Minister Louis Farrakhan calls for economic boycott during Christmas holidays.
(Photo: Google Images)
Bill Hoffmaan of NewsMaxis reporting that Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan is calling for African American communities to boycott the upcoming Christmas season.
Farrakhan points out that African Americans have a combined wealth that is equal to the 10th largest economy on earth. Despite this fact, African Americans lack the ornamentation that would signify this wealth, and instead African American wealth is exploited by “white” businesses.
Farrakhan’s solution is to cease contributing financially to the economy, targeting “businesses that benefited from black dollars.”
The Nation of Islam leader says, “let black be absent on black friday.”
Farrakhan made comments in an interview with TV One’s “News One Now”, saying:
“So on Black Friday, we won’t be there. When they feel the pain of our withdrawal or our economic power from them, then we can talk about real change in America…Either [they are] going to treat us right or we’re going to withdraw our economic support … We intend to boycott Christmas, but not Jesus.”
Farrakhan adds that African Americans should make it a point to patronize black businesses.
Farrakhan’s proposed boycott will be launched on Oct. 16th, the 20th anniversary of his Million Man March in Washington, D.C.
This post was written by Reginald Calhoun, editorial assistant for the Burton Wire. He is a senior Mass Media Arts major at Clark Atlanta University. Follow him on Twitter @IRMarsean.
The Be Blogalicious ‘Build Your Own Empire’ Weekend 2015 Conference (Sep 10-12)is kicking off today in Baltimore, MD at the Marriott Waterfront. What is Be Blogalicious? Be Blogalicious is a conference – a movement if you will — to elevate multicultural voices in digital media (#bloggersgoplaces15). At Be Blogalicious, you will meet smart people, hear success stories, and discover what’s working in the tech ecosystem. You will also discuss ways to create smarter creative content, impactful web-based marketing, as well as new programs, people, and platforms that engage your audience and build relationships.
The Burton Wire‘s Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D. (@Ntellectual) will be at the conference as a Toyota Help Desk Ambassador, offering advice and expertise on various topics, most notably Search Engine Optimization (SEO). With nearly twenty years of experience in the tech and online media space, Dr. Burton will help entrepreneurs make incremental modifications (sometimes with the use of SEO audit services) to parts of their website that will have a noticeable impact on the site’s user experience and performance in organic search results. Why is this important? Site traffic and monetization i.e. coinagem. Many services exist, such as Gotch SEO, to help website owners improve their SEO, but if you’re running a site these days it’s important to have a solid understanding of the principles so you can optimize your content. A lot of the time when people get a web design company in to set things up for them, they don’t get involved and learn about all the background work that goes into it – this can mean that if they wanted to make changes further down the line, they wouldn’t be sure how to go about it.
Check out Nsenga at the Toyota Help Desk on Saturday, September 12, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Other topics that will be covered by other experts include branding, creating killer content and finding solutions to common tech problems.
To reserve your free tickets for chatting with the Toyota experts, click here.
To keep up to date on Blogalicious and the Toyota Help Desk, follow #bloggersgoplaces15 on Twitter.
This post was obviously written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire, an award-winning news site covering news and culture of the African Diaspora. She also serves as Executive Director of the National Association of Multicultural Digital Entrepreneurs, based in Washington, DC. Follow her on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Sanaa Lathan and Michael Ealy in Atlanta.
(Photo: Robin Lori)
Stars of the film ‘The Perfect Guy,’ Michael Ealy (l), Sanaa Lathan (c) and Morris Chestnut (r). Photo: Google Images
Writing for The Root, The Burton Wire‘s founder & editor-in-chief Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D. discusses the film, ‘The Perfect Guy’ with the stars and producers of the film Sanaa Lathan and Michael Ealy. Popular film and television actor Morris Chestnut also stars in the thriller about unrequited love and obsession. Lathan and Ealy discuss what attracted them to the film, the process of getting the film made and why they love hearing it compared to the cinema classic Fatal Attraction. Check out an excerpt below:
EXCERPT
Actors Sanaa Lathan and Michael Ealy have been fixtures in Hollywood for nearly two decades. Audiences have watched the two evolve as actors as they’ve moved freely through comedy, drama and romance in both television and film—The Following, About Last Night, Barbershop and Think Like a Man for him, and Boss, The Best Man franchise, Love and Basketball, and Brown Sugar for her. Their consistent performances, gorgeous looks and bankable box office has helped to secure their artistic space in an industry that can sometimes be fickle and precarious for African-American actors.
Now they have joined forces as co-stars and producers of the highly anticipated thriller The Perfect Guy, which has been likened to the cult classic Fatal Attraction.
“Comparing our film to an exceptional film like Fatal Attraction is a real compliment to us because that was one of the films that was an inspiration for us,” says Lathan. “It’s a classic suspense, [a] sexy thriller that really shocked the world when it came out. It was done so well, so that set the bar for us.”
Lathan and Ealy’s ability to work together in front of and behind the camera is on full display as they finish each other’s sentences and use words like “we” and “us” when interviewed about the film. Roughly four years ago, Executive Producer Clint Culpeper pitched the script to Lathan over dinner, and she loved it.
“It’s very rare for someone to go scene by scene of a script over dinner and actually keep your attention the entire time. I was on the edge of my seat and kept asking, ‘And then what happens?’” Lathan was excited about the project and said she was interested in seeing where it went, knowing in Hollywood that this type of excitement is often just that—excitement and not much else.
“Three years later, Clint calls me out of the blue and says he has the script. [Michael and I] came aboard the project pretty early, so we helped develop it, which is how we became producers on the film,” she says.
Ealy elaborates. “It was important to go behind the camera, take the script and make it into something that we all wanted to be a part of,” he says. “Developing the script created an experience and a process that is something that I’ll never forget.”
(9/10/15) A judge has ruled that the criminal trials against the six officers accused of killing Freddie Gray will remain in Baltimore, MD. Read more at NBC News.
Yvonne Wenger and Mark Puente of TheBaltimore Sun are reporting that the family of Freddie Gray will receive $6.4 million from the Rawlings-Blake administration as a settlement for civil claims in the arrest and subsequent death of the young man. The payment amount is being referred to as an “extraordinary” amount in terms of settlements paid out against police departments.
Wenger and Puente write:
“The settlement — which is expected to be approved at Wednesday’s meeting of the city’s spending panel — will be paid out over two years, according to the mayor’s office. The five-member board is controlled by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
The payment is larger than the total of more than 120 other lawsuits brought against the police department for alleged brutality and misconduct since 2011.
Gray, 25, died in April after sustaining a severe spinal cord injury in police custody. In the hours after his funeral, the city erupted into rioting, arson and looting. The National Guard was called in to help restore order, and a citywide curfew was put in place.”
A pre-trial motions hearing is scheduled Thursday for a judge to decide whether to move the cases against the six police officers charged in Gray’s death out of the City of Baltimore.
Weatherman Al Roker's "Wake Up with Al" television show has been canceled.
(Photo: Google Images)
Weatherman Al Roker’s “Wake Up with Al” television show has been canceled. (Photo: Google Images)
Richard Prince of Journal-isms is reporting weatherman Al Roker’s show “Wake Up With Al” on the Weather Channel is being cancelled after a dust-up over Hurricane Katrina coverage. Prince reports that the timing may be coincidental, but Roker and David Clark, president of The Weather Company’s TV division, argued over a decision to downplay the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall.
Prince writes:
“The station decided to focus instead on the pending arrival of Tropical Storm Erika, according to a report Wednesday in the subscription-only television news site NewsBlues. The report was based on an email exchange made publicly internally.”
The network issued a statement about the matter.
“The decision to ax Roker’s show ‘was a financial one according to multiple reports,’ Jason Samenow reported Wednesday for the Washington Post. ‘It is the Atlanta-based network’s only show out of New York City, where production costs are very high.'”
Roker issued a statement through his spokesperson Heather Krug.
“I’m proud of what our Wake Up With Al team brought to the Weather Channel and completely understand the decision to move all shows to Atlanta.”
“I look forward to continuing to partner with the Channel on-air and through my production company on future traditional and digital projects.”
Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton.
(Photo: Google Images)
Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton. (Photo: Google Images)
Alan Baldwin of Reuters is reporting that Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the first practice for the Italian Grand Prix on Friday. Hamilton, who is seeking his 11th pole position in 12 races on Saturday, had the fastest time of one minute 24.670 seconds.
Baldwin writes:
“There was nothing radically different in his track performance, with the championship leader picking up where he left off in Belgium two weeks ago…”
The Briton’s Mercedes team mate and closest rival Nico Rosberg came in nearly half a second slower.
Belongings of deceased 'migrants' wash shore along with their bodies on the West Coast of Libya.
(Google Images)
Belongings of deceased ‘migrants’ wash shore along with their bodies on the West Coast of Libya. (Google Images)
Lindsay Isaac of CNN is reporting the bodies of deceased ‘migrants’ are washing ashore on Libya’s beaches. The bodies of those fleeing Libya in hopes of reaching Europe to start a new life are now returning to the western coast from which they fled. The bodies are posing a problem for the country that has “no stable, functioning government” to take control of the situation.
Isaac writes:
“Mohammed Misrati, spokesman for the Libyan Red Crescent Society in Tripoli, says most of the migrants’ bodies wash up along a stretch of Libya’s western coast, in Zuwara, Khoms and Sabrata — where many of their journeys began.
‘We collected 40 bodies in just one operation in Zuwara,’ explains Misrati, adding that while he doesn’t have exact numbers, he believes the problem is ‘much worse’ this year.
‘It’s a problem we’ve faced for a long time but it’s never been this bad,’ he says. ‘In previous years it used to be in the dozens, now it’s in the hundreds.'”
The International Organization of Migration reports nearly 2,000 ‘migrants’ have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea this year.
Brenda Tindal has been named historian of the Levine Museum of the New South.
(Photo: The Charlotte Observer)
Brenda Tindal has been named historian of the Levine Museum of the New South. (Photo: The Charlotte Observer)
Mark Washburn of the Charlotte Observer is reporting historian Brenda Tindal, 34, has been named head historian for the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, NC. Tindal will take over for retiring historian Tom Hanchett. Tindal, a Charlotte native, is the first African-American and woman to hold the position for the celebrated museum. The appointment will make her the second historian in the history of the museum and a leading voice amongst historians in the Southeast.
(Photo: Google Images)
Washburn writes:
“‘I’m in love with what I do,’ said Tindal. ‘You have to do the things that give you oxygen. History gives me oxygen.’
Tindal, 34, the antithesis of the graybeard historian stereotype, said she applied for the job because joining the Levine in a lead role was a career dream.
‘I saw the job announcement and couldn’t help myself,’ she said. ‘One thing I like to say about museums is there’s never a poverty of imagination, and that’s certainly true of the Levine.’”
The UNC Charlotte graduate and McNair scholar, holds a B.A. in History and Africana Studies, an M.A. in American Studies from Emory University and is a doctoral candidate in History and Cultural at Emory, which she expects to complete this fall. At Emory, she helped organize the papers of Pulitzer-Prize winning author Alice Walker. She also organized the papers of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with civil rights legend and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, work she continued during a fellowship at Princeton University. An instructor at UNCC, Tindal’s scholarship focuses on the work of the wives of martyred civil rights leaders.
Legendary basketball player Darryl 'Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins has died at age 58.
(Photo: Google Images)
Legendary basketball player Darryl ‘Chocolate Thunder” Dawkins has died at age 58. (Photo: Google Images)
The sports world is mourning the loss of basketball legend Darryl Dawkins, who died of a heart attack yesterday. Dawkins was the first high school player to go directly to the NBA. He was selected No. 5 in the 1975 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. Given the moniker “Chocolate Thunder” by music superstar Stevie Wonder, he was known for backboard shattering dunks. It is because of Dawkins that the NBA now uses breakaway rims, because if Dawkins shattered the backboard, then the game would end.
Dawkins played 14 years in the league in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Utah and Detroit. He averaged 12.0 points and 6.1 rebounds in 726 regular-season games. His 57.2 field goal percentage is seventh best in NBA history. Dawkins, who was wildly popular, also played for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Darryl Dawkins shatters a backboard while teammate Julius “Dr. J.” Erving watches. (Photo: Google Images)
Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press reports:
“Darryl touched the hearts and spirits of so many with his big smile and personality, ferocious dunks, but more than anything, his huge, loving heart,” his family said in a statement. “His family, wife Janice, children Dara, Tabitha, Nicholas and Alexis, along with countless family, friends, and fans, all mourn his loss. More than anything Darryl accomplished in his basketball career as the inimitable ‘Chocolate Thunder,’ he was most proud of his role and responsibility as a husband and father.”
ATLANTA, GA - AUGUST 08: Rodney Perry, Omar Gooding, Angell Conwell, and Bentley Kyle Evans pose for a photograph following the question and answer session for the Bounce TV show Family Time at Georgia World Congress Center on August 8, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Chris McKay/Getty Images for Bounce TV)
Comedian Rodney Perry with the stars of Bounce TV‘s Family Time Omar Gooding, Angell Conwell and creator/executive producer Bentley Kyle Evans at the Neighborhood Awards in Atlanta. (Photo Credit: Chris McKay/Getty Images for Bounce TV)
Family Time is the first original sitcom to air on the noncable broadcast channel, Bounce TV. The show is created, written, directed and executive produced by veteran showrunner Bentley Kyle Evans, humorously chronicling a young, black Southern California married couple, contractor Anthony (Omar Gooding) and homemaker Lisa (Angell Conwell) Stallworth, raising their two children (Bentley Kyle Evans, Jr. and Jayla Calhoun), going through the motions of marriage and trying to balance their lives with their family and friends.
Family Time is now in its third season. “It’s all about family,” says Evans, synonymous with developing black sitcoms like Martin, The Jamie Foxx Show, Love That Girl! and another Bounce TV property, My Crazy Roommate. “We gotta get back to family. We want to create programs that our families can sit down and watch together.”
The storylines on Family Time are loosely based on Evans’ own experiences. The native of Oakland, CA is proud to see various platforms like Netflix, Amazon and YouTube now hosting original content that resonates with wider audiences. Co-writing the 1996 romantic comedy A Thin Line Between Love and Hate with lead actor Martin Lawrence, Evans thinks black writers, producers and directors have greater opportunities to have their work seen.
Evans has full creative license on his shows. “You got so many outlets to get your voice heard,” says Evans following a screening of Family Time as part of Steve Harvey’s Neighborhood Awards in Atlanta. “We can’t slip into the darkness. It’s a content-driven business, and audiences have got to know what our experiences are as well.”
Starting out as an intern for Robert Townsend’s classic film, Hollywood Shuffle, Evans grew up in an era when the only options for television were ABC, NBC and CBS. When he started working with FOX on Martin and The WB with The Jamie Foxx Show, major networks were dishing out astronomical amounts of money to produce episodic shows enjoyed by black audiences. Those times have changed.
Shows that run during the regular season have been cut to fewer episodes. The rise of digital platforms now make it possible for showrunners and developers to own their intellectual property and create more or fewer episodes than standard network television. For Evans, partnering his production company, Bent Outta Shape Productions, with Bounce TV, the first and fastest-growing non-cable network geared towards African American viewers, on Family Time is a liberating, lateral shift versus working closely with major Hollywood studios.
Non-cable networks such as this could persuade more African American viewers to tune in and watch their shows, especially if it is something that they can easily relate to. However, cable networks are just as popular amongst this audience as some statistics show that Black adults, on average, are watching five hours and 31 minutes of live television per day, (click here for the statistics). Sometimes, this could depend on what they want to watch at the time, but being able to have a choice is paramount to non-cable and cable TV audiences.
“They allow us to tell our real stories without interfering,” says Evans. “I’ve had a whole lot more life experiences, and I’m able to tell those stories, even the tragic ones. I’m able to put a comic spin on it and really know how to formulate those stories for the masses so they can relate.”
Accustomed to portraying recurring roles on numerous sitcoms and television shows throughout his career, Gooding concurs with Evans’ perspectives on the possibilities for creators and talent of color in contemporary television. “It’s very important for us to support these networks,” says Gooding. “You gotta keep Black Hollywood alive. The doors are opening back up.”
Gooding adds, “There’s a lot of stuff networks think black people are. We love to shy away from that. You can see successful parents raise their kids without all of the profanity. We know about the craziness, but show them the good side and have some fun.”
On the set of Family Time, the consensus is that Evans’ infectious leadership is a good influence on the cast and crew. Both Gooding and Conwell are listed as producers on the show, allowing them to have an active voice in the creative process. Family Time‘s entire first season was shot in one week, prompting an extroverted Gooding to adapt a new work ethic.
“[Bentley] has that Tyler Perry schedule down packed,” jokes Gooding, calling Evans “an awesome boss.” “He lets us do our thing. I’ve never had that workload, but that rapid pace is actually great. Now I can memorize anything.” Conwell, who has a recurring role on the daytime soap opera, The Young & the Restless, points out that Evans’ soft spoken, open door policy motivates his team to deliver their best performances.
Like Gooding, Conwell calls Evans “the best person to work with,” revealing she has never heard Evans scream or throw a temper tantrum. “He’s very much in charge,” says Conwell, “but he doesn’t make you feel intimidated. He doesn’t limit you as an actor and allows you to be creative. He trusts the people he casts and makes thing much more enjoyable.”
Evans’ next show, In the Cut, is also premiering on Bounce TV. The show stars Dorien Wilson (The Parkers) and Jackee Harry (227, Sister Sister) as a divorced couple who own a barber and beauty salon in the same complex. Always knowing he would work with Evans, Wilson is enthusiastic about being the latest addition to Bounce TV‘s program roster.
“As the network grows, we’re growing right along with it,” says Wilson. “They’re giving us an opportunity to play and do things we probably normally wouldn’t have on regular television.”
Martin and The Jamie Foxx Show continue to have new life as syndicated favorites. It surprises Evans, who sums up television as a combination of “strong talent, exceptional writing and impeccable sound,” that new generations of viewers continue to tune into those shows. He encourages aspiring creatives of color to continue creating, negotiating deals and developing their own programs that reflect their realities.
On the other hand, an empowered Evans is humbled to have enjoyed incredible success in television. “We don’t look at those shows as ‘classics,'” suggests Evans. “We didn’t know what we were doing. We were just having fun as kids. To look back and see that, it’s important we continue to keep these types of programs going.”
Family Time’s third season premieres on Oct. 6. In the Cut makes its series premiere on Aug. 25. Check local listings.
This post was written by Christopher A. Daniel, pop cultural critic and music editor for the Burton Wire. He is also contributing writer for Urban Lux Magazine and Blues & Soul Magazine. Follow Christopher @Journalistorian on Twitter.
