Photo: South African Government (Flickr/Creative Commons)
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is facing impeachment over a report submitted by an independent panel appointed by parliament accusing him of “serious misconduct.”
The report described potential “gross misconduct” by Ramaphosa and stated the embattled president had “violated his oath of office” in the scandal that has been named Farmgate. Millions of dollars were reported stolen from his private ranch following the sale of cattle, with proceeds/income that was not disclosed. The president is alleged to have kept the money, hired private security to track down the thieves and to have bribed the thieves to keep quiet about the money, allegedly stashed in a sofa.
Ramaphosa is accused of holding undeclared foreign currency, tax evasion, failing to inform police about the robbery and misusing state resources. The three-person panel decided that Ramaphosa should face further scrutiny and be impeached because of the alleged wrongdoing.
Ramaphosa has said he plans to appeal the report which a spokesperson called, “flawed,” and would potentially destabilize the country by removing a head of state.
Ramaphosa is less than a month away from an elective conference that will decide if he is allowed to run for a second term on the governing African National Congress(ANC) 2024 ticket.
Read more about Farmgate and the independent panel’s report on The Guardian or Reuters.
Twenty-five years after his death, rap legend Biggie Smalls will return to the stage as an avatar in a virtual-reality concert on Meta’s VR and Facebook platforms.
The Internet is buzzing with news legendary rapper Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” a.k.a. Biggie Smalls a.k.a. Frank White, will make a return to the stage in a much hyped virtual reality concert exclusively on Meta and Facebook. Developed in collaboration with the late rapper’s mother Voletta Wallace and his estate, the VR concert will feature a “hyper-realistic” avatar of Wallace performing his greatest hits. The action will unfold in a metaverse called, “The Brook,” based on Wallace’s Brooklyn neighborhood. Watch, “The Brook” teaser below:
The concert is in celebration of the late rapper’s 50th birthday. On March 9, 1997, Wallace was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, after leaving a Vibe Magazine party.
In order to view,“The Notorious B.I.G. Sky’s The Limit: A VR Concert Experience,” viewers must use MetaQuest 2 or MetaQuest Pro VR headset. Not to worry, those without the VR headset can watch the 2-D version on the official Notorious B.I.G. Facebook Page.
The concert will debut Dec. 16 exclusively in the “Venues” section of Meta Horizon Worlds and in Meta Quest TV.
This post was curated by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.Follow The Burton Wire on Instagram or Twitter @TheBurtonWire.
Cadillac Williams named Auburn's first Black head coach. (Screenshot)
Carnell Williams, often referred to as “Cadillac” by many in the Auburn fanbase, was the Tigers running backs coach before then-interim athletic director Rich McGlynn named him the program’s interim head coach for the final four games of the season.
Former Auburn All-American running back Carnell Williams will become the storied SEC football program’s first African American head coach. With the firing of Auburn Head Coach Bryan Harsin, Williams, who was previously the running back coach will be making another type of history. “I get goosebumps,” Williams said in his first news conference as head coach on Wednesday. “Never thought in a million years I’d be in this position.”
Wilton Jackson of SI.com writes:
“However, Williams has a tall task ahead of him. The Tigers’ (3–5) next four games include a pivotal road matchup against Mississippi State on Saturday, a home game against Texas A&M and a late-season duel with Western Kentucky before ending the regular season against Alabama in the Iron Bowl.
Other coaches on Harsin’s staff including offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau, tight ends coach Brad Bedell, strength coach Jeff Pitman, director of recruiting Darren Uscher and chief of staff Brad Larrondo were relieved of their duties after Harsin’s firing.”
A Precision Airline flight carrying 43 passengers including an infant crashed into Lake Victoria while attempting to land on the lakeside town of the northwest city of Bukoba.
Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa issued a statement. “All Tanzanians are with you in mourning the 19 people who lost lives during this accident,” Majaliwa told a crowd after arriving at Bukoba airport, where the flight had been scheduled to land from financial capital Dar es Salaam. Watch video of the rescue efforts below (TRIGGER WARNING):
According to France 24, Flight PW 494 was carrying 39 passengers, including an infant, as well as four crew members. The airline initially stated 26 of the 43 people on board were rescued but the death toll climbed higher as rescuers went in the water to retrieve passengers. Precision Airlines is Tanzania’s largest publicly traded, private airline.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan expressed her condolences to those affected by the accident.
“Let’s continue to be calm while the rescue operation continues as we pray to God to help us,” she said on Twitter. Hassan was sworn in as Tanzania’s first woman president in 2021.
Cross, host of “The Cross Connection with Tiffany Cross,” has exited MSNBC after the network failed to renew her two-year contract.
The internet is in a tear over news of the abrupt cancellation of popular MSNBC news host Tiffany Cross. Known for being transparent, informed and offering fact-based opinion, Cross’s staff was notified this morning of the cancellation. News veteran Roland Martin, scholar and former MSNBC host Dr. Melissa Harris Perry and music icon Questlove let their displeasure be known on Elon Musk’s embattled social media platform.
MSNBC has not issued a statement about cancelation of “The Cross Connection.” This story is developing.
Link to application form is here. It only takes a couple of minutes to fill in and submit.
The internet has been buzzing with discussions about the Biden-Harris Student Loan Debt Relief Initiative. Some praise the effort to relieve students plagued by student loan debt with some form of relief ($10,000 to $20,000) while others feel the measure doesn’t go far enough. Some believe the government needs to tackle the obscene amount of interest on the loans while others think they should be completely forgiven due to a number of factors. Whatever the case and where you stand on the issue, the form to get your student debt relief is out and available and only takes a few minutes to submit.
The link to the Biden-Harris Student Loan Debt Relief can be found here.
According to the announcement, here are answers to frequently asked questions.
Most borrowers who apply can expect relief within six weeks.
We (Federal Student Loan Staff) encourage everyone who is eligible to file the application, but there are 8 million people for whom we have data and who will get the relief without applying unless they choose to opt out.
Borrowers are advised to apply by mid-November in order to receive relief before the payment pause expires on December 31, 2022.
The Department of Education will continue to process applications as they are received, even after the pause expires on December 31, 2022.
Atlanta, GA (October 7, 2022) – The Burton Wire, the premiere online destination for news and culture of the African Diaspora, will celebrate 10 years of elevating fact-based information, news and content covering people of African descent. The celebration, “A Black Diamond Affair,” will take place Friday, November 18, 2022 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta, GA. The evening will honor trailblazers in African Diasporic art, media, culture, history and philanthropy. The event will be hosted by CNN EntertainmentReporter Lisa Respers France.
In honor of the 10th anniversary, The Burton Wire will relaunch The Burton Wiretap, a podcast covering news and culture of the African Diaspora. The first episode will feature The Burton Wire’s founder & editor-in-chief Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D. in conversation with A Closer Look’s Rose Scott.
Top Left: Filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper; Top Center: Artist Steve Allen; Top Right: TBW founder & Editor-in-Chief Nsenga K. Burton, Phd., Middle Left: Archivist Dr. Clinton Fluker; Middle Right: Archivist Jina DuVernay; Bottom Right: Publishers Darrick and Carlton Hargro and Bottom Right: Activist and Public Servant Maisha Land.
After a longtime career as a journalist and blogger at major media outlets and repeatedly hitting brick walls when pitching stories about diverse Black American, African and Caribbean populations across the globe, Dr. Burton decided to launch a digital-first publication to do just that – elevate important stories of the African Diaspora. Launched from the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC in September of 2012, Dr. Burton created an online destination for people of African descent living in the United States interested in news, culture and history of people of African descent living throughout the globe.
“I had the experience, contacts, skills and drive to make it happen. More importantly, I had the passion for telling the stories of people of African descent — in our voices. Standing on the shoulders of the historic Black Press, I launched The Burton Wire with a team of energetic writers and thinkers committed to covering people of African descent and the rest is history” says Burton.
Burton understood that not only was there a need for this type of coverage, but creating an online news site serving the African Diasporic population in the U.S. and abroad made good business sense so prior to launching Burton spent nearly 6 months conducting research to develop a business plan. “As a journalist and content creator I knew my judgment was sound,” offers Burton. “As a Ph.D. and media scholar, I also knew I had to research the market to make sure my idea was actually viable and was good business and good for our community.”
In 2013, Burton received the National Association of Black Journalists Ray Taliaferro Entrepreneurial Spirit Award for her business plan for The Burton Wire, which further validated Burton’s instincts and gave her funding to scale up and grow the business to create more original content and reach more people.
Over the last decade, The Burton Wire has elevated stories like the kidnapping of 200 Chibok schoolgirls in Nigeria; the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia; the unjust incarceration of Kelley Williams-Bolar in Ohio; the untimely deaths of megachurch Pastor Myles Munro in the Virgin Islands and comedian David Arnold; the growth of tech and innovation labs in Uganda; the global fashion industries in Ghana, Addis Ababa, Tanzania and South Africa; the intersection of art and technology in Canada; the 2016 Olympics in Brazil; the Assassination of Brazilian activist Marielle Franco and the suspicious death of high school basketball player Kendrick Johnson. The Burton Wire has featured scores of change agents, trailblazers and celebrities from all corners of the globe.
In 2016, The Burton Wire became one of the first digital-first publications to join the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the oldest publishing trade association for African American newspapers in the nation. The Burton Wire is now distributed on NNPA’s Black Press USA Newswire, with content reaching over 22 million people in print monthly and nearly 2 million people online daily.
“What began as a passion project is officially a business,” states Burton. “I am still shocked when I meet someone and they say they read The Burton Wire because I never imagined this idea to fill a hole in news coverage would grow to this extent. Now I see so many major online news publications launching African Diasporic related verticals, and I know The Burton Wire had a little something to do with it,” she adds. “Yes, we are celebrating 10 years of creating content and influencing the direction of news coverage of the African Diaspora and honoring trailblazers along the way.”
The Burton Wire’s, “A Black Diamond Affair,” event will honor trailblazers who have made invaluable contributions to communities of African descent. The honorees are internationally renowned artist Steve Allen, journalist and educator James McJunkins, Sr., filmmaker and educator Dr. Herbert Eichelberger, civil rights activist and philanthropist Cheryl Lowery, Black comic book publishers, brothers Carlton and Darrick Hargro,, “Stroll to the Polls” creator and activist Maisha Land, African American historical archivists Jina DuVernay (Clark Atlanta University) and Dr. Clinton Fluker (Emory University) and groundbreaking filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper.
“It is a great honor for me to receive this special award. The Burton Wire began in 2012, and within weeks of its existence, The Burton Wire reviewed my first film. This Black woman-led media platform fights to ensure Black creators and their work receive visibility and critical regard through a lens that sees and understands the creators, the culture, and the community it serves,” offers awardee Riley Draper.
The Burton Wire’s, “A Black Diamond Affair,” will begin at 6 p.m. EST. The Black Diamond sponsors (highest-level) are Miranda Solomon and Charlotte Native Realty and The Burton Wire Media Group. Platinum sponsors include O & Company Designs, Funky Roots, The Atlanta Voice, Precise Communications and YY Square Consulting.
Tickets will be available via Eventbrite beginning Monday, October 17, 2022.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Tuesday, September 27, 2022) – OWN and national voting rights leaders joined forces to launch the OWN Your Vote 2022 campaign – a bipartisan, pro-social campaign mobilizing Black women to vote in the upcoming midterm election and arming their communities to do the same. OWN Your Vote first launched in 2020 to inspire and equip voters and community leaders with specific steps they can take to register to vote, request absentee ballots, and mobilize voters throughout their community. As a direct result of this campaign, infused with powerful national town halls and informative social content, more than 250,000 women engaged in conversations about the power of their vote. Black women showed up to the polls in record numbers, with the 2020 Presidential election having one of the highest voter turnout rates in history. Given the significant drop-out in voter engagement during midterm elections, OWN and national voting partners aim to build on the success of the previous campaign by informing voters of the massive importance of casting their ballot every year and owning their vote.
“We are excited to launch OWN Your Vote 2022 and continue our partnership with key voting rights leaders as we engage our viewers about the significant importance of this election and their vote,” said Tina Perry, President of OWN. “Our audience has a powerful voice and we are proud to be part of a movement that will create the changes they want to see for our country and for our communities.”
Courtesy of the Oprah Winfrey Network.
As the nation reels from the effects of inflation, gun violence, climate change, racial injustice, and voter suppression, OWN Your Vote seeks to shed light on the solution through a bipartisan registration and a get-out-the-vote campaign aimed at providing OWN’s audience with tools and resources to overcome voter suppression in the November election.
The pro-social campaign connects people to urgent political actions and gives their concerns a powerful microphone by spotlighting crucial community issues. Organizations that have galvanized to support the OWN Your Vote 2022 initiative include: the Advancement Project; African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church Social Action Commission; Color of Change; Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated; Higher Heights; Kapor Center; Lawyers’ Committee for CivilRights Under Law; Legal Defense Fund (LDF); National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); National Action Network; National Bar Association; National Black Justice Coalition; National Council of Negro Women, Incorporated; Power Rising; Sistahs in Business Expo; Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated; The Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute; The King Center; The Links, Incorporated; Top Ladies of Distinction, Incorporated; Vote Run Lead; Vote.org; and When We All Vote; among others.
OWN Your Vote was designed to help Black women make a voting plan for this critical 2022 midterm election cycle, by connecting the everyday issues critical to Black women to the issues appearing on the ballot. Empowering this key voting block to own their voting story and make a plan to ensure success at the polls is the campaign’s principal aim. Organizations affiliated with the effort will help encourage local community activism and collaborate with the community to boost voter registration, volunteerism, mail-in voting, transportation to the polls and safety protocols at voting locations across the country.
Black Theatre Day (2017)International Black Theater Summit.
By Monica White Ndounou
Black Theatre Day (September 17) is an annual day of solidarity and service, to celebrate and support 21st century Black theatres in their ongoing efforts to build sustainable, institutional wealth.
Last fall, The International Black Theatre Summit, biennially convened by The CRAFT Institute, commemorated the 200th anniversary of the African Grove Theatre’s opening night on September 17, 1821 by launching the inaugural Black Theatre Day with a day of virtual events in collaboration with The Billie Holiday Theatre. As the first known professional Black theatre company in the United States—composed of Black Americans and African-Caribbeans—the company launched the career of Ira Aldridge, who claimed to be an African prince as he toured Europe. In case you have not heard of Aldridge, he is arguably the greatest Shakespearean tragedian of all times. Currently staging a production of Carlyle Brown’s The African Company Presents Richard III, which recounts the story of their immense talent and experiences with racial bias, St. Louis Black Rep is one of many participating organizations hosting a series of such events to celebrate Black Theatre Day.
Black theatres provide a public service as an educational resource. After two decades of teaching in higher education, including the past five years at Dartmouth College, I found that most students entering my theatre and cultural studies classes as well as many K-12, undergraduate and graduate theatre educators I encounter through CRAFT, have little to no knowledge of Black theatre. Regardless of background, those connected to Black theatres in their communities, like the Douglass Theatre, founded in Macon, GA in 1921, and collaborative educational programs, are better informed about Black life and culture and a broader range of Black theatre. Black Theatre Day is an opportunity for everyone to learn more about Black theatre and how to collaborate and support Black-led theatre institutions, the beneficiaries of the illustrious legacies of the African diaspora.
Black-led theatre institutions are incubators for Black talent on stage and screen who mutually recognize their intrinsic value through various forms. Playwright, screenwriter and actress, Alice Childress, author of last season’s Broadway production of Trouble in Mind, studied at the historic American Negro Theatre which launched the careers of Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Ruby Dee. Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago Hudson, an alum of the Negro Ensemble Company and protégé of the esteemed Broadway director and Lloyd Richards, former Dean of the Yale Drama School, also wrote, directed, and starred in his 2021 Broadway production of Lackawana Blues. This Broadway season, Samuel L. Jackson will star in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson. Both are NEC and HBCU alums of Morehouse College and Spelman College, respectively. Playwright Lynn Nottage, who wrote the book for MJ: The Musical established her roots at The Billie Holiday Theatre, where stage and screen actor, Wendell Pierce, currently starring in the Broadway production of Death of a Salesman, serves on the board. Pierce is a native of New Orleans, the home of Black-led theatre institutions like No Dream Deferred and Ashé Cultural Arts Center. Intentional Black theatre connections and collaborations are the future.
The International Black Theatre Summit and its Black Theatre Day partners (WACO Theater Center, Project1Voice, Black Theatre Network, Black Theatre Association, The National Association of Black Theatre Building Owners, National Black Theatre Festival, the National Association of Dramatic Speech and Arts, Support Black Theatre) are encouraging everyone to donate $5, 5 hours or more and invite 5 people to #SupportBlackTheatre through Black-led theatre institutions year-round. Black Theatre Day inspires us to reimagine new possibilities!
To learn more and to obtain additional resources for Black Theatre Day visit thecraftinstitute.org.
Monica White Ndounou is an Associate Professor of Theater and affiliate faculty in African and African American Studies and Film and Media Studies at Dartmouth College. She is the Founder and Executive Director of The CRAFT Institute, Convener of The International Black Theatre Summit, the author of the award-winning book, Shaping the Future of African American Film: Color-Coded Economics and the Story Behind the Numbers (Rutgers UP 2014) and co-founder of CreateEnsemble.com. She is a Public Voices Fellow
