The Burton Wire made it another year. Whew! While many were happy to leave 2022 in the rear view mirror, 2023 came with the shenanigans and reminded us that the only thing certain in life is change and sometimes change is good and sometimes it is bad. As we ring in the 2024 New Year and reflect on who we’re ushering into the New Year and leaving behind in 2023, let’s take a look back at the top stories of 2023 impacting communities in the African Diaspora here and abroad.
The Loss of Icons, Athletes, Entertainers and Influencers
You may have heard death comes for the young and 2023 was no exception. Sadly, English footballer (soccer) star Anton Wilkes, 26, died in a boating accident n Miami in January. Soccer phenom Christian Atsu, 31, was killed in a major earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria in February. Nearly 56,000 people died in the 7.8 earthquake and the Ghanaian star was one of them. Atsu, who grew up in abject poverty, went on to play professional soccer for the 2013 Ghanaian Africa Cup team and was selected to FIFA’s 2014 World Cup Team. Atsu’s body was found by his siblings two weeks after the earthquake. He received a state burial March 4, 2023 in Accra.
Legendary running back turned actor Jim Brown passed away as did his famed co-star and fellow icon Racquel Welch. Olympic track and field star Torie Bowie died from complications following childbirth. Former Tennessee basketball star and two-time coach Nikki McCray-Penson died of cancer and pneumonia while former LSU basketball star Danielle Ballard was killed after being struck by a vehicle. Basketball greats Willis Reed and George McGinnis passed away this year as did baseball legend Willie Hernández, who led the Detroit Tigers to the 1984 World Championship.
Iconic actors and trailblazers from across the globe transitioned. Activist/performer Harry Belafonte passed away in April after living a life full of iconic performances and civil and human rights activism that spanned decades. Pioneering Sudanese Actress Asia Abdel-majid was killed in crossfire during fighting in the capital of Khartoum in May. Abdel-Majid is considered a pioneer of theater in Sudan and the country’s first professional stage actress.
Safi Faye, the mother of African Cinema, died in February 2023 at age 80. The Senegalese filmmaking started making films in the early 1970s, with the short film La Passante (The Passerby, 1972), followed by Kaddu Beykat (The Voice of the Peasant, often translated as Letter from my Village, 1979), which would become the first film by an African woman filmmaker to be commercially distributed. This was followed by a prolific film career from the 1970s to 1990s that included fiction and documentary films. Faye died in Paris, where she was based, and was cremated in her home village of Fadial, the place that was the subject of her second feature length film, Fad’Jal (1979.) The film was a love letter to the Serer village in southern Senegal.
2023 was not kind to Black and Brown American actors. In addition to Belafonte, iconic and award-winning actors Lance Reddick, Ron Cephus Jones and Andre Braugher passed away this year as did soap opera icons Ellen Holly and Kamar de Los Reyes. Let’s not forget the beautiful model/actress Gail O’Neill, who passed away in October, leaving millions of Black Gen X women shell shocked, because as little girls, she was one of the few Black teen models we saw and admired, while growing up.
Social media stars did not fare better. TikTok star Britney Murphy a.k.a. Britney Joy and her mother Sherie Murphy were killed in a car accident in June, leaving social media fans reeling. Joy had just posted a Tik Tok before walking out of the door to take the fatal car ride. Brandon Smiley, reality star and comedian passed away from a drug overdose. The son of iconic comedian and radio host Rickey Smiley, Brandon Smiley’s death left his father, family and millions of fans stunned and bereaved. Brazilian reality TV star, model, and influencer Luana Andrade died after undergoing liposuction as did influencer and ‘Wild ‘n Out’ star Jacky Oh, 33, who passed away following a mommy-makeover,. Oh left behind three children and a grieving partner, comedian and actor DC Young Fly. ‘Extreme Weight Loss’ star and influencer Brandi Mallory, 40, was found deceased in her car November 9, leaving behind thousands of grieving fans.
The music world said goodbye to R&B crooner Jesse Powell, the Godfather of Black Music Clarence Avant, Queen of Rock n’ Roll Tina Turner, De La Soul’s David “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur, Fred White of Earth, Wind & Fire, Lola Chantrelle Mitchell a.k.a. Gangsta Boo, The Whistpers‘ Gordy Hardmon, The Drifters’ Charlie Thomas, Rudolph Isley, founding member of the Isley Brothers, rapper Melvin “Magoo” Barcliff and Detroit’s legendary Amp Fiddler.
Politicians, Trailblazers and Civil Rights IconsÂ
Trailblazing longtime U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a nurse from Texas who helped bring hundreds of millions of federal dollars to the Dallas area as the region’s most powerful Democrat, died on New Years Eve. She was 88. Herbert “Bertie” Bowman, the longest-serving African American congressional staffer in history, who worked on Capitol Hill for more than 60 years, died in October. Charles J. Ogletree Jr., a Harvard law professor who helped reframe debates around criminal justice, school desegregation and reparations during the 1990s and 2000s, passed away in August. He was a mentor to former U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. Boniface Alexandre, who served as Haiti’s provisional president for two years after the country’s 2004 coup, died in August of this year. Thulani Maseko, a Swazi human rights lawyer who lobbied to end Eswatini’s (formerly Swaziland) absolute monarchy was assassinated in October. New Jersey councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, (GOP), was gunned down outside of her home in February. Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, was arrested for her murder four months later.
Natural Disasters Left No Continent Unturned
Natural disasters plagued the globe reminding us you still can’t fool with “Mother Nature.” Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and Morocco killed thousands, major storms (Daniel) heavy rain and flooding hit Libya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cyclone Freddy took out over 1,000 people in Malawi, and scores in Mozambique and Madagascar, displacing upwards of 184,000 people. El Niño hit all of Latin America and the Caribbean leaving a trail of devastation behind. Over 100 people died in wildfires in Maui.
Settlements, Reparations and Recognition, oh, my
Things weren’t all bad in 2023 with good things happening across the globe. The family of Henrietta Lacks reached a settlement with Thermo-Fischer-Scientific, a science and technology company that used cells taken without Lacks’ consent in the 1950s to develop products it later sold for profit. The reparations movement in California is still going strong with many municipalities either starting or forming commissions to address compensation to the descendants of enslaved Africans. Evanston, Illinois, became the first city in the country in 2021 to actually pay reparations to its eligible Black residents, and New York recently enacted a commission to study the effects of slavery there. Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley also called for reparations at the United States Reparations Convention in April 2023 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Vice-President Kamala Harris announced the U.S. would provide $100 million in aid to the Caribbean. While Caribbean Nations held important roles at the coronation of King Charles III in 2023, Belize joined Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica in removing the monarch as the head of state.
History Makers
Iconic rapper Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott became the first woman rapper inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Trailblazing rapper Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens inducted Elliott at the ceremony. For the 46th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, Elliott paid tribute to rapper/actress Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens, who became the first woman rapper to be honored at the prestigious event.
Justice for Tupac?
As for legendary rappers, there was finally an arrest made in the murder of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur. In October, Duane Davis was arrested in connection with the famous rapper’s murder. Davis is one of the last living witnesses to the shooting of Shakur in Las Vegas. Shakur was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas September 7, 1996.
MeToo: Sean “Love” Combs Don’t Live Here Anymore
Me Too chickens finally came home to roost when Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, former R&B singer and long-time girlfriend of music mogul Sean “Diddly” Combs, filed suit against the celebrated rapper for rape, abuse and sex trafficking, settling the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount of money. In September, MTV honored Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ legacy, presenting him with the Global Icon Award at the 2023 VMAs. Diddy, 54, accepted the award and performed at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Combs’ performance was his first performance at the VMAs since 2005. During his acceptance speech, Combs “shouted out” Ventura for “holding him down during the dark times.” Ventura filed suit the next day alleging rape, sex trafficking and abuse and settled shortly thereafter but the damage was done with other women coming out and accusing the rapper of rape, sexual abuse and revenge porn leading the “Love” rapper to step-down from his position as chairman of the Revolt network.
The Rise and Fall of Jonathan Majors
Perhaps the biggest entertainment story of the year is the precipitous fall from grace of white hot Hollywood film actor Jonathan Majors, who was dropped from pretty much every project after being charged with assault and harassment following an altercation with his former girlfriend Grace Jabbari on March 25th. Majors was found guilty of one misdemeanor assault charge and one harassment violation in connection with the incident.
Majors’ outstanding performances in The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Creed 3, “Lovecraft Country,” Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Harder They Fall and Devotion had him pegged as the next Hollywood superstar until fallout from the altercation with Jabbari.
The jury found Majors guilty of one count of reckless assault in the 3rd degree and a non-criminal charge of harassment as a violation. The jury found Majors not guilty in two other charges: one count of assault in the 3rd degree and one count of aggravated harassment. The incident was caught on videotape in which he is alleged to have assaulted Jabbari leaving a laceration behind her ear and twisting her arm. Majors’ attorney Priya Chaudry said the actor was “completely innocent,” despite the release of text messages and phone messages that suggested otherwise.
Neither Chaudry’s protestations nor Majors’ timely courtship with actress Megan Good could save Majors from the inevitable. Marvel Studios fired Majors on December 18, the day of the guilty verdict. The actor was set to play Kang, the major antagonist in MCU’s next superhero offering. Majors starred in season 1 and 2 of “Loki,” but there has been no mention of Season 3. The Sundance darling Magazine Dreams, a bodybuilding drama, was pulled from the theatrical release calendar and Majors was dropped from the Walter Moseley project, The Man in My Basement.
Majors is also reported to have been dropped from consideration to star in an Otis Redding biopic and was dropped by his management team (Entertainment 360) and PR firm (Lede Company). The U.S. Army pulled a campaign featuring Majors following his arrest. Majors also stepped down from the Gotham Film and Media Institute board and its Sidney Poitier Initiative. Majors’ sentencing is scheduled for February 6, 2024.
This post was curated by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on social media @Ntellectual.Â
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