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A Kenyan-born Mormon accountant from Salt Lake City is running for president of his native country after nearly 20 years in Utah.

Amram Musungu, 39, moved to Salt Lake County nearly two decades ago after converting to Mormonism as a teen. He studied business and accounting, eventually becoming a financial auditor, getting married and starting a family. Now, Musungu hopes to return to Kenya as the republic’s fifth president.

“I want the best for Kenya, and every Kenyan should be proud of their country,” he told Deseret News in a recent interview. “I will be the best president the country has ever had.”

Musungu has always been ambitious. As a child, he said, he walked seven miles each way to school ― though it wasn’t mandatory for him to attend. “I wanted to be different,” he said.

The accountant grew up in a Protestant family and was just 14 years old when he met Mormon missionaries and decided to convert. Just three years later, Musungu said, he felt a calling to do missionary work in his native Kenya on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church agreed, and the then 17-year-old Musungu started his 27-month mission a day later.

“It taught me that you can go any place the Lord wants you to go,” he told The Salt Lake Tribune in 2008. “I plan things out, but Heavenly Father has other ideas. I rely on the [Holy] Spirit to direct my life.”

When Musungu moved to Utah shortly after his mission, he entered a largely white, upper middle-class religious milieu. According to a 2007 survey by Pew Research Center, 86 percent of U.S. Mormons are white. Just three percent of Mormons in the country are black.

The church has a long, often-conflicted history of inclusion ― and exclusion ― of black people dating back to its founding. Black members were banned from joining the priesthood under Brigham Young, a policy that persisted until 1978. Today, some Mormons say the church isn’t doing enough to speak out about present-day racism.

“The seeming reluctance by some Mormon leaders to speak about the violence faced by its black members in the United States has brought many black Mormons to points of frustration,” wrote Janan Graham-Russell in a 2016 article for The Atlantic.

Musungu, who was once one of only two black men and three black singers total in the hundreds-strong Mormon Tabernacle Choir, shook off the church’s troubled history of race relations in the Salt Lake Tribune interview.

“Withholding priesthood served God’s own purpose. His timetable is different than man’s,” he said.

These days, Musungu is more concerned with the problems back home. Kenya has experienced a rise in hate speech and violence, and the last two presidential elections were highly contested. Musungu said he worries about corruption and political unrest, as well as the country’s high unemployment rate and economic turmoil.

The 39-year-old will face off against seven other candidates in the Aug. 8 election, according to Deseret News.

“Some would call this a long shot, but it’s a real shot,” he said.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Don Cheadle is bringing the life of another historical figure to the silver screen. 

The 52-year-old actor has acquired the film and TV rights to Shane White’s 2015 book Prince of Darkness, which chronicles the untold story of Wall Street’s first black millionaire, Jeremiah G. Hamilton. After leaving Haiti in 1828, the black broker defied the odds during the mid-19th century by rising to prominence in New York’s business world.

During his years as an entrepreneur, Hamilton would own railroad stock in trains he was legally barred from, acquire ships, and buy and sell real estate. At the time of his death in 1875, Hamilton’s estate was reportedly worth an estimated $2 million ― making him the richest non-white man in the country, according to The Atlantic.

In addition to producing and starring in the developing flick, Cheadle will reunite with screenwriter and director Steven Baigelman, who worked alongside the actor on the Miles Davis biopic “Miles Ahead.”  

The project will mark the latest biographical film role for Cheadle, who previously portrayed Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Rwandan humanitarian Paul Rusesabagina and street hoops legend Earl Manigault.

Production details for Hamilton’s biopic will be announced at a later date.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

This is not a joke.

In what seems like a “Saturday Night Live” sketch come to life, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson actually got stuck in an elevator on Wednesday while in an affordable housing complex.

The incident occurred while Carson, who has said he believes too many people are in public housing, was touring Courtside Family Apartments, which is located in Overtown, a low-income neighborhood in Miami.

Former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning, who helped develop the complex, waited for Carson outside of the elevator as firefighters rescued Carson and six others, including Carson’s wife Candy. According to a reporter from the Miami Herald who was on the scene, the HUD secretary was stuck in the elevator for about 20 minutes.

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who does not have experience in housing policy, stopped at the complex as part of a nationwide “listening tour” of affordable housing developments for low-income residents. The tour comes after The Washington Post reported in March that President Donald Trump’s administration is considering a $6 billion cut to HUD, shrinking the department’s budget by 14 percent.

So, naturally, when Twitter heard the news that Carson was stuck in an elevator in an affordable housing complex, users had to weigh in.

Here are the next-level responses:

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Kelly Rowland is not afraid to speak candidly about parenthood.

On Tuesday, the singer and mom released her new book, Whoa, Baby!: A Guide for New Moms Who Feel Overwhelmed and Freaked Out (and Wonder What the #*$& Just Happened). Rowland, who gave birth to her son, Titan Jewell, with husband Tim Witherspoon in 2014, gets personal about her motherhood experience throughout the book.

On the topic of breastfeeding, she opened up about her time nursing Titan. 

“All that gnawing at your nipples will take its toll! In those early days, I was fascinated (my polite way of saying ‘horrified’) by the transformation of the boobs,” she wrote.

“My nipples were HUGE ― we are talking the size of Frisbees ― and sometimes I could see these veins bulging out while I was nursing,” she added. “My boobs themselves were so long and stretchy that I sometimes felt like I could’ve swung them over my shoulders.”

And while promoting Whoa, Baby! on AOL Build, the singer said she nursed for “only three months” after struggling at the beginning.

“Breastfeeding was a challenge, and the pediatrician that I went to go see at that time, I remember she just threw my self esteem about it all the way in the dumps,” said Rowland. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘Why can’t I get this right?’”

The new mom found support from Linda Hanna, a registered nurse, certified lactation consultant, and in Rowland’s words, “goddess.”

Said the singer, “She helped me have this beautiful moment with my son where I was able to give him food, like that’s amazing to me.”

In her new book, Rowland was also honest about the breast implants she got in 2007 and the possibility of getting another procedure after she has a second child. 

“Even with the silicone action, it was like some of the air had been sucked out and they just sort of hung there like flapjacks,” she wrote about her breasts after nursing Titan. “I can’t speak for everyone, but I know I’m going to see someone (wink, wink) after I have my second kid. In the meantime, I just tried to enjoy my ability to feed my baby!”

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Twenty years have passed since Elle’s U.S. edition featured an African model on the cover of its magazine. Maria Borges just changed all that. 

Borges is a 24-year-old supermodel whose star has seriously been on the rise, from her stunning Fashion Week appearances to rocking her natural hair at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. 

Now, Borges is one of six stars on the cover of Elle’s May 2017 Swimsuit Issue. And she is the first African model to appear on Elle’s cover this century, BuzzFeed reported. Sudanese model Alek Wek graced it back in 1997 as the magazine’s very first black cover girl since it was first issued in 1985, according to Fashion Bomb Daily. 

She tweeted to celebrate the moment. 

Borges spoke about the vital need for representation in the fashion industry in her interview. 

“The fashion industry is here for everyone, [regardless] of color or race,” she told Elle. “When I was growing up, I never saw someone like me, and now the other girls can see someone like them. It’s all about inspiration.”

Borges, who grew up in Angola and was recently dubbed one of the African models breaking barriers by CNN, became the face of L’Oreal Paris in February. At the time, she spoke about inspiring other women. 

“I believe in the beauty of diversity,” she said in a statement at the time. “The empowering message that a girl who started from the bottom can be an international beauty symbol and be living proof that our dreams are valid, and the future ahead of us is bright.”

Reps for Elle and Borges were not immediately available for additional comment. 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

For 16 years, Angela Maria Spring has worked as a bookseller ― most recently as the manager of Washington, D.C.’s iconic Politics and Prose bookstore. Now she’s planning to open her own store, Duende District, which will be run by a deliberately diverse staff.

On April 10, Spring launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the creation of a pop-up Duende District bookstore to operate at the 2017 Artomatic festival. Spring, who is Latinx and the daughter of a Panamanian immigrant, felt inspired to open the intentionally multicultural bookstore after several years at Politics and Prose. Though D.C. is a highly diverse city, she found herself in a primarily white neighborhood, working with white booksellers and catering to a largely white clientele.

“For five years, almost every other Latino I saw was cleaning somebody’s house or yard, taking care of someone’s baby or cooking someone’s meal,” she wrote on Kickstarter.

By launching her own bookstore, Spring hoped to give opportunities to colleagues of color and to build a literary space that put multiculturalism and diversity front and center. Creating a browsing space that’s “owned, operated, and managed by a majority of people of color,” she says in her Kickstarter video, can create a “high-quality, welcome experience for everyone.” 

A Publishers Weekly piece on the bookstore points to “the current political environment” as one motivation for Spring’s bold move. On the Kickstarter page, she describes the new venture as “part of my resistance effort.” But also, she told PW, the dazzling whiteness of the bookselling world was a long-time concern. 

As with every facet of the publishing industry, bookselling isn’t as diverse as the community it ostensibly serves ― an issue writer Roxane Gay addressed in a keynote at the American Booksellers Association Winter Institute in January, in which she argued that publishing and bookselling gatekeepers “don’t really want to do what it takes, to invest money” to foster true diversity.

Even apparent commitments to improving representation, may only hide still-severe problems. A significant percentage of children’s books today are about characters of color ― over 20 percent. But the percentage of children’s books created by non-white authors is much lower, suggesting that while white authors have changed their approach toward race, significant barriers remain for writers of color. 

Spring’s bookstore, and its Kickstarter campaign, encourage book lovers to get serious about diversity by supporting a business that doesn’t just welcome a diverse customer base, but gives power and voice to underserved communities. 

 Check out the Duende District Kickstarter.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

It’s a sad day for comedy.

Charlie Murphy, best known for his sketches on “Chappelle’s Show,” passed away Wednesday from leukemia at the age of 57. The older brother of Eddie Murphy, Charlie was renowned as a great comedian in his own right.

In honor of his genius and his work, below are five of Charlie Murphy’s funniest moments, from “Roll Bounce” to “Chappelle’s Show”:

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The world lost another comedy great this month when Charlie Murphy died on Wednesday at age 57 following a battle with leukemia. 

Brother to actor Eddie Murphy, Charlie was a star in his own right, becoming a household name in the early 2000s due to his sketches on comedian Dave Chappelle’s Comedy Central series, “Chappelle’s Show.”

He also appeared in a slew of movies and penned scripts for films headlined by his brother, including “Vampire in Brooklyn” and “Norbit.”

Those who worked with Charlie, or were simply touched by his distinctive sense of humor, honored the late star on social media with heartfelt tributes. 

Chris Rock was among the first to thank him for the laughs, writing, “We just lost one of the funniest most real brothers of all time. Charlie Murphy RIP.”

Read how friends and fans, including Russell Simmons, Gabrielle Union, Ice Cube, Zendaya and Samuel L. Jackson, reacted to the news of Charlie’s death below. 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Tamar Braxton knows what it’s like to struggle with fertility issues. During an emotional episode of “Braxton Family Values,” the 40-year-old singer opened up about her miscarriage experience.

In a recent interview with Glamour, she expanded on her fertility journey and the challenges she’s faced. 

Braxton and her husband, Vincent Herbert, have a 3-year-old son named Logan. Shortly before Braxton became pregnant with Logan, doctors told her she would likely have trouble conceiving, so she refers to her son as her “miracle baby.”

After Logan was born, Braxton didn’t think she wanted any more children. “I hated being pregnant!” she said. “I wanted an apple martini the whole time. I craved it. [Pregnancy] was hell. And then you fall in love with this kid ― this crazy miracle ― and all of the sudden want more. He has enriched my life so much.”

But the singer had trouble getting pregnant again. After undergoing IVF, she had initial success, but then miscarried. The loss was devastating.

“I didn’t know how I was going to get out of my bed for a couple weeks,” Braxton said. “But you just do, you know? The same choice you make to be courageous and go through this process is the same choice to get up and keep going. It was hard because I still had to work. But after the miscarriage, I wanted so badly for the other things in my life to work.”

Around the same time, Braxton’s career was in flux. She left her co-hosting gig on “The Real,” a planned tour was canceled and she withdrew from “Dancing with the Stars” due to health problems. 

After these blows, Braxton decided to rededicate herself to goals like creating new music and getting in shape. 

While these “wins” have helped her get through hard times, the singer told Glamour she doesn’t always feel so optimistic. Said Braxton:

But this is still a struggle. And sometimes when I’m alone, I feel less than a woman. Like a failure. And it’s very sensitive and it’s very hard to talk about and you don’t want to share it with a lot of people when you’re going through it. Vince and I didn’t discuss it with anyone. I didn’t even tell my mom because you feel like if you tell somebody it’s bad luck. I just wish people would be more sensitive and maybe ask, ‘How can I help you? Is there anything I can do?’

But when someone hasn’t gone through it, they don’t understand the level of the loss. You don’t want to hear, ‘Oh, it will all work out. Don’t worry.’ Like, ‘How do you know?’ People that say, ‘Oh, you can always adopt,’ drives me crazy. I think adoption is great, but I want to have my own baby. I have these embryos in the freezer, and I want to be able to see what they look like. Are they anything like Logan? I put myself through that situation because I want to see that outcome. I can’t lie and tell you at this point Vince and I have not talked about adoption or a surrogacy, but if I can have my own, of course [I want to].

Ultimately, Braxton has maintained a positive outlook and refuses to give up her dream of having more children. She encourages others to adopt this kind of attitude toward the challenges they face.

“Everybody in the world can give up on you, but you cannot give up on yourself.”

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

The London premiere of writer John Ridley’s new miniseries “Guerilla” grew tense after audience members questioned why he chose a South Asian woman to be the protagonist.

“Guerilla” is set in the 1970s and tells the story of a mixed-race couple who joins an underground anti-racist cell that’s intent on freeing a political prisoner, played by Idris Elba. Loosely based on the U.K.’s anti-racist movement of the ‘70s, the show stars Indian actress Freida Pinto, opposite a love interest played by black British actor Babou Ceesay.  

During a Q&A after the show’s premiere in London on Thursday, several audience members sparked a debate about Pinto’s character being at the center of the story. According to Screen Daily, one audience member asked Ridley:

“Why are there no black women at the forefront of the struggle? That doesn’t necessarily accurately reflect what happened in the ‘70s in the U.K.”

Ceesay, also present at the Q&A, responded with: “Wow, really? You know because you were there?”

To which the audience member replied, “No, we know this because our parents were a part of it.” 

Another audience member described the series as “the erasure of black women” in the anti-racism movement. 

Ridley, who won an Oscar for writing “12 Years A Slave,” pushed back against the criticism. He argued that if “everybody understood racism, oppression … there would be no reason to be doing this show.”

Visibly emotional and holding back tears, Ridley explained that the reasoning behind casting Pinto as the lead had to do with the fact that he is married to an Asian woman. 

“I don’t want to make this overly personal, but part of why I chose to have a mixed-race couple at the center of this is that I’m in a mixed-race relationship,” the writer and show runner said.

“The things that are being said here, and how we are often received, is very equivalent to what’s going on right now [in the wider world]. My wife is a fighter, my wife is an activist, and yet because our races our different, there are a lot of things we have to still put up with.”

 Zawe Ashton and Wunmi Mosaku, two black British actresses, are among the cast of “Guerilla,” though it remains to be seen how central their roles are. 

“Guerilla” premieres on Showtime on April 16. 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices