The 44 Percent: Angel Reese makes history and Saks apologizes for racial profiling incident
Affectionately known as the “Bayou Barbie” since her days on Louisiana State University’s women’s basketball championship team, Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese just made WNBA history twice in the last week.
First, she registered her seventh consecutive double-double —the longest streak for a rookie in the league —during a June 20 home game against the Dallas Wings.
A double-double occurs when a basketball player scores in the double digits in at least two of five major categories: points, steals, rebounds, assists, and blocked shots.
She became the first rookie in WNBA history to record seven consecutive double-doubles.
Then, just three days later, the newly-minted “Chi Barbie” made history again by scoring her eighth consecutive double-double when she scored a career-high of 25 points and grabbed 16 rebounds during a victory over Indiana Fever.
Reese entered the spotlight during the 2023 national championship game which matched her up against University of Iowa’s star Caitlin Clark. LSU prevailed but both Reese and Clark’s popularity skyrocketed with the two often being pitted against one another although both deny having any animosity towards one another off the court.
Since her WNBA debut, Reese’s detractors have often criticized her temperament and bravado. Some of this criticism has racial undertones –particularly, when she is compared to Caitlin Clark, who is considered “classy” while users on Twitter (now X) regularly call Reese “classless.”
Still, the two superstars have brought more eyes to the WNBA than ever before with their recent match-up being the most-watched game in WNBA game in 23 years with 2.3 million viewers.
INSIDE THE 305
Saks Fifth Avenue apologizes to NBA general manager after accusing him of stealing
Saks Fifth Avenue apologized to Washington Wizards general manager Will Dawkins after racially profiling and falsely accusing him of stealing clothes from its Miami store last November.
Larry Bruce, president of Saks Fifth Avenue, issued the apology in a letter addressed to Dawkins. Bruce, who also posted the letter to LinkedIn, said the security guard at the Miami store broke protocol when he approached Dawkins without identifying himself, then falsely accused him of shoplifting and wrongfully detained him with help from police. The guard is no longer with the company, Bruce added.
“There was a violation of our policies that never should have happened. It is an important reminder to our entire organization that we must continually work to ensure that every guest that comes through our doors is welcomed and treated with respect,” Bruce’s LinkedIn post read, Andscape reported. “As part of this, we are pleased to be making donations to three worthy organizations that are dedicated to making a positive impact on causes that are important to Mr. Dawkins.”
After months of searching, this Miami chef found a new home for her popular chicken spot
Chef Amaris has been searching for a new home for her fried chicken restaurant, Chik’n Jones, since last summer’s announcement of the closing of Time Out Market.
After scouring locations everywhere from Fort Lauderdale to Kendall, Amaris’ search finally landed her in the heart of the popular Wynwood neighborhood on NW Second Avenue.
Amaris’ strong local ties stem from her move to Miami in 2001. She did a little bit of everything from real estate to property management before opening her first restaurant, South Street, in 2012. Though South Street’s stint in the Design District was short-lived, Amaris’ unique cooking approach developed a cult following as Martha Stewart, Lenny Kravitz and LeBron James frequented the eatery. Eventually, Amaris landed a gig as the personal chef to Rick Ross, whom she helped lose 80 lbs. The success didn’t stop there: in 2022, while still operating Chik’n Jones, Amaris was named chef at large of Red Rooster. “I wanted someone with equal talent but also, locally, to have really strong ties to Miami,” celebrity chef and Red Rooster owner Marcus Samuelsson told the Miami Herald in 2022.
OUTSIDE THE 305
Obama’s half-sister was tear-gassed during Kenya protest over tax hikes
Barack Obama’s half-sister was tear-gassed on Tuesday in Kenya while rallying with protesters to demand that legislators don’t support a tax-raising bill.
Auma Obama, a Kenyan activist and half-sister of the former president, was shown wiping her face and struggling to breathe as she spoke with CNN moments after she said she was hit with tear-gas while demonstrating in Nairobi.
“I can’t believe that these young people are just trying to demonstrate for their rights,” Obama said in the interview with CNN. She said she had attended the protest to support the young demonstrators, “and to tell them that we understand that they need to use their voices and we are being tear-gassed. We’re being tear-gassed! We have flags and banners, nothing else.”
Thousands of protesters swarmed Kenya’s Parliament after lawmakers passed the tax hike on Tuesday and fled through a tunnel as protesters stormed the building, The Associated Press reported. At least five people were fatally shot, dozens were injured and 21 people are missing after the protesters clashed with police, according to a joint statement from Amnesty International and other Kenyan civic groups.
Indictment alleges West Virginia couple used adopted Black children as ‘slaves,’ judge says
A West Virginia couple was arrested after some of their Black adopted children were found locked in a shed at their home. The couple faces charges that a judge said included using the children as “slaves.”
Donald Ray Lantz and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather face trial later this year after they were arraigned on 16 counts each accusing them of civil rights violations, human trafficking, forced labor, gross child neglect and falsifying an application seeking a public defender. All but one of the counts are felonies.
Lantz and Whitefeather are white. Four children whose initials are in the indictment are Black.
The indictment said Lantz and Whitefeather forced, threatened and interfered with “the free exercise and enjoyment of any right and privilege” of the four children.
Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Madison Tuck said Wednesday that while she couldn’t answer questions about specific details, “I would just say that because the indictment includes a civil rights violation, that there’s definitely a racial element to the case.”
HIGH CULTURE
The Unfiltered Charm of Jet’s Beauties of the Week
Long before there were Instagram models readily available on every smartphone, there was the coveted title of “Jet Beauty of the Week” only found in the latest issue of Jet magazine.
The New Yorker article entitled “The Unfiltered Charm of Jet’s Beauties of the Week” recently captured the importance of the rise of these “Jet Beauties” in the 1950s during a time when most fashion models were white and thin. Jet magazine, a weekly magazine focused on Black news and entertainment, included models that the magazine dubbed among “the country’s most beautiful, shapely and radiant Nubian princesses.”
The women in these photos were everyday women – college students, paralegals, and nurses who submitted their photos to the magazine and then were paired with a professional photographer if chosen for publication.
In The New Yorker article, Jennifer Wilson highlighted how these women were self-styled and often lacked the polish present in today’s world of photoshopping and filters. However, she insisted that that rawness gave the Jet beauties their charm.
Most importantly, she noted how the popularity of these “Black Beauties” captured the “Black is Beautiful” movement which played a pivotal role in uplifting Black people’s emotional well-being.
Where does “The 44 Percent” name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter’s title.
