California task force votes to limit reparations to slave descendants

California’s first-in-the-nation task force on reparations has decided to limit state compensation to the descendants of free and enslaved Black people who were in the U.S. in the 19th century, narrowly rejecting a proposal to include all Black people regardless of lineage.

The vote Tuesday split 5-4, and the hours-long debate was at times testy and emotional. Near the end, the Rev. Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco branch of the NAACP and vice chair of the task force, pleaded with the commission to move ahead with a clear definition of who would be eligible for restitution.

“Please, please, please I beg us tonight, take the first step,” he said. ”We've got to give emergency treatment to where it is needed."

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation creating the two-year reparations task force in 2020, making California the only state to move ahead with a study and plan, with a mission to study the institution of slavery and its harms and to educate the public about its findings.

[SOURCE: AP NEWS]

Silurians Press Club honors photographer Chester Higgins Jr. with Lifetime Achievement Award

The Silurians Press Club honored long-time New York Times photographer Chester Higgins Jr. at their Lifetime Achievement Gala at the National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South.

Chester Higgins Jr.now 75, spent 39 years as a staff photographer for The New York Times and was renowned for the artistry with which he captured the essence of his subjects around the globe.

A native of Alabama and a graduate of Tuskegee Institute, he made it his mission to infuse Black life into the world’s consciousness.

His photographs have appeared in nearly every national news magazine, in museum collections and in a series of books.

Watch the entire ceremony below.

Watch bill signing ceremony for the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act

On Tuesday President Biden signed the Emmet Till Anti-lynching Act making lynching a federal hate crime, which came after Congress failed more than 200 times to pass anti-lynching legislation. Watch Mr. Biden sign the bill and then watch as he and Vice President Kamala Harris make remarks about the signing.

What Is Alopecia? Doctor Explains Jada Pinkett Smith’s Condition That Causes Hair Loss

Dr. Susan Taylor a dermatologist with Penn Medicine explains what Alopecia, the condition that caused Jada Pinkett Smith's hair loss is and how it can be treated.

Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' wins the Academy Award for best documentary feature

“Summer of Soul” has won best documentary at the Oscars.

Director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s chronicle of the music of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival took the trophy at Sunday’s Academy Awards.

Summer of Soul tells the unjustly forgotten story of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which included performances from Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson and more iconic artists operating in the ’60s, making the case that had this not been a primarily Black festival, it would have been as well remembered and celebrated as Woodstock, which took place in New York that same year.

Watch musician and producer Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson accepts the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for 'Summer of Love' at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday.