple HBCUs, private companies, federal labs, and research institutions to increase capacity for HBCUs to participate in federal research and contracting opportunities.
These programs are part of the 2018 MBDA Broad Agency Announcement, a new initiative this year. More than $13 million was awarded for 35 projects focused on Department of Commerce and MBDA priorities from resources that increase disaster preparedness and relief to programs that increase access to capital. For a full listing of MBDA’s 2018 grant awards, visit www.mbda.gov/news. About the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) MBDA, www.mbda.gov, is the only Federal agency dedicated to the growth and global competitiveness of U.S. minority-owned businesses through the mobilization and advancement of public and private sector programs, policy, and research. Our services provide greater access to capital, contracts, and markets and better equip minority-owned firms to create jobs, build scale and capacity, increase revenues and expand regionally, nationally and internationally Contact: Velicia D. Woods, 202-482-6272, MBDAPublicAffairs@mbda.gov
81 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Community/Public Interest
400th Commemoration Year of Enslavement 1619-2019
Boris Kodjoe Hosted a Trip Back To Ghana and Brought Black Hollywood With Him By Ashleigh Atwell
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number of African-American celebrities continue to arrive in Ghana for the week-long inaugural Full Circle Festival. Those that have already arrived in the country include actors Anthony Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Michael Jai White, American model, reality television star and actress Cynthia Bailey, Real Estates Mogul Jay Morrison, Fox Sports host, Mike Hill, radio host Ebro Darden and many more. British International model, Naomi Campbell also joins British actor, Idris Elba in Accra to take part in the festival. The festival is chaired by The Office of His Excellency President Nana Akufo-Addo and
presented by the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Business Development and the Office of Diaspora Affairs. The festival is hosted by Hollywood actor Boris Kodjoe and international marketing genius, Bozoma Saint John The Full Circle Festival was established to honor our ancestry by celebrating our heritage and generational legacy. The star-studded guests will experience Ghana for its beauty, vibrant culture, compassionate people, and wonderful food. https://blavity.com/boris-kodjoe-hosted-a-trip-back-to-ghana-andbrought-black-hollywood-with-him
82 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Coming of Events Unveiling - Tomb of the Unknown Slave Commemoration and Celebration New World Motion Picture Studios & Gardens June 19th in Acton, California
Idris Elba and Naomi Campbell Nicole Ari Parker
For information: 1-310-680-0700 Roots and Reconnection Time: YEAR OF RETURN Trip-Pilgrimage-Conference Conference theme: 400 YEARS OF MEMORY & BELONGING IN GLOBAL AFRICA August 2-August 11, 2019 in GHANA For information: www.facebook.com/ events/297094944234380/ For reservations: Theresa Scott Kwakye, Cross Cultural Travel and Tours at: travel@ crossculturalgh.com African Arrival Day Fort Monroe National Monment, National Park Service www.africanarrivalday.com
References
Michael Jai White enstooled as Chief in Akwamu
www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/housebill/1242 www.facebook.com/the400th www.africanarrivalday.com www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery www.abibitumi.com www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/columnists/ hannibal-b-johnson-years-of-african-americanhistory-cannot-be/article_85daa3f5-3ec0-533c8d81-93e9f691798a.html
https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/entertainment/TopAfrican-American-celebrities-in-Ghana-for-Full-Circle-Fest Image credits: ionemadamenoire.files.wordpress.com, i0.wp.com, ameyawdebrah.co 83 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Community/Public Interest
Out of Tragedy, Antonio Davis Finds his True Calling
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ntonio Davis said his life was headed in the wrong direction when he was shot at close range and nearly killed 24 years ago. What he didn't know was that his life was about to take an extraordinary turn with purpose. Though paralyzed from the chest down, he became an accomplished painter (www.tonedavis.com). "I'm just creating. I'm just freeing my mind and what comes out is my true emotions," Davis told CBS News correspondent DeMarco Morgan. "It's a passion. It's an obsession. I love it that much. And I hope it shows in the work." That work includes landscapes, still lifes and portraits painted from a very different perspective: the 43-year-old paints with his mouth. When Davis was 19 years old, his friend shot him during a fight, leaving him paralyzed. He thought his life was over. "I didn't know anything about
people in wheelchairs ... I didn't have a comprehension of the physical requirements of the daily living with somebody with that quality of life," he said. The teenager was placed in a nursing home to learn how to adjust to his new wheelchair-bound life. It was there that he met Juanita Butler. "I noticed him and I said, 'Oh, my god, you're so gorgeous. What are you doing here?' He says, 'I live here,'" she recalled. Butler told Davis she was going to get him out of there. She did, and a year later they married. "I made the best choice in the world when I said, 'I'm getting you out of this nursing home.' I found somebody who's so special, who's like a diamond in the rough, and now he's shining," Butler said. Shining through his art, something he's always loved but only really pursued after the incident. An
occupational therapist suggested he try holding the brush with his mouth and after some convincing, he did. Fifteen years later, his paintings are recognized worldwide and range in price from $5,000 to more than $80,000. "Most don't believe it … because the level that I have gotten to in my artistry is where they say, 'You didn't paint that with your mouth,'" Davis said. Antonio Davis CBS News He presented a portrait of former President Barack Obama to the man himself. "Oh, he loved it. The first response was 'I love that you didn't put the gray hair in there,'" Davis recalled. The artist also gives back. He volunteers his time to teach and inspire art students on Chicago's South Side at Richard J. Daley Community College. "I feel like me going out, mouth painting, showing the public, the community, that you can have a tragic accident, a tragedy that happened to you, and you could still be able to accomplish things," Davis said. Davis said he's never asked the question "why me" and instead has always dared to do better. He's even forgiven the man who shot him. "I have forgave that spirit behind it," he said. So his own spirit within could inspire those around him. "I just get up and I do what I do. Win the day. Win the week. Win the month. Win the year. Win your life," he said. Davis said the shooting was a blessing in disguise. Had he not been in the nursing home, he may not have met his wife, Juanita. And if he wasn't paralyzed, he may have never pursued his passion for art. www.cbsnews.com/news/paralyzedpainter-antonio-davis-out-of-tragedy-aman-finds-his-true-calling/
84 Jnuary 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Community/Public Interest
This Teenager is Making a Positive Difference for Other Youth
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onique Vobecky, the daughter of Bianca Vobecky a longtime supporter/member of the Black Business Association, and the 2017 Awardee of Outstanding Intrapreneur Award from the BBA, is the Founder and President of the Little Sunshine Foundation. As with many 14-year old students, enjoys being with her friends and playing on her loca/highschool’s youth volleyball & soccer team. She is also member of her high school’s orchestra where she plays violin and maintains a 4.6 GPA. One day while volunteering for a local church, she realized that not all the children in her community have the same opportunities that she has. Monique thought to herself, “I believe that every child deserves a little sunshine.” It was then that she decided to share the sunshine by creating the Little Sunshine Foundation in 2018. The Little Sunshine Foundation is a non-profit California corporation. Its mission is to provide underprivileged youth in the community with resources to improve their quality of life through literacy, sports programs, and providing an avenue to train young adults to give back to their community. Believing that literacy is the foundation for a child’s success in school and in life, one of the Little Sunshine Foundation programs is its Literacy Program. This program provides disadvantaged kindergarten to eighth grade students with new or gently used books as well reading tools to
improve their reading proficiency. The Foundation’s second program is its Sports Program which provides supportive services to disadvantaged youth between the ages 4 to 18. The sports program provides them with athletic shoes, athletic equipment, and financial support for uniforms and related fees. The Youth Ambassador Program, the third program of the Little Sunshine Foundation, provides opportunities for youth to contribute to their communities in a meaningful way. Or, as described by Monique, “I believe that involving youth as partners in this mission increases the likelihood empowering them with leadership opportunities and helps them become empathetic, reflective individuals, setting them on a course to becoming community leaders.”’ With the help of the Youth Ambassadors, the Little Sunshine Foundation was able to collect over 150 new balls (basket balls, soccer balls, and volleyballs) in an event called Turkey Ball Day in November 2018. At this event, Little Sunshine partnered with Hearts for the Hungry in Azusa, California which fed over 400 people a full Thanksgiving meal. The Little Sunshine Ambassadors were there to give soccer balls to the children. They also held a soccer clinic and had a friendly soccer game with the kids. The Little Sunshine Foundation’s latest goal is to collect 300 books to give out to children at the African American Parade in Pasadena in February 2019. Monique and the
Youth Ambassadors are holding a book drive throughout the January and February in order to meet this goal. The Little Sunshine Foundation is having their ribbon cutting and 1st annual banquet on Saturday, February 9th. This fun-filled event will include speakers, raffles, prizes, and entertainment. Monique and the Youth Ambassador’s invite the community to join in this event. Little Sunshine welcomes sponsors and raffle items to make this event more successful. For more information about the book drive and banquet, please visit www.littlesunshine. org. Monique plans to attend a prominent university in 2021 where her goal is to major in medicine and become a doctor. To hear to the full Journey please listen to Monique’s interview with Pat Prescott from 94.4 the WAVE with this link. https://947thewave.radio.com/media/ audio-channel/lady-loves-sports-15monique-vobecky.
85 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
www.bbala.org
Community/Public Interest - Obituary/Memorial
Remembering Lamin Sanneh, Yale Expert on World Christianity By Anthea Butler, RNS
Lamin Sanneh. Photo courtesy of Yale Divinity School
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amin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School, died unexpectedly from a stroke on Sunday (Jan. 6). He was 76. Sanneh’s scholarly contributions spanned more than 20 books as author and editor, and over 200 scholarly articles through the course of 40-plus years of academic scholarship on four continents. He represents a particular kind of scholar that is hard to come by in today’s academy: a rigorous polymath who cared about not only the theoretical work of theology and history but the everyday lives of those who believe. Born in Gambia to a royal lineage, Sanneh grew up as a Muslim but later converted to Christianity. Earning his graduate degrees from the University of Birmingham (M.A.) and the University of London (Ph.D.), Sanneh would go on to teach at the University of Ghana, the University of Aberdeen, Harvard Divinity School and, since 1989, at Yale Divinity School. He worked with Andrew Walls setting up World Christianity Conferences and was a member of the board at the Overseas Ministries Study Center at Yale Divinity School.
He has served with extraordinary distinction in many areas, including holding a lifetime appointment at the University of Cambridge’s Clare Hall and holding the John Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at the Library of Congress. In September 2018, the University of Ghana established the Lamin Sanneh Institute (https://macmillan. yale.edu/news/new-institute-namedlamin-sanneh-focus-study-religionand-society-africa), which will
promote scholarly research on religion and society in Africa, emphasizing the areas of Sanneh’s expertise, Islam and Christianity. Many of us know Sanneh’s work as a pioneer in the field of world Christianity. His writings on African Christianity and Islam in Africa are important works for theologians and religious studies scholars alike. Among his many writings and books, two particularly stand out for their impact on the field of study: “Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture” and “Whose Religion Is Christianity?: The Gospel Beyond the West.” In “Translating the Message,” Sanneh upends the argument that Christianity — as a missionary religion — wipes out the cultures
it enters. Rather, Sanneh asserts that Christianity is unique as a missionary religion because it is translated without the language of the founder (Jesus) and invests itself in every language by forsaking the language of Jesus (Aramaic). Christianity is, according to Sanneh, a preserver rather than a destroyer of indigenous languages and cultures. In “Whose Religion Is Christianity,” Sanneh answers questions about Christianity not from a Western perspective, but from the perspective of, as he puts it, “the movement of Christianity in societies that were previously not Christian and societies that had no bureaucratic tradition in which to domesticate the gospel.” Here lies the crux of Sanneh’s scholarship. About 15 years ago, several of us were working on a project about the history of world Christianity. At that time, there was an academic debate over what term to use: world Christianities, global Christianity or Christianity in the non-Western/ majority world. None of those fit, Sanneh told Dale Irvin, president of New York Theological Seminary, in an email. Christians outside the West had an equal claim to the word “Christianity.” They are not from a different faith. “(T)he fight about what name to give to the subject is really a fight of the west and its surrogates to
86 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Community/Public Interest - Obituary/Memorial
Comedian Kevin Barnett Dies: ‘Rel’ Co-Creator Was 32 By Nellie Andreeva
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evin Barnett, co-creator/executive producer of Fox’s comedy series Rel, has died suddenly while vacationing in Mexico. Barnett, a rising comic in New York City, recently cocreated and executive produced with fellow comedians Lil Rel Howery and Josh Rabinowitz the freshman Fox/20th TV comedy series Rel starring Howery. “Our hearts are broken, as are those of everyone at Rel, at the news of Kevin Barnett’s passing. He was an incredibly funny, wildly talented man who had so much more to do and so many more stories to tell. We send our thoughts and prayers to his friends and family during this difficult time,” 20th TV and Fox Entertainment said in a statement. With Robinowitz, Barnett previously wrote a comedy project for NBC as a starring vehicle for the duo, who previously served as executive producers, head writers, and cast members of TruTV’s sketch series Friends of the People. The two also worked together as writers/consulting producers on the NBC/20th TV comedy series The Carmichael Show. With writing partner Chris Pappas, Barnett wrote the 2016 Netflix feature comedy The Do-Over starring Adam Sandler and David Spade, and the duo have several other film scripts in various stages. Barnett previously was a series regular on MTV2’s Guy Code, a writer for Comedy Central’s Broad City, Fox’s Unhitched, The Eric Andre Show Show (Adult Swim) and the animated Lucas Bros Moving Co. (Fox). He also co-wrote the 2011 feature Hail Pass and made appearances on Adam Devine’s House Party as well as in Funny As Hell (HBO) and Top Five (written and
contest t t the th right i ht off Christians Ch i ti elsewhere l h to t consider id themselves as equals in the religion,” he wrote. “The countermove with the inclusive title ‘World Christianity’ is intended to force a reckoning with ‘tribal’ view of the west.” For myself and many other students and scholars, this emphasis on world Christianity opened the doors
directed by Chris Rock). Barnett also starred in the viral hit Homo Thugs and appeared in the indie How to Follow Strangers and Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me. Additionally, he co-hosted the podcast The Roundtable of Gentlemen. www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/comedian-kevin-barnett-dies‘rel’-co-creator-was-32/ar-BBSBDi8?ocid=spartandhp Image credits: Michael Tullberg/Getty Images, wnyc.org
tto scholarship h l hi that th t was nott simply i l focused f d on Western W t ideas and theologies. It opened the doors to new ways of thinking about the historical and present-day impact of Christianity in cultures around the world, as well as Islam and other indigenous religions. https://urbanfaith.com/2019/01/honoring-the-memory-of-lamin-sannehyale-divinity-school-expert-on-world-christianity.html/
87 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Community/Public Interest - Obituary/Memorial
Farewell to 'Hello, Dolly!': Actress Carol Channing Dies at 97 Edited by Linda Ware
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arol Channing's trademark platinum blond hair framed a face that always seemed to be smiling, her wide-eyed innocent style belied a very savvy mind, and her voice was unmistakable. She died January 15th, her publicist told Broadway World. She was 97 years old. Born in Seattle, WA on January 31, 1921, the only child of George and Aedelaide George Channing. Her father, who was multi-racial, changed his surname from Stucker to Channing. Carol attended public schools in San Francisco and graduated from high school in June, 1937. When she left home to attend college in Vermont, her mother told her for the first time that her father's mother was African American and his father was German American. "I knew it was true the moment I sang and danced. I'm proud as can be of my Black ancestry. It is one of the great strains in show business. I'm so grateful. My father was a very dignified man and as white as I am. My maternal grandparents were Nordic German, so apparently I took after them in appearance." She recalls that she got her first glimpse of backstage delivering copies of The Christian Science Monitor to theaters. "It came over me that I was looking at the stage and backstage of a cathedral, a temple, a mosque, a mother church," Channing wrote in her memoir Just Lucky, I Guess. "I know I'm using adult words to describe a child's feelings, but I don't know how else to tell you
this simple reaction of a child to a holy place." Channing's nearreligious connection to her audience gave her an astounding amount of energy, and she grew irritated with those who tried to diminish the importance of theater in people's lives. "Live theater is something that can't possibly die because we're working on their metabolism," said Channing. "Some nights they're hyper, some nights they're slow, some nights they're sleepy, we have to nurse them; we have to find the way in to communicate with them. ... It's an electric thing for the performer; it's like plugging me in the wall." Channing's first great role was also her first big break as Lorelei Lee in the 1949 original Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. But the role with which Channing will always be identified is Dolly. It was this role in Hello, Dolly! that Channing loved most because it was life affirming in every sense.
To her credit, Channing did not completely forget about her heritage which she credited with giving her the impressive vocal range and agility that helped her succeed as a performer. In a 2002 interview with Larry King she declared, "I got the greatest genes in show business" and went on to disclose the ethnicity of her parents. "I'm proud as can be of my black ancestry, Channing said of her heritage. Image credits: slackys.blogspot.in
88 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
International
African Stock Exchanges • Bolsa de Valores of Cape Verde - www.bvc.cv (in Portuguese) • Bolsa Valores de Mocambique - www. bolsadevalores.co.mz • 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. casablanca-bourse.com/bourseweb/index.aspx • Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (Tanzania) - www. dse.co.tz • Douala Stock Exchange (Cameroon) - www. douala-stock-exchange.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=%2fEnglish%2fP ages%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 Namibian Stock Exchange - www.nsx.com.na Nigerian Stock Exchange - www.nse.com.ng/ Pages/default.aspx Rwanda Stock Exchange - www.rse.rw/ 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/e-communique/exchangemagazine/category/50-free-version.html
90 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
International
Kagame: Africa is a Source of Opportunity Not Risk By iAfrica
African Union President Paul Kagame at High Level Forum Africa-Europe
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wandan and African Union (AU) President Paul Kagame says it’s time for Europe and Africa to forge a new mutually beneficial relationship and that perceptions about the continent need to change. Africa, he says, is more a source of opportunity than risk. AU and European Union (EU) nations are gathered in Vienna at the High-Level Forum on Africa and Europe (www.eu2018.at/calendar-events/political-events/ africaeurope2018.html) to discuss innovation and digitisation. South Africa is represented at the gathering by Communications and Telecommunications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams. Kagame says it can no longer be business as usual between Africa and Europe.
He says youth unemployment is a challenge for both continents and Africa wants to boost innovation and private sector exchange to create good jobs for young people. “We are not going to measure success solely in terms of migration statistics. A much better yardstick is how to create high-quality digital jobs in Africa which will also boost job growth in Europe.” Kagame says it will take time to change the perception and mindsets about Africa, but it’s not impossible to achieve. www.iafrica.com/kagame-africa-is-a-source-ofopportunity-not-risk/?fbclid=IwAR0O9xGyaVIU3RJT n4gYe6vfcjmYDBQyuQO14p44vBAiSBl1r8RHJs5NB 00Image credits: pdxretro.com, alamy.com, allmusic. com
91 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
International
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he National Basketball Association (NBA) has announced the opening of a new elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal. The new facility, which features two indoor basketball courts, a multidimensional activity center, a weight room, conference rooms as well as dormitories and educational facilities, will be the primary training location for NBA Academy Africa prospects from across the continent. The new basketball facility features an eco-friendly structure that utilizes safe, durable and repurposed shipping containers as well as large-span steel trusses and fabric roofing. The opening ceremony was attended by Senegalese Minister of Sport, Matar Ba; Mayor of Saly, Ousmane Gueye; NBA Deputy Commissioner, Mark Tatum; NBA Vice President and Managing Director for Africa, Amadou Gallo Fall; FIBA Africa President, Hamane Niang; Diambars President, Saer Seck, and former NBA and WNBA players, Astou Ndiaye (Senegal), Cheikh Samb (Senegal), Shareef-Abdur Rahim (U.S.), DeSagana Diop (Senegal) and Olumide Oyedeji (Nigeria). The second NBA Academy Africa Women’s camp, which brought together 24 female prospects ages 17 and under from nine African countries, was held at the new facility from Oct. 25-28. 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame member Jennifer Azzi and former college coach Blair Hardiek – the global technical directors for women’s programming across the league’s seven academies – oversaw the camp. “We are thrilled to open this world class new venue in Saly for NBA Academy Africa prospects,” said Fall. “This facility will provide aspiring players from across the continent with state-of-the-art courts and training equipment, under the tutelage of our NBA coaches, and our world class academic staff. This facility, and the enabling environment around it, will help uphold our commitment to a holistic approach to player development and providing our elite African student athletes with the tools to succeed on and off the court.”
The NBA Academy Africa is operated in partnership with the SEED Project (Sports for Education and Economic Development), a non-profit organization that uses basketball as a platform to engage youth in academic, athletic and leadership programs. NBA Academies, which employ a holistic, 360-degree approach to player development with focuses on education, leadership, health and wellness, character development and life skills, include educational development for top male and female prospects from outside the U.S. and mark a signature elite player development initiative for the NBA. The initiative exposes elite prospects to NBA-level coaching and facilities, while providing a global framework for them to maximize their success. As part of the program, the prospects compete against top competition throughout the year and have an opportunity to be selected for travel teams that play in international tournaments and exhibition games. Since October 2016, NBA Academies have been launched in Canberra, Australia; Jinan, Urumqi and Zhuji, China; Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), India; Mexico City, Mexico; and Saly, Senegal. Since The NBA Academy Africa opened in May 2017, 24 elite male prospects ages 14-20 have received scholarships and training after scouting programs conducted with local federations across the continent. The NBA Academy Africa has participated in international tournaments and exhibition games in Australia, Europe and the United States. The first NBA Academy Africa Women’s camp was held in May in Dakar. Three NBA Academy Africa graduates have gone on to commit to NCAA Division 1 schools. The NBA Academy Africa builds on the NBA’s existing basketball and youth development initiatives in Africa, including Jr. NBA programs for boys and girls ages 16 and under in Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal and South Africa. Basketball Without Borders, the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program, has been held in Africa 16 times,
92 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
nbaacademy.nba.com and on Instagram (nbaacademy). About the NBA The NBA is a global sports and media business built around four professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, the NBA G League and the NBA 2K League. The NBA has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 50 languages, and merchandise for sale in more than 100,000 stores in 100 countries on six continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 201819 season featured 108 international players from 42 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, NBA.com, the NBA App and NBA League Pass. The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with 1.5 billion likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes. About SEED Project The SEED (Sport for Education and Economic Development) Project is an international nongovernmental organization that uses sport, specifically basketball, as a mechanism to identify, cultivate and educate leaders. SEED works to maximize student potential in educational activities, while emphasizing leadership and social responsibility. SEED is based in Senegal and serves 2,000 youth per year, ages 6 to 19, with boarding and after school athletic, academic and leadership programs in accordance with the principles of education, life skills & responsible citizenship. with 10 former BWB Africa campers drafted into the NBA. Find out more about NBA Academies at
www.ataworldwide.org/blog/the-nba-academy-africaopens-new-facility-in-saly-senegal
93 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
International
After delays, Egypt's new Mega-museum Scheduled to Open in 2020 By Brian Rohan
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n the Giza Plateau outside Cairo, thousands of Egyptians are laboring in the shadow of the pyramids to erect a monument worthy of the pharaohs. The Grand Egyptian Museum has been under construction for well over a decade and is intended to showcase Egypt's ancient treasures while drawing tourists to help fund its future development. But the project has been subject to repeated delays, with a "soft opening" planned for next year scrapped in favor of a more triumphant inauguration in 2020. Costs have meanwhile soared from an initial $650 million to well over $1 billion, with most of the financing coming from Japan. It's the latest mega-project to be championed by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who is wagering that massive investments in infrastructure will revive an economy weakened by decades of stagnation and battered by the unrest that followed the 2011 uprising. The museum is a series of towering concrete halls that will eventually hold some 50,000 artifacts, including the famed mask of Tutankhamen -- popularly known as King Tut -- and other treasures currently housed in the century-old Egyptian Museum in Cairo's congested Tahrir Square. The hope is that tourists will stay awhile, and provide the foreign currency Egypt needs to buttress its economy. "It's a place where you can linger to enjoy ancient Egypt," project director Tarek Tawfik said on a recent tour of the site, which will also include a conference center, a cinema, 28 shops, 10 restaurants and a boutique hotel. Giant windows open onto the 5,000-year-old pyramids, and the museum will feature an intact wooden ship and a towering statue of Ramses II. Tawfik describes it as "a fantastic experience of ancient Egypt in a very modern building that provides all kind of modern, comfortable functions."
That would mark a major change from the current setup, in which tourists visiting the pyramids and the Sphinx are routinely hassled by touts and camel-
drivers. Tourists are gradually returning to Egypt, but the industry has yet to recover from the 2011 uprising, which toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak and ushered in a period of instability, culminating in the military overthrow of the country's first freely elected president, an Islamist whose brief rule sparked mass protests. El-Sissi, who led the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi in 2013 and was elected the following year, has presided over an unprecedented crackdown on dissent. Political demonstrations, heavily restricted under a 2013 law, are now unheard of. A Sinai-based insurgency that gathered steam after Morsi's overthrow has carried out a series of attacks in recent years, mainly on security forces and Christians, but has only rarely targeted foreign tourists. El-Sissi has meanwhile sought to use large-scale projects to bolster the image of the state -- with mixed results. A trumpeted expansion of the Suez Canal
94 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
The Grand Egyptian Museum egyptianstreets.com in 2015 has yet to deliver the soaring revenues the government promised, as global trade has eased. A grandiose new administrative capital under construction outside Cairo is still in the early stages, with negligible foreign investment and foreign embassies not keen to move so far out into the desert. Egypt's pharaonic heritage remains a major draw, however, and Tawfik expects the museum to attract 8 million people a year once it opens. An estimated 8 million tourists will have visited Egypt in 2018, an increase from previous years but well below a peak of 14.7 million before the 2011 uprising. Egypt's multi-national construction giant Orascom built the museum, with initial loans from the Japanese government of $320 million in 2006 and $450 million in 2016. The Japanese continue to advise on the museum's development and artifact restoration, but it is unclear who will provide the additional financing for the project, with costs now estimated at $1.1 billion. A bidding process is underway to find someone to
operate the site. Much of the financing may end up coming from the military or affiliated companies, which play a major role in the economy and have been heavily involved in other mega-projects. The Associated Press spent several weeks seeking permission to visit the museum, which was ultimately granted by the military. Tawfik said the military is helping with "value engineering" -- the sourcing of local components like stone cladding and materials to reduce reliance on more expensive imports. Egypt floated its currency in 2016 in order to secure a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, leading to a devaluation that has taken a heavy toll on poor and middle-class Egyptians. "Today, despite all the increases in costs and the floating of the Egyptian pound, it's quite amazing that the project will be completed, thanks to good management and value engineering," he said. www.travelweekly.com/Middle-East-Africa-Travel/Egypt-megamuseum-scheduled-to-open-in-2020
95 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
International
Iddris Sandu, Tech Leader By MG Media
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ddris Sandu is only 21-years old, but he has quite a few major accomplishments in the field of technology. He has created his own software development firm, developed key algorithms for tech giants Instagram, Snapchat, and Uber, and has even been recognized by former U.S. President Barack Obama! Born in Accra, Ghana, Iddris' parents migrated to the United States when he was 3. He started learning how to do programming on his own at the age of 10. At age 13, he got his first working experience at Google where he worked on many programming projects. Within his two years at Google, Iddris designed an app for his classmates to help them navigate their classrooms easily. He was just 15 years old at that time! His app, which was used by his high school in California, has earned him a meeting with thenPresident Obama at the White House where he received the Presidential Scholar Award. However, Iddris decided not to go to college. His reason, besides not being able to afford it, is that he didn't want to "wait four years; I wanted to make an impact now." And that's exactly what he did. After first developing key algorithms for Instagram and Snapchat, Iddris was 18-years old when he started working for Uber, where he created the software called Autonomous Collision Detection Interface to detect driver's hand motions and positions for their self-driving cars. Last year, Iddris met rapper Nipsey Hussle at
a local Starbucks and they immediately turned the chance encounter into a collaboration. In just three weeks, the pair transformed an abandoned storefront in Los Angeles into The Marathon Store which sells clothing, accessories, and music. Through its companion app, referred to as the "smart store," customers can also download exclusive music and digital content. The store, which highlighted Iddris' tech excellence and Nipsey's cultural influence, has caught the attention of several celebrities and icons such as Russell Westbrook, Vegas Jones of Roc Nation, Diddy, Jay-Z, among others. Most recently, Iddris has partnered with Kanye West and Jaden Smith to create augmentedreality experiences involving music, clothing lines, disaster relief projects, and others for the tech festival ComplexCon next year in Chicago. Definitely, a bright future awaits Iddris and he wants to share it to others as well. In 2019, he is set to visit Lagos, Nigeria to host student workshops where he wants to teach African kids to build platforms as he himself believes in the Black excellence. "The next tech leaders are going to come from Africa. Why? Because they are exposed to problems which they have the solutions to," he said. For more information about Iddris Sandu and his work, visit www.iddrissandu.com. - MG Media
96 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
International
Ethiopian Airline to Open Ethiopian Skylight Hotel
The Ethiopian Skylight Five Hotel. Photo: African Media.
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he Ethiopian Skylight Five Hotel owned by Ethiopian Airlines will be officially opened this month. The Ethiopian Airline’s Head of Infrastructure Planning and Development, Abraham Tesfaye told the media that the event of the opening of this eight storey hotel will take place on 28 January in Ethiopia. “Ethiopian Airlines will have a sufficient number of internationally standard hotel rooms to create an environment conducive to tourists in addition to receiving passengers during transit, stopovers or technical delays,” the company said. The construction of the building began in 2016. The hotel is located five minutes from the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It covers 42,000 square metres and it has 373 rooms. According to reports, the construction of this structure cost $ 65 million and is expected to generate 400 jobs. Ethiopian airlines is reported to have provided 35% financing while EXIM Bank of China provided 65% of the project’s financing. According to the Ethiopian Airlines, in addition
to promoting Ethiopian tourism, this hotel will also welcome passengers during transits, stopovers or technical delays. The Ethiopian carrier is also preparing to launch the construction of a second 5-star hotel. The entry into service is scheduled for 2021. It will be built on an area of 22410 metres, the hotel will have 637 rooms. https://africandailyvoice.com/en/2019/01/15/ethiopianairline-to-open-ethiopian-skylight-hotel/
97 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
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International
One Africa:
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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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www.dreamkidz.com/collections/books
"Queens of Africa Dolls"
These unique dolls represent diďŹ&#x20AC;erent ethnic groups in West Africa like the Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa ethnic groups. Unlike other fashion dolls that merely darken the molds of Caucasian dolls, Queens of Africa dolls use specially designed molds with sub-Saharan facial features like high cheek bones, full lips and nose, curly hair and more. They come with a book series that features historic African queens and women leaders. Check out our gift sets at QueensOfAfricaDolls.com.
http://queensofafricadolls.com
sold and exclusively distributed by C.A.K.E (Culture of Africa for Kids Everywhere) Inc.
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ur Deluxe Boxed-Set Edition is a great gift! We’ve gone the extra mile to provide an embossed UV package with a magnetic hinged lid and a black satin puller ribbon. Inside you will find a Hardback version of “Hey A.J. It’s Bedtime” with a midnight blue glitter cloth and glossy blue foil blocking with debossing. With everything perfectly sealed in a dust jacket that has gloss lamination and aqueous varnishing, this is the perfect gift for any occasion – whether it’s bedtime or party time! www.theimaginationagency.com/ shop-categories/books/hey-aj-itsbedtime/#
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his is a gorgeous, lyrical ode to loving who you are, respecting others, and being kind to one another—from Empire actor and activist Grace Byers and talented newcomer artist Keturah A. Bobo. This is the perfect gift for mothers and daughters, baby showers, and graduation. We are all here for a purpose. We are more than enough. We just need to believe it. www.amazon.com/I-Am-Enough-Grace-Byers/ dp/0062667122 www.amazon.com/I-Am-Enough-Grace-Byers/ dp/0062667122
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eaturing forty trailblazing black women in American history, Little Leaders educates and inspires as it relates true stories of breaking boundaries and achieving beyond expectations. Illuminating text paired with irresistible illustrations bring to life both iconic and lesser-known female figures of Black history such as abolitionist Sojourner Truth, pilot Bessie Coleman, chemist Alice Ball, politician Shirley Chisholm, mathematician Katherine Johnson, poet Maya Angelou, and filmmaker Julie Dash. Among these biographies, readers will find heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things - bold women whose actions and beliefs contributed to making the world better for generations of girls and women to come. Whether they were putting pen to paper, soaring through the air or speaking up for the rights of others, the women profiled in these pages were all taking a stand against a world that didn't always accept them. The leaders in this book may be little, but they all did something big and amazing, inspiring generations to come. www.amazon.com/dp/B072V4QDCF/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_ encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Turning Love Into Action A Father Creates and Markets Books for Children
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obert “Bo” Chaney has found that there is a misconception that no one cares about our youth. As a result of his personal experiences as well as the interactions that he has had with today’s young people, he has a passion to reach as many young people as he can. Throughout his adult life, Bo has successfully mentored many young, underserved, minority males, empowering them with the knowledge and skills to navigate school and the workplace. Bo has spent numerous hours developing curriculum that is customized to meet the needs of underserved youth. Through his dedication, he's found ways to prepare young people for the workforce, through strategic lessons and connections which “uncover the unknown.” One way Bo has approached d his passion is to prepare young people through his series of books focused on grade school kids - The Adventures of Rob & Rocky. The books expose children to career options, life choices, and cultural differences. These books are written using “sight words”, words children should know by sight
at the end of their grade level. The series starts when Rob and Rocky walk to school and discuss what they want to be when they grow up. Through basic conversation, they talk about a variety of career options that have been overlooked for years such as Fireighter, Mailman nd more . Check out the first book in the
series and share it with teachers and school systems in your area www.robandrocky.com. Hear and see Bo talk about the book series at: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ot0ibLIXx9E&feature=you tu.be. The Adventures of Rob and Rocky will make a great Christmas gift for family members and friends.
Search for more toys, books and music for our young people. 106 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
7 Cities Where You Can Find a Black Santa This Christmas By Natelegé Whaley
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anta is normally portrayed in popular culture as an older pudgy white man with a white beard. But for decades, black families have searched for a black Santa to capture holiday memories. This tradition is long standing. As early as the 1940s, department stores in Harlem, New York City, and Chicago featured a black Santa Claus. In some cities, these jolly old men have become local celebrities because of their recurring role as St. Nick. But black Santas aren’t always expected or accepted. For instance, the Mall of America in Minneapolis chose its first black Santa, Larry Jefferson, for the holiday season to promote diversity in 2016. Some of the patrons were happy to welcome him, while there were also racist online commentators who complained that Santa should be white, attempting to ruin his moment. Regardless of what the haters say, when the Christmas holiday rolls around again, black Santas still remain booked, busy and sometimes hard to find. So here is the ultimate guide on where to find them around the country this Christmas.
New Orleans Fred Parker, aka the Seventh Ward Santa, has taken photos with generations of Black New Orleanians. See him at the Dennis Photofinish located at 1753 N Tonti St in New Orleans.
New York City The Macy’s at Herald Square in New York City has a black Santa available by request. He is not advertised and seems to be known only by word of mouth. In 2017, the Santas at Macy’s arrive on Nov. 24 and will be posted until Christmas Eve, according to the Macy’s website. Tip: This year you must set up an appointment to see Santa.
Atlanta In Atlanta, Dee Sinclair, also known as the “real black Santa” is a popular face who is available for booking at private events. His holiday schedule is already filling up. Black Santas are also taking over malls in the city, according to a local community blog 365 Atlanta Family. At South DeKalb Mall, Santa will be visiting until Christmas Eve. Check the site for his schedule here. Greenbriar Mall boasts a “naturally bearded AfricanAmerican Santa” between Nov. 18 and Christmas Eve. And the Mall West End has its own special “Kente Santa Claus,” who arrives on Friday at 11:30 a.m.
Seattle The Northwest AfricanAmerican Museum is holding a black Santa photo day on the first and second weekend of December.
mic.com
Washington, D.C. Iverson Mall, located in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Temple Hills, Maryland, hosts a Black Santa annually. Santa’s schedule will be posted to Iverson Mall’s Facebook page according to its management office.
Los Angeles In Los Angeles, Langston Patterson as Santa has been a cultural staple for black families at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza for the past 13 years. “Love, giving, sharing, forgiving, exchanging gifts — that’s what it means to me,” Patterson said in a Los Angeles Sentinel profile on his legacy in 2016. Santa will make an appearance at the mall’s annual winter wonderland event on Dec. 9, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Detroit For the third year in a row, Detroit’s Eastern Market will host a Black Santa Photo Experience made possible by BLAC Detroit and Metro Parent. The event is free for attendees and will be held Dec. 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Dec. 10 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Attendees must bring their own cameras to take photos. https://mic.com/articles/186100/7-citieswhere-you-can-find-a-black-santa-thischristmas#.rIh6bWshx
107 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Ice Cream Toys & Books is a small independent Black-owned online retailer that specialises in an everexpanding range of globally sourced Afrocentric products for children everywhere. We started this company after becoming increasingly frustrated with the very limited & poorly represented range of Afrocentric products that the major high street & online stores were carrying at the time.
Zumo Learning System with Tablet The Zumo Learning System provides an accessible learning environment for children of all abilities. Zumo helps children fall in love with STEM. • Includes a 7 Tablet, Math Games and a Wireless Smart Toy, named Zumo • Unique technology maps physical movements to touch screen gestures • A suite of apps are included that are specially designed to enable tactile-based learning • Designed for K-3rd graders for learning in the home or classroom • Apps are customizable to the special needs of each child • Zumo offers many different play experiences through apps already available on iTunes www.zyrobotics.com info@zyrobotics.com 108 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
SUPER SOAKER Toys R Us Amazon Wal-Mart Target and more...
109 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Former Toys ‘R’ Us Manager Opens His Own Toy Store By ShoppeBlack
toy cars, dolls, and more — a selection informed by Warner ’s experience at Toys ‘R’ Us and his four kids. Warner immigrated with his family to the U.S. from Guyana over a decade ago and says opening his own business m e a n t lendon Warner always achieving the American dream. wanted to run his own But getting here wasn’t easy — business. So, when he it required years of sacrifice and and 33,000 other Toys ‘R’ Us strategic planning. The former Toys ‘R’ Us store employees lost their jobs this year as the company closed its U.S. manager had already attained a locations, he saw the behemoth license last fall before his employer retailer’s absence as the perfect announced it would close all 800 of its U.S. stores. He saved his tax opportunity. refunds and found extra income He opened his own toy shop. “Sometimes,” Warner tells by selling toys and other items at MONEY, “it takes one business to flea markets with his wife for years go out of business for another to go to afford the downpayment on his store’s location. “We were using into business.” Toys, Babies & More opened that as fuel to get to go to where we in a 1,600 square-foot location in want,” Warner says. “The community that I’m in doesn’t Hyattsville, Md., in late September — just in time for the busy holiday have anything like a toy store. Even season. The unassuming store is at Walmart, there’s a long line,” filled with stuffed animals, gadgets, Warner says. “God blessed me in a
G
time where I can afford to pay the rent.” Now, with his own business, Warner says he wishes it were larger so he “could hire at least 10” former Toys ‘R’ Us employees. But, like many of them, the sudden job loss and lack of severance pay hit Warner hard, too. He still has car insurance bills, young children, and a $2,000 mortgage to care of. “It’s still a struggle for me, too,” Warner says. Even now, with the store open, the money he earns goes directly back into the store. “It’s still not easy,” Warner says. “I still have bills.” But he’s thrilled. Opening his own store is the cumulation of decades of experience — and surviving the tumultuous retail climate in the U.S. He first learned the tricks of the trade from a prominent businessman in Guyana who owned a number of restaurants and became like a second father to Warner. He listened to him conduct business over the phone; he learned the importance of saving money; he learned the necessity of making a sacrifice. Now, Warner is trying to build a loyal customer base. The store is brand new, and, while he says it serves an untapped market in the area, toys aren’t necessarily flying off the shelves. But he’s staying positive. “Some days, no one walks in, and some days, for three days, I have no one walk in,” Warner says. “But it doesn’t break me because I have encouragement and motivations to make it happen.” “It’s not all glory right now for me,” Warner adds. “But I’m happy to achieve the American Dream.” Toys, Babies & More is located at 7455 Annapolis Rd. in Hyattsville, MD. https://shoppeblack.us/2018/11/ manager-opens-toy-store/
110 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
... and Remember: We Play with our MINDS - NOT WITH OUR HEADS! www.gtscience.com www.trainemupacademy.org
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113 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
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hanahana beauty is a skincare brand committed to empowering women
of color. handcrafting all products using 100% natural products and sourcing our shea butter directly from the Katariga Women's Cooperative in Tamale, Ghana. www.hanahana.com www.instagram.com/p/BkLkNuxH1LO/ coveteur.com
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Introducing Serena, my ďŹ rst independent clothing line for all the ladies out there being awesome. My designs are inspired by strong, sexy, sophisticated, sassy, sure, smart, stylish, silly, and spontaneous women who are living their best lives, or making it up as they goâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;kinda like me.
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DigitalKente www.digitalkenteshop.com/ 121 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
OXOSI
is an online platform for the best contemporary brands from Africa and around the world. The Studio: 73 Spring St, Suite 203, NYC Email: usa@oxosi.com to shop with a member of our styling team. email: ask@oxosi.com phone: +1 646 661 7732
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a sneaker optimized for kids playtime
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Addis Abba, Ethiopia Free Worldwide Shipping + Duty Free!
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Gallery Guichard Art That Touches The Soul 3521 S. King Drive Chicago, IL. 60653 Hours of Operation: By Appointment Only Andre Guichard andreguichardgallery@gmail.com 773-791-7003
Black-Owned Watch Brands You Should Make Your Brands MG Media, TBTNEWS
W
hile timepieces or watches are usually a luxury for most, there are several Blackowned brands that create and market high-quality watches that won't break the bank... and they are definitely worth taking time to look at! Here are seven Black-owned watch brands that you should support:
Youngblood Timepieces: Launched in 2006, this brand of high-end signature watches continues to be one of the most sought-after Black-owned watch brands. Its co-founders Paul Youngblood and Patrick Martin created the brand to offer both accessory and apparel products for savvy shoppers who sought to maximize their value without compromising on quality. https://youngbloodworldwide.com/collections/menswristwatches
Talley & Twine: Started with just a few sketches and no previous knowledge of the watch industry, Robert Williams designed his first watch that eventually became a successful luxury watch brand. Since then, they aimed to create quality, detailed, attention-grabbing timepieces that are reasonably priced and resist the status quo.
Seventeenth Watches: Owned and operated by an army veteran, Chris Johnson, who is also Black, this brand creates watches that are a perfect union between simplicity and class. Their styles are usually unisex and minimalist that makes it a timeless piece that would seem to still be in trend even in the next decades. www.seventeenth-watches.com/ Benson Watch: Established on the principle that "time should be spent doing what you love," its founder, Marcel Benson, wanted to encourage people to take charge of their time and live life on their terms. Additionally, this brand produces exclusive collection watches that are available for limited time only and will not be replicated anymore. https://www.bensonwatch.com/ SPGBK Watches: Founded by two African-American fraternity brothers from Fayetteville, North Carolina, this brand aims to create original culturally-inspired watches that are inspired by diversity and inclusion. The name is an abbreviation of "Springbreak" as the two founders, who were both HBCU graduates, wanted the company to be collegethemed. www.springbreakwatches.com/
https://store.talleyandtwine.com/
Enbois by Maxim: Named after the French word which means "wooden," this brand's watches are designed with the finest sustainable materials. Also, an acronym for Each New Bead Offers Its Support, its founder Maxim Thuriere sought a way to give back to his country of heritage, Haiti, where a portion of each transaction is donated to help improve educational opportunities as well as reforest Haiti.
Vitae London: Based in London, England, this brand features watches that are made of either a high-quality genuine leather band or a stainless steel mesh band with scratch-resistant sapphire crystal glass that are stylish, elegant, and built to last. What's more, for every watch sold, the company supports an underprivileged child in South Africa through education. https://vitaelondon.com/
http://enbois-originals.com/ 126 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
OUT WITH THE OLD, AND IN WITH THE NUDE...
January is the perfect time to get rid of those old bras & panties that you no longer need. Refresh your lingerie drawer this week because we're offering free shipping on all orders over £50 - YAY! Just use the code FREESHIP when you check out.
Shop Now at: www.nubianskin.com
The Economic Turn Around in the USA is in Our Hands •Buy Products Made or Assembled in the USA •Hire One New Employee •Eat an Extra Meal Out Each Week •Start/Grow a Business to Generate Wealth & Jobs
Buy Black Save Black Invest Black 129 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Collection Bed, Bath & Beyond
http://bsmith.com/shop
http://marvin-sin.squarespace.com
This magnificent handcrafted concert grand is a "Best of" in terms of sound, new technology, beauty, and construction. Massively well-built to withstand the rigors of intense concert performances without compromise, the SHADD Concert Grand is a coveted treasure for pianists and collectors. With a rich voluminous sound that performs true to all genres of music, this phenomenal instrument has a rare diversified ability to play from the softest whisper with pure clear sound to a major roar with a bass section exuding an abundance of power and resounding singing sensations.
www.shaddpianos.com
Baron's Painting & Decorating Service Baron Williams 30 Years of Experience in the Greater Los Angeles Area Specializing in Exterior and Interior Painting, Tiling, Linoleum Flooring,
Cultural Interiors West &
Cordially Invited Cultural Interiors West 5573 West Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90019
& Wall Paper
"I will paint any one story building or house for $2,500 satisfaction guaranteed."
1-323-490-3774
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
133 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
134 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
VIRTUE RESTAURANT 1462 E 53rd St., Chicago, IL 60615 1-773-947-8831
www.virtuerestaurant.com Hospitality is a virtue! Kindness is a virtue! Service unlike servitude is a virtue! American Southern Cuisine Chef Erick Williams
Downtown Culver City: 9537 Culver Blvd. 310-202-5453 Open Sunday-Thursday 11am-10pm Friday-Saturday 11am-11pm www.honeyskettle.com
50 Restaurants, 50 States: The Best Black-Owned Restaurants In America By Shontel Horne, Travel Noire
O
wning a restaurant is tough. It can be expensive just to get started and most
generations ago and many that have opened recently. The restaurants included were selected based on a variety of factors, including historical significance, consistency and quality of the food, the impact the Yo’ Mama’s Restaurant – Birmingham restaurant has had on restaurants fail within the first year. its neighborhood and the Black-owned restaurateurs face value for the price, but the even greater challenges like lack goal of this list is to serve as of funding and resistance in certain a reminder that black people neighborhoods, so when one does are working hard across become successful, it deserves to the United States to share be celebrated. their legacy and culture I’ve set out to find the best through food. Whether it’s black-owned restaurants in every through flavors rooted in the state across America, including American south, cooking restaurants that were founded techniques from Ethiopia and Jamaica, or new culinary concepts, these black-owned restaurants have all earned Rodney Scott’s BBQ – Charleston support and recognition, and they’ve done so by patronizing the Black-owned one plate at a time. Visit all 50 restaurants, food wagons, bakeries, Restaurants, 50 caterers, wineries, breweries, etal States using the link in your town, city and state. below but, strengthen https://travelnoire.com/theand support the Black best-black-owned-restaurants-inCulinary Industry america-shontel-horne/ SoCo – Brooklyn 136 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Shop for all of the NoMu products at: https://shop.nomu.co.za and www.amazon.com
21720 Avalon Blvd. Suite 102B Carson, California 90745 1-424-570-0531 www.darrowsNewOrleansgrill.com
@DarrowsNewOrleansGrill Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Drinks Eat-In, Take Out, Catering
www.amazon.com/Pattie-Labelle-Sweet-Potato-Family/dp/B07KFXM2QV/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1543253889&sr=8-2-fkmr0&k eywords=patty+labelle+pies Image credits: nbcbayarea.com, popsugar.com, cbs4indy.com, www.amittenfullofsavings.com/patti-labelles-banana-pudding/
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.
LOOK FOR US IN THE FROZEN FOODS SECTION!
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!
S
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
Delicious Southern Flavors At Home!
Whether you’re north or south of the Mason-Dixon line, east or west of the Mississippi, Grandma Maud’s gives you a taste of the South in your own kitchen.
Try our Recipes: //grandmamauds. com/recipes
You’ll find our Bean Meals, Southern Seasonings and Pie Fixin’s in supermarkets throughout the U.S.A. (Jewel-Osco, Mariano’s, Safeway and Kroger Stores) – and online at: (h ps://eyelevellink.com/collec ons/ vendors?q=Grandma%20Mauds) or call us at: 1-773-493-5353! 144 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Not Just Cookies NJC is a cookie company providing, natural desserts superior in quality and taste. Our cookies and pies are made with the finest ingredients. We offer select gluten free and vegan desserts that are rich in taste. Not Just Cookies is a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) founded by Johnathon Bush.
W
e can cater for any event or party. We offer custom packaging for all of our cookies and pies to suit any need. Cookie platters also available. Corporate gifts, company parties, restaurants looking to outsource pastries, we're here for you. The menu: Turtle Cookies, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal, Butter Cookies, Oatmeal Raisin, Brownies, Snickerdoodle, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, Ginger Cookies, Vegan Brownies, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip, Sweet Potato Pie, and Fruit Pies (apple, cherry, blueberry or peach). Visit www.notjustcookies.com for online shopping, store locations, shipping and catering details. Talk to us by calling: 1-800-833-4541 or send NJC an inquiry at: info@ notjustcookies.net. 145 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
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Now available at Whole Foods!
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
148 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
www.wosa.us www.winetalkwithmarcia.com
http://aaavintners.org
http://shallwewine.com 150 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Vanessa Braxton cuisinenoirmag.com
www.blackmommavodka.com www.blackmommateas.com/black
https://unclenearest.com h ttps://unclenearest.com 151 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Eso Won Books
African American Books 4327 Degnan Boulevard, Leimert Park, Los Angeles
Give 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
152 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Books to Consider
Books to Consider... Emerging Africa: How the Global Economy's Revive Us Again: 'Last Frontier' Can Prosper Vision and Action in Moral Organizing By Revs. William J. Barber II, Rick Lowery, Liz Theoharis
T
he Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II has been called “the closest person we have to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in our midst” (Cornel West) and “one of the most gifted organizers and orators in the country today” (Ari Berman). In this age of political division and civic unrest, Rev. Barber’s message is more necessary than ever. This volume features Rev. Barber’s most stirring sermons and speeches, with response essays by prominent public intellectuals, activists, and faith leaders. Drawing from the history of social movements in the US, especially the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign, Rev. Barber and the contributors to this volume speak to the most pressing issues of our time, including Black Lives Matter, the fight for a $15 minimum wage, the struggle to protect voting rights, the march for women’s rights, and the movement to overcome poverty and unite Rev. Barber patheos.com the dispossessed across all dividing lines. Grounded in the fundamental biblical theme of poor and oppressed people taking action together, the book suggests ways to effectively build a fusion movement to make America fair and just for everyone. www.amazon.com/dp/B07465B664/ref=dp-kindleredirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
and Matter
T
By Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu
o many, Africa is the new frontier. As the West lies battered by financial crisis, Africa is seen as offering limitless opportunities for wealth creation in the march of globalization. But what is Africa to today's Africans? Are its economies truly on the rise? And what is its likely future? In this pioneering book, leading international strategist Kingsley Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu Moghalu challenges allafrica.com conventional wisdoms about Africa's quest for growth. Drawing on philosophy, economics and strategy, he ranges from capitalism t to technological innovation, finance to f foreign investment, and from f human capital to world w trade to offer a new vision v of transformation. Ultimately he demonstrates how Africa's progress in the A twenty-first century will t require nothing short of the t reinvention of the African A mindset. Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu is Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. He th Founder F d and d CEO off S was the Sogato Strategies S.A., a global strategy and risk management consulting firm in Geneva, Switzerland. He has previously worked for the United Nations for 17 years in strategic planning, legal, development finance and executive management. His previous books include Global Justice and Rwanda's Genocide. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LG8ZBIG/ref=dp-kindleredirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
153 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
Books to Consider
Summoned from the Margin: Homecoming of an African
S
By Lamin Sanneh
ummoned from the Margin tells the story of Lamin Sanneh's fascinating journey from his upbringing in an impoverished village in West Africa to education in the United States and Europe to a distinguished career teaching at the Universities of Yale, Harvard, Aberdeen, and Ghana. He grew up in a polygamous household in The Gambia and attended a government-run Muslim boarding school. A chance encounter with Helen Keller's autobiography taught him that education and faith are the key to overcoming physical and personal hardship and inspired his journey. Burning theological questions about God's nature and human suffering eventually led Sanneh to convert from Islam to Christianity and to pursue a career in academia. Here he recounts the unusually varied life experiences that have made him who he is today.
https://www.amazon.com/Summoned-Margin-HomecomingLamin-Sanneh/dp/0802867421
Thick: And Other Essays
I
by Tressie McMillan Cottom
n these eight piercing explorations on beauty, media, money, and more, Tressie McMillan Cottom— award-winning professor and acclaimed author of Lower Ed—embraces her venerated role as a purveyor of wit, wisdom, and Black Twitter snark about all that is right and much that is wrong with this thing we call society. Ideas and identity fuse effortlessly in this vibrant
collection that on bookshelves is just as at home alongside Rebecca Solnit and bell hooks as it is beside Jeff Chang and Janet Mock. It also fills an important void on those very shelves: a modern black American feminist voice waxing poetic on self and society, serving up a healthy portion of clever prose and southern aphorisms as she covers everything from Saturday Night Live, LinkedIn, and BBQ Becky to sexual violence, infant mortality, and Trump rallies. Thick speaks fearlessly to a range of topics and is far more genre-bending than a typical compendium o of personal e essays. An intrepid intellectual fforce hailed b by the likes of T Trevor Noah, C Chimamanda N Ngozi Adichie, a and Oprah, T r e s s i e M c M i l l a n C Cottom is Tressie McMillan Cottom “ a m o n g neuroethicswomenleaders.com America’s most bracing thinkers on race, gender, and capitalism of our time” (Rebecca Traister). This stunning debut collection— in all its intersectional glory—mines for meaning in places many of us miss, and reveals precisely how the political, the social, and the personal are almost always one and the same. www.amazon.com/Thick-Essays-Tressie-McMillanCottom/dp/1620974363/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8& qid=1547613519&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=tressie+m cmillancottom
154 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
155 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
BBA 2019 Master Planner
Resource Vault Media/Information APO (Africa Wire®/MENA Wire®) -- www.apo-opa.com Africa Business Communities -- https://africabusinesscommunities.com Africa Interactive Multimedia Press/Content Agency in Africa -- www.africa-interactive.com Africa is a Country -- www.africasacountry.com Africa News & Stories -- http://africatodaytv.com Africa Newsroom -- www.africa-newsroom.com Africa World Now Project -- www.africaworldnowproject.org 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 AfricaFocus -- www.africafocus.org Africast TV -- www.africast.tv The African World -- www.theafricanworld.tv Afritorial -- www.afritorial.com www.facebook.com/Afritorial AllAfrica (news) -- http://allafrica.com Black Business Directory & Blog -- www.blackbusiness. org Black Business News Group -- www.issuu.com/blackbusinessnews BlackNews.com -- www.blacknews.com Black Wall Street Times -- http://bwstimes.com 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 Blavity Inc. -- www.blavity.com BridesNoir -- www.bridesnoir.com Cape Up with Jonathan Capehart -- https://itunes.apple. com/us/podcast/cape-up-with-jonathan-capehart/ id1143265842?mt=2 The Chocolate Voice -- www.thechocolatevoice.com CuisineNoir -- www.cuisinenoirmag.com Cybrary -- www.cybrary.it DiasporaVoice -- www.blogtalkradio.com/diasporavoice Dogon Village -- www.dogonvillage.com Elders (The) -- https://theelders.org Face2Face Africa -- https://face2faceafrica.com GhanaWeb -- www.ghanaweb.com How Africa, The Rise of Africa -- http://howafrica.com iAfrica -- www.iafrica.com KweliTV -- www.facebook.com/kwelitv Macauhub -- www.facebook.com/Macauhub Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) -- www.youtube.com/ user/marquesbrownlee
MahoganyBooks -- http://blog.mahoganybooks.com/ Publish Africa -- http://wow.gm/publishafrica Red Media Africa -- www.facebook.com/RedMediaAfrica Rock Me Africa -- //rockmeafrica.com TONL -- https://tonl.co/ YouTube Educational Channels -- http://teacherswithapps.com/197-educational-youtube-channels-know UN Video -- https://videos.un.org/en United Nations -- http://webtv.un.org WikiHow -- www.wikihow.com World Library -- www.worldlibrary.org
Culture/Arts Africa Center (The) -- www.theafricacenter.org African Networks -- http://afn.bibalex.org/MainPart/ About_.aspx African Origins -- www.african-origins.org Almasi Arts -- www.almasiarts.org Art of Jabu (The) -- http://artistjabu.com Cultural Events/Content -- www.okayafrica.com Digital Assets Repository -- http://dar.bibalex.org/ webpages/dar.jsf Freedom Park -- www.freedompark.co.za Hungry Black Man -- https://thehungryblackman.com Infocus247 -- https://infocus247.com Information for Africa -- http://bibalex.org/baifa/en/home/ index Library of Alexandria -- www.bibalex.org/en/ default
Pan African Film Festival -- www.paff.org Paradigm Grey -- www.paradigmgrey.com Shadow & Act -- //shadowandact.com/about-us Travel Noire -- https://travelnoire.com W.E.B. DuBois in Accra -- https://webduboiscentreaccra. ghana-net.com
Commerce/Entrepreneurship
158 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
#IAMWANDA -- www.facebook.com/IamWANDAorg African Success Stories -- www.risingafrica.org African Technology Foundation -- www.thea25n.com Black Female Founders -- www.blackfemalefounders. org Nigeria (Africa) financial news -- //nairametrics.com She Leads Africa -- http://sheleadsafrica.org Shoppe Black -- https://shoppeblack.us/
Organizations African Leadership Forum -- http://afrialeadership.org African Union -- www.au.int/en Black Business Association -- www.bbala.org Black Emergency Managers Association International -- www.blackemergmanagersassociation.org CauseCast -- www.causecast.com www.causecastfornonprofits.com Color of Change -- www.colorofchange.org Community Healing Network -- www. communityhealingnet.org StayWoke -- www.staywoke.org TimesUp -- www.timesupnow.com United African Organization -- http://uniteafricans.org Zambia-USA Chamber of Commerce -- www.zambiausachamber.org
Africa Reports -- www.africareports.com African Development Bank -- www.afdb.org African Export-Import Bank -- //afreximbank.com/ afrexim/en AfrigadgetTV -- www.afrigadget.com Breaux Capital -- www.breauxcapital.com Disrupt Africa -- http://disrupt-africa.com/ Exchange Magazine (The) -- www.nse.co.ke Harlem Capital -- http://harlem.capital 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
General Explore ideas -- https://ideas.ted.com
Investment/Development
159 January 2019 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
160 July 2018 Black Business News www.blackbbusinessnews.net 1-323-291-7819
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