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National
Never Forgotten: Honoring Trayvon Martin On His 23rd Birthday
More Closures Of Public Schools In Black Neighborhoods Under Fire
CHICAGO, IL — According to AP, Chicago, the third largest school district in the U. S. closed 5o schools 5 years ago, the largest mass closure of public schools in an American city and is now forging ahead with a plan to shutdown four more in one of the city’s high- est-crime and impoverished areas.
School officials are pitching the new closures around En- glewood, a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, to make way for a new $85 million school they insist will better serve students and reverse low enrollment. But some parents, students and activists are skeptical, saying they’re still reeling from the 2013 closures and the latest plan will make things worse, including the displacement of hundreds of mostly Black and poor
Erica Brown, a mother of two Harper High School students, argues in support of keeping the four endangered Englewood high schools open.
teenagers.
Like other cities, Chicago
has long relied on closures to address underperforming and underutilized schools. Signifi- cant closures have taken place in Philadelphia, Detroit and St. Louis.
The debate over Chicago’s latest proposed closures has exploded.
Some have alleged that
racial politics are at play. And they worry by pulling students out of schools near their homes and placing them in ones farther away, they are putting them in danger of gang members who will view them as the enemy just by virtue of their address.
Chicago Public Schools says nothing is final until an ex- pected Feb. 28 board vote
Miami native, Trayvon Martin would have cele- brated his 23rd birthday on February 5th .
Nearly six years ago, Trayvon’s death at the hands of white vigilante violence in- dicated the beginning of an es- calating attack on Black lives and jump started a movement that demanded this nation see its overtly racist behavior past and present.
The urgency of #Jus- tice4TrayvonMartin turned into a global urgency to fight for Black lives — one which persists today.
During the one-and-a-half year trial of George Zim- merman in Sanford, Florida, Black and brown people came face-to-face with how a white vigilante, empowered by his own beliefs got away with murdering a 17-year-old boy in cold blood.
Trayvon Martin was a teenage boy literally walking in his own neighborhood
Mr. Trayvon Martin would have been 23 on February 5th.
doing what most teenagers do: Wearing a hoodie, buying snacks and talking on his cell phone.
The senseless attack on Trayvon’s life reignited a movement across the globe and pushed us to acknowledge the worth of a generation that has been historically disen- franchised, and he will never be forgotten.
H&M Closing The Most Stores In 20 Years
NAACP Releases Economic Inclusion Plan For Baltimore
The NAACP released its Bal- timore Economic Inclusion Plan, a 35-page document de- tailing economic inequality in Baltimore that they have been working on for months.
The organization released its report at their national head- quarters in Baltimore Tuesday, along with reports about St. Louis and Charlotte, N.C.
The civil rights organization decided to look into these three cities in particular because of the unrest that has taken place in recent years resulting in episodes of police brutality, predatory lending and other discriminatory practices, ac- cording to the Baltimore Sun, NAACP President Derrick Johnson points out that at the root of these issues are more significant underlying problems like inequality.
“The NAACP understands
that economic disparity is a con- tributing factor to social and po- litical turmoil and, as a result, renews its commitment to sup- port economic inclusion in the communities we serve through advocacy and direct service,” said Marvin Owens, Jr., the organization’s director of eco- nomic programs.
The NAACP Economic De- partment recognizes the impor- tance of the economy and economic issues in advancing an equal opportunity society and aims to address the chal- lenging economic realities fac-
ing our country including poverty, lack of jobs and dispro- portionate high unemployment, lack of affordable housing, fore- closures, etc.
The NAACP Economic De- partment’s work enhances the capacity of African Americans and other underserved groups through financial economic ed- ucation; individual and commu- nity asset building initiatives; diversity and inclusion in busi- ness hiring, career advance- ment and procurement; and monitoring financial banking practices.
The number of store clo- sures by Hennes & Mauritz AB aka H&M will surge to the highest level in at least two decades this year as the Swedish fashion giant tries to adapt to a new digital world where customers abandon physical stores and increas- ingly shop online.
In 2018, the clothing retailer expects to close 170 shops and open a total of 390 new ones, the biggest number of store closures since at least 1998.
These closings come after H&M reported a 34 percent drop in profit in their fourth quarter, which makes this their largest profit drop in six years. This drastic decrease in sales has been attributed to H&M’s lackluster December and Jan- uary sales.
The Sweden-based H&M is closing 170 stores in 2018. Racial backlash has clouded the image of the store when an online item of a Black boy wearing a hoodie that read ‘Coolest Monkey In The Jungle’ went viral.
H&M faced major backlash in early January after an ad of a young black child wearing a sweatshirt that read “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle,” made its rounds on social media.
The company apologized for the ad with the following state- ment to the Washington Post: “We understand that many
people are upset about the image. We, who work at H&M, can only agree. We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print. Therefore, we have not only removed the image from our channels, but also the garment from our product offering globally.”
Black Twitter Goes Crazy Over New Bust Of White Nefertiti Unveiled On ‘Today’ Show
The new bust was unveiled on the Today show with show host, Savannah Guthrie gleefully helping Josh Gates. The look on the other anchor, Hoda Gotb’s face says it all.
Lauded for her African beauty, Nefertiti is one of the most famous queens of an- cient Egypt –which is why the TODAY show’s more cau- casian-looking reconstructed bust left many wondering ‘what the hell’?
Using preserved remains, modern technology, and painstaking artistry, a team led by Expedition Unknown‘s Josh Gates pre- sented a reconstruction of what King Tut’s mother would have looked like in her full royal regalia.
They got the colorful head- dress, bejeweled collar, and in- tricate earrings befitting of an Egyptian queen, but the acces- sories seem to be about all that was done right on the bust.
This version of Nefertiti has skin that looks freshly tanned as opposed to the
darker-skin of an Egyptian queen. The bust also has Queen Nefertiti with rosy pink, thin lips and hazel eyes.
When most people think of ancient Egyptian queens, they think of elegant, powerful women with beautiful brown skin.
The most famous represen- tation of Nefertiti is a bust believed to have been made by the sculptor Thutmose around 1345 BC. That bust is housed in Germany’s Neues Museum. It shows a much browner version of Nefertiti (whose name means “the beautiful one has come forth”) with slightly fuller lips painted a deep cranberry.
The Nefertiti the TODAY show unveiled looks more like a white suburban mom and guess what Black Twitter showed no mercy.
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