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A whopping $1.3 million was raised by The Gordon Parks Foundation at the organization’s annual award dinner and auction on June 4. The Tuesday night event, held at Cipriani, honored former NBA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and artist Kehinde Wiley, who immortalized former President Barack Obama in a presidential portrait painting.
Both humanitarians have been paying it forward; Abdul-Jabbar with social activism and Wiley with his ‘art-ivism.’ The two icons were honored alongside Carol Sutton Lewis and William M. Lewis, Jr., Chelsea Clinton, and Raf Simons.
(Sarah Jones, BFA Images)
Other notable African Americans—including Gayle King, Danny Glover, Questlove, Amy Sherald, Dapper Dan, Coach K, and Carrie Mae Weems to name a few—gathered to celebrate the famed photographer’s legacy, honor those who carry a torch in his name, and support artistic and educational initiatives doing creative social justice work. Key speakers were Kathryn and Kenneth Chenault and Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, and Tony Award-winner Sarah Jones.
(The Gordon Parks Awards Dinner, BFA)
“It’s nice to see that Gordon’s legacy is conveyed to many generations after his passing,” Abdul-Jabbar told BLACK ENTERPRISE. “His photographs exemplify and personify the civil rights movement.”
In February, ESPN reported, that the 7-foot-2 inch tall Hall of Famer auctioned four of his six championship rings for $1.2 million to benefit Skyhook, his own foundation that offers “STEM opportunities to underserved communities,” according to the organization’s website. The foundation is named after a shot Abdul-Jabbar perfected throughout his ball-playing days. The all-star athlete is adamant about serving children “a shot that can’t be blocked,” and auctioning the historic memorabilia, Abdul-Jabbar stated: “enabled me to give back in an important way.”
Wiley is shooting winning shots as well. Across the Atlantic, the famed artist rolled out Black Rock Senegal, an artist residency in Dakar, to bring together creatives, producing in a range disciplines, from around the world, to work together and shift the global narrative and perspective of Africa.
(Kehinde Wiley, Swizz Beatz, Sean Zanni/PMC)
In addition to honoring these leaders for their philanthropy and humanitarianism, artist and archivists Guadalupe Rosales and conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas were awarded the 2019 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship. One hundred students received scholarships for their pursuit of the art forms bearing Parks’s “breadth and integrity,” as the Foundation puts it. Disciplines include photography, art history, African and African American studies visual art, and journalism The festivities didn’t stop there. Attendees also celebrated the 20th anniversary of Parks’ iconic photograph, A Great Day In Hip-Hop. Photographer and 2018 Gordon Parks Foundation honoree Jamel Shabazz, known for his documentary-styled images of Black urban life, recaptured the image with several hip-hop artist who were present for the original shoot — including Slick Rick, Pete Rock, Kool Keith, Questlove, Black Thought, Rah Digga, Grandmaster Kas, and hip-hop historian Fab Five Freddy and filmmaker Benny Boom. The cherry on top of the stunning evening was a stellar performance by The Roots.
(Black Thought, Kehinde Wiley, Swizz Beatz, Questlove, Sean Zanni/PMC)
The Gordon Parks Foundation was born out of great loss when the notable photographer transitioned in 2006. The foundation preserves Parks’s work and makes it accessible to the public. The arts organization has been supporting artists and funding arts initiatives with a focus on social justice since 2009. Each year since, funds are raised through auction and at The Gordon Parks Annual Awards Dinner And Auction where individuals are honored for their astounding contribution to the arts and social justice. In 2017, the foundation established the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship to support creatives working in the same vein as Parks. To find out more about Gordon Parks and The Gordon Parks Foundation, click here.
A whopping $1.3 million was raised by The Gordon Parks Foundation at the organization’s annual award dinner and auction on June 4. The Tuesday night event, held at Cipriani, honored former NBA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and artist Kehinde Wiley, who immortalized former President Barack Obama in a presidential portrait painting.
Both humanitarians have been paying it forward; Abdul-Jabbar with social activism and Wiley with his ‘art-ivism.’ The two icons were honored alongside Carol Sutton Lewis and William M. Lewis, Jr., Chelsea Clinton, and Raf Simons.
(Sarah Jones, BFA Images)
Other notable African Americans—including Gayle King, Danny Glover, Questlove, Amy Sherald, Dapper Dan, Coach K, and Carrie Mae Weems to name a few—gathered to celebrate the famed photographer’s legacy, honor those who carry a torch in his name, and support artistic and educational initiatives doing creative social justice work. Key speakers were Kathryn and Kenneth Chenault and Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, and Tony Award-winner Sarah Jones.
(The Gordon Parks Awards Dinner, BFA)
“It’s nice to see that Gordon’s legacy is conveyed to many generations after his passing,” Abdul-Jabbar told BLACK ENTERPRISE. “His photographs exemplify and personify the civil rights movement.”
In February, ESPN reported, that the 7-foot-2 inch tall Hall of Famer auctioned four of his six championship rings for $1.2 million to benefit Skyhook, his own foundation that offers “STEM opportunities to underserved communities,” according to the organization’s website. The foundation is named after a shot Abdul-Jabbar perfected throughout his ball-playing days. The all-star athlete is adamant about serving children “a shot that can’t be blocked,” and auctioning the historic memorabilia, Abdul-Jabbar stated: “enabled me to give back in an important way.”
Wiley is shooting winning shots as well. Across the Atlantic, the famed artist rolled out Black Rock Senegal, an artist residency in Dakar, to bring together creatives, producing in a range disciplines, from around the world, to work together and shift the global narrative and perspective of Africa.
(Kehinde Wiley, Swizz Beatz, Sean Zanni/PMC)
In addition to honoring these leaders for their philanthropy and humanitarianism, artist and archivists Guadalupe Rosales and conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas were awarded the 2019 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship. One hundred students received scholarships for their pursuit of the art forms bearing Parks’s “breadth and integrity,” as the Foundation puts it. Disciplines include photography, art history, African and African American studies visual art, and journalism The festivities didn’t stop there. Attendees also celebrated the 20th anniversary of Parks’ iconic photograph, A Great Day In Hip-Hop. Photographer and 2018 Gordon Parks Foundation honoree Jamel Shabazz, known for his documentary-styled images of Black urban life, recaptured the image with several hip-hop artist who were present for the original shoot — including Slick Rick, Pete Rock, Kool Keith, Questlove, Black Thought, Rah Digga, Grandmaster Kas, and hip-hop historian Fab Five Freddy and filmmaker Benny Boom. The cherry on top of the stunning evening was a stellar performance by The Roots.
(Black Thought, Kehinde Wiley, Swizz Beatz, Questlove, Sean Zanni/PMC)
The Gordon Parks Foundation was born out of great loss when the notable photographer transitioned in 2006. The foundation preserves Parks’s work and makes it accessible to the public. The arts organization has been supporting artists and funding arts initiatives with a focus on social justice since 2009. Each year since, funds are raised through auction and at The Gordon Parks Annual Awards Dinner And Auction where individuals are honored for their astounding contribution to the arts and social justice. In 2017, the foundation established the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship to support creatives working in the same vein as Parks. To find out more about Gordon Parks and The Gordon Parks Foundation, click here.
Source: nattrass / Getty
#RelationshipGoals are most likely destroying the way we see relationships. Social media feeds us this idea that relationships are idyllic, euphoric houses of love, but dealing with humans is messy. Compatibility may be instant, but learning to really do life with someone is a practice that can take years.
A lot of people don’t want to do this work, and instead opt out when things get a little hard.
“Our expectations are higher today because we are flooded with images of “perfect love” from TV, films, advertisements, and social media,” relationship coach, Claudia Cox told Elite Daily.
“We expect perfection and, if we don’t find it, we move on quickly. This makes dating harder because it’s common for us to look for what’s wrong with someone, instead of focusing on what’s right. We expect an intense spark to be there from the start. If it’s not, we check out and look for someone else, because we feel it’s easy to meet someone thanks to modern technology.”
Our cancel culture goes beyond Internet celebrities, it extends to relationships too. It can be hard to weigh if your current bae is worth the investment or not–but all good relationships require it. But we can get so caught up in only wanting to have fun, that we miss the deep love that comes with consistent effort.
“Having fun has become more and more important in today’s culture,” Cox explained.
“After the initial spark wears off and the routine sets in, we become frustrated, bored, and want to experience the spark again. Many people would rather start fresh than fully dive into the other phases of love. And the ease of finding someone online takes away the perceived risk of ending up alone.”
But the fact is, if we are constantly switching it up in search of perfection and ease, we are more likely to end up alone. Any relationship with a human, even your perfect astrological match or your soulmate, is going to take a bit of work.
So if you want the real thing, make sure you are ready for the responsibility and discipline that comes with it, not just the photos.
I may never see When They See Us, Ava DuVernay’s groundbreaking, disturbing and necessary documentary for Netflix about the Central Park Five saga, one of the worst chapters in New York City’s long tradition of racially biased law enforcement and mass media.
If I were still raising minor children, I’d be watching When They See Us with them, just as my mother required us to watch the groundbreaking Roots miniseries in 1977 (Her oldest child, I was 17 then).
However, I lived through the whole Central Park Five (Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise) media massacre—and the false narrative of young black and brown males “wilding” through the city that it justified—both personally, as a resident of Brooklyn, and professionally as a New York journalist. I’ve reached a stage of my life where I do my best to avoid unnecessarily re-traumatizing experiences.
I’m not saying I’ll never watch the documentary, but… let’s just say that I’m going to protect my mental health and spiritual peace, PERIOD.
The people who most need to watch When They See Us (in addition to young people) are those who are in deepest denial of the racial injustice that contaminates both law enforcement and mass media—which puts the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of black people, and young black males in particular, at ever present risk.
What made Roots matter was not that it was a revelation for black people (other than us kids at the time), but for white people (including many of my high school classmates) who were ignorant or in denial of the reality of slavery. The same must happen for content like When They See Us if we hope for comparable impact. (By the way, the media currently showering this doc with accolades—and likely to add more than a few well-deserved awards in the future—is the same media that vilified the Central Park Five, and continues to vilify victims of police brutality today.)
As for me, I’ve seen this “movie” too many times. The Scottsboro Boys. The Groveland Four. Jena Six. And countless others too numerous to name. I’ll pass on When They See Us, at least for now.
The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author’s and not necessarily the opinion of Black Enterprise.