HBCU files complaint seeking review of bus search

Shaw University, a historically Black university in North Carolina announced Monday that it has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice seeking a review of a search of a bus carrying students during a traffic stop in South Carolina last month.

The university’s complaint states that a lane violation would be insufficient justification for a drug search and students’ right to privacy was violated because while the driver consented to a luggage compartment search, passengers didn’t consent to a search of their individual luggage. It also alleges that Operation Rolling Thunder disproportionately targeted Black drivers.

Shaw University President Paulette Dillard has accused law enforcement officers in Spartanburg County of racially profiling the 18 students traveling on a contract bus from Raleigh, North Carolina, to a conference in Atlanta on Oct. 5.

Two South Carolina sheriffs have denied that racial profiling played a part in the traffic stop and said the bus was pulled over because it had been swerving.

At a news conference Monday, Dillard said the issue is how the alleged minor violation turned into a drug search, whether every stop prompts such a search and, if not, what does trigger a search.

“The harmful effects of eroding individual rights under the pretext of law and order are real – and they are rampant all over the country,” she said. “Let’s be clear… racism is about power and systems; and just because there isn’t a knee on someone’s neck doesn’t mean that no harm is being done.”

[SOURCE: WHEC]

CBS to Air ‘Byron Allen Presents theGrio Awards’

CBS will broadcast the inaugural “Byron Allen Presents theGrio Awards,” a two-hour event honoring “icons, leaders and legends” including Patti LaBelle, Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah, who also took the stage for a special performance with Fantasia and Yolanda Adams.

The star-studded black-tie event — a first for the African American-focused news, lifestyle, sports and entertainment platform theGrio — was co-hosted by Sheryl Underwood and Taye Diggs. Allen Media Group founder, chairman and CEO Byron Allen serves as an executive producer of the special, which will be broadcast Saturday Nov. 26 on CBS from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT, and will be available to stream live on Paramount+.

Honorees include Dave Chappelle (Cultural Icon Award), Ben Crump (Justice Icon Award), Allyson Felix (Sports Icon Award), Hudson (Trailblazer Icon Award), LaBelle (Music Icon Award), Latifah (Television Icon Award), Norman Lear (Champion Award), Alena Analeigh McQuarter (Young Icon Award), Don Peebles (Business Icon Award), Tyler Perry (ICON Award), Robert F. Smith (Philanthropy Award) and Kenan Thompson (Comedy Icon Award).

[SOURCE: VARIETY]

Michigan House elects Rep. Joe Tate as first Black House speaker

Democratic state Rep. Joe Tate made history Thursday after he was selected to lead the Michigan House of Representatives in the upcoming 102nd Legislature as the first Black person ever to do so.

Tate, D-Detroit, is additionally not only the first Black lawmaker to become speaker of the House but the first Black lawmaker to ever oversee either of Michigan’s legislative chambers.

Following the vote, Tate told reporters that Michiganders could expect forward motion on issues like health care, gun safety regulations, transparency in the legislature, education and worker’s right’s.

“First and foremost, we’re going to get started immediately,” he said. “I think you saw the message that we talked about, our values, over the campaign trail for most of the year. ... So, there won’t be any surprises, because we’ve been talking about Democratic values for years.”

Tate was first elected to state office in 2018 after garnering 73% percent of the vote in the 2nd House district. He was overwhelmingly reelected under new maps to Michigan’s 10th House district with 68.4% of the vote to his Republican opponent’s 31.6%.

Tate previously was an offensive lineman in the NFL, splitting time between the Jacksonville Jaguars, the St. Louis Rams and the Atlanta Falcons over his two years in the league. Following his pro football career, Tate enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy.

He also possesses a Master’s in Business Administration and a Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Planning from the University of Michigan, as well as a Master of Science in Kinesiology from Michigan State University. Tate first graduated from MSU in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy.

[SOURCE: MSN]

“Spirit in the Dark” exhibition open at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture opened its latest exhibition, “Spirit in the Dark: Religion in Black Music, Activism, and Popular Culture,” on Nov. 18. Through never-before-seen objects from the museum’s permanent collection, alongside rare photographs and stories featured in Ebony and Jet magazines, the exhibition explores ways in which religion is a part of the cultural fabric of the African American experience. “Spirit in the Dark” will be on view in the Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts (CAAMA) gallery until November 2023.

The exhibition includes photographs of several prominent African Americans, such as Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Reverend Ike and Jesse Jackson, examining religion’s impact on their lives and the larger Black community. Photographs featured in the exhibition are taken from the recently acquired Johnson Publishing Company archive, which is jointly owned by the museum and the Getty Research Institute. “Spirit in the Dark” showcases 37 framed photographs from the JPC archive and approximately 25 objects from the museum’s collection.

“The role of the Black press has always been pivotal in amplifying African American social and religious life,” said Eric Lewis Williams, museum curator of religion. “Ebony and Jet captured and granted rare insight into the lives of influential Black figures, often revealing how religion has inspired, undergirded, and animated the work of Black artists, activists and changemakers. Through these photographs, objects and the larger stories they represent, we are able to highlight the tremendous diversity within the Black religious experience and bear witness to the role of religion in the Black struggle for human dignity and social equality.”

The exhibition spotlights the presence of religion in African American popular culture through three sections, providing a visual exploration of religion’s shadow in both the sacred and secular through images and artifacts. Each section examines the juxtaposition of various diverse aspects of religion and its space in African American life:

· Blurred Lines: Holy | Profane: This section explores how African American musicians and vocalists blur and transgress the boundaries between the holy and the profane. Artists often transport the power of Black sacred music—historically performed in places of worship—into secular or profane spheres, often fusing modalities and moving back and forth between genres.

· Bearing Witness: Protest | Praise: The second section looks at Black religious leaders who dually ministered to the spiritual needs of their people and led as activists in seasons of social protest. Bearing witness to wrongs and lighting the pathway to freedom, these individuals embodied both priestly and prophetic functions in their contributions to leadership in the struggle for Black liberation.

· Lived Realities: Suffering | Hope: The final section journeys through the creative social and political endeavors of Black artists and activists. They have deployed their faith, talents, and moral visions to expose the harsh realities of the suffering and trauma of Black people in America. These same individuals offered bold visions of Black flourishing and hope, emboldening the oppressed in their fight for justice and social equality.

Visitors also will be able to listen to the sounds of the exhibition with a curated playlist of music by artists included in “Spirit in the Dark” and experience the exhibition virtually with a special companion digital exhibition on the Searchable Museum website.

About the Johnson Publishing Company archive

In 2019, a consortium of five nonprofit organizations, including the Ford Foundation, the Getty Trust, the MacArthur Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution, purchased and preserved the JPC archive, which includes more than 4 million prints, negatives, slides, and other photographic formats, as well as 10,000 audiovisual items. The archive is jointly owned by the museum and the Getty Research Institute, which are working together to preserve, catalog and digitize these materials so they can be shared and studied for generations to come.

The archival pigment prints in this exhibition were made in 2022 from the digital files of a legacy collection including 2,800 of the most iconic JPC images, which were digitized between 2007 and 2012 from original prints, slides, negatives, contact sheets, and oversized formats.

About the Center for the Study of African American Religious Life

The museum’s Center for the Study of African American Religious Life organizes public programs and collects religious artifacts that seek to explore religion’s place in African American history and culture and the contemporary roles and needs of faith leaders, faith-based organizations, and African American communities. Through innovative scholarship, the Center expands the ways religion is acknowledged and explored by our nation’s research and cultural institutions. The work of the Center, including the current exhibition, Spirit in the Dark, is generously supported by Lilly Endowment Inc.

About the Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts

The Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts is the Museum’s home of visual culture and innovation. Through its changing exhibitions, public programs, and publications, CAAMA showcases the formation of African American history and culture through media arts, including photography, film, video and audio recordings.

About the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Since opening Sept. 24, 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture has welcomed more than 8.5 million in-person visitors and millions more through its digital presence. Occupying a prominent location next to the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the nearly 400,000-square-foot museum is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history. For more information about the museum, visit nmaahc.si.edufollow @NMAAHC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram or call Smithsonian information at (202) 633-1000.

Maine Democrats nominate first Black woman as House speaker

Democrats in the Maine House of Representatives nominated the state’s first African American to serve as speaker, selecting a Portland lawmaker whose father was the first Black member of the Maine Legislature.

Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross was nominated Thursday over another Portlander, Ed Crockett, to lead the chamber. Her selection is all but assured since Democrats control the state House.

Talbot Ross said she’s ready to focus on challenges including the rising cost of living, climate change and a lack of access to affordable housing and healthcare. “Should I receive the support of the full Legislature, I will continue to push for progress in our state and use my position of leadership to work to improve the lives of all Mainers,” she said.

Her father, Gerald Talbot, was the founding president of the Portland chapter of the NAACP, and the first Black lawmaker in Maine, elected in 1972. He later served on Maine State Board of Education, and a school in Portland bears his name.

Like her father, Talbot Ross served as president of the Portland NAACP. She was elected in 2016 to the House, where her father served. Her party made her assistant majority leader in the House, becoming the first person of color to serve in leadership in the Maine Legislature.

District Attorney will not prosecute Tracey McCarter, nurse accused of murdering her husband in self defense

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says he will not prosecute Tracey McCarter, an Upper West Side nurse in the murder of her husband.

McCarter was arrested in March of 2020, accused of fatally stabbing her husband with a kitchen knife. She claimed she acted in self defense as she alleged that she was a victim of domestic violemve.

In a letter to state Supreme Court Judge Diane Kiesel, Bragg said a review of the evidence in McCarter’s case gave him reasonable doubt she fatally stabbed her husband, James Murray, on March 2, 2020, with the requisite intent to support a murder conviction.

“[I] cannot in good conscious allow a prosecution to proceed to trial and ask a jury to reach a conclusion that I have not reached myself,” wrote Bragg.

“I make this decision with full awareness of the life that was taken in this tragic incident and the many people who are impacted by Ms. McCarter’s stabbing of Mr. Murray.”

McCarter’s lawyer Sean Hecker said the DA had “righted a grievous injustice.”

“Tracy McCarter is an innocent survivor of domestic violence who has suffered mightily from a criminal justice system that demands change,” he said.

Hakeem Jeffries running to replace Pelosi as top House Democrat

New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the fourth-ranking House Democrat, said Friday that he will run to replace House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the party's leader after Republicans took back control of the chamber in last week’s midterm elections.

His announcement in a letter to colleagues came a day after Pelosi said in a powerful floor speech that she is stepping down after a two-decade reign as the top leader of House Democrats.

If Jeffries is successful, it would represent a historic passing of the torch: Pelosi made history as the first female speaker of the House, while Jeffries, the current Democratic Caucus chairman, would become the first Black leader of a congressional caucus and highest-ranking Black lawmaker on Capitol Hill. If Democrats were to retake control of the House — a real possibility with Republicans having such a narrow majority — Jeffries would be in line to be the first Black speaker in the nation's history.

The ascension of the 52-year-old Jeffries to minority leader would also represent generational change. Pelosi and her top two deputies — Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. — are all in their 80s and are receiving from within the party for “new blood” in leadership; Hoyer will not seek another leadership post while Clyburn plans to stay on and work with the next generation

[SOURCE: NBC NEWS]

Obama Foundation Expands Programs to Train Emerging Leaders Across the United States

During his remarks at the Democracy Forum in New York City, President Obama announced a new program that will expand the Obama Foundation’s efforts to train young leaders across the United States. The Obama Foundation Leaders United States program is a six-month leadership development program for emerging leaders, 24-45 years old, who are passionate about making a positive impact on their communities. The program will serve 100 leaders across the United States in its first year and support their efforts to create change.

“Since its inception, our Foundation’s mission has been to inspire, empower, and connect the next generation of changemakers,” said President Obama. “We now have a global network of thousands of leaders, not only here in the U.S. but in every corner of the globe – Europe, Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America. They’re entrepreneurs and elected officials, non-profit leaders and grassroots activists, artists and journalists and educators – all of them tackling some of the most vital issues of our time, from climate change to income inequality, from reducing racial and ethnic conflict to expanding opportunity for women and girls.

“The creativity, determination and passion of these leaders are already making an impact — in lives saved, environments restored, children educated. They’re creating new models for clean energy generation and poverty alleviation. It’s remarkable and inspiring — and a little humbling, since I sure wasn’t making such an impact at their age. And the good news is, we’re just scratching the surface of what this next generation is capable of.

Rep. Jim Clyburn to support new leadership in Democratic House minority

Rep. Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black American in Congress, has said previously he expects to stay in Congress next year and hopes to remain at the leadership table.

Multiple sources stated that Clyburn also wants to remain in the top tiers of leadership, and that he would run for the assistant leader role. That was the No. 3 spot the last time Democrats were in the minority, but would fall to the No. 4 slot in the next Congress, behind Caucus chair, according to the sources.

Clyburn issued a statement paving the way for a new trio to lead House Democrats following Nancy Pelosi's decision to step down as speaker. saying he looks forward "to doing whatever I can to assist our new generation of Democratic Leaders, which I hope to be Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar."

Read his full statement below:

“Speaker Pelosi has left an indelible mark on Congress and the country, and I look forward to her continued service and doing whatever I can to assist our new generation of Democratic Leaders which I hope to be Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar,” Clyburn said in the statement.

The trio was spotted sitting next to Clyburn and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer during Pelosi's announcement. And Jeffries has been pitching himself to members with Clark and Aguilar as the No. 1, 2 and 3 for the caucus in leadership.

"I'm not going to get involved in making my choice in this public way. But I have said to both of (Hoyer and Jeffries) that I will not pursue the position of leader of our party," Clyburn said on “CNN This Morning” Wednesday.

Karen Bass Bass elected LA’s first female mayor

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), a progressive ally of Vice President Harris and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), is projected to win the Los Angeles mayoral race, becoming the first woman elected to lead the City of Angels.

The Associated Press called the race Wednesday evening, more than a week after Election Day.

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

Charles F. Robinson becomes University of Arkansas’ first Black chancellor

The Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas today approved the selection of Charles F. Robinson, Ph.D., as the next chancellor of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Robinson will be the first Black chancellor of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Following its regular executive session, the Board voted unanimously to appoint Robinson, who has served as interim chancellor since Aug. 16, 2021, to a three-year employment term as chancellor.

“Dr. Robinson has proven to be a very good steward of the university and its Land-grant mission during his time as interim Chancellor,” Bobbitt said. “He now has the opportunity to cast a broader vision for advancing the university as a leading public research university in the region and raising its status on the national stage. He has a unique ability to inspire others and to relate to the many different constituencies across the university, and I look forward to working with him to help make his tenure as Chancellor a success.”

Robinson said he was eager to get to work.

"I'm looking forward to serving our campus in its entirety and greatly appreciate the support and confidence shown in me to lead the university and advance our land-grant mission," Robinson said.

Andrianna Kiri Taylor Is Missing

Cleveland police are searching for a 23-year-old woman who was last heard from Oct. 8.

Andrianna Kiri Taylor was reported missing Sunday to Cleveland police when family said they haven’t heard from her since early October.

According to police, she was living with her boyfriend on West 98th Street.

Anyone with information on Taylor’s whereabouts are asked to call Cleveland police at 216-621-1234.

FBI identifies a suspect behind most bomb threats to dozens of HBCUs

The FBI released the following update on threats targeting HBCUs and has announced that a single minor youth is the main suspect in most racially motivated bomb threats to dozens of Historically Black Colleges and Universities earlier this year that terrorized students.

Update on Threats Targeting Historically Black Schools

The investigation of racially motivated threats of violence targeting historically Black colleges and universities has identified one juvenile believed to be responsible for a majority of the threats and the Department of Justice has worked with state prosecutors to hold the minor accountable.

Since January 2022, more than 50 HBCUs, houses of worship, and other faith-based and academic institutions across the country have received racially motivated threats of violence.

The investigation of these threats led to the identification of several minors believed to be responsible for the first set of threats made between January 4 and February 1, 2022. Further FBI investigation identified one juvenile believed to be responsible for these threats.

Given the federal limitations for charging under-age perpetrators with federal crimes, the Department of Justice worked with state prosecutors to hold them accountable on charges unrelated to the specific threats to the HBCUs. This individual is under restrictions and monitoring of his online activities.

Because of the subject’s age, no additional information can be provided.

The FBI is continuing to investigate additional unrelated threats that appear to have originated overseas:

• A distinct set of threats primarily targeting HBCUs received between February 8 and March 2, affecting at least 19 institutions.
• A distinct set of threats which began June 7 and are ongoing. More than 250 colleges—including seven HBCUs—over 100 high schools, and two junior high schools received bomb and/or active shooter threats.
  
  

The FBI is working with our local, state, federal, and international law enforcement partners to pursue those responsible for these threats, and we are asking anyone with information to report it to 1-800-CALL-FBI, or online at tips.fbi.gov.

Hate-fueled and racist threats of violence cause the victims real distress. These threats disrupt the learning environment and the education of college students, as well as other citizens. The FBI will not tolerate anyone trying to instill fear in any community, especially one that has experienced violence and threats of violence historically. The FBI will continue to vigorously pursue anyone responsible for these ongoing threats with help from our law enforcement partners at the federal, state, and local levels.

National Economic Association to Present Samuel Z. Westerfield Award to Dr. James B. Stewart

The National Economic Association (NEA) will present the 2023 Samuel Z. Westerfield Award to Dr. James B. Stewart, a Senior Fellow at the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at the New School and inaugural Director of the Black Economic Research Center for the 21st Century. Dr. Stewart spent most of his professional career at Penn State University (PSU) and in 2009 retired with the rank of Professor Emeritus after 29 years. He is also a past NEA President.

The award will be given at the Samuel Z. Westerfield Award luncheon on January 7, 2023, at the New Orleans Hilton Riverside Hotel in conjunction with the NEA Annual and Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) meetings. The luncheon will draw top leaders and thinkers from the world of economics, especially the African American community.

The Westerfield Award, one of the most coveted awards presented by NEA, acknowledges outstanding achievements in the field of economics by African American scholars. It is presented tri-annually to a Black economist in recognition of their distinguished service, excellent scholarship, and accomplishments in the field.

A Notre Dame alumnus, Dr. Stewart was the former Vice Provost for Educational Equity at PSU. He coordinated the development of Penn State’s first Diversity Strategic plan, entitled “A Framework to Foster Diversity at Penn State: 1998-2003.” This plan has been the foundation for subsequent revisions and updates and a model adopted by several other educational institutions. In addition, Dr. Stewart, a former editor of The Review of Black Political Economy, has edited and coedited several monographs and authored several articles in peer-reviewed journals such as African American Studies, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Journal of Black Studies, Journal of Economic Literature, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Negro Education, Review of Black Political Economy, and Review of Economics and Statistics. Stewart’s past and current leadership positions reflect his parallel careers in Economics and Africana Studies.

The award is named after the first recipient of the award, Ambassador Samuel Westerfield, who is hailed as an extraordinary teacher and university administrator, committed government official, highly respected international diplomat, and an ardent builder of organizations devoted to widespread economic development and acknowledgment of the Black experience.

Democrat Jonathan Jackson, son of Jesse Jackson Wins Illinois 1st Congressional District Seat

Democrat Jonathan Jackson – a son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson – declared victory Tuesday night in the race for the Illinois 1st Congressional District.

He was up against Republican Eric Carlson.

The Associated Press declared Jackson the winner of the race Tuesday night. With 42 percent of the precincts reporting, Jackson had a comfortable lead of 79 percent compared with 21 percent for Carlson.

Jackson will succeed U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush.

At his victory celebration Jackson gave credit to his famous Civil Rights leader father in his victory speech

"I've seen my father bring the hostages home. I've watched my father create trade agreements and alliances with corporate America to bring our resources back. I've watched my father be a voice for the voiceless. I've watched my father – with just the faith that he's had and his belief in his God – try to make a better humanity," Jackson said. "But on this day, I can watch my father see that I want to be just like him, and carry his name and good works forward."

[SOURCE:CBS NEWS]

Statement from White House on the Shooting at the University of Virginia

The White House released this statement following the tragic shooting at the University of Virginia which let three UVA football players dead. Those three players were UVA D'Sean Perry (left), Devin Chandler (center) and Lavel Davis, Jr. (right).

The President and First Lady are mourning with the University of Virginia community after yet another deadly shooting in America has taken the lives of three young people. Our deepest condolences are with the countless families, friends, and neighbors grieving for those killed as well as those injured in this senseless shooting.

Administration officials are in close contact with state and local officials, and we are grateful for those authorities’ swift response to this attack.

Too many families across America are bearing the awful burden of gun violence. Earlier this year, President Biden signed the most significant gun safety law in nearly three decades, in addition to taking other historic actions. But we must do more. We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America’s streets. House Democrats acted, and the Senate should follow.

Dr. Jonathan Lee Walton Appointed the Eighth President of the Princeton Theological Seminary

Jonathan Lee Walton, has been named the eighth president of the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. He will begin his new duties on January 1.

“Theological education is at an inflection point,” says Dr. Walton. “The church is changing. Society is changing. So we need clear-minded, faith-informed professionals who can speak hope, equity, and healing in all fields of human endeavor.”

Princeton Theological Seminary enrolls just over 330 students, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans are 11 percent of the student body.

Dr. Walton has been serving as dean of the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He also holds the Presidential Chair of Religion and Society at the divinity school and is dean of Wait Chapel on campus. Before coming to Wake Forest in 2020, Dr. Walton was the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the University’s Memorial Church at Harvard University.

Dr. Walton is trained as a social ethicist whose scholarship focuses on the intersection of evangelical Christianity, mass media, and political culture. He is the author of two books: Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism (New York University Press, 2009) and A Lens of Love: Reading the Bible in Its World for Our World (Westminster John Knox Press, 2018).

Professor Walton earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Morehouse College in Atlanta. He holds a master of divinity degree and a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary.

“This feels like a glorious homecoming showered with grace. For over two decades, Princeton Seminary and the precious people that I’ve been blessed to know have enriched my intellectual and spiritual life,” said Dr. Walton.

Georgetown Launches $400,000 Annual Fund to Support Descendants of the Enslaved

Georgetown University launches $400,000 annual fund for projects supporting Descendants of the enslaved.

The Reconciliation Fund, inspired by a 2019 undergraduate student referendum, has begun accepting applications for community-based projects that aim to benefit the Descendants of the men, women, and children enslaved on Jesuit plantations in Maryland. Many of the Descendants live in and around Maringouin, Louisiana, where their ancestors were sold and forcibly moved to in 1838. The projects could include health and legal clinics, environmental justice projects, after-school and pre-college programs, and local history and memorialization projects.

In partnership with the university, a student committee and an advisory committee of Descendants have developed the application process for the Reconciliation Fund. Both groups will also review grant proposals for community-based projects and make recommendations to university leaders, who will select the final projects. To date, more than 500 alumni have provided financial support for the $400,000 annual fund.

“The Reconciliation Fund is a collective effort—an example of our community’s deep commitment to the possibilities that can emerge when we work in partnership to advance reconciliation,” said Georgetown President John J. DeGioia. “This project is one way the university is reckoning with the legacies of slavery that have shaped our past and to respond by advancing justice and equity in our present.”

Read more about The Reconciliation Fund here: https://www.georgetown.edu/news/georgetown-launches-400000-annual-fund-to-support-descendants-of-the-enslaved/

Dr. L. Ebony Boulware to Lead the Wake Forest University School of Medicine

L. Ebony Boulware was named the next dean of the School of Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She will also serve as vice chief academic officer and chief science officer of Atrium Health. Dr. Boulware will begin her new duties on January 1.

“I am deeply honored and thrilled to join Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Atrium Health at this transformational time to advance a vision for improving health and health equity through our educational, research, and clinical missions,” Dr. Boulware said.

Dr. Boulware has been serving as the director of the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute, in Durham, North Carolina, and as vice dean for translational science and associate vice chancellor for translational research at Duke University. She has served as a distinguished professor of medicine and as chief of the division of general internal medicine in the department of medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine.

Dr. Boulware is a general internist, physician-scientist and clinical epidemiologist focused on improving health and health equity for individuals and communities affected by chronic health conditions such as kidney disease. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Boulware received her bachelor’s degree in English from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and her medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine. She completed her residency and chief residency at the University of Maryland prior to completing a research fellowship in general internal medicine at Johns Hopkins University, where she earned a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Academic Study Finds Reparations to Black Americans Would Narrow Racial Health Gap, Increase Life Expectancy

Study published in JAMA Network Open presents research linking African Americans' poor health outcomes and shorter life expectancy to substantially lower wealth

A study published today in JAMA Network Open concludes that the racial wealth gap has lethal implications for Black Americans. On average, White households have more than a 6 to 1 advantage over Black households in mean wealth, $980,549 to $142,330, contributing to widespread racial health inequities and shortened life expectancies.  READ STUDY HERE

Completed by researchers at Harvard Medical School, the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, Drexel, and Duke, the study finds that eliminating the wealth gap with reparations payments would shrink racial inequities in health and longevity. The study links the low wealth of Blacks, a product of the legacy of slavery and subsequent discriminatory public and private policies and practices, to their shorter life expectancy.

“Our study demonstrates a reparations plan that raised Black net worth sufficiently to eliminate the racial wealth gap for Black American descendants of U.S. slavery would lengthen Black lives dramatically,” said Dr. William Darity Jr., professor of Economics, African and African American Studies at Duke University, and a co-author of the study.

The researchers analyzed data on 33,501 Black and White middle-aged Americans who were tracked for up to 26 years in the federally-funded Health and Retirement Study, which collects comprehensive data on each person’s wealth. Specifically, it includes data rarely available in health studies, such as net value of investments, housing equity, vehicles and other assets.

Among the research subjects, whose average age was 59 at the outset of the study, the odds of dying for Blacks was 26% higher than their White counterparts, equivalent to 4.0 fewer years of remaining life expectancy. The researchers found that differences in wealth accounted for much of the life expectancy gap and projected the effect of equalizing wealth through reparations payments. Their analysis indicates that fully closing the wealth gap would nearly equalize the two groups’ odds of dying, greatly reducing the current Black-White inequity in life expectancy.

“Our findings add to the compelling moral case for reparations,” said Dr. Kathryn Himmelstein, a study co-author and infectious disease fellow at Harvard's Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's Hospitals. “Compensating Black families for the economic legacy of slavery and discrimination would do more than heal their finances – it would improve their health and add years to their lives.”

Some activists and scholars have long advocated reparations for Black Americans as compensation for the racism that began with slavery and continued with Jim Crow laws, New Deal programs that initially excluded many Black Americans, housing policies that limited Black families from gaining intergenerational wealth, and other racist government policies and practices. Reparations advocates point to historical precedents like the U.S. government’s payments to previously-interned Japanese Americans and Germany’s payments to Holocaust survivors. Poll data from 2021 suggest 36% of all Americans, including 86% of Black Americans, support reparations (up from 15% of Americans in 2014), and 196 members of Congress have signed on to a bill that would establish a federal commission to study reparations.

“Many health workers are aware of the deadly impacts of racism on health for Black people, but few have supported reparations as a remedy,” said Dr. Michelle Morse, a co-author of the study and internal medicine physician and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. “This research makes it clearer than ever for the medical and public health community to consider reparations as a remedy to advance racial justice and health equity.”