Herman Cain Says Trump Doesn't Have 'A Racist Bone In His Body'

Herman Cain recently scoffed at the allegations accusing President Donald Trump of being racist.

“I don’t think Donald Trump has a racist bone in his body. And you can quote me on that,” Cain said in an interview with Yahoo News. “I have known him for many years. I have talked to people who work directly for him. The man is a businessman. How could he be a racist? His daughter married a person whose religious belief is Jewish. Good! He doesn’t go around making statements that are racist in nature. No, he says things where some people out there — especially people who don’t like him — try to spin it as being racist.”

On several occasions, Trump has referred to himself as "the least racist person." However, his statements on Charlottesville, Virginia, his history of running racially-charged attack ads and his recent "sh*thole countries" controversy have his critics unsure whether Trump is as tolerant as Cain claims.

According to Cain, critics need to put aside Trump’s language and personality. He instead urges them to focus on the results of Trump's policies in order to truly measure the success of his first-year in office.

Cain said he would give year one an "A" because Trump rolled back regulations and signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which he called “one of the biggest legislative achievements in 30 years.”

When it comes to Trump's campaign rhetoric (including when Trump said the following about Mexican immigrants: "They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."), Cain said that he never observed anything at Trump’s campaign events that would indicate he harbors any animus toward minorities.

Herman Cain recently scoffed at the allegations accusing President Donald Trump of being racist.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t think Donald Trump has a racist bone in his body. And you can quote me on that,” Cain said in an interview with \u003Ca href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/herman-cain-says-trump-doesnt-racist-bone-body-180726069.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Yahoo News\u003C/a>. “I have known him for many years. I have talked to people who work directly for him. The man is a businessman. How could he be a racist? His daughter married a person whose religious belief is Jewish. Good! He doesn’t go around making statements that are racist in nature. No, he says things where some people out there — especially people who don’t like him — try to spin it as being racist.”\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>On several occasions, Trump has referred to himself as "the least racist person." However, his statements on \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/donald-trump-charlottesville-winery-both-sides-blame-violence\">Charlottesville\u003C/a>, Virginia, his history of running \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/ava-duvernay-calls-out-trump-for-his-hypocrisy-role-in-the-central-park-five-conviction\">racially-charged attack ads\u003C/a> and his recent \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/trump-reportedly-fussed-about-shthole-countries-like-haiti-and-other-african-nations-for-flocking-to-the-us\">"sh*thole countries" controversy\u003C/a> have his critics unsure whether Trump is as tolerant as Cain claims.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>According to Cain, critics need to put aside Trump’s language and personality. He instead urges them to focus on the results of Trump's policies in order to truly measure the success of his first-year in office.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>Cain said he would give year one an "A" because Trump rolled back regulations and signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which he called “one of the biggest legislative achievements in 30 years.”\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>When it comes to Trump's campaign rhetoric (including when Trump said the following about \u003Ca href=\"http://time.com/4473972/donald-trump-mexico-meeting-insult/\">Mexican immigrants\u003C/a>: "They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."), Cain said that he never observed anything at Trump’s campaign events that would indicate he harbors any animus toward minorities.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp content='“When he was campaigning, I spoke at three of his rallies. There were plenty of black people and Hispanic people there trying to help him get elected. I never saw him try to put anybody down. The people who don’t like him are trying to stick him with a racist label, which is not true,” Cain said. At a campaign rally in Atlanta, he vouched for Trump as a \u003Ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/us/politics/behind-herman-cains-humor-a-question-of-seriousness.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">“shucky ducky” kind of candidate.\u003C/a> Trump received \u003Ca href=\"http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/behind-trumps-victory-divisions-by-race-gender-education/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">8 percent\u003C/a> of votes by black people in 2016.’ data-reactid=”26″ type=”text”>“When he was campaigning, I spoke at three of his rallies. There were plenty of black people and Hispanic people there trying to help him get elected," Cain said. "I never saw him try to put anybody down. The people who don’t like him are trying to stick him with a racist label, which is not true."\u003C/p>\n",[23,28],{"id":24,"name":25,"slug":26,"description":10,"image":27},83,"News","news",null,{"id":29,"name":30,"slug":31,"description":10,"image":27},120,"Politics","politics",[33,37],{"id":34,"name":35,"slug":36,"description":10,"image":10},37278,"Donald trump","donald-trump",{"id":38,"name":39,"slug":40,"description":10,"image":10},31431,"Herman Cain","herman-cain",{"url":42,"thumbnail":42,"credit":43,"title":10,"alt":10,"type":44,"width":27,"height":27},"https://res.cloudinary.com/blavity/image/upload/v1518555094/hlftrwf7fqctilz89h1b","Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons","image","2018-02-13T16:18:42-05:00","2018-02-13 16:18:42","default",[],false,1,{"disableConnatixPlayer":49},{"disableAd":49,"disableConnatixPlayer":49,"enabledComments":53,"headScript":27},true,{"reviewer_name":10},"https://storage.googleapis.com/blavitynews/images/fallback.jpg","article","2026-06-16T07:51:07.217Z",{"list":59,"total":158},[60,100,129],{"id":61,"author":62,"authors":69,"title":71,"subTitle":72,"excerpt":10,"slug":73,"body":74,"categories":75,"tags":77,"featuredMedia":82,"publishedAt":91,"publishedAtGMT":92,"updatedAt":93,"updatedAtGMT":94,"type":47,"listicle":95,"disableContentGate":49,"disableListicleNumbers":49,"canonicalUrl":10,"socialThumbnail":10,"readingTime":96,"customFields":97,"additional":98,"acf":99},72912476,{"id":63,"avatar":64,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":65,"email":66,"username":65,"normalizedUsername":67,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":68},95243,"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/16fdff8cddc7bd4702273ce7e1677d1d0021c4b55e83ca690c8b22edc3cbfdf4?s=1024&r=g","Christopher Rhodes","[email protected]","christopher-rhodes","2020-09-14T00:00:00+00:00",[70],{"id":63,"avatar":64,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":65,"email":66,"username":65,"normalizedUsername":67,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":68},"Department Of Defense Cuts List Of Recognized Religions From More Than 200 To Only 31","The move has alarmed advocates for freedom of religion and angered at least one Republican congressman.","department-of-defense-cuts-recognized-religions","\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since being appointed by \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/trump-ends-interview-black-journalist-kristen-welker\">President Trump\u003C/a>, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has stirred up controversy for his vocal campaign against diversity in the U.S. military. This time, the defense secretary appears to be targeting religious pluralism, slashing the number of \u003Ca href=\"https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/hegseth-directs-dod-drop-hundreds-211819026.html\">religious faiths\u003C/a> that are officially recognized by the armed services. The move has even drawn significant backlash from one member of Congress who feels that his faith has been singled out by the new policy.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Defense Department slashes recognized religions from 211 to 31\u003C/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Department of Defense recently issued a memo changing the list of religious faiths officially recognized by the U.S. military. The memo cuts the list of recognized faiths from 211 to only 31.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The memo was signed by Anthony Tata, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, one of the top officials within the Department of Defense, which the Trump administration has attempted to relabel the Department of War.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the memo, Tata says that he is acting on Hegseth’s orders to “streamline the DoW collection of religious preferences collection for service members to enhance the delivery of targeted religious support from the Chaplaincy.”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The revised list removes a number of previously recognized faiths, such as Atheists, Deists, Druids, Eckankar, Heathens, Humanists, New Age churches, Pagans, Shamans, Spiritualists, Unitarian Universalists and Wiccans.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The remaining 31 faiths include mostly Christian denominations, as well as Agnostic, Baha’i Faith, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism, along with two categories for “no religion” or “other religions.”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\u003Cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\u003Cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Pentagon reduced the list of recognized religions from 180 down to 31, with just 8 non-Christian religions recognized. \u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>This administration is working at (and succeeding) at trying to make us exclusively a Christian nation. \u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>The founding fathers would hate this. \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/4GFbcSdICU\">pic.twitter.com/4GFbcSdICU\u003C/a>\u003C/p>— Mike Hollister 🇺🇸 (@ModernTrailhead) \u003Ca href=\"https://x.com/ModernTrailhead/status/2063308260644397164?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 6, 2026\u003C/a>\u003C/blockquote>\u003Cscript async src=\"https://platform.x.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\">\u003C/script>\n\u003C/div>\u003C/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘A middle finger’ to the Constitution\u003C/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Critics of the new regulations accuse them of violating the First Amendment’s guarantees of religious freedom and prohibition against state establishment of religion.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mikey Weinstein, the co-founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said in a \u003Ca href=\"https://myemail.constantcontact.com/A--Middle-Finger--to-the-Constitution---MRFF-s-Mikey-Weinstein-Reacts-to-Hegseth-s-Slashing-of-180-Faiths-from-Recognized-Religi.html?soid=1101766362531&aid=49jCArumNhM\">press release\u003C/a> that the new policy was a “middle finger to the United States Constitution’s separation of church and state.”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He characterized the change from 211 recognized religions to 31 as “another absolute, clear, filthy and disgusting, unconstitutional, immoral and unethical attempt to force only the approved solution, getting closer and closer to Christian nationalism.”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A former military chaplain, speaking on condition of anonymity, told \u003Ca href=\"https://www.military.com/dod-officially-drops-180-faiths-from-militarys-recognized-religion-list\">Military.com\u003C/a> that the list was “an excuse for the failure to provide the free exercise of religion for all people.”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former chaplain described the change as “a tragedy and travesty, absolutely,” saying, “As far as I’m concerned, that’s a violation of the United States Constitution.”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Republican senators object to relabeling of Mormon Church\u003C/h3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the reduction of religious faiths has alarmed advocates for religious freedom, the new list is also drawing controversy for how it lists one of the faiths that remain recognized.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, is included on the new list, but it is not listed as a “Christian” denomination, while the Catholic, Orthodox and various Protestant churches maintain the Christian label.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This has angered many Mormons, who feel their faith is being unfairly mislabeled in a way that harkens back to earlier persecution against Mormonism, a religious tradition that has its roots in the 19th-century teachings of American religious leader Joseph Smith.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003Ca href=\"https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/insight/utah-senators-challenge-pentagon-over-lds-christian-status/gm-GM8009C860?gemSnapshotKey=GM8009C860-snapshot-1&uxmode=ruby\">Republican Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis\u003C/a>, both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who represent a state that is predominantly Mormon, have vocally objected to the change.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lee, who has posted dozens of times on social media about the change, calls the labeling “offensive” and “repugnant to any sense of decency and any sense of our common heritage and our common belief that the government needs to not weigh in on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations.”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\u003Cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\u003Cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Mike Lee demands that Pete Hegseth immediately reverse the new Pentagon policy that excludes Mormons from DOD’s list of recognized Christian denominations. He says it is “offensive” and “repugnant.” \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/NJ6QgYpK9s\">pic.twitter.com/NJ6QgYpK9s\u003C/a>\u003C/p>— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) \u003Ca href=\"https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2063794774574829946?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 8, 2026\u003C/a>\u003C/blockquote>\u003Cscript async src=\"https://platform.x.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\">\u003C/script>\n\u003C/div>\u003C/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lee has called on Hegseth and the Pentagon to change the policy and has claimed to have spoken directly to President Trump about “the Pentagon’s ‘Christian List.’”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\u003Cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\u003Cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I just got off the phone with President Trump \u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>We discussed the Pentagon’s “Christian list”\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>I won’t speak for him, but I’m thrilled about where this is heading\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>We’re most fortunate that President Trump (1) loves Latter-day Saints, and (2) is our commander in chief \u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>Stay tuned \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/ofxMJJHly9\">https://t.co/ofxMJJHly9\u003C/a>\u003C/p>— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) \u003Ca href=\"https://x.com/BasedMikeLee/status/2063841898838552928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 8, 2026\u003C/a>\u003C/blockquote>\u003Cscript async src=\"https://platform.x.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\">\u003C/script>\n\u003C/div>\u003C/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since taking over at the Pentagon, Hegseth has launched a campaign against diversity, seemingly targeting Black people and other minorities as well as women. Now, his efforts appear to be attempting to promote a much narrower vision of religious diversity as well, drawing rebukes from religious freedom advocates and even members of his own party.\u003C/p>\n",[76],{"id":29,"name":30,"slug":31,"description":10,"image":27},[78],{"id":79,"name":80,"slug":81,"description":10,"image":10},44529,"top stories","top-stories",{"url":83,"thumbnail":84,"credit":85,"title":86,"alt":87,"type":44,"width":88,"height":89,"mimeType":90},"https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2219947154.jpg","https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2219947154-150x100.jpg","Photo: Getty Images","Senior man praying outdoors","Senior man with his hands clasped in front of his face in a moment of prayer or deep reflection on the city street",2118,1415,"image/jpeg","2026-06-11T08:29:37-04:00","2026-06-11 12:29:37","2026-06-11T08:29:44-04:00","2026-06-11 12:29:44",[],3,{"disableConnatixPlayer":49},{"disableAd":49,"disableConnatixPlayer":49,"enabledComments":49,"headScript":10},{"reviewer_name":10},{"id":101,"author":102,"authors":103,"title":105,"subTitle":106,"excerpt":10,"slug":107,"body":108,"categories":109,"tags":111,"featuredMedia":113,"publishedAt":121,"publishedAtGMT":122,"updatedAt":123,"updatedAtGMT":124,"type":47,"listicle":125,"disableContentGate":49,"disableListicleNumbers":49,"canonicalUrl":10,"socialThumbnail":10,"readingTime":96,"customFields":126,"additional":127,"acf":128},72912307,{"id":63,"avatar":64,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":65,"email":66,"username":65,"normalizedUsername":67,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":68},[104],{"id":63,"avatar":64,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":65,"email":66,"username":65,"normalizedUsername":67,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":68},"4 Republicans Sided With Dems To Reject SAVE America Act, The Restrictive Voter ID Law Pushed By Trump","Critics warned that the so-called ‘SAVE America Act’ would have prevented many eligible voters from casting ballots to address unfounded claims of election fraud","save-america-act-republicans-side-with-democrats-to-reject","\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/republicans-moving-to-eliminate-majority-black-districts-after-supreme-court-voting-rights-decision\">Republican\u003C/a> bill to enact restrictive voter ID measures has died in the Senate, with several GOP senators siding with Democrats to vote down the bill. Critics had argued that the bill was being pushed based on false Republican claims of voter fraud, and detractors warned that the stringent ID requirements would disenfranchise many people, including members of marginalized minority groups as well as trans individuals, married women and more.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Four Republicans side with Democrats to kill voter ID proposal\u003C/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, the Senate rejected an effort to push forward the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/06/04/nx-s1-5751145/save-act-senate-vote-trump\">SAVE America Act\u003C/a>, a law supported by President Trump that would implement a restrictive national voter ID standard. Most notably, the law would have required voters to present proof-of-citizenship documents, such as a passport or birth certificate, in order to register to vote, in addition to having to prove their identity, as is currently standard. The act would have also required all voters to present photo ID while voting, restrict options for registering and voting by \u003Ca href=\"https://campaignlegal.org/update/what-you-need-know-about-save-act\">mail\u003C/a>, and would have allowed the Department of Homeland Security to compile a national collection of states’ voter rolls in order to root out noncitizens through a \u003Ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5588384/save-voting-data-us-citizens\">process\u003C/a> that has been criticized for erroneously flagging citizens.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump and his Republican allies presented the requirements as necessary to combat widespread voter fraud, which the president has repeatedly alleged without evidence. Critics pointed out that such voter fraud is incredibly rare and warned that millions of Americans did not have easy access to the documents required under the proposal.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Senate was attempting to attach the SAVE America Act to an immigration funding bill.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Opposing Trump effort to push false voter fraud narrative\u003C/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats voted against the amendment to attach the SAVE America Act to the immigration bill, and they were joined by four Republican senators: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The four Republicans had previously joined Democrats to block a version of the SAVE America Act in April. The rejection by the four Republicans was a rebuke to President Trump, who has pushed for the SAVE America Act as part of his false narrative of widespread voter fraud. Ahead of Thursday’s vote, Trump again pushed for the act during an Oval Office event while continuing to push unfounded election fraud conspiracy theories, insinuating without evidence that fraud was occurring in California’s primary elections.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\u003Cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\u003Cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Republicans must pass the SAVE America Act! \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/hTrMX3C54C\">pic.twitter.com/hTrMX3C54C\u003C/a>\u003C/p>— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) \u003Ca href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2062618983954554890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 4, 2026\u003C/a>\u003C/blockquote>\u003Cscript async src=\"https://platform.x.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\">\u003C/script>\n\u003C/div>\u003C/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Act could have disenfranchised millions of voters\u003C/h3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/what-is-the-save-america-act-voter-id-bill\">Blavity\u003C/a> previously reported, Republicans in the House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in February. Critics of the bill warned that it could disenfranchise millions of people who did not have the required documents, such as a passport, and could not afford them or obtain them in time to vote. The law was expected to disproportionately impact young people and people of color.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The law could have also blocked the ability to vote for people whose legal names did not match their passports or birth certificates, such as married women or trans individuals. The act, which would have been implemented immediately if it had been passed, is part of a larger effort by Republicans to change the rules in their favor ahead of the midterm elections. The GOP has also been using partisan and racist \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/supreme-court-allows-alabama-to-use-map-previously-deemed-racist\">redistricting efforts\u003C/a> in Republican-controlled states to tilt the election their way as the two parties compete for control of Congress.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump had prioritized the SAVE America Act, previously posting on social media that the act “supersedes everything else” and saying that he “will not sign other bills until this is passed.”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is unclear whether Trump will follow through on his earlier threat to refuse to sign other bills before the SAVE America Act is passed. For now, such passage does not appear to be happening anytime soon, with members of the president’s own party reaching across the aisle to block the restrictive voter ID measure from advancing.\u003C/p>\n",[110],{"id":29,"name":30,"slug":31,"description":10,"image":27},[112],{"id":79,"name":80,"slug":81,"description":10,"image":10},{"url":114,"thumbnail":115,"credit":116,"title":117,"alt":118,"type":44,"width":119,"height":120,"mimeType":90},"https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2279085532.jpg","https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2279085532-150x100.jpg","US President Donald Trump holds a printed copy of a post from his Truth Social account about \"The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act\" (also known as the \"SAVE America Act\") as he speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on June 4, 2026. | Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images","US-POLITICS-TRUMP","US President Donald Trump holds a printed copy of a post from his Truth Social account about \"The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act\" (also known as the \"SAVE America Act\") as he speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on June 4, 2026.",1024,683,"2026-06-11T08:05:36-04:00","2026-06-11 12:05:36","2026-06-11T08:06:27-04:00","2026-06-11 12:06:27",[],{"disableConnatixPlayer":49},{"disableAd":49,"disableConnatixPlayer":49,"enabledComments":49,"headScript":10},{"reviewer_name":10},{"id":130,"author":131,"authors":132,"title":134,"subTitle":135,"excerpt":10,"slug":136,"body":137,"categories":138,"tags":140,"featuredMedia":142,"publishedAt":150,"publishedAtGMT":151,"updatedAt":152,"updatedAtGMT":153,"type":47,"listicle":154,"disableContentGate":49,"disableListicleNumbers":49,"canonicalUrl":10,"socialThumbnail":10,"readingTime":96,"customFields":155,"additional":156,"acf":157},72911040,{"id":63,"avatar":64,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":65,"email":66,"username":65,"normalizedUsername":67,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":68},[133],{"id":63,"avatar":64,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":65,"email":66,"username":65,"normalizedUsername":67,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":68},"Think America’s Best Days Are Over? New Study Shows The Wealthier See Possibility While Most Americans See Decline","The Pew Research Center survey shows nearly every racial, political and income-based demographic is pessimistic about the country’s future compared to its past.","study-says-most-america-thinks-best-days-are-behind","\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the \u003Ca href=\"http://blavity.com/tags/united-states\">United States\u003C/a> prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, a new survey shows that most Americans believe the country’s best days are behind it rather than ahead. This view of the country, which crosses nearly every major demographic category, comes at a time of social, political and economic turmoil.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Most Americans see the country’s best years as ‘behind us’ rather than ahead\u003C/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u003Ca href=\"https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/05/15/a-majority-of-americans-say-the-countrys-best-years-are-behind-us/?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=26.05.15%20-%20Heads%20up%20America%27s%20best%20days&org=982&lvl=100&ite=17727&lea=5092954&ctr=0&par=1&trk=a0DQm00000CXyUjMAL\">Pew Research Center\u003C/a> asked a total of 3,560 adult Americans whether they were optimistic or pessimistic about what the country would be like 50 years from now, as well as whether they “think the country’s best years are…” either “ahead of us” or “behind us.”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A significant majority, 59%, believe that the country’s best days have passed, while only 40% answered that they think America’s best days are yet to come.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This result holds across parties, with 64% of Democratic or Democratic-leaning Americans and 53% of Republican or Republican-leaning Americans holding this negative view of the country’s future compared to its past.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The results also hold for almost all income groups. Only wealthier Americans did not have a predominantly negative outlook; this group was split evenly between those seeing the country’s best days ahead of us and those seeing them behind us.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\u003Cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\u003Cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ahead of the United States’ 250th anniversary, 59% of Americans say the country’s best years are behind us, while 40% say its best years are ahead. \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/hFJG8fKmsc\">pic.twitter.com/hFJG8fKmsc\u003C/a>\u003C/p>— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/pewresearch/status/2055347896917041198?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 15, 2026\u003C/a>\u003C/blockquote>\u003Cscript async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\">\u003C/script>\n\u003C/div>\u003C/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Black and Hispanic Americans most likely to see country’s best days in the past\u003C/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The result also holds for every major racial or ethnic demographic, with majorities of white, Black, Hispanic and Asian American respondents all saying the best days of the United States are behind us.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This result is strongest for Black and Hispanic Americans, with nearly two-thirds of each group — 66% and 64%, respectively — seeing the country’s best days as being behind it.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The survey was conducted between Dec. 8 and Dec. 14, 2025. It reflects the views of Americans after nearly a year of President Donald Trump’s second term in office, which has seen economic instability, political turmoil and erratic foreign and domestic policies.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Black and Hispanic Americans, the two groups least likely to see things improving in the future, 2025 also saw various efforts to whitewash American history, a spike in \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/unemployment-rate-for-black-people-is-the-highest-since-the-pandemic\">Black unemployment\u003C/a> driven in part by the alleged targeting of Black officials at independent government agencies for dismissal, and a series of heavy-handed \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/trump-uses-slur-on-thanksgiving-when-discussing-pause-third-world-countries-immigrants\">immigration crackdowns\u003C/a> that largely targeted immigrant Hispanic and Black communities.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Partisan divide exists, but pessimism spans both Republicans and Democrats\u003C/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The negative view of the country’s prospects represents a shift over time.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2025 Pew survey shows that only 40% of adult Americans see the country’s best days are ahead. That figure is down from the 44% who saw America’s best days ahead in 2014.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This shift in opinion from the second Obama administration to Trump’s second presidency masks a partisan divide. More Republicans surveyed in 2025, 46%, see the United States’ best days ahead than Republicans surveyed in 2014, when only 36% felt that way.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That positive shift among Republicans is outweighed, however, by a sharp negative shift among Democrats. In 2014, a significant majority of Democrats surveyed, 57%, believed the country’s best days were ahead. By 2025, only 34% of Democrats surveyed shared that view.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In absolute terms, however, both parties are currently wary of the country’s future. About 39% of Republicans and 50% of Democrats said they were either very or somewhat pessimistic about the future, while only 33% of Republicans and 25% of Democrats said they were optimistic about where the country will be in 50 years.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the 250th anniversary of American independence approaching, most Americans currently have a negative outlook on the country’s future. As the party behind the “Make America Great Again” slogan seeks to hold onto power after this year’s midterm elections, the new Pew Research Center survey suggests the prevailing mood across the country is that the United States’ greatest days may already be in the past.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003C/p>\n",[139],{"id":29,"name":30,"slug":31,"description":10,"image":27},[141],{"id":79,"name":80,"slug":81,"description":10,"image":10},{"url":143,"thumbnail":144,"credit":145,"title":146,"alt":147,"type":44,"width":148,"height":149,"mimeType":90},"https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GettyImages-2213946093.jpg","https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GettyImages-2213946093-150x100.jpg","Photo: Getty Images\n","Woman getting cold sitting under the blanket indoors. Copy space","Woman getting cold sitting under the blanket indoors. Home heating. Copy space.",2500,1667,"2026-05-18T07:10:00-04:00","2026-05-18 11:10:00","2026-05-18T08:17:34-04:00","2026-05-18 12:17:34",[],{"disableConnatixPlayer":49},{"disableAd":49,"disableConnatixPlayer":49,"enabledComments":49,"headScript":10},{"reviewer_name":10},289,{"list":160,"total":483},[161,221,302,357,419],{"id":162,"author":163,"authors":170,"title":172,"subTitle":173,"excerpt":10,"slug":174,"body":175,"categories":176,"tags":178,"featuredMedia":194,"publishedAt":201,"publishedAtGMT":202,"updatedAt":203,"updatedAtGMT":204,"type":205,"listicle":206,"disableContentGate":49,"disableListicleNumbers":53,"canonicalUrl":10,"socialThumbnail":10,"readingTime":217,"customFields":218,"additional":219,"acf":220},376704,{"id":164,"avatar":165,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":166,"email":167,"username":166,"normalizedUsername":168,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":169},94683,"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/beff3a595af5beaf99c7ba2fc564e798524e70654b2978c89eee1bbfc6377294?s=1024&r=g","Rashad Grove","[email protected]","rashad-grove","2022-02-17T12:42:10+00:00",[171],{"id":164,"avatar":165,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":166,"email":167,"username":166,"normalizedUsername":168,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":169},"Actor John Cena Posts His 'Black Twin' And The Resemblance Is Uncanny","The WWE superstar noticed a striking resemblance he had with a Black bodybuilder on social media.","actor-john-cena-posts-his-black-twin-and-the-resemblance-is-uncanny","\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Everyone has a doppelganger and apparently John Cena has a Black one, according to \u003Ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/12/entertainment/john-cena-jamal-cena/index.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">reports\u003C/a> from CNN.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>The actor and WWE superstar posted a photo of trainer and bodybuilder Brendan Cobbina that has been circulating on social media because of their resemblance. \u003C/p>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Cena \u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CSYaSrPtG8Y/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">posted \u003C/a>the photo on his Instagram without a caption and none was needed as Cobbina could easily be mistaken for a Black version of Cena.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CSYaSrPtG8Y/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"13\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding:16px;\">\u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CSYaSrPtG8Y/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cdiv style=\" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 19% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\">View this post on Instagram\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cp>\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\">\u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CSYaSrPtG8Y/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by John Cena (@johncena)\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/blockquote>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">According to the comments, many also noticed how much the two looked alike and named Cobbina “Jamal Cena."\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Cobbina has embraced his newfound status as the “Black John Cena.”\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">"24. You may know me as the 'Black John Cena' or the owner of OmegaMuscles. Bodybuilder. Coach,” his Twitter bio \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/iamcobbina?s=20\">reads.\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Of course, you can always count on Twitter to share some hilarious reactions. Here are a few of the funniest tweets about the "Black John Cena."\u003C/p>\n",[177],{"id":24,"name":25,"slug":26,"description":10,"image":27},[179,183,186,190],{"id":180,"name":181,"slug":182,"description":10,"image":10},454,"Brendan-Cobbina","brendan-cobbina",{"id":184,"name":185,"slug":185,"description":10,"image":10},14579,"doppelganger",{"id":187,"name":188,"slug":189,"description":10,"image":10},453,"John-Cena","john-cena",{"id":191,"name":192,"slug":193,"description":10,"image":10},34816,"WWE","wwe",{"url":195,"thumbnail":196,"credit":197,"title":198,"alt":198,"type":44,"width":199,"height":200,"mimeType":90},"https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GettyImages-2202199110-Cropped.jpg","https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GettyImages-2202199110-Cropped-150x94.jpg","Photo: Georgiana Dallas/WWE via Getty Images","The Rock and John Cena at WWE event",819,512,"2021-08-12T15:55:50-04:00","2021-08-12 15:55:50","2026-03-24T12:23:16-04:00","2026-03-24 16:23:16","listicle",[207,209,211,213,215],{"title":10,"content":208},"\u003Cp>One person thought that the moniker “Jamal Cena” was hilarious.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Someone said Jamal Cena ???????????? \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/sxUSO0ZEMn\">https://t.co/sxUSO0ZEMn\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>— Yxng’J???? (@aoethemindset) \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/aoethemindset/status/1424714594048675842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 9, 2021\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\u003C/blockquote>\n",{"title":10,"content":210},"\u003Cp>Another person couldn’t believe that Cena posted the photo.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">John Cena posted him ???????????????? \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/91SGw4CpfW\">pic.twitter.com/91SGw4CpfW\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>— Chidden Nuddet (@Maraculousness) \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Maraculousness/status/1425076135679959040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 10, 2021\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\u003C/blockquote>\n",{"title":10,"content":212},"\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">bro is literally black John Cena \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/p45R4xzPbR\">https://t.co/p45R4xzPbR\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>— cryptic incognito (@CrypticNoHoes) \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CrypticNoHoes/status/1424793096181714948?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 9, 2021\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\u003C/blockquote>\n",{"title":10,"content":214},"\u003Cp>Another person noticed a few celebrities have a doppelganger of a different race.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Life is just a lie. We got Black John Cena, White Kobe and female Tupac \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/ggUd5HZKkb\">pic.twitter.com/ggUd5HZKkb\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>— BlackOut (@SicknessOG) \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SicknessOG/status/1424848385685680141?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 9, 2021\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\u003C/blockquote>\n",{"title":10,"content":216},"\u003Cp>This is what John Cena saw when he looked in the mirror in 2005 \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/f8HitfI2KS\">pic.twitter.com/f8HitfI2KS\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\u003Cp>— KloutMachine (@KloutMachineTM) \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/KloutMachineTM/status/1425187292923277312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 10, 2021\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\u003C/blockquote>\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\">Besides finding his long-lost Black twin, Cena has been busy starring in \u003Cem>The Suicide Squad,\u003C/em> playing Peacemaker and recently, he made his long-awaited \u003Ca href=\"https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2021/07/19/john-cena-wwe-return-money-in-the-back-summerslam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">return\u003C/a> to \u003Cem>WWE Smackdown.\u003C/em>\u003C/p>\n",2,{"disableConnatixPlayer":49},{"disableAd":49,"disableConnatixPlayer":49,"enabledComments":49,"headScript":10},{"reviewer_name":10},{"id":222,"author":223,"authors":231,"title":233,"subTitle":234,"excerpt":235,"slug":236,"body":237,"categories":238,"tags":240,"featuredMedia":265,"publishedAt":272,"publishedAtGMT":273,"updatedAt":274,"updatedAtGMT":275,"type":205,"listicle":276,"disableContentGate":49,"disableListicleNumbers":53,"canonicalUrl":10,"socialThumbnail":10,"readingTime":217,"customFields":299,"additional":300,"acf":301},72472064,{"id":224,"avatar":225,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":226,"email":227,"username":228,"normalizedUsername":229,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":230},94522,"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f8eb52660d8b8be94e59634f2a01c1477c0a47da81d7ac50cffea2e1d30d7d38?s=1024&r=g","Danteé Ramos","[email protected]","Dante Ramos","dante-ramos","2021-08-23T00:00:00+00:00",[232],{"id":224,"avatar":225,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":226,"email":227,"username":228,"normalizedUsername":229,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":230},"Dennis Rodman's Daughter Trinity Rodman Is The Highest-Paid Player In National Women's Soccer League","They say the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.","Trinity Rodman is the highest-paid player in league history. The 2021 Rookie of the Year received a contract extension.","trinity-rodman-highest-paid-in-national-womens-soccer-league","\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003Ca href=\"https://firstsportz.com/nba-news-dennis-rodmans-daughter-trinity-rodman-outraces-megan-rapinoe-and-alex-morgan-to-become-highest-paid-player-in-nswl-history/\">Trinity Rodman\u003C/a>, 19, the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/im-trying-to-go-this-week-dennis-rodman-plans-to-visit-russia-to-rescue-brittney-griner?category1=news&category2=politics\">Dennis Rodman\u003C/a>, is the highest-paid player in league history. The 2021 Rookie of the Year received a contract extension with the Washington Spirit. \u003C/p>\n",[239],{"id":24,"name":25,"slug":26,"description":10,"image":27},[241,245,249,253,257,261],{"id":242,"name":243,"slug":244,"description":10,"image":10},152,"Blavity-U","blavity-u",{"id":246,"name":247,"slug":248,"description":10,"image":10},170,"Blavity-U-News","blavity-u-news",{"id":250,"name":251,"slug":252,"description":10,"image":10},31113,"Dennis Rodman","dennis-rodman",{"id":254,"name":255,"slug":256,"description":10,"image":10},53634,"highest paid","highest-paid",{"id":258,"name":259,"slug":260,"description":10,"image":10},2332,"Trinity Rodman","trinity-rodman",{"id":262,"name":263,"slug":264,"description":10,"image":10},53633,"women soccer","women-soccer",{"url":266,"thumbnail":267,"credit":268,"title":269,"alt":10,"type":44,"width":270,"height":271,"mimeType":90},"https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG_5383-compress.jpg","https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG_5383-150x84.jpg","Tim Nwachukwu / Leon Bennett","IMG_5383",800,450,"2022-08-29T20:04:36-04:00","2022-08-29 20:04:36","2022-08-29T20:05:10-04:00","2022-08-29 20:05:10",[277,279,281,283,285,287,289,291,293,295,297],{"title":10,"content":278},"\u003Cp>Her new extension includes a four-year deal for $1.1 million, currently more than what she was earning under her prior agreement — a three-year contract with a net pay of $42,000 to play in the National Women’s Soccer League.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":280},"\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Trinity Rodman is the highest-paid player in NWSL history.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>The 19-year-old signed a four-year, $1.1M guaranteed contract with the Washington Spirit 👏 \u003Ca href=\"https://t.co/cx8sPXl1cy\">pic.twitter.com/cx8sPXl1cy\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>— B/R Football (@brfootball) \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/brfootball/status/1488888807336427520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 2, 2022\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\u003C/blockquote>\n",{"title":10,"content":282},"\u003Cp>She has an option to extend her contract with the 2024 NWSL Champion team until 2025. Trinity will earn $281,000 yearly, surpassing the $250,000 salaries of Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, two United States women’s national team superstars.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":284},"\u003Cp>Rodman signed a three-year contract last year with an average base pay of $42,000 plus housing and bonuses. Trinity has made a name for herself, having a successful season, which led her to be selected as the league’s youngest player in the first round of the NWSL draft in January 2021.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":286},"\u003Cp>Rodman won the Rookie of the Year, the Young Player of the Year award from US Soccer, and was the only one from her team to be invited to the US Women’s National Team training camp.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":288},"\u003Cblockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgm1WK3O2bO/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 16px;\">\n\u003Cp> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 19% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">View this post on Instagram\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cp> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cp style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center;\">\u003Ca style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgm1WK3O2bO/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by Trinity Rodman (@trinity_rodman)\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/blockquote>\n",{"title":10,"content":290},"\u003Cp>Since joining USWNT, Trinity has been compared to other soccer superstars, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, who have acquired substantial financial contracts over their careers. The annual income of Megan and Alex, however, is $250,000.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":292},"\u003Cp>Many speculate Trinity will soon become a star for the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.essentiallysports.com/us-sports-news-olympics-news-uswnt-soccer-news-nba-news-nba-legend-dennis-rodmans-daughter-outclassed-soccer-queens-megan-rapinoe-and-alex-morgan-to-become-highest-paid-player-in-nwsl-history-in-2022/\">USWNT\u003C/a> and reach the heights of Morgan and Rapinoe.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":294},"\u003Cblockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/ChLL5kxvtQE/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 16px;\">\n\u003Cp> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 19% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">View this post on Instagram\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cp> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cp style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center;\">\u003Ca style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/ChLL5kxvtQE/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by Washington Spirit (@washingtonspirit)\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/blockquote>\n",{"title":10,"content":296},"\u003Cp>\u003Cspan data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Her father, \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/dennis-rodman-accused-of-refusing-to-properly-wear-face-mask-during-flight?category1=news\">Dennis Rodman\u003C/a>, also known as \u003C/span>“The Worm,”\u003Cspan data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> was a legendary player in the NBA. Dennis holds five NBA titles, and twice he made the NBA All-Star team. He won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award twice and spent eight seasons as a member of the NBA All-Defensive Team. \u003C/span>\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":298},"\u003Cp>\u003Cspan data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In 2011 Rodman was selected for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 2022 he became a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary team.\u003C/span>\u003C/p>\n",{"disableConnatixPlayer":49},{"disableAd":49,"disableConnatixPlayer":49,"enabledComments":49,"headScript":27},{"reviewer_name":10},{"id":303,"author":304,"authors":305,"title":307,"subTitle":10,"excerpt":308,"slug":309,"body":310,"categories":311,"tags":323,"featuredMedia":342,"publishedAt":349,"publishedAtGMT":350,"updatedAt":351,"updatedAtGMT":352,"type":47,"listicle":353,"disableContentGate":49,"disableListicleNumbers":49,"canonicalUrl":10,"socialThumbnail":10,"readingTime":50,"customFields":354,"additional":355,"acf":356},72743473,{"id":224,"avatar":225,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":226,"email":227,"username":228,"normalizedUsername":229,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":230},[306],{"id":224,"avatar":225,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":226,"email":227,"username":228,"normalizedUsername":229,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":230},"Atlanta Restaurant Owner Introduces 'Grits That Give Back' Initiative, Directing 100% Of Proceeds To HBCU Student Scholarships","Ebony Austin, owner of Nouveau Bar & Grill and Nouveau Creations in College Park, Georgia, is making a big difference. ","atlanta-grits-that-give-back-initiative-100-proceeds-to-hbcus","\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ebony Austin, owner of Nouveau Bar & Grill and \u003Ca href=\"https://nouveaucreations.myshopify.com\">Nouveau Creations\u003C/a> in College Park, Georgia, is making a big difference. \u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of her initiative “Grits that Give Back,” Austin donates 100% of proceeds to scholarships for students attending HBCUs. Her mantra in life, “Never tell a child no,” has driven her passion for supporting HBCU students, according to\u003Ca href=\"https://www.wishtv.com/focus-on-food/focus-on-food-stories/atlanta-restaurant-owner-giving-back-to-hbcu-students/\"> WishTV\u003C/a>. \u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Austin has awarded four Spelman students $5,000 scholarships and partnered with U.S. Foods to alleviate food insecurity at Howard University and Morehouse College. Furthermore, she surprised Michael Wright, a Howard University student on Good Morning America, with a $15,000 scholarship.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3tIVeLAkC_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\u003Cdiv style=\"padding:16px;\"> \u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3tIVeLAkC_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> \u003Cdiv style=\" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\"> \u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\">\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\"> \u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\">\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\">\u003C/div>\u003C/div>\u003C/div>\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 19% 0;\">\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\"display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;\">\u003Csvg width=\"50px\" height=\"50px\" viewBox=\"0 0 60 60\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"https://www.w3.org/2000/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\">\u003Cg stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\">\u003Cg transform=\"translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)\" fill=\"#000000\">\u003Cg>\u003Cpath d=\"M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631\">\u003C/path>\u003C/g>\u003C/g>\u003C/g>\u003C/svg>\u003C/div>\u003Cdiv style=\"padding-top: 8px;\"> \u003Cdiv style=\" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\">View this post on Instagram\u003C/div>\u003C/div>\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\">\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\u003Cdiv> \u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\">\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\">\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\">\u003C/div>\u003C/div>\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: 8px;\"> \u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\">\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\">\u003C/div>\u003C/div>\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: auto;\"> \u003Cdiv style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\">\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\">\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\">\u003C/div>\u003C/div>\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\"> \u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\">\u003C/div> \u003Cdiv style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\">\u003C/div>\u003C/div>\u003C/a>\u003Cp style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\">\u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3tIVeLAkC_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by Ebony Akira (@ebonyakira)\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\u003C/div>\u003C/blockquote> \u003Cscript async src=\"//www.instagram.com/embed.js\">\u003C/script>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to \u003Ca href=\"https://cw33.com/news/local/celebrity-backed-eatery-nouveau-noir-coming-to-north-texas/\">CW33\u003C/a>, through her work, she furnished three families’ townhomes in 2023. She covered their first year’s rent and provided resources for sustainable living. Her four eateries and thriving food truck are expanding to Dallas with Nouveau Noir, a high-end brunch spot she’s opening soon.\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We are so excited about coming to North Dallas,” Austin told CW33. “Not only are we looking forward to helping boost the city’s economy by opening our third location there, but we are eager to pour into the community, which continues to be a huge passion of mine.”\u003C/p>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through her annual Christmas event, Nouveau Bar & Grill has provided more than 5,000 families with ring lights, computers, XBoxes, Playstations, bicycles, dirt bikes, BEATS by DRE headphones, cash, and gift cards.\u003C/p>\n",[312,314,319],{"id":313,"name":243,"slug":244,"description":10,"image":27},70685,{"id":315,"name":316,"slug":317,"description":318,"image":27},118,"Culture","culture","Commentary on culture, happenings, and the things that move us. We in the these #tweets too.",{"id":320,"name":321,"slug":322,"description":10,"image":27},70684,"HBCU","hbcu",[324,328,329,330,334,338],{"id":325,"name":326,"slug":327,"description":10,"image":10},13797,"academic scholarships","academic-scholarships",{"id":242,"name":243,"slug":244,"description":10,"image":10},{"id":246,"name":247,"slug":248,"description":10,"image":10},{"id":331,"name":332,"slug":333,"description":10,"image":10},70891,"Ebony Austin","ebony-austin",{"id":335,"name":336,"slug":337,"description":10,"image":10},70890,"Grits That Give Back","grits-that-give-back",{"id":339,"name":340,"slug":341,"description":10,"image":10},70892,"Nouveau Bar & Grill","nouveau-bar-grill",{"url":343,"thumbnail":344,"credit":345,"title":332,"alt":10,"type":44,"width":346,"height":347,"mimeType":348},"https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Social-Thumb-2024-04-01T131336.950.png","https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Social-Thumb-2024-04-01T131336.950-150x84.png","Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for Nightclub & Bar Media Group",1280,720,"image/png","2024-04-01T18:14:44-04:00","2024-04-01 22:14:44","2024-04-01T18:14:50-04:00","2024-04-01 22:14:50",[],{"disableConnatixPlayer":49},{"disableAd":49,"disableConnatixPlayer":49,"enabledComments":53,"headScript":10},{"reviewer_name":10},{"id":358,"author":359,"authors":366,"title":368,"subTitle":10,"excerpt":369,"slug":370,"body":371,"categories":372,"tags":374,"featuredMedia":386,"publishedAt":391,"publishedAtGMT":392,"updatedAt":393,"updatedAtGMT":394,"type":205,"listicle":395,"disableContentGate":49,"disableListicleNumbers":53,"canonicalUrl":10,"socialThumbnail":387,"readingTime":96,"customFields":416,"additional":417,"acf":418},72743986,{"id":360,"avatar":361,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":362,"email":363,"username":364,"normalizedUsername":364,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":365},99591,"https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG_1020-2-compress.jpg","Aria Bell","[email protected]","ariabell","2022-08-29T17:13:08+00:00",[367],{"id":360,"avatar":361,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":362,"email":363,"username":364,"normalizedUsername":364,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":365},"Billionaire MacKenzie Scott's Latest Donation Is $2M That She's Given To A Black Doula Nonprofit: 'We're Poised To Continue Transforming Maternal Health Outcomes'","MacKenzie Scott has donated $2 million to a Black doula nonprofit in Northeast Ohio.","billionaire-mackenzie-scott-donates-to-black-doula-nonprofit","\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Author and philanthropist \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/mackenzie-scott-12m-donation-to-howard-college-of-medicine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MacKenzie Scott\u003C/a> has continued to give monetary support to nonprofits making an impact in communities nationwide, and now, she has donated $2 million to a \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/midwife-opened-virginia-first-black-owned-birthing-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Black birthing center\u003C/a> in Northeast Ohio.\u003C/p>\n",[373],{"id":24,"name":25,"slug":26,"description":10,"image":27},[375,379,383],{"id":376,"name":377,"slug":378,"description":10,"image":10},14635,"black maternal health","black-maternal-health-2",{"id":380,"name":381,"slug":382,"description":10,"image":10},15940,"Donations","donations",{"id":384,"name":385,"slug":385,"description":10,"image":10},36881,"doula",{"url":387,"thumbnail":388,"credit":85,"title":389,"alt":10,"type":44,"width":390,"height":270,"mimeType":90},"https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/uni-2024-04-02T173242.287.jpg","https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/uni-2024-04-02T173242.287-150x92.jpg","uni – 2024-04-02T173242.287",1300,"2024-04-02T17:39:58-04:00","2024-04-02 21:39:58","2024-04-02T17:41:52-04:00","2024-04-02 21:41:52",[396,398,400,402,404,406,408,410,412,414],{"title":10,"content":397},"\u003Cp>\u003C!-- wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>When the billionaire’s divorce was finalized in July 2019 from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos after 25 years of marriage, she received a \u003Ca href=\"https://www.businessinsider.com/mackenzie-scott-bezos-yield-giving-philanthropy-2022-12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">4% stake in the company\u003C/a> as a part of her settlement. Since then, she’s been donating large lump sums of money to numerous organizations. She also joined the other billionaires part of the Giving Pledge, created by Warren Buffett and \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/bill-gates-afrobeats-burna-boy-rema\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bill\u003C/a> and Melinda Gates, in committing to give most of her riches away to philanthropic organizations that are combatting an array of societal issues.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!-- /wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":399},"\u003Cp>“I have no doubt that tremendous value comes when people act quickly on the impulse to give. No drive has more positive ripple effects than the desire to be of service,” she said in her \u003Ca href=\"https://givingpledge.org/pledger?pledgerId=393\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pledge letter\u003C/a>. “There are lots of resources each of us can pull from our safes to share with others — time, attention, knowledge, patience, creativity, talent, effort, humor, compassion.”\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":401},"\u003Cp>\u003C!-- wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>In December 2022, the 53-year-old launched a website database called \u003Ca href=\"https://yieldgiving.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Yield Giving\u003C/a>, founded by Scott to “share a financial fortune created through the effort of countless people” and provide transparency for all the money given on her behalf since 2019. According to the site, the charitable association has donated over $17 billion to over 2,300 charities.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!-- /wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":403},"\u003Cp>Last month, Scott revealed that following a review of YG’s \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/mackenzie-scott-launches-new-open-call-pledging-250m-for-community-focused-nonprofits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2023 open call applications\u003C/a> from numerous small charitable groups, she’ll be giving 361 nonprofit groups $640 million, according to \u003Ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/mackenzie-scott-open-call-yield-giving-bezos-ae809a469080e9e61a945a14a230629e#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AP News\u003C/a>. A movement that will benefit the most from the grant funding is \u003Ca href=\"https://www.birthingbeautiful.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Birthing Beautiful Communities\u003C/a>, the only, “community-based doula program” whose mission is to ensure safe pregnancies and birth for at-risk women of color by providing one-on-one support to growing families before, during and after the pregnancy. In addition, mothers and infants can continue getting aid until the newborn’s first birthday per the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.birthingbeautiful.org/about/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">site\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":405},"\u003Cblockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C3QoMhvOoH0/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 16px;\">\n\u003Cp> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 19% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">View this post on Instagram\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cp> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cp style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center;\">\u003Ca style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C3QoMhvOoH0/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by Birthing Beautiful Communities (@birthingbeautiful)\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/blockquote>\n",{"title":10,"content":407},"\u003Cp>On March 19, the Cleveland-based institution, created by African American trained Perinatal Support Persons, announced the good news online via a \u003Ca href=\"https://www.birthingbeautiful.org/2m-mackenzie-scott-grant-awarded-to-clevelands-birthing-beautiful-communities-supporting-medical-equity-for-black-mothers-regionally/\">press release\u003C/a>. Jazmin Long, BBC’s president and CEO, expressed her gratitude for the donation.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":409},"\u003Cp>“We’re overjoyed and deeply grateful for this transformative gift from MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving Open Call. This generous support propels Birthing Beautiful Communities into an exciting new chapter, empowering us to amplify our impact and further our mission of ensuring every mother, baby, and family receives the care and support they deserve,” Long said, per the press release. “With this funding, we’re poised to continue transforming maternal health outcomes in Northeast Ohio and beyond, ushering in a future where every birth is a beautiful and healthy experience.”\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":411},"\u003Cp>\u003C!-- wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>Since the BBC was founded, they have helped train, certify, and employ other PSPs who provide services for Northeast Ohio at-risk women who may likely have complications during childbirth that result in the death of the infant. They have been able to successfully facilitate classes to certify \u003Ca href=\"https://www.birthingbeautiful.org/about/\">over 75 women\u003C/a> who were interested in birth work while simultaneously serving over \u003Ca href=\"https://www.birthingbeautiful.org/about/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">600 clients\u003C/a>. Furthermore, outside of pregnancy and postpartum support, the holistic health organization offers wealth-building opportunities for Black women, who can typically struggle economically due to society’s class structure, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.blackenterprise.com/mackenzie-scott-donation-doula-program/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Black Enterprise\u003C/a> reported.\u003C!-- /wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":413},"\u003Cp>Long also shared in a video announcement made to help celebrate and spread the news about the $2 million grant, that the money will help build out their second location.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!-- /wp:paragraph --> \u003C!-- wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>“This generous support helps to propel us to a new chapter,” she said. “A new chapter that helps take us to our new birth center, which is set to break ground in this fall.”\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!-- /wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":415},"\u003Cp>\u003Ciframe title=\"Thank You Yield Giving: Announcing Our Award\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/3NMkJEU2z2s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen>\u003C/iframe>\u003C/p>\n",{"disableConnatixPlayer":49},{"disableAd":49,"disableConnatixPlayer":49,"enabledComments":53,"headScript":10},{"reviewer_name":10},{"id":420,"author":421,"authors":422,"title":424,"subTitle":10,"excerpt":425,"slug":426,"body":427,"categories":428,"tags":437,"featuredMedia":447,"publishedAt":454,"publishedAtGMT":455,"updatedAt":456,"updatedAtGMT":457,"type":205,"listicle":458,"disableContentGate":49,"disableListicleNumbers":53,"canonicalUrl":10,"socialThumbnail":479,"readingTime":217,"customFields":480,"additional":481,"acf":482},72748975,{"id":360,"avatar":361,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":362,"email":363,"username":364,"normalizedUsername":364,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":365},[423],{"id":360,"avatar":361,"firstName":10,"lastName":10,"displayName":362,"email":363,"username":364,"normalizedUsername":364,"description":10,"htmlBio":10,"twitter":10,"facebook":10,"instagram":10,"registeredAt":365},"The Black Food Truck Festival Is A Rapidly Rising South Carolina Event, Founded By A Former College Of Charleston Basketball Player","The Black Food Truck Festival is now a staple in Charleston, South Carolina, drawing attendees from Georgia and Florida as well.","black-food-truck-festival-founder-south-carolina","\n\u003Cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u003Ca href=\"https://www.blackfoodtruckfestival.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Black Food Truck Festival\u003C/a> in Ladson, \u003Ca href=\"https://blavity.com/angel-reese-and-kamilla-cardosa-will-be-wnba-teammates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">South Carolina\u003C/a> is gearing up for its fourth annual get-together this weekend.\u003C/p>\n",[429,433],{"id":430,"name":431,"slug":432,"description":10,"image":27},70683,"Black Owned Business","black-owned-business",{"id":434,"name":435,"slug":436,"description":10,"image":27},70681,"Small-Business","small-business",[438,442,446],{"id":439,"name":440,"slug":441,"description":10,"image":10},71071,"food festival","food-festival",{"id":443,"name":444,"slug":445,"description":10,"image":10},35682,"South Carolina","south-carolina-2",{"id":79,"name":80,"slug":81,"description":10,"image":10},{"url":448,"thumbnail":449,"credit":450,"title":451,"alt":10,"type":44,"width":452,"height":453,"mimeType":90},"https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1125671385.jpg","https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1125671385-150x100.jpg","Photo: SolStock via Getty Images","Friends Sharing Pizza at Festival",2121,1414,"2024-04-24T11:34:23-04:00","2024-04-24 15:34:23","2024-04-27T14:43:40-04:00","2024-04-27 18:43:40",[459,461,463,465,467,469,471,473,475,477],{"title":10,"content":460},"\u003Cp>\u003C!-- wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>When Marcus Hammond moved to Charleston to play basketball for the College of Charleston, he fell in love with the city, the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.postandcourier.com/moultrie-news/news/business/black-food-truck-fest-founder-reflects-on-growth/article_0c8a56a8-fad9-11ee-92fe-4fa75f8fcb9d.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Post and Courier\u003C/a> reported. After graduation, he stayed in the area and worked in the banking industry as a relationship manager. In 2022, he created the Black Food Truck Festival, which brought out 5,000 guests during its first year.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!-- /wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":462},"\u003Cp>“We’ve got everything from the diaspora to Gullah Geechee to soul food, seafood, Charleston staples like the chewies, Gullah rice and red rice,” he said.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":464},"\u003Cblockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C3z-mttLRMO/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 16px;\">\n\u003Cp> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 19% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">View this post on Instagram\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cp> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cp style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\">\u003Ca style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C3z-mttLRMO/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by Black Food Truck Festival®️ (@blackfoodtruckfestival)\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/blockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cscript async src=\"//www.instagram.com/embed.js\">\u003C/script>\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":466},"\u003Cp>Due to the festival’s quick rise in popularity, Hammond left his corporate job to focus on the event full-time to ensure that he and his team produced a successful customer-driven occasion.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>“Two things that have really guided me, [with] the first one being the customer is not always right, but the customer is always first,” he told Post and Courier. “So, everything we do with the festival, we keep the attendees in mind first.”\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":468},"\u003Cp>He added, “We do our best to make sure everybody is safe, and we do our best to make sure that everybody has a good time. We aim for that perfection knowing that we’ll fall short. But it’s always our aim.”\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":470},"\u003Cp>This year, over 15,000 people are estimated to come out and fill up the Exchange Park Fairgrounds with most attendees expected to come from states nearby like North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":472},"\u003Cp>Hammond shared some new additions to the festival that include “Rhythms & Booze” (April 26), The Melanin x BFTF AM Workout (April 27) and the “Trappyoke” Afterparty” (April 28).\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":474},"\u003Cp>“Those are tweaks that we have made seeing the data that a lot of people came here from out of town. So, [it’s] what we wanted to do [with] Charleston being No. 1 in tourism hands down throughout the country for more than the last decade. But oftentimes, when we see those tourist attractions, they’re not always guided toward Black-curated events,” Hammond explained. “So, what we wanted to do is change the narrative from people thinking of the deep south, old Charleston, to being able to come to Charleston for a full weekend and experience Black culture and Charleston, curated by Black people.”\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":476},"\u003Cblockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C5qhJjLgLIG/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 16px;\">\n\u003Cp> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 19% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">View this post on Instagram\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n\u003Cdiv>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003Cdiv style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\">\u003C/div>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003Cp> \u003C/p>\n\u003Cp style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\">\u003Ca style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C5qhJjLgLIG/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by Black Food Truck Festival®️ (@blackfoodtruckfestival)\u003C/a>\u003C/p>\n\u003C/div>\n\u003C/blockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cscript async src=\"//www.instagram.com/embed.js\">\u003C/script>\u003C/p>\n",{"title":10,"content":478},"\u003Cp>\u003C!-- wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>For more information about the Black Food Truck Festival, visit the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.blackfoodtruckfestival.com/\">website\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>\u003C!-- /wp:paragraph -->\u003C/p>\n","https://cms.blavity.com/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,slow-connection-quality=30,onerror=redirect/https://cms.blavity.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screen-Shot-2024-04-23-at-3.50.48-PM.png",{"disableConnatixPlayer":49},{"disableAd":49,"disableConnatixPlayer":49,"enabledComments":53,"headScript":10},{"reviewer_name":10},5,["Reactive",485],{},["Set"],["ShallowReactive",488],{"page-herman-cain-says-trump-doesnt-have-a-racist-bone-in-his-body":27,"fetch:/articles:{\"count\":3,\"tag\":\"top-stories\"}":27,"fetch:/articles:{\"count\":5,\"sort\":\"most-read\"}":27},"/herman-cain-says-trump-doesnt-have-a-racist-bone-in-his-body?category1=politics&category2=news",["Reactive",491],{}]