It has been a long time coming, but the U.S. has finally made lynching a federal hate crime.
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) introduced the bill, naming it the Emmett Till Antilynching Act after the 14-year-old boy who was lynched in Mississippi 65 years ago, Vice reports. It’s also been 120 years since Congress first considered passing anti-lynching legislation.
The legislation passed 410 to four in the House and is now on its way to the White House, where President Trump is anticipated to sign it. The Senate passed the bill last year, which specifies lynching “as a federal hate crime punishable by up to life in prison, a fine, or both,” NBC News writes.

Offset Makes Acting Debut on ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’

Offset is headed to television.

The Migos hitmaker is set to make his acting debut on “NCIS: Los Angeles.” In a preview clip, obtained by TMZ, Offset plays Kadri, an undercover CIA agent who is approached by Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) and Grisha “G.” Callen (Chris O’Donnell) to save a special agent who’s been captured.

Offset reached out to LL Cool J about making a cameo on the CBS show, but he wanted to make sure he wasn’t typecast. “I never wanted to come into acting and put into this category of ‘You be the bad guy all the time,’” said the 28-year-old. “I wanted to be able to show that I can do anything that someone sets in front of me.”

Offset will also debut his new track “Danger” during the episode, which airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS. Get a sneak peek below.

B. Smith, one of the country’s first high-profile black models who went on to become an author, restaurateur and lifestyle maven, has died after a seven-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 70. 

Dan Gasby, Smith’s husband and caretaker, confirmed to USA TODAY that she died Saturday at home in Long Island, New York, in a statement provided by representative Jennifer Maguire. 

“It is with great sadness that my daughter Dana and I announce the passing of my wife, Barbara Elaine Smith,” Gasby wrote, thanking doctors, caretakers, friends and fans who “helped us make B. comfortable in her final days. … Heaven is shining even brighter now that it is graced with B.’s dazzling and unforgettable smile.” 

Smith began her career as a model before going on to host the syndicated television show “B. Smith With Style,” a half-hour show about home decorating and cooking. She owned three restaurants, all called “B. Smith,” wrote three cookbooks and launched several lines of home goods, including lines at Bed Bath & Beyond, La-Z-Boy and Walmart.  Following a 2013 Alzheimer’s diagnosis, which she revealed in 2014, the lifestyle guru’s world grew more private, though she opened up about living with the disease in a 2016 book, “Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, And Acceptance in Our Fight Against Alzheimer’s.”

“I’m still myself. I just can’t remember things as well as I once did,” she wrote in the book co-authored by husband Dan Gasby and Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Shnayerson.

Smith and Gasby used the platform to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s, particularly within the black community. 

“Alzheimer’s is a 21st-century civil rights issue,” Gasby told USA TODAY in 2016 in a video Skype interview with Smith at his side. “Two out of three people with Alzheimer’s disease are women. Blacks are two to three times more likely to have Alzheimer’s. … And it drives people into poverty, in many cases taking away the gains that a sizable and growing portion of people in the African-American community have made.”

Controversy ensued in Smith’s later years, when Gasby sparked outrage over acknowledging his relationship with another woman as he served as his wife’s caregiver. 

Gasby said his wife of nearly three decades encouraged him to move on with his life after she learned of her diagnosis during a 2019 appearance on “The View.” 

“When we got the diagnosis at Mount Sinai … she stopped me, put her hand on my arm and … she said to me, ‘I want you to go on,’ ” Gasby said at the time. “I’m not doing anything we didn’t discuss. … I could have easily placed her into a facility and I would not do that. This notion of vows, I’m keeping my vows. … Vows are to protect, to care for.”

Contributing: Cydney Henderson and Kim Painter, USA TODAY

Via: https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/b-smith-model-turned-tv-host-and-lifestyle-guru-dies-at-70-after-alzheimer-s-battle/ar-BB10iKgU

Rihanna delivered an empowering acceptance speech upon receiving this year’s President Award.

Up-and-coming rapper and leader in the Brooklyn drill movement, Pop Smoke, was killed Wednesday morning, his record label confirmed to the New York Times. The rapper, born Bashar Jackson, was in a Hollywood Hills home owned by Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave and her husband around 4:30 a.m. when an unknown number of men reportedly wearing masks and hoodies broke into the house. Per the Times, the men shot and critically wounded Pop Smoke. He was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a few hours later, according to a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department. The suspects have not been caught or identified. It’s unclear if Pop Smoke knew who they were. He was 20 years old.

“We are devastated by the unexpected and tragic loss of Pop Smoke,” Joseph Carozza, an executive vice-president at Republic Records, said. “Our prayers and thoughts go out to his family, friends, and fans as we mourn this loss together.”

Teddi Mellencamp extended her condolences on Instagram, confirming that the incident took place at her home. “Early this am we were informed by a 3rd party leasing and management company overseeing a rental home we own in Los Angeles that a shooting had taken place at the property,” she wrote in the caption. “Foremost, we would like to extend our prayers and condolences to the family and loved ones affected by this tragic loss of life.”

Pop Smoke’s hit “Welcome to the Party,” from his debut album Meet the Woo, achieved major success and was remixed twice with Nicki Minaj and grime artist Skepta. The Canarsie, Brooklyn native was one of the rappers on the forefront of the Brooklyn drill movement, a new version of the Chicago and London drill styles that came before it. His collaborations with U.K.-based producer 808Melo have earned praise from Nicki Minaj, Rico Nasty, and many more. Love from his collaborators, fans, and friends has already starting pouring in on social media.

This is a breaking news post and will be updated accordingly.

Via: Vulture