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Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph speaks life into those close to her and the Black culture. The Emmy Award-winning thespian has been tapped to deliver the commencement speech at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences for the Spring 2023 semester.
According to Diverse Education, Ralph is a Rutgers alumna as a member of the 1972 graduating class. The report also says the Abbott Elementary actress is in the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni.
“As we celebrate the birthday of Paul Robeson, great actor, great artist, outstanding athlete, outstanding student, I’m so happy to represent his legacy as one of the first women, especially one of the first Black women, to graduate from Rutgers College. Legacy matters,” Ralph said, cited by Diverse Education.
Ralph plays veteran kindergarten teacher Ms. Howard on the ubiquitous television show Abbott Elementary. Back in 1982, Ralph was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway play, Dreamgirls. In 2022, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that she became the second Black woman to win an Emmy. During her acceptance speech, the 66-year-old sang the lyrics to a Dianne Reeves song: “I am an endangered species, but I sing a victim’s song, I am a woman, I am an artist, and I know where my voice belongs.”
The actress also uses her voice to speak out on issues such as AIDS. As an AIDS activist, Ralph is the founding director of the Divinely Inspired Victoriously Anointed (DIVA) Foundation. She is a recipient of the Red Ribbon Award at the United Nations. She’s also the brains behind Divas Simply Singing!, which is a musical AIDS benefit show, as well as an ambassador for Jamaica’s Ministry of Health.
The commencement speech for Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences will occur on May 14.
RELATED CONTENT: Sheryl Lee Ralph Told Lauryn Hill To Consider Another Group Name Besides ‘The Fugees’
Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph speaks life into those close to her and the Black culture. The Emmy Award-winning thespian has been tapped to deliver the commencement speech at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences for the Spring 2023 semester.
According to Diverse Education, Ralph is a Rutgers alumna as a member of the 1972 graduating class. The report also says the Abbott Elementary actress is in the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni.
“As we celebrate the birthday of Paul Robeson, great actor, great artist, outstanding athlete, outstanding student, I’m so happy to represent his legacy as one of the first women, especially one of the first Black women, to graduate from Rutgers College. Legacy matters,” Ralph said, cited by Diverse Education.
Ralph plays veteran kindergarten teacher Ms. Howard on the ubiquitous television show Abbott Elementary. Back in 1982, Ralph was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway play, Dreamgirls. In 2022, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that she became the second Black woman to win an Emmy. During her acceptance speech, the 66-year-old sang the lyrics to a Dianne Reeves song: “I am an endangered species, but I sing a victim’s song, I am a woman, I am an artist, and I know where my voice belongs.”
The actress also uses her voice to speak out on issues such as AIDS. As an AIDS activist, Ralph is the founding director of the Divinely Inspired Victoriously Anointed (DIVA) Foundation. She is a recipient of the Red Ribbon Award at the United Nations. She’s also the brains behind Divas Simply Singing!, which is a musical AIDS benefit show, as well as an ambassador for Jamaica’s Ministry of Health.
The commencement speech for Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences will occur on May 14.
RELATED CONTENT: Sheryl Lee Ralph Told Lauryn Hill To Consider Another Group Name Besides ‘The Fugees’
As our worldwide population continues to grow—we’re expected to hit 9 billion by 2040—our need and reliance on natural resources grow exponentially. Oil and coal reserves, despite being vast, are ultimately finite, and wind and solar simply aren’t efficient enough to sustain our ever-growing need for electrical power. So, two viable alternatives are hydro and nuclear power plants, and the latter is the main focal point of Oliver Stone’s new documentary titled Nuclear Now.
Shaping up to be equivalent to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Stone’s Nuclear Now takes a fundamentally different approach to answer the question of what the future holds by saying that nuclear power might be the key. While many still can’t seem to disassociate the word “nuclear” from the word “nuke,” and unfortunate events such as Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl do not help this public perception, Nuclear Now seeks to change that by offering an alternative, science-based view into humanity’s nuclear future.
In his latest documentary, which premiered at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, Stone argues that nuclear power is by far the soundest replacement for fossil fuels, thereby helping fight climate change. However, the movie also makes the vital case that nuclear power has been unjustly demonized by anti-nuclear movements—which it has, and we’ll touch upon that in a minute—and that our need for low-emission power supplies is too urgent to ignore the advantages nuclear power has to offer.
Stone’s documentary makes a compelling argument that nuclear power has been demonized, first by the less-educated green activists, then by the attention-seeking media, and then further by oil companies. The perfect example of this type of demonizing of technology happened in the late 19th and early 20th century with the introduction of electrical energy. What we now take for granted and basically depend upon was portrayed by the early media as a very dangerous technology that has unknown effects and many potential dangers.
Newspapers even propagated stories that walking under an electrical lamp post posed a danger, as the electricity could jump out of the light bulb and electrocute nearby people. Admittedly, some people tried changing the light bulb with wet hands, adding more credence to this urban legend. The same thing happened with nuclear energy. Following Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which effectively proved that nuclear power could be used as a “destroyer of worlds,” environmental activists associated nuclear power with nuclear weapons, pigeonholing everything related to nuclear as inherently bad.
In fact, the term “nuke-ular” was cleverly coined to associate the two, implying that the possibility of being nuked or exposed to high levels of damaging radiation is inherent in this technology. Accidents such as Chernobyl—which was a result of large-scale, systemic human error—further fueled the public’s distrust of nuclear power. But Stone’s Nuclear Now casts light on several other factors that further contributed to the public fear—the biggest of which is Big Oil, also known as the Seven Sisters.
Major oil companies piggybacked on the environmental activist’s propaganda against nuclear energy, adding that even the lowest levels of radiation are harmful to humans and may lead to any number of diseases and even death. This is, of course, false, as Stone’s Nuclear Now points out. We actually evolved to handle low levels of radiation exceptionally well, considering that we’re riding on a cosmic rock that’s constantly bombarded by various types of cosmic radiation.
Modern media and entertainment releases such as Fallout (a video game series) or Book of Eli—starring Denzel Washington—often depict the world in which human civilization descends to its lowest as the result of a nuclear catastrophe. Mankind’s fear of the things we don’t understand is a natural survival tool, and not too many people know the inner workings of nuclear chemistry and nuclear physics. And both the Seven Sisters and the anti-nuclear movement have used that lack of knowledge to further spread fear of us having to fight over scraps if we go nuclear.
The anti-nuclear movement, while well-intentioned, is wrong. By associating nuclear energy with nuclear disasters, which anyone reasonable would fight against, they’re rejecting the only form of currently accessible power generation that’s more environmentally friendly than coal. In fact, if we were to replace all coal-fired power plants with nuclear ones, we could reduce carbon emissions by around 90%. Of course, these are rough estimates, and real numbers are subject to variations associated with specific regions and circumstances.
But Big Oil’s push against nuclear is far more sinister, as the spread of misinformation has only one goal: eliminating the only power source that could effectively compete with fossil fuels for the sake of profit. Anti-nuclear environmentalist fighting against nuclear-oriented corporations are pawns in public manipulation—since everyone loves a good-natured underdog—that sway the public opinion to align with the interests of the companies that are the biggest contributors to climate change—the Seven Sisters.
Renewable energy sources are, unfortunately, a daydreamer’s alternative, as they’re unreliable. This is best seen from an example involving Germany, which promised to forsake coal-fired and nuclear power in favor of renewables, and even publicly called out other countries—from world powers to third-world countries—for not doing the same. The most hypocritical moment was when the country imported more than 40 million tons of coal for electricity and heat generation and fired up its coal-fired plants.
And this is the main point of Stone’s Nuclear Now. Virtue-signaling by various world powers, paired with the rising middle-class culture of reducing one’s carbon footprint by employing electric cars and renewables, just offsets the problem instead of offering a viable and reasonable solution. Don’t get us wrong; going electric and recycling helps immensely. But Stone argues, and anyone sensible would agree, that it simply isn’t enough. We need to put our fears behind us and make a more significant change.
Nuclear Now has a worldwide premiere on April 28, 2023, in select US theaters and theaters in Belgium, Canada, and Denmark. It really makes a strong, sober, and, above everything else, scientific case for nuclear power, showing a future that’s nothing like the wastelands and scavenging we all seen in Fallout or Book of Eli. If presented with the opportunity to watch this film, we highly recommend it.
Snoop Dogg has never made his love for cannabis a secret. The hip-hop superstar is known for staying high all the time, and has songs and movies to prove it!
During a 2019 interview with Howard Stern, Snoop opened up about the full-time, salaried blunt and joint roller he hired to fulfill his desire for a consistent supply of pre-rolled blunts and joints daily. He even adjusted the salary to meet the growing inflation.
Last year, Ranagade PerRana came forward and revealed herself as Snoop’s professional joint rolling technician. Earning over $50,000 while working for Uncle Snoop at the time, Rana now estimates she’s rolled nearly half a million joints thus far for various A-list clients like Rihanna, Kid Cudi, J.R. Smith, Elon Musk, and countless others.
Rana secured her previous gig with Snoop in a “roll-off” between her, a Venezuelan cigar roller, and Snoop Dogg’s sound engineer and has been able to build a successful and lucrative business and brand for herself. Aside from her full-time gig rolling blunts for Hollywood’s elite, Rana launched a “Blunt Bar” business that supplies high-end events with carefully-crafted smokables, Leafly reports.
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Speaking with BLACK ENTERPRISE while celebrating 4/20 at Jimmy John’s in Long Beach, CA, by teaching enthusiasts how to roll with limited-edition JJ’s rolling papers, Rana dished on the three crucial skill sets needed to become a professional joint roller.
“First of all, you would have to understand the art of smoking,” Rana told BLACK ENTERPRISE.
“I would say that’s first and foremost because you would have to understand what your client requires of you. In the same way, if you were to be a chef and dealt with someone that had, God, forbid, like Celiac disease, you would need to understand everywhere gluten is. I think you have to know the fine art of smoking first of all.”
“I would say the other skill you have to have would be to work hard. And that is truly a skill,” she continued.
“The skill to show up and show out and not take shortcuts, that’s a real fu*king skill to have. So I have that skill. I go hard. Sleep is not something I need. Rest is for the dead. Lazy is the cousin of death. Stupid is his brother. And lying is how he ends up out of here. So, for me, I show up, I show out.”
The last skill you need, according to Rana, who describes herself as a “premier blunt roller of the planet,” stems from your upbringing and the support system you keep. The Iranian-born rolling technician believes keeping good people around could be vital in crafting pristine joints.
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“I would say the third skill is you would have to be player like Ranagade ParRana,” she boasted. “You’d have to have the parents I have maybe (a nod to her father Hamid and mom Fatima.).”
“You’d have to have the same journey I had,” she added. “I don’t know. But I would say hard work and fu*king determination is what got me here for sure.”
Rolling joints full-time could sound like a dream job to some. Salaries for the gig might not pay as high as Snoop Dogg once paid Rana. But according to ZipRecruiter, starting salaries could range from $13 to $37 an hour and, of course, depends on whether or not you reside in a state where it’s legal.
For those interested in becoming professional rolling technicians, Rana encourages you to test, explore, and do your homework.
“I would say do your research and then just try to get in where you fit in in life,” she said.
“I think life is about finding a place for yourself, finding a home, finding a path. So, if you want to get involved in certain businesses, you got to do your due diligence.”
“I think you have to figure out how the whole game works, how the setup is, who does what, what the laws are, where you live, where you’re from,” she continued. “All those things matter because you don’t want to play yourself.”
“Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.” — Oprah Winfrey
This is how it should be. However, for Black women who are incarcerated, opportunities to engage in educational pursuits are severely limited. Incarceration separates individuals from their families and everyday life. Education programs provided to incarcerated individuals can vary across age and gender. For Black women, there are huge hurdles, just like out in the real world.
Historically, women have comprised a small percentage of the total incarcerated population, which means prison programming investments tend to focus on men. One thing is clear — Black women continue to experience disparities in educational equity. With the United States seeing a dramatic rise in the number of women sent to prison, the disparities in access to equitable education lag behind.
Many women struggle to turn their lives around while behind bars and can find hope in furthering their education. However, in many states, these courses are offered sporadically and unpredictably.
In 2018, according to the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, women could pursue an associate degree and certifications in office administration or hospitality/culinary arts. For men, there were associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees, and certifications in 21 occupations, including high-demand fields like welding, computer technology, and truck driving. When prison-reform legislation was passed in 2019, lawmakers expanded the choices for women but they still fall extremely short of those offered to men.
In Mississippi, the five vocational programs offered to women, which include cosmetology and upholstery, play into gender stereotypes. The 13 options provided to men include welding, plumbing, industrial electricity, and diesel mechanics. Women are still more likely to be restricted to classes on parenting, cooking, or cosmetology.
At the end of 2020, Congress finally restored access to Pell Grants for incarcerated students. That new provision will go into effect by July 2023. Some states are also taking steps to support access to college in prison.
We can’t overstate the benefits of postsecondary education to incarcerated Black women. Supporting better education is crucial to bridging opportunity gaps and helping Black women live productively.
In 2013, Netflix gave us the prison series we didn’t know we needed in Orange Is the New Black. We were entertained by this diverse showing of women as their stories were told in a way we had never seen before. Many argued that it really mirrored prison life yet, that didn’t stop us from being completely invested in these women’s lives.
I recall one of the constant pain points is that the prison did not offer an adequate GED program. The situation was even worse because inmates who lacked a high-school education were not eligible for wage increases unless they completed the GED program for prisoners. Without a high-school education, most women couldn’t secure legal and gainful employment once they left. This, of course, led them right back to a life of crime — which, in turn, landed them right back in prison. Although fictional, the show didn’t miss how this vicious cycle plays out.
There is a logical argument for prison education: it is cost-effective and leads to long-term benefits. Black women returning home from prison with college credentials can play an important role in encouraging family members and friends to pursue additional education. Prisons with college programs have less violence among incarcerated individuals, which creates a safer environment for incarcerated individuals and prison staff. The significant personal benefits of prison education include increased personal income, lower unemployment, greater political engagement and volunteerism, and improved health outcomes.
As a woman, I can’t imagine attempting to survive prison’s everyday humiliations. The vulnerabilities that we experience as Black women can mount high. The truth is that education can make the difference in the ability to sustain their existence and break fthe cycle of incarceration for generations to come. As a society, we know that without skills to succeed, rejection from employers or even housing can make anyone slide into an emotionally bad place. Education has the power to build self-confidence to be competitive.
As an educator, I know that education is not just about giving someone academics they can use when they are out in the world. It’s about developing a different mindset about how they view themselves and interact in the world. Studies have shown that those who participate in higher-education programs in prison are significantly less likely to re-offend. So, this issue extends beyond prison. If you have Black women engaged in a pursuit of an education, it is self-affirming. There is no limit to what they can do.
The more opportunities provided to Black women while they’re serving their sentence, the more it gives them something to believe in. If we truly believe in making change, if we want to invest in human lives and strengthen communities and families, then we want to invest in education for Black women in prison. Women can never be free in a country that is not free. This country can take a full investment in incarcerated Black women to liberate instead of control them.