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Looks like Quavo is in a bit of trouble. Last week, Eric The Jeweler accused the Migos member of assault and robbery, according to the Fader.The jeweler claims that Quavo attacked him on January 29 during a Grammy Awards afterparty located at 1Oak club in New York. Eric said he tried to get Quavo to pay the $10,000 the rapper owed him for jewelry, when Quavo and another person assaulted him and subsequently stole $30,000 worth of jewelry. According to TMZ, the NYPD contacted Quavo's attorney Drew Findling to inform  they have enough evidence to arrest the rapper. Findling responded by accusing officers of profiling his client. "This is yet another example of a young African American hip hop star potentially being treated unfairly by the criminal justice system," Findling said.Despite the TMZ report suggesting an arrest could be imminent, the NYPD told both the Fader and Complex that Quavo remains a free man.  "There are no arrests, no warrant for Marshall and the investigation is ongoing," the NYPD...

There are still high levels of educational inequality in our schools, and the "Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Our Schools" movement is working hard to change that. Beginning February 5 through February 9, educators around the nation will participate. While it shares some connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, the Black Lives Matter at School movement is separate and was started by a group of teachers, parents and administrators.The week of action's three central demands are: to end zero-tolerance discipline policies and implement restorative justice, to hire more black teachers and to mandate black history and ethnic studies be taught throughout the K-12 curriculum, per More Caucus NYC. The week also stresses 13 principles that include diversity, globalism and collective value.Support Black Lives Matter Week of Action )2/5-2/9). Support the movement. #BLM Lesson plans here —> https://t.co/Tg84dLDR6k pic.twitter.com/0q1ETHVUC8— Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) February 4, 2018Educators in Seattle and Philadelphia organized Black Lives Matter actions in their schools last year, and the movement has since reached cities such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles and Detroit, Social Equity Educators (SEE) reports. According to Fox 5, Washington D.C. and Maryland schools are among the latest to join.Maryland's Prince George's County school board unanimously passed the "Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Schools" resolution.“I don't believe it is political,” said Amanya Paige, the student member of the Prince George's County school board. “I believe it is a movement to encourage minorities and African-American students to be proud of who they are and to embrace who they are because we live it every day. I think that it is important to understand our culture and understand where we are coming from in order to be productive citizens.”During the week, educators will be wearing Black Lives Matter shirts and teaching movement-related material. There is also a website where educators can share stories and resources.Please check out The Black Lives Matter At Schools Curriculum resources : https://t.co/XcKCl5MOtw The committee headed up by Chris Rogers - @justmaybechris— Black Lives Matter At School (@BLMAtSchool) February 2, 2018Resources for educators: https://t.co/iInk4SCBuI #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool #BlackLivesMatter @BLMAtSchool— Education Votes (@edvotes) February 2, 2018It's great to see this amazing movement growing! If you desire to bring it to your city, visit its Facebook page for more...

Rapper Kendrick Lamar's latest album "Damn." has cemented its place in music history for its lyrics and its visuals. The poignancy of the album and the visuals have been recognized by the Grammys as an example of excellence from the year and by the Gordon Parks Foundation.The foundation opened a new exhibit in Pleasantville, New York on Friday, Dec. 1, that marries visuals from Kendrick's hit single "Element." and some of legendary filmmaker and photographer Gordon Parks' iconic photos. When the video dropped this past June, many caught on to the homage the video paid to Parks. “Gordon Parks’ work is continuing to have a great impact on young people – and particularly on artists, like Kendrick, who use the power of imagery to examine issues related to social justice and race in our country,” Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., the Executive Director of The Gordon Parks Foundation, said in a press release on Friday.Parks' photographs that inspired Kendrick will be featured in the exhibit which is open to the public now and will close on Feb. 8,...

We reported that confederate flag sales increased after the Charlottesville rally, but if you think those sales are limited to the South (where the country the flag represents once was), we've got something to tell you!WNYC recently went scouting for Confederate States of America flag owners living in the North after receiving over 200 reports of flags proudly flying all over New York — from the East Village in Manhattan to Plattsburgh near the Canadian border.As you might expect for that number, WNYC found a lot of owners, and talked to several to unpack why exactly they fly the rebel flag.Some of the Confederate enthusiasts assured the station that they weren't "racist."One of these self-described "non-racist" people likened flying the rebel flag to flying "a Black Lives matter flag," which to them represents black people "pushing back on the white people." During the station's interview with one CSA flag-flying white couple, the couple waved over a black teenager, and asked him in front of the reporter if he thought the flag was racist.The teen said, "Yeah, it is offensive to me. This is the flag of people who want to bring slavery back," shocking the white couple.Another man who flies the rebel flag, a farmer named Tim, had another reason for his love of the CSA."It's kind of a sign of, we seceded once and maybe in New York state we should secede again," said Tim. "I think that New York state needs to break away from New York City. New York City has separate needs from here, it's a separate world, and upstate New York could be a very great place to live. Right now in the situation it is, we're talking about moving down South to a better tax state. And the North isn't for us anymore. And we kind of long to be down South."Another woman the station talked to, Judy, was upset by the fact that her son Tristan has hung a CSA flag up in his bedroom, stating that she didn't agree with it. She claimed he had "a wide variety of ethnic friends," but that he believed races shouldn't mix romantically. Judy said she isn't sure what to do about her son, admitting that she has been "left with more questions than answers.""If I had a friend who displayed the flag, I would not tolerate it at all. I would not be kind or compassionate. I wonder what this means about me. I ultimately feel helpless," she noted. "Can I change his ways of thinking? Can I handle that responsibility? Are occasional, brief conversations over coffee enough to inspire informed insight into his mind and heart?"New York had its fair share of CSA sympathizers during the war. Adam McGovern, a semiotics expert, believes it isn't history that has so many New Yorkers embracing the Stars and Bars."Rural America and non-urban America is kind of like a nationality now, it's a very different culture," McGovern said. "And I think the Confederate flag is a symbol of that other, economically-depressed, culturally-disfavored America."...

Living in New York City, it's very hard not to get overwhelmed with the lifestyle. It's even harder trying to work a full-time job, live on your own, and maintain a decent social life. Everywhere and every day there is something to do, and even with as many "free" and "cheap" events as there are, things can get pricey. You get into a free event but spend $10-12 dollars per drink. You get into a free event WITH free refreshments but its first come, first served and you're not guaranteed a good time. Getting all options is damn near impossible - unless its an annual summer barbecue you know for sure will come in handy. But summer doesn't last forever, and neither do the high number of free events. As it gets colder, so do your pockets.                                                                                      Photo: MemeCenterI've been living in New York for twelve years and whenever someone visits or moves here, I try my best to pull them away from the shiny tourist life. Don't get me wrong, I love New York and the things that come with it (well, most of them). But living here and visiting here are two completely different things and it's pretty easy to get distracted from your main focus. Unless you have no kids, no spouse, no car, no care for sleep, and a job paying you 50-70k a year, it's nearly impossible to work full time, go out everyday after work, explore the city and all the events on weekends and holidays, travel 2-3 times a year, and still live below your means. What a lot of people also don't understand, is the more money you make, the more responsibilities you have. Not to say that you will never make enough to be comfortable, but let's be honest here: You MAKE more = You PAY more.                                                                                            Photo: PinterestNow, I don't fall into most of the categories listed above, but I still do have responsibilities and bills that make it challenging to have a perfect sleep, socializing, working, and dreaming schedule. Though not impossible, it takes dedication, time and sacrifices to achieve that status. Some days you have to sacrifice spending money and socializing to work on your goals and dreams. Some days you have to sacrifice sleep to push yourself to work harder. Other days, you have to learn to sacrifice work to get rest - nothing good comes from being overworked all the time. While some days you have to put things aside to make time for others in your life. Sometimes you even have to debate between being happy with your dream job or being happy with a higher salary. A part of these sacrifices includes working and living on a budget until you can live well below your means. One major sacrifice I've made while living here is not traveling as much as I would want to. Though I haven't perfected budgeting and can definitely improve some, I've picked up a lot of tips while working that help both short and long term whether you have a part-time or full-time job.These tips will help whether you live alone and survive check to check, if you're just starting out, or if you've got it a little more figured out.1.  Keep track of your weekly/biweekly hours and pay (whether you’re PT or FT).2. Estimate how much you will get paid every pay cycle.3. Keep a budget notebook that lists all of your important monthly expenses (rent, bills, transportation, groceries, etc).4. Include the total for each upcoming bill.5. Before each paycheck, subtract all the important expenses from your estimated total.                                                                                Photo: Moneyunder30.com  6. After you have accounted for all the bills, take away a percentage for savings and “extracurricular expenditures”. This will include going out, any extra items you need for a specific occasion, for work, or just to hold you over until your next payday.7. Be consistent with how much you save, even if it’s as little as $5/$10 per check.8. With the remainder, if any, either add it to your savings, keep it as “buffer money” or put it towards a dream. Whether that be a car fund, a travel fund, college fund, moving fund – something you can work towards."Buffer money" is definitely something important when budgeting as something unexpected is always bound to pop up. Living in New York, that's a high possibility with last minute needs, last minute challenges, last minute visits, last minute finds, and last minute events. It may be the "Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made Of" but it can be a long road to get there if you aren't thinking smart. For all those new to the city, even though it will take some getting used to, definitely enjoy all the perks (there's A LOT). And for the experts, New York can certainly be livable and enjoyable at the same time - even if it takes time and money management.P.S. Y’all better not be out here going broke trying to impress people. If that’s the case, pack up your things and come impress...

Of course Kara Walker is tired. For two decades, Walker has been creating art that screams. Art that screams at the predominantly white art world, art that screams at the liberals that consider themselves woke and beyond race and art that screams at America, challenging it to confront its ugly and distorted history. Of course Walker is tired, she has been screaming for 20 years and no one is listening because nothing has changed.In the artist statement for her newest show at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. she says the following: “I know what you all expect from me and I have complied up to a point. But frankly, I am tired.” She goes on to mention the growing racial tensions of America fueled by “random groups of white (male) supremacist goons who flaunt a kind of patched together notion of race purity with flags and torches and impressive displays of perpetrator-as-victim sociopathy” (Walker, 2017), and how her very existence as a “(proudly) raced and (urgently) gendered person” (Walker, 2017) is under threat. Read the entire statement here.We get it. I get it. Walker has been working in a predominately (an understatement) white industry, that caters to a predominately white audience. She is tired of being their poster child for black art. I get it. I've started my career as an artist, attending a predominately (again, an understatement) white MFA program, and I am already tired. Coupled with the intense political atmosphere, I find myself unable and unwilling to make art for that community; it’s emotionally exhausting and I do not want to be "their black." The art I make deals with the rawness, vulnerability and pain that comes from being black in America. I do not want to share that or explain it to a white audience. I suspect that this is exactly what Walker has been doing for the past 20 years and she’s exhausted; she is emotionally spent.To Walker, I say: come home Kara and rest...

Colin Kaepernick has certainly cemented himself in pop culture -- and arguably, political -- history and that was apparent the moment he decided to #TakeAKnee in protest against police brutality.Kaepernick's 49ers jersey became an iconic image and was a top seller for reasons far beyond his football skills. Now, New York's Museum of Modern Art is honoring Kaepernick. According to Quartz, Kaepernick's former jersey is on display as part of the museum's "Items: Is Fashion Modern" exhibit. Art literally imitating life! The exhibit is to highlight items that "represent stereotypes of different garments and ideas in fashion." Kaepernick's jersey, in particular, is amongst the sports fashion influence and is joining other legendary jerseys such as those worn by NBA's Michael Jordan and Brazilian soccer legend Pelé. “When the whole Kaepernick thing happened last year, it was noted by the NFL that his jersey was outpacing the sales of [New England Patriots quarterback] Tom Brady’s jersey,” explained museum research assistant Stephanie Kramer, who serves as the exhibit curatorial team's fashion expert. “To us, that seemed to us to indicate a sea change in what the jersey represents for people. Not necessarily your hero, good-looking quarterback, but perhaps somebody who was using his sports prowess and celebrity to say something socially and politically. We thought that made a really important statement about what the sports jersey could mean to its wearer.”"Items: Is Fashion Modern" will open October 1 and will be showcased at MoMA on the sixth floor through...

James Tempro is an 88-year-old retired firefighter and a certified hero, who served as a firefighter for 32 years. In 1968, he saved an unconscious boy from a huge fire in New York City's Bedford-Stuyvesant, a brave rescue that left him very injured.Making the rescue even more heroic is the fact that these injuries didn't concern Tempro at all. "The great thing was to see the child recover," Tempro told ABC Raleigh.Tempro's fearless rescue earned him the FDNY’s top honor: the James Gordon Bennett medal, named after founder of the New York Herald and overall top 19th century journalist. Tempro made history by becoming the first African American to receive the 148-year-old medal.However, there's been a twist.Tempro came across a book a few years ago that unveiled Bennett's dark side.Sure he was a founder and great reporter, but Bennett was a yellow journalist and a pro-slavery racist whose editorials were filled with slurs against black people. Bennett, who was one of the country’s richest and most powerful figures, consistently referred to black people as “inferior” and “wild beasts” in his pieces.The irony of a black man winning a medal named for someone who hated black Americans wasn't lost on Tempro. But he wasn't satisfied with an ironic victory: he wanted to correct history. "You have to take a stand somewhere," he said. Inspired by the recent Confederate flag and monument controversy, Tempro decided to take his stand."Here it is 2017 and we're still fighting those battles," Tempro said of those controversies.While Confederate monuments are being taken down and street names are being changed, Tempro doesn’t necessarily want the FDNY to change the medal’s name. Instead he wants the medal to no longer be the department’s top honor. This, of course means he would lose his place in history as the first black firefighter to receive the department's top award, something he believes is worth it.However, should the FDNY decide that they want to keep things as they are, Tempro has another plan."If they take no action, I will respectfully mail my medal back to the fire department," Tempro said. "When we have a guy that is stoking the fires of racism in America and division, it's almost now or never to speak out about...

Gentrified cutesy names don’t have a place in South Harlem, according to its tried-and-true residents.New York City real estate company Keller Williams wanted to rebrand the South Harlem area between 110th Street and 125th Street “SoHa," an idea met with immediate backlash from community leaders and residents.They weren’t having it!On the ground and on Twitter alike, black residents and even those living beyond Harlem's borders bonded over their anti-SoHa stance.Gentrification of Harlem is BEYOND disrespectful. Changing the name to SoHa is to erase the history & culture of an influential place.— Reina de Comida (@katie_luv16) July 4, 2017Watching the news and now a part of Harlem is being rebranded as 'SoHa' (South Harlem) referring to 110th-125th St 😤 pic.twitter.com/k04kjNffFZ— Mariela 🌹 (@mariela817) June 26, 2017always harlem never soha ☀️ pic.twitter.com/YGKIY2w8qs— jayla (@amandajayla) June 22, 2017The rebranding was an effort to attract new residents to the historically black South Harlem, an effort that obviously screamed gentrification. Activists spoke out against the name change and according to a Wall Street Journal report, the community’s efforts were not in vain. Keller Williams has dropped their team, deciding to cease their rebranding efforts.  “The team has a passion for the people, the history and the culture of the neighborhood they also call home,” a Keller Williams spokesperson told Wall Street Journal. “With respect to the neighborhood and people of Harlem, they will change their team name at Keller Williams NYC.”It looks like legislature is also on-board with keeping the neighborhood name in its purest form. Newly-elected New York State Senator Brian Benjamin announced this past Friday that he was introducing legislation to make it more difficult to change a New York neighborhood’s name. Benjamin has a background in protecting South Harlem’s historical relevance, serving as a chair of Community Board 10, a group that launched a campaign to halt “SoHa” usage.  This is great news! Abbreviated neighborhood names are clearly a tactic to attract “trendy” neighbors, which sadly, is often  just a codeword for “white.”If people are attracted by and want to move to South Harlem, well, they should move to South Harlem … just the way it...

Victor Sheppard, a deliveryman for Hunts Point, New York meat distributor Mosner Family Brands, was handed a noose by a white meat supplier, the owner of Ottomanelli & Sons Meat Market.According to NY Daily News, Joe Ottomanelli gave Sheppard the noose as a "gift" on the morning of April 5th and said, "You can put it around your neck and pull if you want to end it all."Ottomanelli allegedly further told Sheppard, "If you are feeling stressed out I can help you with it."Sheppard said that due to the immense trauma triggered by the noose, that he could not bring himself to go back to work, especially as Mosner continued to do business with Ottomanelli.“I could have lost my life or been badly injured or in jail, and it didn’t mean anything to them,” Sheppard said.Sheppard took his employer's actions to keep Ottomanelli as a client as disregard of him.He said, “It’s not easy returning to an environment where you mean nothing.”Sheppard's attorney, Wylie Stecklow, shared this statement: “Victor could not return to that environment. His employer knew exactly what happened and was supportive but they never stopped doing business with Ottomanelli."Michael Mosner, Sheppard's employer, claimed that he offered Sheppard disability leave and free counseling, but that Sheppard refused. He also said that Sheppard would have been assigned to a different delivery route, preventing him from ever working with Ottomanelli.But what good is any of that if Mosner still worked with Ottomanelli, a client who terrorized his own employee?Because Sheppard failed to not show up for work after the incident, the company sent him a notice on June 9 relieving him from his position.“We did everything we could to hold his spot. He just didn’t do his part,” said Mosner.Sheppard reflected on the incident in a statement saying, "[It] makes me think about what my ancestors had to go through in this country."Ron Kuby, Ottomanelli's lawyer, referred to the incident as "a bad joke."“There’s no reason for this man to quit his job besides the reason that suing is easier than working,” Kuby said.Interestingly, though dealing with his grievances in criminal court, Sheppard has not filed a lawsuit against Ottomanelli.Ottomanelli is facing hate crime charges. He is due in court in Manhattan in...