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The only Black woman in the NAIA is committed to and leading the rebranding of the HBCU Athletic Conference

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The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) organizes 21 conferences. Only one is led by a black commissioner.

This league will probably be in force from July 1 latest name which encompasses its mission and membership: the HBCU Athletic Conference (HBCUAC) with the motto “Where Winners Thrive.”

After three years of interim service, Kiki Baker Barnes was named everlasting commissioner of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) in June 2022. She said her leadership team worked with Black-owned marketing firm Ten35 for 2 years before selecting the latest name.

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“We had been operating as an HBCU conference and collective since 2010, but we had no ownership,” Barnes told the Grio Journal. “We wanted to think of a name that would be more fitting. I’m very excited to leverage our identity and continue to grow the conference. We have a strategic plan to reach 16 members.”

A student walks on the campus of Fisk University in Nashville. The university is a member of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, which is rebranding and constructing on its HBCU identity. (Photo: George Walker IV/The Tennessean/USA Today Network)

GCAC was founded in 1981 with three HBCUs – Dillard, Tougaloo and Xavier-Louisiana – and 4 predominantly white institutions situated in three Gulf Coast states. Starting this summer, Conference will include 13 schools – all HBCUs – situated in eight states and one U.S. territory.

Barnes said too many individuals who couldn’t name a single GCAC member actually knew these schools quite well, including deep-rooted HBCUs like Fisk and Talladega. On the other hand, HBCUs in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) conferences were easy to discover.

“When you say ‘SWAC,’” Barnes said, referring to the Southwestern Athletic Conference, “Grambling, Southern and Alabama State are pulling out. She noted the same dynamic amongst members of the Mideastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

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“But when you said, ‘Gulf Coast Athletic Conference,’ people went, ‘Hmm?’ Nobody knew who it was. But I would name the schools and people would know them. The only differentiator among us is that we are all HBCUs.”

In 2010, the conference was on the verge of collapse when six schools left, leaving 4 HBCUs as the only members. Barnes, who had spent nearly 16 years at Dillard as women’s basketball coach and athletic director, became president of the conference – “I took over a sinking ship” – and immediately helped recruit latest members resembling Philander Smith, Edward Waters and Voorhees.

She said that, as expected, the response to the rebranding was mixed. HBCUAC is the youngest HBCU conference. Some of the old guard are usually not thrilled with the latest name, perhaps considering it a bit conceited. But critics are removed from her mind and audience.

“I would say people who have money were very excited,” said Barnes, a fierce competitor who played basketball in New Orleans and holds the school record in the triple jump. “It makes me excited about the potential brand partnerships that may take place. I received good feedback from coaches and people who followed our conference and were familiar with what we were doing. They are very excited.”

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The rebranding will take effect on the same day that Stillman, Voorhees and Wilberforce develop into official members. As of 2022, five other schools have joined or rejoined, including the University of the Virgin Islands, which became first school from U.S. territory to join an NAIA or NCAA conference in the twenty first century.

Stillman athletic director Terrance White he said WBRC-TV that its athletes will enjoy enhanced cultural experiences in their latest league.

“Schools of similar size, with missions, visions and values ​​of similar size,” White said. “You know, similar sports programs, similar students come from similar backgrounds. All of this turns out to be something that cannot be measured in the long run.”

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NAIA sports programming is much smaller than its top NCAA counterparts, which collectively generate billions in television revenue. But regardless of size, each school’s mission goes beyond athletics. Sports help fulfill this mission, even in conferences like the GCAC that don’t field football teams.

“We don’t expect to make millions like the big schools,” Wilberforce President Vann Newkirk said he said Gazeta Codzienna Xenia. However, we all know that at our level every penny counts, and running a sports program is a business. This move will energize our alumni base, which in turn will help us increase attendance and overall interest in the University.”

Sports can enhance a faculty’s profile and brand, creating more ways to share information and increase enrollment. Barnes said HBCUAC will do that and more for its member institutions.

“When we talk about ‘Where Winners Thrive,’ do you know what stories we can tell? There is a lot of history, not just athletics,” she said.

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“It gives us a platform where we can really grow and tell the stories of our institutions so that they have the same brand recognition as Howard, Spelman, Morehouse, FAMU, Grambling, Tuskegee and all these schools that people know.”


Deron Snyder thegrio.com


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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com

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Kowotki Miss Ivory Coast prohibits wigs and weaves for players

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weaves, ivory Coast, natural hair, wigs, beauty pageant


The Miss Ivory Coast competition issued a shocking recent principle of the looks of players.

The competition of West Africa announced a ban on the extension of wigs and weave. Instead, he wants participants to point out the great thing about their natural hair.

Celemary bone competition prohibits those that fight for the crown of wearing false hair or extending hair in preliminary stages. These qualifying events will happen in 13 cities and two international crevices.

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While the foundations are limited by hairstyles and competitors perhaps to wear THeirs real hair in any way. However, competitions need to distance themselves from promoting cosmetic surgery and brightening the skin.

“We want the candidates to be natural – both with braids and straightened hair, it should be their own. Beauty must be strict,” said Victor Yapobi, president of the Miss Ivory Coast Organizing Organizing Committee.

The organizers hope to encourage participants to just accept their natural beauty. They also decided to eliminate some expensive barriers that prevent many competing.

While the brand new rule allows women to spend less on their hairstyles, other changes in preliminary fees and age requirements assist you to try more. Now women aged 28 can enter and for 30 USD lower than previous years, and the reduced cost is 50 USD.

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Yapobi added: “This change of criteria shows that we have observed that these young women lectured a lot of money for participation, and this became a bit of budget drainage.”

While some praised changes, others condemned “attack” to popular false hair styles comparable to wigs. Considered as “protective styles”, they appear greater creativity to women due to their hair expression, while destroying their real braids.

On the opposite hand, recent rules require some players to take into consideration what makes them feel beautiful for others.

“I saw other girls with long, artificial hair and they looked so beautiful,” said 21-year-old Emmanuel Dali, a 21-year-old real estate agent. “This principle gives me more pride as a woman – as an African woman.”

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Wigs are a well-liked type of hair in West Africa and a black diaspora. However, a transparent change within the competition reflects the tendency to natural beauty and hair. Wigs are also expensive investments in the looks of ladies, and human individuals cost lots of to 1000’s of dollars.

Some hairdressers are afraid that the brand new declaration of the competition will reduce sales and their very own profits. However, in a culture where natural hair remains to be considered inappropriate in some skilled conditions, the judgment goals to vary the narrative.

Despite this, some NaSayers say that girls should define their beauty and should not have competitions that determine these standards. For those that see each side of the issue, the acceptance of ladies, no matter their natural or modified hairstyle, stays a priority.

So far, the ban applies only to preliminary rounds. Yapobi has not disclosed whether 15 participants who will compete on the essential stage could have to follow the controversial guidelines. The official competition will happen at the top of June in Abidjan.

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This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Watch Rome Flynn joins the “Godfather Harlem” and delves into the origin of Frank Lucas – Essence

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In the 4th season, a brand new chapter appears with the introduction of young Frank Lucas – Dluga, before the world met him as a well -known drug king. The award -winning actor Emmy Rome Flynn, who brings the fresh intensity and complexity of the history of the origin of the character, will enter this role. In this exclusive interview with video, Flynn discusses what it means to present the version of Lucas, which we’ve got not seen before: ambitious, calculating and created.

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The decision to hitch got here with real weight. Having a fame of justified emotional and dynamic performances, this role offered something different: a likelihood to look at the roots of the character before the world learned his name. Flynn entered the solid anchored by the power of Forest Whitaker, the presentation of a bumpy Johnson and quickly found himself in a series during which history, fiction and heritage intersect.

Presenting Lucas meant wearing pressure of what the character becomes, while respecting the uncertainty of who he’s at the moment. Season 4 not only shows growth – it questions the cost. When Lucas navigates loyalty, power and identity, he asks what drives a person in front of the world, decides who he’s.

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“Big Ol” Women in San Antonio makes a laugh when Charles Barkley boomed for doubles on many years of beef

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The general legend of the NBA, Charles Barkley, moved the pot again together with his ten -year -old feud from San Antonio, refusing to withdraw from his well -known comments concerning the city of town during his appearance on the March Madness Festival.

The 62-year-old Hall of Famer went out on the stage on Sunday, April 6, just a day after his Alma Mater, Auburn, lost his final 4 duel with Florida-who won the national championship with the victory of 65-63 over Houston on Monday evening-I didn’t waste time, which didn’t win his relationship with Texas.

Charles Barkley aroused his ongoing beef with women from San Antonio, Texas. (Photo Desiree Navarro / Wireimage; @nbaent / Instagram)
Charles Barkley aroused his ongoing beef with women from San Antonio, Texas. (Photo Desiree Navarro / Wireimage; @nbaent / Instagram)

Despite the mixed reception of Boos and laughter from the gang, Barkley remained unmoved when he continued a joke, which at the identical time entertained and offended the inhabitants of San Antonio for almost 20 years.

The basketball legend softened the initial negative response, praising San Antonio as a “great city” and expressing admiration for coach Spurs Gregg Popovich and the band, then immediately began his controversial remarks.

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“Yes, you got some B – Ches,” said Barkle, adding one other chapter to what became one of essentially the most durable losers in the sports media.

Reaction to Tiktok was divided as a live audience.

Many residents appeared to be joking with Stride, and one commentator Tiktok writes: “You can call him all except a liar.”

Another compatriot from San Antonio agreed, commenting: “He is not wrong and I am a native. There are several huge b -ches here.”

Others admired his sticking, and one person noticed: “double?

However, not everyone found humor in Barkley’s multiple stabs.

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Some commentators pushed themselves against sexist tons, and one person wrote: “They are such a stupid misogytic word” before they criticized those that laughed, adding: “half of their mothers look like those girls they talk about.”

Feud reaches almost 20 years, when Barkley first commented on “Big Ol” Women in San Antonio “, discussing Spurs in” Inside the NBA “.

Since then, he still refers back to the joke, comparing the “Lean Houston Women” with “Women-Ass women in San Antonio” in 2019, and in 2021 noting that ladies from San Antonio couldn’t fit in the door, According to to BROBBible.com.

His jokes went beyond personal performances when he once claimed that he would open a truck with food suggesting Women from San Antonio would buy all their food.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0GSBQNX0Ag

In March 2023, he even called the favored river in town “dirty, small stream.” Reported.

The response has been significant over the years.

Tim Duncan’s girlfriend famously answered the wearing of the shirt “Barkley don’t know”, a trend that attracted many local women.

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Waste intensified in 2015, when Abby Lentz published A 4 -page article through a coalition of obesity condemning Barkley’s discriminatory comments.

In an article entitled “Basketball, Barkley and Fat Bashing” she said: “I felt like I came back to Junior High again.”

Until 2021, the pressure presses to such an extent that Warner Bros. Apparently, he asked Barkley to stop making these jokes in “Inside the Nba”. Barkley blamed “Cancel Culture” for the ban, telling journalists: “Nowadays you can’t even play without these Jackass, trying to cancel you and the like.”

He defended himself, saying: “I did not call anyone personally fat in San Antonio, I just joked.”

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When the middle of Auburn Dylan Cardwell got here to San Antonio for the last 4, he jokingly commented that “he did not see any of the women he was talking about Charles Barkley.”

Despite the criticism, he known as for cancellation and formal requests to stop, Barkley’s return to San Antonio concerning the last 4 shows his reluctance to desert what has turn out to be his signature.

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April 8 NBA on TNT common The Barkley clip participating in the “Pop The Balloon” viral dating game, in which singles attempt to catch a date with one completely happy competitor. However, in the event that they don’t like what they see or hear, they may sleep a balloon to justify the sport. Because Barkley participated in the sport in San Antonio, there isn’t a doubt that he is not going to be lucky with women.

Women had many explanation why they rejected the prospect to fall in love with Barkley, including the indisputable fact that he likes the “wolf” Churros and that he lacks muscles. “You don’t even have any rings,” one of the participants joked.

As one of the commentators aptly noted, at this point it seems that you would be able to’t stop Barkley.

The more the redemption he receives from women from San Antonio, the more determined it seems to consolidate his controversial joke – the testimony of his unanimous approach to the comedy, which still divides recipients in the style of humor and sensitivity in the era of an increasing number of defined by the standards of acceptable public discourse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjoz-vtwgiw

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(Tagstotransate) Charles Barkley

This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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