Youth hockey coach says he was criticized by racist parents

A Pakistani-born Canadian Muslim, Talha Javaid who uses his own money to help aspiring hockey players better their game, is fuming after he says a parent criticized him and suggested he shouldn’t be teaching because he’s not white.

—New research confirms self-reported suicide attempts on the rise for Black teens—

Javaid, a respected hockey youth coach in the Windsor-Detroit community, says he was appalled when he received a bitter and rather racist text message on Oct. 9, slamming him with xenophobic messaging about his efforts to teach white kids hockey.

“I was like, ‘What. The. Hell,’” he told Yahoo Sports Canada about the text message. He explained that the message began with, “I’m not a racist but…”

However it was filled with racist messages. He posted about the hurtful text saying,

“man imagine waking up on a friday and essentially being like “yooo, im gonna go be a racist ass muppet today and tell someone they shouldnt coach hockey because they’re not white, cant wait!!”

man imagine waking up on a friday and essentially being like “yooo, im gonna go be a racist ass muppet today and tell someone they shouldnt coach hockey because they’re not white, cant wait!!” pic.twitter.com/cNYEbsMB8t

— Talha (@flowseidon65) October 11, 2019

The 23-year-old hockey player and youth coach checked his phone, he stopped in his tracks.

Even more upsetting, Javaid said he and a close friend use their own funds to pay for ice time, just to host free clinics so they can teach kids critical skills to play hockey. Javaid and his best friend Sebastian Nystrom teach kids ages five to eight in East Lansing Michigan.

And while the sessions are totally held because of Javaid’s big heart, one father named Chase tore into the Javaid for daring to teach his son since he practices the Muslim religion.

Chase said he doesn’t “feel comfortable” and believes Javaid’s faith will have some influence on his son Riley.

Insinuated that hockey,, a predominately white sport traditionally doesn’t include people of color.

“Tradition is coded language for whiteness and the way things have always been,” said Dr. Courtney Szto, assistant professor at the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University and assistant editor of the Hockey in Society blog. “And a Muslim coach throws a wrench into the whole thing. It doesn’t jive with our dominant narrative of who gets to participate in that culture.”

Despite the nasty message, Javaid said he has been inundated with community support, even from white people.

Stanley Cup champion and Hall of Fame goalie Grant Fuhr tweetd his support out of Javaid after hearing about the incident

There are no words for a moron like that. https://t.co/01CmxG7DmM

— Grant Fuhr (@grantfuhr) October 12, 2019

Javaid is one of a small fraction of people of color who play ice hockey in the region. He’s been a avid player since he was a tot, learning how to play that game thanks to a program called “Fajr Quran Hockey” (FQH) at his mosque.

The 23-year-old manages to give back to his community and balance being a full-time economics student at the University of Windsor.

—Penn State confiscates t-shirts from players showing support for Jonathan Sutherland after racist letter—

Sadly, Javaid said racism and discrimination is something he has endured for years.

“After Trump was elected, one of the guys on my rec team told me he didn’t want a Muslim guy being his captain,” Javaid recalled. “I told him ‘this is a you problem.’ I had the most points on the team and he had like two. I got the playing time I deserved, and I didn’t even bring it up with the coach.”

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Report: Russian Internet Trolls Targeted African American Voters More Than Any Other Group

The bipartisan U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that Russian trolls used the Internet—specifically Facebook—to influence African American voters during the 2016 presidential election.

Its new report, released earlier this week, states that the Internet Research Agency, a front for a Russian troll farm, used social media to post subtly racist content to incite conflict within the black community.  Thousands of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube accounts were created with the aim of harming Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and supporting the election of Donald Trump.

“By far, race and related issues were the preferred target of the information warfare campaign designed to divide the country in 2016” the report stated. ″(N)o single group of Americans was targeted by IRA information operatives more than African Americans.”

The Russian posts and ads mirrored social justice movements that were already prominent in the black community like “Black Lives Matter” with the goal of creating a negative response from other ethnic groups.

Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook have come under fire from politicians and activists about their roles in the election interference in 2016. The social media giants have been scrutinized about their lack of control and policing of their platforms in ridding bad actors.

Facebook and Twitter said they removed thousands of troll accounts leading up to the 2018 elections. “Through ongoing analyses and investigations, we continue to build on our contextual understanding of these networks of accounts to improve our ability to find and suspend this activity as quickly as possible in the future,” Twitter’s director of public policy Carlos Monje Jr. told NBC News.

In 2016, Facebook users engaged over 11.2 million times with a page called “Blacktivist,” which was actually a troll account from Russia targeting African American voters. Almost all of the account’s YouTube content involved violent acts against black men, the report stated.

The social media giants are now more aware of the potential risk and vow to be much better during the 2020 presidential election cycle. “We have stepped up our efforts to build strong defenses on multiple fronts…We have also invested in technology and people to block and remove fake accounts; find and remove coordinated manipulation campaigns; and bring unprecedented transparency to political advertising.” Facebook said in a statement.

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Report: Russian Internet Trolls Targeted African American Voters More Than Any Other Group

The bipartisan U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that Russian trolls used the Internet—specifically Facebook—to influence African American voters during the 2016 presidential election.

Its new report, released earlier this week, states that the Internet Research Agency, a front for a Russian troll farm, used social media to post subtly racist content to incite conflict within the black community.  Thousands of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube accounts were created with the aim of harming Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and supporting the election of Donald Trump.

“By far, race and related issues were the preferred target of the information warfare campaign designed to divide the country in 2016” the report stated. ″(N)o single group of Americans was targeted by IRA information operatives more than African Americans.”

The Russian posts and ads mirrored social justice movements that were already prominent in the black community like “Black Lives Matter” with the goal of creating a negative response from other ethnic groups.

Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook have come under fire from politicians and activists about their roles in the election interference in 2016. The social media giants have been scrutinized about their lack of control and policing of their platforms in ridding bad actors.

Facebook and Twitter said they removed thousands of troll accounts leading up to the 2018 elections. “Through ongoing analyses and investigations, we continue to build on our contextual understanding of these networks of accounts to improve our ability to find and suspend this activity as quickly as possible in the future,” Twitter’s director of public policy Carlos Monje Jr. told NBC News.

In 2016, Facebook users engaged over 11.2 million times with a page called “Blacktivist,” which was actually a troll account from Russia targeting African American voters. Almost all of the account’s YouTube content involved violent acts against black men, the report stated.

The social media giants are now more aware of the potential risk and vow to be much better during the 2020 presidential election cycle. “We have stepped up our efforts to build strong defenses on multiple fronts…We have also invested in technology and people to block and remove fake accounts; find and remove coordinated manipulation campaigns; and bring unprecedented transparency to political advertising.” Facebook said in a statement.

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DMX Checks Into Rehab for Substance Abuse, Cancels Scheduled Shows

Sobriety is an ongoing process and DMX is making sure he faces his challenges head-on.

Read more...

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New research confirms self-reported suicide attempts on the rise for Black teens

New research shows a disturbing trend in Black teens: their suicide attempt rates are going up, while suicide rates in other groups continue to diminish.

According to a new study released on Monday by researchers at the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University, there is a growing crisis of suicide attempts among Black high school students.

Michael A. Lindsey PhD, MSW, MPH, who is the executive director of the McSilver Institute and the Constance and Martin Silver Professor of Poverty Studies at NYU Silver School of Social Work is the lead researcher on the study along with YunYu Xiao. The two uncovered that self-reported suicide attempt rates for Black adolescents rose 73% over the study period of 1991-2017. By comparison, self-reported suicide attempt rates fell 7.5% in white adolescents.

“Further research must be done into why traditional precursors to suicide attempts, such as thinking about it or making plans, are decreasing while actual attempts are going up. It’s important that we identify the signs before young people attempt to end their lives,” said Lindsey.

READ MORE: Too many of our babies are killing themselves – Here’s what we can do about it

“Youth suicide is very real and must be addressed,” said New York State Senator David Carlucci, Chair of the NYS Senate’s Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee. “The numbers are staggering among Black youth, and just one life lost is one too many. We need a task force to specifically investigate the causes of Black youth suicide.”

To that point, the findings, which were published in the November 2019 issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, also uncovered:

• Self-reported suicide attempts increased at an accelerating rate in Black female teenagers as well, even as overall female suicide attempts declined.
• There was a significant increase in injuries from self-reported suicide attempts in Black male teenagers.
• A surprising dynamic in the relationship between self-reported suicide thoughts (ideation), plans and attempts was revealed: ideation and plans decreased while actual attempts increased.

READ MORE: N.C. schools investigated after Black student uncovers racist group chat

“The number of Black youth who are tragically taking their own lives is rising at an alarming rate, and that is why I sponsored legislation to establish a Black Youth Suicide taskforce here in New York State,” says New York State Assemblywoman Kimberly Jean-Pierre of the 11th Assembly District.

Judge Ronald E. Richter, CEO and Executive Director of JCCA and former Commissioner, NYC Administration for Children’s Services, agrees, urging the need for to urgently address these findings.

“The McSilver Institute’s findings of increased suicide attempts and self-injury among Black young adults are important and tremendously concerning, particularly for those of us who work in New York’s child welfare community where Black families are chronically, disproportionately overrepresented,” said Richter.

READ MORE: Humiliated after period shaming, Kenyan girl commits suicide

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide was the third-leading cause of death in 2017 among Black youth ages 15-19.

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If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit The Suicide Prevention Resource Center for additional resources.

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