Texas officer charged with Atatiana Jefferson’s murder, resigns after shooting

A white Fort Worth police officer who shot and killed a black woman through a back window of her home while responding to a call about an open front door was charged with murder on Monday after resigning from the force.
Aaron Dean, 34, was booked into jail on a murder charge Monday afternoon. The police chief said earlier in the day that he acted without justification and would have been fired if he didn’t quit.
Police bodycam video showed Dean approaching the door of the home where Atatiana Jefferson, 28, was caring for her 8-year-old nephew early Saturday. He then walked around the side of the house, pushed through a gate into the fenced-off backyard and fired through the glass a split-second after shouting at Jefferson to show her hands.
Dean was not heard identifying himself as police on the video, and Interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said there was no sign Dean or the other officer who responded even knocked on the front door.
“Nobody looked at this video and said that there’s any doubt that this officer acted inappropriately,” Kraus said.
Earlier in the day, Jefferson’s family had demanded that Dean, a member of the force for 1½ years, be fired and arrested.
“Why this man is not in handcuffs is a source of continued agitation for this family and for this community,” family attorney Lee Merritt said, hours before Dean was booked into jail.
Police went to Jefferson’s home about 2:25 a.m. after a neighbor called a non-emergency line to report a door ajar. In a statement over the weekend, the department said officers saw someone near a window inside the home and that one of them drew his gun and fired after “perceiving a threat.”
The video showed Dean shouting, “Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” and immediately firing.
Jefferson was staying up late, playing video games with her nephew, when she was killed, according to the family’s attorney.
As for what, exactly, led Dean to open fire, the police chief said: “I cannot make sense of why she had to lose her life.” The chief said Dean resigned without talking to internal affairs investigators.
The video included images of a gun inside a bedroom. Kraus said he did not know whether Jefferson was holding the weapon. But he said the mere fact she had a gun shouldn’t be considered unusual in Texas.
“We’re homeowners in Texas,” the police chief said. “Most of us, if we thought we had somebody outside our house that shouldn’t be and we had access to a firearm, we would be acting very similarly to how she was acting.” Kraus said that, in hindsight, releasing the images of the weapon was “a bad thing to do.”
Mayor Betsy Price called the gun “irrelevant.”
“Atatiana was in her own home, caring for her 8-year-old nephew. She was a victim,” Price said.
Texas has had a “castle doctrine” law on the books since 2007 that gives people a stronger legal defense to use deadly force in their homes. The law was backed at the time by the National Rifle Association and is similar to “stand your ground” measures across the U.S. that say a person has no duty to retreat from an intruder.
Fort Worth is about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Dallas, where another high-profile police shooting occurred last year.
In that case, white Dallas officer Amber Guyger shot and killed her black neighbor Botham Jean inside his own apartment after Guyger said she mistook his place for her own. Guyger, 31, was sentenced this month to 10 years in prison.
A large crowd gathered outside Jefferson’s home Sunday night for a vigil after demonstrations briefly stopped traffic on Interstate 35. A single bullet hole was visible in the window of the single-story, freshly painted purple home, and floral tributes and stuffed animals piled up in the street.
The police chief said Dean could face state charges and that he had submitted a case to the FBI to review for possible federal civil rights charges.
Dean has not yet hired an attorney but will have one provided with financial support from the state’s largest police union, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, according to Charley Wilkison, executive director.
Relations with the public have been strained after other recent Fort Worth police shootings. In June, the department released footage of officers killing a man who ignored repeated orders to drop his handgun. He was the fourth person Fort Worth police had fired upon in 10 days.
Of the nine officer-involved shootings so far this year in Fort Worth, five targeted African Americans and six resulted in death, according to department data.
Nearly two-thirds of the department’s 1,100 officers are white, just over 20% are Hispanic, and about 10% are black. The city of nearly 900,000 people is about 40% white, 35% Hispanic and 19% black.
Calling the shooting “a pivotal moment in our city,” the mayor said she was ordering a top-to-bottom review of the police force and vowed to “rebuild a sense of trust within the city and with our police department.”
Jefferson was a 2014 graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology. She was working in pharmaceutical equipment sales and was considering going to medical school, according to the family’s lawyer.
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Bleed reported from Little Rock, Arkansas.
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Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant in Houston and Adam Kealoha Causey in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
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Libra’s Ranks Shrink Again as Crypto Group Appoints a Board

A seventh member exits the body that is supposed to administer Facebook’s cryptocurrency, which has set “interim” rules and put together its board.

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New Birth Missionary Baptist church will re-direct Kanye’s hefty donation

New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia is taking a financial contribution it received from Kanye West, and giving it to cash-strapped Morris Brown College to help establish scholarships.

READ MORE: Kanye West brings Sunday Service to Howard University, warns crowd to avoid ‘slave nets’

On Sunday, the Metro Atlanta based church’s venerable new pastor Rev. Jamal Harrison Bryant announced that the Grammy award winning rapper wrote a check to the church when he paid a surprise visit during a pop-up service Sept. 15, as part of his “Sunday Service”.

Originally the generous donation was slated to be redirected to Brown’s general scholarship fund, in honor of Donda West, the rapper’s late mother who worked for some 31 years in higher education, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

What happen @newbirthmbc today was indescribable! morrisbrownatl came through to close out homecoming @SelmaUntold was in the building 69 souls were saved, established college scholarship endowments and the glory… https://t.co/6rrXJKEEqD

— jamalbryant (@jamalhbryant) October 13, 2019

However, later in a periscope live, Pastor Bryant said that the scholarship will be earmarked for English students. Donda West, an English professor, died at the age of 58 from complications after a plastic surgery procedure. She started her career in education in the 1970s teaching at Morris Brown an obituary states.

“I went into prayer, and it dawned in me in prayer that Dr. Donda West, who was the mother of Kanye West, is a former professor at Morris Brown College,” Bryant said during Sunday’s service.

READ MORE: Kanye West brings Sunday Service to Howard University, warns crowd to avoid ‘slave nets’

The amount of the benevolent gift hasn’t been announced just yet.

With a decade of fiscal woes, Morris Brown, an HBCU, is still trying to rise from the ashes and steady itself after losing its accreditation in 2002.

Kevin James recently took the leadership position as interim president on March 1 and says he has plans to seek accreditation for the college from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), a federally recognized accreditation organization, according to Gale Gay, a spokeswoman for the school.

On Sunday, James was on hand and spoke with New Birth’s congregation and announced that the school was able to secure approval from the Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission as a higher learning institution.

“When you lose your accreditation, you close,” James said Sunday during service. “But for some reason, for the past 17 years, Morris Brown College has been able to survive. We will be the first historically black college in history … since 1837 to actually come back and be fully accredited under these circumstances.”

James also called the recent action a “major step” toward accreditation.

READ MORE: Queen Latifah to receive Harvard Black culture award

“I know what Dr. Donda West represented while at Morris Brown, and her mind for African American literature, was to empower, equip and engage students to be something radical that can change community and change society,” Bryant said.

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Nation’s Largest Black Bank Launches Campaign to Close the Racial Wealth Gap

It’s been more than 150 years, but black Americans still remain chained by the legacy of slavery. One of the most glaring effects of America’s original sin is the racial wealth gap. Because of centuries of economic oppression that intentionally barred African Americans from access to capital, white families today hold nearly 10 times the amount of wealth as black families as the median family wealth for white Americans is $171,000 compared to just $17,600 for blacks. Meanwhile, black Americans hold just 3% of the nation’s total wealth, despite being 13% of the population, according to the New York Times #1619 Project. That’s why the work of black banks is so important.

To address the systemic issue, OneUnited Bank launched BankBlack X, a nationwide campaign that aims to close the racial wealth gap. The purpose of the campaign is to galvanize and educate black folks about money and make financial literacy a core value of the black community.

Related: Call the racial wealth gap what it is: a “pustulant cavity of economic apartheid.”

“We have many weapons to affect change, starting with the truth. The reality is that almost everything we have been taught about Black Americans and money has been wrong,” said Teri Williams, president and COO of OneUnited, in a press release. “We have been bamboozled and led astray…for 400 years. We need to share the truth to make financial literacy a core value of our community!”

According to the bank’s website, BankBlack X will use technology and tap new socially conscious leaders to promote a sense of black pride and the achievements of African Americans. “Despite facing discrimination for over 400 years, black Americans have been able to advance equality, for themselves and other communities that face rampant discrimination,” reads the press release.

BankBlack X will offer tools and resources to promote financial literacy, including the free online Financial Education Center, the new BankBlack Card, and new features like BankBlack Early Pay, which enables customers to get paid two days early. The Bank is also partnering with Sirius Radio Urban View to hold a town hall meeting on the New York Times #1619Project on November 5..

OneUnited Bank is the largest black-owned bank in the U.S. and ranks as no. 1 on BLACK ENTERPRISE’s BE 100‘s Bank List, with $656 million in assets. Founded in 1968, the financial institution has been at the forefront of promoting black economic empowerment. Earlier this year, the bank launched “The Queen Card,” a Visa debit card with the image of an iconic black woman, as part of the bank’s Royalty Campaign. In 2017, the bank partnered with The Breakfast Club to raise over $700,000 to support social justice initiatives and activists. Back in 2014, it launched the Unity Visa Card, to help people rebuild their credit through a secured credit card as an alternative to a prepaid debit card.

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'Fortnite' Disappeared Over the Weekend

The massively popular game concluded its tenth season by going offline, and leaving a string of numbers, 'Lost'-style, in its place.

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Study reveals how mucus tames microbes

More than 200 square meters of our bodies — including the digestive tract, lungs, and urinary tract — are lined with mucus. In recent years, scientists have found some evidence that mucus is not just a physical barrier that traps bacteria and viruses, but it can also disarm pathogens and prevent them from causing infections.

A new study from MIT reveals that glycans — branched sugar molecules found in mucus — are responsible for most of this microbe-taming. There are hundreds of different glycans in mucus, and the MIT team discovered that these molecules can prevent bacteria from communicating with each other and forming infectious biofilms, effectively rendering them harmless.

“What we have in mucus is a therapeutic gold mine,” says Katharina Ribbeck, the Mark Hyman, Jr. Career Development Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT. “These glycans have biological functions that are very broad and sophisticated. They have the ability to regulate how microbes behave and really tune their identity.”

In this study, which appears today in Nature Microbiology, the researchers focused on glycans’ interactions with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen that can cause infections in cystic fibrosis patients and people with compromised immune systems. Work now underway in Ribbeck’s lab has shown that glycans can regulate the behavior of other microbes as well.

The lead author of the Nature Microbiology paper is MIT graduate student Kelsey Wheeler.

Powerful defenders

The average person produces several liters of mucus every day, and until recently this mucus was thought to function primarily as a lubricant and a physical barrier. However, Ribbeck and others have shown that mucus can actually interfere with bacterial behavior, preventing microbes from attaching to surfaces and communicating with one another.

In the new study, Ribbeck wanted to test whether glycans were involved in mucus’ ability to control the behavior of microbes. These sugar molecules, a type of oligosaccharide, attach to proteins called mucins, the gel-forming building blocks of mucus, to form a bottlebrush-like structure. Mucus-associated glycans have been little studied, but Ribbeck thought they might play a major role in the microbe-disarming activity she had previously seen from mucus.

To explore that possibility, she isolated glycans and exposed them to Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Upon exposure to mucin glycans, the bacteria underwent broad shifts in behavior that rendered them less harmful to the host. For example, they no longer produced toxins, attached to or killed host cells, or expressed genes essential for bacterial communication.

This microbe-disarming activity had powerful consequences on the ability of this bacterium to establish infections. Ribbeck has shown that treatment of Pseudomonas-infected burn wounds with mucins and mucin glycans reduces bacterial proliferation, indicating the therapeutic potential of these virulence-neutralizing agents.

“We’ve seen that intact mucins have regulatory effects and can cause behavioral switches in a whole range of pathogens, but now we can pinpoint the molecular mechanism and the entities that are responsible for this, which are the glycans,” Ribbeck says.

In these experiments, the researchers used collections of hundreds of glycans, but they now plan to study the effects of individual glycans, which may interact specifically with different pathways or different microbes.

“This is an important paper, as it shows that bacterial biofilm formation is inhibited by normal mucus, and especially its glycans. [Ribbeck] has now once more shown that normal mucus has beneficial effects on bacteria and that mucus is more complex than mostly appreciated,” says Gunnar Hansson, a professor of medical biochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, who was not involved in the study.

Bacterial interactions

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is just one of many opportunistic pathogens that healthy mucus keeps in check. Ribbeck is now studying the role of glycans in regulating other pathogens, including Streptococcus and the fungus Candida albicans, and she is also working on identifying receptors on microbe cell surfaces that interact with glycans.

Her work on Streptococcus has shown that glycans can block horizontal gene transfer, a process that microbes often use to spread genes for drug resistance.

Ribbeck and other researchers are now interested in using what they have learned about mucins and glycans to develop artificial mucus, which could offer a new way to treat diseases stemming from lost or defective mucus.

Harnessing the powers of mucus could also lead to new ways to treat antibiotic-resistant infections, because it offers a complementary strategy to traditional antibiotics, Ribbeck says.

“What we find here is that nature has evolved the ability to disarm difficult microbes, instead of killing them. This would not only help limit selective pressure for developing resistance, because they are not under pressure to find ways to survive, but it should also help create and maintain a diverse microbiome,” she says.

Ribbeck suspects that glycans in mucus also play a key role in determining the composition of the microbiome — the trillions of bacterial cells that live inside the human body. Many of these microbes are beneficial to their human hosts, and glycans may be providing them with nutrients they need, or otherwise helping them to flourish, she says. In this way, mucus-associated glycans are similar to the many oligosaccharides found in human milk, which also contains a wide array of sugars that can regulate microbe behavior.

“This is a theme that is likely at play in many systems where the goal is to shape and manipulate communities inside the body, not just in humans but throughout the animal kingdom,” Ribbeck says.

The research was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.

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Astronomers use giant galaxy cluster as X-ray magnifying lens

Astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have used a massive cluster of galaxies as an X-ray magnifying glass to peer back in time, to nearly 9.4 billion years ago. In the process, they spotted a tiny dwarf galaxy in its very first, high-energy stages of star formation.

While galaxy clusters have been used to magnify objects at optical wavelengths, this is the first time scientists have leveraged these massive gravitational giants to zoom in on extreme, distant, X-ray-emitting phenomena.

What they detected appears to be a blue speck of an infant galaxy, about 1/10,000 the size of our Milky Way, in the midst of churning out its first stars — supermassive, cosmically short-lived objects that emit high-energy X-rays, which the researchers detected in the form of a bright blue arc.

“It’s this little blue smudge, meaning it’s a very small galaxy that contains a lot of super-hot, very massive young stars that formed recently,” says Matthew Bayliss, a research scientist in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. “This galaxy is similar to the very first galaxies that formed in the universe … the kind of which no one has ever seen in X-ray in the distant universe before.”

Bayliss says the detection of this single, distant galaxy is proof that scientists can use galaxy clusters as natural X-ray magnifiers, to pick out extreme, highly energetic phenomena in the universe’s early history.

“With this technique, we could, in the future, zoom in on a distant galaxy and age-date different parts of it — to say, this part has stars that formed 200 million years ago, versus another part that formed 50 million years ago, and pick them apart in a way you cannot otherwise do,” says Bayliss, who will be moving on to the University of Cincinnati as an assistant professor of physics.

He and his co-authors, including Michael McDonald, assistant professor of physics at MIT, have published their results today in the journal Nature Astronomy.

A candle in the light

Galaxy clusters are the most massive objects in the universe, composed of thousands of galaxies, all bound together by gravity as one enormous, powerful force. Galaxy clusters are so massive, and their gravitational pull is so strong, that they can distort the fabric of space-time, bending the universe and any surrounding light, much like an elephant would stretch and warp a trapeze net.

Scientists have used galaxy clusters as cosmic magnifying glasses, with a technique known as gravitational lensing. The idea is that if scientists can approximate the mass of a galaxy cluster, they can estimate its gravitational effects on any surrounding light, as well as the angle at which a cluster may deflect that light.

For instance, imagine if an observer, facing a galaxy cluster, were trying to detect an object, such as a single galaxy, behind that cluster. The light emitted by that object would travel straight toward the cluster, then bend around the cluster. It would continue traveling toward the observer, though at slightly different angles, appearing to the observer as mirrored images of the same object, which in the end can be combined as a single, “magnified” image.

Scientists have used galaxy clusters to magnify objects at optical wavelengths, but never in the X-ray band of the electromagnetic spectrum, mainly because galaxy clusters themselves emit an enormous amount of X-rays. Scientists have thought that any X-rays coming from a background source would be impossible to discern from the cluster’s own glare.

“If you’re trying to see an X-ray source behind a cluster, it’s like trying to see a candle next to a really bright light,” Bayliss says. “So we knew this was a challenging measurement to make.”

X-ray subtraction

The researchers wondered: Could they subtract that bright light and see the candle behind it? In other words, could they remove the X-ray emissions coming from the galaxy cluster, to view the much fainter X-rays coming from an object, behind and magnified by the cluster?

The team tested this idea with observations taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, one of the world’s most powerful X-ray space telescopes. They looked in particular at Chandra’s measurements of the Phoenix cluster, a distant galaxy cluster located 5.7 billion light-years from Earth, which has been estimated to be about a quadrillion times as massive as the sun, with gravitational effects that should make it a powerful, natural magnifying lens.

“The idea is to take whatever your best X-ray telescope is — in this case, Chandra — and use a natural lens to magnify and effectively make Chandra bigger, so you can see more distant things,” Bayliss says.

He and his colleagues analyzed observations of the Phoenix cluster, taken continuously by Chandra for over a month. They also looked at images of the cluster taken by two optical and infrared telescopes — the Hubble Space Telescope and the Magellan telescope in Chile. With all these various views, the team developed a model to characterize the cluster’s optical effects, which allowed the researchers to precisely measure the X-ray emissions from the cluster itself, and subtract it from the data.

They were left with two similar patterns of X-ray emissions around the cluster, which they determined were “lensed,” or gravitationally bent, by the cluster. When they traced the emissions backward in time, they found that they all originated from a single, distant source: a tiny dwarf galaxy from 9.4 billion years ago, when the universe itself was roughly 4.4 billion years old — about a third of its current age.

“Previously, Chandra had seen only a handful of things at this distance,” Bayliss says. “In less than 10 percent of the time, we discovered this object, similarly far away. And gravitational lensing is what let us do it.”

The combination of Chandra and the Phoenix cluster’s natural lensing power enabled the team to see the tiny galaxy hiding behind the cluster, magnified about 60 times. At this resolution, they were able to zoom in to discern two distinct clumps within the galaxy, one producing many more X-rays than the other.

As X-rays are typically produced during extreme, short-lived phenomena, the researchers believe that the first X-ray-rich clump signals a part of the dwarf galaxy that has very recently formed supermassive stars, while the quieter region is an older region that contains more mature stars.

“We’re catching this galaxy at a very useful stage, where it’s got these really young stars,” Bayliss says. “Every galaxy had to start out in this phase, but we don’t see a lot of these kinds of galaxies in our own neighborhood. Now we can go back in time, look in the distant universe, find galaxies in this early phase of their life, and start to study how star formation is different there.”

This research was funded, in part, by NASA, and by the Space Telescope Science Institute.

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Florida State Senator files complaint against judge who jailed a Black man for missing jury duty

Florida State Senator Bobby Powell has taken action against a judge who sentenced a 21-year-old Black man to jail time for missing jury duty.

—Outrage after Black man sentenced to 10 days in jail for missing jury duty—

Powell filed a formal complaint with the Judicial Qualifications Commission, against Judge Kasternakes, who is on the hot seat for how he handled Deandre Somerville, a non-violent, first time offender and handed him a 10-day sentence after he overslept on the day he was supposed to report to serve jury duty.

“The thought that a judge would sentence a young man who had no previous history or incident with law enforcement to jail time, I was outraged,” Powell told ABC News.

“I know him, I know this young man for many, many years. When I saw his picture on the front page of the local paper, I was very much not only hurt and disappointed but heartbroken. I’m at a loss for words about how I felt.”

I have known Deandre and his family for many years. He is a terrific young man who has led a respectful, law-abiding life. We should all be respectful of the judicial system. With that said, in my opinion the punishment was too severe and unfair. https://t.co/4yo0gRiBpI

— Rep. Lois Frankel (@RepLoisFrankel) October 10, 2019

Somerville said he has never been arrested, and works for a youth after-school program for the City of West Palm Beach and Recreation Department. In his naiveite he said he overslept and when he woke out, he thought it was too late to report to court. So he went to work for his afternoon shift thinking that it was pointless to try to attend the trial so late.

“We’ve all made mistakes. You would think, ‘OK, if I go to court, the judge sees me in court,’ what’s the worse thing you think could happen? When Deandre went back to court he had on his work uniform, we thought the judge would see he is working and see he is a good young man,” Powell said.

Judge Kastrenakis didn’t let Powell off the hook, and instead sentenced him to 10 days in jail, one year of probation and 150 hours of community service and $223 in court fines.

According to the judge, Somerville “inconvenienced the court” for at least 45 minutes, and that rubbed the judge the wrong way.

—Youth hockey coach says he was criticized by racist parents—

The case prompted nationally outrage which ultimately caused the judge to throw out the ruling and he said Somerville was “totally rehabilitated,” ABC News reports.

Powell is “strongly considering” to later file for the judge’s impeachment with the legislature.

“What I would like to see is Judge Kasternakes removed from the bench,” Powell said.

“He has indicated to me through this decision that he is not qualified to make a fair and impartial decision.”

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Listen to an Underwater Volcano Burp 750-Foot Bubbles

Microphones catch a submarine vent firing uberbubbles that floated to the surface and formed massive water domes. 

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Youth hockey coach says he was criticized by racist parents

A Pakistani-born Canadian Muslim, Talha Javaid who uses his own money to help aspiring hockey players better their game, is fuming after he says a parent criticized him and suggested he shouldn’t be teaching because he’s not white.

—New research confirms self-reported suicide attempts on the rise for Black teens—

Javaid, a respected hockey youth coach in the Windsor-Detroit community, says he was appalled when he received a bitter and rather racist text message on Oct. 9, slamming him with xenophobic messaging about his efforts to teach white kids hockey.

“I was like, ‘What. The. Hell,’” he told Yahoo Sports Canada about the text message. He explained that the message began with, “I’m not a racist but…”

However it was filled with racist messages. He posted about the hurtful text saying,

“man imagine waking up on a friday and essentially being like “yooo, im gonna go be a racist ass muppet today and tell someone they shouldnt coach hockey because they’re not white, cant wait!!”

man imagine waking up on a friday and essentially being like “yooo, im gonna go be a racist ass muppet today and tell someone they shouldnt coach hockey because they’re not white, cant wait!!” pic.twitter.com/cNYEbsMB8t

— Talha (@flowseidon65) October 11, 2019

The 23-year-old hockey player and youth coach checked his phone, he stopped in his tracks.

Even more upsetting, Javaid said he and a close friend use their own funds to pay for ice time, just to host free clinics so they can teach kids critical skills to play hockey. Javaid and his best friend Sebastian Nystrom teach kids ages five to eight in East Lansing Michigan.

And while the sessions are totally held because of Javaid’s big heart, one father named Chase tore into the Javaid for daring to teach his son since he practices the Muslim religion.

Chase said he doesn’t “feel comfortable” and believes Javaid’s faith will have some influence on his son Riley.

Insinuated that hockey,, a predominately white sport traditionally doesn’t include people of color.

“Tradition is coded language for whiteness and the way things have always been,” said Dr. Courtney Szto, assistant professor at the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University and assistant editor of the Hockey in Society blog. “And a Muslim coach throws a wrench into the whole thing. It doesn’t jive with our dominant narrative of who gets to participate in that culture.”

Despite the nasty message, Javaid said he has been inundated with community support, even from white people.

Stanley Cup champion and Hall of Fame goalie Grant Fuhr tweetd his support out of Javaid after hearing about the incident

There are no words for a moron like that. https://t.co/01CmxG7DmM

— Grant Fuhr (@grantfuhr) October 12, 2019

Javaid is one of a small fraction of people of color who play ice hockey in the region. He’s been a avid player since he was a tot, learning how to play that game thanks to a program called “Fajr Quran Hockey” (FQH) at his mosque.

The 23-year-old manages to give back to his community and balance being a full-time economics student at the University of Windsor.

—Penn State confiscates t-shirts from players showing support for Jonathan Sutherland after racist letter—

Sadly, Javaid said racism and discrimination is something he has endured for years.

“After Trump was elected, one of the guys on my rec team told me he didn’t want a Muslim guy being his captain,” Javaid recalled. “I told him ‘this is a you problem.’ I had the most points on the team and he had like two. I got the playing time I deserved, and I didn’t even bring it up with the coach.”

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Report: Russian Internet Trolls Targeted African American Voters More Than Any Other Group

The bipartisan U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that Russian trolls used the Internet—specifically Facebook—to influence African American voters during the 2016 presidential election.

Its new report, released earlier this week, states that the Internet Research Agency, a front for a Russian troll farm, used social media to post subtly racist content to incite conflict within the black community.  Thousands of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube accounts were created with the aim of harming Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and supporting the election of Donald Trump.

“By far, race and related issues were the preferred target of the information warfare campaign designed to divide the country in 2016” the report stated. ″(N)o single group of Americans was targeted by IRA information operatives more than African Americans.”

The Russian posts and ads mirrored social justice movements that were already prominent in the black community like “Black Lives Matter” with the goal of creating a negative response from other ethnic groups.

Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook have come under fire from politicians and activists about their roles in the election interference in 2016. The social media giants have been scrutinized about their lack of control and policing of their platforms in ridding bad actors.

Facebook and Twitter said they removed thousands of troll accounts leading up to the 2018 elections. “Through ongoing analyses and investigations, we continue to build on our contextual understanding of these networks of accounts to improve our ability to find and suspend this activity as quickly as possible in the future,” Twitter’s director of public policy Carlos Monje Jr. told NBC News.

In 2016, Facebook users engaged over 11.2 million times with a page called “Blacktivist,” which was actually a troll account from Russia targeting African American voters. Almost all of the account’s YouTube content involved violent acts against black men, the report stated.

The social media giants are now more aware of the potential risk and vow to be much better during the 2020 presidential election cycle. “We have stepped up our efforts to build strong defenses on multiple fronts…We have also invested in technology and people to block and remove fake accounts; find and remove coordinated manipulation campaigns; and bring unprecedented transparency to political advertising.” Facebook said in a statement.

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New research confirms self-reported suicide attempts on the rise for Black teens

New research shows a disturbing trend in Black teens: their suicide attempt rates are going up, while suicide rates in other groups continue to diminish.

According to a new study released on Monday by researchers at the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University, there is a growing crisis of suicide attempts among Black high school students.

Michael A. Lindsey PhD, MSW, MPH, who is the executive director of the McSilver Institute and the Constance and Martin Silver Professor of Poverty Studies at NYU Silver School of Social Work is the lead researcher on the study along with YunYu Xiao. The two uncovered that self-reported suicide attempt rates for Black adolescents rose 73% over the study period of 1991-2017. By comparison, self-reported suicide attempt rates fell 7.5% in white adolescents.

“Further research must be done into why traditional precursors to suicide attempts, such as thinking about it or making plans, are decreasing while actual attempts are going up. It’s important that we identify the signs before young people attempt to end their lives,” said Lindsey.

READ MORE: Too many of our babies are killing themselves – Here’s what we can do about it

“Youth suicide is very real and must be addressed,” said New York State Senator David Carlucci, Chair of the NYS Senate’s Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee. “The numbers are staggering among Black youth, and just one life lost is one too many. We need a task force to specifically investigate the causes of Black youth suicide.”

To that point, the findings, which were published in the November 2019 issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, also uncovered:

• Self-reported suicide attempts increased at an accelerating rate in Black female teenagers as well, even as overall female suicide attempts declined.
• There was a significant increase in injuries from self-reported suicide attempts in Black male teenagers.
• A surprising dynamic in the relationship between self-reported suicide thoughts (ideation), plans and attempts was revealed: ideation and plans decreased while actual attempts increased.

READ MORE: N.C. schools investigated after Black student uncovers racist group chat

“The number of Black youth who are tragically taking their own lives is rising at an alarming rate, and that is why I sponsored legislation to establish a Black Youth Suicide taskforce here in New York State,” says New York State Assemblywoman Kimberly Jean-Pierre of the 11th Assembly District.

Judge Ronald E. Richter, CEO and Executive Director of JCCA and former Commissioner, NYC Administration for Children’s Services, agrees, urging the need for to urgently address these findings.

“The McSilver Institute’s findings of increased suicide attempts and self-injury among Black young adults are important and tremendously concerning, particularly for those of us who work in New York’s child welfare community where Black families are chronically, disproportionately overrepresented,” said Richter.

READ MORE: Humiliated after period shaming, Kenyan girl commits suicide

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide was the third-leading cause of death in 2017 among Black youth ages 15-19.

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If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit The Suicide Prevention Resource Center for additional resources.

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Billy Porter serves comedy on ‘Saturday Night Live’ trolling Democratic Presidential contenders

In all his fabulousness, Billy Porter appeared on Saturday Night Live in a skit that served up some realness that was a parody to CNN’s recent LGBTQ Town Hall.

—Man who claimed sexual relationship with Sen. Kamala Harris has backtracked—

The Emmy award-winning Pose actor called out ballroom categories like his fierce character Pray-Tell, except this time it was al about laughing at the ridiculousness of faux Democratic Presidential contenders who were portrayed as aloof and a little uniformed about gay issues.

“He might live in the projects, but ladies, he ain’t no project,” Porter said as he called out Cory Booker, who was played by Chris Redd.

Moderated by Anderson Cooper who was played by Alex Moffa, he asked Colin Jost aka Pete Buttigieg about criticisms about not being “the right kind of gay.”

“There’s no wrong way to be gay, unless you’re Ellen this week,” Jost’s Buttigieg said about the criticism Ellen received in real life when a picture surfaced of her talking and laughing with former president George Bush, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

But Porter’s exaggerated call out to Elizabeth Warren, played Kate McKinnon is really a belly buster.

“Warren-ing, warren-ing,” Porter said as McKinnon dashed out with the same “extraness” Warren is known for.

“Y’all know I’m not a lesbian, but all the ingredients are there,” McKinnon’s Warren said.

Lin-Manuel Miranda stopped by as a little “Easter Egg” appearance as Julian Castro.

“From the house of urban deliciousness, it’s Julian Castro,” Porter said.

“First of all, I apologize for not being gay. But I promise to do better in the future,” he said as Castro.

—Elizabeth Warren reportedly courting Andrew Gillum as VP pick—

Woody Harrelson also came back to the stage as Vice President Joe Biden and was just as ornery as the real one.

“The vast majority of people in America are not homophobic; they’re just scared of gay people,” Harrelson’s Biden said.

And the category is, troll the Presidential contenders’ realness! Check out the video clip and remember to vote!

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Atatiana Jefferson’s grieving father says, ‘Unlike this Botham Jean, I don’t want no hug,’ after daughter was gunned down by Fort Worth cop in her own home

The father of the 28-year-old woman Atatiana Jefferson who was gunned down by a Fort Worth cop while minding her business in her home, says he is not about to forgive and forget the “senseless” killing on Saturday morning that has rocked his world.

—Family of woman shot and killed in her bedroom by Texas police demand answers—

“My daughter was 28-year-old, had her whole life in front of her. You have to know this is somebody’s daughter. Somebody loved her. There was a better way. It didn’t have to be like that,” Marquis Jefferson told KTXA Dallas.

Jefferson’s death has erupted in outrage across the nation, after it was reported that a white police officer once again, killed a Black woman in their home. Jefferson was reportedly shot down in her home, just moments after she finished playing a video game with her 8-year-old nephew.

What’s even more jarring about the case is that the Fort Worth officer reportedly fired a single shot through the woman’s woman after scouting the outside of her home following a call her neighbor made to do a welfare check to see if the family was alright. The door of the home reportedly open at 2:30 a.m. and caused the neighbor concern.

On Sunday, protestors lined the streets and demanded that the officer be fired immediately.

The case is already making national headlines with Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeting that the Justice Department needs to get involved.

“The killings of unarmed Black Americans have got to end,” Sanders tweeted. “Atatiana Jefferson should be alive.”

Elizabeth Warren tweeted that “federal standards for use of force that incorporate proven strategies like de-escalation, verbal warning requirements, and the use of non-lethal alternatives,” needs to be included in police reform.

What We Know

Jefferson was reportedly playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew early Saturday morning when she heard a noise in her backyard and went to investigate. That’s when she was shot by an officer through her bedroom window, according to police bodycam footage, heavy.com reports.

Just before 2:30 a.m. Oct. 12, the officer, whose name has not been released, responded to neighbor James Smith’s call that the front door to Jefferson’s home was open and the lights were on– something Smith found quite concerning.

According to multiple reports, bodycam video does not show the officer announcing himself or knocking on the door. Instead, the cop walks to the side of the house, where he opens a gate to the backyard and uses a flashlight to search the exterior of the property. When he sees a person watching him from a window inside the house, he yells “Put your hands up. Show me your hands!” He then shoots through the window– striking and killing Jefferson.

Lee Merritt, who represented Botham Jean’s family is also representing Jefferson’s family.

“You didn’t hear the officer shout, “Gun, gun, gun”. He didn’t have time to perceive a threat. That’s murder,” Merritt said after viewing the body cam video.

The case is already being likened to that of Amber Guyger who shot Botham dead in his own apartment last year.

Guyger was recently sentenced to 10 years and during her trial Botham’s rother Brandt hugged his brother murderer and offered forgiveness, which upset many across the country who criticized the way the white police officer was handled with care during the controversial case. A courtesy that is often not given to Black suspects in similar cases.

Jefferson’s dad said outright there will be no forgiveness offered.

“Unlike this Botham Jean, I don’t want no hug,” he said. “That’s my one and only daughter. I will never forget that.”

Atatiana’s stepmother, Noella Jefferson, spoke lovingly about her step-daughter’s character.

Atatiana was a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana in 2014, where she earned her pre-med degree.

“When she was growing up, I read to her a lot. I bought her a lot of books,” Jefferson, the victim’s dad said. “Oh she loved to read all the time. Her mother would tell me ‘She’s in there reading, reading, reading.’”

“We have lost her for no reason,” Noella said. “We have seen many cases like this where you think that they would have learned from it.”

“It’s like from the moment we got the call, it’s been more and more inconceivable and more confusing. And there has nothing been done in order to take away that confusion,” said Atatiana’s aunt, Venitta Body.

Jefferson’s grieving sister Amber Carr, said her killing is “’another one of those situations where the people that are supposed to protect us are actually not here to protect us.”

“You know, you want to see justice, but justice don’t bring my sister back,” Carr added.

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Senegal beat Ghana on penalties to win Wafu 2019

Goalkeeper Pape Saidou Ndiaye is the shootout hero as the Teranga Lions finally win a first international final in front of their own fans.

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Devin Nunes and the Power of Keyword Signaling

Opinion: From “crisis actor” to “collusion hoax,” conservatives use SEO terms gamed by right-wing media outlets, propelling a polarized internet.

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Penn State confiscates t-shirts from players showing support for Jonathan Sutherland after racist letter

On Saturday, Penn State football players tried to unify in solidarity with a teammate who was criticized for his looks by an alumnus but were stopped short and had their t-shirts with unified messaging confiscated.

During the pregame, the Penn State Nittany Lions football players wore t-shirts with the saying, “Chains, Tattoos, Dreads, & WE ARE” to show support after safety Jonathan Sutherland was slammed by an alumnus who said his dreadlocks looked “disgusting.”

—Penn State football players share “racist” alumni letter criticizing dreadlocks—

The shirts however were seized because they didn’t inform officials beforehand about their intentions.

“While we are supportive of our students expressing themselves in a thoughtful manner, they are expected to wear team-issued apparel on game day,” Penn State said in a statement released during the game, according to ESPN. “We asked our students to remove the shirts out of an abundance of caution for NCAA compliance.”

The move reportedly upset coach James Franklin who was left out of the loop on the players’ plans.

Last week, a letter David Petersen sent to Sutherland made waves online after Penn State defensive end Antonio Shelton shared a screenshot of a racist letter on Twitter. Petersen addressed it to “Johnathan” who was assumed to be junior safety Jonathan Sutherland, who wears locs, Yahoo reports.

“One of my teammates got this. Explain to me how this isn’t racist,” Shelton wrote.

It went on to disparage Sutherland’s look, and slam him for wearing dreads that peek out from under his helmet. It was also critical of NFL players sporting tattoos. Petersen also called for the school to change its dress code policy.

The letter stated in part:

“Watching the Idaho game on TV we couldn’t help but notice your — well — awful hair. Surely there must be mirrors in the locker room! Don’t you have parents or girlfriend who’ve told you those shoulder length dreadlocks look disgusting and are certainly not attractive. (sic)

Franklin quickly launched a rebuttal in strong support of his player.

—Family of woman shot and killed in her bedroom by Texas police demand answers—

“Jonathan Sutherland is one of the most respected players in our program,” Franklin said of the redshirt junior. “He’s the ultimate example of what our program is all about. He’s a captain, he’s a dean’s list honor student, he’s confident, he’s articulate, he’s intelligent, he’s thoughtful, he’s caring and he’s committed.”

Franklin reportedly didn’t feel like the t-shirt message wasn’t needed because he felt the team squashed the issue last week.

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MIT economists Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee win Nobel Prize

Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, innovative MIT economists whose antipoverty research has given new prominence to the use of field experiments in social science, have been named co-winners of the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, along with Harvard University economist Michael Kremer. 

The work of Duflo and Banerjee has emphasized the use of field experiments in research, to bring the principles of laboratory-style randomized, controlled trials to empirical economics. They have studied a wide range of topics implicated in global poverty, including health care provision, education, agriculture, and gender attitudes, while developing new antipoverty programs based on their research.

In 2003, Duflo and Banerjee (along with Sendhil Mullainathan, now of the University of Chicago) co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a global network of antipoverty researchers that conducts field experiments. J-PAL works to both discern which kinds of local interventions have the greatest impact on social problems, and to implement those programs more broadly, in cooperation with governments and NGOs. Among J-PAL’s notable interventions are deworming programs that have been adopted widely.

Duflo is the second woman and the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel in economic sciences.

Duflo received her undergraduate degree from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 1994, after studying both history and economics. She earned a master’s degree in economics the next year, jointly through the École Normale Supérieure and the École Polytechnique. Duflo then earned her PhD in economics from MIT in 1999. She joined the MIT faculty the same year, and has remained at MIT her entire career.  She is currently the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics.

Previously, Duflo has earned a series of awards and honors, including a MacArthur Foundation fellowship (2009), the John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economic Association (2010), and, also in 2009, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Development Cooperation.

Banerjee received his undergraduate degree from the University of Calcutta, and a master’s degree from the University of Jawaharlal in New Delhi. He earned his PhD in Economics from Harvard University in 1988. He spent four years on the faculty at Princeton University, and one year at Harvard, before joining the MIT faculty in 1993.

Among other honors and awards, Banerjee was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004, and was granted the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Development Cooperation in 2009.

Duflo and Banerjee have published dozens of research papers, together and with other co-authors. They have also co-written two books toghether, “Poor Economics” (2011) and the forthcoming “Good Economics for Hard Times” (2019).

Duflo and Banerjee are the sixth and seventh people to win the award while serving as MIT faculty members, following Paul Samuelson (1970), Franco Modigliani (1985), Robert Solow (1987), Peter Diamond (2010), and Bengt Holmstrom (2016).

This story will be updated throughout the day.

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9 Best iPhone 11 Cases (And One Very Good Bike Mount)

I tested out 30 different iPhone 11 cases for the past month. These are my favorites.

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To Go Green, the Energy Industry Goes Open Source

Challenges around renewables are prompting players in the “traditional” sector to collaborate on software they can modify to address their changing needs.

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Massive, AI-Powered Robots Are 3D-Printing Entire Rockets

Relativity Space may have the biggest metal 3D printers in the world, and they're cranking out parts to reinvent the rocket industry here—and on Mars.

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Today’s Cartoon: Cutting Out the Middleman

DIY data brokering.

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After record world medal haul, Biles a face of 2020 Olympics

Next stop Tokyo for Simone Biles.
With Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps both retired since the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the U.S. gymnast will be the face of the games for much of the world.
In gymnastics, no one else comes close. Biles won five of the six gold medals at last week’s world championships and broke the all-time record of 25 medals by any gymnast, male or female.
“She’s just above anything else that we have seen in the sport,” five-time Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comaneci said of Biles on Sunday, praising “the domination that she has toward all the other gymnasts that competed here.”
Biles has not just got the talent. She’s got the character of an Olympic star.
There’s the laser-like focus on training, the same easygoing humor which endeared the world to Bolt, and — crucially in the modern era — a savvy social-media style.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said Sunday that Biles’ star status would make gymnastics a must-see event at the Tokyo Olympics.
“You can have legends confirming their status as we have just seen with Simone Biles, this amazing performance there on the beam, but you also have new stars,” he said. “Gymnastics has all the ingredients to be top another time, I must say. A top Olympic event in Tokyo.”
Despite its dispute with Biles over the scoring for her new double-double beam dismount — its grade was lessened in part so as not to encourage less-skilled gymnasts to attempt the risky move — the International Gymnastics Federation knows Biles is crucial to the sport.
Labeling her “wonder woman” and “a hero,” FIG president Morinari Watanabe is keen for Biles not to retire after the Tokyo Olympics. “I hope she will continue after 2020, because she is an excellent athlete,” he said Sunday.
Biles is certainly the only athlete who could pull off her look in training at the U.S. nationals in August. She caused a stir with a leotard bearing her surname and a goat’s head picked out in sequins, a nod to “Greatest Of All Time.”
Few disagree, but Biles hasn’t yet won everyone over.
“There’s no need to turn her into some unbeatable queen. If I was 15 years younger, I’d definitely take the fight to the American,” the Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina said in comments on the Russian Olympic Committee website Thursday.
Khorkina won 20 world championship medals between 1994 and 2001 and held the women’s record until Biles overtook her Tuesday.
One record is likely to remain out of Biles’ reach, however. Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina won a record 15 Olympic medals between 1956 and 1964. Biles won five Olympic medals in Rio de Janeiro, and could add six more next year in Tokyo, but appears highly unlikely to stick around until the 2024 Olympics.
However, there’s another record to aim for. Matching her world championship performance from last week would make Biles the first female gymnast to win five gold medals at a single Olympics, and the first female athlete to do so in any sport since East German swimmer Kristin Otto in 1988.
After Biles pioneered a new beam dismount and triple-double on the floor this season, her coach Laurent Landi says he favors refining her existing routines for the Olympics over adding yet more upgrades.
“I can find plenty of (upgrades), but you need to be realistic and only the medals count at the end,” he said. “We don’t need to show off everything we can do.”
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Queen Latifah to receive Harvard Black culture award

Music artist and actress Queen Latifah is among the honorees being recognized by Harvard University this year for their contributions to black history and culture.
Harvard is set to award the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal to Queen Latifah and six other recipients on Oct. 22, according to the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.
Other honorees include poet and educator Elizabeth Alexander, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Lonnie Bunch III, poet Rita Dove, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television Sheila Johnson, artist Kerry James Marshall and Robert Smith, founder, chairman and chief executive of Vista Equity Partners.
The award is named after Du Bois, a scholar, writer, editor, and civil rights pioneer who became the first black student to earn a doctorate from Harvard in 1895.

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Yasuke: The mysterious African samurai

Yasuke was entrusted with decapitating his Japanese lord - a huge honour 500 years ago.

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Sexual violence in South Africa: 'Our cops are supposed to protect us'

Norma Ka Mbele tells her story, amid protests over high rates of sexual violence in South Africa.

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#toGodbetheglory

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Ariana Grande spills the beans on the upcoming ‘Charlie’s Angels’ reboot soundtrack

If the new trailer is to be believed, Aladdin‘s Naomi Scott, Kristen Stewart and Ella Balinska are serving up some serious girl power in the upcoming Charlie’s Angels movie.

Elizabeth Banks wrote the script and is helming the franchise reboot. The director will also star in the feature as Bosley, the boss to the trio of self-described “lady spies.” Patrick Stewart and Djimon Hounsou will play the other two “Bosley” in the project. According to the plot, the Angels are called into action to thwart a sinister plan involving dangerous technology.

“It was important to me to make a movie about women working together and supporting each other, and not make a movie about their romantic entanglements or their mother they don’t call enough,” Banks previously told EW of the movie, which follows the original 1976 crime drama series of the same name.

Charlie’s Angels aired on ABC from 1976 to 1981 starring late Hollywood icon Farrah Fawcett. Director McG served up two blockbuster features in the early 2000s starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, with Bill Murray and Bernie Mac playing the Bosley character.

READ MORE: Simone Biles is now most decorated gymnast in history after winning her 24th world medal

Check out the second official trailer:

In addition to this new trailer, Ariana Grande unveiled the tracklist of the film’s soundtrack, including new songs from Nicki Minaj, Normani, Chaka Khan, and five original tunes by Grande.

READ MORE: Kanye West brings Sunday Service to Howard University, warns crowd to avoid ‘slave nets’

The pop star announced the list on Instagram along with the preorder link, writing, “Excited and honored to have so many phenomenal, bad ass mf women involved in this incredibly special project. We’re all so excited for you to hear this poppy, mildly trappy at times, action-filled, dream of a soundtrack. These songs are so right for this film! This has been such a unique and exciting experience for me and I’m so excited to see it and scream whenever I hear all my friends’ voices. The time is almost here.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

the charlie’s angels soundtrack is available for preorder now ! 👼🏼🖤 excited and honored to have so many phenomenal, bad ass mf women involved in this incredibly special project. we’re all so excited for you to hear this poppy, mildly trappy at times, action filled, dream of a soundtrack. these songs are so right for this film! this has been such a unique and exciting experience for me and i’m so excited to see it and scream whenever i hear all my friends’ voices. the time is almost here @awsuki @ilya_music ! thank u for having me along on this ride !

A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on Oct 10, 2019 at 9:01pm PDT

Charlie’s Angels hits theaters on Nov. 15.

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Kanye West brings Sunday Service to Howard University, warns crowd to avoid ‘slave nets’

Kanye West surprised students at Howard University with a Sunday Service on a Saturday for their homecoming- but not everyone was thrilled due to the rapper’s support of President Donald Trump.

West brought his famed “Sunday Service” to the historically Black university at about 8 a.m. Saturday morning, CNN reports, where he and his famed choir and a brass band performed a number of his hits, including “Jesus Walks,” “Fade,” “Beautiful Morning,” and more.

West was accompanied by wife Kim Kardashian and two of their children, North and Saint, according to TMZ. The service was lead by R&B singer Tony Williams …

The university posted video from the event on its official Twitter and it quickly drew criticism from the progressive anti-Trump crowd who called out those embracing West, considering his political views and alleged “anti-blackness.”

Howard professor, Dr. Keneshia Grant, tweeted that the “Kanye church thing makes me uncomfortable…”

This Kayne church thing makes me uncomfortable. There, I said it.

— Keneshia Grant, Ph.D. (@keneshiagrant) October 12, 2019

Twitter user @AmmonLyle wrote, “If you’re not intelligent enough to recognize that Kanye West is exploiting Black Christian culture AND Howard University to rebrand from supporting a racist, xenophobic con artist… please stay away from me.”

If you’re not intelligent enough to recognize that Kanye West is exploiting Black Christian culture AND Howard University to rebrand from supporting a racist, xenophobic con artist… please stay away from me.

— Ammon (@AmmonLyle) October 12, 2019

Several fans slammed the rapper online for selling his own merch at the event.

Columnist Tobi Oredein of Premier Christianity said in a recent article: ”As I watched these Sunday Services, I also wondered who was being glorified,” she said. “He’s employing a choir of people who are not only singing his songs, but are all dressed in his apparel. Is Christ really at the center of this gathering? I’m not sure he is.”

READ MORE: Middle school teacher in Pennsylvania placed on leave following racist rant

Greg Carr, an associate professor at Howard’s Department of Afro-American Studies, asked his followers on Twitter to send West to the school’s library to pick up a copy of The Mis-Education of the Negro. The 1933 thesis argues that Black Americans are being culturally indoctrinated in schools.

If @kanyewest is indeed at #HowardU this morning, send him to the third floor of Founder’s Library after he’s done. I have some books for him.#TheMiseducationOfTheNegro

— Greg Carr (@AfricanaCarr) October 12, 2019

In addition, writer Frederick Joseph tweeted that he “can’t blame Kanye anymore,” because “he’s shown us who he is.” Joseph noted that “Black people need to stop making space for his anti-Blackness.”

Can’t blame Kanye anymore, he’s shown us who he is. Black people need to stop making space for his anti-Blackness.

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) October 12, 2019

But Twitter user Michael Menifee said, “If you truly pay attention, Kanye has shown us many sides of who he is. He is not the same person as the one we saw when he first appeared on Live TV. He’s growing and evolving like we all should be.”

If you truly pay attention, Kanye has shown us many sides of who he is. He is not the same person as the one we saw when he first appeared on Live TV. He’s growing and evolving like we all should be.

— Michael Menifee (@mmenifee26) October 12, 2019

Meanwhile, Yeezy fans seem to be divided ever since West met with Trump at the White House in 2018, and compared wearing a MAGA hat to having super powers. Later that year during his appearance on TMZ Live, the Chicago native ranted about “slavery being a choice.”

READ MORE: Kim Kardashian’s efforts help win release for man convicted of murder at 16

Most recently at his Utah Sunday Service earlier this month, he reiterated his support of Trump and told attendees that the “Republican party… freed the slaves.”

During his show at Howard on Saturday, the Grammy-winning artist told the crowd, “If they throwing slave nets again how about we all don’t stand in the same place.”

And with that… many have officially cancelled Kanye West. Others believe he is simply trying to “free our minds” so we’re better equipped to avoid being caught up in similar circumstances that have helped fuel the ongoing cycle of Black oppression.

Meanwhile, West has a gospel album coming out next month, “Jesus Is King” reportedly drops October 25.

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Two killed and one person still missing after Hard Rock Hotel collapses in New Orleans

Two are dead and one person is missing after a large section of a Hard Rock Hotel under construction in downtown New Orleans collapsed Saturday (Oct. 12), injuring more than 20.

Mandatory evacuations in the surrounding areas were issued as city officials are concerned about further collapse, CNN affiliate WDSU reports. New Orleans Fire Department Superintendent, Tim McConnell, compared the damage to that of an earthquake.

“I heard a huge noise and thought it was a plane crashing,” said Sue Hurley, a 68-year-old guest at a hostel across the street from the soon-to-be Hard Rock Hotel, located near the city’s historic French Quarter. Over 100 workers were on site during construction of the building when the structure gave way. More than a dozen were injured, two were killed, and one is still missing. All three are still in the building, officials said.

Rescue workers searched that unstable building until nightfall when the hunt was suspended over safety concerns. The search reportedly resumed Sunday morning.

The injured were taken to area hospitals Saturday. All but one person has been discharged, nola.com reports. He remains in stable condition after undergoing surgery.

McConnell has urged drivers to find alternative routes to work come Monday morning, as the area is blocked off from all traffic — both pedestrian and vehicular.

“The workday is tomorrow, so please plan ahead,” McConnell said. “We ask employers to be understanding — (employers) may be delayed.”

About 100 residents have reportedly been displaced due to mandatory evacuations near the site, several homeowners are seeking assistance through the New Orleans Health Department, officials said.

READ MORE: Family of woman shot and killed in her bedroom by Texas police demand answers

Authorities have not said what caused the collapse but WWL-TV shared a viewer’s footage of the building’s upper floors collapsing before one side of the building crashes to the street. Separate video footage shows workers emerging from a cloud of dust after the floors fall on top of each other.

Following the incident, Hard Rock International released a statement making clear the company had no involvement with construction of the building.

“Citadel Builders LLC was contracted by Kailas Companies, owner of the project, to build the Hard Rock Hotel based on a brand licensing agreement with Hard Rock International, the future manager of the hotel. Hard Rock has had no involvement in the construction of the project. We want to extend our deepest sympathies to victims of this tragic accident and to their loved ones and friends,” the statement read.

READ MORE: NY Socialite Bevy Smith allegedly denied cab ride because she is Black

Mayor LaToya Cantrell released a statement Saturday night, thanking the public for their support.

“Today’s collapse was a tragedy, and our hearts break for the loss of life,” said Mayor Cantrell. “Our focus is on continuing to secure the site and to doing everything we can to support the families impacted as rescue efforts continue.” She also noted that the rescue mission will shift into an investigation to learn what caused the building’s collapse.

Citadel Builders have vowed to work with with emergency officials on a plan to stabilize the building.

 

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2021 Africa Cup of Nations: The Gambia, Chad, South Sudan and Sao Tome advance in qualifying

The Gambia and Chad both need penalties to reach the group phase of 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying as South Sudan and Sao Tome e Principe secure aggregate wins.

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Simone Biles is now most decorated gymnast in history after winning her 24th world medal

Simone Biles has officially achieved G.O.A.T. status by becoming the most-decorated gymnast at the world championships, winning gold on balance beam and floor exercises.

Biles earned a record-breaking 24th and 25th medals at the World Gymnastics Championship in Stuttgart, Germany, over the weekend, USA Today reports. She has surpassed the previous record by Vitaly Scherbo, who earned 23 medals over the course of six years in the 1990s. Biles has done it in just five. She tied Scherbo on Saturday by winning gold on vault. She earned her 24th medal on the balance beam Sunday morning.

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TheGrio previously reported, last Saturday, Biles served up two new skills that had never been performed in competition; the triple-double during her floor routine and the double-double dismount on the balance beam,  which became a signature move bearing her name Biles II, CNN reports. The 22-year-old now has a total of four signature moves.

“If I were to label myself as a superstar, it would bring more expectations on me and I would feel pressured, more in the limelight, rather than now,” Biles said at a press conference before her performance last weekend at the 2019 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Gymnastics Championship.

“I just go out there and compete,” she added. “I try to represent Simone… not ‘Simone Biles’ whenever I go out there, because at the end of the day, I’m still a human being before I’m ‘Simone Biles, the superstar.’”

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On Tuesday, the gymnast won her 21st medal, leading team USA to their fifth consecutive world team championship. On Thursday, Biles bagged her fifth all-around world title when she beat China’s Tang Xijing by a 2.1 points.

“Every year it feels better and better just because we’re adding to the legacy,” Biles told reporters at the event. “I feel like I never think of records. I just go out there and do what I came to do, which is compete for the country.”

American Sunisa Lee, 16, took home the silver in her world-championships debut, and Russia’s Angelina Melnikova claimed bronze.

 

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Family of woman shot and killed in her bedroom by Texas police demand answers

The Fort Worth Police Department in Texas is under serious fire after an unarmed 28-year-old woman was fatally shot inside her home by an officer responding to a welfare check.

Atatiana Jefferson was reportedly playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew early Saturday morning when she heard a noise in her backyard and went to investigate. That’s when she was shot by an officer through her bedroom window, according to police bodycam footage, heavy.com reports.

Just before 2:30 a.m. Oct. 12, the officer, whose name has not been released, responded to neighbor James Smith’s call that the front door to Jefferson’s home was open and the lights were on– something Smith found quite concerning.

According to multiple reports, bodycam video does not show the officer announcing himself or knocking on the door. Instead, the cop walks to the side of the house, where he opens a gate to the backyard and uses a flashlight to search the exterior of the property. When he sees a person watching him from a window inside the house, he yells “Put your hands up. Show me your hands!” He then shoots through the window– striking and killing Jefferson.

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Meanwhile, Smith is giving a side-eye to the officer’s response, telling WFAA he saw no lights, heard no sirens and noted that none of the responding officers identified themselves before the shooting. He insists there was no arguing, fighting, domestic violence and “nothing that they should have been concerned about as far as them coming with guns drawn to my neighbor’s house,” he said.

“Three or four tactical officers come from around the corner, somehow walk across the street in front of her house, past the front door which was open… Go down the side of her house to the rear of her house, and in less than a minute I heard gunshots,”  he added.

According to the Fort Worth Police Department, the trigger happy cop perceived a threat and fired one shot. Jefferson died at the scene. Authorities released images of a firearm inside the home, but have not stated if Jefferson was armed with the weapon at the time of her death.

One Twitter user commented, “You ever notice how they are so quick to tell us ‘there was a gun in the house?'”

You ever notice how they are so quick to tell us ” there was a gun in the house”?

— CoolBeadsbyBootC (@CoolBeadsBootC) October 13, 2019

“It was nothing nefarious or illegal about owning a fire arm, and they presented in no way that the fire arm lead to their use of deadly force,” Merritt said. “The hardest part about it is, I spoke with an 8-year-old who explained what it was like inside of the house.”

The officer responsible for Jefferson’s death is currently on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Community leaders and neighbors believe the bodycam footage fails to support the typical “officer was in fear of his life” narrative, and family attorney Lee Merritt calls it another police-involved murder of an unarmed Black civilian.

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Jefferson reportedly worked at Xavier University of Louisiana, where she also studied biology and majored in chemistry with a minor in pre-med. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family cover “funeral cost and other expenses associated with this tragedy,” Merritt wrote on Twitter.

For all those who have reached out looking to support the family. This campaign is managed directly by Atatiana’s immediate family and will support them with funeral cost and other expenses associated with this tragedy. https://t.co/AAvTzwlDyA

— S. Lee Merritt, Esq. (@MeritLaw) October 13, 2019

The GoFundMe page notes that Jefferson was working in pharmaceutical equipment sales. The fundraiser has been trending on Twitter with the hashtag #SayHerName.

The shooting happened just weeks after Dallas police officer, Amber Guyger, was found guilty of murder after shooting her unarmed neighbor Botham Jean inside his own apartment last year. Guyger was slapped with a 10 years in prison. Three days after her trail ended, a key witness in the case, Joshua Brown, was shot to death in what many believe was an orchestrated police-involved hit, although the Dallas Police Department claims Brown’s death was the result of a drug deal gone bad.

The post Family of woman shot and killed in her bedroom by Texas police demand answers appeared first on theGrio.

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Brigid Kosgei breaks Paula Radcliffe's women's marathon record

Brigid Kosgei claims a new women's marathon world record in Chicago, beating the time set by Britain's Paula Radcliffe in 2003.

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Brazil 1-1 Nigeria: Neymar limps off in first half

Paris Saint Germain forward Neymar limps off as Brazil are held to a 1-1 draw by Nigeria in Singapore.

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