Month: May 2019

Original post was published here.

A Pittsburgh defense attorney is outraged after his son was suspended from school for retaliating against a bully who called him the N-word.

Now, Blaine Jones and his wife say they’re considering legal action against the South Fayette Township School District and accuse officials of failing  to protect their son against racism and bullying.

“As a black person in America, racism is what you deal with,” Jones told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “You ignore the ignorance, ignore the evil, ignore the hate and be a good person.”

The attorney’s 15-year-old son, a student at South Fayette Township High School in Allegheny County, took a less passive approach, however, when a white student allegedly called him a racial slur early last week during lunch period. Jones said just as his son started to sit at the table, the other student put his hands on his own head and called him the N-word.

“So then my son went around the table. He asked him, one more time, what did you say?,” Jones said, recalling his son’s account of the incident. “And the young man said to my son, ‘I called you the N-word, what are you going to do about it?’ ”

“So that’s when my son defended himself and began to choke this young man and then they started fighting,” he explained.

Jones and his wife met with both the principal and superintendent late last week following the cafeteria melee and said they expected the punishment on the two students to be “fair and equitable and commensurate with what happened,” according to the Post-Gazette.

To their surprise, it was their son who was issued a three-day suspension for the fight while it was unclear if the other young man was disciplined at all.

“They’re supposed to protect my son,” said Jones. “They have failed my son. Instead of protecting my son against verbal bullying, against racism, they suspended him for three days.”

The frustrated father later learned that both boys had in fact been punished with suspensions, although he said he’s still dissatisfied with the school’s handling of the incident.

The defense attorney told Yahoo Lifestyle that his son has faced racial harassment from other students in the past and that school officials did nothing about it.

“Considering that my son was called the N-word last year by another student — for which no action was taken by the school — and this kid’s history of harassment, I expected due process for my child,” Jones said. “But they just reiterated language from the handbook about behavior codes.”

He went on to accuse the suburban Pittsburgh school, where just 3 percent of the student body is Black, of tolerating racism.

“I have dozens of testimonies from students who have been targets of racism,” Jones added.. “Bullies are allowed to thrive, unchecked and African-American students are suffering in silence.”

South Fayette Township School District superintendent Kenneth F. Lockett, confirmed in a statement last week that both young men were disciplined according to district policy, but remained tight-lipped on details regarding the white student’s punishment, the Post-Gazette reported.

“The safety and well-being of all our students is our No. 1 priority, and we take all incidents that violate our policies seriously,” Lockette said.

Jones and his wife are now threatening legal action if school administrators won’t address what they consider “systemic racism” at the school.

The Transportation Security Administration is investigating after singer Diana Ross alleged she was “violated” by agents at a New Orleans airport this weekend.

Ross was in town to perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Saturday, May 4, and tweeted that she was “treated like royalty” in the Big Easy but “at the airport I was treated like s—.”

“Let me be clear, Not the [people] or Delta BUT TSA , was over the top !!” Ross tweeted Sunday, May 5. “Makes me want to cry !!!”

She went on to explain that an agent at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport made her feel defiled when they performed their check at security, which involved the female agent putting her hands between Ross’ legs.

“Its not what was done but how , I am feeling violated – I still feel her hands between my legs , front and back (saying to me it her job,) WOW!!” the “Upside Down” singer said. “really mixed emotions I always like to see the good things but not feeling good right now.”

Speaking to ABC News Sunday, TSA said their initial review of the security footage captured at the airport shows the officers who conducted Ross’ screening “correctly followed all protocols.”

“TSA is committed to ensuring all travelers are treated with respect and courtesy,” spokesperson Jenny Burke said in a statement emailed to the news organization. “TSA is aware of concerns presented by Diana Ross about her screening experience at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport this morning.

“We encourage Ms. Ross to reach out to TSA so we can further explain our procedures, designed to protect travelers from a persistent threat,” the memo added, noting the agency will continue to investigate the matter.

Meanwhile, fans of Ross have been sympathizing with the Motown icon.

Original post as published here.

Waithe paid tribute to LGBTQ origins of Camp style by wearing a suit designed by Pyer Moss designer, Kerby Jean-Raymond, who accompanied her on the carpet.

“Black Drag Queens Invented Camp,” was embroidered on the back of The Chi creator’s blazer. Jean-Raymond’s read, “Fix your credit. Pool money. Buy back the block,” a homage to the late rapper Nipsey Hussle. The pinstripes of the suits were in fact lyrics to LGBTQ anthems including Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out,” and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.”

“One reason black culture is not within the ‘camp’ conversation is because the term itself has a lot of basis in theatrical, outlandish, exaggerated, and extreme fashion,” fashion historian Darnell Lisby told Teen Vogue. “Even though I believe there are so many examples of ‘camp’ in black culture, there is a broad paint stroke over the black experience, which is perceived to be downtrodden instead of vibrant. In essence, it seems like many forget about icons like Prince or Jimmy Hendrix, who were the epitome of this term.”

Camp at its core is about interpretation. Monae delivered a playful spin on the theme wearing a custom dress by Cristian Siriano inspired by the Mad Hatter, a fictional character in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The entertainer’s stylist Alexandra Mandelkorn told Variety that ensemble was influenced by the surrealism found in the works of Monae’s favorite artists Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso.

The 2019 Met Gala was filled with designs by Dapper Dan, a fixture in Black Camp fashion, although Monday was his first time at the annual Vogue-hosted event. 

Original post was published here.

Fly for the Culture, a nonprofit organization that offers free introductory flight lessons and mentorships to diverse groups of children, hopes to increase the number of pilots from varied backgrounds.

Jerome Stanislaus is an African-American pilot and mentor who began working with the organization last year. In April, he sat down with CBS News reporter Michelle Miller to talk about his passion for mentoring children of color. He participates in Fly for the Culture because of the lack of diversity in the aviation industry. 

“I told myself I would probably never be a pilot because I never saw a pilot that looked like myself,” he said about how the lack of representation affected his childhood.

According to the 2017 census from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people of color only make up 7 percent of U.S. pilots and flight engineers. Just 3 percent of that group are African-American.

Stanislaus was overcome with emotion speaking about the meaningfulness of this work.

“I love it,” he said while holding back tears of joy. “I really want to be able to make a difference and this is how I do it. It’s like my purpose.”

Original post was published here.

When it comes to the college admissions process, there’s no shortage of students who were granted more than one admissions letter. However, not many come close to the New Orleans teen who applied to 115 schools and was accepted into every single one of them.

According to  NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune, Antoinette Love, a senior at International High School of New Orleans, is not only knee-deep in acceptance letters, but she also secured around $3.7 million in scholarships.

Love’s accomplishments were celebrated by her high school, who devoted a special Facebook post to the high school senior.

“The IHSNO community is so proud of you and your accomplishments!!” the school wrote in the post that accompanied a photo of Love with her parents, Yolanda and Anthony Love, and all of her acceptance letters.

Now, Love, who hopes to major in elementary education, plans to visit schools in the next few weeks in order to make a final decision by May 1.

Love, like many other students around the country, was able to apply to many schools at once by using the Common App and the Common Black College Application, which she used to apply to 50 HBCUs. In order to send out so many applications, Love utilized application-fee waivers.

Although Love is making tremendous moves when it comes to higher education, her life began with several hardships.

Love’s parents were both teens when she was born six weeks premature, her mother, Yolanda, told the New Orleans Advocate. Weighing only 4.4 pounds, Love spent the first 23 days of her life in a hospital. When she was 2 years old, Love was attacked by a dog. Thankfully, she did not suffer any permanent injuries.

Most recently, Love, who holds a 3.5 GPA, was inducted into the National Senior Beta Club, the National Honor Society, the National English Honor Society, and Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honor Society at her school. The teen, who is dual enrolled in classes at Delgado Community College, still finds time to help her parents with her younger siblings, who range in age from nine to 15.

“We have so much going on in our lives to where this is that one moment where it’s something good and something positive, not only for our family but for the city, too, to show what kind of kids New Orleans has,” Yolanda Love told NOLA.com.

Original post was published here.

Mo’Nique came back in fighting form thanks to ads developed by Donald Glover for Adidas to promote his new “Nizza” shoes. The series of ads showed Mo’Nique roasting the living daylights out of Glover, taking him to task for being all manner of bougie. If you’ve been like many out there who have been wondering how the commercial came about, Mo’Nique has now provided the details.

In an interview with Complex, she said the opportunity came after Glover’s creative team reached out to her via her husband and manager, Sydney Hicks.

“Well, Fam Rothstein, who is one of Donald Glover’s teammates, and a sister named Sylvia, they called and spoke to my husband, who everybody knows is my manager,” she said. “They spoke to Sydney, and when I say it was a beautiful negotiation? It was the way it’s supposed to be done. It was professional people dealing with professional people, and we made something beautiful. I wish every deal and every phone call could be the one that came in from Fam Rothstein and Sister Sylvia. I wish they could be that way because it makes it so much easier.”

Mo’Nique continued, saying how respected she felt by Glover’s team. “I remember at the end of the shoot, I asked Donald if could I talk to him and his team, and it was one of those moments that brought tears to my eyes to say to those brothers, ‘This is how it’s supposed to be,'” she said. “And to treat a Black woman with such respect and honor, that for me goes down in my history book, to say there are still those out there that treat us with the respect we’re supposed to be treated with. They’re still out there and I know it seems like we got to dig deep, but dammit his name is Donald Glover.”

Let’s hope that the good time Mo’Nique had with Glover means there could be more projects between the two creatives in the futurel post

Original post was published here.

Lady and the Tramp star Janelle Monáe will not only provide her voice to the film, but her music will also revamp the original film’s most problematic scene.

Variety has exclusively confirmed with Monáe’s representative and Disney that Monáe will provide two original songs for the film, sung by Tessa Thompson, who will voice Lady, and Justin Theroux, who will voice the Tramp. Monáe’s Wondaland team are also “reinventing” the racist song sung by the Siamese cats.

In the 1955 animated film, the cats in question, Si and Am (a play on the word “Siam,” the antiquated name the West used to describe Thailand) are designed as Asian stereotypes and “The Siamese Cat Song” they sing (performed in the original by singer/songwriter Peggy Lee) reinforces those harmful stereotypes. For the film’s update, Wondaland’s Nate “Rocket” Wonder and Roman GianArthur are creating a new version of the cats, which are no longer Siamese.

“We’re dealing with Wondaland, her team of incredibly creative writers and producers that she works with,” said Kaylin Frank, a VP in Creative Music and Soundtracks at Disney, at the MUSEEXPO Creative Summit, according to Variety. “So our director has engaged with her in terms of what the storytelling [of] song needs to be.”

Also, according to another of Variety’s sources, there’s a chance Monáe could also work on “He’s a Tramp,” one of the film’s most well-known songs.

In the film, Monáe will voice Peg, one of the stray dogs Lady meets while she’s stuck in the pound (also originally voiced by Lee). She will star alongside the vocal talents of Sam Elliot, Yvette Nicole Brown, Benedict Wong and Kiersey Clemons, among others. The film will be released on Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, this fall.

Original post was published here.

Original post was published here.

What does success taste like? If you’re one of the countless chefs working in upscale kitchens across America, it may be recognition from the James Beard Foundation. Fondly known as the “Oscars of Food,” the preeminent culinary organization in the United States is celebrating its 29th annual awards gala tonight in Chicago. And while it’s fair to say that a James Beard nomination or win can be a game changer for any chef; for chefs of color, increasing recognition and advocacy from the esteemed organization have encouraged long overdue recognition that our flavors are the backbone of American cuisine.

“As things shift, I think it’s wonderful, because people of color have been cooking forever, and there are many people of color in every kitchen throughout all of America, It’s important that we’re recognized, because we are all part of America’s food culture,” says Chef Gregory Gourdet (Culinary Director of Departure restaurants in Portland, Ore., and Denver), a three-time James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Northwest (including 2019) who works closely with the organization.

Gourdet was one of five James Beard-recognized chefs catering to a predominantly black and brown crowd of foodies at the third annual IDE (Iconoclast Dinner Experience Series) All-Star Culinary Bash on Saturday night, hosted in the gorgeous Viking showroom in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart with The Root as its media sponsor. As a Queens, N.Y.-born chef of Haitian heritage who currently specializes in Asian cuisines, Gourdet is all too familiar with the marginalization of certain cultures within haute cuisine and credits the Beard Foundation with helping to further that conversation.

“I think one thing the Beard Foundation does well is just really dive into important food topics, and when something’s on the table, I don’t think they skirt away from it; they dive right in,” he told us, referencing both the many multicultural dinners hosted by the famed James Beard House in New York City (including a 2018 all-Haitian dinner he participated in), and the representation on the annual awards committee. Gourdet, whose ridiculously tender, evocatively spiced braised beef with cassava dumplings was this meat-loving writer’s melt-in-your-mouth favorite at the All-Star Bash, also pointed out the significance of making cross-cultural correlations in his own cooking.

“As I got along in my career, I realized that all these Southeast Asian flavors that I loved [and was] learning about were flavors I grew up with,” he said. “The coconut, the chiles, the citrus—these were all flavors that I grew up with. That’s why I was so attracted to them, because in the back of my head, these were all things I’d been experiencing my whole life.”

Chef Jerome Grant, who helms Sweet Home Café, located in the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. (fondly known as the “Blacksonian”) is a 2019 Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic semifinalist. True to the name and location of Sweet Home, which received the Best New Restaurant Award in 2017, Grant agrees with Gourdet’s assessment. “Food was always these snapshots of my life,” he said. “it always brings you back to a particular place and time.”

As Grant told The Root, bringing people the richness of African-American culture and history through food is the mission of Sweet Home. It’s a mission in tandem with his personal desire to create opportunities for others in our community, giving them training, education, confidence, and ultimately, leverage in the increasingly gentrified, but still “chocolate city” that is Washington, D.C. His work at the preeminent institution for black history reinforces that goal daily.

“For me, it’s something bigger than just a good job; it’s something super meaningful. …Because I knew that it wasn’t just about being in a place of such stature; it was being in a place to represent our people and being able to showcase what we do—and to do it through food…it’s just amazing to be a part of that,” said Grant, whose dish for the evening, a pickled oyster shooter with egg yolk mayo and molasses bread, paid homage to New York-based oysterman and abolitionist [George] Thomas Downing. 

“What people think we did is build a café within a museum,” he continued. “But no, we built an edible exhibit that showcases our African-American throughways and tells our stories. It’s a lot more than just what people think black food is. It’s American food; it’s what helped build America. Black hands have fed anyone and everyone.”

Notably, The Sweet Home Café Cookbook was a James Beard Media Award nominee this year; the book’s co-author, famed culinary historian Jessica B. Harris was entered into the JBF’s Cookbook Hall of Fame during the April 26 Media Awards ceremony. Other 2019 honors celebrated that night belonged to Black Girl Baking: Wholesome Recipes Inspired by a Soulful Upbringing, from baker and first-time nominee Jerelle Guy; famed chef Marcus Samuelsson won Outstanding Media Personality for his PBS show, No Passport Required. And articles from food historian and 2018 James Beard Foundation Book of the Year award winner Michael W. Twitty and writer Vince Dixon both garnered journalism nods, while Racist Sandwich garnered a media nomination for their podcast, Erasing Black Barbecue. (Shoutout to SoulPhoodie for helping us keep track.)

But what was the winning book of the year? Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian-American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day, written by 2018 IDE All-Star Chef JJ Johnson and his mentor, chef and restaurateur Alexander Smalls with acclaimed writer Veronica Chambers.

Another 2018 IDE All-Star, Chef Kwame Onwuachi (Kith and Kin, Washington, D.C.), is nominated for a 2019 Rising Star Chef award. And Brooklyn, N.Y.’s A&A Bake & Double Roti Shop was dubbed one of “America’s Classics” by the foundation in February, recognizing their Trinidadian flavors as a delicious part of the American melting pot. 

Then, there were the 2019 Leadership Award winners, honored during a ceremony on Sunday and including Cornelius Blanding, executive director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, and Leah Penniman, the educator and activist who has helped combat “food apartheid” for black and brown communities in upstate New York and beyond with Soul Fire Farm.

“The James Beard Leadership Award is not just for me,” Penniman told JBF in a profile of her work. “I really take it as a win for the returning generation of black and brown farmers. …We’re reclaiming our right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system. I feel really excited about the visibility and support that we’re getting.”

Coincidentally, increased visibility and support was the inspiration behind the Iconoclast Dinner Experience, founded by Dr. Lezli Levene Harvell as a vehicle for promoting culinary talent of color while also giving back to her alma mater, Spelman College, which receives all net proceeds from IDE events via a scholarship for students from the Caribbean and Africa.

“As a food enthusiast and as a person of color, I just found there was a lack of representation of chefs of color in the higher echelons of food,” Levene Harvell told a packed house on Saturday night. Viking showroom manager Rufus Greer III wholeheartedly agreed, explaining why he and parent company Middleby Residential, which counts Viking among several upscale appliance brands, threw open the doors of their flagship showroom to host the event.

“It’s important, I think, for the culinary industry—and really, just the American public—to see talent on this scale showcased and honored,” Greer told The Root. “We were ripe for an event like this.”

The success of the event, which has grown from an inaugural dinner at the James Beard House in New York City in 2015 to an annual series of five events in varied locales is indicative of the hunger we have to see chefs of color thriving and earning the same recognition as their white counterparts. The 2019 IDE event chair, Chef Mashama Bailey, (The Grey, Savannah, Ga.) is enjoying her own taste of widespread recognition as a 2019 Best Chef: Southeast nominee; her first nod from the James Beard Foundation. The Bronx-born, Queens-raised chef told The Root it was furthest thing from her mind as a latchkey kid caring for younger siblings.

“It’s overwhelming,” she admits. “I’ve been really stepping into owning and claiming things that I want in life, and a James Beard award is one of them. And it feels amazing, because I know the team that it took to get me here … I’m just so proud to be their representative.”

Believe it or not, despite her tremendous success as a chef, Bailey says she’s still honing her specialties. “If someone were to ask me to write a cookbook, I don’t think it would be very big or very long,” she concedes. 

But as evidenced by the Antebellum-inspired chicken recipe Bailey served on Saturday night, she has a very clear focus in her cooking, which is food and small crop ingredients indigenous to the Lowcountry (meaning the coastal islands of Georgia and South Carolina, which are home to Gullah culture). 

“I like to call myself a Southerner twice removed,” she laughs, referring to her mother’s Georgian roots and the many summers Bailey accordingly spent in the region with her grandparents and extended family.

As Bailey tells it, it’s that same feeling of family, familiarity and culture that feeds her and the chefs of color she considers her contemporaries; all of them representing a new guard infusing even more flavor into the culinary world.

“We see each other,” she says. “Like, we’ve seen each other coming up through the ranks in culinary school, and we see each other at the corner family business, and we’ve nurtured each other throughout our growth, but it’s really nice to see that we are in these polished, world-renowned kitchens—and we’re running them. 

“And I never had a doubt in my mind that that’s where we belonged,” she adds. “And it’s really, really nice to see.”

Want to attend an IDE event? Tickets for the upcoming Iconoclast Dinner Experience at the James Beard House in NYC on June 8 are available on their website. An event in Martha’s Vineyard is planned for August 5.

Grammy-nominated Gospel singer, pastor and author, Dr. Marvin L. Sapp, knows a thing or two about relationships and he recently hit the 2018 ESSENCE Festival Empowerment Stage to share some of the many lessons learned as told in his new book, Suitable: Choosing and Being Chosen by the Right Mate.

In a conversation with ESSENCE Senior Editor, Charreah Jackson, Sapp shared how counseling many couples over the years inspired him to pen his latest book.

“All of us have desired to meet that special person to spend the rest of our lives with,” he said. “God’s plan for each of us is as individual as we are.”

Sapp met his wife, MaLinda, in elementary school and the two remained friends throughout their adolescent years, even attending the same prom on separate dates. Sparks soon flew between the lovebirds and the two had a fulfilling 20-year marriage, including welcoming three children, before MaLinda sadly passed away from colon cancer in 2010.

After losing his wife, Sapp felt love had left for good and focused on raising their children. Now that his children have grown up and his heart has healed, he has opened himself up for a “suitable” partner.  

“People have said to me so many times, ‘Marvin, you had an amazing marriage.’ And I did; I really had an amazing marriage,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better and I believe that she was, without question, was my soulmate. However,  I just believe with everything in me that God would not allow me to lose something great and not give me something greater.”

Now that he’s open to finding love again, Sapp says he isn’t just dating – but collecting data. 

“Dating is your time to see if this is the person for you,” he says. “One test for suitability comes when the skies darken, and storms arise. How will you both react to the struggles in life?”

In closing, he challenged those in the audience looking for love to do so with a heart free of bitterness or anger towards love itself.

“Understand that if it hasn’t worked or if it isn’t working or if it’s falling apart, love didn’t mistreat you,” he added. “Love didn’t walk out on you, love didn’t cheat on you, love didn’t dog you out, that individual did. So don’t be mad at love for what a person did not value and see in you.”

Original post was published here.

You know the name. You know the backstory. 

But there are a few things that you probably don’t know about the man himself. 

In his first-ever ESSENCE Festival appearance, we found out that legendary fashion icon Dapper Dan has never closed his business, despite being underground for years. We also learned that Jay Z was part of the impetus to help bring Dan’s artistry back into the spotlight! 

Speaking on success and his ‘true-to-this’ stance in the fashion industry, Dan says his intent was always to bring Black Culture to high-end fashions.

“I would describe my designs as Black-onizing luxury fashion, because it wasn’t meant for us,” he told ESSENCE Fashion Director, Julee Wilson. “But now they come to us so that we can show them what it really should look like!”

Born and raised in Harlem, Dan says he takes pride in keeping his business operating, “365 days, 24 hours a day,” revealing that he’s never closed his retail store and that he’s always been open for business. 

While other design masterminds collaborate with major companies or other designers, Dan says his collaborations are “always about us,” because he collaborates with his customers. To him, the Black customer —whether Jay Z and Beyonce or his local hometown regulars in Harlem—always comes first.

Speaking specifically about the support of Black women, Dan told the ESSENCE Fest audience he’s forever grateful to the community for keeping his brand alive over the years.

“I have been a fashion wagon, but this wagon would not be here today if it wasn’t for Black Twitter,” he added. “It’s our [Black] women who got us here today!”

Original post was published here.