Well don’t think about calling on Tyrone too soon for financial aid because he’s fraudulently broke the bank, leaving many students at Howard University in a crisis. It has been reported by many sources that 6 Howard University Students and Employees have been fired for misappropriated funds of $1 million from 2007-2016.
According to CNN, since Thursday, students have been protesting asking for answers and for the president of Howard U, Wayne A.I. Fredrick to resign. Tyrone Hankerson, was repeatedly awarded a $65,000 “University Need Based Grant.” , reported by Medium.
Please read the letter addressing the current leadership from Howard University Student Association:
Please read the official statement from the Howard University Student Association regarding misappropriation of University funds #StudentPowerHUpic.twitter.com/M94jfez6Zl
Rihanna has retweeted the video below which shows the students singing “Bitch Better Have Money” while taking over the administration building.
Howard students found out employees stole over $1M in financial aid so they took over their Administration building and started singing ‘Bitch Better Have My Money.” pic.twitter.com/760u3TFZwc
Here are some images allegedly reported by the whistleblower, who put the university on blast about its lack of transparency.
“Screenshot showing excessive aid awarded to former Associate Director of Financial Aid in 2014–2015, SOURCE: Anonymous Financial Aid Employee — Whistleblower” (from cached source) Medium
“Screenshot showing excessive aid awarded to former student employee in 2013–2014, SOURCE: Anonymous Financial Aid Employee — Whistleblower” image courtesy of (cached source Medium)
My goal for this story is to share the legacy of 5 amazing women in the Africa Diaspora that you may or may not know. In my spirit, I felt that these ladies needed to be heard and remembered for their works. In many cases we always remember those who are well known and we seem to forget about those who did the work but aren’t credited enough. Here are my five women you should know:
Vivian G. Harhs’s picture courtesy of the Chicago Public Library.
Vivian G. Harsh
Born Vivian Gordon Harsh in Chicago on May 27, 1890; she was the first African American librarian in the Chicago Public School system, the first Black professional librarian in Chicago, and a significant contributor to Chicago’s Black Renaissance. Vivian began her 60-year-librarian-career in 1909 as a Junior Clerk at the Chicago Public Library, she received her B.A. from Simmons College in Boston, and she took advanced courses at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Library Science. While working with Carter G. Woodson she recognized the need for librarian services on the South Side of Chicago, in the heart of the African American community. Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature is housed at Carter G. Woodson Library. She is remembered as “The historian who never wrote”.
Hazel M. Johnson’s picture courtesy of Surviving to Thriving Summit Dot Org
Hazel Johnson
Hazel Johnson is known as the “Mother of Environmental Justice Movement”, and a resident of Atlgeld Gardens Public Housing. She founded “People for Community Recovery” in 1979, 10-years after her husband died of lung cancer in 1969, which was the cause for her four decades of activism. She documented illnesses and physical ailments that frequently punished her neighbors. She linked them to polluted air, water, and contaminated soil. She also played a role in Barack Obama’s starting career in public service. The Gardens is where he got his start in politics as a Community Organizer in the 1980s. As reported by The Washington Post, Cheryl Johnson, Hazel’s daughter, “was a nursing student when Obama arrived, and she remembers watching him and her mother strategizing many nights at her kitchen table. They made an odd pair, she said: “He was in his 20s. She was in her 40s. But they learned off each other.”” She received a gold medal from George Bush and was recognized by Bill Clinton for her environmental work in Chicago.
Amanda Berry Lewis’s picture courtesy of William Hull.
Amanda Berry Lewis
Amanda Berry Lewis was born into slavery January 23, 1837 in Long Green, Maryland. Her father worked to buy her family’s freedom. She was a Methodist Holiness Evangelist and Missionary, who traveled to Great Britain, India, and Africa to share her gifts. After her services overseas, she returned to the states where she founded the Amanda Smith Orphanage and Industrial Home for Abandoned and Destitute Colored Children in Harvey, Illinois in 1899. She couldn’t support the school sufficiently, so she left and moved to Florida which became her final resting place.
Dr. Maria K. Mootry’s picture courtesy of her son, Johnathan P. Ikerionwu of Springfield.
Dr. Maria K. Mootry
Maria Mootry was born January 3, 1944 in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from Farragut High School in Chicago, Illinois at 16-years-old. She went on to receive her BA from Roosevelt University, Masters at the University of Wisconsin, and Doctorate from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She performed research in bioethics regarding race. She was a Professor of English and an unknown leader in African American history who was an Co-Editor of Gwendolyn Brooks “A Life Distilled”. Mootry taught at Southern Illinois of Carbondale, Grinnell College, and University of Illinois at Springfield. In 1980, she co-Founded the Poetry Factory in Carbondale, Illinois which encouraged others to write and publish. Much of her work isn’t known but its been floating around making a difference. You can visit Dr. Maria K. Mootry’s works at Carter G. Woodson Library, Maria Mootry Papers, and her website www.MariaMootry.com .
Mother Mary Lena Lewis Tate’s picture courtesy of Church of the Living God, the Pillar, and Ground of Truth, Inc.
Mother Mary Lena Lewis Tate
Mother Mary Lewis Tate was the first known woman to organize an internationally recognized church and to elevate to Bishop ranking. She was born Mary Lena Street January 5, 1871 in Vanleer, Tennessee. She spent most of her life in the rural south where she had little opportunity to be educated. She established the Church of the Living God, the Pillar, and Ground of Truth, Inc. in 1903. Tate’s Apostle service extended far beyond religion into the heart of the people and the system of inalienable rights and freedoms. St. Mary Lena Lewis Tate prevailed through the struggle of education, transportation, and communication to carry out her duties. She traveled by walking while using barges, steamships, mule-drawn wagons, broken-down automobiles, and Jim Crow trains. She compassionately surpassed the many barriers of social and religious bias.
Cool Fact:
Dr. Maria K. Mootry is the descendant of Mother Mary Lena Lewis Tate. Dr. Mootry is her great granddaughter.
The victim, Stephon Clark, was only 22-years-old when he was shot and killed in his backyard where he lived with his family, on Sunday. Clark was reportedly shot 20 times while only holding his cell phone at the time.
The Sacramento Bee 🐝 reported that the officers were responding to a call of someone breaking car windows. The Sacramento Police 🚔 conducted a helicopter search to locate the suspect which is how they mistakenly targeted Clark.
What a great way to spend tax payer dollars 💵 Sacramento Police, and we appreciate if you used intelligence when investigating a crime. In my opinion police should be required to have a four-year degree in sociology or a degree that deals with humanity including consistent training to deal with the public in an non-aggressive, non-violent, and un-aggravated way.
I am tired of seeing Black men being targeted as if they have no importance. There needs to be some policies in play to resolve this consistent conflict between the government and the urban community. We will not keep tolerating the police “accidentally” taking the lives of innocent 😇 individuals.
My heart 💜 prayers, and peace goes out to Clark’s Family. Sleep peacefully brother for you will not die in vain.
Thanks to Asian Boss, I get to see what Chinese people think about “Black” people. It’s a very great question due to the fact that “Black” people are treated very poorly in many parts of the world.
As a Chinese I can tell you many Chinese do not look fondly on Blacks. We know them from American media. They dont seem freindly but never say it on camera. Truth isnt in this video LOL! A blacks man’s values are no good in Chinese society we think., One being honest is in yellow and red beanie. Others are saving face, a concept foreign to westerners.
-Dee Jay (Comment from Asian Boss YouTube channel)
Many ethnic groups have a love/hate relationship with “Black” people but they love our culture. “Some criminal cases we’ve seen may influence how many Chinese view them” said by one of the constituents on the streets of China, as if Chinese people don’t do criminal shit. People are so bias, it’s a taboo.
Well, check out the video for yourself below, but let me state this.
Chinese people do not like black people either. They come into our communities extract our wealth and treat us like shit. They only know us through American media, and it’s clear that they only show “Blacks” from their point of view which happens to be racist. They do not respect us as much as other non-blacks do.
No hard feelings towards anyone because everyone is entitled to their own point of view but let’s start telling the truth, so that we can have real conversations. We are in a new day and age, informing yourself and going straight to the source is very important. Stop listening to White Caucasians or anyone other than “Black” people when it comes to who “Black” people are. That’s like listening 👂🏾 to someone that doesn’t like you, give you a recommendation to get a job. It’s not genuine.
The featured image does not belong to me. It’s a picture captured of a racist Chinese exhibit from a Chinese Museum.
For March 3, 2018, Thornton Township celebrated women with honor and has been doing it for 10 years now. Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli spoke of the women saying “Chip in to make the guys look good. Thank You!”, after the warm welcome by Trustee Joyce Washington at St. Archangel Michael.
The Honorees:
Credit: Shabria Davidson
Sallie Penman
From Education to Politics
Village Clerk and has been a resident of South Holland for 30 years.
Appointed to South Holland Village in October 2004, elected in 2005, and re-elected in 2009, 2013, and 2017.
Director of the Administrators’ Academy in Chicago, IL where she provides Leadership to 1600 administrators of Chicago Public Schools
Mother is her inspiration and biggest cheerleader
“As an Educator, I’m inspired by our children. We can’t just complain about things, you have to be the change that you seek.”
Credit: Shabria Davidson
Rose McGill
Wife to Michael McGill of The Dells
Very well loved by the constituents
Couldn’t make it due to illness and difficulty getting around, currently in rehabilitation.
Rose McGill has been a community activist and leader in the South Suburbs of Chicago since the late 60s
In 1969, she founded Rose’s House of Charm to help area youth improve their self-esteem and break into acting and modeling.
She has been instrumental in helping young people from our community featured in radio and television commercials, magazines, TV sitcoms and movies.
Her students have gone on to have successful careers in fields as diverse as academia, finance, medicine, law, fashion design, and business.
Janet Rogers, Public Relations Coordinator of South Cook County Mosquito Abatement District, accepted the award on behalf of the family
Janet had this to say about Rose, “Rose was a very energetic, outstanding, outgoing person, and community minded person”
Credit: Shabria Davidson
Joyce Forbes
Married for 51 years to Steve Forbes
Lifelong resident of Dolton and Riverdale until 2008
Public Service began in 1983 starting School District 148 School Board, served 9 years as am member and president.
Brought technology into the Village during Y2K
Achieved certification as Master Municipal Clerk
She values “Trustworthiness, honesty, being a good friend. And respecting and being respectful of others. And knowing that everyone is not going to agree with your opinion and but being accommodating. “
Credit: Shabria Davidson
Vivian Payne
Born and raised in Thornton, 24-year resident of Lansing.
Prior to being elected Clerk, she was the Executive Assistant to Lansing Mayor Norm Abbott for 8 years and took on the roles of Deputy Clerk, Freedom of Information Officer, Traffic Compliance Administrator and Zoning Board Secretary.
In 2010, Vivian initiated Lansing’s first annual Community Clean-Up Day
which brings together hundreds of volunteers each spring to pick up trash throughout the Village.
In 2016, in conjunction with Community Clean-Up Day, Payne organized Lansing’s first electronic recycling event for residents, where the Village collected on record 642 televisions in under 3 hours.
Vivian is a member of the Lansing Business Women’s Association, an organization that brings together business women.
She provides them with professional development opportunities to enrich themselves and others through leadership, education and networking.
I had the pleasure of connecting with Thornton Township to witness the debut of Black Panther with the community, Feb. 16 at Cinema 8 in Lansing. Royal purple carpets, wristbands, goodie bags with Black History Flashcards, including free snacks and beverages were gifted to the community members for their support in making the day great. The movie theater was filled with love from the elders, generation X, baby boomers, and the millennials who all seemed to take away the great message the movie had to offer which was “We are stronger united than we are divided”. Can you think of any significant way to spend black history month?
There were many other messages that were encoded but the message mentioned above was commonly received by the guest. I cried many times during the movie: tears of joy, tears of realization, tears of sadness, and tears of anger. Black Panther reminded me of my constant duty to the community, and Dr. Jamal Turner, the keynote speaker in theater one, spoke to us about his experience as a real life Black Panther.
Thornton Township was thanked by many guests for doing such a wonderful thing for the community because they provided an opportunity, “To those who probably couldn’t afford movie tickets” as said by Jouhan Sawe, a Thornton Township community member and employee.
Jeanette Quinn and Bessie Watkins, constituents of Thornton Township
Another guest, Jeanette Quin said “Everything was perfect. The movie, how the event was put together, and how smooth it flowed. We were right on time and I thank them for hosting the event.” It’s more than safe to say that the community is looking forward to more remarkable things happening in Thornton Township. I know I had a marvelous time dressed in full regalia, bonding with the people, and being of service to the community. Can’t wait to see what they have in store for the rest of the month, and I hope to see you at the next outing or social.
African Prince turned King T’Challa is the first African-American superhero to be center on film in the Marvel cinematic universe, and Wakanda is super lit. Everything that you would expect from a superhero movie was present in Black Panther and the story plot twist had an underlying message that was parallel to reality from the fictional story.
The film ensembles an All-Star cast
Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther)
Michael B. Jordan (Erik Killmonger)
Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia)
Angela Basset (Queen Mother Ramonda)
Forest Whitaker (Zuri)
Danai Guira (Okoye)
Daniel Kalyuua (W’Kabi)
Winston Duke (M’Baku)
Letitia Wright (Princess Shuri)
with Ryan Coogler, also African American, as the Director. People who see the movie will have much to talk about when they walk away such as race, gender, and the advancement of humanity. Black Panther has created wonders for the world and the powers that be. The African Nation of Wakanda is like the garden of Eden and represents an advanced civilization untouched by colonist with beautiful green landscapes below a healthy blue-sky where the sunsets are completely heaven on earth.
There’s plenty of violence, just as you would expect in a Superhero movie. I mean it wouldn’t be one without it, right? Black Panther has an all-female royal guard and his sister, Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright), is a female inventor and engineer who happened to create most of Black Panthers gadgets in her underground laboratory. In the lab you can also get a glimpse of the underground world of Wakanda including their high-tech L train system powered by vibranium. Cool spaceships are also a product of the Wakandians. It pulled urban, rural, futuristic, technological, mystical and tradition together perfectly in a myth building story.
🤣 She said Killmonger's Mama. Hilarious! Somebody get this woman an agent pronto! pic.twitter.com/8jo2QboxQp
Coogler brilliantly turned the story around from a white villain to black people creating their own villains in life. He brought out a lot of ethos that we have witnessed transpire in the nonfictional world of life. Killmonger, representing African-Americans, and T’Challa, representing Africans, shared a story of blood but how worldly views can impose on brotherhood universally. It seemingly brought two worlds together that often think they are different but in sense are the same. It opened real conversations in the movie throughout the African diaspora by the way the movie was painted. T’Challa had to learn that even though he was carrying forth a legacy, that he could not live in his father’s shadows and encouraged by Nakia to figure out what kind of King he will be. Which was sparked by a brother-on-brother assassination, and the abandonment of a child born into the family.
This movie reveals the importance of having lead characters represent the diversity in humanity. Having a lead African superhero rather then a side kick is important for children who interact in fantasy play to escape the cruel realities of the world. Black Panther has made history and sets goals for those who inspire to create a better world. Even though Black Panther is a movie of the imagination, it’s a movie for the school of thought and those who appreciate art on a higher level.
Dr. Umar Johnsonat The Harold Washington Cultural Center for the First Day of Kwanza; and a Late Dinner at Yassa African Food
The first day of Kwanza was beautiful. If you’re not familiar with Kwanza don’t trip. Kwanza is an “African American” seven-day cultural experience recognized each year from December 26-January 1. The seven-day principles are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Co-operative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kummba (Creativity), Imani (Faith).
Umoja describes the First Day of Kwanza in Chicago at the Harold Washington Cultural Center. Dr. Umar Johnson, a Doctor of Clinical Psychology and Certified School Psychologist, was a Keynote Speaker along with a line of talented Artists. Johnson is facing a legal challenge with the Commonwealth State of Pennsylvania, Bureua of Professional and Occupational Affairs aka the State Board of Psychology.
Set aside all of that, he came through the land and dropped Jewels that are worthy of sharing with Urban (Black) Parents. As a Mentor, I consider this information to be a necessary conversation especially for young parents. Most parents aren’t educated on the business of “Education”, and it’s a major responsibility that they are educated.
Never go to a school meeting by yourself
Do not get your child evaluated if they are in 3
Don’t communicate over the phone, always do it in writing via emails or written documents.
Stop telling the school your business. (*inform your children of this too)
Know that you have a right to a second opinion, especially if they’re claiming your child has special education needs. Legally the school will pay for the qualified specialist of your choice to evaluate your child for a second opinion.
Do your research and understand the policies that govern education. Don’t just leave it at that either, as a parent know what education is, to be able to determine what kind of education your child should receive. What a wonderful way to spend Umoja! It was a pleasure to learn better methods and theories to aid in helping us have a better understanding of developing our children.
Dr. Johnson is in the works of deciding where he will plant his first school. He’s deciding between Detroit, Atlanta, and Chicago. Allegedly, He’s had some conflicts along the way because he hasn’t gotten any returned phone calls from real estate interest. He’s had other partners and associates call to inquiry about the real estate. We’ll be contacting Dr. Umar Johnson to obtain more information about his plans with FDMG. We’ll keep you updated.
After our long day of unity he treated his staff and invited guest to dinner. If you haven’t ate at Yassa African Food , then set your date soon. We had a blast as a community, and we were treated like family. I can’t wait to see what the universe does next in Dr. Johnson’s journey.
Check out the gallery of press images from the event. Photo credits to Shabria Davidson of Sky Team Media, our Photojournalist of the evening. If you use images, I ask that you notify me and give credit to the creatives who produced the content. When contact is made you will be given all social media and credential information to use for multiple platforms. Respect our craft and art, these are non negotiable terms. Conditions made to subject vary, mass media laws apply.
Communications Generalist | Cultural Strategist | Data & Business Analyst 