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Tracing A Tragedy: How Hundreds Of Migrants Drowned On Greece’s Watch

The earliest of more than a dozen distress calls came the morning of June 13. On a boat overpacked with migrants, water had run out and the situation was deteriorating.

Yet the Greek coast guard did not call for a high-priority rescue operation. In subsequent hours, officials maintained the vessel was proceeding with a “steady course and speed” and people on board didn’t want help. Greek officials deny responsibility for what happened that night, when the migrant boat, a fishing trawler known as the Adriana, capsized and sent as many as 750 people into the Mediterranean Sea.

Contrary to the coast guard account that the boat was making steady progress and determined to get to Italy, The Post found the boat’s speed fluctuated dramatically — in line with passenger recollections of engine problems — while circling back on its route.

Maritime rescue veterans and legal experts said Greek officials exploited indications that aid wasn’t wanted and failed in their obligation to launch an all-hands rescue effort as soon as the precarious boat was detected.

Survivor Haseeb Ur Rehman, 20, a motorcycle mechanic from Kashmir, said the engine stopped working for about five hours on June 11 and again for a period on the night of June 12. “We knew we were in trouble,” he said, recalling how other passengers recited Quranic verses and cried.

The coast guard says crowd movement on board, probably caused by panic, caused a sudden shift in weight, leading the boat to roll to one side, then the other, before it overturned.

Some survivors allege that the patrol boat tried to tow them toward Italy, causing the boat to capsize. -(source: the washington post)

DNA America

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CARTER™️ Magazine and DNA America Have BREAKING NEWS: History Is Being Made!

CARTER™️ Magazine and DNA America is partnering with 12 On Your Side Broadcast Media, to provide African American History, and, News, through our digital media platform and social media-covering the interests, and concerns of the African American communities across the nation and Central Virginia.

A special section for Richmond Local News will be under the title, “Key Awareness” in honor of Robert Wright Evans Sr., a Richmond legend, who gave voice to the African American communities of; Gilpin Court, Mosby Court, Creighton Court, Fairfield Court, Hillside Court, Whitcomb Court, Blackwell, Southside, Northside, East End, West End, Church Hill, Jackson Ward, and the entire Greater Richmond area.

A breakthrough for broadcast media has begun with 12 On Your Side, CARTER™️ Magazine and DNA America.

A televised announcement will be held on air April 4, 2024. More details will be available on 4/4, with a link for viewers to tune in.

A new day in media has begun.

12 On Your Side / CARTER™️ Magazine / DNA America

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Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Spotlights Black Country Music Pioneer Linda Martell

Beyoncé’s new album, “Cowboy Carter,” has shined a light on a country music pioneer that many people may not know.

One of the album’s tracks is called “The Linda Martell Show,” which is an intro to the song “Ya Ya.” Martell appears on that track, as well as the song “Spaghetti.” Though Linda Martell, 82, has a long history in country music, many who are unfamiliar with her name and her vocals, are asking the question: Who is Linda Martell?

In 1970, Martell released “Color Me Country” which featured the hit “Color Him Father,” a cover of a song by The Winstons. The album also included such popular songs as “Bad Case of the Blues,” “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” and “You’re Crying Boy, Crying.”

Rolling Stone said that her album, which was described as “a mix of honky-tonk spunk and heartbreak balladry, all infused with her roots in gospel and R&B,” led Martell to become the first solo Black woman country artist to play the Grand Ole Opry.

“During that time,” Rolling Stone reports, “She also appeared on the hugely popular syndicated country variety show ‘Hee Haw’ and shared stages with country artists like Hank Snow and Waylon Jennings.”

Lindamartell.com also touts her as “a pioneering force hailed as the unsung hero of the genre” who “had the highest peaking single on the Billboard Hot Country Singles (now Songs) chart at #22, ‘Color Him Father,’ by a Black female country artist in the history of the genre in 1969, until Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ’Em” debuted at #1 on February 21, 2024.” -(source: nbc news)

DNA America

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Family Of Black Girls Handcuffed By Colorado Police, Held At Gunpoint Reach $1.9 Million Settlement

The four Black girls lay facedown in a parking lot, crying “no” and “mommy” as a police officer who had pointed her gun at them then bent down to handcuff two of their wrists. The youngest wore a pink tiara as she held onto her teenage cousin’s hand.

The 6-year-old Lovely watched as her mother, Brittney Gilliam, was led to a patrol car in handcuffs after she shouted in frustration at the police, who mistakenly believed the car Gilliam was driving was stolen.

Over three years later, the Denver suburb of Aurora has agreed to a $1.9 million settlement with Gilliam and the girls to resolve a lawsuit that claimed the police officers’ actions were evidence of “profound and systematic” racism, a lawyer for the family, David Lane, announced Monday.

The settlement saved the girls the trauma of having to relive what happened during a trial, Lane said. The money will be evenly divided among Gilliam and the four girls, with the girls’ portions being placed into annuities so the money will grow by the time they access it when they turn 18, Lane said. -(source: ap)

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Celia Cruz Will Be The First Afro Latina On A U.S. Quarter

In 2024, the late Celia Cruz will be the first Afro Latina face on a U.S. quarter, part of the American Women Quarters series that also honors suffragettes, civil rights defenders, abolitionists and scientists who changed history.

That Cruz is part of that storied list is no surprise to the legions of fans around the world that recognize the lasting legacy of the "Queen of Salsa" as one of the first truly global crossover Latin artists.

Cruz, who won several Grammy and Latin Grammy awards, received the National Medal of Arts, among the nation's highest honors, in 1994. She has a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and one on Miami's famous Calle Ocho, and has a school in New York City named after her.

Black and Cuban, Celia felt very proud to be Afro Latina, her executor said. Pardillo Cid said Cruz was the first Black Latina to sing in Spanish on American television and perform at Carnegie Hall, where artists such as Billie Holiday, Judy Garland and The Beatles performed.

Pardillo Cid said he still gets letters from fans saying how proud they are that “30 or 40 years ago Celia Cruz already represented us.” -(source: nbc news)

DNA America

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Utah Coach Says Her Team Had To Switch Hotels After Racist Attacks During NCAA Tournament

University of Utah’s women’s basketball coach said her team was the target of a series of “racial hate crimes” after arriving in Idaho for the NCAA Tournament last week. The incidents prompted the team to change hotels for the sake of their safety, she said.

Utah coach Lynne Roberts told reporters that the team of Black, white and Latina athletes experienced several incidents Thursday night after arriving in the Spokane area for the tournament where they faced Gonzaga University. Roberts didn’t go into detail about the incidents, but said they were concerning enough to request that they be moved from their hotel in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to a location closer to Spokane.

“Racism is real and it happens and it’s awful,” Roberts told reporters on Monday. “No one knew how to handle it. And it was really upsetting. And for our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it’s messed up.”

Roberts added that the NCAA and Gonzaga, the host school, worked to move the team to a different hotel. Neither Roberts nor the women’s athletics department immediately responded to a request for comment.

Utah’s deputy athletics director, Charmelle Green, who is Black, told KSL News of Salt Lake City that the team, along with band members and cheerleaders, were walking to a local restaurant for dinner when someone in a white truck drove up to the group, revved its engine, and yelled the N-word before speeding away.

“We all just were in shock, and we looked at each other like, did we just hear that?” Green said.

The team continued with the evening. Then, as they were leaving the restaurant, two trucks came near them, the drivers revved their engines and yelled the N-word.

Gonzaga University made a statement, “We are frustrated and deeply saddened to know that what should always be an amazing visitor and championship experience was in any way compromised by this situation, for it in no way reflects the values, standards, and beliefs to which we at Gonzaga University hold ourselves accountable.” -(source: nbc news)

DNA America

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Why We Celebrate Labor Day: Two Of The Little-Known Heroes Of Pullman

Jennie Curtis and E.D. Nixon are two of these lesser-known heroes who were part of the struggle for human rights — and the reason we still celebrate Labor Day.

In 1894, Jennie Curtis was a 23-year-old seamstress in debt to industrial titan George Pullman. Pullman had created an empire building and servicing train cars that felt like hotels on wheels.

Curtis had been earning $2.25 a day, but after the economic panic of 1893, her wages were cut to 80 cents a day. Her father, also a Pullman employee, had died and left her with a $60 debt to the company. Her already tight wages were garnished, and she had to navigate verbal abuse from her supervisor and the bank. Curtis was one of the most electrifying speakers at the American Railway Union convention in Chicago, which lead to the strike and President President Grover Cleveland to sign legislation that would make Labor Day a national holiday.

Long after the Pullman strike and first official Labor Day in 1894, Pullman porters, African American workers excluded from the early unions, continued to influence the national fight for civil rights.

When Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery Bus on December 1, 1955, the man who bailed her out of jail was E.D. Nixon. The next morning, it was Nixon who called a young pastor named Martin Luther King Jr. and asked him to lead a boycott of the city bus system. Nixon had little to no formal education but had served as a Pullman porter and union member for three decades. -(source: npca.org)

DNA America

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TRIBULATIONS OF A BLACK WOMAN IN PARIS, FRANCE… THE COUNTESS, AYA DE PARIS! By @madamehelmiebellini

From July 26th, during one month, PARIS (FRANCE) is going to be the center of the world through sports, arts, culture and food by welcoming the Olympics and para-Olympics games. The country despictes itself like “Le pays des droits de l’homme” (“The country of human rights”), LIBERTÉ (freedom) , ÉGALITÉ(equality) , FRATERNITÉ(brotherhood) is the country’s motto. If they were really honored, it would have made this country one of the best human country of the world, but the reality is not what it seems when you experience living in the city as a black person.

Since February 29th, when one non-official announcement about Aya NAKAMURA singing Edith PIAF for the Olympics game’s opening, there has been a flurry of racists slurs made publicly on television, social media and publications.

AYA NAKAMURA became the target for all the neo-facists politics and groups. They said that through AYA NAKAMURA, they don’t want the African globalization.

Connected more than ever, we are. From BAMAKO to BROOKLYN to RICHMOND then PARIS , like it or not, there is a voice that resonates throughout the world with songs like “DJADJA ” or “POOKIE ” to name the most popular. The voice of Aya NAKAMURA gave back a certain flow and hype to FRANCE which would have stayed “vieillotte” (old).

AYA NAKAMURA is a 27 year old artist, and mother pursuing her dreams… She created her world which is inspiring many, so let’s speak up loudly to the uniqueness of AYA NAKAMURA aka THE COUNTESS, AYA DE PARIS.

See you at the PARIS 2024 Olympics?

DNA America

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Kentucky Governor Designates Juneteenth A Holiday, Bans Hairstyle Discrimination

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear designated Juneteenth as a holiday for state executive branch workers on Thursday and expanded protections in state hiring and employment by banning discrimination based on hairstyles.

The separate executive orders signed by the Democratic governor represented his latest outreach to Black Kentuckians — but also reflected limits to that outreach.

Beshear, seen as a rising Democratic star, took the actions after efforts to make Juneteenth a statewide holiday and outlaw discrimination based on hairstyles failed in the state’s Republican-supermajority legislature.

“After years of inaction, I’ve decided I can no longer wait for others to do what is right,” said Beshear, who was joined by Black lawmakers as he signed the orders in the state Capitol in Frankfort.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued during the Civil War. For generations, Black Americans have recognized Juneteenth. In 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation establishing it as a federal holiday.

One Beshear order declares that starting this year, Juneteenth will be observed as a state executive branch holiday. All executive branch offices will be closed. -(source: ap)

DNA America

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‘A Different World’ Cast Reunites As HBCUs See A New Peak In Admissions

Interest in historically Black colleges and universities is surging.

For example, Howard University, among the nation’s top HBCUs, received a record 37,000 applications for its upcoming freshman class.

But this isn’t the first time Black colleges have seen a spike in interest. Though HBCU enrollment increased more than 25% between 1976 and 1994, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, a big leap in admissions coincided with the run of the college-set sitcom “A Different World.”

Premiering on NBC in 1987, the “Cosby Show” spinoff was set on the fictional Hillman College campus and ran for six seasons. Its majority-Black cast provided a bold injection of cultural flavor and a counter to many of the stereotypical depictions of young African Americans in the 1980s and early ‘90s.

Now, as the world of higher education continues to shift, the cast is coming back together to celebrate the show’s lasting legacy, 35 years after its premiere, with a tour of HBCUs across the country.

This explosion of interest is happening as racial strife continues to affect students’ lived experiences, alongside the undoing of affirmative action in college admissions; an attack on diversity, equity and inclusion programs; and student uprisings over America’s foreign policy. -(source: nbc news)

DNA America

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Lincoln University President On Paid Leave Days After VP Of Student Affairs Dies By Suicide

The president of Lincoln University in Missouri was placed on paid leave Friday after students and alumni called for his ouster following a senior administrator’s death by suicide this week.

President John Moseley volunteered to be placed on paid leave while a third party reviews personnel issues and concerns about mental health after Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey died by suicide Monday, the university’s board of curators said in a news release.

“As a Board, we are committed to make certain the mental health of Lincoln University employees is a priority and that every employee is always treated with dignity and respect,” board President Victor Pasley said. “The Board has confidence in the leadership team we have at Lincoln, but as we all work together to serve students and the Lincoln University community, this review will fully examine important questions, concerns and gather facts. Dr. Moseley agrees those issues should be examined and has volunteered to go on leave during the review so that it can move forward in a fully independent way.”

Candia-Bailey, who was the vice president of student affairs, took her own life in Illinois, her mother and husband told NBC News in interviews Friday. She was 49. They said that she had been terminated by Moseley on Jan. 3. The school did not respond to a request for comment about Candia-Bailey’s termination and referred to her as a “beloved alum and leader” in a Facebook post announcing her death. She started in the role May 1.

Her mother, Veronica Candia, and husband Anthony Bailey, told NBC News exclusively that she told them both during the holidays last month that her relationship with Moseley had deteriorated.

“She never gave me any specifics about what he did or said,” Candia said.

Moseley did not return phone and email requests for comment. -(nbc news)

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Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels Says He Gained Strength By Embracing His Mental Health Struggles

While Run-DMC was rising to become one of the most impactful rap groups in music history, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels admits the fame had dire consequences on his mental health and well-being.

“When you see us after the concert, when the record’s out, when we’re doing the shows and on the radio and the videos, you don’t understand. You’re seeing results; you don’t see the process,” he told People magazine in a recent interview.

He added, “[E]ven when the process does go good, that didn’t mean I was immune to struggle or adversity. It hit me at a late point in my life, but it was always there. It just got magnified by the situation that I was in.”

The rapper noted that “fortunately,” he practices an art form where performers pride themselves on “keeping it real.”

With the release of the documentary “Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story,” which chronicles the rise of Run-DMC, McDaniels, 59, is opening up about the mental toll of a career in the limelight in an interview with People. He said he’s struggled with depression, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse.

He told the publication he’s learned, “When I tell my truth, I am given everything necessary for me to overcome it. If I hold it in, it will destroy me.”

The latter almost occurred when McDaniels’ mental health caught up with him in 2002, shortly after the murder of fellow Run-DMC founding member Jam Master Jay. He said he was in a “dark place” and even considered taking his own life until he heard Sarah McLachlan’s ballad “Angel.”

“Something in my spirit said, ‘D, it’s f—ed up right now. Life is traumatic. It feels like the world is ending, but as long as something that sounds like this exists, maybe I can stay here another day.’”

McDaniels said talking about his mental health struggles is his way of showing his fans that opening up “isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength.” -(source: the grio)

DNA America

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Ava DuVernay Makes History As The First African American Woman To Have Film Compete In The Venice Film Festival

At the Venice Film Festival press conference for Ava DuVernay’s new film “Origin” on Wednesday, the director revealed that she has previously been told not to apply to the festival because “you won’t get in.”

DuVernay is making history this year as the first African American woman in the festival’s 80-year existence to have a film compete for the Golden Lion. “Origin,” starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Jon Bernthal, “chronicles the remarkable life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson as she investigates the genesis of injustice and uncovers a hidden truth that affects us all,” according to the film’s official synopsis.

“For Black filmmakers, we’re told that people who love films in other parts of the world don’t care about our stories and don’t care about our films. This is something that we are often told: you cannot play international film festivals, no one will come,” DuVernay said. “People will not come to the press conferences, people won’t come to the P&I screenings. They will not be interested in selling tickets. You might not even get into this festival, don’t apply. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told, ‘Don’t apply to Venice, you won’t get in. It won’t happen.’ And this year, something happened that hadn’t happened in eight decades before: an African American woman in competition. So now that’s a door open that I trust and hope the festival will keep open.”

On Tuesday, the worldwide rights to “Origin” were acquired by Neon. It’s world premiere happened Wednesday night. -(source: nbc news)

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Black Businesses Face Uphill Battle After Reverse Racism Ruling From Trump-Appointed Judge

Earlier this month, a federal court delivered yet another blow to government efforts to close the racial equity gap and better serve Black and brown communities.

The latest set back came by a ruling from Judge Mark Pittman that ordered the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) to no longer consider race or ethnicity when deploying its services to U.S. small businesses.

“This is not one attack, but it’s a series of attacks on the measures that the federal government has put in place to remedy,” Patrice Willoughby, senior vice president of global policy and impact at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), told theGrio.

Using the same constitutional argument the U.S. Supreme Court used to overturn race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions last year, Pittman, appointed to the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas by former President Donald Trump, said MBDA’s qualification for “disadvantaged” business owners violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

In other words, the judge argued the agency violated the constitutional rights of white business owners.

“While the agency’s work may help alleviate opportunity gaps faced by MBEs (minority business owners), two wrongs do not make a right,” Pittman wrote in his ruling.

Elected officials and advocates are decrying the federal court ruling, blaming a movement led by conservatives and affirmed by Republican-appointed judges that is undoing decades-long efforts to right historic wrongs that have afflicted Black and brown communities. The MBDA ruling, proponents fear, could further exacerbate existing racial disparities in ownership and wealth. -(source: the grio)

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From @cartermagazine :

In celebration of the @netflix film “Shirley” premiering today, staring @iamreginaking - CARTER Magazine want to hear from you and know, “When did you first learn about Shirley Chisholm?”

CARTER™️ Magazine carter-mag.com #wherehistoryandhiphopmeet #historyandhiphop365 #cartermagazine #carter #shirleychisholm #reginaking #netflix #shirley #chisholm #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory #history #staywoke

DNA America

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Bayard Rustin’s Connection To Queer History Started With His Very Name

The movie “Rustin” has finally shone a proper spotlight on the life and crucial work of civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin, picking up abundant accolades along the way that include an Oscar nomination for its lead actor, Colman Domingo.

Created for and embraced by wide audiences, Netflix’s “Rustin” biopic openly incorporates its title character’s sexuality, revealing how Rustin was unapologetically open about being gay, and not to hide his gayness likely prevented him from taking a more prominent place — at least publicly — in the struggle for Black equality in America.

But Rustin’s connection to queer culture may have stretched back even further, indeed to the very beginning of his life. Born Bayard Taylor Rustin in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1912, he was named after Bayard Taylor, the man some now credit with having written America’s first gay novel some four decades earlier.

At the time of Rustin’s birth, Taylor was West Chester’s most famous son, thanks to his eminent career as a writer and diplomat. Likely just as importantly for Rustin’s grandmother Julia, who named him, Taylor had come from West Chester’s Quaker community, as had she.

Born in 1825, Taylor first rose to national fame as a poet and travel writer, publishing several books of poetry and travel essays in the 1840s and ‘50s. In 1870, Taylor had published his fourth novel, “Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania,” the book’s plot lay the extraordinarily close and undeniably homoerotic bond between two young men, Joseph Asten and Philip Held, who fatefully meet after eyeing each other up on a train ride through eastern Pennsylvania.

Long held as a prime example of late 18th century romantic male friendship in literature, in recent decades “Joseph and His Friend” has been reinterpreted by some LGBTQ writers and scholars as America’s first gay novel. -(source: nbc news)

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