Former Schalke player Hiannick Kamba has reportedly been found alive in Germany, four years after his assumed death.
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Thursday, May 7, 2020
Democratic Operatives Make a Push For Michelle Obama To Become Vice President
Democratic operatives have just launched a committee with the aim of pushing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to name Michelle Obama as his vice president.
“The Committee to Draft Michelle Obama firmly believes that Ms. Obama will not only benefit the Democratic ticket this November but also help lead this country to be more just and caring,” the group said in a statement according to ABC News. “However strongly we support Ms. Obama as Vice President Biden’s running mate, we will transfer our resolve to whoever joins the ticket to defeat the most dangerous incumbent in the history of our nation.”
Biden committed to choosing a black woman as his vice president but has backtracked on that in recent weeks. Biden did say that he would choose the former first lady “in a heartbeat,” but noted that it was unlikely to happen.
“She’s brilliant. She knows the way around. She is a really fine woman. The Obamas are great friends,” Biden said in an interview with CBS in late April. However, Biden added, “I don’t think she has any desire to live in the White House again.”
The newly formed committee filed as a non-connected PAC on April 26, according to FEC documents, and is not affiliated with Barack Obama or Biden’s campaign. The committee is supported by Democratic fundraisers including Nadine Hack and Mack Wilbourn.
Although the committee wants Biden to choose Michelle Obama as his running mate, the committee said it will “transfer our resolve to whoever joins the ticket to defeat the most dangerous incumbent in the history of our nation.”
In March, House Majority Whip James Clyburn urged Biden to choose a black woman as his running mate. Clyburn suggested Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, Democratic Reps. Marcia Fudge of Ohio, Val Demings of Florida, and Karen Bass of California as potential choices, as well as Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Biden has already begun his search for a vice president saying he hopes to make a selection by the end of May.
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Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Design that makes a difference
Her first year on campus, Jierui Fang received an intriguing message from a junior living on her dorm floor who was looking for help on a project to paint augmented reality murals in the tunnels below MIT. “I wavered on applying for about a month, not wanting to overload my already frazzled first-year self,” Fang recalls. “While riding the bus the day of the deadline, however, I decided I had nothing to lose and hurriedly sketched out my thoughts with hours left, not knowing how much an impact this project would have on my undergraduate life.”
Fang became a design chair and later lead for the Borderline Mural Project, finding and contributing to an arts community at MIT that she had feared at first might not exist. Since then, the art and design major in the Department of Architecture has worked on a unique cross-section of physical and digital design projects on and off campus. She has sought inspiration from a variety of sources, collaborating with people she has met through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), workshops and lectures, and a number of student groups and communities.
Fang had been considering an art degree at other schools before choosing MIT, a decision made, in part, after a friend pointed her toward a TED talk by Neri Oxman, associate professor at the MIT Media Lab. “I felt like the work she was doing was very cool and multidisciplinary, kind of fusing together art and design and science — all things I’d been interested in at the time,” she says. “It showed me that students could pursue more than one thing at MIT.”
Once on campus, Fang searched for a way to feed her diverse interests in the visual arts, health care, public policy, and biology. After initially declaring a bioengineering major, she says, “I discovered I liked design more, and realized I was actively searching for design-related communities, opportunities, and news.”
Fang says her first design studio, 4.031 (Objects and Interactions), was influential in introducing her to design’s tools and technologies as well as topics in generative and interaction design. An externship at AE Superlab and participating in the “Make it Playful” hackathon in Grenoble, France, during Independent Activities Period also helped her make the decision to switch to the new design major, created in 2018, and to make bioengineering her minor.
The class 4.110 (Design Across Scales and Disciplines) with Oxman herself “had opened my mind to what design could do,” says Fang, who has taken this lesson to heart. Her portfolio includes design for devices such as a vehicle siren detector for the hearing-impaired and a field kit for diagnostics and pharmaceutical manufacture that medical workers can use in remote locations. The last design, which Fang worked on through a UROP project in the Little Devices Lab, was included on display in the “Design with the 90%” traveling exhibit curated by the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.
The Little Devices projects have been among her favorites, Fang says. “Most of the researchers in that lab are undergraduates, so I really feel like I was able to contribute a lot to the projects there. … The way the lab was set up there, I could talk to people and collaborate and also see my work in museums or being shipped off to places for other people to use, which was super gratifying.”
MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) also has provided funding for several of her projects, including the hackathon in France and a trip to Brazil with the Borderline project.
Fang also enjoyed the digital design she did in the summer of 2019 for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s (USCIS) Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate, where she worked with a team to create a new centralized refugee case-management system. “I met a lot of refugee officers there, and it was really interesting hearing their stories,” she says. “It was a very unique experience, with the whole current climate around refugees.”
“I like the idea of having a job that involves design for people who are not traditionally served by design,” Fang adds.
The experience prompted her to spend this January working at two high schools in Amman, Jordan, through MIT’s Global Teaching Labs. She and three other women created their own curriculum in introductory product design and computer science. Fang had wanted to know more about what teaching was like, but she was also curious about the region after her time at USCIS. “In Jordan, a large part of their population is refugees,” including Palestinians and Syrians, she says. “I felt like being closer to the ground helped me understand” the educational and cultural challenges refugees face in their new countries.
Fang is looking for a product design job in industry after she graduates, hoping to learn more about that sector after working in nonprofit, government, and academic settings. She says she enjoys the “tangibility” of physical product design, but adds, “I think in terms of scaling, digital can reach a lot more people and can have a lot more impact that way. It’s been pretty rewarding knowing you’re reaching so many more people through digital products.”
Her ideas about design have changed over her time at MIT, and she wishes more people on campus understood how many types of skills are involved in a design career. “I think a lot of people have this perception that design is all about aesthetics, so that sometimes when I join a club or offer to help out with something, they’re like, ‘make this poster prettier,’” Fang says, laughing.
Aesthetics are important, she says, “but there’s also a lot of logic and reasoning that’s behind a lot of design decisions … and you have to be able to justify why you made the design decisions you did.”
Among many other clubs on campus, Fang has been part of the Asian Dance Team and the MIT Figure Skating Club, continuing interests that she has had since elementary school. Last semester she took a class at nearby Harvard University on fungi, and is taking another one this semester on ornithology.
And why is a designer learning about bird evolution? “Why not?” Fang says.
“There’s so much you can take advantage of here, and I don’t think an excuse should be, ‘oh, I’ve never done this before’ or ‘I’m afraid of being a beginner at something,’” she says. “I would say that I'm willing to take a chance on things that might not originally seem like they would fit into a master plan for my future.”
Now at home, Fang is adjusting to remote learning and staying connected with friends from MIT. “I'm wrapping up some loose ends for the competitions from the MIT Global Startup Workshop that was supposed to be held in France this week,” she says. “I've also been learning some skills I've always wanted to but have been too busy to learn, trying to figure out how I can be useful in all of this, and how designing will have to adapt in this new environment.”
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Devale Ellis on shocking ‘Sistas’ finale and pursuing his dream job
You may know Devale and Khadeen Ellis from capturing our hearts and sharing their love story on OWN’s Black Love in 2018, from their hit podcast ‘Deadass,’ or from their social media presence on Instagram and Youtube as they chronicle their life as a sexy married couple with kids.
But most recently, Devale stars as Zac in Tyler Perry’s BET series Sistas. The show revolves around four single Black women navigating life and relationships. Devale plays a single man trying to reconcile with his ex, a character much different from who he is in real life.
After 25 episodes, Sistas had its season finale and Zac may finally have found some closure in his off-again, on-again relationship. We’ll just have to see in Season 2.
Before getting into entertainment and social media, Devale was a professional football player who played with the Detroit Lions until getting injured and then cut. It was then he decided that he wanted to pursue his dream of acting.
“People have to understand that this is a pivot point in life. Everybody’s life is going to have pivot points. Me getting cut by the NFL was when God was like ‘Yo, you are going to have to do something else.
This is a point where people will have to look themselves in the eye and say my life will not be the way it was I have to change. Once you establish that, that is your reality now you can focus on what you can do to make that change better.”
Devale says preparing, practicing and spending time studying your craft is important if you want to reach the next level.
“If you want to do something and be great at it, you have to study it. You can’t just say ‘Hey, I want to be an actor, I’m going to act. Or I want to write, I’m going to write. I want to be a makeup artist. I’m just going to paint faces. It doesn’t work like that.”
On Sistas, Devale’s character goes through his own battles within his relationship and caree but he couldn’t tell us what to expect from his character next season. That’s entirely up to Perry, he says.
“These first 25 episodes you’re gonna watch Zac going through it, trying to do the right thing but always f**king it up.” He says Zac’s main issue is his lack of maturity.
Sistas can currently be streamed on BET+ and is expected to return for a second season. Devale has a new project in the works and he promised to reveal it to TheGrio exclusively when Hollywood officially opens back up. You can catch the full interview below on IGTV.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s new podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
The post Devale Ellis on shocking ‘Sistas’ finale and pursuing his dream job appeared first on TheGrio.
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Black freelancers hit hard by COVID-19 get creative for income
What happens to people who earn an income on a job-by-job basis when there are no more jobs? From photographers and media correspondents to Lyft drivers and skilled-workers, many people who are self-employed or independent contractors are faced with canceled events and low demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
theGrio’s third episode of Staying In Business’ highlights the effect that the COVID-19 outbreak has on Black freelancers who mainly rely on the gig economy for financial support.
READ MORE: theGrio’s ‘Staying In Business’ explores Black restaurants facing COVID-19
theGrio finds that independent workers create approximately 34 percent of the United States workforce. Twenty-seven percent of Black people earn money through the gig economy and for over half of this population, their gig job stands as their primary source of income.
“The bag ain’t as easy as it was pre-quarantine,” remarks media maven Kela Walker. Her sentiments ring true for many self-employed workers who are not receiving as many jobs. Lloyd Morency shares how a new request did not appear for two weeks on TaskRabbit, his typical hub for daily work.
“I work for Task Rabbit, we have various different things you can do, whether
it’s moving, painting, or furniture assembly. When things are really good, you definitely expect to be making roughly $1500 to $2000 a week. Me, I’m definitely always booked up. Definitely every day doing a task here and there as far as this month is concerned, the business has been truly slow,” remarks Morency.
The music and event industry is also severely impacted by social distancing restrictions. For performing artists, shows being canceled means income also takes a fall, even if tickets were previously sold and flights already booked. Singer Eric Roberson shares how not being able to perform is impacting his pockets.
“You got to think that you are pretty much unemployed after every gig. After every situation, when you walk off that stage or you walk out of the studio, you’re looking for the
next level of income,” says Roberson.
READ MORE: theGrio launches Facebook Watch series covering plight of Black-owned businesses during COVID-19
Some companies, however, have shifted their practices in creative ways to keep their business relevant beyond revenue. A husband and wife owned photography company moved their photoshoots to FaceTime during the pandemic, offering free services for clients and five photo edits.
“They’re completely free. You couldn’t put a price tag on something like this, especially with everything going on. People have blessed us.They send us donations for doing this during this time, as uncertain as things are right now,” says Kareem Virgo of Reem Photography.
His virtual photoshoots have gone viral, which Virgo says is a great opportunity to grow business, leaving a lasting impression with potential clients looking to book once society reaches a new normal and social distancing guidelines are softened.
View the full episode for more details on the plight of Black independent employees during the COVID-19 pandemic tune in to Staying In Business on theGrio’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/theGrio).
The post Black freelancers hit hard by COVID-19 get creative for income appeared first on TheGrio.
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Miguel, Terrence J, and Other Stars Team Up to Support Foster Care Youth in New PSA Video
At a time when nearly 30 million Americans are out of work, entire industries have been upended, and much of the world has come to a standstill, celebrities are coming together to support one of the most vulnerable populations in this time of uncertainty: children in foster care.
On Monday, singer Miguel, media personality Terrence J, comedian Lil Rel, and actor and singer Luke James partnered with the Precious Dreams Foundation to release a PSA raising awareness about the more than 435,000 children in foster care.
“If our world feels lost today,” says Terrence J in the video, “then imagine those children and their feelings are more uncertain, anxious, afraid, depressed. And some are even dealing with this crisis alone,” continued James.
The PSA was released on May 4 to kick off National Foster Care Month. The Precious Dreams Foundation says their goal is to encourage donors to “join in giving comfort” to those in foster care, especially in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The org believes that bedtime comfort items like blankets, storybooks, and journals can help young people develop better coping skills to deal with stress, anxiety, and loneliness.
“The responsibility to make children feel seen, heard and comforted is one we all must share in America,” said Nicole Russell, co-founder and executive director of the Precious Dreams Foundation, in a statement. “During the pandemic and always, we must consider the children in our country’s foster care system and provide the necessary tools to support their growth.”
Donations will help support the foundation’s mission to give foster care children its signature comfort bags, which include pajamas, teddy bears, books, journals, therapy putty, and socks. The org says such bedtime necessities provide youth with positive reinforcement to help them dream peacefully – literally and figuratively.
The Precious Dreams Foundation was founded in 2012 by Russell and her mother, Angie Medina, to provide young people under 19 years old living in foster care and homeless shelters with bedtime comfort items and therapeutic programs that promote self-comforting skills. “Whether a bear is held tight after a bad dream or a bedtime story leads to a happy imagination, we hope sleeping can be made easy, we hope to inspire precious dreams,” reads a statement on the org’s website.
In addition to New York City, the foundation has established four local chapters in Chicago, South Florida, Los Angeles, and Baltimore and is working to expand to Houston and Washington D.C.
Watch the PSA below.
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Master P gets praise for Black ownership remarks as he promotes noodles
Master P has always promoted independence. The legendary rapper built his No Limit Records empire by selling albums from his trunk. He later diversified his empire by stepping into dozens of other business ventures, including investing in and becoming a partner of the 1990’s popular chip brand Rap Snacks.
Last year, Master P, born Percy Miller, announced the creation of his own ramen noodles, Icon Ramen Noodles under the Rap Snacks brand. In the announcement, Miller called himself Chef-Boy-Ar-P, and offered business advice.
READ MORE: Master P loves Ramen Noodles so much, he created his own brand
“I grew up on noodles now I created my own brand. Start small and build. Get you some product if you want to be successful.”
In a new video on Twitter, Master P and his son, Romeo Miller say that Icon Ramen Noodles will put money “back into the community.”
Master P asks, what has Ramen done for the black community??? 🤔💯 pic.twitter.com/fRjx1AdpSq
— MoorInfo (@MoorInformation) May 5, 2020
The product launch has earned the legendary rapper well-deserved praise. The Hip Hop Guru said, “Master P’s marketing movement, entrepreneurship, and success will be studied for years.”
Salute Master P.
– No Limit Records.
– No Limit Entertainment.
– Clothing/Sneaker Line.
– Cable network.
– Rap Snacks.
– Real Estate.
– Played in the NBA.
– Noodle business.Master P’s marketing movement, entrepreneurship, and success will be studied for years. 💯 pic.twitter.com/CPAFrWkxnk
— TheHipHopGuru (@thhgurutv) May 5, 2020
Twitter users even called for a documentary about Master P’s business acumen.
A documentary on Master P life would be dope, nigga is a genius 🙌🏾
— Cleef 🇭🇹 (@LawrentzN) May 5, 2020
Icon Ramen Noodles will also pair flavors with hip-hop icons. Last month, Bay Area legend E-40 posted on Instagram that his flavor would be Beef Prime Rib, while Boosie will be Louisiana Hot and Spicy Chicken. Miller himself will be featured on the Creamy Chicken Gumbo flavor.
The flavors of the noodles are inspired by Miller’s New Orleans roots. Flavors will include Creamy Chicken Gumbo, Hot N Spicy Cajun Shrimp, Spicy Picante Chicken, and Sirloin Steak Beefy. According to the Instagram post, the noodles can be cooked in the microwave or on the stove.
READ MORE: Master P’s Rap Snacks headed to 4,200 Walmart stores nationwide
Like Rap Snacks, Icon Ramen Noodles will be available in stores around the country, including Walmart.
Miller co-owns Rap Snacks with business partner James Lindsay. In an interview with Black Enterprise last month, Lindsay said that his goal is “for Rap Snacks is to make it one of the biggest brands in the world.”
The post Master P gets praise for Black ownership remarks as he promotes noodles appeared first on TheGrio.
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Cynt Marshall Law: COVID Crisis Management from the Dallas Mavericks’ CEO
One of the upsides of crises is that they can offer clarity, although it may take a while to see the forest for the trees. Since the NBA shut down on March 11 has Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall sheltering at home with Kenneth, her husband of 37 years, she has become much clearer about a few key things.
For example, dogs may be man’s best friend, but they’re not Marshall’s. After her daughter’s dog, Louie, hung out at her house for a few days—lounging in the backyard when Marshall wanted some air and on her treadmill when she wanted to work out—she was real clear: “Louie had to go,” she said, in an “On the Clock” interview from her now Louie-less home.
Also clear: “Kenny needs a hearing aid,” Marshall said of her husband. Normally on the road much of the time, she has discovered that there are multiple TVs on in the house, simultaneously, all day, at top volume. It’s something she plans to help her hubby tend to when they (and the NBA) finally come out to play.
Most of all, though, Marshall has become much clearer on what it takes to lead the Mavericks organization through a crisis. Having been hired by team owner Mark Cuban two years ago, in the midst of one of the worst sexual harassment scandals in sports history, Marshall’s crisis management muscles were already well-honed.
As a survivor of domestic abuse in her childhood home, colon cancer, several miscarriages, and the death of a child, Marshall knows what it is to face the unthinkable and come through it. But the global pandemic that has now shuttered all professional sports and most of the world posed a challenge unlike any she’d confronted before.
“During the first couple of weeks, you’re in shock,” she said. “You can’t believe people are dying. You can’t believe you’ve been forced into your house and told to stay.” But Marshall, who lauds NBA commissioner Adam Silver for his bold leadership in making the right choice to keep everyone safe, says she soon developed her own cadence for her organization and stunning clarity about what it would take for them to navigate the shutdown intact.
“I call it my new dot-com,” said Marshall, who has sent her customized prescription for enduring this crisis to her entire team:
Compassion
— And plenty of it, for yourself, your family, neighbors, and colleagues. And especially for those hardest hit by the coronavirus.
Community
Marshall said she has always been “obsessed with service” and with the current slate of needs being bigger and more critical than ever—especially in the black community—now is a time to double down on what you can do to help others, even from the confines of your home. Get creative, she urges, and give back!
Communication
Even within the rules of physical distancing, social and emotional connection is not only still possible, it’s more important than ever. People need to talk, to vent, to cry, to laugh together, to know they’re thought about and valued—and not just through texting. “Pick up the phone, use your voice, and reach out,” Marshall says.
Compromise
“This one was big for me and it’s two-fold,” Marshall notes. “I have a compromised immune system due to my past with chemo, so I have to make sure I’m healthy and that I do all I can to keep others healthy too.” Crises, and the way to their solutions, generally demand compromise and flexibility and, often, collaboration.
Compliance
Marshall insists this one is simple, even though Texas politicians, policymakers, and business leaders are not in agreement about when and how to end the mass quarantine and return to work. “We have to listen to the true experts and follow their guidelines,” says Marshall. “We were forced into our homes. We didn’t have a choice. But we do have a choice about how we come back out.
“If we don’t come out better after however many weeks it takes, we have missed an opportunity,” Marshall says. “That starts with using good sense and being in good health.”
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Video of Ahmaud Arbery’s shooting while jogging draws more outrage
Video footage of the fatal shooting of a young man in Brunswick, Georgia has drawn outrage and has led to the escalation of the investigation of the shooting.
Ahmaud Arbery was killed on Feb. 23 by two white men who pursued him under the auspices of a “citizens arrest.”
READ MORE: #JoggingWhileBlack: Grand jury weighs charges on Ahmaud Arbery’s death
The video was posted on YouTube page run by WGIG-FM on Tuesday morning and appears to come from a dashboard camera. According to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the station news director, Michael Scott Ryan received it from an anonymous source. Ryan said that he decided to share the clip after consulting with leaders of Brunswick’s Black community.
In the video, Arbery is seen jogging down the middle of the street in Satilla Shores, a mostly white subdivision when he is cut off by Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis.
The video shows Arbery colliding with Travis McMichael, and within seconds a shot is heard. In the truck bed, the elder McMichael has a .357 Magnum pointed at Arbery as the man attempts to defend himself. Two more shots are fired, it is unclear which of the men fired them.
The release of the video prompted a response from Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, who hadn’t previously commented. On Twitter, Kemp said that “Georgians deserve answers. State law enforcement stands ready to ensure justice is served.”
.@GBI_GA Director Reynolds has offered resources & manpower to D.A. Durden to ensure a thorough, independent investigation into the death of #AhmaudArbery. Georgians deserve answers. State law enforcement stands ready to ensure justice is served. https://t.co/ktLiPf7LoY
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) May 6, 2020
Activist Shaun King retweeted the video while prefacing it saying, “I am sorry, from the bottom of my heart for what I am about to share.”
theGrio will not be posting the video due to the violent depiction of Arbery’s death.
The release of the video garnered fiery responses on Twitter. One man stated that the video made him nauseous.
The Glynn County police, where the shooting took place, asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate how the video was released to the public as well as allegations of threats against their department. The did not request a review of their investigation of Arbery’s murder.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr tweeted, “Based on the video footage and news reports I have seen, I am deeply concerned with the events surrounding the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery.”
My full statement on the investigation into the death of #AhmaudArbery. pic.twitter.com/UOaCsSkNPz
— GA AG Chris Carr (@Georgia_AG) May 6, 2020
READ MORE: Mother of Ahmaud Arbery says shooting was an ‘act of racial violence’
AG Carr also committed to move swiftly, stating that he would also be standing in support of GBI Director Vic Reynolds, DA Tom Durden, and the local community as they justice for Arbery.
The post Video of Ahmaud Arbery’s shooting while jogging draws more outrage appeared first on TheGrio.
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20-Year-Old Beauty Entrepreneur Says Her Skincare Line Made Over $1 Million in 8 Minutes
Never underestimate the power of social media in the age of e-commerce.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many entrepreneurs have had to shift their businesses from brick-and-mortar to a digital storefront in order to stay afloat amid the public health crisis. Despite the economic hardships that have come as a result of the virus, digital entrepreneurs have still found ways to flourish amid the pandemic.
Mariee Revere is the CEO and founder of MoonXCosmetics, a handmade vegan skincare line catering to all skin types with an assortment of products ranging from natural hydrating oils, cleansers, body conditioners, and face masks. This week the 20-year old entrepreneur celebrated a huge milestone on Twitter announcing she had made $1 million in 8 minutes off of what she said would be a “million-dollar restock.”
Since the achievement, Revere has garnered thousands of new fans in the process who also joined in to celebrate her huge success. She now has over 20,000 followers on Twitter and over 250,000 followers on Instagram. Her YouTube channel also experienced a boost in viewership reaching close to 23,000 views. Revere announced she has since replenished her inventory so shoppers can get their hands on her handmade beauty items.
Her rose galore oil is so amazing
https://t.co/bVFR9PYR59
— Heaven
(@heavenarchived) May 2, 2020
Revere also used her newfound Twitter fame to highlight other black-owned and POC-owned small businesses to her followers.
The fact that @parmooonx is sharing her shine with other small businesses is truly inspiring
— Meraki Kalon Skin (@King_SD_) May 4, 2020
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