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The 17th-century English political philosopher, John Locke, once said,” to understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider, what state all men naturally in.” Locke, who is widely regarded as an inspirer of European Enlightenment, argued in his Two Treatise of Government that government is obligated to serve the people. He was rather eloquently talking about the state of nature which is crucial to us as human beings, in order to make sense of political power.

Four years ago, Somalia was swept by a contagious fever of Farmaajo-Mania largely driven by huge public dissatisfaction with his predecessor’s dysfunctional and inept government. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s administration was accused of being ridden with systematic corruption, political patronage and deeply-structured nepotistic culture that can only be defined as a transactional quid pro quo for political support.

Farmaajo, who was a presidential candidate then with undisclosed Qatari financial backing, tapped into the public’s broader frustration and used it as a primary weapon to mobilize his political base. Soon after he was chosen as president in February 2017, Farmaajo said, “this is victory for Somalia and Somalis” to Somalis MPs packed like sardines inside a hangar at Aden Adde Airport in Mogadishu for precautionary security reasons.

During his 2017 presidential campaign, Farmaajo promised to comprehensively dismantle Somalis highly kleptocratic system which permeates all levels of the country’s governmental institutions, closely work with Somalis federal member states, and liberate areas still controlled by Al-Shabaab terrorist organization in south and central Somalia. Weary Somalis exhausted by decades-old political conflict greeted these noble promises with tremendous optimism and hope.

Unfortunately, the president, perhaps overwhelmed by his unreasonably sycophantic supporters, developed a grandiose view of himself and saw himself as Somalis latter-day Siad Barre. The man hailed as a prudent statesman with almost panacea powers to remedy the nation’s illness has waged a war against the country’s adopted federal system that is enshrined into Somalis provisional constitution.

His blatant anti-federalist political doctrine has soon put him at loggerheads with Puntland state which is one of Somalis powerful member states that lies in the north-eastern part of the country. The semi-autonomous region of Puntland has won a chorus of praises for its locally-led reconciliatory conferences, its bottom-up built governance system coupled with its tangible institutional reforms by harmonizing the role of influential tribal leaders with modern state mechanisms. Puntland sees federalism not only as its own brainchild innovation but also as an effective form of government for a country acutely traumatized by prolonged armed conflict.

Farmaajo’s popularity upsurge has often been linked to his apparent populist politics that pits the federal government against not only its member states but also against neighboring countries with often far-reaching political consequences. He sees Somalia largely through the eyes of his role model Siad Barre whose dictatorial and repressive regime crumpled under the pressure of tribal militia in 1991. While it’s abundantly clear that Kenya has been the most flagrant violator of the good neighborly relations between the two countries, nonetheless, the president’s inner-circle clique deliberately politicized the Kenya-Somalia maritime delimitation dispute to rally his hardcore followers sucked in by his cult personality. 

Due to his fanciful aspirations to mold this already fractured nation into his own image, there’s a genuine risk of a new explosion of the Somali civil war and the president’s utter refusal to hold the country’s elections that were scheduled for three weeks ago makes this risk even riskier. The president’s official term in office expired on Feb 8 with new elections expected to be held within the timeframe mandated by the country’s provisional constitution in order to prevent Somalia from descending into unchartered waters. Strong emotional allegiance to the opposing political factions exacerbated by the fact that Somalis are more divided along ideological lines than ever before, makes this election enormously sensitive.

A president who came to power on a string of promises including that he would eradicate the Al-Shabaab terrorist organization which still retains control over vast swathes of southern Somalia, unite a profoundly polarised country, restore Somalis pride and build democratic institutions is determined to cling on power at almost any cost. But, as English historian John Dalberg-Acton better known as Lord Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The recent brute force against a peaceful protest organized by opposition parties including two former presidents and a prime minister has once again shown that president Farmaajo is not afraid to deploy security forces to remain in power at any cost. The Ankara-trained Turkish-speaking Somali Special Forces have been propping up his administration with the brutal force since the expiration of his official term.

Turkey has the biggest overseas military base in Somalia which reportedly cost $45 million with 400 hectares for training new Somali cadets in an intensive Turkish language course before they’re flown to Turkey for further military training. While the vast majority of Somalis support Turkey’s involvement in training the Somali army and equipping them with modern Turkish made MPT-76 assault rifles and armored personnel carriers to defeat the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, there’s however a growing concern that the incumbent’s continued army deployment to suppress the opposition parties for his own benefit, may potentially split the newly-trained army along clan lines when the existential threat of Al-Shabaab is omnipresent.

The president has a serious legitimacy crisis which could possibly, if not wisely managed, plunge the nascent state institutions into a political abyss. Somalia’s historical relationship with the Arab world is at its lowest point ever since Somalia implicitly sided with Qatar on the Gulf political crisis to reciprocate Qatar’s financial backing during the 2017 election that saw Farmaajo getting elected. His obsequious gatekeepers keep portraying anyone who doesn’t fall into their fake patriotism orbit as traitors seeking to sell out Somalia. This alarmingly belligerent narrative has become the dominant political discourse since Farmaajo began cozying up to dictators including Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea while at the same time, undermining the historic relationship between the sister countries of Somalia and the Republic of Djibouti.

If Somalia is to be saved from sliding back into political instability again, the country’s opposition parties must come up with a master plan on how best to dislodge him from office. Unfortunately, the opposition parties seem to be lacking clearly defined exercisable strategy that can set the stage for radical change. There’s one man however who can mount a serious challenge to Farmaajo’s re-election aspirations with broad-based public support and well-oiled ideological state apparatuses. Said Abdullahi Deni, better known as Deni, is the president of a relatively peaceful semi-autonomous region of Puntland in the north-eastern part of Somalia. Unlike the rest of south and central Somalia whereby decades of communal conflict deeply eroded the cherished interwoven social fabric, in Puntland, communities and their successive local administrations used indigenous methods of traditional conflict resolution to bring peace, stability and social harmony.

Somali political observers and those familiar with Mogadishu’s intricately complex dynamics consider Said Deni as a masterful strategist who has already drawn Farmaajo into spider’s web during the recent political discussions between the Federal and Member State leaders in Dhusamareb to resolve the electoral impasse. Deni has not made his electoral intentions clear as yet, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that he’s the only potential candidate with strategic brilliance to outmaneuver Farmaajo’s grand plan to cling to power.

If opposition parties want to unseat Farmaajo and salvage the fledgling federal institutions, then they must form a credible coalition of hope which not only attracts people of different political persuasion but also the wisdom to withstand the Qatari financial backing for Farmaajo. Once dubbed Somalia’s most powerful post-conflict president, Farmaajo is now being left looking like a salmon gasping on a riverbank in diminished figure after he has been disowned by powerful regional leaders and having run out of fresh air of legitimacy. If this is not a spectacular failure of Somalia’s tarnished jewel, then frankly, the true definition escapes me. 

Romay Davis is not your average convenience store shelf stacker. This 101-year-old woman has been working at the local Winn-Dixie in Alabama’s capital city for the last twenty years. As part of Black History Month, and to honor her for her service and all that she stands for, Winn-Dixie’s parent company, Southeastern Grocers, has set up a grant in her name.  

The Romay Davis Belonging, Inclusion and Diversity Grant Program will fund nonprofits that fight for racial equity and social justice. The fund will also contribute to issues concerning racial disparities, health care, food insecurity and minorities.

Davis was born on October 29, 1919 in King George County, Virginia. She made her mark during World War II as part of the first all-Black Women Army Corps unit that was deployed overseas.

After the war, Davis got into the fashion industry, first as a designer and then a model in New York with a career in the industry spanning three decades. Through it all, she found time to pursue an education as she bagged a master’s degree along the way and sang in the choir in Martin Luther King’s church.

In fact, if anyone made a wrong move to attack her in the 70s, Davis would have tackled them with ease, having earned a Black Belt in Taekwondo at the time. To date, she drives herself to work every day even at her age.

Davis retired from active service in 1982 to spend time with her husband and family. A then 80-year-old Davis decided to get back to work after her husband died in 2001.

Speaking to Montgomery Advertiser, she admits staying idle is not her thing. She loves to work and likes to keep busy all the time. That is why she stayed on to work at her Winn-Dixie even amid the coronavirus pandemic. The only other time she is idle is when she is asleep or sick.

“I guess it’s medicine for me,” Davis said about why she’s still working. “I love to be busy doing something. The only time I’m not busy, I’m sick or asleep.”

The hardworking shelf stacker celebrated her 100th birthday with her Winn-Dixie family in 2019 in grand style but last year, the virus didn’t permit that kind of bash that was held for her the previous year, neither did Hurricane Zeta make the situation any better. A drive-by celebration held for her last October turned into a humongous birthday card sitting in the grocer where shoppers and friends left messages for Davis.

Sharing her thoughts about the grant, Davis ‘praised’ the concept behind it, saying it will make a huge impact in the lives of others. Growing up Black during her time was far worse than now and according to her, some of the experiences were “detrimental and painful.”

Anthony Hucker, president and CEO of Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of Winn-Dixie, spoke about the decision to honor Davis in this way, saying, “As we celebrate Ms. Romay, we are moved by her unwavering dedication and strong work ethic, which inspires others to be their best.” 

The local grocer created a hashtag and a day for her, #RomayDavisDay, celebrating her in Montgomery Alabama.

Makhtar Diop has been named as the chief executive of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private arm of the World Bank. The appointment makes him the first African to head the position.

The Senegalese national replaces Philippe Le Houerou, who stepped down in September 2020 after more than four years as the IFC’s CEO, according to Reuters. Stephanie von Friedeburg, who stepped in as the interim CEO following the resignation of Le Houerou, was appointed IFC’s senior vice president of operations.

World Bank President David Malpass praised Diop’s knowledge in both private and public service. He expressed confidence in the Senegalese national’s ability to attract investment to low-carbon energy, transportation, clean water, digital services and other infrastructure.

“Makhtar’s skills at IFC will help the World Bank Group continue our rapid response to the global crisis and help build a green, resilient, inclusive recovery,” Malpass said in a statement released by the IFC. “Makhtar’s skills at IFC will help the World Bank Group continue our rapid response to the global crisis and help build a green, resilient, inclusive recovery.”

According to the statement, Diop’s key responsibilities will be to deepen and energize IFC’s 3.0 strategy of proactively creating markets and mobilizing private capital at significant scale; deliver on the IFC capital package policy commitments including increased climate and gender investments and support for FCV countries facing fragility, conflict and violence.

In addition, the statement said he will strengthen the linkages between IFC, the World Bank, and MIGA, as the World Bank Group accelerates efforts aimed at boosting good development outcomes in client countries.

Diop is a former minister of economy and finance of Senegal, West Africa. Prior to his appointment, he served as the World Bank’s vice president for infrastructure, supervising the bank’s work across energy, transport, digital development and other sectors.

He also served six years as the World Bank’s Vice President for the Africa Region, where he oversaw the delivery of a record-breaking $70 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa to help tackle development challenges such as increasing access to affordable and sustainable energy; boosting women’s and youth’s economic empowerment; and promoting an enabling environment for more innovation and technology adoption, according to the World Bank.

Also, from 2009 to 2012, Diop held the position of World Bank Country Director for Brazil where the World Bank helped finance major infrastructure work and was the Bank’s Country Director for Kenya, Eritrea, and Somalia.

Diop has been named one of the 100 most influential Africans in the world by the Africa Report. In 2015, he received the prestigious Regents’ Lectureship Award from the University of California, Berkeley.

The Senegalese holds degrees in economics from the Universities of Warwick and Nottingham in England.

Georgian and College Football Hall of Famer Herschel Walker told a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday that Black Americans should not get reparations, citing moral and other reasons.

“We use black power to create white guilt. My approach is biblical: how can I ask my Heavenly Father to forgive me if I can’t forgive my brother?” asked the former NFL player who campaigned for former President Donald Trump last year.

“America is the greatest country in the world for me, a melting pot of a lot of great races, a lot of great minds that have come together with different ideas to make Americans the greatest country on Earth. Many have died trying to get into America. No one is dying trying to get out,” he said in the virtual hearing.

Walker joined the discussion in the session of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which debated H.R. 40, a piece of legislation that would establish a federal commission to look at the issue of reparations to Black Americans. The legislation was first introduced by the late Rep. John Conyers of Michigan in 1989 but it has never received a floor vote in the House.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas reintroduced it in January. Walker on Wednesday was joined by Hilary O. Shelton, head of the NAACP’s Washington, D.C., California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and others in discussing the bill, which has 162 co-sponsors. 58-year-old Walker, who played in the old USFL and NFL for over 15 years, asked during the hearing how Blackness would be measured if such a bill were passed.

“Reparations, where does the money come from? Does it come from all the other races except the black taxpayers? Who is black? What percentage of black must you be to receive reparations? Do you go to 23andMe or a DNA test to determine the percentage of blackness? Some American ancestors just came to this country 80 years ago, their ancestors wasn’t even here during slavery. Some black immigrants weren’t here during slavery, nor their ancestors. Some states didn’t even have slavery.”

The former Dallas Cowboys star said before the hearing, he asked his mom what he thought about reparations. “…Her words: I do not believe in reparations. Who is the money gonna go to? Has anyone thought about paying the families who lost someone in the Civil War, who fought for their freedom?”

“Reparation is only feeding you for a day. It is removing a sign ‘for whites only’ and replacing it with the sign ‘no education here,’” he said. The football star does not think White people should have to atone for slavery. “Who is the guilty party?” Walker, who is a 1982 Heisman Trophy winner asked. “Should we start at the beginning where African Americans sold your African American ancestors into slavery? And to a slave trader who eventually sold African American ancestors to slave owners?”

“I feel it continues to let us know we’re still African American, rather than just American. Reparation or atonement is outside the teaching of Jesus Christ.”

The issue of reparation for slavery has been raised by descendants of slaves in the Americas and the Caribbean for several years now. The belief that white Americans owe black Americans a moral debt for compensation for slavery, Jim Crow and long-standing racism has been ongoing since emancipation.

Critics of reparation say that it would be difficult to make fair calculations as to how much victims would take and in what form, considering the years involved. Those who have supported reparations say it is necessary to help redress the wrongs of slavery and racial discrimination. It would also help to resolve the continuing troubles of America’s black community. It is documented that “black Americans’ continuing poverty is a result of America deliberately frustrating the efforts of black Americans to accumulate and retain wealth until the 1980s.”

Nationwide polling shows, however, that compensation for those affected by slavery is an unpopular policy. In the journal Social Science Quarterly, a University of Connecticut researcher, Thomas Craemer estimated that it would cost between $5.9 trillion and $14.2 trillion to give historical reparations.

The journal, cited by Newsweek, said Craemer came up with those figures by tabulating how many hours all slaves worked in the United States from when the country was officially established in 1776 until 1865 when slavery was officially abolished. He subsequently multiplied the amount of time they worked by average wage prices at the time, and then a compounding interest rate of 3 percent per year to calculate the reparation figure.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Jackson Lee chastised Republican lawmakers for selecting two Black conservatives to speak against reparations.

“Like our last hearing, the minority has selected two African-American witnesses to speak against HR 40. That is their privilege. But we know that justice, facts and that life that was led and continues to be led by African Americans is on our side,” she said.

In 2018, Rwandan launched the ‘Made-In-Rwanda’ initiative to boost the production and consumption of local products. A number of local and international entrepreneurs responded to the initiative to open local industries and companies.

One of such persons is Allen Simms, who took his sporting venture to Rwanda. The African American is the founder of Impano Sports, a company that provides African-inspired quality sports apparel designed specifically for athletes, runners, and the active lifestyle community.

Although Simms took advantage of the Rwandan government’s Made-In-Rwanda policy, his venture started when he traveled to the East African country to identify and coach young talented athletes. While in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, he noticed that many of the athletes had limited access to quality sportswear and that was how Impano Sports was founded.

Simms is a former track and field athlete. He competed for Puerto Rico in 2007 after switching allegiance from the United States in 2005 before changing back in 2008. He emerged as the national champion in 2007 and was ranked 15th in the world. In 2004, he was the champion in the triple jump of the USA Indoor Champion. Also, he finished fourth at the 2003 Pan American Games and eighth in the long jump at the 2007 Pan American Games.

He was an athlete at the University of Southern California and a coach at Cornell University. “There at Cornell I was training a bunch of spoiled kids and I wanted to make an impact with my coaching so let’s see what’s going on in Africa,” he said in a Shoppe Black interview.

Simms aims to empower Africans to be independent and bring out their creative juices. Part of his agenda is to encourage the youth to discard the second-hand ideology. It is a known fact that across Africa, there is a high demand for second-hand clothing from Europe and other developed nations. To try to reverse this, Simms produces quality sportswear for the local and international market.

The former athlete recently praised the Rwandan government’s effort to develop the fashion industry. “They make it very comfortable to live here as a foreigner. They have a nice system in place to set up a business,” he said.

Simms obtained his bachelor’s degree in multimedia technology from the University of South California in 2005 and a Master of Art in Liberal Studies and a graduate certificate in Global Studies from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2014. Also, he holds IAAF and USATF coaching certificates in athletes majoring in jumping events.

In a social media post on Monday, Austin Chenge, a Nigerian-American Trump loyalist and GOP gubernatorial candidate for Michigan, said he’s going to cancel Black History Month in the state if elected as he deems it “offensive.”

Instead, he said he’ll introduce what he calls “American History Month.”

A U.S. Army veteran, Chenge immigrated to the United States from Nigeria with his family in 2008, and they subsequently naturalized five years later, according to Michigan Radio. The 35-year-old, who has reportedly never held any public office, describes himself as an entrepreneur and conservative Republican in his Twitter bio.

In the post which was met with swift backlash, Chenge tweeted: “I will cancel #BlackHistoryMonth in #Michigan. It’s offensive, unfair, maybe illegal… Americans from all backgrounds deserve a revered history. I’ll declare American History Month.”

Chenge, who is the first Republican gubernatorial candidate for Michigan and has set his sights on taking the seat from incumbent Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2022, is described as being “deeply conservative”, according to Detroit Metro Times.

Among his campaign promises, Chenge says he’ll sever the state’s contract ties with Dominion Voting Systems on his first day in office if elected. A section of pro-Trump supporters has accused the election technology supplier of manipulating the 2020 presidential elections in favor of Joe Biden. Those allegations are, however, unfounded and baseless.

In an interview with Detroit News, Chenge also defended the pro-Trump rioters who forced their way into the U.S. Capitol and clashed with law enforcement agents during protests against the 2020 presidential election results. Five people died in the aftermath of the January 6 incident.

“Some of them were overcome by passion, more passion than others and may have acted in a way that they didn’t intend to when they went there,” he said. Asked if it was right for the rioters to besiege the building, he said: “If someone is motivated by passion to do something, it’s more subjective than it is objective.”

Meanwhile, Chenge could become the first Black governor of Michigan if he wins the seat. He, however, told Michigan Radio that being a potential trailblazer isn’t of great significance to him as he feels it causes a divide.

“I don’t actually see myself as a minority, or a Black American, or a Black anything or a minority anything. I just see myself as an American,” he said. “When we start focusing on a person’s gender or race or anything that causes division, we lose our unity as Americans.”

“If I become the governor of Michigan, I’m not going to be the first Black governor of Michigan. I’m going to be just another American governor.”

Natalia Bryant is officially an IMG model, the agency announced earlier this week. The 18-year-old, who is the eldest daughter of Kobe and Vanessa Bryant, will finally get to live out her childhood dreams of modeling and she could be hitting the runway soon.

The renowned modeling agency, which has the likes of Kate Moss, Naomi Osaka, Selena Gomez, Gisele Bündchen and Chrissy Teigen on its roster, posted on its Instagram account the news with a caption statement from Natalia.

She expressed her love for the industry and is eager to learn the ropes and pour her creativity into her new gig, WWD reported.

“I have always been interested in fashion since a very young age,” Natalia said in a statement released on the modeling agency’s Instagram account.

“I have a love for the industry, and ever since I can remember, I wanted to model. There is a lot to learn, but I feel this is a great opportunity for me to learn and express myself creatively.” 

Thrilled about the news, the new IMG signee also shared the post on her timeline, saying it was an honor to join the IMG family.

Her mother, Vanessa, like every mother would be, is also very proud of Natalia as she also reposted the Black and White photo of her daughter on her page, congratulating her.

Ciara, Lucy Hale, and other IMG models like Asley Graham and Gigi Hadid congratulated Natalia, welcoming her to the IMG family.

“We’re honored to partner with Natalia in shaping her career in fashion and beauty,” IMG senior vice president Maja Chiesi told WWD about the signing. “We look forward to connecting her with fresh, exciting opportunities that showcase her multifaceted personality and look.”

IMG is building up its model portfolio, with this announcement being the third of its recent signings. Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff, 21, and inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, 22, joined the family this year.

Gorman made history on January 20 when she became the youngest poet to recite an original poem at a presidential inauguration. She was also the sixth poet to perform at an inauguration following in the footsteps of other greats like Maya Angelou and Robert Frost.

Lisa Forrest has made history as the newest Battalion Chief to be promoted in the Philadelphia Fire Department. She is the first African American woman to ever occupy this position.

“This is not for me, this is for somebody coming behind me to let them know that anything is possible,” Forrest told ABC News.

An outdoor promotion ceremony was recently held for Forrest, although those were usually held privately, according to Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel.

Forrest, who started her career as a firefighter in 2003, worked her way up the ladder quickly. Within just two years, she became a lieutenant. She also made history in 2013 when she became the first Black female captain.

“Hopefully, they look at me and say if she can do it, I can do it,” said Forrest, who is also the first woman president of Club Valiants, a society for minority firefighters.

Forrest is also thankful for the support of her family, who were also trailblazers like her. She hopes to inspire other women with her determination as well.

“I certainly do hope if women of any age or interest are watching this you know that you can do it, too,” Commissioner Thiel said.

Ulta Beauty wants to invest in Black-owned beauty brands. The beauty retailer announced that it will invest $25 million into driving more access to the industry for BIPOC brands as well as provide more Black-owned brands on the store shelves.

The company has also appointed Tracee Ellis Ross to serve as its new Diversity and Inclusion Advisor. In her new role, the actress and hair entrepreneur will “provide counsel and insight, and drive accountability to Ulta Beauty–with a specific focus on BIPOC brand development, diverse leadership development, and supplier diversity.”

“I look forward to formalizing an already existing dialogue and partnership around diversity and inclusion with Mary Dillon and the Ulta Beauty team,” the black-ish star said in a press statement. “This work requires commitment and accountability from Ulta Beauty to ensure measurable goals are achieved. I am hopeful and optimistic our work together will create foundational change.”

Ulta also announced that it will feature more inclusive branding in its marketing campaigns with dedicated beauty initiatives geared toward different marginalized communities.

“As the country’s beauty retail leader, we believe we have the power to shape how the world sees beauty and as such, we have a responsibility to inspire positive change and drive greater diversity, inclusivity, and equity. We are deeply committed to leading purposefully with and for underrepresented voices across retail and beauty on our D&I journey,” said Mary Dillon, CEO, Ulta Beauty in the statement.

“Authenticity as an inclusive brand with welcoming experiences for all and an approachable assortment are tenets of how we champion diversity at Ulta Beauty,” continued Dillon. “We have mapped these commitments to impact every facet of our work. We look forward to sharing more as we continue on this journey with steadfast commitment from our teams and our newly established advisory Tracee Ellis Ross, who brings passion, experience, and perspective to this important work.”

In 2020 when Nissim Black introduced his new single ‘Mothaland Bounce’, it was aimed at “giving tribute to both his urban past” and current Orthodox Jewish life in Israel. Growing up in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle before moving to Israel in 2016, the African-American rapper said he had had to deal with questions like “‘Well, are you still Black? How Black are you? How does that work? But you’re also Jewish? Jews are white?’”

In ‘Mothaland Bounce’, the rapper revealed all that there is to know — the fact that he’s Black, Jewish, from Seattle, living in Jerusalem. He is a devout family man who reads the Torah, observes the Sabbath, keeps a kosher house, and dresses modestly. Interestingly, he continues to rap, showing up usually in a Black hat and coat as well as a white shirt with peyot (sidecurls) to perform.

Here’s his journey.

Black, formerly known as D. Black, was born on December 9, 1986, in a tough neighborhood in Seattle to James “Captain” Church Croone and Mia Black, who were both rappers in the late 1970s belonging to the rap groups Emerald Street Boys and Emerald Street Girls, respectively. At the age of two, his parents separated and his mom remarried.

Growing up in a family of drug dealers and takers, Black was raised by his mother and stepfather, as well as his maternal grandfather, who was a devout Muslim, making Islam Black’s first introduction to religion. All the while, Black was selling drugs and started smoking as well. At 13, he converted to Christianity after attending a summer camp.

“I had healthy relationships, not just dysfunctional ones. It felt like the home I never had.I never got to be a normal kid till I got to this place,” Black told The Guardian.

Converting to Christianity made him get away from the street mentality for a long time, he said. Then he started seeing changes in his music career, after having started rapping aged 13. At 17, a record label told him they would love to sign him but before that, he had to change his persona.

“50 Cent was huge in hip hop at the time. He moved the rap world back to gangsta rap. [The record company] asked me to toughen up my message; they wanted an edgier sound, cursing and so on. I wasn’t comfortable with that, it countered my Christian values. But then they faxed over a half-million-dollar proposal, so I started to curse pretty quick after that,” Black said.

He would subsequently release his first singles on an independent label under the name D. Black but just when he started rising in music, he got into an altercation with another artiste in 2008, and this led to a “kill-or-be-killed situation,” he told The Times of Israel. Black started praying about his situation, and those prayers eventually led him to Judaism. The move wasn’t surprising to him though considering he had grown up in a Jewish neighborhood in Seattle which had a synagogue.

Soon, Black and his wife both converted to Orthodox Judaism and remarried after their conversion in an Orthodox marriage ceremony in 2013. In three years, he and his wife, and their kids, made the journey to start their new lives in Israel and they have since not regretted it though it was tough from the beginning. “I come from a different background, you know, [a] more urban — trying to be nice and say this! — background,” he told Times of Israel. “Usually when you step on my shoe, or you bump into me, or you push me out of the way, that means that you want to fight. In Israel, it doesn’t mean it,” 33-year-old Black said, adding that he is getting used to his environment.

But being a Black religious Jew got him in the news in 2018 after his children were denied Jewish schools because they were Black. All in all, the African-American music star, who has about five albums to his credit including ‘Ali’yah’, ‘Nissim’ and ‘Lemala’, is optimistic that his music will break down the barriers between the African-American community and the more religious Jewish community.

“Quite honestly, I owe my life on a physical level, for sure, to the African-American community. They gave me everything I need — including my parents and everything. But then on a spiritual level, Judaism has given life to me. I feel like I owe my life [to Judaism],” he said.

“I’m willing to sacrifice even my standing and notoriety in [the] very religious world to be able to try to bring peace between the two because it means that much to me.”

In a new book titled Disloyal: A Memoir, former attorney Michael Cohen has made staggering accusations against President Donald Trump including that the president once said Nelson Mandela “was no leader”.

Cohen is serving the rest of a three-year sentence for fraud and perjury under house arrest due to concerns over the coronavirus in prisons. He writes that Trump was explicitly racist and disrespectful of Black leaders.

While the world mourned Mandela’s death in 2013, Trump allegedly said in a conversation where Cohen was present: “Mandela f**ked the whole country (South Africa) up. Now it’s a sh*thole. F**k Mandela. He was no leader.”

According to Cohen, the castigation of Mandela was not personal for Trump but rather symptomatic of his animosity towards Black and/or African leadership, generally.

“Tell me one country run by a black person that isn’t a sh*thole…They are all complete f**king toilets,” Trump is quoted to have said in 2008 after Barack Obama became America’s first Black president.

The interesting point about Cohen’s claim of “sh*thole countries” is that the president is alleged by different persons in 2018 to have made similar comments about Black majority countries.

Trump is also said to have given up hope of winning support from racial minorities because “they’re too stupid to vote for” him. “They’re not my people,” he allegedly added.

President Obama appears as another obsession of President Trump’s in Cohen’s book. According to the now disbarred attorney, Trump hired a “Faux-Obama”, a Black man who portrayed Obama and was the subject of belittling from Trump.

The information about the “Faux-Obama” comes with a photo of Trump and another Black man seated on opposite sided of a desk. The Black man wore an American flag pin on a suit.

Cohen, a former close ally of Trump’s, is now visibly campaigning to have him defeated by Democratic nominee Joe Biden in November.

For 12 years, Lauryn Williams had seen it all in the field of sports. She became the first African-American to win gold in the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and silver medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2007 World Championships, and 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

As an athlete, Williams earned more than she was spending and didn’t pay attention to building a sound savings culture. When she ended her career in sports, and with a degree in finance from the University of Miami, she transitioned into entrepreneurship. She launched Worth Winning in March of 2016, a year after retiring, to help others achieve their financial goals.

Her company offers virtual services to help young professionals get the answers to the financial questions that matter most to them.

“This quest for my own money knowledge is what eventually led me down the path of becoming a certified financial planner,” she said. “While learning how to handle my own money, it became so important to me to help others, especially young professionals, do the same thing.”

Williams had been moved to become a financial planner after many of the financial planners she had while a professional athlete failed her. She then started to self-educate and told people she wanted to help them organize their finances while she tried to do that for herself.

Williams subsequently enrolled in the Certified Financial Planner program and then in a National Association of Personal Financial Advisors program before becoming an intern at an advisory firm.

When she finally started her company, her passion clouded her judgment when it came to spending. The Olympian said she could buy all the latest software without clients to support the tools she was using or pay to get in front of an audience of athletes that yielded zero clients.

She changed course and started implementing a budget for both her business and personal finances, and that became one of the best decisions she could have made. “I was not great at it initially,” she said. “It took time to understand how to best categorize my expenses and track my purchases.”

Maintaining a budget now became the foundation of Williams’ decision-making process and helped her see in real-time how her company was growing to its full potential. Just like her days as an athlete, she wanted to be the gold medalist in financial planning.

“I thought it would automatically happen overnight,” she said. “The truth was I had to retrain my brain. I had to learn, in this new career, how to set realistic goals for myself and define what success meant for me now, and not spend time comparing myself to others.”

In her track and field days, Williams was responsible for her successes and failures. It is a completely different ball game when it comes to managing finances or a business. And so she found herself some mentors to share what works and what doesn’t work for the growth of her company.

“Today, I belong to a networking mastermind group of eight other financial planners who run a similar business. I have two wonderful industry mentors who have been at this for a long time, and I talk with them regularly about my goals for the company,” she said.

As a startup, small wins matter, she said. Her first real small win came when a couple she had never met before decided to work with her, she said. Four years later, they are still her clients. For her, being able to retain her original customers shows her company is doing something right.

“Even if you’re an expert in your industry, there are things that you don’t know when you’re starting to run your own business. So as you retrain your brain and throw out old assumptions about success, give yourself a break if things don’t go perfectly. And celebrate the wins as they come.”