Page 24 - Florida Sentinel 5-20-16 Online Edition

National
Book Club For Children Of Color
BET’s Debra Lee Is First Black On Twitter’s Board Of Directors
NEW YORK CITY -- Nayla Kidd, the 19-year-old Colum- bia University sophomore who has been missing since leaving a May 5 dorm party, is now be- lieved to have taken her Face- book page down and changed her cellphone and bank account numbers before her disappear- ance, police sources told the New York Daily News.
“This is not Nayla,” her mother, La Creis Kidd, told CBS New York Friday as she handed out fliers with other family members near the Ivy League school in New York City.
Kidd didn’t just disappear — she fell off the grid.
Kidd’s actions are so bizarre that her family has become des- perate to find the Louisville, Ky., native.
Renewed searches for Kidd, a sophomore in the School of
Columbia University sopho- more, Nayla Kidd.
Engineering and Applied Sci- ence, on Saturday didn’t pan out, police sources said.
The budding scientist was at- tending Columbia on a full scholarship, relatives said.
Kidd taught a popular belly- dancing class at Columbia and had published scientific re- search, friends said.
BET CEO Debra Lee
SAN FRANCISCO, CA --- Twitter announced Monday that it has appointed the chief execu- tive officer of BET Networks, Debra L. Lee, to its board of directors.
Lee will be Twitter’s first Black board member and third female board member — a no- table development for the social media company, which has been widely criticized for its lack of di- versity.
The dearth of African-Ameri- cans at the top of the company has been especially striking given that Black Twitter is a po- tent force in the social media world.
Forty percent of African-Amer- icans age 18-29 who are online use Twitter, according to the Pew Research Center. That rate of participation is quite high — only 28 percent of their white counterparts tweet.
Lee herself has more than 67,000 followers on Twitter, an encouraging data point.
ATLANTA, GA — Finding children’s literature featuring characters of color is now a lot easier for parents with the subscription box service, Little Buzz Book Club.
Founded by Dr. Hamidah Sharif-Harris, the Little Buzz Book Club is a monthly delivery of exciting new and classic children’s books featur- ing African, Caribbean and African-American Cultures. But it’s not just African-Amer- ican children’s literature that’s featured in the monthly sub- scription box!
There are also games, a card from Little Buzz and educa- tional tool kits for parents. What’s more is that there is also an authentic African keep- sake in every box.
Most African-American par-
ents understand how challeng- ing it can be to find books for Black children.
In 1985, only 18 of the 2,500 trade books that were pub- lished were written by African Americans. Although this number has improved over the decades, statistics still indicate that there is still a diversity gap when it comes to chil- dren’s book.
The subscription box fea- tures two plans – one for preschoolers and the other for young readers’ ages 4-10 years old. The pre-school subscrip- tion box is available for $14.95 and the young reader sub- scription box for $18.95. For further details or to start a subscription, visit: www.little- buzzbookclub.com.
BIRMINGHAM, AL -- An Al- abama university has issued an apology after one of its sorori- ties printed T-shirts with racist connotations.
The shirts were designed for the Alpha Delta Pi formal last month at Samford University in suburban Birmingham and depict a map of the state of Al- abama containing several scenes — including a Black man eating watermelon and a slave picking cotton. University officials said they rejected the design, but the shirts were pro- duced anyway.
"Samford University apolo- gizes for the offensive image that appeared on T-shirts," the school said in a statement Fri- day. “We are addressing the issue with our Alpha Delta Pi
chapter and the international organization and with the ven- dor who produced the shirt."
The sorority also apologized, and the chapter president claims the sorority is "horri- fied" by the oversight.
Stacy Bruton, interna- tional president of Alpha Delta Pi, added that the design "con- tradicts the values of respect and dignity that our organiza- tion prides itself on."
Bicyclist Sues Mall, Cop For Violent Assault
RushCard Settles Lawsuit To The Tune Of $19 Million
Journalists Arrested While Covering Ferguson Unrest Settle Lawsuit Against Police Dept., But Can’t Talk About It
ST. LOUIS, MO -– Four jour- nalists have settled a lawsuit against the St. Louis County Po- lice Department over their ar- rests in Ferguson, Missouri, during the unrest that followed Michael Brown’s death – but they won’t be allowed to talk about it.
Under the deal, Ryan De- vereaux, Lukas Hermsmeier, Ansgar Graw and Frank Herrmann cannot “take any steps to publicize any of the terms” of the settlement. The agreement requires St. Louis County to pay $75,000 to resolve the federal civil rights lawsuit from the reporters, but like many settlements does not require the county to admit lia- bility.
The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The Huffington Post through a pub- lic records request, will also re- quire all officers with the police department to undergo manda- tory in-service training on media access and the right to record police activity.
The four journalists filed their
St. Louis law enforcement arrests journalists during un- rest in Ferguson after Michael Brown was fatally shot by a po- lice officer.
lawsuit in March 2015, accusing police of battery, false arrest and unreasonable search and seizure.
While the reporters agreed to keep the terms of the settlement private, confidential agree- ments with government entities in Missouri can be obtained through public records re- quests.
TACOMA, WA -- Monique Tillman was just 15 years old when Jared Williams — an of- ficer for the Tacoma Police De- partment working off-duty for the mall’s private security firm, also named in the suit — pulled his cruiser up behind her bicy- cle.
Williams is seen grabbing Tillman after she attempted to bike away, “slamming her into parked vehicles, forcibly shoving his arm into her chest, grabbing her by the hair and body-slam- ming her into the pavement,” the complaint reads. The officer later used his taser on her, say- ing she resisted arrested and tried to kick him.
The suit, filed earlier this month in Pierce County Supe- rior Court, seeks unspecified da- mages. Tillman said she felt like she was targeted because she was Black. Her attorney, Vito de la Cruz, said she was charged in juvenile court, but all charges were later dismissed after a judge found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Williams is still an officer with the Tacoma police depart- ment, according to the outlet.
RushCard and its founder, Russell Simmons.
Missing Ivy League Student Changed Cell Number And Bank Account
Racist Sorority T-Shirts Create Uproar At Alabama University
UniRush, the parent com- pany behind the RushCard, is trying to make amends with its prepaid-card users. Last year, during a transition to a new processing system, millions of users could not access their funds, some for weeks. Cus- tomers quickly filed a lawsuit against the card, founded by Russell Simmons. On Thursday, UniRush agreed to pay $19 million to settle the lawsuit over the outage.
“We are pleased to have reached this preliminary set- tlement, which will resolve the claims of our cardholders,” Rick Savard, the chief exec-
utive of UniRush, said in a statement, the New York Times reports. “We believe this settlement fairly compen- sates our customers who were inconvenienced.”
According to the settlement, 300,000 people could recoup $100-$500 for any costs they experienced while locked out of their accounts.
“We’re very pleased with the result and the speed by which RushCard and the other de- fendants were able to settle this matter,” John Yanchu- nis, the lawyer for the card- holders, said, according to the New York Times.
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