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“I do think that there is a deliberate effort to try to make Black agents, and Black women in particular, the face of this authoritarian takeover of these airports.”
After the Trump administration deployed hundreds of ICE agents to 14 of the U.S.’s busiest airports amid long lines caused by the partial government shutdown, impacting TSA workers, the presence of many Black and Brown ICE agents is igniting conversation.
Reactions to videos and photos of Black ICE agents working at airports to assist TSA workers, who are working without pay and with less staff due to quitting or call-outs, have been a mix of shock, disgust, and even pity. A viral image of a Black female ICE agent especially garnered attention and debate, as online users wondered if she, like her fellow Black ICE officers, was a staunch MAGA supporter or simply a person in need of a job being used as a political pawn.
Polling shows an overwhelming majority of Black Americans, who voted 83% to 13% against Trump in the 2024 election, disapprove of his immigration enforcement policies, which have resulted in violence and the death of two U.S. citizens.
“I truly feel bad for the black girl ICE agent. I don’t know her reasons but I also don’t care, unfortunately. There absolutely has to be a calling in, reckoning, and in some cases public shaming/scrutiny for crossing the picket line into oppressive structures,” said political influencer Lynae Vanee.
“And if we keep citing socioeconomic stressors as ‘reasons,’ we keep letting capitalism win. However, I, for one, would like to see alternatives presented to this girl along with the outrage. We gotta learn how to be a village again.”
“We are assuming she ain’t the same people who voted for this s—t. When you see ICE slamming people to the ground, breaking up homes… taking a job that represent (sic) violence and racism this is absolutely a bad choice as Black woman,” said one user on Threads. “Never forget they were told to stop people based on RACE. When your new job is being a member of the 2026 slave catching team — maybe rethink the job.”
Democratic strategist and political commentator Reecie Colbert explains that while there have always been Black ICE agents and that there are “not entirely bad reasons” to work for ICE, the political climate under Trump has changed.
“Donald Trump has weaponized the agency and has turned them into a lawless militia that executes his authoritarian agenda,” she told theGrio.
Critics of the Trump administration believe many Black and Brown agents were deliberately selected to help secure airports as a political ploy amid long-held condemnation that President Trump’s immigration policies are racially motivated.
“I do think that there is a deliberate effort to try to make Black agents, and Black women in particular, the face of this authoritarian takeover of these airports,” said Colbert. “But that might actually backfire if they’re trying to use Black women as a shield. What they don’t know is that putting Black women to the forefront is going to make people have an even stronger negative reaction to it.”
Democratic strategist and CEO of the political firm Blueprint Strategy LLC, Antjuan Seawright, told theGrio of Black ICE agents at U.S. airports, “They’re being forced to be there.”
“I think they may have signed up for one duty, but now they’re being forced to exercise another duty in the same vein, in the same way, that those who signed up to serve our country by way of the military and the National Guard are being forced to do duties and exercise duties that they did not sign up for.”
Seawright similarly argued that the Trump administration is purposefully using Black faces to execute its MAGA agenda.
“I think they want to make folks comfortable while being uncomfortable, and it’s easy to put a Black face out there to mask an agenda that will essentially harm those same communities that the faces represent,” he told theGrio.

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“They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be,” Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
The Trump administration has officially deployed ICE agents to U.S. airports amid long lines and chaos, as hundreds of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers have quit and thousands more work without pay.
As Democrats and Republicans, led by the White House, fail to reach a deal over Democrats’ demands to reform ICE amid deadly and violent encounters across the country, President Donald Trump announced on Saturday, “If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before! The Fascist Democrats will never protect America, but the Republicans will.”
The president appeared uninterested in further negotiations with Democrats, who are demanding that funding for ICE be clawed back and that the immigration enforcement agency reform its tactics.
“What they have done to the Department of Homeland Security, our fantastic TSA Officers, and, most importantly, the great people of our Country, is an absolute disgrace,” said Trump.
However, Democrats point out that Republicans in Congress have rejected several bills proposed by Dems that would pay TSA workers while funding for the rest of Homeland Security and ICE continues to be negotiated.
“ICE should conduct itself like every other law enforcement agency in the country, but if Republicans are unwilling to get to an agreement in that regard, the one thing we can do immediately [is] to make sure that TSA agents are paid,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.
He told CNN, “It’s unfortunate that Republicans have decided that they would rather force TSA agents to work without pay, inconvenience millions of Americans all across the country, and now potentially expose them to untrained ICE agents and create chaos at airports throughout the land, rather than get ICE agents under control.”
Jeffries continued, “The last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or, in some instances, kill them. We’ve already seen how ICE conducts itself. These are untrained individuals when it comes to doing the current job that they have, for the most part, let alone deploying them in close exposure and highly sensitive situations at airports across the country.”
The Trump administration’s decision to send ICE to airports was also rebuked by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the exclusive union representative for TSA workers.
“More than 50,000 TSA employees have worked without pay for over five weeks. Hundreds have quit. And Washington’s answer isn’t to pay them. It’s to send ICE agents to do their jobs,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley.
The union leader explained, “ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security. TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints — skills that require specialized instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing recertification. You cannot improvise that. Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one.”

Kelley added, “Our members at TSA have been showing up every day, without a paycheck, because they believe in the mission of keeping the flying public safe. They deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”
The Trump solution to America’s TSA problem is also being criticized by air travel passengers.
“TSA, they shouldn’t have to come in and do that. I don’t agree with ICE at all, anyway. They always seem like they’re on, like just a power trip, and they just want to have control over things,” one traveler at LaGuardia Airport told MS Now’s Maya Eaglin.
Another traveler noted, “Enough is enough. ICE was not paid to come to the airport. Whatever they were paid to do, which I really don’t know, let them do that, but they don’t need to be here. My true reaction is stop the bulls—t.”
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March 23, 2026
Outside the Santa Monica courthouse, Motsinger expressed a sense of hard-won relief.
In a stinging judicial rebuke of the man once dubbed “America’s Dad,” a California jury has ordered Bill Cosby to pay more than $19 million in damages to Donna Motsinger. The verdict, delivered Monday, concludes that the 88-year-old comedian drugged and sexually assaulted Motsinger over 50 years ago.
The $19.25 million judgment follows a civil trial in which Motsinger, a former waitress, detailed a harrowing account from 1972. She alleged that following one of Cosby’s comedy performances, he provided her with wine and a pill that rendered her unconscious. According to court documents, Motsinger awoke in her home partially clothed, realizing she had been “drugged and raped by Bill Cosby.”
Outside the Santa Monica courthouse, Motsinger expressed a sense of hard-won relief.
“It has been 54 years to get justice, and I know it’s not complete for the rest of the women, but I hope it helps them a little bit,” she said. She added that while the money was “icing on the cake,” the true victory was being believed and seeing Cosby held accountable for his actions.
The jury’s decision marks the second major civil loss for the “Cosby Show” star in recent years, following a 2022 liability finding in the Judy Huth case. Despite the mounting legal defeats, Cosby’s defense team remained defiant. Attorney Jennifer Bonjean confirmed plans for an appeal, stating, “I was obviously disappointed in the decision, but we believe we have a strong appeal and we’ll pursue that.”
This latest sexual assault verdict hits a comedian who has claimed significant financial distress. In a deposition last fall, Cosby likened his dwindling net worth to a “submarine with no motor,” citing a decade-long drought in earnings due to the widespread allegations against him. The California jury is expected to determine further punitive damages, which could increase the final total.
The $19.25 million judgment follows a “downward financial spiral” for the 88-year-old comedian, marked by legal fees and a 2025 mortgage default on his New York townhouse. Despite these asset management failures, Cosby still draws from The Cosby Show residuals, which generated over $1.5 billion in syndication. Ultimately, the California jury prioritized restitution for the 1972 sexual assault, holding him accountable regardless of his reported net worth decline.
During a deposition in the lawsuit last fall, Cosby painted a bleak picture of his current status, claiming he has not earned a cent as a working entertainer in over a decade. He described his plummeting net worth with a vivid, mechanical metaphor:
“Due to allegations, whether they be newspaper, radio, television, magazines or just plain internet, I have not worked in about 10 years, or more… my net worth has gone down like a submarine with no motor.”
Today, the disgraced entertainer is worth a reported $200 million- half of what his previous net worth was.
RELATED CONTENT: Colonialism On The Stand: 93-Year-Old Belgian Diplomat To Stand Trial For Patrice Lumumba’s 1961 Assassination

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“We have been in touch with the White House, and we are appreciative and grateful for the communication we have had, but the timing just didn’t work out.”
You can add the current NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, to the list of NBA franchises that have passed on visiting the Donald Trump White House.
Don’t expect to see the reigning league and NBA Finals MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and his Thunder teammates standing behind Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House.
A spokesperson for the NBA franchise told The Athletic in a statement that the team will eurostep a White House visit, citing “timing issues.”
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“We have been in touch with the White House, and we are appreciative and grateful for the communication we have had, but the timing just didn’t work out,” the Thunder told The Athletic.
The Thunder secured the franchise’s first championship since relocating from Seattle last year, defeating the Indiana Pacers in seven games.
The tradition of NBA champions visiting the White House dates back to the 1960s. Trump’s unfortunate first presidential election victory saw that tradition hit a snag with the Golden State Warriors, led by fierce Trump critics Steve Kerr and Steph Curry, who told Trump we’re good following their NBA Finals victories in 2017 and 2018.
If the Thunder accepted the Trump White House’s invitation, they would have been the first team to visit since Orange Mussolini got back in the White House. The last NBA team to visit the White House was the Boston Celtics during the Biden Administration.
The Thunder are currently on a 5-game road trip and play the Washington Wizards today so that they could have squeezed in a White House visit, but possibly having to turn around and play the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday could be the reason for the team’s “timing issues.”
While the team cites “timing,” social media seems to believe that they don’t want to be seen standing next to a guy whose administration is currently in a ridiculous war with Iran, which is extremely divisive and is mentioned in the Epstein Files a ridiculous number of times.
Whatever the reason, we’re just happy they are not going, and besides, who wants to eat McDonald’s at the White House?
You can see more reactions below.
Oklahoma City Thunder Eurostepping Trump White House Visit Due To “Timing Issue” was originally published on cassiuslife.com

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March 23, 2026
A South Memphis mother is speaking out after her 7-year-old was robbed at gunpoint.
The mother of a 7-year-old boy who was recently robbed at gunpoint for $10 is speaking out over the rising violence on the streets of South Memphis.
The 7-year-old and his mother, who spoke anonymously to FOX 13 due to threats, said he was walking home from a park with friends on Wednesday, March 18, when a gunman confronted them, and took two $5 bills from his pocket before fleeing.
“When we were walking over here, they was behind us talking, then they ran up on us, made us fall, and tripped us,” the 7-year-old boy said. “Then they went into our pockets and got all the money we had..” The boy was unhurt.
The mother said she wasn’t home when it happened, but her heart dropped when she got the call that someone had pulled a gun on her son.
”Like I have a daughter that is 16; our son is 13. And I have never been through nothing like this, ever,” the boy’s mother said. “And since we’ve been staying over in this area, it’s been nothing but bad things happening to me and my kids.”
The boy’s mother says the incident was the breaking point, and she’s now doing everything she can to leave the neighborhood, located on Vaal Street off Castex. Another woman told Fox 13 her daughter was shot there two years ago. Both women say a group of older teens has long terrorized the area, and the mother believes one of them was responsible for robbing her son at gunpoint.
”It is not safe over here; these parents up over here, they don’t care how their kids react to things, or they don’t care what their kids out here doing,” the boy’s mother said. “So I’m trying to get my kids away from all of this. I can’t take it no more.”
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On Thursday, the Trump administration announced plans to shift the nearly $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department.
Besides being anti-immigrant, anti-diversity and inherently anti-science, the Trump administration has shown time and time again that it is anti-education — because a populace that learns things leaves fewer of the “poorly educated” voter who President Donald Trump said he loves so much.
So, the federal government is still in its process of defunding the Department of Education, and, on Thursday, the administration announced plans to shift the nearly $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department, claiming its mission is to improve the efficiency of the loan system, or what it described as “overdue financial discipline.”
From the New York times.
About half of all undergraduate students receive federal aid each year, according to the Institute of Education Sciences. More than 40 million people currently have federal student loans, including 9.2 million in default and 2.4 million in late-stage delinquency, according to the Education Department.
“Treasury has the unique experience, the operational capability and the financial expertise to bring long overdue financial discipline to the program and be better stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
Linda McMahon, the education secretary, said that student aid would be better managed at Treasury. A fact sheet from the administration promised students would receive “the high-quality service they have come to expect under the Trump administration.”
And there it is…
The second McMahon — the education secretary who thinks Black history is DEI while being ignorant of even some of the most well-known Black history — spoke of “the high-quality service they have come to expect under the Trump administration,” you have to know we’re being sold a bill of goods.
The Trump administration doesn’t provide “high-quality” anything — certainly, not education-related.
Instead, Trump has railed about “returning education to the states,” as if it would improve the quality of education overall, which ignores the glaring fact that states and local governments already dictate the academic side of their educational systems, including the setting of curricula, teacher hiring, teacher licensing, and standardized testing. 
Under Trump’s DOE, far-right groups are overseeing programs to “educate” America with thoroughly whitewashed U.S. history propaganda disguised as “patriotic” civics lessons. HBCUs have lost millions in grant funding, and Black academic institutions and programs, in general, have been threatened. Any and every program aimed at bettering the quality of education for Black people and other marginalized groups has been derailed with anti-DEI investigations and threats to withhold federal funding. And, as far as student loans go, all the MAGA-fied DOE has done is attack loan forgiveness initiatives and garnish the wages of borrowers who struggle to pay them back, crippling their credit scores.
“In the midst of a growing affordability crisis where American families are already struggling to make ends meet, this risks driving millions of borrowers further into financial hardship,” Aissa Canchola Bañez, the policy director for Protect Borrowers, a group that targets predatory lenders, told the Times. “Instead of providing relief to the millions of defaulted borrowers who have fallen behind, the department is moving a portfolio of our most vulnerable borrowers to an agency with little to no expertise in the rights and benefits afforded to borrowers under the Higher Education Act.”
Education is being controlled by an administration that thrives on anti-intellectualism and the demonization of institutions of learning, and it shows with every new policy change.
SEE ALSO:
Student Loan Collections Make American Credit Scores Plummet
Education Department To Garnish Wages On Student Loan Debt
Trump To Garnish Defaulted Student Loan Borrowers’ Wages This Summer

Student Loans Will Now Be Handled By The US Treasury was originally published on newsone.com

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March 23, 2026
The rapper also gave her $10,000 in cash.
Boosie presented his mother with not only a house, but a whole estate as a surprise birthday gift. The Shade Room featured a video of the event.
The Louisiana rapper, born Torence Ivy Hatch Jr., celebrated his mother’s birthday by giving her a tour of the property. As she was driven to the “Batman Estate,” he urged her to get out of the vehicle as he took her through the gates labeled “Miss Connie.”
The proud son had the gates open as he informed her that this is her new house. He also pointed out a street sign: “Connie Hatch Pkwy.”
As he led her to the house, she told him that she normally does not allow him to walk in the house with shoes on, but she will let him this time.
There were more gifts, including several Louis Vuitton bags laid on the table, along with an additional $10,000 in cash for her to spend. Several white T-shirts with photos of the two of them placed on the dining room chairs.
In the tour, he showed her a 100-inch HDTV in one of the rooms, the master bedroom, several guest rooms, and some of the house’s amenities.
A post shared by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom)

Just over a year ago, Boosie announced he was spending about $127,000 to create a lake on his 26-acre property in Georgia, which he named “Lake BadAzz.” He has also bought homes for his eight children to live in.
In December 2024, DJ Vlad was given a tour of the property. Boosie explained to the content creator that he had the lake built on his property because he got sick of going to fish at other people’s lakes and decided to have one built just for him.
RELATED CONTENT: Rapper Boosie Badazz Receives Two Honorary Doctorate Degrees From Florida HBCU
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Alexia Moore was reported by a hospital security guard after emergency room staff discovered she had taken an abortion pill when she came to the hospital with abdominal pain.
A Black woman in Georgia is facing attempted murder charges under the state’s abortion ban.
31-year-old Alexia Moore was arrested on March 4, a little over two months after she came to Southeast Georgia Health System’s emergency room in Camden Country with abdominal pain on Dec. 30. According to police reports, she was pregnant and had taken an abortion pill after the six-week period that the state allows for pregnancies to be terminated. She is being held in Camden County jail.
According to the Georgia Recorder, a security guard at Southeast Georgia Health System alerted local police to investigate Moore after emergency room staff discovered Moore had attempted an abortion.
Police say that Moore, an Army veteran, had taken Misoprostol, an abortion medication, in her second trimester, along with an unprescribed pill of Oxycodone, an opioid she obtained from a relative, per USA Today. At the hospital, she reportedly delivered a premature fetus with a beating heart that was struggling to breathe, which died after one hour. The arrest warrant for Moore said she delivered a “human being who was born alive and survived for one hour. Under Georgia law, the victim became a person at the moment of live birth.”
Since Roe v. Wade, the federal case that legalized abortion throughout the country was overturned in 2022, states like Georgia have tightened their laws around terminating a pregnancy, some like Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana banning the practice almost entirely. The Peach state has some of the most restrictive abortion policies in the country, banning termination after six weeks, and also prohibits state Medicaid or private insurance coverage to be used toward abortion.
Family and friends of Moore have spoken out, saying that Moore struggles with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, which she was diagnosed upon her military discharge, where she was given 100% disability benefits. She also has two children, and was grappling with the idea of having another child, a friend told the Georgia Recorder. Her mother, Edith Moore, told the publication that her daughter was adopted, and endured a lot of hardship in her life, which was compounded by her military service.
“As a mother, I could say that she’s been a good daughter number one, a good person when it comes to her siblings,” Edith told the George Recorder. “She’s a decent person who is caught up in her circumstances.”
Moore is set to have a hearing on March 23.
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Landscapes, such as Lake Kasaritsa (1916-17), anchor the Konrad Mägi exhibition Courtesy of the Art Museum of Estonia
The first UK exhibition to be dedicated to Estonia’s pioneering Modernist painter Konrad Mägi (1878-1925) opens at Dulwich Picture Gallery this month. Distinguished by his use of vibrant colour combinations, pattern and texture, Mägi’s landscapes are imbued with a romantic mysticism heightened by his restlessly experimental style.
Curated by Kathleen Soriano, who previously introduced Dulwich audiences to the Lithuanian painter M.K. Čiurlionis and the Norwegian Harald Sohlberg, the exhibition brings together more than 60 works, many of which have never been seen outside Estonia.
“We’re at a really important moment where we’re re-evaluating what our western art history canon actually is, understanding that it stretches way beyond France, Germany and Italy, and trying to absorb the achievements of those artists that were otherwise regarded as being on the outskirts of the central canon,” Soriano says. “What Dulwich’s brilliant, revelatory programme does is it allows us to look at some of those artists in greater detail and understand where they fit in that context,” the curator adds.
Despite lifelong ill health, Mägi travelled extensively, first to St Petersburg and then to the Åland Islands off the Finnish coast, where aged 27, he made his first paintings, of which just one survives. Unlike Mägi himself, his paintings largely remained in Estonia, with the Art Museum of Estonia in Tallinn, Tartu Art Museum, the Museum of Viljandi, the National Archives of Estonia and Estonian private collectors being the source for every loan in the exhibition.
Mägi’s Vilsandi Motif (1913-14) Courtesy of the Art Museum of Estonia

Arranged chronologically and thematically, the show will begin with the artist’s time in Norway, where he began to paint in earnest and had his first exhibition. This came after a period in Paris, which Mägi seems to have been mostly unimpressed by. And yet the influence of Cubism and Pointillism, as well as the decorative planes of Henri Matisse are evident in his work. “He absorbed so much of the different artistic styles he encountered around the world,” Soriano says. “But he made them very much his own—he is a phenomenal colourist”.
Mägi is celebrated for his landscapes, which share the visionary qualities of Sohlberg and Nokolai Astrup and, at times, the abstract tendencies of Hilma af Klint. Meanwhile, his portraits, such as Young Rom (1915) and Portrait of a Lady (1916-17), show the influence of artists like Édouard Manet and Edvard Munch.
It will be the landscapes that frame the show though. As Mägi’s health deteriorated, he became further immersed in nature, using neo-Impressionist techniques to depict the reverberating life of the Baltic islands Saaremaa and Vilsandi.
• Konrad Mägi, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 24 March-12 July
Paris exhibition includes furniture by Eileen Gray, sculptures by Constantin Brancusi and photographs by Man Ray
Court artist had an impressive roster of sitters including Mary Rose Tudor
Show at the Hamburger Bahnhof explores how the German artist hid behind Hitler’s “degenerate” label
Touring show seeks to ‘de-exoticise’ the predominant narrative

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March 23, 2026
Hell isn’t hot enough for Etienne Davignon.
The brutal assassination of anti-colonial icon Patrice Lumumba has remained a festering wound in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo for over six decades. Now, in a historic pivot toward criminal accountability, a Brussels court has ordered Etienne Davignon, a 93-year-old former Belgian diplomat, to stand trial for his alleged role in the 1961 execution of Congo’s democratically elected prime minister.
Davignon, who later ascended to the heights of European power as a Commissioner, was a junior diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the Congo’s violent transition to independence. Prosecutors allege that Davignon was not merely a bystander but a functional cog in the machinery of war crimes. The indictment centers on the unlawful detention and transfer of Lumumba to the secessionist region of Katanga, where he was met by a firing squad overseen by Belgian mercenaries in Jan. 1961—six months after his famous speech on Congo’s Independence Day.
“We are going to show the world what the Black man [and woman] can do when he works in freedom, and we are going to make of the Congo the center of the sun’s radiance for all of Africa. We are going to keep watch over the lands of our country so that they truly profit her children.”
According to legal filings by the Lumumba family, Davignon’s involvement extended to the “humiliating and degrading treatment” of the prime minister, stripping him of his basic right to a fair trial. The gravity of these charges lies in the meticulous nature of the elimination. After the execution, Belgian police officer Gerard Soete reportedly oversaw the disinterment of the bodies of Lumumba and his associates, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, to dissolve them in sulfuric acid.
For years, the Belgian state shielded itself behind the findings of a 2002 parliamentary commission, which admitted “moral responsibility” but stopped short of criminal prosecution. This trial, however, seeks to convert that abstract morality into concrete judicial consequences. As the sole surviving suspect of the 10 individuals originally targeted by the 2011 complaint, Davignon represents the final opportunity for the Brussels court to adjudicate the specific actions of the colonial administration.
The defense has historically argued that junior officials were merely following the geopolitical currents of the Cold War when the assassination was ordered. Yet, as the Lulumba family’s attorney Christophe Marchand revealed, the case is a “gigantic victory” for those challenging the “culture of impunity” that has long characterized European reflections on colonial crimes.
The trial will likely delve into the “Blueprints for Intervention” found in Belgian archives, which suggest a coordinated effort between Brussels and local secessionists to neutralize Lumumba’s “pan-Africanist” threat.
The physical evidence of this crime was reduced to a single gold-capped tooth, which Soete kept as a macabre trophy for decades. It was only in 2022 that the relic was repatriated to the Democratic Republic of Congo in a somber ceremony. During that handover, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo reiterated the state’s apology, but for the Lumumba family, an apology without a verdict is incomplete.
“It is a step in the right direction,” Yema Lumumba, the leader’s granddaughter, told Reuters. “What we want is to search for truth and establish different responsibilities.”
The trial is expected to scrutinize the “Belgian-Congolese technical assistance” agreements of the era, which prosecutors argue provided the legal cover for the military support of Katangan rebels.
By forcing a 93-year-old statesman to account for wicked decisions made in his youth, the Belgian judiciary is finally addressing the historical debt owed to its former colony. This proceeding is a trial of a system that believed it could dissolve a revolution in a vat of acid, only to find that the memory of Patrice Lumumba has outlived nearly everyone who conspired to silence him.
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President Trump’s move to honor Columbus is in direct contrast to the cultural shift away from honoring the controversial explorer.
Nearly six years after Black Lives Matter protesters toppled a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, President Donald Trump has erected a replica of the controversial Italian explorer on the White House grounds.
The statue was installed on Sunday outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, just feet away from the White House.
“In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero, and President Trump will ensure he’s honored as such for generations to come,” the White House said in a statement following the statue’s placement.
According to the New York Times, the replica was created by sculptor Tilghman Hemsley and his son, using scans of the salvaged parts of the original retrieved from the harbor after it was destroyed by BLM protesters. The statue has an inscription that reads, “‘Discoverer of America’ October 12, 1492.”
The return of the Columbus statue on White House grounds follows a series of actions the Trump administration has taken to restore white nationalist symbols, including other statues and the renaming of military bases in honor of Confederate generals. Critics of the president have slammed the actions as a “whitewashing” of U.S. history.
“President Trump is trying to glorify people who wanted to preserve chattel slavery and destroy the United States instead of honoring those who fought to make this a better nation. Americans, especially Black and Brown Americans, will never forget the decades of oppression that so many communities endured,” Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said after President Trump signed an executive order to restore Confederate monuments.
Columbus, who did not set foot on U.S. soil despite historical praise for discovering the Americas, was responsible for the genocide of indigenous people across the Americas during the late 1400s and early 1500s.
Dr. Marcus Board Jr., an associate professor of political science at Howard University, told theGrio of Columbus, “He was not any form of good in the world. He came to conquer and to dominate.”
Board continued, “I hope that we have evolved more as a people to know that that way of being should no longer exist. And when you try and get to the root of white nationalism, I think it’s important to point out that you always end up with someone who was a representative of the lowest form of civilization, of society and of humanity.”
Columbus’s violent history is so controversial and well-documented that a movement to rename Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day gained momentum in the U.S. during the 1990s. President Joe Biden issued the nation’s first proclamation honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day in 2021.
President Trump’s move to honor Columbus is in direct contrast to the cultural shift away from honoring the controversial explorer.
“We tell stories about dead men to make living men feel stronger. Christopher Columbus exists as a story so that men justifying domination can say that they are heroes,” said Dr. Board. “And so when we tell the story of this new statue and the White House where it rests, just remember to talk about how much education, how many cultures, and how many people had to be destroyed in order for their myth to exist, and then get to work.”
Keith Boykin, a political analyst and former Clinton White House aide, said of President Trump’s move, “Unfortunately, Trump’s statue is predictable rage bait. Whenever he’s in trouble, he launches a new culture war battle to distract his base from his failures.”
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Mark your calendars for May 24. Hot 107.9’s Birthday Bash XXX is gearing up to be a monumental cultural celebration, and the King of the South is taking his rightful place on the throne as the headliner. T.I. helped architect the sound of an entire generation. When he steps on that stage, we will celebrate a legacy of empowering voices, representing our community, and delivering pure hip-hop excellence.
T.I. changed the landscape of rap. He took the gritty realities of Southern life and packaged them into global anthems. His versatility is unmatched. One moment he delivers a club-shaking banger that makes you want to move, and the next, he offers introspective verses that speak directly to our shared cultural experiences. He champions diversity in his sound, collaborating with everyone from underground legends to global pop stars.
To get you ready for the ultimate community celebration on May 24, we put together the definitive list of 30 essential T.I. tracks. From chart-topping singles to deep album cuts and gritty B-sides, this is the soundtrack of a legendary career.
1. What You Know
The ultimate coronation track. When those triumphant horns hit, everybody knows the King has arrived.
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2. 24’s
A legendary street anthem that officially put the music industry on notice. T.I. captured the car culture and the energy of the South perfectly.
3. U Don’t Know Me
Raw, defiant, and completely unapologetic. This track became an instant classic for anyone demanding respect.
4. Rubber Band Man
With a bouncy, infectious beat, T.I. showcased his effortless flow and magnetic charisma.
5. Bring Em Out
Jay-Z provided the sample, but T.I. provided the incredible energy. This remains a staple to hype up any crowd.
6. ASAP
Dark, brooding, and fiercely defensive of his crown. T.I. used this track to solidify his unquestionable dominance.
7. Top Back
A booming tribute to cruising through the city. It captures a specific, shared cultural vibe that resonates across neighborhoods.
8. Dope Boyz
An early cut from I’m Serious that laid the crucial foundation for the trap music explosion.
9. Bankhead (feat. P$C & Young Dro)
A hyper-local shoutout that showed T.I. never forgot his roots or the community that built him.
10. Trap Back Jumpin
A later career banger proving he never lost his edge or his connection to the streets.
11. Whatever You Like
A massive crossover success. T.I. proved he could make smooth, aspirational anthems without losing his authentic voice.
12. Big Things Poppin’ (Do It)
High energy and perfectly produced. This track pushed his sound further into the mainstream while keeping his core fans satisfied.
13. Let’s Get Away
A smooth, melodic cut that highlighted his storytelling ability and laid-back Southern charm.
14. Why You Wanna
Sampling a classic hip-hop beat, he created a laid-back summer staple perfect for cookouts and block parties.
15. You Know What It Is
Fast-paced and assertive. It highlights his sharp lyrical delivery over heavy, pounding bass.
16. Front Back (feat. UGK)
A beautiful homage to Texas and Georgia rap culture, bringing diverse Southern communities together.
17. Be Easy
A masterful album cut showing T.I.’s ability to blend street politics with an infectious, rhythmic bounce.
18. About the Money (feat. Young Thug)
A generational bridge. T.I. teamed up with the new wave to create an absolutely hypnotic club hit.
19. Swagga Like Us (feat. Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne)
A monumental cultural event. T.I. stood toe-to-toe with rap’s heaviest hitters and anchored the whole track.
20. Ball (feat. Lil Wayne)
A vibrant, high-tempo celebration track inspired by the distinct bounce culture of New Orleans.
21. Live in the Sky (feat. Jamie Foxx)
A deeply emotional tribute to lost loved ones. T.I. gets vulnerable, reflecting on grief within the community.
22. Dead and Gone (feat. Justin Timberlake)
A powerful reflection on growth, consequences, and leaving a destructive past behind to empower a better future.
23. Live Your Life (feat. Rihanna)
An uplifting, motivational anthem. He uses his massive platform to encourage perseverance and ambition.
24. No Matter What
Recorded during a tumultuous time in his life, this track is a masterclass in resilience and staying strong through adversity.
25. Doin’ My Job
A thoughtful exploration of the systemic traps and realities facing young Black men trying to survive.
26. Still Ain’t Forgave Myself
An early, incredibly raw confession. T.I. strips away the bravado to show the heavy mental toll of his environment.
27. I Still Luv You
A complicated, honest narrative about loyalty, heartbreak, and personal relationships.
28. King of da South
A bold claim backed up by complex lyricism. He outlines exactly why he deserves the title he gave himself.
29. Motivation
A gritty B-side that serves as pure fuel for anyone grinding to better their circumstances.
30. Look What I Got
A celebratory reflection on climbing from the bottom to the top. It highlights the inclusive journey of making it against the odds.
We are ready to celebrate diversity, immense talent, and Southern hip-hop history. When T.I. takes the stage at Birthday Bash XXX on May 24, expect an unforgettable night that highlights the very best of our community. Grab your tickets, revisit these classics, and prepare to witness the King claim his throne.
The King’s Gamut: 30 Essential T.I. Tracks to Prep You for Birthday Bash XXX was originally published on hotspotatl.com
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The October Gallery Museum places art in the community. Here are partner locations where you can have an art experience.
Some locations art is installed inside buildings and visits are during regular business hours. Other locations are by appointment only. Schools are not open to the public. In addition, we have many outdoor installations that you can enjoy around the clock. Check each location below for details. Tours are available upon request. 215-352-3114.
Here are some of our patrons that have donated art and art related items installed as part of our Art in the Community program. Thanks!
Watson and Sonia Brown
Stephanie Daniel
Chad Cortez Everett
Gail Gaines
Dr. Darryl J. Ford
Kelly R. Harrison
Deborah Kelly
Betty Ann D. Lawrence
David Lawrence
Leon McDuffie
Michael Muhammad
Jay R. Ogilvie
Marjorie H. Ogilvie
Junious Rhone, Sr.
Robin Rhone
Shirley Rhone
April Rice
Karen Roach
Monica Rocha
Steve Satell
Deborah Stephens
Staci Watson 
Stephanie R. West
Horace Wright

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Art and art related items may be returned to October Gallery in good condition within twenty (20) days of the purchase for store credit ONLY – unless otherwise stated on an invoice.
Items on layaway or even items paid for will be held by the gallery for no more than ninety (90) days from the original sale date. Refund is in store credit ONLY – unless other stated on an invoice.

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The viral photo had plenty of timelines in an uproar but after some official sleuthing by “The Breakfast Club” co-host Loren Lorosa, the official facts have come to light.
Tyler Perry and Marlo Hampton shocked the internet when a photo of them in a rather close embrace surfaced on social media. There’s only one catch to the photo: it was artificial intelligence.
Although Perry and Hampton both appeared at the Sea Salt SoulFull Sunday Gospel Brunch in Atlanta earlier this month and posed for a photo together, the image of the two embraced in a steamy kiss was doctored. Although no one knows exactly where that image originated, Loren Lorosa of “The Breakfast Club” confirmed that the two had never met before and the photographer for the event stated that Perry was keeping his presence low-key.
Tyler Perry spotted with his new girlfriend pic.twitter.com/tn6nhKC9vC
“He’s never met her before,” Lorosa said. “Tyler Perry was invited to the brunch by Jason Lee. Marlo was also at the brunch to support her best friend Catherine Brewton, which is how the two ended up in the same place. They met; she’s caught in some videos; they’re taking some photos together too, but they are not dating. That is not happening.”
She added, “I wanna make it clear. I was told by the photographer that Tyler Perry wasn’t even trying to do the photo thing. He didn’t want this to be about him. He was there to enjoy the brunch with his friend Jason Lee and all of this took a left turn.”
The brunch, which is BMI executive Catherine Brewton’s annual soiree, also featured a performance from Kirk Franklin and appearances by T.I. and Tameka “Tiny” Harris.
Tyler Perry IS NOT dating Marlo Hampton (formerly of Real Housewives of ATL) .. that photo of them kissing is FAKE.. AI strikes again. pic.twitter.com/0HqM7TIOLj
Perry has been rather private about his love life. He was linked to fellow filmmaker Gelila Bekele. The pair dated for 10 years before splitting and share a son together, Aman. Bekele also directed Perry’s 2023 documentary, “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story,” about the filmmaker’s life.
In an interview with Today, Bekele opened up on why there were no difficulties directing such a film years after she and Perry broke up.
“You follow the story,” she said, not letting their relationship cloud her vision of the film. “I think the privilege of having that front row seat for so many years gives you access, but as a filmmaker, there’s a moral integrity of wanting to sort of encompass the unknown, as well as what you already know. So a lot of research has to go into it. Also, I feel like all my other films were preparing me for this and hopefully, by my next film I’ve learned a lot from making this one.”
As far as who Perry is dating now? That is under wraps. Back in 2020, shortly after he and Bekele broke up, he took to Instagram to share that he was “single” and in the midst of a “mid-life crisis,” after posting a post-workout photo.
“I’m 51, single and wondering what the next chapter in my life will look like,” he wrote at the time. “Whatever it looks like I’m going to walk with God, be the best father and man I can be, hold my head up high, and try to look my best doing it!”
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NBA Hall of Famer & 5x champion Dennis Rodman can now add “WWE Hall of Famer” to his long list of accomplishments.
As reported by ESPN, the WWE will honor Rodman for his contributions to wrestling as a member of the iconic nWo (New World Order) faction in WCW. The April 17th induction kicks off WWE’s two-night Wrestlemania weekend in Las Vegas.
Rodman’s wrestling career, though brief, was unforgettable. He made his WCW debut in 1997, aligning himself as a member of the nWo. The faction, founded by Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall & Kevin Nash, cemented itself as the ultimate “heels” (a.k.a. “bad guys) at the height of the “Monday Night Wars” between WCW and the then-WWF.
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His most infamous wrestling moment came during the 1998 NBA Finals, when Rodman skipped a Chicago Bulls practice to appear on “WCW Monday Nitro.” This set the stage for a high-profile tag team match at WCW’s “Bash at the Beach,” where Rodman teamed with Hogan to face NBA rival Karl Malone and Diamond Dallas Page.
Rodman’s induction into WWE’s celebrity wing places him alongside other sports icons like Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, and Pete Rose. His ability to seamlessly transition from the basketball court to the wrestling ring showcased his larger-than-life personality and knack for showmanship.
This year’s WWE Hall of Fame class also includes other notable inductees, including famed “golden era” tag team Demolition, WWE/TNA legend AJ Styles, and WWE Women’s Champion-turned-CEO Stephanie McMahon.
Rodman’s wrestling exploits, particularly his involvement with the nWo, remain a fascinating chapter in the history of both professional wrestling and sports culture. His induction is a fitting tribute to a man who has always thrived in the spotlight, whether grabbing rebounds or delivering chair shots.

NBA Great Dennis Rodman To Be Inducted Into The WWE Hall of Fame was originally published on hotspotatl.com

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Blorgg Honklorph Malfonxia (2025), a tokenised work by the artist duo LoVid
Courtesy: Verse

To casual observers of the NFT (non-fungible token) market, the evidence of collapse keeps mounting. But figures across the landscape of blockchain art argue that more than meets the eye is happening in this niche—it just takes a radical reorientation of perspective.
First, the alarm bells. The owners of Nifty Gateway, a once-popular NFT exchange launched in 2020, announced early this year that the platform would shut down for good on 23 February. The move added another entry to a growing list of defunct exchanges, including KnownOrigin, LG Art Lab and MakersPlace—the platform that provided back-end infrastructure for the paradigm-shifting $69.3m sale of Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days at Christie’s in March 2021.
Surrounding Nifty Gateway’s closure, meanwhile, was the most severe sell-off in cryptocurrency history. The value of Bitcoin plunged more than 40% between September 2025 and early February 2026; its price dropped below $70,000 for the first time since the re-election of Donald Trump. Ether, the native currency of the Ethereum blockchain, and other coins were also down sharply over the same period.
None of this is good news for the blockchain art trade. Yet insiders advise that the first mistake would be to overestimate Nifty Gateway’s importance to the current state of NFTs. “Galleries close and open over the years, and while most of these marketplaces and platforms did not operate as a gallery per se, the analogy is indicative of my expectation that changes happen within an active industry,” says Adam Heft Berninger, the founder of New York’s technologically progressive Heft Gallery.
Other experts chalk up Nifty Gateway’s demise to more than just the organic churn of an evolving market. Muriel Quancard, an appraiser and consultant with a speciality in digital art, suggests the platform alienated many true believers in crypto art with its policies, such as muddying the on-chain provenance of NFTs minted there and discouraging users from moving their digital assets elsewhere.
“Nifty Gateway managed to unravel the very things blockchain and NFTs were designed to uphold: verifiable authorship, sovereignty and decentralisation,” she says.
Complicating the reaction to Nifty Gateway’s closure is what some insiders see as a larger, more fundamental misread. “People still talk about NFTs as if they’re a single category,” Quancard says. “In reality, there are many different artistic and technical forms with different dependencies.”
The popular vision of tokenised work remains yoked to a narrow subset of highly visible pieces—think pop culture-infused art by Beeple and series like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, comprising thousands of colourful cartoon apes. Multiple experts agree that these works have value, including as markers of a particular cultural moment in historical and art-historical time. But they do not represent the totality of crypto-based art.
Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus, the artist duo known as LoVid, are one case in point. They told The Art Newspaper by email that they had found “enthusiasm, momentum and support for a wide variety of NFTs” in 2021-22, including a collection of 400 unique works they offered on the Art Blocks platform. But they have—at least for now—stopped doing large-scale drops. “With very few exceptions, the model of marketplaces and platforms doesn’t work for us,” they say. Instead, since 2024, the duo has been privately offering tokenised works through either bricks-and-mortar galleries or directly through the studio. “Recently, we also have been including NFTs as certificates of authenticity combined with paintings, photographs and video,” they write.
Berninger has taken a similar approach at Heft. “Almost all of the work we show has a tokenised component, where the collector receives or can claim a digital artwork whose ownership is recorded on the blockchain: an NFT,” he says—even though he may not always actually use the term “NFT”, he adds.
Quancard also notes that several other “ecosystems” for NFTs and generative art are not only still active but “more artist-friendly” than Nifty Gateway, including OpenSea, Feral File and Tezos. Ultimately, the survivors and the casualties “emphasise the same lesson: platforms come and go, but works and ecosystems built with stewardship and long-term thinking are better positioned to endure”.
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