Mbwana Samatta is thrilled to be a Tanzanian trailblazer after scoring on his Premier League debut for Aston Villa.
from BBC News - Africa https://ift.tt/394vkpq
via
Monday, February 3, 2020
Sunday, February 2, 2020
Ravens’ star quarterback Lamar Jackson makes history as second unanimous NFL MVP
Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson has just become only the second player in history to be unanimously voted as Most Valuable Player of the National Football League.
The first was Tom Brady of the New England Patriots in 2010.
Jackson received the big award on Saturday during the NFL’s end-of-season Hall of Fame awards. The recognition comes in only Jackson’s second season and his first as a full-time starter, the New York Daily News reports.
READ MORE: Helicopter shot cut from luxe brand Super Bowl ad after Kobe Bryant’s death
The short record of the 22-year-old Baltimore quarterback has been memorable.
He dominated most defenses he came up against in the last year, amounting to more than 3,100 passing yards, 36 passing touchdowns, 1,206 rushing yards, and seven rushing touchdowns, the News reported. He’s had 43 total touchdowns, according to the News.
The recognition comes two years after many doubted Jackson’s abilities in events leading up to the 2018 NFL Draft.
“It feels good when you can make those people eat their words,” ESPN quoted Jackson as saying Saturday.
READ MORE: Roger Goodell confirms NFL will pay tribute Kobe Bryant at Super Bowl
The unanimous vote is not the only milestone Jackson his this weekend. He now joins former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach and Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton as the only players to take home the MVP award and the coveted Heisman Trophy, the News reported.
Jackson also became only the third-youngest player to win the award, ESPN reported. Only running back Jim Brown, honored as MVP in 1957 and 1958, was younger, according to the sports news organization.
Despite 21 months of plays that saw sports journalists regularly raving, Jackson expressed humility at his accomplishment.
“I’m still young,” he said. “I’ve still got a lot of work to do. I’m not really trying to dwell on what I just did. If I win a Super Bowl, you’ll probably see a lot more emotion.”
Jackson is the first player for the Ravens to win the MVP award, and the only Baltimore player in 16 years to receive a single vote, ESPN reported.
The post Ravens’ star quarterback Lamar Jackson makes history as second unanimous NFL MVP appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/37RJKZv
via
Video emerges of boxing champion Gervona Davis in physical altercation with woman
Boxer Gervonta Davis is under fire this morning after a video surfaced of him physically assaulting a woman believed to be his daughter’s mother at a public evevnt.
In the 15-second video posted by the @mr_luares Twitter account, Davis is seen at a celebrity basketball game in Miami on Saturday grabbing a seated woman by the collar or throat and lifting her from her seat as both appear to be arguing. Two men at the game walk quickly toward the pair and as soon as a third man who was seated next to the woman moves aside, the four all walk out of the arena.
Gervonta Davis rolled up ready to straight choke slam shorty pic.twitter.com/NLYHwzYI0i
— 🇩🇴RIP Kobe Bryant🇨🇻🇬🇼🅙 (@mr_Iuares) February 1, 2020
Later on in a post to his Instagram stories, Davis, 25, strongly denied harming the young woman. The boxer has since deleted all posts and stories from that personal account.
“I never once hit her,” he posted. “Yea, I was aggressive and told her to come on … that’s the mother of my child I would never hurt her.”
READ MORE: Serena Williams gets boxing lessons from Mike Tyson: ‘She has some power’
Davis’ advisor, Lorin Chvotkin, told the Baltimore Sun he would have no comment on the incident.
Davis, a native of Baltimore, now lives and trains in Atlanta.
This is not Davis’ first skirmish with potential assault.
One year ago, a magistrate in Fairfax, Va., issued an arrest warrant for Davis on a misdemeanor assault charge in connection with an alleged altercation at a mall in Virginia. Davis had been scheduled to appear in court last May on the charge, but he reached a settlement with the other party first and charges were dropped, the Sun reported.
Davis also has faced previous assault charges that were later dropped after allegedly punching a childhood friend in the head back in 2017, as well as engaging in alleged disorderly conducted for a reported street fight in 2018, Yahoo Sports reported.
READ MORE: Kobe Bryant’s sisters issue statement after tragic death: ‘Our lives are forever changed’
On Dec. 29th, Davis won the World Boxing Association lightweight title in Atlanta after a 12th round knockout of Yuriorkis Gamboa. Davis is a two-time Super Featherweight World Champion.
There have been no arrests or police reports filed, TMZ and the Sun are reporting.
TMZ reported that the altercation began with the two yelling at one another until matters turned physical.
The post Video emerges of boxing champion Gervona Davis in physical altercation with woman appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/37RwQel
via
FDA approves new drug to combat deadly peanut allergies in kids
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new medication to treat potentially deadly peanut allergies in children.
And while food allergies are growing in prevalence among all children, some research has shown that Black children are at an increased risk for food allergy and its effects, Physician’s Weekly reports.
READ MORE: Ludacris surprises Florida students with $75K worth of music equipment
The drug Palforzia works by helping to increase patients’ tolerance to peanuts, thereby reducing the risk of a dangerous reaction, according to USA Today.
“Peanut allergy affects approximately 1 million children in the U.S., and only one out of five of these children will outgrow their allergy,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told the news organization. “Because there is no cure, allergic individuals must strictly avoid exposure to prevent severe and potentially life-threatening reactions.”
Palforzia is approved for youngsters age 4 to 17 who have a confirmed diagnosis of allergy, but the FDA warns that it should not be considered a green light to eating peanuts. Allergy sufferers must still avoid eating peanuts, the federal agency said.
“It’s been a life-changer,” sufferer Nina Nichols, 18, is quoted as saying by USA Today.
The teen took part in a Palforzia research study to provide more guidance on side effects and its effectiveness. The powdered drug is made from peanuts, and patients mix it with small amounts of soft food such as apple sauce or yogurt.
READ MORE: Third time’s the charm: Ciara and Russell Wilson announce third baby on the way
And while the drug is showing promise, data on children of color and food allergies is lacking, Dr. Mahboobeh Mahdavinia told Physician’s Weekly.
“Nearly all available information is focused on Caucasian children because food allergies are thought to be an issue of affluent societies and higher-income families,” she said.
Another physician, one who works with the federal government, told USA Today that overall, Palforzia is a game changer.
“For so long, we had nothing to offer those patients,” Dr. Pamela Guerrerio of the National Institutes of Health told the news organization.
NIH funds a good portion of food allergy research.
“We finally have a treatment,” Guerrerio said. “That’s a big step.
Palforzia is produced by Aimmune Therapuetics. The company told USA Today that it is hopeful prescriptions may begin in a few weeks.
The post FDA approves new drug to combat deadly peanut allergies in kids appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/2GLTtVv
via
Good news- early spring predicted on Groundhog Day 2020
Celebrity groundhog Punxsutawney Phil failed to see his shadow on Sunday morning, meaning the country will hopefully see an early spring.
The prediction is probably not a surprise to many in the United States who have experienced less snow and cold than usual, but those at the event in Punxsutawney, Penn., at dawn still reacted to the rodent’s failure to see his shadow as an epiphany.
“It’s not very often that Phil predicts an early spring, but the groundhog, my friends, predicted an early spring,” Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean said on Sunday.
The western Pennsylvania groundhog “does not predict spring very often,” Dean said, and Sunday’s phenomenon is likely only the 21st time in the last century that Phil has predicted winter will say an early goodbye, Fox News reported.
READ MORE: Stacey Abrams predicts she’ll be president by 2040
In fact, in the previous five years before Sunday, Punxsutawney Phil has predicted six more weeks of winter three times, according to Fox.
In records going back 122 years, the groundhog has predicted more winter more than 100 years, Fox reported.
“This is epic; this is history right now,” Dean said from Miami, where she planned to report from the Super Bowl. “The groundhog has spoken and we are going to experience an early spring, everybody.”
The Groundhog Day tradition has its roots in a German legend, which dictates that if a furry rodent casts a shadow on Feb. 2, winter will continue, Fox reported.
READ MORE: Southern University becomes first HBCU to launch CBD oil product ALAFIA
While the annual tradition makes for lots of jokes and conversation about the weather, the brutal truth is that Punxsutawney Phil is rarely right in his predictions. His track record is about 39 percent, Dean said.
Last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information reported that the groundhog’s prediction of a short winter was completely wrong, and the country experienced a pretty harsh February and March with below-average temperatures.
The post Good news- early spring predicted on Groundhog Day 2020 appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/37S6sRv
via
High schooler banned from graduation because of dreadlocks invited to Oscars by Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade
Celebrity couple Gabrielle Union and former Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade invited DeAndre Arnold, a Houston-area teen whose high school officials told him he wouldn’t graduate if he did not cut his dreadlocks, to the Oscars.
Union, the award-winning actress, and Wade, invited the young man and his mother, Sandy, to the Feb. 9 Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood. The couple co-produced a short film, Hair Love, with creator Matthew Cherry that celebrates the beauty and uniqueness of Black hair.
READ MORE: Texas school forces Black teen to choose between wearing locs or attending graduation
The couple created a video greeting for DeAndre that Cherry shared on his Twitter feed.
“Hey, DeAndre, I’m Gabrielle Union and I am one of the producers of the Oscar-nominated animated short film Hair Love,” Union states in the video. “When we heard about your story and you just wanting to wear your hair the way you want at school, and all this scrutiny that you faced and how unwavering you have been in standing up for yourself, we also knew that we had to get involved.”
Wade explains in the video that he and Union are big fans of the teen.
“We wanted to do something special for you,” Wade said. “You and your mother, Sandy, are the official guests of the Oscar-nominated team behind Hair Love at the 2020 Academy Awards. Get ready, you going to the Oscars, Bud.”
Cherry said on Twitter that Dove toiletry company will cover the cost of ceremony tickets, wardrobe and glam needs while Union and Wade will pay or the pair’s travel and hotel.
READ MORE: Terry Crews apologizes to Gabrielle Union following ‘AGT’ backlash
Arnold told CBS that he was overwhelmed by the love he is receiving since he first shared that Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, informed him his hair violates the school’s dress code.
“It’s crazy- like, I never thought that people like D. Wade and Gabrielle Union would be on my side,” Arnold told the network. “The film is about hair love, and me and my hair kind of grew up together in a way. It’s like we are best friends. It really just means so much that we get an invite like this. It means the world to us, honestly.”
Earlier in the week on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” DeGeneres and pianist/songstress Alicia Keys awarded Arnold a $20,000 scholarship toward his college education.
The post High schooler banned from graduation because of dreadlocks invited to Oscars by Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade appeared first on TheGrio.
from TheGrio https://ift.tt/37RtZ4N
via
5 Moments In Black History That Will Motivate You to Accomplish Career Success
Imagine being treated less than human, with no civil rights or no choice in the type of work you perform, all while earning less than minimum wage and oftentimes nothing at all. Being restricted from knowing how to read, write, learn, or even dream of a life beyond mental and physical enslavement.
Black history can be upsetting but it can also be encouraging. Consider the accomplishments of so many under so much racism and strife. Black History Month symbolizes progression in the black community.
African Americans are in a position to make decisions of their choice when it comes to their career pursuits. We must take advantage of the resources that are available to us, and be proactive when it comes to obtaining employment. So whether you’re a nine-to-fiver, business owner, freelancer, etc., the key is to stay motivated and practice consistency so that you can succeed.
Here are five black history reminders to keep you motivated as you pursue your own career goals.
- Carter G. Woodson encouraged the study of black history when he founded Black History Week in 1926. His work left such a long-lasting impression that in 1976, Black History became a federally recognized celebratory month. As a result of Dr. Woodson pursuing his passion and advocating for a cause beyond himself, others recognized it and supported it, which ultimately accomplished his goal.
- Frederick McKinley Jones received over 60 patents during the course of his career pertaining to refrigeration technologies as well as others related to X-ray machines, engines, and sound equipment. He is most notable for his design of a portable air-cooling unit for trucks carrying perishable food. An orphan with little education, he was able to defy the odds. He found work doing odd jobs as a janitor in an automobile shop where he developed an interest for auto mechanics. He worked daily and studied his craft in his spare time. Jones is a great example of not letting your circumstances limit your ambition.
- Black Wall Street was an affluent black community in the early 1900s located in the Greenwood district neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. At a time when segregation was at an all-time high, the community opened their own highly successful schools, churches, theaters, and nightclubs. Today, African Americans have the option to start their own businesses, pursue career opportunities of their choice, and patronize businesses of their choice. Let this piece of history serve as motivation for you to design and create what you wish existed and be certain to utilize your network to build and create it.
- Anne Lowe was the first credited African American fashion designer. Lowe was born in 1898 in Clayton, Alabama, during the Jim Crow era. However, due to her grandmother and mother being great dressmakers, her family moved to Montgomery, Alabama, and started their own business. Lowe was a natural at her craft and later attended design school in New York City, although she was segregated from her white classmates. After finishing design school, she reopened her business. Lowe is famously known for creating Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding dress. Let this be motivation for you to use your natural talents and gifts to create a growing career.
- President Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States and the first African American to serve in this role. He accomplished something that many believed would never be done. Let this be motivation to you that regardless of what others may think of your dreams, don’t allow it to affect the vision that you have for yourself. Keep working to make your vision a reality.
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on February 7, 2018
from Black Enterprise https://ift.tt/2uShHux
via
The 18 Best Black Books of All Time for Black History Month
Black History Month is underway, and black people are getting all the feels that come with historical blackness. The month of February signifies a celebration of all things black. Together, we collectively acknowledge the African American experience—dating back to 1619 when the first enslaved African pressed his feet onto American soil. It is only right to pay homage to our ancestors’ malleability, black excellence, and those who have impacted our history as well as the culture. It is also a good time to soak up all the unknown stories and marvels of our heritage. Plenty is surfacing online via social media. However, black books are the ultimate source to immerse ourselves in the resilience and wonderment of blackness past and present.
18 Best Black Books for Black History Month
1. Incidents in the Life Of A Slave Girl
This slave narrative by Harriet Ann Jacobs was originally published in 1861 just as the American Civil War began. Jacobs fictionalized her own story on the horrors of slave life as a young girl, specifically one having to deal with the sexual harassment projected by her slaveholder and the physical violence of his jealous wife.
Incidents in the Life Of A Slave Girl, Thayer & Eldridge
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
2. The Marrow of Tradition
Charles W. Chesnutt was a prolific black writer who could very well pass for white but refused to. This historical text, published at the turn of the century, depicts the Wilmington Race Riots in 1898. It focuses on racial politics, violence, and blackface during Reconstruction, and sadly, echoes events happening today.
The Marrow of Tradition, Haughton, Mifflin, and Company
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
3.The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man
James Weldon Johnson, the creator of the black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice And Sing,” shares the story of being raised by a black mother, but also believing that he was as white as his school-age peers due to his biracial heritage. His loss of innocence comes as he is discriminated against by his teacher. Throughout the text, Johnson gives firsthand accounts and observations of occupying two racial spaces, fitting into neither, yet being forced to choose one.
The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man, Sherman, French & Co.
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
4. Mules and Men
Zora Neale Hurston flexes her anthropology chops in this book that published in 1935. She gathers and documents cultural information from her native Florida, and New Orleans, and brings forth the beauty of common folk; their voice, their diction, their living, their way.
Mules and Men, Harper Collins
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
5. Invisible Man
This existential text told the story of a lone, nameless black man navigating a white world and, eventually, we find him so isolated from society to align and protect himself from the powers that be. It is an allegory for the entire black race, which is mistreated, objectified, commodified, and cast aside in such a way that it may as well be invisible.
The Invisible Man, Random House
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
6. Go Tell It On The Mountain
Christianity has close ties to the black American experience, and in many instances it is inextricable. Baldwin puts the beauty and the problematic on the page by way of a young man attempting to negotiate being black, religious, unloved, and possibly gay. Go Tell It On The Mountain is an exploration of identity and migration.
Go Tell It On The Mountain, Knopf
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
7. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
We are blessed to have this book in the world. Alex Haley documented X’s life-changing story for two years prior to his assassination. The book posthumously was published in 1965.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Ballantine Books
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
8. Dopefiend
Long before the crack era of the 1980s, heroine wreaked havoc on black communities. Donald Goines, a brilliant writer of street literature captures the pain of addiction perfectly.
Dopefiend, Holloway House
Get the book:
Get the audio:
9. Roots
Alex Haley’s family tree is the context for Roots. It tells the story of his matriarchal forefather’s journey from Africa, through the middle passage, and through chattel slavery and is carried on by his descendants. The text was integral to African Americans wanting to know their family roots, and sparking interest in genealogy.
Roots, Doubleday
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
10. For colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf
Ntozake Shange took the Black Arts movement by storm when her collection of choreopoems hit theaters. These monologues are rooted in black feminism and speak specifically to the intersectionality of race and sexism black women experience.
For colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, Bantam Books
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
11. Song of Solomon
This Nobel Prize-winning book traces the history of a black family and shows the nuance and complexity of black community rarely highlighted in mainstream literature—through Morrison’s remarkable storytelling and beautiful words.
Song of Solomon, Alfred Knopf
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
12. The Color Purple
If there has ever been a story told about black trauma, toxic masculinity, and survival, The Color Purple by Alice Walker will likely come up. The Pulitzer Prize-winning book made it to the big screen three years after its 1982 publishing date.
The Color Purple, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
13. How to Succeed in Business Without Being White: Straight Talk on Making It in America
This list would be remiss without this text from BLACK ENTERPRISE founder and publisher Earl G. Graves Sr. His shoot-from-the-hip commentary on what it takes to be a great, black entrepreneur in a white world is just the prescription the black business world needs.
How to Succeed in Business Without Being White: Straight Talk on Making It in America, Harper Collins
Get the book:
Get the audio:
14. The Coldest Winter Ever
The cold, harsh reality of drug culture bleeds off these pages. It effectively captures the allure of the game while serving its consequences as well.
The Coldest Winter Ever, Simon & Schuster
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
15. The New Jim Crow
Mass incarceration has long plagued the black community. While representing just 13% of the nation’s population, black people make up 40% of the prison population. Michelle Alexander links this disparity to the war on drugs created to militarize police and fracture black communities, but also exposes its lasting effect as well as its ongoing nature.
The New Jim Crow, The New Press
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
16. The Underground Railroad
If you ever thought the Underground Railroad was an actual railroad when growing up, don’t feel ashamed. Colson Whitehead puts that perspective in play in this Pulitzer Prize-winning, historical text. It is a refreshing fictional look at slavery.
The Underground Railroad, Doubleday
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
17. The World According To Fannie Davis
Numbers playing is a part of the black culture that is common, yet elusive. The life of a black woman numbers runner is written alongside the historical events and the backdrop of black Detroit.
The World According To Fannie Davis, St. Martin’s Press
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
18. Heavy: An American Memoir
This is the story of a life filled with contradictions, tragedy, and resilience. Kiese Laymon lays out parts of his life in intricate detail, taking the reader through observations of a range violence committed against black folk and a range of violence committed by them as well. This memoir is a reckoning of the internal and external conflict with, in and around blackness.
Heavy: An American Memoir, Simon & Schuster
Get the book:
Get the e-book:
Get the audio:
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on February 14, 2019
Please note: Black Enterprise makes a small commission when you purchase one of these products via the embedded Amazon links.
from Black Enterprise https://ift.tt/2UhVr80
via
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)