Latest news with #MorehouseCollege
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Disabled wheelchair-bound son 'told to leave his family's stall in Atlanta mall'
A Metro Atlanta family has claimed their disabled son was kicked out of Cumberland Mall while they were setting up their business table. Demond Crump Sr. says he and his wife were shocked when the mall's general manager allegedly told them their 32-year-old son, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, should leave their vending space. The family had just begun setting up shop after Crump won a small business contest through Morehouse College that secured them a spot to sell at major shopping center during MLB All-Star weekend. 'Can't believe our son was discriminated against at Cumberland Mall. Special needs people can't come to the mall now?' Crump Sr. said in a video he shared on Facebook. 'I was talking to him man-to-man, father-to-father, like "man, this is my son you're speaking of," and there was just no remorse,' he told ANF News. Crump said the incident was abrupt and came out of nowhere without provocation. 'We were setting up [and] we were told that my son couldn't be there with us,' Crump continued. 'You're saying that my son has to leave. And he's like, "Yes," and I'm like, "What is he doing?" 'This is my child. This is my son. He's a human being. At this point, I'm really shocked,' Crump Sr. said. Crump said he confronted the manager directly. 'I come to you with tears in my eyes and I said, "Sir, do you know this is discrimination?"' Crump said. 'He said, "File whatever complaint you want. You guys can leave."' 'If my son can't stay, then we can't stay,' Crump added. 'We are leaving as well.' 'Special needs people can't come to the mall now?' Mall ownership group Brookfield Properties later issued a statement claiming the incident was a 'misunderstanding' and welcome his family back. 'This was a deeply unfortunate situation, and we regret our poor communication that led to this misunderstanding.' 'We have reached out to Mr. Crump and welcome his family to return to our shopping center.' But Crump does not believe it was a misunderstanding and has no plans on returning to the mall. has reached out to the Crump family.
Forbes
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Black Men Are Vanishing From HBCUs. Here's Why
In 2023, Black male enrollment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) dropped to its lowest point in nearly half a century. Just 28,000 Black men were enrolled across all HBCUs, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That is more than a data point. It is a signal of a deeper crisis in American education. To understand why fewer Black men are in college, you have to look at who has been missing from classrooms for decades: Black teachers. After Brown v. Board , more than 100,000 Black educators were pushed out of the profession, disrupting a legacy of mentorship, cultural grounding, and academic success. Marchellos Scott (R) helps Morehouse College students fill out a voter registration form at a ... More college registration booth on August 19, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. Scott, 21, a student organizer at the college — a private, historically Black university in Atlanta for men (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage / AFP) (Photo by ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images I did not have a single Black male teacher in grade school or high school. Before I ever had a Black male teacher or even saw one in a classroom, I met a woman who taught me what school could be. Why HBCUs matter for Black student success According to a 2019 Johns Hopkins study, having just one Black teacher in elementary school can significantly increase the chances a Black student will graduate. Yet, 80 percent of public school teachers are white, and less than 2 percent are Black men. Ms. Selma Newton was not a principal or a civil rights icon. She was the librarian at my nearly all-Black elementary school on Chicago's South Side. She wore her hair natural, dressed in tweed skirt suits, and treated Black children as if we were the absolute center of the universe. 'My Black children,' she would exclaim, smiling as she threaded the film projector with a documentary or assigned Story of Our People , a radio show that told the history of the civil rights movement. Ms. Newton did not just teach us our history. She insisted we understand our role in it. It is only in retrospect that I realize how rare that experience was. I did not know then that for generations, teachers just like Ms. Newton had been the backbone of Black education. That is, until they got pushed out. Black Teachers Once Anchored Public Education. Then They Were Pushed Out 5/17/1954-Washington, DC: Attorneys who argued the case against segregation stand together smiling ... More in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building after the High Tribunal ruled that segregtion in public schoolsis unconstitutional. Left to right are: George E.C. Hayes, Washington, DC; Thurgood Marshall, special counsel for the NAACP; and James Nabrit, Jr., Progessor and Attorney at law at Howard University in Washington. Bettmann Archive Most Americans learn that Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation in schools. But we rarely hear about what else it did. The 1954 Supreme Court ruling also sparked the near-total dismantling of the Black teaching profession. Before Brown , nearly half of all college-educated Black Southerners worked in education. In the 17 states with legally segregated schools, Black teachers made up between 35 and 50 percent of all educators. But when Black students were supposedly integrated into white schools, their teachers and principals were left behind. Black schools were shut down. Tens of thousands of Black educators were demoted, dismissed, or quietly pushed out. Dr. Leslie Fenwick, dean emerita of Howard University's School of Education, calls this 'Jim Crow's Pink Slip.' And she makes it plain: 'The wholesale firing of Black educators was not an unintended consequence of desegregation—it was an unstated goal.' The system that replaced them was never built for the students they left behind. That loss was not just about jobs. It was about identity, safety, and belonging. When I started high school at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, there was only one Black teacher in the building: Mr. Arthur Reliford. He taught biology and coached basketball, but more than that, he was the school's cultural anchor for Black students. Though I never had him in class, he looked out for me. He was the soft landing in a place that was too hard on Black men and boys. Fewer Black Teachers Means Fewer Black Students in College Today, Black children make up more than 15 percent of America's public-school population. But only 7 percent of teachers are Black, and just 2 percent are Black men. And that 2 percent matters. One Black teacher between kindergarten and third grade increases a Black student's likelihood of graduating high school by 13 percent and attending college by 19 percent. For low-income Black boys, it cuts the dropout rate by nearly 40 percent. WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 25: A student at Howard University campus walks past a digital screen in ... More Washington, D.C., Monday, October 25, 2021. (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images) The Washington Post via Getty Images If you want to know why so few Black students go to college, it lies in that one number: 2 percent. This figure reflects a severe lack of representation and role models in education. According to the Learning Policy Institute, students of color perform better when taught by teachers who reflect their racial or ethnic background. If only 2 percent of teachers were white women, similar gaps in educational outcomes would likely raise national alarm. It took until junior year of college before I saw a Black man at the head of a classroom. The course was The Black Religious Experience . It was taught by the Reverend Dr. John Cartwright. Dr. John Henderson Cartwright was born in Louisiana in 1933. He studied at Morehouse College, where his classmates included Barbara Jordan and Martin Luther King Jr., and earned advanced degrees in theology and philosophy. In 1976, he became the first Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Social Ethics at Boston University, where he taught until retiring in 2004. Cartwright was widely respected for his scholarship and steady presence in academic and ethical discourse, particularly in the development of Black religious studies and social ethics curricula. Black And Latinx Children Learn Better From Black And Latinx Teachers—Study Finds On the first day, in a nearly all-white classroom, he wrote the course title on the board. 'Black,' it read. Some students immediately questioned the language. Should it not be 'African American'? Was 'Black' outdated? Cartwright let the conversation swirl. Then, after a long pause, he looked at me—the only Black student in the room—winked, and said, 'We will stick with Black.' It was the first time I felt fully seen in a college classroom. Happy African American schoolboy giving high-five to his teacher during class in the classroom. getty Why Black Boys Leave There is a line people like to say about Black boys: 'Not everyone is meant for college.' That is a phrase you do not hear from a Black immigrant parent. The truth is, Black boys are not dropping out. They are being pushed out. Over the years, new barriers replaced the old ones. As education became more standardized, so did teacher licensing. Certification exams weeded out thousands of Black candidates. Between 1984 and 1989 alone, more than 21,000 Black teachers lost their jobs. More recently, reforms like charter school expansion and school choice have only deepened the erasure. These 'innovations' often hired younger, less experienced (and whiter) educators and sidelined community-rooted Black teachers. And it had ripple effects. It pushed out Black fathers, too. Fathers who once saw teachers they related to, who used to feel welcome in school spaces. Despite the myth of the absent Black father, CDC data shows that Black dads are among the most engaged in the country. But the school system was not built for their presence. It was designed to manage their absence. Rebuilding the Black Teacher Pipeline Starts in High School But this story is not just about loss. It is also about what is still possible. In Philadelphia, Sharif El-Mekki is leading the Center for Black Educator Development. He is training a new generation of teachers in what he calls the Black Teaching Tradition, a way of teaching rooted in African history, civil rights movements, and community. SHARIF EL-MEKKI, FOUNDER/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CENTER FOR BLACK EDUCATOR DEVELOPMENT Sharif El-Mekki El-Mekki knows firsthand the power of culturally grounded education. He grew up attending a Pan-African school where 'Black history' was not a unit. It was the curriculum. In fifth grade, he took political science. His class was named after an African liberation movement. Guest speakers included Angela Davis and Sonia Sanchez. That education shaped him. 'I embraced the idea that the purest form of activism was teaching young Black children well,' he says. But El-Mekki also experienced the system's failings. After surviving a shooting at age 20, he saw clearly how different his life was from the young man who shot him. Same neighborhood. Same age. But radically different outcomes. El-Mekki went on to teach and later became a principal. He founded the Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice and eventually launched the Center for Black Educator Development. Black teachers cut misdiagnoses and lift outcomes Today, his center is rebuilding the Black teacher pipeline starting as early as ninth grade. Students who take part in the program receive stipends, mentorship, and college support. 'About 25 to 30 percent of our apprentices are young Black men,' he says. Compare that to the national average, only 1.3 percent of teachers are Black men, and you see why his work matters. The Center also focuses on retention. Their model supports new teachers with culturally responsive training, coaching, and a $20000 stipend in their fifth year. 'Being a Black male teacher in America is like being a Black man in America,' El-Mekki says. 'Same burdens. Same brilliance. Same resistance.' Sometimes what students need most is not a curriculum. It is a connection. Studies by the Search Institute and the Learning Policy Institute have shown that students with strong, trusting relationships with educators, especially those from similar backgrounds, experience improved academic performance, greater motivation, and stronger school engagement. What If? What if every Black boy had a Ms. Newton to introduce him to the history he came from? What if he had a Mr. Reliford to watch his back? What if he had a Dr. Cartwright to wink at him across the room? What if he had a Sharif El-Mekki to show him the way? We have spent decades blaming failing schools on poverty, parenting, and student behavior. But systemic disinvestment in majority-Black schools, teacher testing policies that disproportionately failed Black candidates, and hiring biases have played a larger role. Between 1984 and 1989 alone, more than 21000 Black teachers were removed due to certification test reforms that were never normed for racial bias. The question is not why Black boys are not going to college. The question is: What would it take to build an education system that actually wants them there? To read more pieces like this, subscribe to Vanilla is Black, my newsletter on race, power, and the economy.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'Born to achieve greatness': First class graduates from W.E.B. DuBois Academy
A vision that began nearly 10 years ago came to fruition May 27 as just over 60 young men crossed the stage to receive the first set of diplomas embossed with Louisville's W.E.B DuBois Academy — a moment that was so much more for the graduates than a stepping stone toward their next pursuits. Most of the 2025 graduates started their junior high careers at the academy, which opened in 2018 as the country's sole all-boys public school using an Afrocentric curriculum, where educators are focused on community and loving one's own skin. As Dubois' first graduating class, they recognized the gravity of the milestone. "We are the pioneers and the pavers for the next generation of those who go to DuBois," said Josiah Burton, the school's senior class president, who will be attending Morehouse College this fall. Referring to the school's current underclassmen and those who will seek out DuBois in the future, Burton said, "We are their big brothers." Burton was skeptical of attending the school as a preteen, aware of the fact that he'd have no girl classmates. But his mom gave him no choice, he said. What he quickly found, though, was a school unlike any other because of the brotherhood there. "You don't see anywhere else like here," Burton said. "We're like a family. We're more than a number." Aside from the emotional support he received in a school that celebrates being there for one another, the curriculum, he said, taught him "to be more appreciative of being Black." While surrounded by educators who look like him, Burton learned about lesser-known historical figures outside those who are widely recognized — lessons in which he "saw many people being Black and being excellent. It showed me Blackness is OK." His classmate Jayden Richardson also highlighted the power in gaining such knowledge, which he said he doesn't think he'd have learned at another school. At Dubois, he said, he found himself in a building full of staff "who won't let you fail." Richardson also learned how to be authentic and to live up to the school's creed, not just in the building but in every aspect of life. "I was born to achieve greatness," the creed begins. "I will not be defined by my mistakes, but my willingness to accept correction to learn and grow. My greatness will be a result of my work ethic, mentorship, and support. I will achieve all of my goals. I will be accountable for my actions and responsible to positively impact my community. I was born to achieve greatness, and I will determine the king I become." The man behind the school's creation, JCPS' Chief Equity Officer John Marshall, couldn't be more proud to be in a district that has supported this vision and of what it has provided to the students. "Whatever class they were in, they heard about themselves and the contributions that they have given to the world and that African American males weren't just dropped on the world stage in slavery," Marshall said. "They are a little bit more aware of the positivity, power and purpose of being Black." More: For JCPS seniors who overcame hardships, graduating is a major victory Krista Johnson covers education and children. Have story ideas or questions? Contact her at kjohnson3@ and subscribe to her newsletter. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS graduation 2025: W.E.B. DuBois Academy graduates first class
Mint
23-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Millions of résumés never make it past the bots. One man is trying to find out why.
U.S. job hunters submit millions of online applications every year. Often they get an automatic rejection or no response at all, never knowing if they got a fair shake from the algorithms that gatekeep today's job market. One worker, Derek Mobley, is trying to discover why. Mobley, an IT professional in North Carolina, applied for more than 100 jobs during a stretch of unemployment from 2017 to 2019 and for a few years after. He was met with rejection or silence each time. Sometimes the rejection emails arrived in the middle of the night or within an hour of submitting his application. Mobley, now 50 years old, noticed that many of the companies he applied to used an online recruiting platform created by software firm Workday. The platforms, called applicant tracking systems, help employers track and screen job candidates. In 2023 Mobley sued Workday, one of the largest purveyors of recruiting software, for discrimination, claiming its algorithm screened him out, based on his age, race and disabilities. Mobley, a Black graduate of Morehouse College who suffers from anxiety and depression, said the math didn't add up. He says he applied only for jobs he believed he was qualified for. 'There's a standard bell curve in statistics. It didn't make sense that my failure rate was 100%," said Mobley, who has since gotten hired and twice promoted at Allstate. His suit is now emerging as the most significant challenge yet to the software behind nearly every hiring decision these days. Last month—after several failed challenges by Workday—a federal judge in California said Mobley's age-discrimination claim could proceed, for now, as a collective action. The ruling opens the door to millions of potential claims from job seekers over the age of 40. While the judge has ruled that Workday didn't intentionally discriminate against Mobley, she left open the door for him to prove that Workday's technology still had the effect of penalizing him because of his age. She hasn't addressed the race and disability claims. Mobley still has a tough case to prove, and the suit may go through years of legal wrangling. Yet the case could force Workday to part the curtains on how its algorithm scores applications, a process that has remained a black box since job searches began moving online decades ago. 'Hiring intermediaries have pretty much been excused from regulation and they've escaped any legal scrutiny. I think this case will change that," said Ifeoma Ajunwa, a professor at Emory University School of Law and author of 'The Quantified Worker." Workday says Mobley's claims have no merit. It said its software matches keywords on résumés with the job qualifications that its employer-customers load for each role, then scores applicants as a strong, good, fair or low match. While employer clients can set up 'knockout questions" that lead to automatic rejections—for example, asking if a person has legal authorization to work in the U.S. or is available for weekend shifts—the software is designed so employers make the final decisions on candidates who make it through the initial screen, Workday argued in court filings. 'There's no evidence that the technology results in harm to protected groups," the company said. Before his job search, Mobley's career path hadn't been smooth. He was laid off in the recession that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and again after the housing meltdown in 2008. After that, he left finance and transitioned to what he viewed as a more recession-proof career in technology, earning an associate degree in network system administration. Still, steady jobs were hard to come by. He spent a year as a contractor at IT firm HPE, hoping the stint would turn into a permanent position. Mobley said he was let go, and he later joined a lawsuit against HPE alleging age and race discrimination. The case was settled in 2020. HPE declined to comment. That job loss led to two years of unemployment, starting in 2017. He applied to more than 100 jobs and found himself on Workday's recruiting platform over and over. He didn't get a single interview, let alone a job. Soon, Mobley felt he discerned a pattern. 'It dawned on me that this must be some kind of server reviewing these applications and turning me down." He worried that hiring software screened him out because it picked up on his age and race through details on his résumé or that it detected his anxiety and depression through personality tests he took as part of some job applications. The frustrations of the job search weighed on his emotional health, credit and retirement savings, he said. He stayed afloat by driving for Uber and working short-term jobs. Mobley eventually did find a job, the old-fashioned way. In 2019, he said, a recruiter for Allstate called him. A phone screen led to an interview with a hiring manager and then an offer. He is now a catastrophe controller, managing the workflow of customers' property and auto damage claims. Mobley said he suspects Workday's software flagged his profile, essentially blackballing him across its entire system, regardless of which company he applied to. Workday disputes that idea, and HR technology experts are skeptical of the theory. Employers customize recruiting software with their own criteria, they say, creating closed systems that shouldn't theoretically speak to each other. But there is evidence that underlying scoring algorithms can shut out certain job seekers, said Kathleen Creel, a computer scientist at Northeastern University who has been following the Workday case. That might happen, she said, through mechanical errors such as misclassifying a previous job title, or by incorporating more complicated algorithmic mistakes that penalize members of a single group or people with certain combinations of characteristics. Such scoring systems can disadvantage qualified workers, according to researchers at Harvard Business School, who have found that the systems effectively screen out millions of workers by scoring them low for all kinds of reasons, such as having gaps in their résumés or not matching every qualification listed on a lengthy job description. The researchers didn't test for illegal discrimination, such as discrimination based on age, gender or race. Since 2022, Workday has built a team focused on ensuring its products meet ethical artificial-intelligence standards. 'Our customers want to know, can I trust these technologies? How were they developed?" Kelly Trindel, who leads the ethical AI team, said at a conference this month at New York University Law School. Still, the company has fought some efforts to regulate automated hiring tools. In 2023, a New York City law went into effect requiring employers that use technology like chatbot interviewing tools and resume scanners to audit them annually for potential race and gender bias, and then publish the results on their websites. When the bill was proposed, Workday argued to loosen some of the rules. If Mobley succeeds, software companies and their customers may be required to do more due diligence and disclosure to ensure they don't enshrine bias. Employment lawyers say any finding of liability could open the door to job seekers also suing employers who use them. 'This isn't a personal vendetta," Mobley said. 'I'm an honest law-abiding person trying to just get a job in an honest way."
Time of India
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Angelina Jolie's daughter Zahara steps out with boyfriend Elijah Cooper — Disneyland date goes viral amid engagement rumours
Angelina Jolie's daughter Zahara Jolie-Pitt was recently seen enjoying a sunny day at Disneyland with her boyfriend, actor Elijah Cooper—just days after engagement rumours set the internet on fire following a sparkly ring sighting. The 20-year-old, whom Jolie shares with ex Brad Pitt, appeared fully in the moment with her beau, looking relaxed, happy, and completely unbothered by the cameras. Zahara Jolie-Pitt's Disney outing with her beau On June 20, the 20‑year‑old Spelman College student and Cooper, a Morehouse College attendee and actor, were photographed strolling hand‑in‑hand around Anaheim's Disneyland. They embraced the park spirit, donning matching Minnie and Mickey ears while exploring attractions like Tiana's Bayou Adventure and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Zahara Jolie-Pitt and boyfriend seen at Disneyland as engagement rumors swirl — Buzz Nova (@BuzzNova163093) June 21, 2025 How did Zahara's engagement rumours begin? Engagement buzz first took off earlier this month when Zahara was photographed wearing a sparkling diamond ring on that finger during a dinner date with Elijah at the celeb-favourite Craig's in West Hollywood. The ring's placement on her left hand immediately raised eyebrows, with fans and tabloids speculating that the 20-year-old might be quietly engaged. However, during her recent Disneyland outing with Elijah, the ring was noticeably absent. Whether it was a simple accessory switch or a sign that there's nothing romantic to read into remains unclear, but the mystery has only fuelled more online chatter. Some believe the couple could be keeping things private, while others think the ring might've been just another fashion statement. Zahara drops 'Pitt' from her last name Zahara, who recently made headlines for dropping 'Pitt' from her last name, has been carving out her own identity both socially and academically. Now going by Zahara Jolie, she's an active member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Spelman College, where she's become known not just as the daughter of Hollywood royalty, but as a thoughtful student leader in her own right. Photo Credit: X Her bond with her mother, Angelina Jolie, remains strong and rooted in shared values. The two have been spotted together at various philanthropic events, and Zahara has taken on a more public-facing role in activism—most notably as a keynote speaker at a Mother-Daughter Brunch hosted by Alpha Kappa Alpha. She's also been involved in humanitarian causes, including initiatives focused on climate issues and wildfire recovery, areas Angelina has long championed. So, are the engagement rumours true? While neither Zahara nor Elijah has said anything about being engaged, the combination of that diamond ring, cosy dinner dates, and their Disneyland day out has definitely set off speculation. Still, official or not, the two seem genuinely smitten, enjoying each other's company and making the most of a carefree summer together.
