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Big News
Beyoncé made a surprise appearance to present Colin Kaepernick with the Sport’s Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. Presented annually, the honor is given to those who encapsulate “the ideals of sportsmanship, leadership and philanthropy and has used sports as a platform for changing the world.”
“Colin took action with no fear of consequence or repercussion, only hope to change the world for the better; to change perception; to change the way we treat each other, especially people of color,” Beyoncé said at Barclays Center on Tuesday night. “We’re still waiting for the world to catch up.”
You can catch Kaepernick’s acceptance speech when it airs on Friday, December 8 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
https://twitter.com/sinow/status/938282511083474944
Big Facts
Moonlight writer Tarell Alvin McCraney is teaming up with Arts for Learning/Miami—a nonprofit dedicated to teaching students through art—to tell the story of the segregation walls that once separated Black neighborhoods from white neighborhoods. Particularly, McCraney wants to tell the story of a Liberty City wall that he says he used to climb over while evading bullies as a kid.
“Tarell had described this wall as a race wall,” Sheila Womble, executive director of Arts for Learning/Miami, told The Miami Herald. “[A young actor on the Moonlight set] said, ‘What’s a race wall?’ In that moment, Tarell realized there is a moment of opportunity here for youth to be able to name their past and name their future and make a really strong civic and social justice comment through the arts.”
Funded by Knight Arts Challenge and ArtPlace America, the project will emerge as a paid, six- to seven-week summer program which aims to build an art installation by summer’s end in 2018 and 2019.
Big Lies
Trump wants to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony of The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, but the NAACP says his attendance would be “an insult,” The Washington Post reports.
“President Trump’s statements and policies regarding the protection and enforcement of civil rights have been abysmal, and his attendance is an affront to the veterans of the civil rights movement,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said. “He has created a commission to reinforce voter suppression, refused to denounce white supremacists, and overall, has created a racially hostile climate in this nation.”
Civil rights leaders and elected officials are scheduled to speak at the event, including Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R), who reportedly invited the president for whatever reason.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders reportedly responded during a Tuesday afternoon briefing by calling Johnson’s statement “honestly very sad.”
“I think this is something that should bring the country together,” she said. “And I would hope that those individuals would join in that celebration instead of protesting it.”
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