Gabe's Musings

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Botswana decriminalizes consensual same-sex relationships in landmark Africa case

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Botswana became the latest country to decriminalize gay sex on Tuesday, a landmark case for Africa, as the High Court rejected laws punishing it with up to seven years in prison.

Jubilant activists in the packed courtroom cheered the unanimous decision in the southern African nation that is seen as one of the continent’s most stable and democratic. The ruling came less than a month after Kenya’s High Court had upheld similar sections of its own penal code in another closely watched case.

“Botswana is the ninth country in the past five years to have decriminalized consensual same-sex relationships,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

“Consensual same-sex sexual relationships remain criminalized in at least 67 countries and territories worldwide,” he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

More than two dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa have laws criminalizing gay sex, often holdovers from colonial times. Earlier this year, the southern African nation of Angola decriminalized same-sex activity and banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Those arguing against the laws say they leave people in the LGBT community vulnerable to discrimination and abuse while making it difficult to access basic health and other services.

The Botswana-based non-governmental group LEGABIBO, which supported the anonymous petitioner in the case, has said such laws “infringe on basic human dignity.”

“Consensual same-sex sexual relationships remain criminalized in at least 67 countries and territories worldwide.”

People in the courtroom were ecstatic, leaping up, clapping and ululating, LEGABIBO legal policy director Caine Youngman told The Associated Press. When the judges said the right to privacy includes the right to choose a partner, “it hit home,” he said.

“I’m a gay man. I’ve been out for many years. Now I can live with my partner without worry,” Youngman said. He said the state might appeal “to appease the homophobes” and has 30 working days to do so.

The ruling led to rejoicing from rights groups that had expressed frustration with the Kenyan decision last month, including ones in countries such as Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana where gay sex remains illegal. Amnesty International called on other African nations to follow Botswana’s example in “an exciting new era of acceptance.”

Botswana’s High Court said in its ruling that penalizing people for who they are is disrespectful and discriminatory, and that the law should not deal with private acts between consenting adults.

Sexual orientation is innate and not a “fashion statement,” the judges said. “Any criminalization of love or finding fulfillment in love dilutes compassion and tolerance.”

The ruling cited the recent decriminalization in India and elsewhere. It also pointed out that all three arms of Botswana’s government have expressed the need to protect the rights of the gay community.

Before the ruling, LEGABIBO shared a comment attributed to President Mokgweetsi Masisi: “There are also many people of same-sex relationships in this country who have been violated and have also suffered in silence for fear of being discriminated. Just like other citizens, they deserve to have their rights protected.”

The judges cited the president’s comment in their ruling.

Botswana in recent years has taken other steps toward protecting LGBT rights. The High Court in 2017 ruled that the government should issue a transgender man documentation reflecting his identity. And in 2016 an appeals court ruled that LEGABIBO could register as a nonprofit.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joins U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet and the acting executive director of UNAIDS, Gunilla Carlsson, “in warmly welcoming the landmark decision by Botswana’s High Court to decriminalize consensual same sex relations,” U.N. spokesman Dujarric said.

“It is a day to celebrate pride, compassion and love,” Carlsson said in a statement after Tuesday’s ruling. Prohibitive legal environments increase the vulnerability of gay men, transgender women and others to HIV, the statement said.

The post Botswana decriminalizes consensual same-sex relationships in landmark Africa case appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/31FGtKq
via

Google's Push to Close a Major Encrypted Web Loophole

By building security into top-level domains, Google makes it harder for HTTPS to fall short.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2IeP5jw
via

Investigator says 6 cops who shot rapper 55 times in 35 seconds ‘acted reasonably’

TheGrio has launched a special series called #BlackonBlue to examine the relationship between law enforcement and African-Americans. Our reporters and videographers will investigate police brutality and corruption while also exploring local and national efforts to improve policing in our communities. Join the conversation, or share your own story, using the hashtag #BlackonBlue.

In a shocking turn of events, a law enforcement investigator determined that the fatal officer-involved shooting of a 20-year-old rapper who was shot 55 times by cops while sleeping in his car outside a California Taco Bell drive-thru was justified.

—Whoopi Goldberg fires back at her ‘View’ co-host Meghan McCain who snaps, ‘So, I don’t get to talk’—

On Monday, the city of Vallejo announced that an independent investigation into the killing of Willie McCoy back in February “was reasonable and in line with contemporary training and police practices.”

McCoy’s family believe police “executed” him as they approached his car. Authorities claimed he was reaching for a gun. McCoy was shot 55 times in 35 seconds, The Daily Mail reports.

He was found dead in the driver’s seat slumped over with a gun in his lap.

The findings in the report were developed by David Blake who reviewed the six body cameras from the six police officers on the scene and said in his May report he relied on what he could see visually.

“Officers are not required to wait until a weapon is pointed at them to take the necessary steps to save their own lives,” he wrote. He also mentioned that officers made several verbal commands for three seconds before firing.

—Boston museum hires firm to investigate racism reports from Black students—

The family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.

The post Investigator says 6 cops who shot rapper 55 times in 35 seconds ‘acted reasonably’ appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2XOO2MA
via

NYC night club under fire for racial discrimination, charging Black people more and for calling manager ‘f—ing n-gg-r’

A Black general manager of a ritzy New York City night club has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the establishment that hosts A-list celebrity clientele.

—Boston museum hires firm to investigate racism reports from Black students—

On Wednesday, Christopher Hibbert, who was the first Black GM at 1OAK club in Chelsea, complained in a filing in Manhattan Supreme Court that he endured a racist culture that included a promoter cursing him out at length and “physically menaced him and repeatedly called him a ‘f—ing n—-r.’”

Hibbert also said the club retaliated against him which resulted in his eventual firing, The NY Daily News reports.

Hibbert says he complained to upper management about his mistreatment and racist practices which included “the disparate treatment by 1OAK’s door and hostess staff of black and Hispanic patrons, who are often charged up to five times as much as white patrons and seated in a separate section of the club with other persons of color.”

Hibbert said while he was retaliated against the club promoter who harassed him got “nothing more than sensitivity training and [defendants then] began a campaign of retaliation against Hibbert, issuing him baseless disciplinary warnings and ultimately firing him,” the suit alleges.

Richie Akiva, the owner of the swanky club responded to Hibbert’s claims on Wednesday in a statement.

“At 1 OAK, we pride ourselves on welcoming those of all legal age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation and national identity as both guests and employees.”

—Whoopi Goldberg fires back at her ‘View’ co-host Meghan McCain who snaps, ‘So, I don’t get to talk’—

“Hopefully this case will shine a light on discrimination faced by persons of color in upscale Manhattan clubs,” Hibbert’s lawyer, Louis Pechman, told the Daily News.

The post NYC night club under fire for racial discrimination, charging Black people more and for calling manager ‘f—ing n-gg-r’ appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/31vdnxd
via

Stacey Dooley: Comic Relief work wasn't 'sinister'

The presenter says she's willing to learn, but only had good intentions with her work in Africa.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2X8JUcR
via

The Glorious Scale of the NBA Finals' Game 5

Game 6 tips off tonight, but for a brief moment earlier this week, it looked as though the Raptors might end the Warriors' reign.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2wSfNHY
via

Estimate the Energy of an Utterly Massive Wind Turbine

The Hornsea Wind Farm is expected to be the largest offshore wind farm in the world. Here's how much energy is generated from one rotation of a turbine.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2XL1XTM
via

Best Bike Accessories (2019): Helmets, Tools, Apparel, e-Bikes

We tested 11 biking accessories (and one e-bike) that make pedaling more pleasant.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2x0Sb4h
via

Teacher fired after telling elementary school student, “You’re lucky I’m not making you pick cotton”

An Oregon school teacher has been fired after making a racist remark to an 11-year-old biracial student.

Jasmyn Spencer was sitting with friends eating lunch at Linwood Elementary School in Milwaukie, Ore., when a teacher berated her with hateful remarks for their behavior.

—Whoopi Goldberg fires back at her ‘View’ co-host Meghan McCain who snaps, ‘So, I don’t get to talk’—

“The teacher was like, you’re lucky I’m not making you pick cotton and clean my house and stuff like that,” said Jasmyn. “It made my feel really sad and targeted.”

Outraged, Jasmyn’s mother Syreeta Spencer met with the principal after her daughter reported what happened when she got home from school, KGW8 reports.

“If she were to curse at the kids or yell at them, that’s forgivable and we can work past that,” said Spencer. “To say something about picking cotton and cleaning and painting houses, that’s deeper than that and it’s not something that just slips out.”

The school board addressed the situation in a statement:

“We know and understand that the impact of words spoken can be hurtful for our students and that was the case in this situation,” read part of the letter. “I deeply regret this impact and will continue to work with our students and school community to make sure they are heard and feel supported. Our school and the school district are committed to an inclusive environment that honors each student’s identity and provides safety, respect and care in each of our spaces.”

—Boston museum hires firm to investigate racism reports from Black students—

After the teacher was fired the school updated their statement and reads in part:

“Dear families of our Linwood Elementary School Community:

I wanted to update you on the situation that occurred last week in our school community. We have concluded our investigation about the inappropriate racialized comments by a staff member to students. The employee involved is no longer employed within the North Clackamas School District.”

We guess this former teacher learned a valuable lesson.

The post Teacher fired after telling elementary school student, “You’re lucky I’m not making you pick cotton” appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2IFT5s7
via

Ebola outbreak: Uganda grandmother, 50, is latest to die

She and her grandson are the first in the country to die since an outbreak in neighbouring DR Congo.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2Idlrel
via

Central Park 5 prosecutor ousted as Columbia law professor after Black student protests

Elizabeth Lederer, the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney, who prosecuted the “Central Park Five” whose convictions were ultimately overturned, has resigned from her post as a professor at Columbia Law School on Wednesday after protests erupted calling for her removal.

— As Linda Fairstein’s defends Central Park Five prosecution, Ava DuVerney says ‘whatever’—

Lederer is feeling the wrath after the airing of Ava DuVernay’s explosive “When They See Us” series, which gave a raw fictionalized view of her role in convicting five young Black men who were accused and then acquitted of raping a Central Park jogger.

Lederer worked as a part-time law professor when the Black Law Students Association assembled on Tuesday and called for her to quit, calling her “racist” and demanded that the school fire her.

“The mini-series has reignited a painful—and vital—national conversation about race, identity, and criminal justice. I am deeply committed to fostering a learning environment that furthers this important and ongoing dialogue, one that draws upon the lived experiences of all members of our community and actively confronts the most difficult issues of our time,” Dean Gillian Lester told Bloomberg News.

The students who demanded her firing also wants the school to implement a curriculum that combats institutionalized racism and infuse anti-racism lessons into its instruction.

Lederer is the latest Central park Five prosecutor to be taken down in the aftermath of the airing of the Netflix movie.

In a letter drafted on Tuesday, the Columbia Law School Black Law Students Association noted that Lederer “wrongfully prosecuted” five Black and Brown teens for the 1989 rape and beating of a jogger in Central Park.

—The Central Park Five Case: Where the racist cops and prosecutors are now—

“The lives of these five boys were forever changed as a result of Lederer’s conduct,” the letter reads. “During the investigation, Lederer and her colleagues used harmful, racist tactics, including physical abuse and coercion, to force confessions from the five minors. The case they built was founded on false information and an overwhelming lack of physical evidence.”

Last week, the university’s Black Students Organization began circulating a petition calling for Lederer to step down and calling on Columbia Medical School to recall an award it bestowed on Linda Fairstein, who oversaw the prosecution as head of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Sex Crimes Unit.

Fairstein has since been forced to step off of the boards of Vassar College, Safe Horizons, Gods Love We Deliver and was dropped from her publisher.

The post Central Park 5 prosecutor ousted as Columbia law professor after Black student protests appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2KVaC2v
via

Review: Eufy's RoboVac 11S Max Cleans Up for Cheap

Eufy’s robot vacuum is small, affordable, and attractive—but bounce navigation is a pain in the butt.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2ZobGzO
via

The Most Delicious Foods Will Fall Victim to Climate Change

Author Amanda Little explains why high-nutrient, high-flavor crops are the most likely to suffer in a less predictable environment.

from Wired http://bit.ly/31vUcDq
via

Barack Obama nostalgia plays starring role in Joe Biden’s presidential campaign

During a campaign swing through Iowa this week, Joe Biden mentioned that his family recently dined with former President Barack Obama’s family. At a Houston fundraiser, Biden joked about the infamous expletive he deployed in congratulating Obama’s health care victory. And Biden recently tweeted an image of Joe and Barack friendship bracelets.

The message is clear: Biden really wants you to know he’s still friends with Obama.

He’s betting that by dangling nostalgia for the Obama years before Democrats, he can help rebuild the diverse national coalition that twice propelled Obama to victory. Obama hasn’t backed any of the two dozen Democrats running for president, and Biden’s advisers insist that his 2020 bid is his own. But for now, Obama is playing a starring role in Biden’s message.

“It’s a nomination strategy, and it’s pretty rich in its benefits,” David Axelrod, Obama’s chief political strategist, said of Biden’s frequent references to Obama. “The fact that he had Obama’s back is particularly meaningful to African American voters. And I think if he gets this nomination that is going to be the reason why.”

Seven weeks after launching his campaign, the 76-year-old leads his party’s crowded presidential field with virtually every key demographic, including African Americans, who play a critical role in the nomination process. Some prominent Democrats believe that Biden’s connection to the nation’s first black president may be why.

But some skeptics believe Biden’s early success is simply a reflection of his fame and will crumble under more scrutiny.

“He’s assuming that being associated with Barack Obama will bring him the Barack Obama coalition — a multiracial coalition,” said Aimee Allison, founder of She the People, a national network focused on women of color. “It just simply doesn’t translate.”

On the ground in South Carolina, where African Americans dominate the first Southern primary, state lawmaker Gilda Cobb-Hunter said Biden’s association with Obama may be effective in winning over older African American voters. But it’s going to take much more to stand out among a talented Democratic field over the long term, she said.

“If that’s his whole game, he’s going to have to step his game up,” said Cobb-Hunter, who serves as the president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.

Nina Turner, co-chair of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, said it’s offensive to think black voters would support Biden simply because of his association with Obama.

“The voters deserve more than that,” said Turner, who is African American.

“I have yet to hear one person say they’re going to vote for somebody because of a relationship they had with Barack Obama. If anything, that notion is insulting,” she said. “The question is what you’re going to do for the black community when you have the power in the face of a recalcitrant GOP.”

Although he has not endorsed a candidate, Obama issued a statement through a spokeswoman upon Biden’s entry into the campaign noting, “President Obama has long said selecting Joe Biden as his running mate in 2008 was one of the best decisions he ever made”— a plug from the popular former president no other candidate can boast.

Similarly, no other candidate can claim having handled delicate administration functions, such as administering the roughly $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was credited with creating millions of jobs at a time the U.S. economy was in crisis.
“I was proud to work with him together on the Recovery Act, which kept us going into a depression in my view and the view of a lot of economists,” Biden told the audience in Davenport, prompting a swell of cheers.

Biden’s team suggests his message is about much more than Obama.

Indeed, Biden in recent weeks has released detailed policy prescriptions for education and the environment. He’s also outlined his own rationale for running, which centers on the rise of white supremacy and hate under President Donald Trump’s leadership.

Yet Biden’s advisers say he cannot ignore his experience in the White House, which helps him stand out in a far less experienced Democratic field.

Biden talks about his service as vice president and his relationship in front of every audience because “it’s a critical part of who he is,” said Biden adviser Anita Dunn, who also previously worked for Obama.

“It was a genuinely close relationship and it continues. They definitely have stayed in touch,” Dunn added, noting that they shared “eight years of accomplishment, eight years of battles to do what was right for the American people, eight years of shared values.”

Biden pollster John Anzalone noted that Biden and Obama shared some major accomplishments, but he said, “It’s important that from Day 1, Joe Biden has laid out his own vision, his motivation for getting into the race, why he’s running and what he wants to do.”

“This is wholly Joe Biden’s own run,” Anzalone said.

Back in Iowa on Tuesday night, Biden reflected on the successes he shared with Obama, including the rescue package that saved the American auto industry from financial ruin. He drew the biggest applause of the day when he compared Obama’s character to Trump’s.
“Barack Obama was a president of extraordinary character and decency,” Biden said as hundreds of Democrats leapt to their feet. “For eight years, there wasn’t one single hint of scandal.”

The post Barack Obama nostalgia plays starring role in Joe Biden’s presidential campaign appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2WIgvXy
via

OPINION: Celebrating Pride must go beyond the rainbow flag and diversity lip service

House hearing on reparations for slavery set for next week with Ta-Nehisi Coates

The topic of reparations for slavery is headed to Capitol Hill for its first hearing in more than a decade with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and actor Danny Glover set to testify before a House panel.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is scheduled to hold the hearing next Wednesday, its stated purpose “to examine, through open and constructive discourse, the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its continuing impact on the community and the path to restorative justice.” The date of the hearing, June 19, coincides with Juneteenth, a cultural holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved blacks in America.

Former Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the longtime sponsor of House Resolution 40, first proposed the measure calling for a study of reparations in 1989. Conyers reintroduced the bill every session until his resignation in 2017.

Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, the resolution’s new sponsor, introduced it earlier this year and pushed for next week’s hearing. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in February that she supports a reparations study, a topic that hasn’t been the subject of a House hearing since 2007.

Reparations had been a fringe issue and occasional punchline until Coates’ 2014 essay in The Atlantic, “The Case for Reparations,” thrust the topic back into the national discourse. Glover, an activist as well as the star of the “Lethal Weapon” movies and the classics “The Color Purple” and “A Rage in Harlem,” has spoken in favor of the issue for years.

In an interview with Coates as he prepared to leave office, President Barack Obama questioned the implementation of reparations but not the concept. And in a conversation Coates had earlier this year with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the popular progressive endorsed reparations.

The reparations debate became part of the 2020 presidential race early, as several Democratic presidential primary candidates signaled their support for compensating the descendants of slaves, though not in the traditional sense of direct payouts to black Americans. Most have been vague on more specific ideas, but they have instead offered policies addressing economic inequality that could disproportionately benefit blacks.

The post House hearing on reparations for slavery set for next week with Ta-Nehisi Coates appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/31uU7zH
via

Boston museum hires firm to investigate racism reports from Black students

Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts has hired an outside law firm to investigate reports that a group of minority middle school students was subjected to racism by staff and patrons during a field trip last month.

Museum leadership in a statement Wednesday said former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger of Casner & Edwards LLC will lead the review.

The museum conducted its own investigation, which led to two patrons being banned for alleged disparaging remarks during the May 16 visit.

But the museum says “we came to the decision that an investigation by an external party could provide greater objectivity and clarity.”

Principal Arturo Forrest of the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy in Boston said museum security followed his students while leaving white students alone.

The post Boston museum hires firm to investigate racism reports from Black students appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2WHjye4
via

Police, angry crowd face off after Black man fatally shot in family’s front yard in Memphis by US Marshalls

Armed officers and an angry crowd faced off after a Tennessee man was fatally shot by U.S. Marshals in a working-class Memphis neighborhood.

People in the crowd threw rocks and bricks, with 25 officers suffering mostly minor injuries during the tense clash Wednesday night in the Frayser community in north Memphis.

Officers cordoned off several blocks near the scene. By 11 p.m., officers had used tear gas and most of the crowd dispersed, police director Michael Rallings said at a Thursday morning at a news conference. Three people were arrested.

Officers on horseback patrolled the area, and lines of police cars with flashing blue lights were parked along the street. An ambulance could be seen at the outer edge of the scene. A helicopter flew overhead as police cars trickled away. Residential streets were blocked, and a heavy police presence remained in the area Thursday.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said its agents were called to the scene of a shooting involving a regional anti-crime task force. TBI spokeswoman Keli McAlister said the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force went to a Frayser home to look for a suspect with felony warrants. Marshals saw the man get into a vehicle and then proceed to ram police vehicles several times before exiting with a weapon, McAlister said. Police then opened fire, killing the man who died at the scene. McAlister did not say how many marshals fired or how many times the man was shot.

One local official identified the victim as Brandon Webber and said he was shot several times in his family’s front yard. Family members confirmed to the Daily Memphian that the 21-year-old Webber died.

In identifying Webber on Twitter early Thursday, Shelby County Commissioner and mayoral candidate Tami Sawyer said “Every life lost should matter…every single one. How many times will this be ok? It cannot continue to be.”

After the shooting, protesters began yelling at police and they threw rocks and bricks at officers. Police cars and a nearby fire station were damaged, Rallings said.

Officers donned protective riot gear as the situation escalated.

TBI is called in to investigate police-involved shootings by district attorneys in Shelby and other counties in the state. TBI investigators then give their report to the district attorney, who will decide whether to pursue charges against officers involved.

Rallings, the police director, implored residents to wait until the TBI finishes its investigation before spreading possible misinformation about the shooting. “I need everyone to stay calm,” he said.

While police have been supportive of past protests, Rallings said, he added that “we will not allow any acts of violence.”

Passion Anderson, a 34-year old student, brought her 13-year-old son to the scene early Thursday, after protesters had gone and the scene had calmed down. She grew up in Memphis, but left to Ohio before moving in November to the Frayser neighborhood, a mostly low- to middle-income area with modest single-family homes and apartments.
Anderson said she worried about her son’s safety every day in Memphis which like other large cities, struggles with violent crime.

“I just want him to see this, know what’s going on, to be conscious,” she said, sitting in the driver’ seat of her car, with her son in the passenger seat. “I fear for him all the time.”

The post Police, angry crowd face off after Black man fatally shot in family’s front yard in Memphis by US Marshalls appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2RdO11U
via

Felix Kirwa: Kenyan marathon runner banned after failing doping test

Kenyan marathon runner Felix Kirwa is suspended from competition for nine months after testing positive for a banned stimulant.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2WI28CP
via

20 Last-Minute Father's Day Gift Ideas and Deals (2019)

Whether you just forgot or procrastinated, don't worry. We found some great last-minute deals on gifts Dad will love.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2MKTij6
via

The Newest Haven for Cryptocurrency Companies? Wyoming

The nation's least-populous state has enacted 13 laws in the past two years to welcome blockchain and cryptocurrency companies.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2Xe3OTQ
via

Algeria drop footballer over moony

Algeria drop Haris Belkebla from its squad for the Africa Cup of Nations after a video of him exposing his backside emerged on social media.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2WH1ENk
via

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

5 Marketing Outreach Tips for Entrepreneurs In 2019

If you are a small business owner committed to increasing revenue, developing marketing outreach campaigns is critical. What is marketing outreach? It’s a purposeful strategy to reach your target audience/market and bring awareness to that audience of the value of your product or services.

How quickly your small business grows is directly related to the effort you put into planning and executing audience outreach. There are a number of brand development and customer acquisition plans you should have in place for maximum business growth this year.

Tips for Successful Marketing Outreach Campaigns

Search Engine Marketing

One of the first outreach campaigns every small business owner should plan is their search engine marketing campaign. SEO (search engine optimization) is essential for long-term business survival. Everything from voice SEO (to take advantage of voice-activated searches) to image description, SEO should be integrated into your search engine marketing strategy.

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is another vital element small business owners should focus their efforts on for maximum impact. A growing number of consumers are going mobile-only with their smartphone becoming their only means of accessing the internet. If you hope to attract mobile-enabled consumers to your small business, it is imperative you develop a detailed mobile marketing strategy for your company.

Content Marketing

Small business content marketing is no longer optional. If you are not creating engaging and helpful content for your small business, prepare to lose sales to savvier competitors who understand the power and potential of content creation. Make sure your content marketing strategy contains everything from text-based content to visual marketing options like video and infographics.

Landing Page Marketing

Landing pages are a powerful tool for small business owners wanting to increase their company’s conversion rates. Consider integrating landing page optimization into multiple aspects of your small business including e-commerce sales and social media marketing. Creating landing pages for customer outreach campaigns can significantly increase your conversion rate and increase your profits at the same time.

Social Media Marketing

Speaking of social media marketing, how you develop your small business social networking strategy is essential for increased growth rates. Understand who your target customers are, which social networks they use, and how they prefer to be marketed to on social media. Create a cohesive social media marketing plan for your small business and you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to convert social media connections into paying customers for your small business.

Focus your efforts on these five marketing outreach tips for small business owners and you’ll be impressed at the ROI (return on investment) of your campaigns. Building a successful and profitable small business isn’t easy, but the rewards are definitely worth the effort when you turn your dream into a thriving company of your own.

from Black Enterprise http://bit.ly/31tazRi
via

Jigsaw Bought a Russian Twitter Troll Campaign as an Experiment

In a controversial move, the Alphabet-owned tech firm played both sides of an online argument in Russia with the aim of testing disinformation-for-hire services.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2ZoaAUr
via

Comic Relief to cut back on celebrity appeals after Stacey Dooley row

Co-founder Richard Curtis's pledge comes after the row over Stacey Dooley's visit to Uganda.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2XehXAN
via

Eleanor Lutz Data Visualizations

from Wired http://bit.ly/2I94npD
via

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt demands answers in the death of Army vet with missing brain, heart and throat

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt is demanding answers in the mysterious death of a Black father and Army vet who sought to settle an old DUI warrant.

Merritt and the family have questions about how the man’s body was returned to the family missing vital organs and his throat.

—Coroner defends handling of case of vet whose family received remains minus organs—

Everett Palmer’s family has been fighting to get answers for the past two years after he drove to Lancaster County from New York to deal with a DUI warrant in 2016. But after being stonewalled by authorities, the Palmer family secured Merritt to press York County officials on how their son ended up dead in two days and why his brain, heart and throat were missing.

On Tuesday, the father of two’s mother Rose Palmer said during a press conference at the Maranatha Baptist Church in Queens Village, that she believes foul play played a factor.

“I think he was murdered. I think he was murdered.”

However, despite Palmer’s unexplained absence of his organs, York County officials contend that his missing organs doesn’t mean there was foul play, The NY Daily News reports.

“At no time were the remains ‘missing,’” York County Coroner Pamela Gay said in a statement Friday. “We did advise the family through their attorney at the time that the organs referenced, the heart, brain and throat, had been retained by FPA (Forensic Pathology Associates) for further investigation.”

Gay claims Palmer died after he become agitated and banged his head repeatedly against a cell door in the York County Prison.

But Merritt said officials have dragged their feet on getting information to the family on Palmer’s exact cause of death and what happened to his organs.

“After 14 months, there has been no explanation to what happened to Everett Palmer,” Merritt told reporters. “The information that we’ve been receiving, in a very piecemeal style, tells us that Everett Palmer was Tased, restrained, and outside factors; other persons involved in causing his death.”

“Most of the information in a recorded facility is available via video,” Merritt said. “There is no reason that there should be an absence of a narrative like we have here, 14 months later.”

—JAIL HORROR: Family desperate after Black father dies in jail with his brain, heart and throat removed—

In October 2018, the family learned by the pathologist that they hired that Palmer’s brain, heart and throat were missing.

“They made inquiries, they weren’t given straight answers,” Merritt said. “They later changed that and said the vital organs were in private facilities, We still have not had an opportunity to turn in the organs they say they do have for DNA testing.”

Gay said since the story broke which coincided with the anniversary of Palmer’s death, she e (had) the stature of a giant, but he had the heart and temperament of a teddy bear,” his brother Troy Palmer said. “We referred to him as a gentle giant.”

The post Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt demands answers in the death of Army vet with missing brain, heart and throat appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2ICCUvO
via

Community outraged after video shows Black father punched by police

Columbus police are investigating an incident caught on camera where a father-of-two was punched in the face by police for what they claim was a failure to adhere to a cop’s demands.

—How reality TV show helped ID former University of Florida football player as wife’s killer in cold case—

Jonathan Robinson, 25, pushed back on officer Carl Harmon’s commands to “get back” in a video confrontation that shows Robinson following a woman crossing a road, who is said to be his wife.

The woman who was carrying their two children was stopped by cops before the conflict occurred.

Robinson refused to move, prompting the cop to yell:

“Get back!”

“Or what?” Robinson retorts.

A second officer, Anthony L. Johnson, jumps into the fold and approaches Robinson with a shotgun, The Columbus Dispatch reports.

Johnson also orders Robinson to back away. When Robinson refuses to follow the command the officer then shoves him back with his hand.

“Get the f*** off me!” Robinson yells.

Johnson then punches Robinson in the face and then the father of two was handcuffed and arrested.

On Monday, Columbus police in an effort to ensure transparency released almost an hour of video footage of the incident.

Police Chief Thomas Quinlan sided with the officers saying the police were protecting bystanders because guns were drawn.

—JAIL HORROR: Family desperate after Black father dies in jail with his brain, heart and throat removed—

The post Community outraged after video shows Black father punched by police appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2IEmCSS
via

Boo’d Up: Wendy Williams boasts about her new younger man and living her best single life

Canon Ivy Cliq Review: How It Compares to Instax

Canon's latest instant camera prints photos that are a lot of fun, but not fine art.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2WETxAL
via

Cloudflare’s Five-Year Project to Protect Nonprofits Online

Cloudflare's Project Galileo has helped vulnerable organizations fend off DDoS and other attacks for the last five years.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2F2vgd2
via

A $100M Bet That Online Coaching Can Make a Better Manager

BetterUp wants to bring data to human resources, and create more fulfilled employees.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2wQA54Q
via

Women's World Cup: From meat-packer to South Africa coach

South Africa manager Desiree Ellis reflects on apartheid, battling stereotypes and overcoming hardship.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/31v8NPl
via

Women's World Cup 2019: Nigeria's Faith Michael out of tournament

Nigeria suffer an injury blow with veteran defender Faith Michael ruled out of the rest of the 2019 Women's World Cup in France.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2XLNvLm
via

Russia Targets Tinder as a Warning to Facebook and Twitter

Tinder last week agreed to store data in Russia and comply with government information requests. Analysts say the regime was sending a message to other online players.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2ICT7B1
via

The Next Big Privacy Hurdle? Teaching AI to Forget

Opinion: The inability to forget doesn’t only impact personal privacy—it could also lead to real problems for our global security.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2ZjDyoC
via

How Ava DuVernay Made Sure the Central Park Five Were Finally ‘Seen’

The filmmaker’s riveting documentary "When They See Us" tells the story of five men convicted—wrongly—of rape. It brings the story to life in new ways.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2WEQU1L
via

School district apologizes for cutting valedictorian’s mic after she mentions Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin murders

After a woke high school valedictorian had her mic cut off by the school’s principal because she referenced Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin during her remarks the Texas school district found itself in the midst of a social media firestorm.

—Meek Mill, now a soldier for reform, gets recognition for his stance against injustice in the system—

On Monday, the Dallas Independent School District released a statement about Valedictorian Rooha Haghar, of the Emmett J. Conrad High School, saying the student infused remarks in her speech that were not approved by the administration.

“As a result, the principal made the decision to limit the student’s remarks,” the statement read.

“In hindsight, we realize this decision may not have been reflective of the core values we teach our students, as we work to educate leaders of tomorrow. For that, we apologize.”

Haghar took to Twitter and made headlines after she posted the video showing when her principal signaled to cut her mic in the middle of her speech after she mentioned the two slain African-American boys, The NY Daily News reports.

“To the kids that were murdered in senseless mass shootings. To Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and all the other children who became victims of injustice,” she said in her speech.

On Twitter she explained that her moment to shine was dimmed by the principal’s decision to mute her.

“Our principal signaled for my mic to be turned off as soon as i said ‘trayvon martin and tamir rice’ and played it off as a technical difficulty. Pathetic,” she wrote on June 3.

my valedictorian speech was cut short because i said the names of black children who had become victims of police brutality. our principal signaled for my mic to be turned off as soon as i said “trayvon martin and tamir rice” and played it off as a technical difficulty. pathetic. pic.twitter.com/9upW3dZ7Mg
— روحا (@ItsRoohaHaghar) June 3, 2019

Haghar admits “[she] made a conscious choice and [she] stands behind that choice.”

—Race, power, drive: Elaine Welteroth shares all in new book—

The post School district apologizes for cutting valedictorian’s mic after she mentions Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin murders appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2RahSs0
via

These Sumptuous Images Give Deep Space Data an Old-World Look

Eleanor Lutz is a biologist with a knack for producing visually rich data visualizations. She released her latest series, Atlas of Space, this month.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2ZltnzM
via

The Cold War Project That Pulled Climate Science From the Ice

A top secret US nuke installation in Greenland was supposed to end with 600 missiles aimed at the USSR. Instead it opened the door to a huge breakthrough in climate research.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2XEM29u
via

Federal lawsuit: Arkansas voting system dilutes Black rights

The voting system for electing judges to Arkansas’ top courts violates black residents’ rights by diluting the strength of their votes, according to a federal lawsuit filed by civil rights lawyers.

The lawsuit filed Monday says that because the state’s seven Supreme Court justices are elected statewide, instead of by district, the white voting bloc overpowers the votes of black Arkansas residents. The suit says that’s why no black judge has ever been elected to the court.

The lawsuit points to several cases in which a black candidate was supported by a majority of black voters in an election, but was defeated by a white candidate supported by a majority of white voters.

Instead, lawyers suggest the state should change the voting system for Supreme Court justices by creating electoral districts, for which black voters “in at least one district would constitute a majority of the voting-age population.”

The suit also alleges that voting by districts for the state’s 12 appellate judges lumps all black voters into a single electoral district, reducing the strength of the population’s vote. Similar to its Supreme Court proposal, the lawsuit proposes creating two voting districts for appellate judge elections in which black voters are the majority.

A spokeswoman said state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is reviewing the complaint and considering next steps.

Lawyers for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed the lawsuit on behalf of three voters and two statewide organizations.

In Mississippi, a federal lawsuit filed by four voters two weeks ago alleged the state’s system for electing its governor is aimed at preventing the election of black candidates.

The post Federal lawsuit: Arkansas voting system dilutes Black rights appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2IAwsFE
via

Race, power, drive: Elaine Welteroth shares all in new book

When she was about to graduate from college, Elaine Welteroth came up with a life plan: She’d hit the top of a magazine masthead, then move into TV, books, film and beyond.
She wasn’t messing around. The 32-year-old is way ahead of schedule after making firsts at Teen Vogue, both as beauty-health director and top editor, and then checking off “book” on Tuesday with the release of her memoir, “More Than Enough.”

“I think I’ve always been an ambitious person. I had this kind of blueprint in my mind of what success would look like,” Welteroth told The Associated Press ahead of the book’s debut. “The thing what I didn’t predict was just how fast the magazine part would happen.”
In 2016, to fanfare, Welteroth was named editor in chief of Teen Vogue, making her the youngest and only the second person of African American heritage in Condé Nast’s 107-year history to hold such a title. But she was only getting started, transforming the dusty property into an engaging platform for activism, inclusion, politics and social justice, and earning rock star status among young fans as she helped steer Teen Vogue into the digital age.

She developed the Teen Vogue Summit, bringing together young change-makers to soak up the words of elders Hillary Clinton and Maxine Waters, along with peer idols Yara Shahidi, Rowan Blanchard and others.

“We were able to help change the way many adults think about young people, who for too long have been underestimated and thought of as the selfie generation,” Welteroth said. “They are much more concerned about the issues impacting our world and how they can change them than we’ve ever given them credit for.”

The first summit played out amid hard times for the magazine industry. Teen Vogue’s print edition folded in late 2017 and Welteroth resigned soon after. Her frank retelling of those days includes some dark moments of ill health and personal frustrations for the self-avowed perfectionist and workaholic.

“Burnout is real,” said the small-town Northern California native, looking back on her wider-eyed era after 11 years in the media business. That includes a stop at Ebony magazine.

Still struggling with workaholic tendencies, Welteroth remains committed to telling stories of the under-represented, just as she was at Teen Vogue. Only now, she’s doing it not as the youngest or the first, but with friends and acquaintances named Ava (Duvernay), Shonda (Rhymes) and Lena (Waithe), having already earned a farewell hug and blessings from the person who took her career next level when she invited her into the “Condé Castle,” Anna Wintour.

“I have this arsenal of powerful, creative black women who are excelling in their careers, and it’s amazing to be alive right now. There’s never been a better time to be an empowered woman,” Welteroth said.

Duvernay wrote the foreword to the book, published by Viking, concluding that Welteroth’s story, at least thus far, points to the value of “knowing that the bad is our choice and the good is our choice. And to work to choose the good. Every day. In every way.”

Welteroth, also a judge on Bravo’s rejuvenated “Project Runway,” hopes to lift others as she was lifted by her mentors of color. Only now, she’s not struggling to make it to the table, and she’s not the first at the table. She’s building her own table as a free agent.
“There’s so much more to do,” said Welteroth, her signature aviator glasses in place, long curls pulled back as she chatted about the future. “Sometimes when you’re a first, it’s a mixed bag of sorts because it reminds you of so much more progress we have to make.”
Welteroth’s book takes us back to Newark, California, where she grew up working class, one of two children of a white father, Jack, and a black mother, Debra. She said her parents were committed to keeping black culture alive in their home in a predominantly white enclave skirting the southern edge of the San Francisco Bay.

Her parents, Welteroth said, have diametrically opposed backgrounds,

Debra a child of the Baptist church and backwoods Georgia who loves singing gospel and worked as a typist, and Jack a chain-smoking, guitar-playing hippie wild child and ex-carpenter who cussed like a sailor and drank a little too much.

The mixed-race experience, Welteroth said, is an identity that goes underexplored in our culture.

“My mother and my father decided before their children were born that they were going to raise black children because it would just be easier that way, and they wanted to make things simple for us,” said Welteroth, who identifies as a black woman.

“But as children who didn’t understand the nuances of race in America, when that Census card would come around every year, as a little tiny act of rebellion, my brother and I would check both black and white. We didn’t understand why we would have to choose one when we are both.”

Welteroth has come to embrace her biracial status as one of her “superpowers,” along with an ability to empathize with and understand many world views. She also has come to realize, as a mixed-race person, “whether you acknowledge it or not, you have some measure of white privilege and therefore you will have access to certain spaces that you can operate in almost as an undercover change agent.”

Bridging divides is part of her life plan, between black and white, beauty and politics, young and old, and especially among women.

“This book is about lighting torches,” Welteroth said. “This book I hope will inspire young women to dream a little bit bigger and to support other women as you go.”

The post Race, power, drive: Elaine Welteroth shares all in new book appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2IaOKxZ
via

Ghana security forces rescue Canadian women hostages

The women, aged 19 and 20, were working as volunteers for a Toronto-based charity.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2I9aL08
via

Brighton's Nigerian footballers on why they miss their home comforts

Brighton and Hove Albion's Leon Balogun and Ini-Abasi Umotong play table football and have a chat.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/31rGTDP
via

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Caster Semenya wins 2,000m at the Meeting de Montreui

Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya cruises to victory at 2,000m at the Meeting de Montreui - her first race since filing an appeal against the IAAF's ruling to restrict testosterone levels in female runners.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2ZmTvuh
via

Engineers set the standards

It might not seem consequential now, but in 1863, Scientific American weighed in on a pressing technological issue: the standardization of screw threads in U.S. machine shops. Given standard-size threads — the ridges running around screws and bolts — screws missing from machinery could be replaced with hardware from any producer. But without a standard, fixing industrial equipment would be harder or even impossible.

Moreover, Great Britain had begun standardizing the size of screw threads, so why couldn’t the U.S.? After energetic campaigning by a mechanical engineer named William Sellers, both the U.S. Navy and the Pennsylvania Railroad got on board with the idea, greatly helping standardization take hold.

Why did it matter? The latter half of the 1800s was an unprecedented time of industrial expansion. But the products and tools of the time were not necessarily uniform. Making them compatible served as an accelerant for industrialization. The standardization of screw threads was a signature moment in this process — along with new standards for steam boilers (which had a nasty habit of exploding) and for the steel rails used in train tracks.

Moreover, what goes for 19th-century hardware goes for hundreds of things used in daily life today. From software languages to batteries, transmission lines to power plants, cement, and more, standardization still helps fuel economic growth.

“Everything around us is full of standards,” says JoAnne Yates, the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT. “None of us could function without standards.”

But how did this all come about? One might expect government treaties to be essential for global standards to exist. But time and again, Yates notes, industrial standards are voluntary and have the same source: engineers. Or, more precisely, nongovernmental standard-setting bodies dominated by engineers, which work to make technology uniform across borders.

“On one end of a continuum is government regulation, and on the other are market forces, and in between is an invisible infrastructure of organizations that helps us arrive at voluntary standards without which we couldn’t operate,” Yates says.

Now Yates is the co-author of a new history that makes the role of engineers in setting standards more visible than ever. The book, “Engineering Rules: Global Standard Setting since 1880,” is being published this week by Johns Hopkins University Press. It is co-authored by Yates, who teaches in the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Craig N. Murphy, who is the Betty Freyhof Johnson ’44 Professor of International Relations at Wellesley College.

Joint research project

As it happens, Murphy is also Yates’ husband — and, for the first time, they have collaborated on a research project.

“He’s a political scientist and I’m a business historian, but we had said throughout our careers, ‘Some day we should write a book together,’” Yates says. When it crossed their radar as a topic, the evolution of standards “immediately appealed to both of us,” she adds. “From Craig’s point of view, he studies global governance, which also includes nongovernmental institutions like this. I saw it as important because of the way firms play a role in it.”

As Yates and Murphy see it, there have been three distinct historical “waves” of technological standardization. The first, the late 19th- and early 20th-century industrial phase, was spurred by the professionalization of engineering itself. Those engineers were trying to impose order on a world far less organized than ours: Although the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to set standards, a U.S. National Bureau of Standards was not created until 1901, when there were still 25 different basic units of length — such as “rods” — being used in the country.

Much of this industrial standardization occured country by country. But by the early 20th century, engineers ramped up their efforts to make standards international — and some, like the British engineer Charles le Maistre, a key figure in the book, were very aspirational about global standards.

“Technology evangelists, like le Maistre, spread the word about the importance of standardizing and how technical standards should transcend politics and transcend national boundaries,” Yates says, adding that many had a “social movement-like fervor, feeling that they were contributing to the common good. They even thought it would create world peace.”

It didn’t. Still, the momentum for standards created by Le Maistre carried into the post-World War II era, the second wave detailed in the book. This new phase, Yates notes, is exemplified by the creation of the standardized shipping container, which made world-wide commerce vastly easier in terms of logistics and efficiency.

“This second wave was all about integrating the global market,” Yates says.

The third and most recent wave of standardization, as Yates and Murphy see it, is centered on information technology — where engineers have once again toiled, often with a sense of greater purpose, to develop global standards.

To some degree this is an MIT story; Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, moved to MIT to establish a global standards consortium for the web, W3C, which was founded in 1994, with the Institute’s backing. More broadly, Yates and Murphy note, the era is marked by efforts to speed up the process of standard-setting, “to respond to a more rapid pace of technological change” in the world.

Setting a historical standard

Intriguingly, as Yates and Murphy document, many efforts to standardize technologies required firms and business leaders to put aside their short-term interests for a longer-term good — whether for a business, an industry, or society generally.

“You can’t explain the standards world entirely by economics,” Yates says. “And you can’t explain the standards world entirely by power.”

Other scholars regard the book as a significant contribution to the history of business and globalization. Yates and Murphy “demonstrate the crucial impact of private and informal standard setting on our daily lives,” according to Thomas G. Weiss, a professor of international relations and global governance at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Weiss calls the book “essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the major changes in the global economy.”

For her part, Yates says she hopes readers will, among other things, reflect on the idealism and energy of the engineers who regarded international standards as a higher cause.

“It is a story about engineers thinking they could contribute something good for the world, and then putting the necessary organizations into place.” Yates notes. “Standardization didn’t create world peace, but it has been good for the world.”

from MIT News http://bit.ly/2IyWadz
via

Richard Grundy: Leading Youth On A Tech JOURNi

BE Modern Man: Richard Grundy

Nonprofit founder and executive, 36, CEO of JOURNi

Twitter: @mrrichgrundy; Instagram: @mrrichgrundy

I cofounded JOURNi along with a fellow BE Modern Man Brian McKinney and Quiessence Phillips. JOURNi’s a nonprofit that focuses on empowering young Detroiters in underserved communities through tech education, design thinking, and entrepreneurship through courses, programs, and events that we facilitate. What makes our org a bit different is that we don’t only teach our students how to build web projects but also how to monetize that skillset on their own through freelancing and entrepreneurship. We also bring in different tech professionals and entrepreneurs, through a speaker series, who can identify with our students and the challenges they may face outside of the classroom. In 2018 alone, we’ve helped to introduce close to 3,000 students to coding.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF IN LIFE?

At this point in my life, I’m most proud of the impact we’re making at JOURNi. We’ve come from running our first program in 2016 to introducing close to 3,000 kids to coding last year. Along the way, we’ve been able to garner support from the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, The Skillman Foundation, United Way for Southeastern Michigan, Ford, Microsoft, and Google among others. We’ve come a long way in how we impact our community and I know that we’ll get better.

HOW HAVE YOU TURNED STRUGGLE INTO SUCCESS?

JOURNi was a part of an accelerator program where I had the opportunity to pitch for a $50,000 grant for the organization. I’ve always struggled with public speaking and it definitely was not a strength in the past. I absolutely bombed the pitch. I didn’t let that consume me that day and continued to make lasting connections on a one-on-one basis with attendees for the remainder of the event. Those connections turned into relationships with people who still support and partner with JOURNi until this day. I’ve also greatly improved my public speaking since then and look forward to any opportunity to do so when talking about JOURNi and the problem that we’re focused on solving.

WHO WAS YOUR GREATEST MALE ROLE MODEL AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM HIM?

I wouldn’t pick any one person, but I would say that I actually learn a lot from my peers and leaders in my area that came before that I get to work with. I’ve learned a lot in the last few years as far as what it means to be a youth developer, how one can carry oneself while in the work and what it means to actually be present.

I’m also learning how the black male leaders that I really admire are all approachable and treat everyone with the same respect regardless of their influence.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE MANHOOD?

I define manhood as understanding the responsibility that a man has to his family and community and proudly carrying out that responsibility. Whether that’s protecting or providing for his family or educating those that came after him, [it means] understanding that there is a responsibility and carrying that with honor.

HOW ARE YOU PAYING IT FORWARD TO SUPPORT OTHER BLACK MALES?

With JOURNi, we support black males through our coding and entrepreneurship programming. This gives me the opportunity to teach young black men a skill that can generate income and then we take it a step further and show them how to actually monetize the skillset through freelance work. We’ve also sponsored a black college tour for two of our earlier black male students. In addition, I’m a part of the campaign for black male achievement Black Male Equity Initiative fellowship in Detroit. After completing the fellowship, I’ll be able to help transfer some of the knowledge learned to the next cohort.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING A BLACK MAN?

I think that black men have done some amazing things in American history and continue to do amazing things today. I don’t take lightly the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of those great men from the past to impact and teach in our community or the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with my current peers impacting the community now. Knowing what was accomplished in the past by these men and that we come from the same stock helps to motivate me in my work today.

It’s truly an honor to be recognized as a BE Modern Man of Distinction. I remember years ago entering a Black Enterprise hackathon, which subsequently introduced to me to a black tech community in New York and helped shaped the way I look at community and the work I do today back home in Detroit.

It’s amazing how things come full circle.

BE Modern Man is an online and social media campaign designed to celebrate black men making valuable contributions in every profession, industry, community, and area of endeavor. Each year, we solicit nominations in order to select men of color for inclusion in the 100 Black Enterprise Modern Men of Distinction. Our goal is to recognize men who epitomize the BEMM credo “Extraordinary is our normal” in their day-to-day lives, presenting authentic examples of the typical black man rarely seen in mainstream media. The BE Modern Men of Distinction are celebrated annually at Black Men XCEL (www.blackenterprise.com/blackmenxcel/). Click this link to submit a nomination for BE Modern Man: https://www.blackenterprise.com/nominate/. Follow BE Modern Man on Twitter: @bemodernman and Instagram: @be_modernman.

from Black Enterprise http://bit.ly/2KeJRGy
via

Spike Lee’s classic film, ‘Do The Right Thing’ makes its return to theaters

How racist housing contracts stole $4 billion dollars in wealth from Black families

New Report: 23 percent of young Black women now identify as bisexual

THE CONVERSATION – Since 1972, social scientists have studied the General Social Survey to chart the complexities of social change in the United States.

The survey, which is conducted every couple years, asks respondents their attitudes on topics ranging from race relations to drug use. In 2008, the survey started including a question on sexual identity.

As sociologists who study sexuality, we’ve noticed how more and more women are reporting that they’re bisexual. But in the most recent survey, one subset stood out: 23% of Black women in the 18 to 34 age group identified as bisexual – a proportion that’s nearly three times higher than it was a decade ago.

What forces might be fueling this shift? And what can learn from it?

Bisexuality among women is on the rise

In the 10 years that the General Social Survey has included a question on sexual identity, rates of identification among gay men, lesbian women and bisexual men in the U.S. haven’t changed much.

Bisexual identifying women, on the other hand, account for virtually all of the growth among those who say they’re lesbian, gay or bisexual. Of all of the women who responded to the 2018 survey, more than 1 in 18 identified as bisexual. One decade ago, only 1 in 65 did.

The most dramatic shift among bisexual identifying women is happening among young people. In the 2018 sample, more than 1 in 8 women from the ages of 18 to 34 identified as bisexual. There were more than twice as many young female bisexuals as there were young lesbians, gay men and bisexual men combined.

That’s a large shift – and it all happened in a relatively short period of time.

Add race to the figures and you’ll see that young Black women, in particular, account for a disproportionate share of this shift.

A few years ago, we wrote about how approximately 18% of young Black women identified as lesbian or bisexual in the 2016 General Social Survey sample. That rate was more than two times higher than for white women or other racial groups – and almost four times higher than for men of any racial group.

By 2018, more than 25% of young Black women identified as lesbian or bisexual. And the majority of that change can be accounted for by bisexual-identifying black women.

In other trends, Black women also led the way

Data like these help us to establish a shift is occurring, but they don’t really explain why it’s happening.

Exploring the “why” requires different methods of analysis, and existing studies – like Mignon Moore’s research on gay identity and relationships among black women – can provide some clues.

But beyond this, other demographic research shows that Black women have led the way in other trends related to gender.

Consider the gender gap in college attendance. As early as 1980, Black women began to outpace black men in completion of a four-year college degree. It wasn’t until a decade later that white women started earning college degrees at a higher clip than white men.

And in the first half of the 20th century, more unmarried Black women started having children. Eventually, more unmarried white women started having children, too.

Perhaps when it comes to sexuality, Black women are also ahead of the curve. If that’s the case – and if this trend continues – we might expect women of other races to follow suit.

A shortage of men?

Cultural forces might also play a role.

Sociologists Emma Mishel, Paula England, Jessie Ford and Mónica L. Caudillo also analyzed the General Social Survey. Rather than study sexual identities, they studied sexual behavior. Yet they discovered a similar pattern: Young Black women were more likely to engage in same-sex sexual behavior than women and men in other racial and age groups.

They argue that these shifts speak to a larger truth about American culture: It’s more acceptable for women to spurn gender norms because femininity isn’t valued as highly as masculinity. Since masculinity and heterosexuality are closely intertwined, men might believe they’ll suffer a higher social cost for identifying as bisexual.

Others have pointed to the shortage of men hypothesis to explore young Black women’s decisions about relationships and marriage. This too might explain why young Black women, in particular, seem more willing to explore bisexuality.

According to this argument, fewer “marriageable” men create a need for women to consider options beyond heterosexual relationships or marriage. A traditional marriage isn’t as necessary as it once was; since women have more educational and economic opportunities, they can afford to be pickier or, possibly, to explore same-sex relationships.

Another aspect of the hypothesis involves the disproportionately high rates of incarceration of Black men in the U.S. It’s possible that because Black women are, as a group, more likely to live in areas with smaller “pools of marriageable men,” they’re more open to bisexuality.

We’re less convinced by the shortage of men argument because it ignores the fact that incarceration rates of Black men haven’t increased over the past decade. Yet over this period of time, the percentages of young Black women identifying as bisexual have grown substantially.

The challenge of surveying sexuality

Finding reliable ways of measuring sexual identity on surveys is more difficult than you might think, and the trend could have been spurred by something as simple as the way the question is phrased in the General Social Survey:

“Which of the following best describes you?”

gay, lesbian or homosexual
bisexual
heterosexual or straight
don’t know

Of the roughly 1,400 people who responded to this question on the 2018 GSS survey, only six responded “don’t know.” Another 27 didn’t respond at all.

But everyone else selected one of those three options.

Perhaps some respondents didn’t want to neatly tie themselves to the category of “gay” or “straight.” If this is the case, “bisexual” almost becomes a default fallback.

Either way, one thing seems clear: Young people – especially young Black women – are more willing to explore their sexuality. And the ways they are sexually identifying themselves on surveys is only one indicator of this change.

Tristan Bridges, Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara and Mignon R. Moore, Professor and Chair of Sociology, Barnard College

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The post New Report: 23 percent of young Black women now identify as bisexual appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2XDwpPD
via

Are Facebook Ads Discriminatory? It’s Complicated

The company’s system for targeting ads is under fire for gender and ethnic bias. In some cases, the cure could be worse than the disease.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2I7Lnb7
via

‘Pose’ star Indya Moore gets in scuffle with Trump supporter over re-election sign

Indya Moore, one of the breakout stars of FX’s hit show Pose, got into a dustup with a Trump supporter holding a ‘Re-elect Donald Trump, Keep America Great, 2020’ sign.

—Jussie Smollett pops up on social media for first time since hate crime scandal to celebrate Pride Month—

On friday, Moore was caught on camera snatching the sign from a Dion Cini, who reportedly holds a weekly demonstration with a small group of fellow supporters, across from Trump Tower in New York City.

After Moore snatched the poster out of Cini’s hands, the trans actress stomped on it and seemingly tried to destroy it.

“The actor came over, started kicking a sign, and threw it to the ground,” Cini told DailyMail.com.

Two other people, reportedly friends of Moore, also tried to intervene. Eventually, a cop stepped in to diffuse the situation.

Moore also reportedly said she “didn’t want [Trump supporters as] fans of his show.”

Yesterday Moore took to Twitter to write: “Thank you for loving my community, fighting for us, supporting us fight for ourselves and others who are experiencing an increase of oppression and violence under this current administration.”

Thank you for loving my community, fighting for us, supporting us fight for ourselves and others who are experiencing an increase of oppression and violence under this current administration.
— IAM (@IndyaMoore) June 10, 2019

—Rihanna opens up about her billionaire boyfriend and longing to be a mom “more than anything in life”—

Moore stars as Angel Evangelista on Pose, which returns for season two this week.

The post ‘Pose’ star Indya Moore gets in scuffle with Trump supporter over re-election sign appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2XzUcQm
via

Rihanna opens up about her billionaire boyfriend and longing to be mom “more than anything in life”

Rihanna’s wild, wild thoughts are becoming pretty tame these days.

The 31-year-old singer and beauty and fashion mogul sat down with Sarah Paulson, her Ocean 8 co-star, for Interview magazine to dish about her personal life, including her new man.

—Rihanna makes history as first woman of color to helm own fashion line with LVMH—

“I got into a new relationship, and it matters to me. It was like, ‘I need to make time for this.’ Just like I nurture my businesses, I need to nurture this as well,” she said about her billionaire boyfriend Hassan Jameel.

“I’ll shut things down for two days, three days at a time. On my calendar we now have the infamous ‘P,’ which means personal days. This is a new thing.”

Rih Rih’s ‘P’ also means she’s prioritizing her life goals. While she doesn’t give in to divulging about whether marriage is on the horizon for the super secretive couple, she does say she wants to be a mom “more than anything in life,” PEOPLE reports.

But contrary to popular belief, the Grammy-award winning singer says she’s not secretive on purpose. She says her shyness comes across as confidence.

“People don’t know that I’m shy… because I kind of pretend it’s not happening people read me as being confident,” she confessed. “I still get nervous going to award shows. What is that? I always feel like everybody’s looking at me.”

Well because we are!

As of late, Rihanna’s been racking up wins in other aspects of her life. She broke records by becoming the first woman of color to run a fashion house with Fenty Maison as part of the LVHM Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton company. And Fenty Beauty and her Savage x Fenty lingerie lines are both booming.

—DUP official, who once opposed Rihanna, elected out of office—

As for a new album, Rihanna’s promises new tracks are on the horizon.

“It’s the reason why an album isn’t being spat out like it used to,” she explained about her busy schedule. “I used to be in the studio, only the studio, for three months straight, and an album would come out. Now, it’s like a carousel. I do fashion one day, lingerie the next, beauty the next, then music the next. It’s like having a bunch of kids and you need to take care of them all.”

But when her music does hit the scene, she promises it will be fun for all.

“It really does suck that it can’t just come out, because I’m working on a really fun one right now. I’m really happy with a lot of the material we have so far, but I am not going to put it out until it’s complete,” she said. “It makes no sense to rush it, but I want it out.”

The post Rihanna opens up about her billionaire boyfriend and longing to be mom “more than anything in life” appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2X2IrF6
via

More than 100 villagers safe despite Mali attack

The 108 people are sheltering in a school after attackers killed 95 people in central Mali.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2WCch3R
via

Rapper Scarface gearing up to run for Houston City Council

5 Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs

If you have the goal of becoming a successful entrepreneur, it is crucial you work on improving yourself personally as well as professionally. You can’t hope to achieve long-term business success as an entrepreneur if you aren’t constantly trying to hone the skills necessary to build a viable company. Successful entrepreneurs invest time in becoming better versions of themselves—that tends to build stronger businesses as well as an extensive business network. If this is the year you go all in on entrepreneurial growth, following are five life lessons you ought to learn sooner rather than later.

5 Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs

Manage Your Emotions

An essential skill you need to hone as an entrepreneur is the ability to manage your emotions. Entrepreneurs who overreact or let their emotions get the better of them tend to make rash decisions not based on hard evidence. Learn to control your emotions and you’re likelier to make smart business decisions.

Your Entrepreneurial Story Is Within Your Control

Your story as an entrepreneur is within your control. How you react to challenges, the effort you put into personal and business growth, and your inner motivation all contribute to your entrepreneurial story. If you don’t like how your journey is progressing, it’s up to you to make the necessary changes.

Analyze Your Doubts

Becoming a successful entrepreneur is not without its challenges. There will be many days where you question your own sanity and ask yourself why you chose to be an entrepreneur. If you focus your efforts on analyzing why you feel like quitting or why you are finding a particular situation stressful, you’ll get at the underlying problem. Once you understand what’s really bothering you, chances are good you’ll be able to address the issue and develop a solution.

Manage Your Mental Energy

How you focus your mental energy has a huge impact on your success (or failure) as an entrepreneur. Business builders who focus their thoughts on positive endeavors tend to have greater success rates than those constantly immersed in negativity. Learn how to train your thought patterns to focus on positive, uplifting endeavors and you’ll have a much more enjoyable entrepreneurial journey.

Increase Opportunities for Those in Your Network

If you want to become a more successful entrepreneur, learn how to increase growth opportunities for others around you. If all you ever do is focus on your own growth as an entrepreneur, you won’t develop an extensive network of individuals who want to see you succeed. Learn to lift others up as you attempt to become a better business builder and your odds of developing a formidable social and business network significantly increase.

Focus on learning these five life lessons and you’ll increase your odds of success as an entrepreneur. Work on becoming a better version of yourself and you’ll not only become a stronger entrepreneur, but you’ll also likely build a better company in the process.

from Black Enterprise http://bit.ly/2MEEMJw
via

Your Cadillac Can Now Drive Itself More Places

Cadillac's Super Cruise will shut itself off when the car reaches a tricky spot where a driver needs to pay attention.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2X7V29U
via

Jussie Smollett pops up on social media for first time sense hate crime scandal to celebrate Pride Month

How To Save Text Messages on Your iPhone: 5 Simple Solutions

Here are five ways to back up all of the Messages and SMS conversations stored on your mobile device.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2fplN2I
via

Jada Pinkett Smith on infidelity and breaking free from husband Will’s idea of marriage ‘Our whole life looked like his dream’

Jada Pinkett Smith goes deep on another episode of her hit Facebook talk show, Red Table Talk.

In monday’s episode, the actress took viewers inside her Hollywood marriage and revealed the some of the challenges that she and Will Smith faced as she tried to break free and live her best life independently.

—Will Smith on Jada’s shocking porn admission and how he feels about ‘Red Table Talk’– ‘They be telling all our business’—

Pinkett Smith spoke intimately about her journey to navigate her own wants and needs in her life aside from her marriage to her mega-star husband with a conversation with world-renowned therapist Esther Perel, PEOPLE reports.

“Specifically for me, in regards to redefining my marriage as a life partnership was the necessity of autonomy for myself and for Will,” Pinkett Smith said. “And finding the core of us that wanted to be together outside of the constraints of the traditional ideas of marriage because they weren’t working for us.”

She explained: “We went on that journey to find that autonomy and to find the true authentic bond outside of obligation. I don’t want you to be obligated.”

Pinkett Smith spoke candidly about the hard-fought road to help her husband understand that each of them had their own vision of life.

Pinkett Smith said she felt the pressure of trying to fit in his box.

“You have to be the perfect wife, you have to be the source that supports his dreams, no matter what it is, whatever he wants to build you’re there to support that,” Pinkett Smith said.

She added, “Our whole life looked like his dream. I’m his energy source. That’s great, but I’ve got to create part of this life that is designed and looks like me.”

—Ciara opens up about how she healed relationship scars with Future on ‘Red Table Talk’—

And when Jada started to tell her husband about her dreams and desires, she admits it wasn’t easy for him to accept.

“He felt abandoned at first, he felt really abandoned,” she said. “You never want to hurt the person that you love. You never want to create instability that way.”

“It has been one of the most excruciating processes of my life,” Pinkett Smith said. “I’ve wanted to personally break out of Will needing to be something for me because I felt like that was so unfair. And a lot of it had to do with my father issues. I just realized one day, ‘This man is not your father!’”

Perel chimed in: “Or he’s not meant to be everything your father was not.”

“That was the thing, I was like, ‘[Jada], you gotta grow up. You gotta be a woman. That little girl trauma does not work here.’ That was the work I had to do.”

And while Pinkett Smith said that she and her husband haven’t faced any issues of infidelity in their relationship, the actress said she’s been cheated on and been the one to step out on her own partner in the past.

“I had a really interesting experience when I was younger. I had two relationships before Will that were kind of serious to me, where I got cheated on,” Pinkett Smith recalled. “[It] really broke my heart.”

“And then I cheated on somebody I really cared about and let me tell you, me cheating on someone was more devastating than being cheated on,” ahe added. “It actually taught me to forgive when I got cheated on because I understood.”

According to Pinkett Smith, what she learned from the experience is when she was the one getting cheated on, it wasn’t because of anything she’s done or anything wrong with her.

“When I had to look at myself and why I did it, I realized it had nothing to do with my partner, at all,” she explained.

Pinkett Smith and Perel also talked about the different kinds of betrayal that can jeopardize a marriage, including “contempt, neglect and violence and indifference,” according to the renowned therapist.

“I’m asked a lot about, ‘Is there infidelity in your relationship with Will?’ And it’s like, ‘No, but there have been other betrayals of the heart that have been far bigger than I could even think in regards to an infidelity situation,'” Pinkett Smith shared. “When you talk about contempt, resentment, neglect, it can just tear your world apart.”

Red Table Talk airs Mondays on Facebook Watch.

The post Jada Pinkett Smith on infidelity and breaking free from husband Will’s idea of marriage ‘Our whole life looked like his dream’ appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2I8RHzc
via

Ethiopian woman gives birth and sits exams 30 minutes later

She took the exams in hospital because she did not want to wait another year to graduate.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2WwasRd
via

Beyond Madonna: A More Colorful Picture of Queer History

From Pose to Tales of the City, there's a slew of content telling new stories about the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2wMMjv7
via

New Space Telescopes Could Look Like Giant Beach Balls

Inflatable balloon reflectors could peer into deep space, scanning for signs of water, at a fraction of the cost of a traditional telescope.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2XE3ZEW
via

Fans Are Better Than Tech at Organizing Information Online

Archive of Our Own, the fanfiction database recently nominated for a Hugo, has perfected a system of tagging that the rest of the web could emulate.

from Wired http://bit.ly/2wO2NDk
via

New York City street named for rapper Notorious B.I.G.

A New York City street has been named for rapper Notorious B.I.G.

Community members and elected officials gathered in a downpour on Monday at the intersection of St. James Place and Fulton Street.

Rapper Lil’ Kim — embracing the event’s themes of social justice and making a difference — exclaimed: “We did it, Brooklyn!”

B.I.G., who was born Christopher Wallace, was shot to death in Los Angeles in 1997.
He detailed street life in Brooklyn in songs and on albums that dominated the pop charts.

Voletta Wallace recalled telling a friend amid her heartbreak: “My son was well loved.”
But she said the street naming evoked “happy tears.”

The post New York City street named for rapper Notorious B.I.G. appeared first on theGrio.

from theGrio https://on.thegrio.com/2RaVCP2
via

Botswana decriminalises homosexuality in landmark ruling

The High Court decision is a landmark case and contrasts with Kenya's recent ruling against gay sex.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2Zk48y4
via

Caster Semenya named in South Africa's preliminary squad for World Championships

Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya is named in South Africa's preliminary squad for the World Championships.

from BBC News - Africa https://bbc.in/2XATv9y
via

Pages - HTML

Translate

Pages

Pages

Pages

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Tips for Successful Marketing Outreach Campaigns

Search Engine Marketing

Mobile Marketing

Content Marketing

Landing Page Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

BE Modern Man: Richard Grundy

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF IN LIFE?

HOW HAVE YOU TURNED STRUGGLE INTO SUCCESS?

WHO WAS YOUR GREATEST MALE ROLE MODEL AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM HIM?

HOW DO YOU DEFINE MANHOOD?

HOW ARE YOU PAYING IT FORWARD TO SUPPORT OTHER BLACK MALES?

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING A BLACK MAN?

Bisexuality among women is on the rise

In other trends, Black women also led the way

A shortage of men?

The challenge of surveying sexuality

5 Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs

Manage Your Emotions

Your Entrepreneurial Story Is Within Your Control

Analyze Your Doubts

Manage Your Mental Energy

Increase Opportunities for Those in Your Network