Tracey Morgan (being the faithful Brooklyn-nite he is) did just that last week by returning to the ‘hood to officially open the gates of shiny and new Marcy Park.
TBS and The Last OG comedian donated $215,000 to renovate the Bed-Stuy playground.
“Thanks to Tracy and TBS for making it possible for NYC Parks to refurbish Marcy Playground, a beloved Bedford-Stuyvesant park that was in need of some TLC,” Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said in a statement.
Including new basketball backboards with the TBS logo, of course. Fresh asphalt and a mural from artist Askew One.
It’s the first upgrade Marcy Park has gotten in a decade, according to NYC Parks department.
Yet it’s the back in the day times Tracy remembers most.
“I played on this court as a kid. I actually cut my finger on a glass bottle here and the blood I spilled on the court was for these kids. This is for Brooklyn. It makes me so happy.” Tracy said at the event.
So, I’m killing two birds with one stone on this post, actually three because I love doing the most.
Giving much deserved props to my fave poet–Langston Hughes–during National Poetry Month (check).
And featuring an arts collective org launched by Coretta Scott King Award winner. Introducing our other #WCW…Renee Watson.
The New York Times Bestselling author of “Piecing Me Together” was so inspired by Langston Hughes’ work she created “I, Too, Arts Collective” org (a nod to the iconic poem) in the scribe’s own Harlem brownstone.
Yes Ma’am!! The same parlor Langston used his famous typewriter, is now being occupied by kids taking part in African drumming and adult poetry readings.
It’s among the many creative programs offered by the non-profit, whose goal is to foster creativity within Harlem and sustain Langston’s legacy.
“This was a person that didn’t just write about Harlem, but loved Harlem,” Watson told CBS News.
What better way to repay that love affair than preserving the last creative space Langston Hughes worked in.
Through crowd sourcing and using hashtag #LangstonLegacy to get support, Watson was able to lease the brownstone in 2016.
The new goal is getting the collective to buy the building, which should’ve been a museum, anyway.
“There’s stories about Langston sitting in the parlor room with friends, and just talking politics, and talking about art, and we do that here. And so I hope that, yeah, if he knew it was going on, I think he would be proud. I feel like he’s cheering us on,” Watson said.
My edges have officially grown back, so that Beyonce can snatch them right off again come Saturday for Beychella 2.0.
Not only has the Queen of showtime put on the blackest of black performances celebrating…um…Black culture that wasn’t featured on an Apollo stage, Beyonce is donating to the cause.
Our girl is shelling out $100 Gs worth of scholarships at HBCU’s through her BEYGOOD charity initiative.
Xavier, Wilberforce, Tuskegee and Bethune-Cookman (sorry Howard, we know you needed that W) will receive $25K each for Homecoming Scholars Award Program.
Four students from each school can apply. Just like with the merit scholarship she debuted after release of Lemonade, students concentration has to be art based.
Winners will be announced this summer.
May your odds be as favorable as Beyonce’s killing the stage on Saturday. #Blackexcellence
So we’re all use to Chris Tucker making us laugh…okay, at least during his Friday and Rush Hour years.
Well, now our high-pitched voiced funnyman is getting deadly serious about saving Black men’s lives.
Chris Tucker is the new spokesperson for Prostate Cancer Foundation–an org dedicated to research and funding of prostate cancer–he’s joining the org to raise awareness for the huge differences between Black and White men facing prostrate cancer.
Three million men are diagnosed with the disease, but Black men are 74% more likely to get the illness in their 50s, and 2 times more likely to die, according to Look to the Stars.
“It was shocking for me to learn that African American men have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial and ethnic group in the U.S. most cancer and that prostate cancer is the number one diagnosed cancer among veterans.” says Chris in a statement.
Now we know.
To prevent this ugly disease from taking more of our Black men’s lives requires more research. Our men have to do their part too, like a change of lifestyle.
Rapper 21 Savage is teaching kids more than the lyrics to hit single “Bank Account.”
The ATL stunna took to Ellen show on Tuesday to perform the clean version of the song off his ISSA Album.
21 Savage also announced his partnership with Get Schooled non-profit to give 21 teens $1000 to open their first bank accounts, a part of the 21 Savage Bank Account Campaign.
It’s an effort to teach teens how to manage money, budgeting and building wealth.
Rolling Stone reports 21 Savage thinks “Bank Account’s” popularity is ironic because he knew nothing about getting one growing up. “Now that I do have money in my bank account, I want to help kids with a background similar to mine to get smart about their money,” he added.
I got, I got, I got, I got/Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA/ CocaineĀ quarter piece, got war and peace inside my DNA/ IĀ got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA/ IĀ got hustle though, ambition, flow, inside my DNA
Sorry yāall, I canāt stop singing this Kendrick Lamar joint ever since I heard my cousin is the first Black woman to grace Canadaās $10 banknote.
Naturally, Viola Desmond is our WCW. For not only refusing to leave a whiteās only section of a movie theater in the late ā40s, but more importantly her defiance was the jump off to the civil rights movement, which led to the end of segregation in Nova Scotia.
For not only refusing to leave a whiteās only section of a movie theater in the late ā40s, but more importantly her defiance was the jump off to the civil rights movement, which led to the end of segregation in Nova Scotia.
No wonder out of more than 26,000 submissions, cousin Vi was selected as the Canadian woman reppin the new banknote.
Fair warning this post will be bias as a mofo, but Iām hoping you guys will indulge me in this proud moment.
Viola Desmond did for Canada what Rosa Parks did for us. Only she did it a decadebefore Rosa. My cuz Vi stumbled upon her role as a civil rights pioneer. Much like Rosa, she was sick and tired of being sick and tired.Ā
So this is how she landed in textbooks:
In 1946, Viās car broke down while traveling and had to stop in New Glasgow to get it fixed. To kill time, she went to the movies.
It was obvi segregated because itās 1946āwhites took the floor seats and Blacks were forced in the balcony section.
There was no way cousin Vi was getting a floor seat, so she paid for the balcony. Yet still sat in the whiteās only section. My cousin.
She refused to leave and had to be dragged out of the theater by police. She spent 12 hours in the clink.
Cousin Vi was convicted and ordered to pay what amounted to $26 in fines. She fought the charges up until her death in 1965.
It wasn’t until 2010 the charges were dismissed by Nova Scotia’s first African Lieutenant general. “HereĀ I am, 64 years later ā a black woman giving freedom to another black woman,ā Mayann Francis told Maclean’s magazine.
Yup that’s called black girl magic. Now get out and spend those Desmond’s.
Will and Jada Smith are using their new bottled water company– JUST–for good.
The power couple is donating their eco-friendly water to Flint, Michigan public schools each month, until city’s water becomes drink-able again, Huffington Post reports.
So far 9,200 bĢ¶oĢ¶tĢ¶tĢ¶lĢ¶eĢ¶sĢ¶ cartons have been shipped to the schools.
With so much more of the plant-based H20 on the way, says JUST CEO Ira Laufer.
āThis just makes sense for us to do,ā Laufer told MLive. āAfter reading more about [Flintās] challenges and the mayor objecting to pulling bottled water from the schools, we thought, āLetās help these kids.āā
Where there is a will there’s a way. Sorry, had too.
On a serious note this is a great gesture for a company that is barely four years old. Given how toxic the water levels still are in Flint–EPA rated city’s lead at 397 parts per billion, the standard is 15 ppb.
If this past year has taught me anything, it’s that women are unbreakable. We are unstoppable and our gentle exterior may show we come in peace, but our tenacity, strength and smarts most certainly exude that we. mean. bizness.
We get shit done that no one (*cough* men *cough*) else want to handle. Or better yet donāt know how to manage. Not us. We can study for that midterm and feed our newborn. Cook dinner and clean the house. Eff an apron, where is our cape?
We most certainly need one today becauseā¦drum roll pleaseā¦itās International Womanās Day.
On this day we tip our hat to all the 3.96 billion women (thanks Alexiā¦ok, stop laughing) around the planet, helping to make this world a safer more worthwhile place.
To truly accomplish this goal, we need a favor from the fellas. And you have to say yes because itās our day. However, we will need today, tomorrow, next week and even next year to get it done. You need to recognize our worth. Our abilities. Our talents. And most importantly: our symmetry with you.
We demand equal treatment. The time for asking is over. We are ready. Yaasss SHEās ready (in my Tiffany Haddish voice) for that board seat, equal pay and for goodness sake being respected for our brain and not our boobs.
Itās 2018, guys. The clock moved past 1952, *checking watch* 66 years ago. A time machine doesnāt exist to go backwards, women are getting in formation to claim our rightful place of power.
Because our time is now.
Cheers to all the overlooked, underpaid and unappreciated women that donāt know you are a bulletproof spirit, waiting to soar like a shooting star above our orbit.
