The Hottest Movie This Year Isn't Without Controversy
December 05, 2019
The hottest movie in Black America right now is Lena Waithe’s “Queen & Slim.” Detailing a first date that goes way left when a white police officer gets involved, it’s been called “[s]tylish, provocative, and powerful,” and has great reviews.
But not everybody’s happy.
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Twitter unearthed the original casting call for the role of Queen, and it’s not a good look:
“She’s brown-skinned, if she were a slave she would’ve worked in the fields,” it says. And a massive debate popped off on Twitter.
Some appreciate they were prioritizing dark-skin women for the role. Others resent the slavery connection, noting that skin color was NOT always related to whether an enslaved person worked in the house or the field.
If she wanted to, she could have said athletic, dark-skinned, and “tough exterior,” WITHOUT the slave comparisons.
This isn’t the first time Waithe has received criticism. Queen & Slim was criticized for casting two Black British actors to play Americans. She also got heat for struggling to deal with sexual harassment accusations on her TV show, The Chi.
And Waithe upset some when she seemed to disregard the importance of Black filmmakers with a recent comment about her influences.
Regardless, the film is making plenty of money, and some viewers feel the controversy is overblown and we’re too critical of Black artists.
Are you going to see it?
Richard Sherman is one of the realest in the NFL, from publicly criticizing the NFL’s hypocrisy, to standing up for Colin Kaepernick, to doing a press conference in the days before Halloween in costume.
But what he’s been doing outside of the NFL system is the best thing yet.
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He quietly founded and helps run a charitable foundation, Blanket Coverage, which aims to “provide students in low-income communities with school supplies and clothing so they can more adequately achieve their goals.”
His foundation has raised over $1.5 million since 2013 to support low-income students. He’s donated the money to food banks, youth football leagues, and more. But that’s not all.
His most recent donations tackle a sometimes hidden problem: student lunch debt. He donated over $27,000 to two middle schools to erase it.
“The last thing any child should have to worry about is being able to afford eating breakfast and lunch at school,” his foundation wrote.
School lunch debt plagues low-income families across the country - and has many serious impacts, even including preventing students from graduating!
Sherman’s excellence on the field is only surpassed by his excellence in giving back to the community. His generosity is an inspiration to us all!
Is a Census undercount really a big deal? Actually, YES!
The Census has been undercounting us. Experts estimate that the 2020 Census could have the worst undercount of Black people in 30 years! Here are four ways an undercount could DIRECTLY affect your life.
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Undercounted children means less school funding
The Census has historically undercounted Black children at DOUBLE the rate of white children. Those counts determine how the government funds schools and children’s programs - so an undercount is part of why Black schools get less funding!
Lower count means less spending on roads, housing and more
Got potholes in your town messing up your car? Is the rent too damn high? Census counts determine where the government can spend money on fixing roads, building affordable housing, and MANY other programs.
Local businesses
Local businesses use the Census numbers to determine where to build and open businesses. If it seems like fewer people live in your area due to low Census participation, businesses won’t open there!
Gives white supremacists more power
While it undercounts us, the Census tends to OVER count whites. That means white-majority cities and regions will get even MORE power and have MORE control on our lives, because Census counts determine voting districts and electoral college representation.
Don’t give them any more power than they already have by sitting this one out!
All too often, Black children are met with hostile treatment for minor classroom disturbances.
According to a New York Times analysis of a recent Department of Education report, Black students are suspended at rates 5X GREATER than their representation in the student population.
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In an attempt to disrupt how school’s overpolice Black students, a warning was issued - and it came straight from the government.
Obama-era federal mandates threatened school districts with legal action if they continued this alarming trend of discrimination.
Clearly, the bigger picture focuses on protecting Black children, but many teachers sneered at this idea by DOUBLING DOWN on their prejudice!
They insist that instructors having the ultimate say in how students are punished is best for children who behave “acceptably” and seem eager to learn (according to the teachers’ standards).
Besides their implied, appalling assumption that disruptive children are both most likely to be Black AND disinterested in learning, the data doesn’t prove their argument valid at all.
What studies HAVE proven is that Black children are at greatest risk of being the target - whether overtly or subconsciously - of excessive discipline policies.
Snatching them out of school instead of addressing the causes of their challenges will hurt their academic progress. It’s troubling enough to be addressed on numerous fronts - but of course white teachers don’t want to hear the truth.
George Zimmerman is back in the news… and he’s just as low down as ever.
He hasn’t stopped tormenting the family of Travyon Martin since killing the teen in 2012. But getting away with murder wasn’t enough. No, he wants even more and it’s simply ridiculous.
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He’s suing the family of Trayvon Martin and their lawyer. Miami Herald reported “the suit seeks $100 million in civil damages, alleging defamation, abuse of civil process and conspiracy.”
The lawsuit cites information from a documentary called “The Trayvon Hoax.”
Zimmerman and his lawyer are alleging that Rachel Jeantel, who was an important witness in the Zimmerman trial, was fraudulent. Court papers filed state that the defendants “have worked in concert to deprive Zimmerman of his constitutional and other legal rights.”
Zimmerman has had MULTIPLE run-ins with the law since the trial. He’s been in trouble for several domestic violence incidents, shootings, and more.
He can’t stay out of trouble; it's almost as if he goes looking for it. Yet, the system keeps letting him get away with it!
After all this drama and nonsense, we can only hope that the Martin family finds peace of mind someway and somehow.
They deserve much more than the torture of knowing that George Zimmerman is out here running amok after taking their son’s young life.
When a callous officer acts without compassion, no one is safe.
And a Black teen in Arizona - a quadruple amputee abandoned by his parents and left a ward of the state - recently experienced the disgusting and purely unnecessary wrath of a cop named Manuel Van Santen.
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Deputy Van Santen was caught on video pinning the disabled kid to the ground, holding him in a headlock, and verbally abusing him. He had plenty of options, but he chose violence - excessive violence, at that - instead of trying to actually deescalate the situation.
Now, his twisted actions are being exposed across the nation.
He’s an 11-year veteran, which makes us wonder what other heinous acts he’s committed during his time on the force. Is this the first time he’s harmed a child or does the Pima County Sheriff's Department usually let this blatant abuse of power fly if it’s not caught on camera?
While the Sheriff's Department has put Deputy Van Santen on administrative leave and “authorized a criminal investigation into the conduct” displayed in the disturbing footage, we can’t help but ask… Will Van Santen actually be held accountable?
That’s where we can take action.
We all know how these investigations of police harassment often turn out. Let’s make sure this doesn’t end up being another slap on the wrist. Sign this petition to demand Pima County Sheriff's Department does the right thing and fire Deputy Van Santen immediately. 
Time and again, studies prove that children perform exceptionally well when they connect to the educator leading their lessons.
This knowledge, coupled with a teacher shortage AND a diversity problem, caused the Pennsylvania state school district and other officials to panic.
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In a bold move, the Pennsylvania Department of Education announced it is backing a pilot program called Aspire To Educate, whose mission is to recruit, train and retain talented Black professionals for appointments at the head of the state’s classrooms.
If they’re aiming to flood the hallways with more Black educators, these strong incentives could help.
Most would-be instructors face challenges such as a lack of financial assistance, mentorship, and job availability when seeking to enter the profession or make a mid-career change.
Aspire To Educate addresses these issues head on by offering potential educators free or reduced tuition costs through partnerships with community colleges and private universities like Temple, Drexel, and West Chester.
Other supports include after-school, summer, and early college courses for the 20 soon-to-be selected high school juniors and seniors interested in education careers. Preferential hiring consideration upon graduation is even on the table!
All this in hopes of securing more inspiring role models for Black children to connect with when the school bell rings. The outcomes look promising if this stellar initiative catches on across the nation.