The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by a solid bipartisan margin.
Senators approved Fudge’s nomination to be HUD secretary on a 66-34 vote. She will be the first woman to hold the position since 1979 and the second Black woman and the third woman ever to lead the department.
Judas and the Black Messiah took top honors from the African American Film Critics Association, the world's largest group of Black film critics.
The film was named best picture, with star Daniel Kaluuya winning best supporting actor for his portrayal of Black Panther Party deputy chairman Fred Hampton and Dominique Fishback named best supporting actress for her role as Deborah Johnson, Hampton's fiancee and mother of his child. Helmer Shaka King also won breakout director.
“Serving alongside an all-Black producing team, Judas and the Black Messiah director Shaka King created a project that permanently enshrines pivotal Black Panther leader Fred Hampton as an American hero. Released against the backdrop of the present-day Black Lives Matter movement, the film's message of commitment and sacrifice to social justice is empowering,” AAFCA president and co-founder Gil Robertson said in a statement. "Daniel Kaluuya as Hampton is literally on fire and is supported well by Dominique Fishback who increasingly has become an actress to watch. Our members are thrilled to award the film with our highest honor.”
For a full list of the 2021 AAFCA Award winners click AAFCA Award Winners
Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, the most award-winning American whiskey - including Bourbon - brand of 2019 and 2020, announces it has now become the best-selling African American owned and founded spirit brand in history, selling nearly 1.5 million bottles of its sought after super premium whiskey. The company's whiskey portfolio, available in more than 21,000 locations, is currently made up of its small batch whiskey (SRP $49.99), its rare single barrel whiskey (SRP $119), and its core aged whiskey offering (SRP $59.99).
"The spirits industry has never seen anything like this in all the years that data has been tracked through the three major data collection agencies for the industry," said Donn Bichsel, founder of 3 Tier Beverages, a spirits data collection and analyzation company. "No African American founded and led spirit brand has ever come close to what the Uncle Nearest brand and team have done. We analyzed every piece of credible data and Uncle Nearest is undoubtedly the top seller of all time, with the rest of the top 10 being so far behind, that they barely registered."
Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey debuted in July 2017 and expanded into all 50 states in less than two years. Built on its knack for sourcing the best of Tennessee Whiskeys and Bourbons, the whiskey is made using a non- temperature-controlled aging process and a unique post-aging double filtration method, which is then blended to perfection by fifth generation Nearest Green descendant and Uncle Nearest's master blender, Victoria Eady Butler. This process, in part, has led to the whiskey garnering more than 160 awards in its first three years, including Double Gold at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirit Competition and back-to-back honors of "World's Best" at Whisky Magazine's World Whiskies Awards, who last month presented Butler with their coveted Icons of Whisky award for Master Blender of the Year. Additionally, the groundbreaking company was a 2020 Inc. Magazine Best in Business honoree, and earlier today was named one of the top ten Most Innovative Companies in the North America category on Fast Company's prestigious annual list of the Most Innovative Companies for 2021.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Uncle Nearest was forced to throttle its growth, according to Fawn Weaver, CEO and founder of the brand. "Our bottling and distilling partner did an incredible job of ensuring every area of the distillery was socially distanced and followed the strictest COVID-19 guidelines, which meant we could only move so quickly and had to cap our third full year at 120,000 cases sold," said Weaver. In spite of that, the company recently announced to investors its ninth quarter in a row of more than 100% growth over the same time the previous year, and is on track to make that ten.
This month, Uncle Nearest greatly increased its shipping and bottling capabilities at its Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, Tenn., with the company on track to sell 250,000 cases this year, only its fourth full year since their debut.
"I couldn't be more excited that this announcement is coming on the heels of International Women's Day, given that we are the only major spirit brand with an all-female executive team," said Victoria Eady Butler. "Reaching this achievement at this moment in time is important as it reminds folks that whiskey is the great equalizer. The support this brand has received has been across every race and gender. As it turns out, people just care that it's a damn good whiskey, only matched by the remarkable legacy of my ancestor."
Learn more about Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey at its website.
Churchill Downs Racetrack has renamed a Derby Week stakes race to honor the legacy of a legendary African-American and native Kentuckian who was arguably the greatest jockey American racing has ever known – Isaac Murphy.
The featured overnight stakes race on Champions Day, Tuesday, April 27, has been renamed the $120,000 Isaac Murphy Marathon. The 1 ½-mile endurance race for Thoroughbreds age 4 and up was formerly known as the Champions Day Marathon.
Murphy is only the seventh individual to have a Churchill Downs stakes race named in his honor, joining Churchill Downs founder Col. M. Lewis Clark (Clark), former Churchill Downs President Matt Winn (Matt Winn), “My Old Kentucky Home” composer Stephen Foster (Stephen Foster), Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas (Lukas Classic), Churchill Downs all-time winningest jockey Pat Day (Pat Day Mile) and fellow African-American riding great William “Billy” Walker Sr. (William Walker), the leading jockey at six of the track’s first 13 meets and winner of the 1877 Kentucky Derby aboard Baden-Baden. More than 50 stakes races are staged at the Louisville, Ky. track annually.
“Churchill Downs strongly believes in preserving and sharing the stories of the African-American jockeys who are an integral part of the legacy of the Kentucky Derby,” said Churchill Downs Racetrack President Mike Anderson. “As we continue to recognize key contributors to our storied history, we believe now more than ever, it is critical to develop new ways to share these stories widely by incorporating them into our Derby Week traditions.
“Since 2015, Churchill Downs has kicked off Derby Week on Opening Night by recognizing William “Billy” Walker Sr. with the William Walker Stakes. This year, it is a privilege to also honor Isaac Murphy by re-naming the Champions Day Marathon to the Isaac Murphy Marathon. It is important to amplify the stories of these great jockeys, to acknowledge the painful truths that led to their exclusion from horse racing in our country more than 100 years ago and to herald their legendary contributions to our sport and to the Kentucky Derby.”
Born Jan. 1, 1861 in Frankfort, Ky., the son of a former slave who was a Union solider during the Civil War, Isaac Burns Murphy made the most of his natural talent to ride Thoroughbreds, and gained fame, wealth and elite social status that was uncommon for an African-American in the 19th century.
Murphy was the first back-to-back and three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby. He rode his first Derby winner in 1884 aboard Buchanan and took back-to-back editions of the race in 1890 aboard Riley and 1891 with Kingman.
As the greatest rider of his generation, he was known for his amazingly high win percentage. When the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame announced their inaugural class in 1955, Murphy was the first jockey inducted into horse racing’s Hall of Fame. More information about Murphy is detailed online at https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/jockey/isaac-b-murphy.
For over a century, Black farmers faced discrimination from the US Department of Agriculture and were largely excluded from federal loans and farm improvement initiatives.
In an effort led by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that passed on Saturday included Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act which is a $5 billion provision that will forgive debts for Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, and other farmers of color, to enable reforms that will assist farmers with building generational wealth.
Warnock's measure includes references to several other issues that are a priority for the Black agricultural community, such as heir’s property, access to the legal system, and better support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The goal of the measure is also to help instill generational wealth into Black farming families.
Warnock, who is the first Black senator to serve from Georgia, told Rolling Stone magazine that this federal assistance “will not only help farmers of color, but will also lift up the economies of our rural communities working to recover from the economic turndown.”
“We are one more important step closer to bringing emergency debt relief to Black, Native American and other Farmers of Color in this country,” John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association, said in a statement. “Generations of discriminatory behavior by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has contributed to significant economic differences between white farmers and farmers of color that directly impact their access to credit. Sec. 1005 and Sec. 1006 of H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 will help address the ongoing effects of discrimination by reducing the risk of foreclosure and increasing access to credit.”
Among its many facets, the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act directs the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack to “pay to each lender of farm loans guaranteed by the Secretary an amount equal to the principal and interest outstanding as of the date of enactment of this Act on all farm loans held by the lender, the borrowers of which are socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, such that the borrowers shall be relieved of the obligation to repay the principal and interest due on those guaranteed farm loans.”
