deerstalker

Source: Gabriel Olsen / Getty

As we reported earlier, Danielle Brooks, perhaps best known for her role as Taystee in Netflix’s hit series “Orange is the New Black,” is set to portray legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in a new film.

Last weekend, in promotion of the film “Good Morning America” debuted the first look from the television movie, produced by Robin Roberts.

Directed by Kenny Leon (The Wiz Live), the film follows Jackson’s life as a gospel star as well as the role she played in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s inner circle.

In addition to scenes from the film, Brooks also spoke personally about the lasting legacy Jackson left on this earth.

“A lot of people don’t know that there would not be the famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech without Mahalia Jackson. She shouted out, ‘Tell them about the dream!’ Mahalia Jackson was the voice for the people. Her music moved people. It did something. It changed people’s heart. We have to, have to remember Mahalia Jackson.”

The official description for the film from Lifetime reads as follows:

“Born in New Orleans, Mahalia began singing at an early age and went on to become one of the most revered gospel figures in U.S. history, melding her music with the civil rights movement.  Her recording of the song “Move on Up a Little Higher” sold millions of copies, skyrocketing her to international fame and gave her the opportunity to perform at diverse settings including in front of a racially integrated audience at the prestigious Carnegie Hall and at John F. Kennedy’s inaugural ball. An active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, Jackson sang at numerous rallies, including the March on Washington in 1963 alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in hopes that her music would encourage and inspire racial equality. 

As we also reported Jackson’s story will be told in another feature film project starring singer Ledisi as Jackson and Columbus Short as Dr. King.

You can watch the trailer for the Lifetime movie, coming Saturday, April 3, in the video below.

Ok...this time, let's really make this a "quick to the point" posting! Listen to our special combo post MLK Day-Inauguration Day episode of Afronerd Radio's Mid Week in Review airing this Wednesday at 8pm eastern at BTalk 100.  Your loyal AFROnerdists/hosts will be deciphering the following cryptological (mid) weekly phenomena: our fast take (with positive thoughts...please no terrorism) of the historical transfer of power.  Will Trump even make an appearance and again, will everything go without a hitch?  And in the wake of the Capitol Riots and forthcoming Inauguration proceedings, was it a "good look" for the Black Lives Matter organization to create a campaign entitled, Twerk on Washington? 

A Washington Post piece, The "whitewashing" of Black Wall Street, highlights the erasure of new Black business prospects in favor of White owned firms as we approach the centennial of the racially violent decimation of the famed black business district in 1921; per usual, Dburt will try to cover some issues forgotten from this past Sunday MLK Day Grindhouse....including our thoughts about Disney's Wandavision, the 9th annual Black Comic Festival in virtual Harlem, NYC and Netflix's dual black lead sci-fi film, Outside the Wire; the new Blackwoman....ahem, Batwoman CW series (S2) premiered to less than auspicious ratings; more news on the upcoming Y: The Last Man FX TV series; Lastly, Screenrant.com highlighted an Instagram posting by Star Wars actor, John Boyega of fan showing off his merchandise swag based on Boyega's Finn character-Dburt has some thoughts that are not too innocuous (hopefully Boyega gets a cut of the merchandise displaying his likeness and black swag matters!)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by John Boyega (@johnboyega)

*One thing that Dburt is doing (finally) is investing in cryptocurrency, courtesy of Roundlyx. We would implore our followers to investigate, discern and then explore by using our referral code: afro-87A4BF

Call us LIVE at 508-645-0100. AFTER CLICKING ON THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK, GO DIRECTLY TO AFRONERD RADIO!!! 

or This link below.....
function openPlayer(s){window.open("https://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/"+escape(s),"Player","height=630,width=940,modal=yes,alwaysRaised=yes")}

The New York Post published a front-page op-ed Sunday by Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who used the massive platform to complain about the “muzzling” of conservative voices in America.

Again, that’s a sitting member of Congress taking over the front page of a major national publication to complain about being silenced. If irony wasn’t already dead, Josh Hawley has surely killed it.

Hawley’s op-ed is exactly what you’d expect it to be, yet also somehow worse. He condemns “cancel culture” and complains about “social credit scores” (“the latest corporate import from Communist China”) and how they have the power to derail conservatives’ personal lives and professional standings.

Hawley’s social credit score has taken a hit recently and you can tell because some hotels canceled his political events, his publisher canceled his book (and then re-bought it under a conservative imprint) and because with Parler shut down, the only platforms he has left from which to espouse his views are the NY Post, Fox News, CNN, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and, oh yeah, the Senate floor.

Hawley makes up a lot of hypotheticals for his article. He says that “Karens” are being doxxed online for “[cutting] the wrong person off in traffic” (instead of, you know, racism). He predicts that encrypted communication apps will get shut down by big tech “for interfering in efficient social credit markets.” He says those same “tech titans” will try to expel “half the House Republican conference” from Congress because of their conservative views.

What he does not mention, not even once, is the recent riot at the Capitol that left five people dead and many more injured. The riot where violent domestic terrorists are believed to have hoped to kidnap and in some cases, even kill lawmakers. The riot that Josh Hawley actively, publicly encouraged.

It’s pretty amazing that Hawley could write a few hundred words about how people are trying to silence him and never once mention what he has said and done to actually deserve to lose his platform. Which, to be clear, he hasn’t. If he were being “muzzled,” well, he probably wouldn’t be able to use the front page of a tabloid newspaper to tell us so.

You do realize, if you were truly muzzled, you wouldn’t be able to tweet that you were standing up to muzzling by talking about the matter in a newspaper article, right?#CapitolRiot #TwitterBan https://t.co/pNSw5L33W4

— Craig Rozniecki (@CraigRozniecki) January 25, 2021

“I’m being muzzled!” he screams in the pages of one of the largest newspapers in the country’s biggest media market. https://t.co/Y4JuSt463F

— Gary Legum (@GaryLegum) January 25, 2021

saying youre being muzzled in a front page op-ed in a major newspaper in america’s biggest media market is the kind of thing only republicans can pull off

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) January 25, 2021

For somebody who claims he’s been consistently muzzled, Hawley is somehow in my face in major media outlets all the time. I would think muzzling would mean I wouldn’t have to listen to this treason weasel anymore, but apparently not. https://t.co/VG5GfUOtCj

— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers) January 25, 2021

Every time I hear @HawleyMO is being muzzled, ironically, I hear it from Josh Hawley himself.

— Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) January 25, 2021

No one is “muzzling” Josh Hawley. He doesn’t have a guaranteed right to a book deal (which he hasn’t even lost!), or to have his events hosted and publicized by a major hotel chain. He can say whatever he wants and then others can choose how to react. To insist otherwise—to say that no one else gets to decide what they say and do in response to his actions—is itself “muzzling” of others’ voices, something Hawley is actually very familiar with.

Josh,
Do you remember when you came to my Yale talk on the history of affirmative action? You disrupted it, aggressively held the floor during Q&A, wouldn’t let anyone else ask a ?, & refused to sit down. When I said you were rude & had no right to muzzle the audience, you left. https://t.co/EHIonqdIfL

— Dr. Glenda Gilmore (@GilmoreGlenda) January 25, 2021

Not to mention:

You left out the part where you tried to cancel millions of votes. https://t.co/BIYJiqreBw

— Patterico (@Patterico) January 25, 2021

There is a huge difference between being silenced and being, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez put it, “deeply unpopular.”

You were given prime space to say this in a billionaire-run rag that specifically amplifies right-wing views, part of a entire subsidized industry of right-wing outlets.

You’re not “muzzled,” Hawley. You’re just deeply unpopular, and aided insurrection.

And you need to resign. https://t.co/VjNucSfhrT

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 25, 2021

In the words of possibly my favorite TikTok of all time, “You’re not getting bullied. You’re picking a fight, then losing that fight.”

@yourpal_austin@riannasun I didn’t have to go this hard. But also… I kind of did. #oroginalsound♬ original sound – Austin Archer

Honestly, Josh Hawley should start playing that song and his rallies and political events—if he can find a venue that’s willing to host him.

(image: Demetrius Freeman – Pool/Getty Images)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

In classic Jennifer Lopez fashion, the pop sensation confused her fans with a “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” challenge. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of her sophomore album, Lopez posted a video on Twitter that I’m still trying to decipher the meaning of. With the hit song playing in the background, the video shows her on the beach in a white coat and shades, with a plethora of extensions that are distracting more than they are appealing.

As she walks down the beach, she starts to take off and toss the items she’s wearing. Expensive shades? Pffft. Don’t need them. Coat that’s probably worth more than I make in a month? Sacrificed to the beach gods! Random bracelet that I still don’t know what it is? You go, too! And she ends it all by teasing her fans by “almost” taking off a retro JLo shirt that she must’ve gotten off a Jennifer Lopez stan on eBay, because where do you even get a thing like that in 2021?

Immediately, the internet did what it did best: It trolled the hell out of JLo. No one knew what the #LoveDontCostAThingChallenge was about, and they started forming theories. Maybe she wanted us to go and litter? Maybe she wanted us to go and take a walk down our own private beaches? No one was having it, no one did the challenge, and the best part of it were the reactions to her request with a reminder that we’re in the middle of a pandemic.

You want us all to rush to the beach in a pan de queso to have our friends film us throwing away good jewelry? I’m so confused pic.twitter.com/Rv0OVKTaoL

— earth is ghetto (@ronisverybusy) January 24, 2021

Jlo we supposed to throw our valuables on the beach?

Is the challenge to find it after we throw it bc we can’t afford to replace it?!?

What is the instructions?!?!????? pic.twitter.com/j1wJcEzRqW

— Jeanelope the Great👑 (@_nellerita_) January 24, 2021

We are in a panini, still haven’t gotten our second stimmy & you want us to go out & throw our shit away in the sand?!? pic.twitter.com/arTI1QEvHb

— Seth Rogen’s väz (@LaniPierre) January 24, 2021

now ashanti i know you not asking us to go to a beach in the middle of a phantasia to litter pic.twitter.com/6HuC4cl1oU

— sιмσηε мιssιcк sтαη αccσυηт (@heyyitsjanea) January 24, 2021

Maam this is tone deaf. Can’t nobody afford to be throwing their stuff on the beach. We’re in a panoramic.

— Chanel (@chanelrefa) January 24, 2021

Please stop, just be rich in private and leave us regular people ALONE. pic.twitter.com/BBSRAmgdTi

— Jacqueline Christina (@goblin_mami) January 24, 2021

Me trying to figure out which beach that is so I can find that discarded jewelry #LoveDontCostAThingButFoodAndHousingDoes pic.twitter.com/lvzSWis06b

— QONDI 💛 🐝 🇺🇸🇿🇦🇿🇼 (@WeAreAllOther) January 24, 2021

People must go the beach during a Pon de Replay, and litter and get neked…?

Got it! pic.twitter.com/7DjLAcbaXH

— ᴍᴇɴᴅʏ ꜱʜᴏᴢɪ (@mendy_shozi) January 24, 2021

Im sorry J but we are in a Planetarium & I can’t afford to lose what little I have left pic.twitter.com/7PR09ZWASO

— ᴮˡᵛᵏ💎ᴰⁱᵛᵐᵒⁿᵈˢ (@BlvkDivmonds) January 24, 2021

(featured image: Epic Records)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—