Written by Bethel Domfeh
A few weeks ago, a video surfaced showing University of Oklahoma’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity members chanting racial slurs on a bus. This video has gone viral during a sensitive time in racial tensions resulting from national dissension over police brutality. The slurs roared by the SAE fraternity contradict the widely held assumption that the millennial generation ranging from 1980’s to 2000’s, are more “tolerant” than their predecessors.
From ancient Kemet to the contemporary United States, people of the African Diaspora have been responsible for some of the world’s most innovative and useful creations. Although we are familiar with the inventions of Madam C.J. Walker and George Washington Carver, there are a myriad of inventions that are unbeknownst to many. The following is a list of the top ten most widely unknown black inventors and their inventions. This was a difficult attempt as many of our inventions have been claimed by Europeans and white Americans. But what is most challenging is that because of the sheer number of inventions, a list of just ten was an arduous task. Because we created things then and are creating things now, it is important to highlight our global contributions during Black History Month as inspiration for our present and our future.
In classrooms all over the nation, elementary school students will soon be celebrating the 100th Day of School! By the 100th day of school, students are 100 days smarter, 100 days older and have learned (hopefully) more than 100 new things. As parents, here are 10 things you should have done within the first 100 days of school.
At the closeout of January 2015, Forbes published an article listing the Top 10 Cities for African Americans. Looking at America’s 52 largest metropolitan areas, rankings were based upon home ownership, entrepreneurship, median household income, and demographic trends. Although listing 10 different cities, the areas listed only covered seven states: Georgia, North Carolina, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Texas.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
“…But tonight, we turn the page. Tonight, after a breakthrough year for America, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Our employment rate is now lower than it was before the financial crisis. More of our kids are graduating than ever before. More of our people are insured than ever before. And we are as free from the grip of foreign oil as we’ve been in almost 30 years.
Once I heard the grand jury came to a decision on whether or not they would indict Officer Wilson for the shooting death of Mike Brown, I had no desire to watch the announcement because I have seen this scenario play out before and had no expectation that it would be anything different this time around. But after a conscious conversation with one of my co-laborers in the community, though despaired, I decided to watch the announcement with a tablespoon of hope.
“I have no need for your sympathy, I welcome your empathy, yet require neither to grow into the highest version of human being the Creator would intend me to become.” –Dr Juneau Robbins
I am an optimist by nature, the blessed second son of a father who was humbly raised in a small African Canadian town near the border of Detroit, Michigan. My father never knew his father, yet he strived, matured and developed to become the kind of man every fatherless child looks up to as a strong male role model and father figure.
Prior to Sunday’s (Nov. 30) St. Louis Rams game against the Oakland Raiders, I had a Facebook status in my head all ready to go basically saying that if the Rams move to L.A., which is widely speculated, that I would disown them the same way I did the Arizona Cardinals. My saying was going to be “I’m loyal to St. Louis, not the Rams.”
“It’s sad but it’s not new. My personal expectation was for the outcome to be what it turned out to be. As long as the people making policy don’t look like us, they have no incentive to create a system that represents all the citizens of Ferguson, especially those from Michael Brown’s community.”
On Monday, November 24th, President Barack Obama bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom to eighteen recipients at the White House. Among the eighteen recipients were actress Meryl Streep and singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder. Composer Stephen Sondheim, the nineteenth recipient, was unable to attend, but will receive his award at the 2015 event. Six of the eighteen awards were presented posthumously, three honoring three civil-rights workers who were murdered in 1964 while registering blacks to vote.