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Henry Louis Aaron, nicknamed ‘Hammerin’ Hank,’ was born the third of eight on Feb. 5, 1934 in an underprivileged neighborhood in Mobile, Alabama. At the young age of 8, Henry and his family moved to Toulminville, a middle-class neighborhood nearby, where he developed a passion for baseball and football. He attended segregated Central High School, where he played third base and shortstop on the school’s team.

In his junior year, young Henry transferred to a private school that had a structured baseball program. In 1951, he left high school to play for the Indianapolis Clowns, a team in the Negro Leagues, which he led to victory in the league’s 1952 World Series. Shortly after, he was recruited for $10,000 by the Milwaukee Braves and named “Northern League Rookie of the Year.” Two years later, in 1954, at the age of 20, he joined the MLB. His first year he had a batting average of .280, and in the 1955 season he hit more than 27 home runs, had 106 runs batted in, and held a batting average of .328. During the 1957 World Series against the New York Yankees, Aaron hit a home run in the 11^th inning, causing the Braves to win which was a major upset, and helping him to earn the title of the National League’s MVP.

Aaron was a loyal activist in the civil rights movement; he also supported the NAACP. Together with his wife, Billye, Aaron created the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation to help children develop and achieve their potential. In addition, the baseball superstar would speak about opportunities for minorities. He once stated, “On the field, blacks have been able to be super giants. But once our playing days are over, this is the end of it and we go back to the back of the bus again.”

Over the next decade and a half, Aaron continued to succeed, averaging 30 to 40 home runs per season. At the age of 39, he achieved a skyrocketing high of 40 home runs, just one run behind Babe Ruth’s sacred record of 714. Aaron began to receive death threats and hate mail that said a black man should not dare try to break baseball’s most sanctified record. On April 8, 1974, Aaron broke the record with his 715^th home run in the fourth inning against the LA Dodgers. Afterwards, he returned to Milwaukee to finish his career, and retired there as a player, later becoming executive vice president of the Atlanta Braves.

Today, the 81-year-old Aaron is senior vice president of the Braves, and a leader and spokesman on getting players of color into the league. Aaron was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1982, and in 1999, the MLB introduced the Hank Aaron Award, which would be presented every year to the best overall hitter in each league. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 from President George W. Bush because of Aaron’s humanitarian ventures. Aaron now resides in Georgia and remains one of the best hitters in baseball history. He is responsible for breaking many baseball records; he is especially known for obtaining the most career home runs (755 in total), which lasted for more than two decades. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund awarded him the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.

Watch the below video for an interview with ‘Hammerin Hank’ who was honored with the A.G. Gaston Award last year at Black Enterprise’s Entrepreneurs Summit.

The post This Day In Black History: ‘Home Run King’ Is Born appeared first on Black Enterprise.

Here we go – I’m not gonna recap the recap this time, If you want to know what happened in chapter seventy two do a quick read of the last recap – trust me, it’s worth it.

Jane the Virgin is so much drama, so much novela realness that I’ve decided to break up the structure a bit and focus on the relationships – so let us begin.

Xiomara and Rogelio

As we saw last Rogelio decided to take one year off of work to be a full-time dad. Everyone is proud of him and I’m all about JTV bringing in the full-time dad life into the storyline, but I’ll be honest: I am not buying it. He cannot live one month without his career, he loves acting and being in Novelas – it really is him at his best self. I’m not knocking him for wanting to really be around for his new baby in ways he didn’t get to with his other children, but it’s Rogelio. C’mon. (side note: what ever happened to his twin teenage daughters, na’meen?)

Either way, Rogelio convinced Darcy and Esteban that he could be the Nanny, or as he says it, the “Danny.” Dad + nanny… get it?

On Xo’s end, she is supportive of his decision and is ramping up to promote the dance studio. She has an open house that does pretty well and she just looks completely unsatisfied. I get it, she feels like she was giving up on her dreams so she makes a switch by taking a teaching job and trying to focus on her dancing.

Sad to say Rogelio had almost the same idea when deciding to be a stay at home dad and, as predicted, was feeling lonely and was going to announce that he’d be going back to work. He didn’t tell Xo ‘cuz she was so excited that he had inspired her to make a change in her career.
We all know his silence will bite him in the butt in the end.

Alba and Jorge

I cannot with this storyline, it is so internally painful. Alba as we know turned down Jorge because of her connection to her late husband. But now he is doing that man thing and asserting his power and giving her crap shifts at work. To be honest, I think he is actually super sweet and is just in pain and trying to find a way in which he does not have to see Alba. Giving her the late shift means he can avoid her at all costs.

Then! We see he has a new boo! What the deuce! Alba comes to confront him on the shift thing and she sees him kissing another woman and leaving with her – oh dang, he moved on quick. We find out that he didn’t just move on he move back! It’s Sofia his ex that he had been with for 2 years before Alba, and now Alba is convinced she was the rebound. I don’t think so, I think Alba was the one – and he got turned down, what else would you do? I honestly want Alba to be happy and its almost like she can’t be happy unless she has her Mateo back – and she’s knows she can’t have that. She feels so deeply sad, because she knows how complex she feels inside. I’m so invested in Alba… sigh.

Petra and Lawyer Jane

Petra gets more and more interesting as time goes by, which probably not everyone agrees. Compared to her past criminal days she has really gotten soft, but it makes her a bit more layered to me. In this episode Petra is really trying to understand why Rafael won’t forgive her for leaving his sister in a mental institution when Petra knew she wasn’t hallucinating. Jane is like “you left his sister in a mental institution when you knew she wasn’t hallucinating.” See, Petra is still cold at heart. She even is still trying to convince Lawyer Jane to let her call her JR (her initials). You can’t convince Lawyer Jane of nothing. It’s Rosario Dawson, c’mon. I like her come back though, she says she’s gonna call her Peter – ha! And then Rosario talks about her ex girlfriend something something and I am like yaaaasss – JTV doing it again really solidifying the culture of this world in the best way! I really love programs that show how the world really is. JTV has been showing us love as it is, politics in our everyday lives, and so much more. I truly applaud shows that addresses life issues not as a “special” episode, but more and more as just reality. We also learn that Lawyer Jane’s mother has Alzheimer’s and has been trying to get an appointment with a top doctor for sometime.

Even though Lawyer Jane may be a villain, I feel like a good relationship is building between her and Petra. They both have ulterior motives in this episode: Petra tries to prove she has compassion and gets the appointment for Lawyer Jane’s mom, and Lawyer Jane needs the blueprints to Petra’s office for the “authorities” in the investigation on her sister’s death. After a great evening with wine and sharing – which I’m like is this the beginning of a beautiful friendship? Or something…? But after she gets the blueprints – you see her text “unknown” like “you sure she’s guilty?” Of course everyone thinks unknown is Sin Rostro, but I think it’s actually Rafael… we’ll see what twist this novela has for us.

Towards the end Petra forces brunch onto Jane after advice from Lawyer Jane because “brunch happens with our without Rafael,” and Petra admits that Jane is a good person who is really her moral compass. See the layers that unfold?! Also we’re doing flashbacks to past seasons to move the story forward – we’ve made it! We can say, “I remember that episode” in a flashback!

Jane and… Everything

Finally to Jane, and so much is happening with her. Right out the gate, she gets dropped from her publisher I’m like, damn, this is real. She has a very strong point about how difficult it is in this world for women writers of color. That there really is only one chance to get it right, second chances are so hard to come by. At that moment, I was like is this the episode that Gina Rodriguez directed? She got that fire on issues like this – did you see her rant on the red carpet?

Then they reference JK – they were like “what about that Harry Potter lady, she probably wrote a bunch of books before hitting it big.” Which is not the case – Harry Potter was her first book that she wrote, like, baby in tow and broke on life, which needless to say did not make Jane feel better.

It’s also all about Mateo. He is all about Rafael and Jane being together so they can be a family. I really feel they need to teach him about revolutionary family structures here in a teachable moment; I get it though, when kids are at this age they get ideas about how families are “supposed” to be from school. I have a friend who split from her husband, whom she has a child with and upon re-entering the dating world was dating a woman. Her daughter came home from school one day and told her mom she shouldn’t date girls, that she is supposed to date boys. It’s hard out there trying to show your children how complex we are as humans and then they are inundated with what society says is “normal.” To top it off Rafael does want to be together with Jane, so Mateo gets in his mind that Jane is the only reason they can’t be a family. That is so much pressure.

Then Rafael finds a way to get Jane a meeting with the big publisher, “Jeffrey Mullins.” She’s freaking out because she doesn’t have any new book ideas, she actually has writer’s block. She meets with the agent and – ummm, dashing man.

Anyway, this agent is also obsessed with Petra. He then calls Petra over and offers her a book deal! It’s like salt in the wound for Jane, who is a writer who desperately needs another break and this guy is not concerned with her ideas at all. She pitches a 50 Shades-type book but with a gender role reversal, and the guy is like, sure. And then asks Petra to give them a proposal and that he’d push it like crazy. That’s life sometimes, you know. She’s gonna get her break though, I know it.

So now she has to write an S&M romance story with Mrs. Grey…? And I cannot with these fantasies — Jane in leather whipping Rafael, and then talking about properly raising Mateo. Oh no!

In the end she can’t write that book, and Rafael is there to tell her, “your not passionate about it.” She’s just trying to write something that sells, but she keeps talking about herself as a villain. From what Mateo says, I say she write a superhero villain romance novel! I would legit read that if it were a real book written by Jane Villanueva.

At brunch you see her inner struggle as Petra talks about having writer’s block and Jane keeps throwing low-key shade at Petra. It comes out of course and they talk civil, and Jane tells Petra to just get a ghost writer, and yep… next thing the brunch table turns into a negotiation table, and boom! Jane is hired as Petra’s ghost writer. I have a feeling the book is gonna be big, and that means more internal struggle for Jane for sure.

In the end Mateo is really having a hard time with wanting his family to be together and it’s coming out in school, so Jane and Rafael need to make a decision. After all of Jane’s book fantasies she wants to try their relationship, but just then Rafael feels that they shouldn’t. I’m with him! Sorry, team Rafael fans. Well, actually, not sorry, ‘cuz that is just a lie they decide to tell the family and we see them making out in the car right after. I mean, I’m no longer team Rafael, but I still agree they should get it in!

Again we are left with passionate kissing and, for me, mixed feelings. Tune in next week on Jane the S&M romance novelist.

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The post Jane the Virgin Recap: Chapter Seventy Three appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

The use of one of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speeches as a voice-over in the automotive manufacturer’s commercial during Sunday’s Super Bowl game drew swift rebuke from fans of the late civil rights leader on social media.

“I just heard the voice of the famous anti-capitalist Martin Luther King, Jr, preaching a sermon on service, superimposed over the images of white American military personnel on parade in dress uniforms, in order to sell Ram trucks. I understand sports ball is to blame,” said M. Pezzulo in a comment left on the video on YouTube.

Many comments on various social media channels also echo the same sentiment, saying it was inappropriate for Dodge to use King’s Drum Major Instinct speech—given in 1968, on greatness and service—to sell cars.

The worst commercials are those that use icons like Martin Luther King Jr to sell things like a Dodge Ram truck.

— Matt Viser (@mviser) February 5, 2018

“If you want to be important, wonderful. If you want to be free, wonderful. If you want to be recognized, wonderful. If you want to be great, wonderful. Recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant—that’s a new definition of greatness,” King said as the video depicts fishermen, military, firefighters, football players, and other workers before cutting to shots of Ram’s truck.

The commercial ended with Ram’s tagline, “Built to Serve.”

The King Center said on Twitter that neither the organization nor members of King’s family approved the use of the words or imagery for use in the ad.

Neither @TheKingCenter nor @BerniceKing is the entity that approves the use of #MLK’s words or imagery for use in merchandise, entertainment (movies, music, artwork, etc.) or advertisement, including tonight’s @Dodge #SuperBowl commercial.

— The King Center (@TheKingCenter) February 5, 2018

Other comments said it was hypocritical of the NFL to allow such an ad while NFL players who kneel during the national anthem all year were heavily criticized as activists staged protests outside the U.S. Bank stadium.

Leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement and a coalition of other groups attempted to shut down several critical transit lines in downtown Minneapolis in order to protest police brutality and racism.

So Martin Luther King Jr. can be used to sell Ram trucks but not a single NFL player can #TakeAKnee to fight the very injustice Dr. King dedicated and sacrificed his life to fight. #SuperBowl

— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) February 5, 2018

About 100 leaders representing the Movement for Black Lives, Black Lives Matter Network, BYP100, St. Louis Action Council, and the BlackOUT Collective wore t-shirts branded with “You can’t play with Black lives!” locked arms and formed a chain blockade on the tracks of the West Bank station near the U.S. Bank Stadium for about an hour, according to the Star Tribune.

The activists said they are using the moment to call attention to and stand with athletes who have knelt and protested racial injustice and police brutality against African Americans over the past two football seasons.

The City of Minneapolis had banned city residents without Super Bowl tickets from using the public transit—a move activists said primarily affected people of color who rely on it to commute to work.

Seventeen of the protesters who were arrested were later released with a citation according to the Star Tribune.

In a night already filled with controversies, the Pepsi Super Bowl halftime show didn’t disappoint either. While Justine Timberlake’s much-anticipated performance didn’t deliver on the hype according to some comments on Twitter, it was his tribute to Prince that drew ire from the late singer’s fans.

20 years before his projection appeared during Justin Timberlake’s halftime show, Prince made it clear how he felt about using technology to perform with an artist who had passed away. #SuperBowlhttps://t.co/Guxi2B6PlVpic.twitter.com/XwdIctpAt1

— E! News (@enews) February 5, 2018

In a 1998 interview with Guitar World Magazine, Prince was asked what he thought about digital editing to “create a situation where you could jam with any artist from the past.”

From an October 1998 @GuitarWorld interview with Prince. pic.twitter.com/nlsyX7uaR4

— Andrea Swensson (@SlingshotAnnie) February 3, 2018

“That’s the most demonic thing imaginable,” he said. “Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing … it really is demonic. And I am not a demon. Also, what they did with that Beatles song (Free as a Bird), manipulating John Lennon’s voice to have him singing from across the grave … that’ll never happen to me. To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control.”

The post Prince, Dodge Ram, Protests: Race-related Issues in Spotlight of Super Bowl LII appeared first on Black Enterprise.

Season: 1 / Episode: 3 / Starz

Damn, we get this shit started quick seeing Emily Prime on the street, looking all slow-mo and photogenic and shit. EPMD bout to make moves and then skrrrrrrrt—car crash. My bad. That wasn’t EPMD. That was Emily Silk getting sideswiped by a student driver or some shit. Howard gets to the hospital and they basically telling him that his wife is all kinds of fucked up. Dude is a frantic mess.

And we’re back to today where Howard still going to see his wife except now there’s club bouncers at the door of her room and shit and they ain’t letting folks in with no tennis shoes, white tees or hoodies. Howard start telling E-Coma about his promotion, even though he know that shit wasn’t on merit.

Maaaaaaan, listen, EPMD catching an early feature and they got a public advertisement for spreading germs and shit. One kid coughs and everybody treat that little muthafucka like Patient Zero. Little kids doing the reverse rap video walk and backing up from this dude like he’s the origin of the zombie apocalypse. They strap up they mask and do everything short of stoning this dude. I say gotdamn man. That’s some cold ass shit. But yo, Earth Prime is all kinds of fucked up man. Germs got them hella shook. You sneeze from germs and they might put your ass in Riker’s Island solitary confinement.

EPMD is there on a meet and you know this shit is real cuz she got the nine ready. Dude got that intel on who set her up with that fake ass authorization. She bout to bounce before she also gives EPMD the scoop on how Baldwin vs The World turned out on the other side. EPMD like, man fuck that, I got to mobilize my shit and figure out what happened.

The police aka the clueless muthafuckas about this Crisis on Infinite Earths shit are interrogating Baldwin. They like, check it… why your ruthless murdering ass got the same prints as the woman we caught you dead with, huh? Baldwin like… man, speak no evil, my dude, and kept that shit mad quiet.

St. Pete doing his usual Wednesday routine with a prostitute up in the Waldorf and shit. He gets a call from… fuck it …who we assume is a powerful bastard asking about Baldwin. He questions St. Pete on that shit and your boy got no fucking clue what’s going on. Worse, said powerful bastard is calling St. Pete from St. Pete’s fucking office, so guess where we all know where the fuck St. Pete ain’t at?

So now, St. Pete gotta go off on his crew since he bout to get his head lopped off when he meets the powerful bastard. Oh, extra points, the powerful bastard is his father-in-law. Fun. And, he works in Diplomacy apparently. Which means he bout to exploit the shit out of this Baldwin in custody shit. Howard In Black is like, yeah, time to let these muthafuckas know I’m in the building and hit up the embassy to stall negotiations. Aldrich still nursing that lip and now he gotta drag Howard Silk everywhere with him so he doesn’t create any more public shootings.

Well, look like Ian bout to get some burn as he gets the mission to go to the other side and find out what the fuck is going on before this deal for Baldwin gets done. But he gotta take EPMD with him and he like “nah fam, that ain’t no dinner thing.” But EPMD got connections so he got no choice. EPMD is rolling cuz she wants to clear her name and Howard in Black is the only one that can do that.

Speaking of HIB, he at the embassy to see what magic he can whip up to stop the deal. This shit look like Fort Knox. Cameras everywhere. HIB getting escorted by armed guards and shit. He finally run up on the 32-inch inseam-in-charge and welcomes him as a fellow traveler from the other side.

Aldrich and Howard got to interrogate Baldwin. Everybody sees Aldrich and just ghosts that shit immediately. Housekeeping got mad fuckin’ pull, yo. Baldwin is like, I ain’t answering your questions since you put the kill order on my bizzaro self, so send the lame in here that don’t shoot muthafuckas. Baldwin asks why Howard tried to stop the shooting and Howard is like…yeah, cuz she ain’t do shit but look like you, fam. You ain’t supposed to die over that shit. Baldwin asks Howard how he feels about his other, and Howard is like, yeah, I wish I never met that muthafucka. He throwing dirt on our name and shit.

Yeah… shit ain’t going great for HIB. He talking to the diplomat and dude giving HIB a hard fucking time. He like… yeah, your idea is shit, you fucked this up and now, I’m leaving so the inquiry team can have a look at you. But ya know, thanks for bringing yourself in.

St. Pete walk up in his step-papa’s office and they already in there negotiating how much shit they gonna try and fleece Prime for. Diplomacy bout to rob these muthafuckas blind, man. They got all the leverage cuz Baldwin might be on some off the books black ops shit that the other side wants to keep quiet.

Ian and EPMD getting inoculations before crossing over. They gotta get these joints every three months before crossing now… for six hours, fam. And one building. They can’t even leave the embassy grounds. That’s like spending two hours in the mirror getting your edges right just so you can go out and get the mail and then turn your ass back around. Everybody has to go across alone, so EPMD out here taking them small steps for Emily kind outchea. Shit look like the third act of a horror film when you get trapped and make your last stand against the chainsaw wielding cat that was chasing you.

EPMD and Ian get to the embassy and shit is a lot more relaxed than when HIB came through. And yeah… HIB is there waiting for them. Ian is like, yeah, tell us what you know my dude and HIB is like, man, I just got here. I went for a jog one day and ended up in another dimension so I don’t even know what you talking about. Then he looking at EPMD and drops this bar:
“Well, now I know the answer to the question of ‘who do I have to fuck to get on this team.’”

Gotdaaaaaaaamn.

HIB giving everyone a hard fucking time. He like, I don’t trust anyone in this room. Not you. Not you when you were a baby. Not the woman I got history with. I don’t even know this fuckin’ guy. And fuck this guy too.

Diplomacy meets with the ambassador. Ambassador tries to give a good offer but yeah… that ain’t fuckin’ cutting it.

Ambassador: You ask for the world.
Diplomacy: Well… your world.

This shit is not going to be nice. At. All. They going back and forth until St. Pete’s phone goes off and you would’ve thought someone at that table spontaneously combusted or some shit. Yeah, the other side ain’t got cell phones, fam. Dude rockin’ an I28 and the other side still using dial up and shit. That’s. Fucked. Up. Apparently, the other side didn’t have time for invention and innovation because they been fighting plagues and trying not to go out like the dinosaurs and shit. And… there might be some implication that the shit was manufactured. Welp. As you can guess, that shit didn’t exactly go as planned and everybody got up from the table with hurt feelings.

Man, EPMD talking to HIB and she out here talkin’ ALLLLLLL THE SHIT. She says that it was Pope that put that action code to get your boy murked. HIB like nah fam, that can’t be right. EPMD is like clean the shit out your ears, fam. Cats is dying in the streets yo.

In the police station Baldwin and Howard still talking and Howard is like, dude, you was about to put the hit on my wife… the fuck, man? Baldwin like, look bruh, you might hate HIB, but we all meet in the middle somewhere.

Well, shit, the deal is done and Diplomacy is celebrating. St. Pete try to stall that shit one more time and his pappy-in-law is like, fam, this is actually the whole point and y’all just running around in shadows, bruh. Then he drops the reality check on him, talking about, you’re a good enough dude and you make my daughter happy (smile emoji). But you got the silver spoon so far up your ass, you spit metal when you talk. And being at this level… you gotta actually earn that shit.

EPMD and HIB exchanging some info and HIB discloses that this shit be because of a dispute in Management. Brotha man (three fingers), fourth floor. HIB starts holding back some information of who his sources were and THEN we get some real truth. Turns out that EPMD was deep in the game well before HIB was and he never forgave him for keeping that from her. That shit created a divide and your boy been out here working his way up the ladder and crossing over like Iverson ever since.

EPMD asks if they are still together in this world and HIB ain’t got the heart to tell her that she brain dead as fuck over here. When they leave, HIB gives EPMD some code when she goes back home. Ayebody know that shit is code but can’t nobody do shit about it. Even Ian, who’s pissed that his stroke game ain’t good enough to get her to confide to him.

Baldwin getting transported as she’s going to be traded back to other side with the deal done. Buuuuuuuuuuut, they get caught in the street first. Whole team of muthafuckas started going all Heat on them and shooting up the vehicle (even though it’s bulletproof). Well, that muthafucka ain’t explosion proof. They bout to light the whole joint on fire until Howard convinces Aldrich to let Baldwin go. They would have probably got murked the fuck out if Baldwin didn’t stop the kill order. They speed off and leave Howard and Aldrich swinging in the wind.

Since HIB just got his visa revoked, he knows when he goes back that he can’t come back over. So he’s like… um, send Howard the Lame instead. I’ll stay here for a week, get to the bottom of this shit.

Back on Prime, EPMD following that cryptic ass sentimental for the very non-sentimental HIB. She finds the letters he was talking about and leaves the church with that shit. On the other side, Howard looking at his world for the last time in a bit before he crosses over to Prime Contagion. EPMD finds a quiet bench and reads the letters.

Turns out, HIB is there on an assignment to find the sender’s aggressors, but also to protect Howard the Lame. Turns out, Emily’s ain’t loyal cuz E-Coma kept shit from Howard just like EPMD did. That shit is A LOT for EPMD to handle and them tears start flowing down the cheek. She gets home, pricks her thumb on something as soon as she comes in the door… yeah… that wasn’t some accidental shit cuz she woozy and shit. She eventually collapses on her own floor and the cleaners with the footies on their shows come out the back room, dropping pills around her and shit before bouncing, making that shit look like an overdose. Damn yo, things are as bad as they’ve ever been.

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The post Counterpart Recap: The Lost Art of Diplomacy appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.