Vinegar Hill Magazine
If you’re keeping up with the headlines, you know that book bans are on the rise across the country. According to advocacy group PEN America, book bans in public schools increased 33 percent last school year. And if you follow our coverage on The Root, you know books written by authors of color and authors who…
by Regine Wright | Regine Wright is a private investigator, Army veteran, and former police officer who lives in the Charlottesville Albemarle area with her husband and son. She is dedicated to helping others and enjoys all things true crime.
For Charlottesville, the Unite the Right Rally was traumatizing. For me, the Ku Klux Klan rally the month before, on July 8, 2017, was equally so. It reminds me of how my time as a Charlottesville police officer was complicated by the need to live between two worlds.
That Saturday, about 50 Klansmen and 1,000 counter-protesters came to Charlottesville. I was assigned to the investigations unit — the first Black female detective in department history. The investigations unit was tasked with escorting the KKK members to and from the Robert E. Lee statue. However, when the plan for the event was released, I was the only person from the investigation unit reassigned to a patrol unit for the day. >>Continue Reading on the Charlottesville Tomorrow Website
Just as Women’s History Month (aka Black HERstory Month) comes to a close, film producer and director Tammy Williams has just cemented her own unique place in the history books.
Williams has now become the first Black woman to own a $135 million production studio and post-production facility in Atlanta (take that Tyler Perry!). The studio, Cinema South Studios, is set to break ground this month with an expected opening date for the first two sound stages sometime in 2023, according to . Williams also partnered with business partner Gary Guidry, CEO of G-Square Events and founded Cinema South Studios.
More on the details of the studio per Deadline:
With 60 acres, the studio is fully loaded with 11 sound stages, a back-lot, lighting and grip rental house, props and wardrobe. The production facility will include a transportation company and an office building to house a theater and post-production.
In a statement regarding the news, Guidry explained: “The demand for soundstages is happening globally, and the ownership rarely looks like us, let alone an African American woman. I choose to invest, I evaluate the need of the business and the ownership. Investing in Tammy Williams and her team of professionals convinced me buying the land in Fayetteville, GA.”
According to Williams, plans for this studio have been in the works for the last 12 years but now it looks like it’s finally coming to fruition.
“We’ve been patient,” she told the . “This has not been an overnight thing, this vision for us.”
Williams’ new studio will also house her production company, , —her job training and educational divisions, and Cinema South Film Academy. Since 2012, Tammy’Dele Films Job Training Workshops have launched film and television careers across the United States. The practical hands-on workshops garners Tammy’Dele Films Workshops as one of the most sought-after film and television training hubs, according to the .
Republican-controlled legislatures around the country have been passing laws that mirror each other. They have been targeting issues concerning , , and . The latest point of contention is what’s called “divisive concepts.” and have already set bills in motion to ban these teachings in the classroom. They usually include subjects about and anything LGBTQ-based.
Tennessee is now the latest state to draw up legislative measures. A, a Republican-backed bill that would allow students and staffers to sue public colleges and universities if they feel they’ve been unfairly punished for not accepting “divisive concepts” is about to become law. The state Senate passed the bill Monday. Before Gov. Bill Lee can sign the bill, the Tennessee House and Senate will have to work out how it will be enforced.
The measure would prohibit public colleges and universities from punishing students and staffers if they disagree with specific ideas and open them up to lawsuits if they violate the measure. Like many of the “divisive concepts” bills before it, there’s no clear cut definition of what can be interpreted to be a violation, as Sen. Jeff Yarbro points out:
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“I don’t think what we’ve got in these definitions is exactly clear and I think what it does is invites conflict and invites challenge,” said Democratic Sen. Jeff Yarbro, who opposed the bill.
The House and Senate versions of the bills overlap in what they interpret “divisive concepts” are.
Both the House and Senate versions of the measure identify more than 15 “divisive concepts.” They range from declaring that “one race or sex is inherently superior or inferior to another race or sex” to “an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously” to “this state or the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist.”
Last year, Tennesee Republicans they thought taught Critical Race Theory. This was just one of a signed by Gov. Bill Lee to prevent teachers from using critical race theory concepts in class.
Source: Tennessee’s Legislative Version of Targeting “Divisive Concepts” Nears Final Passage
It’s happened again, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill on Monday that would limit how race can be discussed in classrooms. The bill will take effect immediately, according to NBC News.
Instances similar to this one are happening in states all over the South. In Florida, a that would limit how schools and workplaces teach about race and identity. Last December in Texas, a law that would also went into effect. Now in Mississippi, the same thing is happening.
In a video posted on , Gov. Reeves said, “Contrary to what some critics may claim, this bill in no way, in no shape and in no form prohibits the teaching of history. Any claim that this bill will somehow stop Mississippi kids from learning about American history is just flat-out wrong.”
I’m no teacher or professor, but if the discussion of race was limited in my education, I feel like I would be missing out on a big chunk of American and world history.
From
The short title of says it would prohibit “critical race theory.” But the main text of the legislation does not mention or define the theory, and many supporters of the bill also have said they cannot define it.
The new law says no school, community college or university could teach that any “sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin is inherently superior or inferior.”
(CRT) aims to look at how racism has molded every part of American society such as public policy and institutions such as the justice system. It looks at how those policies and institutions were made to conserve the social, economic, and political inequalities between white people and people of color.
In a statement, the ACLU of Mississippi said that laws opposing critical theory “are thinly veiled attempts to silence discussions of race and gender amongst student and educators.”
In January, the majority Republican House voted to pass the bill after Black lawmakers debated for hours urging for the bill not to be passed. When it did, the state senators who voted for the bill.
According to NBC News, Mississippi Superintendent of Education Carey Wright said that is not even taught in the state’s schools. Even though the University of Mississippi law school has an elective class on the subject.
Source: Law Limiting Discussion of Race in Schools Signed by Governor of Mississippi
Nothing warms my heart more than seeing a beautiful B lack family. And after spending hours on Instagram and YouTube checking out Beleaf in Fatherhood, I have all the feels. Glen Henry, also known as Beleaf, is a California-based husband and father of four documenting his adventures in parenting on social media for hundreds of thousands of loyal followers.
The parenting influencer community is full of moms (and dads) who have a judgemental “do it this way” tone that can make you feel like a total failure if you let them. But Beleaf in Fatherhood is a beautiful blend of nurturing, discipline and a whole lot of laughter. I dare you to try to get through the video of him singing to his children in an adorable without smiling. The best thing about Beleaf is that he keeps it real. Rather than preaching to other parents or shaming them for making different choices, Beleaf’s message is one of encouragement and support of other parents going through the collective struggle of trying to raise black children in a world that isn’t always welcoming. In a video he posted on about alternatives to spanking, Beleaf says, “I’m not the example of a good father, just proof that you can do better than me.”
Spend just a few minutes on their channel (if you can), and you’ll feel the love he has for his wife, Yvette, and their four children. You’ll see their patient, yet firm approach to discipline and how they teach their children to work together to solve problems, like the 300-piece the little Henrys had to complete as a punishment.
You will definitely be entertained watching the Henry family in action, but Beleaf says that wasn’t the reason he started sharing his videos online. Instead, he says he wanted to connect with other parents who were having similar experiences. “I was a new parent so I didn’t know what was normal or abnormal. I would capture video and then post it to see if I was the only parent dealing with the things I was going through, and people started responding to it. They would encourage me and affirm me as a father,” he said in an interview with
Beleaf knows that his platform comes with a lot of responsibility and admits that while people are learning from him, he continues to learn more about being a good husband and father every day. “My children helped me become a man. They are the reasons why I put my fears aside and dove into fatherhood. I know they’re looking up to me,” .
Source: Black Dad Vlogger Shares the Good, the Bad and the Funny About Parenting
A new “critical race theory” law went into effect for Texas public schools last Thursday, replacing and broadening a similar bill passed earlier this year. This law, Senate Bill 3, goes beyond controlling how history, race and gender are taught in the classrooms with stipulations such as requiring a new civics training program for teachers and preventing students from getting credit for participating in political campaigns or interning with advocacy groups.
According to , the law directs that “a teacher may not be compelled to discuss a widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs.” It doesn’t specify what is considered controversial, only that if a teacher discusses these “issues” it must be done without any political bias.
Over the summer, Governor Greg Abbott , which was just the start of abolishing “critical race theory” in the state’s public schools. Now, Senate Bill 3 was passed in September to be even more restrictive.
From Chron:
In comparison to House Bill 3979, Sikes said SB 3 is more restrictive and broader in scope in terms of how it regulates classroom discussions about race, gender, sex and other issues. The new law also expands the scope of what it considers to be prohibited from solely social studies classes to all subjects taught from Kindergarten through grade 12. In reaction to these new rules and without clear guidance on how to implement or enforce them, some educators have pulled books from shelves and canceled civic engagement programs and events. Sikes believes matters will only continue in this way, with the state bringing increasing scrutiny to educators’ curriculums in the hopes of deterring certain conversations in the classroom.
“What’s happening is a broader interpretation and confusion about how we talk about race and really important conversations are being silenced,” Sikes said. “In practice, because they [the laws] are so vague, they are interpreted as applying to any conversation about race, racism, social justice, . That’s where that chilling effect and silencing is happening and it’s really concerning.”
With this law, teachers can run the risk of being fired for how they teach race and history in social studies classes. Many Texas educators already chose to ban certain literature from their classrooms thanks to House Bill 3979 but, according to the , this law also names the New York Times’ 1619 Project as work that students cannot be assigned to read. The project is a collection of essays that take a deep dive into how Black American contributions (and slavery) shaped today’s United States.
“That’s a huge state overreach outside of the accountability system we have for monitoring at the state agency level over what is going on in specific classrooms and how social studies is taught,” Dr. Chloe Latham-Sikes said, according to Chron. Sikes is the deputy director of policy for the Intercultural Development Research Association. “This is a different level of surveillance than we typically see.”
The law requires at least one teacher and administrator from each district to attend a civics training program by the Texas Education Agency, the Tribune reports. The program, which hasn’t been created yet, is intended to teach educators how to cover race and racism in classrooms. The law requires that the TEA also creates an advisory board to oversee the program and the training must be implemented no later than the 2025-2026 school year.
According to the Tribune, the Legislative Budget Board says creating the program in the more than 1,200 Texas school districts will cost about $14.6 million annually.
“All of this is really about routing out any acknowledgement of the salience of sex, race, gender and silencing those conversations, which, in the end, ultimately hurt students of color and students in the LGBTQ community,” Sikes said, according to the Tribune.
Just to be clear, even though laws like these are referred to as “critical race theory bans” . Critical race theory, a university level subject that examines racism’s presence in social constructs, is being used as a catch- all phrase for anything dealing with race.
Source: A New ‘Critical Race Theory’ Law Goes Into Effect In Texas
BeautyCon—the beauty and fashion influencer and content creator community founded by a Black woman and made even more popular by its annual , in and —just got even Blacker.
Per a press release provided to The Root, the seven-year-old entity has been acquired by an affiliate of Essence Ventures, “the independent Black-owned consumer technology company focused on emerging technology, content, community and commerce to meet the evolving cultural and lifestyle needs of people of color” owned by Richelieu Dennis, co-founder of Sundial Brands, known for Shea Moisture, among other product lines.
“BeautyCon is an incredible brand founded by Marina Curry, a Black woman and pioneer who brought greater diversity to the beauty and media industries,” Dennis, also founder and chair of Essence Ventures, said in statement in which he also thanked former BeautyCon CEO Moj Mahdara “for her hard work and dedication to scale the company and build a diverse and inclusive community around beauty and fashion.”
“As we continue our mission to bring heightened inclusivity to the space and transform the face of media ownership, the decision to continue with BeautyCon Media was an easy one,” Dennis added.
The release further explains that as part of the acquisition, Essence Ventures—which operates the Essence Festival of Culture, will assume operations of the BeautyCon festival, “which brings together the biggest names in beauty and wellness.” Both festivals have understandably faced since the onset of the pandemic, with Essence Fest quickly and effectively pivoting to first a virtual format in 2020, followed by in 2021 in place of in New Orleans.
Seemingly, BeautyCon was not as successful at adapting to the restrictions compelled by COVID-19. As the release explains: “in May 2021, BeautyCon commenced an ABC (Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors) process as an alternative to bankruptcy. During the ABC process, an affiliate of Essence Ventures purchased all of the assets of BeautyCon in a foreclosure sale.”
The acquisition of BeautyCon is “the latest in a series of investments made by Essence Ventures, which aims to scale Black-owned brands and bring much-needed diversity to the space,” the release states. In addition to EssenceCommunications, Inc. (which produces Essence Fest), the company’s portfolio also includes Afropunk and Naturally Curly, among others.
As we wait to see how BeautyCon will develop under the Essence Ventures umbrella, the company is kicking off New York Fashion Week with its annual in celebration of “global Black Fashion.” Sponsored by Coca-Cola and Hennessy, this season’s event will feature Black designers Arc of Andre, Grayscale, LAVNTG and Eclecticist, as well as conversations with fashion industry leaders. Following the successful hybrid format of Essence Fest, portions of the limited space event will be rebroadcast on Monday, September 13 at 7 pm ET on .
More from Essence:
Coming on the heels of its which features rapper Megan Thee Stallion, this star-studded experience discovering and recognizing cutting-edge Black creatives in fashion and their contributions is critical as the fashion industry continues to grapple with diverse representation and constructing solutions for economic inclusion. During this red-carpet event, ESSENCE will highlight Black excellence with awe-inspiring runway collections, exclusive designer showcases, insightful conversations with industry mavens and celebrities, post-worthy photo moments, and more.
“Our annual Essence Fashion House experience is a testament to all of the amazing designers and influencers across the diaspora who have had such a great impact on the industry,” said Essence Deputy Editor Cori Murray. “Essence is proud of our longstanding commitment to showcase the power of Black designers across our pages, stages and digital platforms…As conversations around diversity in the industry continue, we can look forward to a bright future with the talent that we will see during our event.”
“Black designers and creatives have long been disruptors and innovators who have inspired and transformed the fashion industry at-large and continue to be leaders of culture across the globe–and yet who have not received correspondent levels of recognition for their contributions,” added Latraviette Smith-Wilson, Essence’s Chief Strategy & Engagement Officer. “Essence Fashion House puts a well-earned spotlight on the power and pervasiveness of their creativity and serves as a platform for them to be duly acknowledged during one of the most recognized weeks in global fashion.”