If Vince Carter was a wine, he’d be a Château Lafite 1869 or perhaps a 1947 Cheval Blanc: universally revered while gracefully aging in Nancy Pelosi’s wine cellar. But he’s not a wine, he’s an eight-time NBA All-Star, who at 42-years-old is still somehow doing shit like this:
Kendrick Marquette Akins of Texas had just proposed to his fiancé, Dominic Jefferson, but an argument allegedly ended with him shooting her to death, her family said.
Akins, 39, asked Jefferson to marry him on New Year’s Eve after the couple dated for three months, her family told KTRK in an interview. But on Saturday, they had an argument outside of a Houston apartment and family members say it turned deadly.
READ MORE: ‘She did not deserve that’: Transgender woman’s fiancé speaks out after fatal shooting
During the argument, according to a police affidavit, Jefferson yelled ‘shoot me’ and shortly afterward, the mother of three was fatally shot in the chest.
A witness told Houston police officers that Akins appeared to leave the scene but came back when a “concerned citizen” attempted to help the victim. Akins fired a shot at the citizen and then fled, the witness told police.
“Akins surrendered to officers at the HPD Northeast Police Station. He was questioned by detectives and subsequently charged in the shooting,” according to CNN, which quotes Houston police.
Akins, who was on parole, is being held on $250,000 bond and has expressed concern for his safety while locked up. Through his public defender, Te’iva Johnson Bell, Akins is asking to be put into protective custody because of threats he says he is receiving on Facebook. Akins’ lawyer said relatives of Jefferson are inmates at the same Harris County jail and reportedly got word to him that “they were going to get him as soon as he hits the floor,” reported ABC.
Akins is charged with fatally shooting Dominic Jefferson during an argument outside a west Houston apartment early Saturday morning.
Four days prior to her death, the couple was seen in a Facebook Live post getting engaged. Jefferson’s mom told ABC that she watched it. “I thought she had finally found the man of her dreams,” she said. “It was the nightmare of her life.”
UT Quan, a friend of Jefferson, said he was concerned at how quickly things were going since they had only dated for several months. “I thought it was fast,” Quan told ABC. “I said, if they’re happy, I’m happy, but when the altercation happened, I was thrown off. I was like, how could you do that? You just proposed.”
Court records show Akins, who worked in construction, has a lengthy criminal history. Jefferson’s mom said neither she nor her daughter were aware of his past.
READ MORE: Pregnant Georgia teen found dead in woods, fiancé charged with murder
“This needs to wake women up to do their research on who they’re letting into their lives,” she told ABC.
And she added that she hopes he doesn’t get protective custody while locked up. “He doesn’t deserve protected custody. He doesn’t deserve to live. That’s how I feel about it, with no filter.”
The post Texas woman allegedly killed by her fiancé, days after he proposed appeared first on theGrio.
LeVar Burton of Roots and Star Trek: The Next Generation fame has released a video series named This is My Story, where he shares stories that speak about some of the racist experiences most Black people in the United States.
Burton had an epiphany that he posted on his Twitter account, “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the state of race relations in America. One thing I learned from the success of ROOTS (if you don’t know, you better ask somebody) 42 years ago, was the power of storytelling as a way to bridge the gap between races.”
He continued, “There was an America before ROOTS and there was an America after ROOTS and post ROOTS, America was a greater, more enlightened nation. We came to a better, deeper, more informed understanding of the evil nature, intent and outcomes of chattel slavery as practiced in America. As a result, I fervently believe in the power of Storytelling to move the culture forward. To that end, some friends and I have created a few videos, 6 in all, that chronicle some of the racist experiences most Black people who live in America, have in common.”
“Spoiler Alert: Unless you have walked the walk of the African American experience in this country, it is difficult — not impossible — but difficult, to know what that journey is on the daily. Trust me when I say, being Black in America is not for the weak of heart. Neither is it for the weak in Spirit. For, being Black in America oftentimes means living in and loving a country, that does not love us back. You may take exception to my premise but you cannot discount my experience.”
In This is My Story, Burton narrates and gives the audience stories regarding racism in America. The first six videos gives in detail six unique and painful stories about racism starting from Burton’s own experiences of being racially profiled while a student at the University of Southern California, to a young boy’s story of being spit on by a “grizzled old white man” at a Georgia fast-food restaurant.
“The first installment of, This Is My Story, is an incident from my own life. The others are real-life experiences of some of my friends, told by me. Like ROOTS did so long ago, my intention in sharing these stories is to provide anecdotal context for being Black in America.”
Burton recently received Case Western Reserve University’s Inamori Ethics Prize and had a park, LeVar Burton Park, renamed in his honor in the Meadowview neighborhood of Sacramento, California where he grew up.
New York recently awarded a $3.5 million capital grant to help build the world’s first museum dedicated to hip-hop music and culture.
According to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the $80 million Universal Hip Hop Museum will open in 2023 in the South Bronx – which is considered the birthplace of hip hop. The museum is currently operating temporarily in Bronx Terminal Market.
The museum is expected to be a win-win for the city. It’s director, Rocky Bucano, told The New York Post that the Hip Hop Museum will generate tourism and tax revenues for the Bronx and New York. The Bronx Point Development is slated to be its permanent home.
“The museum is part of the renaissance of the Bronx. The Bronx is coming back,” he said. “But the museum will be of the people and for the people.” Bucano added that the museum received $6.5 million in additional funds from the city.
“It’s the best Christmas gift ever,” Universal Hip Hop Museum spokesperson Renee Foster told Patch. “It’s like Santa Claus.”
Hip-Hop music isn’t the only thing that will be showcased at the museum. There will also be exhibits on break dancers, graffiti artists, disc jockeys, and MCs.
“Hip hop culture was born in the Bronx and New York City is the cultural center of the world,” said Foster. “We’re joining institutions like Carnegie Hall and all those great artistic institutions.”
Corporate partners for the museum include Microsoft and MIT as well as support from Hip-Hop artists such as Nas, Q-Tip, and LL Cool J.
“The Universal Hip Hop Museum will occupy 50,000 square feet in Bronx Point, the residential and retail project by L+M Development Partners that will be erected north of the 145th Street bridge along the Harlem River in the Bronx,” The New York Post reported.
Residents had mixed feelings about the grant.
New York City invests $3.75 Million to help build a Hip-Hop museum in the Bronx.
“An archive dedicated to the preservation and celebration of hip-hop history and culture” pic.twitter.com/STq86jmB9A
— East Renaissance (@EastRenaissance) December 31, 2019
New York City invests $3.75 Million to help build a Hip-Hop museum in the Bronx.
“An archive dedicated to the preservation and celebration of hip-hop history and culture” pic.twitter.com/STq86jmB9A
— East Renaissance (@EastRenaissance) December 31, 2019
Ayyyyeeeeeee!!!! Come through BX!#BronxBombshell #bornandraised https://t.co/Gyp5a23cru
— Krystal A. Livingston (@IamKALivingston) December 29, 2019
This article was written by Ann Brown on January 1, 2020 for The Moguldom Nation
Dr. June Bacon-Bercey, the country’s first female TV meteorologist and the first Black woman to earn a degree in meteorology, has died.
The trailblazing meteorologist broke racial and gender barriers to win the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) prestigious Seal of Approval for her “excellence in television weathercasting,” according to AccuWeather. Bacon-Bercey, 90, actually died on July 3, 2019, but her daughter, Dail St. Claire, reported news of her mother’s passing to AccuWeather recently.
READ MORE: Weather Channel owner Byron Allen wants to highlight climate change’s impact on Black communities
In addition to working as a meteorologist for an NBC station in Buffalo in 1970 – a position she filled as an emergency replacement when her predecessor was fired, Bacon-Bercey has also worked for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, the National Weather Service (NWS) and Sperry Rand.
As important as her groundbreaking work in meteorology was Bacon-Bercey’s commitment to see that other minority women pursue careers in science like her, with a specialty in meteorology.
In 1977, Bacon-Bercey won $64,000 on the TV game show The $128,000 Question, and she used the money to start a scholarship fund for women interested in majoring in atmospheric sciences.
“Education was No. 1, so scholarship was a passion and she always wanted to share it with those who were less fortunate,” her daughter told AccuWeather.
At the time, Bacon-Bercey told The Washington Post that she started the scholarship as a way to encourage women to pursue careers in science even though they wouldn’t see many people who looked like them.
“I was discouraged (from becoming a meteorologist), and other women were discouraged,” Bacon-Bercey said in the Post interview. “If they feel they’ve got some money behind them, it might be better.”
Twelve women ultimately received scholarship money and would go on to careers in geochemistry, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and/or oceanography, with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, MIT and TV stations throughout the country.
Bacon-Bercey also established a meteorology lab at Jackson State University and was instrumental in starting the AMS Board on Women and Minorities, also with an aim to increase minorities and women in her field of study.
READ MORE: Rochester meteorologist fired for racist on-air reference to MLK sues former station
“She was obviously extremely successful,” Ralph Bouquet, NOVA’s director of education and outreach told AccuWeather. “She did so much and also gave back in so many prominent ways – with a scholarship, with setting up a meteorology lab at Jackson State University, just really impressive things that one person was able to accomplish. How many people could have done that, could have been in that position to produce so much but also give back so much?”
Capping off a lifetime of achievements, Bacon-Bercey was named Minority Pioneer for Achievements in Atmospheric Sciences in 2000.
The post America’s first female TV meteorologist, who also happens to be Black, dies at 90 appeared first on theGrio.
