According to npr.org, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D, Missouri) has introduced new legislation calling for $14 trillion in reparations for Black Americans, in an effort to see the federal government atone and attempt to compensate for the practice of chattel slavery for over 250 years and the generations of racist policies that have followed.

To quote from npr.org:

“The United States has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people,” Bush said in a Wednesday news conference attended by Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., as well as other stakeholders.

“America must provide reparations if we desire a prosperous future for all,” Bush said.

Rep. Bush’s resolution is the latest in a long line of congressional efforts by Democrats to compensate Black Americans for centuries of racial inequity. Similar language about reparations has been introduced in every legislative session since 1989.

“We know that we continue to live under slavery’s vestiges. We know how slavery has perpetuated Jim Crow. We know how slavery’s impacts live on today,” Bush said, citing the racial wealth gap, voter suppression, infant mortality rates and other negative health outcomes for Black people.

“It’s unjust and it wouldn’t happen in a just and fair and equitable society,” Bush also remarked. “Those are not the natural consequences of human society… They are directly caused by our federal government’s role in the enslavement and exploitation of Africans and Black people throughout our history.”

California is currently exploring reparations on a state level, San Francisco is proposing reparations to bring Black people back to the city, while Evanston, Illinois started offering a form of reparations in 2019 through its Restorative Housing Reparations Program.

RELATED:

• https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-black-families-seeking-reparations-in-californias-gold-country
• https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/13/us/reparations-state-local-commission-reaj/index.html

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy springtime from your friend and selector, Marlon!

Here’s a freewheeling playlist, and a seemingly random collection of tunes. Though what they all have in common is famous folks, sometimes uncredited, singing backup.

In some cases it is an established artist leading a hand, like Stevie Wonder contributing to Jermaine Jackson’s “Let’s Get Serious,” or a then-unknown protege like Lou Rawls singing behind his childhood pal Sam Cooke on “Bring It On Home To Me.”

In some tracks, you won’t be able to pick them out. Though in others you will never be able to hear the same again without recognizing them. Here is a breakdown of each song and who’s helping out in the background. Enjoy!

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1. “Bring It On Home to Me” by Sam Cooke with Lou Rawls
2. “Let’s Get Serious” by Jermaine Jackson was produced by Stevie Wonder (who also provided vocals)
3. “Part-Time Lover” by Stevie Wonder with Luther Vandross and Philip Bailey
4. “Don’t Lose Your Head” by Queen with Joan Armatrading
5. “Step by Step” by Whitney Houston with original writer and vocalist Annie Lennox
6. “Every Time I Close My Eyes” by Babyface with Kenny G, Mariah Carey, and Shelia E.
7. “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell with Michael Jackson and Jermaine Jackson
8. “Pink + White” by Frank Ocean with Beyoncé
9. “State of Shock” by the Jacksons, with Mick Jagger
10. “Young Americans” by David Bowie with Luther Vandross
11. “Why Should I Love You?” by Kate Bush with Prince singing and playing guitar
12. “There Must Be More to Life Than This” by Queen with Michael Jackson
13. “This Is What You Came For” by Calvin Harris and Rihanna with uncredited vocals by the song’s author, Taylor Swift
14. “Partition” by Beyoncé with Justin Timberlake
15. “Chain Reaction” by Diana Ross with Barry Gibb

There are certainly others, but I’ll stop here. Though if there are glaring omissions, lemme me know, and I’ll make additions.

See ya next month, and as always: stay safe, sane, and kind.

Good Black News wants to take a moment on this day to honor and remember the women who gave us life, who nurtured and raised us, and also offered us solace, counsel, wisdom, humility and humor.

To all the mothers out there – be they Aunties, Grandmothers, Cousins or Friends – thank you for all you do. It might not always feel like it, but you are deeply appreciated.

For those of us who aren’t able to be with our mothers or mother figures in person due to circumstance, distance or transcendence — we are with you in voice, online and always – in spirit!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Activist and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas Nicole Avant on Friday helped open the Jacqueline Avant Children and Family Center at the MLK Medical Campus in the Watts-Willowbrook community of Los Angeles, CA in memory of her mother.

“My family and I are thrilled and honored to celebrate the unveiling of the Jacqueline Avant Children and Family Center,” Nicole Avant said. “For over 50 years, my mom was dedicated to the mental and physical and spiritual health of the children and families in South Los Angeles and was on a mission to improve the quality of life for those less fortunate.”

Philanthropist and community leader Jacqueline Avant, spouse to legendary music industry executive Clarence Avant, was 81 years old when she was fatally shot during a home invasion in December 2021.

The three-story children and family center is a 50,000-square-foot facility that employs variety of programs to address the needs of at-risk children struggling with trauma, health and mental health problems. The first two floors of the center will be open to the community this summer, and the remaining floor is slated for completion by the end of the year.To quote from Marc Malkin’s Variety.com article:

The center opening and dedication attracted giants of the music industry, including Jerry Moss, Jimmy Jam, Phil Quartararo, L.A. Reid, Hollywood management powerhouse Benny Medina, real estate tycoon and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, actor Holly Robinson Peete and Nicole’s husband, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

Los Angles Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell opened the ceremony before handing the mic to Dr. Janet Arnold-Clark, who detailed the lifesaving and affirming work being done at the center.

With the opening of the center, Nicole and her family have turned their focus from tragedy to helping others. “My friend Dionne said to me, ‘The greatest way you can honor your mom’s life is to live to the fullest. That is what you have to do,’” she says. “Your job is to live to the fullest because you don’t know how long you have on this earth, no one does. Sometimes you have three months, sometimes you have three years, you just don’t know. People remember you by your good works. That’s what people remember.”

It was an honor to celebrate the legacy of Jacqueline Avant at the unveiling and dedication ceremony for the Jacqueline Avant Children and Family Center in the Watts-Willowbrook community. Mrs. Avant was a devout philanthropist and a long-time supporter of children and (1/3) pic.twitter.com/gwRkOgrl6s

— Holly J. Mitchell (@HollyJMitchell) April 29, 2023

Jacqueline Avant’s assailant, Aariel Maynor, was sentenced to life in state prison with a minimum of 150 years, after pleading guilty to Avant’s murder.

To read more:

• https://mitchell.lacounty.gov/jacqueline-avant-children-and-family-center/
• https://www.billboard.com/pro/jacqueline-avant-children-family-center-open-south-los-angeles/
• https://heysocal.com/2023/04/29/la-county-dedicates-health-center-in-honor-of-jacqueline-avant/

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Here’s hoping that you, your loved ones, colleagues and friends are partaking of only the best during this year’s Easter celebration – enjoy your blessings and the day!

In gratitude,

The GBN Staff

Every year on March 18, Good Black News celebrates the day of its founding. We continue that tradition today, thirteen years after GBN’s inception.

Even though this past year has been particularly challenging (details here), and led to way fewer postings on the main goodblacknews.org site as well as the cessation of the GBN Daily Drop Podcast, we are still exceedingly proud of all we’ve offered and accomplished over the years, even as we continue to search for our new footing as we forge ahead into the future.

We were glad to publish “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day Calendar for 2023” via Page-A-Day.com, of which we are sharing some of the contents on GBN’s Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (it’s still available in its entirety for a limited time on Amazon.com).

And although it’s no longer weekly, every month we are happy to offer new and/or updated Music Monday playlists from our incredible music contributors Marlon West and Jeff Meier.

I also want to acknowledge 2022’s other volunteer contributors in alphabetical order: Julie Bibb, Gina Fattore, Julie Fishman, Michael Giltz, Warren Hutcherson, Fred Johnson, Epiphany Jordan, Brenda Lakin, Joyce Lakin, John Levinson, Dena Loverde, Catherine Metcalf, Flynn Richardson, Maeve Richardson, Becky Schonbrun, and Teddy Tenenbaum. 

You are all deeply, greatly appreciated.

But what truly keeps me, my co-editor Lesa Lakin and all of GBN’s wonderful volunteer contributors going is the appreciation you’ve shown us over the years and still show via follows, likes, comments, shares, reblogs, DMs and e-mails (even when we are overwhelmed and can’t respond to them all).

Your support means the world, and inspires me as Editor-in-Chief to keep working to find ways to improve GBN on the main page as well as on Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, RSS feed, LinkedIn and Flipboard, and yeah, our sometime-y GBN newsletter you can get via email.

Please continue to help us spread GBN by sharing, liking, re-tweeting and commenting, and consider following GBN on the main page, as well as wherever you are on social media.

Please also consider joining our e-mail list via our “Contact Us” tab on goodblacknews.org. We will only use this list to keep you updated on GBN and send you our e-newsletter from time to time. And, of course, you may opt out whenever you like.

Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to providing you with more Good Black News in the coming months and beyond!

Warmly,

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Music Monday, you all. This collection celebrates another recently departed great, Wayne Shorter. He was a giant of jazz for six decades. He was a well-regarded improviser, bandleader, composer, and thinker.

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From his teen years with Art Blakey and Miles Davis to his work as a founder of Weather Report, to leading his own landmark quintet Shorter was among the greatest.

A well-known figure on the jazz circuit since the late 1950s, Shorter would go on to take a strong hand in shaping much of 20th Century jazz music.

The 12-time Grammy award winner played alongside several greats, including Carlos Santana, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock.

In 1964 he was swooped away after several attempts by jazz legend Miles Davis to become part of Davis’ “Second Great Quintet.”

Wayne Shorter would also release solo albums by 1959, including the acclaimed Speak No Evil, Night Dreamer, and JuJu.

Among the dozen Grammy awards he won, Shorter received a Lifetime Achievement award in 2015

In 2018, Shorter received the Kennedy Center Honors Award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for his lifetime of contributions to the arts.

Hope you enjoy the collection. As usual, stay safe, sane, and kind. See ya next month!

by  Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Happy March! As promised, GBN is happy to announce the name of the winner of our “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” DVD Blu-Ray and bundle pack giveaway, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Congratulations to Glenn McHarg! Glenn, we will be contacting you shortly via email to arrange delivery of your free bundle pack directly from Sony.

Directed by Kasi Lemmons (Harriet, Eve’s Bayou, Candyman) and written by Academy Award® nominee Anthony McCarten (Best Adapted Screenplay, The Two Popes, 2019), produced by legendary music executive Clive Davis and starring BAFTA Award® winner Naomi Ackie, the film  — which is currently available on all digital platforms as well as DVD/Blu-Ray — is a no-holds-barred portrait of the complex and multifaceted woman behind The Voice.

From New Jersey choir girl to one of the best-selling and most awarded recording artists of all time, audiences are taken on a journey through Whitney Houston’s trailblazing life and career, with show-stopping performances and a soundtrack of the icon’s most beloved hits as you’ve never heard them before.

Thank you so much to all who entered the giveaway. GBN is always in the sharing spirit, so keep an eye out for other giveaway announcements in the near future.

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

In conjunction with the 2/28 release of Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody on DVD/Blu-Ray, Good Black News is giving away one bundled prize pack, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

The items in the prize pack include:

• Blu-ray
• Vinyl album
• Karaoke mic
• Kodak Printomatic Instant Camera  – with package of photo paper
• Movie night popcorn set
• Box of conversation hearts

To enter for a chance to win, send your first and last name and an email address with the subject heading “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody Giveaway” to goodblacknewsgiveaways@yahoo.com from now until 11:59PM PST on Tuesday, February 28.

One entry per email, and GBN will announce the name of the winner in a post on March 1st, then contact them for a mailing address to receive their prize pack bundle.

Directed by Kasi Lemmons (Harriet, Eve’s Bayou, Candyman) and written by Academy Award® nominee Anthony McCarten (Best Adapted Screenplay, The Two Popes, 2019), produced by legendary music executive Clive Davis and starring BAFTA Award® winner Naomi Ackie, the film  — which is currently available on all digital platforms — is a no-holds-barred portrait of the complex and multifaceted woman behind The Voice.

From New Jersey choir girl to one of the best-selling and most awarded recording artists of all time, audiences are taken on a journey through Whitney Houston’s trailblazing life and career, with show-stopping performances and a soundtrack of the icon’s most beloved hits as you’ve never heard them before.

As it’s still Black History Month, GBN is taking the opportunity of this giveaway to highlight some Whitney Houston history that, unlike her timeless music, is not as well known.

BLU-RAY and DIGITAL

• Whitney’s Jukebox
• Deleted Scenes
• Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes:
  • Moments of an Icon
  • Becoming Whitney
  • The Personal Touch

Directed By: Kasi Lemmons
Written By: Anthony McCarten
Produced By: Denis O’Sullivan, Jeff Kalligheri, Anthony McCarten, Pat Houston, Clive Davis, Larry Mestel, Molly Smith, Thad Luckinbill, Trent Luckinbill, Matt Jackson, Christina Papagjika, Matthew Salloway
Executive Producers: Naomi Ackie, Kasi Lemmons, William Earon, Marina Cappi, Erika Hampson, Josh Crook, Rachel Smith, Seth Spector, Dennis Casali, Janice Beard, Lexie Beard, Tanner Beard, Matthew Gallagher, Jane Bergere, Stella Meghie, Mackenzie O’Connell
Cast: Naomi Ackie, Stanley Tucci, Ashton Sanders, Tamara Tunie, Nafessa Williams, and Clarke Peters

Twitter: @WannaDanceMovie
Instagram: @WannaDanceMovie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WannaDanceMovie/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/SonyPictures

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Black History Month, you all. Now it might seem counterintuitive to use my February offering to feature and honor Burt Bacharach, who died on February 8 at age 94.

The prolific composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. He was a six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, Bacharach’s songs have been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists.

However, no one would disagree that Bacharach’s (and his lyricist partner Hal David‘s) most popular success was with Dionne Warwick. They created a string of 39 consecutive chart hits including “Don’t Make Me Over,” “Walk On By,” and “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.” Their collaboration would continue for decades including his production of “That’s What Friends Are For.”

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This “Close To You: Soulful Burt Bacharach Covers” collection features generations of Black artists who have collaborated directly with Bacharach (Ronald Isley), covered beautifully (Aretha Franklin, Love), and sampled (Mos Def, Masta Ace, Floetry) the work of Burt Bacharach.

Stevie Wonder‘s live performance in 1972, of “Close To You” and the Jackson 5′s “Never Can Say Goodbye utilizing the ‘talkbox,’ inspired Frank Ocean’s cover on his 2016 album, Blonde.

Bobby Womack and Isaac Hayes each spent ample time covering Bacharach while pushing against what they saw as limits of what was acceptable for Black artists.

The 5th Dimension, who were stung by being called “the Black group, with the white sound,” are present with “One Less Bell To Answer.” Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. perform it twice in this collection.

There are ample examples of hip-hop artists using Warwick and Bacharach’s work on “Recognize,” “Hold U,” “Must Be Bobby,” “Know That” and other tracks.

So please enjoy this Black History Month celebration of Burt Bacharach’s impactful work through the creation of these great Black artists.

Until next month, stay safe, sane, and kind.

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN founder and Editor-in-Chief

Well, here we are, once again. Forty seven years after February was officially recognized by the U.S. government as Black History Month, and ninety seven years after Negro History Week was founded by Carter G. Woodson, “The Father of Black History.”

We are also, once again, deeply distressed by the murder of a young Black person (Tyre Nichols) at the hands of police officers. The fact that the officers and the police chief are Black this time around doesn’t complicate but instead amplifies the grotesque, stark, ironically colorblind reality of systemic racism — it is a pernicious construct of power and oppression that can be upheld or enforced by anyone of any color or gender or creed.

So, how do we reconcile the two — the celebration of Black people and their achievements while constantly experiencing injustice, inequity and increasingly, erasure?

If you think “erasure” is a hyperbolic, overused buzzword, please check out this PBS piece, this ACLU podcast or get your up-to-date Critical Race Theory ban statuses state by state on World Population Review. You can also Google what the governor of Florida is up to these days in regards to one particular course offered in the AP curriculum. and the AP’s seeming capitulatory response.

As Editor-in-Chief of Good Black News, a site which for over a decade has literally been dedicated year-round to the celebration of Black people and their achievements, I have been wrestling with this question for a while, particularly in the last eight months.

After the murder of 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, NY by a white supremacist in May 2022 and the continued downplaying of racially-based domestic terrorism, I felt depleted and bereft. Of hope, of faith, of purpose. It didn’t seem to matter how much Black people achieved or prospered or protested or suffered in America — we couldn’t even buy our groceries in peace.

And once again, the narrative of the “lone, mentally unstable shooter” was trotted out. One person was (rightfully) punished, but the racist political and economic system he embraced in its most violent extreme? It remained (and remains) steadfastly in place. As did the onus remain on the shoulders of Black people to be seen as worthy of basic human rights.

America quickly got back to the business of forgetting and moving on, even after experiencing only two years before what seemed like a watershed moment of racial reckoning after the police murder of George Floyd.

But here were are again today, literally TODAY, with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump saying during his call to action during Tyre Nichols’ funeral: “Why couldn’t they see the humanity in Tyre?… We have to make sure they see us as human beings worthy of respect and justice!”

We do?

I’ll admit in many ways, I understand where Crump is coming from. “Show the humanity” has essentially been the GBN operating philosophy since 2010 — to create a site and space where we can see and celebrate our humanity, while offering access to anyone else who wants to take a gander.

But now, in 2023, I must push myself to dig deeper and firmly challenge why it should it ever be the responsibility of any human being to convince any other human being of their humanity. To state the obvious, once, and for all:

BLACK PEOPLE ARE HUMAN BEINGS.

If the words above are not inherently understood to be true, why is that? Why does this have to be shown? Proven? Over and over and over again?

My answer, also obvious, is that they don’t. Not ever.

So, while I absolutely respect and still intend to celebrate the legacies of people such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Sidney Poitier and the like, going forward I also need for GBN’s Black History Month and GBN in general to engage more actively in the interrogation and disempowering any systems, institutions or public policies that do not recognize or uphold this truth and all the basic rights that should flow from it (e.g. respect, freedom, safety, equality).

Maybe I’m not giving enough credit to GBN in its past and present form — I acknowledge that GBN has been helpful and appreciated by many for the way we offer information via the lens of celebration and positivity.

What I’m aiming to add to our existing ethos is more critical thinking and opinion about cultural topics and cultural content, boosting political, economic and social policies that are truly about protecting, serving and uplifting Black people, and working to upend those that don’t.

What will this “new GBN” look like, you might ask? Well, today it’s looking like me sharing this link to the NAACP Petition to Demand Educational Freedom in Florida. To quote the petition:

The College Board creates and administers the AP program. Join us in demanding that they:

• Reject the narrow interpretation of Florida law that contradicts principles of academic freedom and autonomy in determining what to teach in classrooms.
• Take swift action to make sure Florida does not modify the curriculum of the proposed AP African-American Studies course designed with the help of respected Black scholars, but rather, maintains the integrity of the proposed curriculum.

Florida’s current agenda of political interference in the AP African American studies curriculum directly conflicts with the values of equity, fairness, and justice. Our students deserve better.

To sign it, click here.

Additionally, I want to highlight Nikole Hannah-Jones’ The 1619 Project series now streaming on Hulu as well as promote the excellent “Intersectionality Matters” podcast by law professor Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw whose name is among the writers expunged from the AP African American studies curriculum.

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I also want to give props to Beyoncé for officially announcing her 2023 Renaissance World Tour!  A definite bright spot on this first day of Black History Month, the efforts Beyoncé and her team are making via the Verified Fan system and its tiers of engagement (first priority given to the BeyHive!) to ensure real fans get access to tickets over usurious resale entities is for sure worth a shout out.

Frankly, I am tired of us being caught out there, and I want GBN to do more, offer more, share more and speak out more. In our tweets, reels, stories, posts, playlists, comments — however.

Maybe I’ll get it wrong sometimes, but with deep love for this community as my true north, may my faith, purpose and hope never again be broken.

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

I do hope 2023 has been treating well, so far. I’d like to take a this month of the year to look back on great releases of 2022.

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The first track by Little Simz dropped in the last weeks of December. And this British Nigerian artist kicks off the truly international musical journey.

Nigeria’s Burna Boy sets up a string of American artists including Compton’s own Steve Lacy and Kendrick Lamar. The playlist features big names like Beyoncé, Lizzo, Drake, Black Thought & Danger Mouse, though this collection is also heavy on comparative newcomers including Yaya Bey, Amber Mark, Koffee, and Jensen McRae.

Here is the best of hip-hop, R&B, Jazz, Afrobeat, Reggae and much more in over five freewheeling hours of music that features established favorites and certainly a few new surprises.

Hope you enjoy this collection of good music. See ya next month. And until such time, stay safe, sane, and kind.

by  Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

As GBN Editor-in-Chief, firstly I apologize for the delay in the announcement of the latest winners in the GBN calendar giveaway, which was supposed to occur on December 9th. It was wholly due to me being overwhelmed with other professional and personal commitments and nothing else.

Secondly, I hope everyone is having as relaxing and peaceful a holiday season as possible. Thirdly, because of the delay, we have randomly selected one extra winner, so here are the four winners from the second round of giveaways of one free copy each of our “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2023!

Congratulations to Kelly Kennedy, Cheryl Kiras, Sonja Combs and Dawna Smith! We will be contacting you each shortly via email to arrange delivery of your free calendars from Page-A-Day.

Thank you so much to all who entered the giveaway, and if you want to buy the calendar for yourself or for family, friends, teachers or loved ones,  you can use the code: CALS22 at pageaday.com until January 3 to receive 15% OFF site-wide, plus Free Shipping on orders over $35.

If you want to support a Black-owned bookstore with your purchase, order through this link on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/shop/esowonbooks, search “Good Black News Calendar” to add it to your cart, and a portion of the sale will go to directly to Eso Won Books in Los Angeles, CA.

Additionally, A Year of Good Black News is a Top 7 release in Multicultural Calendars on Amazon and is filled with facts, history, bios, quotes, jokes and trivia in easy-to-read entries delivered on the daily.

Or, if you prefer, you can also order from the retailers below:

• Barnes & Noble (now 50% off!)
• Books-A-Million
• Calendars.com

Onward and upward… into 2023 and beyond!

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

For many of us 2022 was a time of recovering from lockdown. It was a return to normalcy for many of us. I am wishing you all safe and wonderful Holiday Season.

I am more than delighted to share this week’s playlist, Groove Christmas 2022, just in time to share and gather with friends and family.

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As usual this is freewheeling and “afroclectic” collection season tunes from several genres. Soul, Jazz, Gospel, Reggae, and many other styles are on hand for the Christmastime collection. You know, Nat King Cole, Marvin Gaye, Eartha Kitt, Donny Hathaway, Sharon Jones and other Christmas standard-bearers are on hand.

Though there are artist like Aloe Blacc, Vika & Linda, Kontawa, and DRAM with recent releases.

Whether you are staying home, or traveling, please have a wonderful, and peaceful, holiday season.

It has been an honor and delight to share music with you all here on Good Black News for another trip around the sun. I’ll see you back here in January with a round-up of this year.

And until such time stay safe, sane, and kind.

Social scientist and dean of largest University faculty excited to seize “moment of possibility.”

— Read on news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/12/harvard-names-claudine-gay-30th-president/

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

We hope that all of you in the Good Black News family are enjoying the holiday season and all the prep that goes along with it.

As many longtime readers know, Good Black News couldn’t survive the holidays without our Spotify Christmas music mixes playing in the background.

So, today, we’ve updated one of our most popular playlists ever to share with you again, and offer you the chance to deep dive into holiday music that is a little different than the rotation of 20 Andy Williams, Burl Ives and Bing Crosby tunes you might hear on the regular radio.

Back for Year Three is our “Ultimate Soul of the Season Christmas Soundtrack – Deluxe Expanded Edition“ – now filled with more than 60 new tracks, and lasting overall for over 34 hours.

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While you’re wrapping, decorating, baking, or just sipping eggnog by the fireplace, our playlist is a go-to that can last all season long.

Of course you can set it on shuffle and never know what’s coming next, or just let it play through.  We’ve carefully planned it out so that if you just let it play, you’ll get a mix of tempos and artists and soulful styles singing songs you know by heart mixed in with forgotten coulda-been classics and brand new originals that are classics in the making.

As a reminder, musically we’ve set out to create our own ‘radio’-like Christmas playlist, but as only GBN could, comprised entirely of songs performed by Black artists (or in the rare case of Robin Thicke, artists singing in a soulful tradition).

Of course, we’ve got Donny Hathaway, The Jackson 5, The Temptations‘ “Silent Night,” and plenty of Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Mathis, and yes, Mariah Carey.

But as we did last year, we’ve refreshed the playlist this year with a bunch of new tracks – titles that are freshly released in 2022, as well as older tunes that are new discoveries for us, and even some famous songs that had never before appeared on Spotify.

In the era of streaming music, new Christmas music is being released much differently than it used to be.  There are still a few new full-length Christmas ‘albums’ being issued.

Among them are collections from Alicia Keys, Regina Belle, and recent Emmy groundbreaker Sheryl Lee Ralph (working with gospel producer/artist B. Slade on her new release entitled ‘Sleigh.’).

We’ve got songs from all of the new releases above (although currently Alicia Keys has only made one single from her album available on Spotify).

More often, though, artists are releasing new holiday music just as singles or short collections available only via streaming services, no longer as CDs/vinyl that you can find in stores.  The ease of putting such music out has also enabled a plethora of artists to join the holiday music bonanza just by dropping a new track.

For our veteran soul music listeners, you’ll find new tracks this year from such names as Jody Watley (a lovely ‘Christmas Time Is Here’), Ledisi (‘Home for Christmas), Vivian Green (‘Spread the Love’), Deborah Cox, Chris Brown, Jhene Aiko, Mickey Guyton (Frozen’s ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman’), Macy Gray (a fun, tropical ‘Blue Christmas’), and Mr. Christmas himself, Johnny Mathis (simplified piano-bar versions of songs he’s recorded in the past, including ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ and his hit ‘When a Child Is Born’).

We’ve got new gospel-infused Christmas tracks from Deitrick Haddon and from Tina Campbell (of Mary Mary fame) and her husband Teddy (including the lively ‘Our House’). And Lalah Hathaway has finally done what many have been waiting for her to do for so long – through the magic of recording technology, she has released a duet version of ‘This Christmas’ with her father Donny.

Veteran fans will also be excited that, finally, Spotify has access to two iconic soulful holiday anthems – the O’Jays 1973 track ‘Christmas Ain’t Christmas (Without the One You Love)’ and Ray Charles ‘80s track ‘That Spirit of Christmas’ (made famous in the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation).  In fact, Ray’s whole ‘That Spirit of Christmas’ LP is finally available on Spotify for the first time.

But perhaps we’re most excited by the infusion of new artists into the list.

The old ways of breaking into the music world are long gone…and now, via a global service like Spotify, it’s so much easier to tap into artists from all over the world.

Cesar Sampson is a Black Austrian who gained success via the Eurovision Song Contest and has a number of holiday songs.  Born in Zimbabwe, Tkay Maidza has built an audience of over 800 thousand monthly Spotify listeners, predominantly in her now home base of Australia.

Kelli Leigh is British and has garnered fans through her vocals on dance music hits. England’s Kingdom Choir earned some renown from their performances at Harry & Meghan’s wedding.

And Micah Edwards, a self-described Texas soul artist, has found nearly 800k monthly listeners largely in Southeast Asia.

The Committed and Howard University’s Afro Blue are a capella groups who competed on the reality show The Sing Off, while The Curtis Family C-Notes and Victory Brinker each hail from America’s Got Talent and India Carney from The Voice.

Among other relative newcomers to this list – many of them already have hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of monthly Spotify listeners, sometimes self-built audiences through YouTube or social media followings.

Trinidad Cardona (5 million listeners), August 08 (1.3 million), Jenevieve (1.2 million), DaniLeigh (3.1 million), Kirby (1.5 million) and former Disney star Coco Jones (800k monthly listeners) are just a few of these very popular names to look out for.

It’s also great to keep an ear out for some new artists who haven’t yet built an audience of millions – and so we’re also happy introduce you to some artists that we consider to be emerging discoveries.

Nashville’s R&B throwback band DeRobert and the Half-Truths and Spain’s Nacion Funk All-Stars featuring Koko-Jean Davis are both rocking some fun Christmas tunes worthy of checking out this season.

And Broadway performer, back-up singer and TV actress Patrice Covington (A League of Their Own) delivers a rollicking “My Favorite Things.”

Whether you enjoy the throwback stars or the newcomers, there is something for all fans of soul through the decades on this holiday playlist – we hope as you celebrate Christmas, you’ll make this your soundtrack to the season.  Happy Holidays!

As promised last week, GBN is giving thanks today to three members of the GBN community who entered our giveaway for the chance to receive one free copy each of our “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2023 .

Congratulations to Erica Donaldson-Ellison, Lisa Andreasen and Karla Stewart-Tyson! We will be contacting you each shortly via email to arrange delivery of your free calendars from Workman Publishing.

Also, thank you so much to all who entered the giveaway. If you didn’t win today — good news! Due to popular demand, we will be holding a second drawing on December 9 and will announce three more lucky winners!

No need to enter again if you already have — you will automatically remain in the running.

To those who have yet to enter – it’s not too late! For a chance to win in December, send your first name, last name and email address with the subject heading “A Year of Good Black News Giveaway” to goodblacknewsgiveaways@yahoo.com from now until 11:59PM PT on December 8. One entry per unique email.

Already a Top 10 release in Multicultural Calendars on Amazon, A Year of Good Black News is filled with facts, history, bios, quotes, jokes and trivia in easy-to-read entries delivered on the daily.

In case you can’t wait to see if you’re the lucky winner, or if you want to buy copies as gifts for family, friends, teachers or loved ones,  you can use the code: CYBER22 at Workman.com or pageaday.com until November 30 to receive 25% OFF site-wide, plus Free Shipping on orders over $25.

If you want to support a Black-owned bookstore with your purchase, order through this link on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/shop/esowonbooks, search “Good Black News Calendar” to add it to your cart, and a portion of the sale will go to directly to Eso Won Books in Los Angeles, CA.

Or, if you prefer, you can also order from the retailers below:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-A-Million
• Calendars.com

Onward and upward… and good luck!

The seven days of Kwanzaa just got tastier.

According to Variety.com, “The Kwanzaa Menu” in concert with the beginning of Kwanzaa, will debut on December 26 on FoodNetwork.com.

Hosted by culinary scholar Tonya Hopkins, the series will discuss each of Kwanzaa’s seven principles using a special dish as the springboard to conversation.

To quote from Variety.com:

“Celebrating Kwanzaa through good food and drink not only allows us to reconnect to the vibrance of our culinary history that greatly informs who we are as Black people, our very identities — but also to take pride in that which has so profoundly shaped American foodways at large, for centuries,” Hopkins says of the series produced by Best Wishes Studio.

Per Food Network, “In each of the seven episodes Tonya and a special guest prepare a recipe that is connected to the day’s celebration. Together they will commemorate each day of Kwanzaa by cooking meaningful dishes and discussing the Nguzu Saba, the seven principles, and history of the holiday. When presented together, the collective dishes create a meaningful and celebratory Kwanzaa Menu.”

The series is a family affair for Hopkins, filmed at her family’s South Orange County, Calif. home and featuring guest appearances from her father Dr. Thomas A. Parham and sister Kenya Parham, who also serves as a writer and producer.

“Both my and Tonya’s life work centers around doing all things ‘for the culture!’ This project was a deeply personal labor of love — love for our people, love for ourselves, and love for the principles that anchor our lives,” cultural strategist Kenya says of the project. “To collaborate on this production with my brilliant sister, our family, an all-star (majority Black) crew led by Best Wishes Studio and Food Network is the kind of kismet synergy dreams are made of! We know we’ve created a cultural gem with ‘The Kwanzaa Menu’ and are tremendously excited for the world to receive it and celebrate with us!”

Read more about each episode’s inspiration, special guests and delicious dishes below:

“Umoja” (Unity) | Amazing Hibiscus Mulled Wine Kwanzaa Mimosa – Tonya is joined by her sister, Kenya Parham, to prepare a recipe celebrating the principle of Umoja, which emphasizes the importance of unity in all areas, including family, community, nation and race. Traditionally libations, served in a Kikombe Cha Umoja (Unity Cup) are presented to acknowledge and honor the family units of present and past.
“Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)” | Crispy Akara (Black-Eyed Pea Fritters) with Savory Smoky Sesame Sauce – The principle of Kujichagulia focuses on building one’s identity as a person and a community and in honor of that, Tonya whips up a dish with the help of special guest, Kareem Grimes. The majority of Black Americans descended from (or passed through) the West African region and the recipe is a way to make culinary contact and acknowledge that point of origin and ancestral journey.

“Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)” | Good Deeds Greens – In this episode actress Taja V. Simpson joins Tonya to make a dish that embodies Ujima, which focuses on collective work and shared responsibility for both achievements and setbacks in the community and comes to life with this all-hands-on-deck recipe.

“Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)” | Black Sable Rice Calas – The principle of Ujamaa reinforces the third day’s principle, Ujima, by encouraging support of each other economically and within the community. Blue Telusma helps Tonya in the kitchen and discusses the origin of this dish created by Black women, as well as the history of Black Americans as the first food vendors and successful culinary entrepreneurs in America.

“Nia (Purpose)” | First Fruits Harvest Smoothie Bowl – The principle of Nia means purpose and encourages us to move through life with intention, being mindful with our words and actions. In this episode, sisters Tonya and Kenya discuss restoration through healthy plant-based living while building this red, black and green dish.

“Kuumba (Creativity)” | Yassa-Inspired Grilling – The principle of Kuumba is a time to reflect on leaving the community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it; to celebrate creativity and ingenuity by paying homage to creative works focusing on our rich history and vibrant future. Tonya is joined by Chef Brittney “Stikxz” Williams, developing a new seasoning blend that incorporates Caribbean influences over open-fire grilling.

“Imani (Faith)” | Cassava with Peanut Stew – On this day the focus is on spiritual faith, a faith in one’s infinite possibilities, and a faith that persists through life’s challenges and adversities. Tonya and her father, Dr. Thomas Parham, share space in their family kitchen while making a dish representative of Africans in the New World.

Good Black News, in collaboration with Workman Publishing, is getting into the holiday spirit once again — by giving away three copies of our “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2023 on Thanksgiving Day!

A Year of Good Black News is filled with facts, history, bios, quotes, jokes and trivia in easy-to-read pages delivered on the daily, and GBN will be selecting at random three entrants to each receive one free copy of the calendar.

To enter for a chance to win, send your first and last name and an email address with the subject heading “A Year of Good Black News Giveaway” to goodblacknewsgiveaways@yahoo.com from now until 11:59PM PST on November 23.

One entry per email, and we will announce the names of the three winners in a post on Thanksgiving, then contact them for mailing addresses to receive their individual calendar prize.

In case you can’t wait to see if you’re the lucky winner and/or want to buy copies for gifts to family, friends, teachers, or loved ones, you can order at Workman.com or pageaday.com using code: CYBER22 from now until November 30, you will receive 25% off.

If you want to support a Black-owned bookstore with your purchase, order through this link on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/shop/esowonbooks, search “Good Black News Calendar” to add it to your cart, and a portion of the sale will go to directly to Eso Won Books in Los Angeles, CA.

The calendar is also available through the following online retailers:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-A-Million
• Calendars.com

Onward and upward… and good luck!