Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho at the lauch of their new book "Made for Goodness" in the Royal Geographical Society in London, 14 May 2010. (Flickr/Normann)
The world is mourning the loss of anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu. Tutu, who had been dogged by rumors of poor health in recent years, passed away this morning at age 90. Known as the conscience of South Africa by Black and White South Africans, Tutu is beloved for his fight to end apartheid, free former South African president Nelson Mandela and to create a “rainbow nation” where all South Africans would enjoy freedom and equal access to resources and opportunities regardless of race.
In 1984, Archbishop Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent opposition to apartheid. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, becoming the first black African to hold each position.
A decade later, he witnessed the end of White minority-rule and chaired a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established to document and uncover atrocities committed during the Nationalist party’s Apartheid regime. The TRC was based on the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa offered, “As Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he articulated the universal outrage at the ravages of apartheid and touchingly and profoundly demonstrated the depth of meaning of ubuntu (humanity), reconciliation and forgiveness.”
In a statement about Archbishop Tutu’s passing, President Ramaphosa said the following:
“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa. Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead. A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world.”
Archbishop Tutu authored the books No Future Without Forgiveness (1999) and Dios Tiene Un Sueno/God Has A Dream (2005) and co-authored several books including The Book of Joy with the 14th Dalai Lama in 2016 and several books with his daughter Rev. Mpho Andrea Tutu. Check out an interview about their book The Book of Forgiving, a guide to help perpetrators and victims embrace their shared humanity. This excerpt of the interview discusses the importance of concepts like Ubuntu (humanity) below:
Archbishop Tutu is survived by his wife of 66 years Nomalizo “Leah” Tutu, four children Mpho, Naomi, Trevor and Theresa and twelve grandchildren. No cause of death has been communicated. Rest in power.
This news brief was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
bell hooks in 2010 (flickr/creativecommons/Esther)
Linda Blackford of the Lexington Herald-Ledger is reporting world renowned scholar, activist, womanist, professor and public intellectual bell hooks has died after a lengthy illness. hooks, who attended segregated schools in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, attended Stanford University after graduating from high school. hooks earned a master’s degree in English at the University of Wisconsin and then a doctorate in literature at UC Santa Cruz.
Born Gloria Jean Watkins, hooks used her great-grandmother’s name as her pen name in order to remain connected to her familial legacy of Black women. hooks wrote the name using all lowercase letters to focus more attention on the message than the messenger.
In 1981, hooks penned her first book, “Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism,” kicking off a tremendous career as an activist, scholar, poet and children’s books author. Hooks authored over 40 books exploring topics like intersectionality, economics, feminism, love and spirituality.
The 2018 Kentucky Hall of Fame inductee returned to Kentucky to teach at Berea College in 2004. The college launched the bell hooks Institute in 2010, which “houses her collection of contemporary African-American art, artifacts and her books in other languages.” Blackford writes:
“In a 2018 interview with former columnist Tom Eblen when she was inducted into the Kentucky Writers’ Hall of Fame, hooks said that she wanted important people to come to the institute to speak with local people. “Lots of people aren’t comfortable coming on college campuses for a talk. They feel like that’s not their place,” she said. The thing about the institute is that its goal is to be this sort of democratic location. No degrees required.”
Considered a giant in feminism, womanism and equality in academic spaces, hooks is often credited with paving the way for intersectional feminism and is praised for her influence and impact on feminist and womanist scholars and the direction of the canon of intersectional feminisms. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. hooks died at home surrounded by friends and family. She was 69.
To read more about bell hooks’ passing, click here. To learn more about the hooks Institute, click here.
This news brief was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Harlem, which could be viewed as Amazon’s answer to the “four fierce girlfriends in New York City” television trope, is an entertaining foray into the world of Harlem, complex relationships, career challenges and the growing pains of living in a storied neighborhood being ravaged by gentrification.
Harlem stars Meagan Good as Camille, an adjunct professor at Columbia University, living in a beautiful rent-controlled apartment, who is navigating the difficult process of landing a tenure-track job at prestigious Columbia University while figuring out a love life that goes from nil to a triangle in record time. Her close circle of friends includes Tye (Jerrie Johnson), a successful Queer tech entrepreneur who has risen to fame by developing an app that brings LGBTQ people of color together. Caribbean-American Quinn (Grace Byers) is an aspiring fashion designer with a boutique in Harlem bankrolled by her wealthy and brash mother Patricia, played by sitcom royal Jasmine Guy ((A Different World, The Quad, Dead Like Me).
Angi (Shoniqua Shadai) is an aspiring free-thinking singer, who lives on Quinn’s sofa, while she figures out how to earn a living as a singer in the Big Apple without selling her soul. Tyler Lepley (P-Valley, The Have and the Have Nots) plays the character of Ian, Camille’s lost love, Robert Ri’chard (The Steve Harvey Show, Chocolate City) stars as Shawn, the stripper with a heart who falls for Quinn and Academy Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg is perfectly cast as the no-nonsense newly appointed Academic Chair Dr. Elise Pruitt,who shakes up Camille and the department.
Add to the mix fabulous outfits, hair and make-up, beautifully decorated apartments, drinks and dining in fine establishments and messy relationships with partners and parents and you’ve got the makings of a hit.
Unlike some “girlfriends” series which struggle to convince viewers of a real friendship, the women of Harlem have great chemistry and offer performances that are thoughtful and provocative, particularly towards the end of the season. There are some obvious missteps, like the constant misuse of academic titles, academic language and dialogue that suggests the writers know very little about how academia works or the tenure process, so they should hire a consultant and get it right, particularly because many of the women in their desired demographic are Black women academics.
The decision to have Guy speak in a Jamaican accent, which sounds harsh and horrible, distracts from Guy’s otherwise impeccable performance. Opening up the series by privileging a tribe of Asian women as the referential point of a show about Harlem is highly problematic, especially when there are some Bantu tribes and Southern African tribes with similar practices that could have served as a reference. It’s hard to take creators seriously when they constantly talk about fighting to “tell Black stories” and then open up a series about four Black women in Harlem referencing an Asian tribe, as opposed to the incredible Black women of the Harlem Renaissance era, which would make better sense. I literally thought there was a glitch in the programming code until I realized it was Meagan Good’s voice in the narration.
Those glaring issues notwithstanding, the show still works because it is a fun show. Harlem provides laugh-out-loud moments (Get Out as a musical and the Black friends getting tossed out of a yoga class by a white woman for using the “N” word). Harlem also manages to address serious issues like gentrification, homophobia, sexism, interracial dating, healthcare inequities, microaggressions and the weight and precariousness of being a dynamic Black woman in America, regardless of Diasporic, sexual identity, professional or economic status, without sounding preachy or dogmatic.
Harlem is refreshing because it includes an openly Queer woman as central to the friendship group, which is not that unusual in the real Black girlfriends world but for some reason is an anomaly in the film and tv world. Queer and straight people can actually have strong friendships and Harlem shows how it’s done. Add veteran actress Tamara Tunie (Law & Order:SVU, The Red Road, Better Call Saul), and it’s easy to see why this television show has staying power.
While Harlem has been compared by some reviewers to “Sex and the City,” whose next installment, “And Just Like That” is returning to the small screen next week, Harlem clearly stands on the shoulders of iconic tv series Living Single and Girlfriends, just as Tracy Oliver, Harlem‘s creator, stands on the shoulders of executive producers and creators Yvette Lee Bowser (Run the World, Dear White People, Black-ish) and Mara Brock Akil (The Game, Being Mary Jane, Black Lightning, Love Is). Oliver, who starred as Nina in Issa Rae’s classic web series, “The Misadventures of An Awkward Black Girl,” wrote the hit movie Girls Trip, fan favorite Little and created the BET+ hit First Wives Club. To say Oliver is having a grand moment in entertainment is an understatement. Like Bowser, who recently executive produced Leigh Davenport’s show,“Run the World” (STARZ) and Akil, Oliver writes women extremely well and is able to weave together stories that are as funny as they are provocative in a way that is endearing, maddening, uplifting and poignant separately and simultaneously.
As Oliver continues to sharpen her pen as a writer and creator and gain more life experience, the narrative characteristics of her television shows will improve. The direction of the later episodes is particularly strong, due to the talents of women directors Neema Barnette (Queen Sugar, The Equalizer, Genius, Raising Dion) and Linda Mendoza (Girlfriends, Ugly Betty, Brooklyn Nine-Nine). Like many television shows, the first couple of episodes are pretty clunky, but they get infinitely better as the season progresses, so hang in there and allow the women of Harlem to capture your imagination.
With writers like Oliver and Stacey Muhammad (Queen Sugar, First Wives Club), a dope soundtrack, a talented cast, strong direction and executive producers like Pharrell Williams and Amy Poehler at the ready, Harlem is poised to be a show worth watching for many seasons to come.
This article was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Dr. Burton teaches film and media and is co-director of the Film and Media Management concentration at Emory University in Atlanta. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
The Caribbean is celebrating Barbados’ renouncement of Queen Elizabeth as head of state and establishment as a Republic. As a Republic, Barbados’ power will now be held by the people and their elected representatives, including a president instead of a monarchy.
Guy Faulconbridge and Brian Ellsworth of Reuters reported Prince Charles traveled to Barbados Sunday to attend the inauguration of President-elect Sandra Mason, which was led by Republican Mia Motley. Prince Charles gave a speech about maintaining a “friendly relationship” with Barbados despite the change in the structure of the relationship. The decision by Bajan legislators to become a Republic stems from an international movement to remove the vestiges and structures of colonialism and imperialism and to have more power and determination over the lives of the people.
Barbados will remain a republic within the Commonwealth, a grouping of 54 countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.
The world is reeling over the loss of visionary designer and artist Virgil Abloh. Abloh died today of a rare form of cancer called cardiac angiosarcoma, which he battled privately for two years. Best known for his “OFF-WHITE” collection, Abloh changed the face of fashion mixing street style (Hypebeast) with luxury brands and politics, influencing the direction of fashion and what constitutes luxury.
Abloh oversaw the expansion of OFF-WHITE, which started as a menswear line, into womenswear and in 2014 opened OFF-WHITE’s international flagship store in Hong Kong.
Photo from Virgil Abloh’s Figures of Speech exhibit at the High Museum in Atlanta. Design is from the “Temperature” collection which was presented in 2017 at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe. (Photo: The High Museum)
The New York Times‘ Vanessa Friedman writes:
“The artistic director of Louis Vuitton men’s wear as well as the founder of his own brand, Off-White, Mr. Abloh was a prolific collaborator with outside brands from Nike to Evian, and a popular fashion theorist whose expansive and occasionally controversial approach to design inspired comparisons with everyone from Andy Warhol to Jeff Koons.
Mr. Abloh transformed not just what consumers wanted to wear, bridging hypebeast culture and the luxury world, but what brands wanted in a designer — and the meaning of “fashion” itself.
For him clothes were not garments but fungible totems of identity that sat at the nexus of art, music, politics and philosophy. He was a master of using irony, reference and the self-aware wink (plus the digital world) to re-contextualize the familiar and give it an aura of cultural currency.”
Abloh, who referred to himself as a “maker” collaborated with many entities producing music, DJ’ing and exhibiting his work in museums around the world. On November 5, Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech, a mid-career retrospective of Abloh’s work, opened at the Garage Gallery at the Fire Station, the first museum exhibition of his work presented in the Middle East. The exhibition runs until March 31, 2022.
Born in Rockford, IL to Ghanaian parents, Abloh was a self-taught artist and designer. He studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin and received a master’s degree in architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He learned how to sew from his mother Eunice, who was a seamstress. His big break came at age 22 when he met rap superstar Kanye West and embarked on a journey that included performing a $500 internship at Fendi (along with West) and eventually becoming creative director of Donda, West’s fashion incubator. He worked on a series of collaborations eventually launching his own line, taking his shows to Paris and applying to for the LVMH prize for young designers in 2015. Abloh was a finalist setting the stage for the next phase of his fashion career.
Abloh advocated taking other designers designs, changing them a little bit and making it your own — a remix if you will. Abloh’s work was initially met with resistance in the fashion world but his masterful use of social media to discuss his theories around fashion, art and technology, helped the artist gain millions of followers, to whom he could sell directly. Abloh became a major influencer in fashion, art, music and technology and was celebrated for his intellectual approach to fashion and design.
In 2018, Louis Vuitton named him artistic director and in 2019, he opened a major exhibit of his work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago titled “Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech,” which was exhibited throughout the country. On November 5, Figures of Speech opened at the Garage Gallery at the Fire Station, the first museum exhibition of his work presented in the Middle East. In 2020, Abloh established the “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund, raising $1 million to encourage Black students to pursue careers in fashion. In May, Abloh styled Spike Lee for his role as Grand Jury president at the Cannes Film Festival.
Abloh,who was hospitalized at the time of his death, split his time between Illinois and Paris. He kept his cancer battle quiet, naming exhaustion as a reason for his inability to travel.
Abloh is survived by his wife Shannon, children Lowe and Grey, his sister Edwina and parents Nee and Eunice Abloh. He was 41.
Paintings of Godfather o Go-Go Chuck Brown.
(Google Images)
Chris Richards of The Washington Post is reporting Go-Go music, Washington, DC’s Black regional dance music has finally made it’s way into a Grammy category. Thanks to the viral pop cultural moment of Hip-Hop legend Questlove playing legendary Go-Go group E.U.’s international hit Da’ Butt and legendary actress Glenn Close shaking what her mama gave her at the 2021 Oscars, D.C.-raised rapper and awards and nominations committee member Kokayi asked the committee to add Go-Go music to the Regional Roots Album category.
You would think the popularity of the song in Spike Lee’s iconic film School Daze (1988) and the use of Go-Go beats by Grammy award-winning rappers and R&B legends like Salt-N-Pepa, Kid ‘n Play, Jay-Z and Beyoncé and so many others would have catapulted the DMV’s indigenous music into a category of its own, but that didn’t happen. Instead of going through the arduous process of creating a new Grammy category, Koyaki decided to pitch adding Go-Go to the Regional Roots musical category and the committee agreed.
Richards reports:
“Instead of drafting a formal proposal, he suggested that go-go simply be added to the best regional roots album category where it could compete against other musical traditions from communities across the land: zydeco, Hawaiian, Cajun, Native American, polka and the like. That way, instead of underdogging it against the starriest names in R&B — like E.U. did in 1988, like Chuck Brown did in 2010 — go-go music could be recognized on Grammy night on its own terms.”
In 2019, Regina Hall and E.U. opened the 2019 BET Awards with a rendition of “Do You Know What Time It Is,” “Da’ Butt” and “Run Joe.”
In 2020, a documentary, “The Beat Don’t Stop” aired on TV ONE, which is based in Silver Spring, Md. Don’t Mute DC is an organization dedicated to battling Black displacement and cultural erasure in the city of Washington. The #DontMuteDC uprising began April 7, 2019 with a springtime battle over music and public space on an iconic street corner, 7th Street and Florida Ave, NW.
With Kip Lornell’s, The Beat: Go-Go Music from Washington, DC and Natalie Hopkinson’s, The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City celebrated books on Go-Go music, the momentum has been growing to finally recognize the beauty, vibrancy and vitality of a black musical genre and culture indigenous to a city and region teeming with dynamic black folk and culture.
Uber Eats partners with Cannibis company. (Google Images)
News outlets are reporting Uber Eats has partnered with cannibis retailer Tokyo Smoke to allow customers to order cannibis for pick-up using the delivery service’s platform. Kim Lyons of The Verge writes:
“The arrangement does not include delivery of weed orders, however, but makes it possible for users in Ontario to order products from Tokyo Smoke in a dedicated section on the Uber Eats app.
For customers in Ontario, in the Uber Eats app, select either the ‘cannabis’ category or search for ‘Tokyo Smoke.’ After confirming their age, the customer is directed to the menu of a Tokyo Smoke store in the area to place their order, which Uber says will be filled within an hour. The consumer then picks up their order at the Tokyo Smoke store.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated in April that the company would take a look at cannabis delivery ‘when the road is clear.'”
In February, Uber acquired Boston-based alcohol delivery service Drizly for $1.1 billion. But Lantern, a cannabis delivery service Drizly launched in May 2020, was not part of that deal.
General Colin Powell (Photo: Flickr Creative Commons/Scott Ableman/National Museum of American History- 2008)
The world is mourning the passing of General Colin Powell, the United States’ first Black Secretary of State, who died today at age 84. It is being reported Powell died from complications related to Covid-19.
In a statement shared on General Powell’s Facebook page, the Powell family wrote:
“General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19. He was fully vaccinated. We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment. We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American.” — The Powell Family
Facebook Post – October 18, 2021
Born in Harlem, NY, General Colin Luther Powell, was the 65th United States Secretary of State (2001-2005), serving under President George W. Bush. He was the first African American appointed to that position and the first and only, African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell was raised in the South Bronx, where he graduated Morris High School and eventually enrolled in the City Colleges of New York where he found the path to his life’s work by joining the ROTC.
According to Biography.com, after graduation in 1958, Powell was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. While stationed at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, Colin Powell met Alma Vivian Johnson of Birmingham, Alabama, and they married in 1962. The couple has three children: son Michael, and daughters Linda and Annemarie.
General Powell, who served in Vietnam, received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. During his second tour, he was in a helicopter crash but rescued the other members aboard the craft. For that act of heroism, he received the Soldier’s Award, eventually earning 11 military honors including the Legion of Merit. Powell went on to earn an MBA at George Washington University and served as a White House Fellow under President Nixon. In 1987, General Powell became National Security Advisor during the Reagan Administration.
In 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed Powell to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is the highest military position in the Department of Defense. General Powell was the first African American officer to receive that distinction. He rose to national prominence as the lead military strategist for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Iraq and as part of a peacekeeping mission in Haiti with former President Jimmy Carter and Congressman Sam Nunn.
In 2000, President George W. Bush appointed General Powell as Secretary of State, overseeing the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Powell later admitted he did not feel good about the initial decision to go to war and later said he regretted the decision, which was marked by controversy at the time. Nonetheless Powell supported the President and helped make the case for war based on the alleged hiding of “weapons of mass destruction.” After acknowledging there were probably few if any weapons of mass destruction after invading Iraq, Powell retired. His successor was Dr. Condoleeza Rice.
Following his retirement, General Powell spoke out against the Bush administration. In September 2006, Powell joined moderate Senate Republicans in supporting more rights and better treatment for detainees at the Guantanamo detention facility. In October 2008, the lifelong Republican made headlines when he endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama for president.
In the late 1990s, Colin and Alma Powell founded America’s Promise, an organization dedicated to uplifting youth.
General Colin Powell a the Kennedy Center after speaking at a 9/11 Commemoration concert featuring the National Symphony Orchestra and the United States Marine Band. (Photo: September 11, 2021 – Facebook)
Fully vaccinated, General Powell died of complications from COVID-19 on October 18, 2021. He is survived by his wife of 59-years Alma, children Michael, Linda and Annemarie and a host of grandchildren and relatives. General Powell was 84.
This news article was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Actor Omar Sy in Netflix's international hit Lupin. (Photo: Netflix Trailer)
French actor Omar Sy, the star of Netflix global smash hit Lupin, has signed a multi-year deal to develop films for Netflix, the streaming giant is reporting. It is the first such Netflix deal with a French talent or filmmaker, according to Variety.
The debut of Lupin, the French-language TV mystery, is Netflix’s third most-watched series ever after Squid Game and Bridgerton, earning 76 million views in its first month, according to The Local.
The deal announced by Netflix did not specify any financial terms or specific projects for the deal with the Trappes-born actor-comedian who is set to star in and executive produce multiple feature films.
“We look forward to working together with Omar and his team as he grows as a producer and brings more unique stories and voices to Netflix,” said Netflix France’s Gaelle Mareschi in a statement about the deal.
This news brief was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
World-renowned Olympic runner Agnes Tirop was found dead in her home. (Photo: Sky News)
The international sports world is reeling over the murder of world-renowned Kenyan runner Agness Tirop. In what police are calling a domestic violence related death, Tirop, 25, was found dead in a pool of blood in her home after suffering from stab wounds to her body. The fatal blow appears to have been to her neck according to police, who are seeking the whereabouts of Tirop’s husband Emmanuel Ibrahim Kipleting. Kipleting is wanted for questioning in her murder.
Tirop won bronze in the 10,000 meters at the world championships in 2017 and 2019, and finished fourth in the 5,000 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Just last month, Tirop set the 10km world record for women’s only races in cross country running.
Tirop was 25. This story is developing.
*October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. If you or someone you know needs help, then visit thehotline.org. Text START to 88788; Call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for help.
This news brief was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
