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Commentary: Black Scientists, Explorers, and Inventors
By dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
Chemist Dennis W. Weatherby, Ph.D. (December 4, 1959 – September 15, 2007) was an inventor, scientist, university administrator, and proponent of minority college students’ success. He will forever be associated with one of the United States’ most well known household cleaning products, the automatic dishwasher detergent known as Cascade. While working for Proctor and Gamble in the 1980s, Weatherby patented lemon-scented Cascade, a detergent with a new chemical formula that would not stain dishes, unlike the detergents of the previous decade. As the founding director of Auburn University‘s Minority Engineering Program, he made Auburn one of the top universities for graduating African Americans in the field of engineering.
Born in Brighton, Alabama in 1960, Weatherby attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1982. From there he moved on to the University of Dayton where he completed a master’s degree in chemical engineering in 1984.
Soon after finishing his studies, Weatherby began working for the Procter & Gamble Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a process engineer. Almost immediately he had a major breakthrough at the company: At the age of just 27 he was given a chance to lead a team to create a new consumer product, and the result of that effort was a lemon-scented, liquid dishwashing detergent that would become an instant and long-term success.
With his team, Weatherby developed a solution that employed a category of dyes that could be used in products containing bleach and, at the same time, would give the soap a lemon-yellow color that would not stain dishes. Before his invention, pigments were used in such solutions that often stained dishes and dishwasher interiors. With fellow inventor Brian J. Roselle, he received U.S. patent No. 4,714,562, issued on Dec. 22, 1987, for his breakthrough “Automatic dishwasher detergent composition.” The solution serves as the basic formula behind all of today’s “lemon-scented” cleaning products containing bleach.
Following his stint with P&G, Weatherby briefly worked for the Whittaker Corporation, a division of
Morton International…..
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Ebony: CHEF EMME COLLINS DISHES ON THE REWARDING CAREER PIVOT PUTTING HER IN THE POSITION TO REVOLUTIONIZE SCHOOL LUNCH
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In less than two weeks, the nearly 54,000 students of Seattle’s public school system will return from summer break. And award-winning chef, Emme Ribeiro Collins, will be there to welcome them with a warm meal and stretched out arms. The Seattle-raised Chopped Champion serves as the executive chef of the district, working with the director of nutrition services to bring farm-to-table lunches, made from scratch, to the students of the Emerald City.
Under her direction, Seattle’s lunch program has become a model for the country. Collins tells EBONY that the job has been one of the most rewarding positions of her life. As a young girl, the Brazilian-born chef remembers going from home cooked meals for lunch in her native country to corn dogs on a stick in her new school district. “It was shocking,” Collins recalls. “I would just go completely hungry.” Now her life has come full circle. “It’s the proudest job that I’ve had—to now be in control of the menus of what the students are able to eat.”
Collins started in her role as the district’s executive chef in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. After restrictions spurred shutdowns and issues with the landlord of her family restaurant arose, Collins made the tough decision to shut down the business. It left her wondering what was next. She had spent years as a celebrity chef, and working in her family business. COVID marked a turning point in her lifelong love affair with food.
Taking a page out of her mother’s career book, Collins chose to look into culinary instruction. Her mom was a culinary instructor for the career and technical education skill programs for one of the local high schools. When Collins began Googling jobs she keyed in on a posting for a district executive chef. For the last two years, she’s not only shaped the meals that students receive, she’s fed families reeling from the fallout from the global health crisis.
Collins first fell in love with food at a very young age. Some of her earliest memories center around her time in Brazil when her mother owned a catering business that operated out of the home. When the family moved to Seattle, her parents opened up their first restaurant in the city. “Food has just been a part of my life forever,” Collins says. “It is a part of me.”
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Black brilliance is still being overlooked because white systems of education don’t want to change. The Grio: Black brilliance is still being overlooked because white systems of education don’t want to change
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A few years ago, I read an article in the New York Times about the legacy of Black women and fur coats, and one thing, in particular, stood out to me: The idea that as soon as Black women could afford furs, white women began to deem them tacky and gaudy and classless. And I had a thought at the time that the same is happening in education. As soon as Black women became the most educated group in America, the conversation around higher education began to shift. Is a college degree really worth anything? Who actually needs one? Employers began dropping degree requirements for jobs—and still weren’t paying Black women who had the education comparably to their male or even white female counterparts.
Most recently, the trend is showing up again in conversations about gifted and talented students. Across the country, roughly 60 percent of students in gifted programs are white, though white students make up only 46 percent of today’s student population, and only roughly 9 percent of students identified are Black, though Black students make up 15 percent of the nation’s students. But as soon as the conversation about the need to increase the representation of Black and Hispanic students in gifted programs really took hold, there arose a counter conversation about whether we even need gifted programs. Are the programs themselves inequitable because they separate students out? All students matter.
We’ve heard this before. We’ve explained ad nauseam that yes, all lives—I mean students—matter, but if you’re ignoring a particular subset (Black and brown gifted students, in this case) because you don’t want to address the specific nuances of race—or worse, acknowledge your own racism or explicit bias—then you are not serving all students.
And you’re hiding behind the popular buzzwords of the day, like diversity and now even equity, to avoid drilling down into the actual data and figuring out that the problem is you.
Black children overall are less likely to be identified as gifted. Giftedness in Black children from low-income households is almost never identified. The same is true of Hispanic students from bilingual or primarily Spanish-speaking households. Education, as a whole, is an overwhelmingly white field, and in gifted education, it’s even worse. Data show that Black and Hispanic students are more likely to be identified as brilliant by teachers who look like them, just like they are more likely to graduate from college when they have teachers who look like them. The data is clear about the positive impacts Black and brown teachers have on Black and brown students’ academic achievement, which is directly tied to their self-esteem and levels of self-efficacy.
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The ad hopes to give Democrats momentum as midterms approach. The Root: New Political Ad Aimed At Black Voters Touts Student Loan Forgiveness
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Now that the government has passed student loan forgiveness of up to $20,000 for some borrowers, one progressive political group is spending some of its own money to tout the policy to Black voters.
The group, Building Back Together, is launching what he called a six-figure digital ad buy that ties student debt relief to the economic pain experienced by many Black college graduates. Their 30-second spot begins with the broad outlines of the plan laid out last week by Biden: that borrowers of federal student loans can have as much as $20,000 forgiven if they earn $125,000 or less and are Pell Grant recipients, and that other federal borrowers can have up to $10,000 relieved.
But the ad quickly pivots to the program’s projected impact on Black borrowers, who account for a significant percentage of federal student loan debt and who on average carry more debt than students of other races.
“This means one in four Black borrowers will see their debt completely eliminated. And the average Black borrower will see their debt cut nearly in half,” the ad’s voiceover reads. “President Biden is saving us money so we can afford to pursue our dreams.”
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A crisis that’s left thousands of residents with no running water was decades in the making. VOX: How Jackson, Mississippi, ran out of water
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The water system in Jackson, Mississippi, the state’s capital and largest city, failed earlier this week.
On Tuesday, most of the city’s 150,000 residents were without running water, prompting the state’s Republican governor, Tate Reeves, to declare a state of emergency. He warned that there wasn’t enough water “to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets, and to meet other critical needs.” As of Wednesday afternoon, there was still little-to-no water pressure for most of the city’s residents.
On the surface, the apparent cause of this crisis is damaged infrastructure: Recent flooding strained the city’s largest water treatment plant, O.B. Curtis, which was already dogged with problems. Plus, there was another issue with water pumps at a secondary treatment facility known as J.H. Fewell. As a result, many of the city’s water towers remain nearly empty, leaving the system without enough water or water pressure to fill pipes in homes, schools, and businesses.
But the roots of this crisis run much deeper, and are inextricably tied to white disinvestment from a majority-Black city. Jackson’s water system — which serves a population that is more than 80 percent Black — has been burdened with problems for many years, largely because white flight drained the city of resources. The state’s Republican legislature has also failed to provide the majority-Democrat city with adequate funding for repairs.
“Ideally, infrastructure serves as a shared foundation for economic, environmental, and public health between different neighborhoods and municipalities,” scholars at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit research group, wrote in March 2021, after Jackson faced another severe water shortage. “However, infrastructure is often poorly maintained or intentionally overlooked in particular places, leading to a lack of access, affordability, and safety for many communities of color.”
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The Biden-Harris administration continues its work to close the racial equity gap in vaccine access by providing additional doses and other resources for upcoming LGBTQ+ events, including Atlanta Black Pride. The Grio: White House targets Black LGBTQ+ populations with new monkeypox (MPV) pilot program
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The Biden-Harris administration announced on Tuesday new actions for distributing vaccines for the monkeypox virus (MPV) outbreak, including a new pilot program targeting Black and brown LGBTQ+ communities who are most at risk.
The White House said its new program will provide the availability of additional vaccines and other “prevention resources” to communities of color, citing CDC data that continues to show Black and Latino gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men make up a disproportionate share of MPV cases.
The pilot program specifically targets Georgia, Louisiana and California ahead of major LGBTQ+ events, including Atlanta Black Pride, Southern Decadence in New Orleans, and Pridefest in Oakland—all of which take place in the coming weeks beginning Labor Day weekend.
“These events will reach a diverse segment of the LGBTQI+ community and help address some of the equity gaps that we are seeing in vaccination among people of color,” said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, White House National Monkeypox Response Team deputy coordinator, during a Tuesday press briefing.
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good news from haiti Ebony: COFFEE CARIBBREW IS BRINGING JOBS TO HAITI—ONE CUP OF COFFEE AT A TIME
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Driven by a desire to make a difference in her home country of Haiti, Beverly Malbranche founded Caribbrew, a beverage and beauty brand that specializes in coffee and cacao products sourced from Haitian farmers. After moving from Haiti to the U.S. to study business in 2009, Malbranche recognized an opportunity to introduce Americans to the signature flavors and aromas of Caribbean coffee, while boosting the island’s farming industry.
For decades, coffee was the backbone of Haiti’s agricultural economy, due to its premium Arabica beans which are shade grown, chemical-free at a high elevation. Currently, Caribbrew partners with more than 3,000 coffee and cocoa farmers in Haiti to create economic opportunities and long-term sustainable jobs. All coffee is handpicked and meticulously roasted in small batches, resulting in a jolt of flavorful aroma that wows the senses. The brand also produces a creamy, aromatic hot chocolate, which is a staple drink in Haiti using fresh cacao.
In addition to farmers, the company hires young people in the capital of Haiti to package and export the coffee to the U.S. shipping facility in New Jersey, where they hire local residents. Their shipping facility is currently 75% female employed. In line with their mission, Caribbrew also supports a local NJ non-profit that aims to educate disadvantaged black boys in Newark.
Caribbrew also produces indulgent skincare products made with fresh coffee, organic oils, and shea butter to exfoliate and moisturize. Each product is loaded with antioxidants, helping to prevent wrinkles, cellulite, and puffiness by tightening the skin with cruelty-free, vegan, and quality ingredients.
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For National Black Business Month, theGrio spoke with Jessica Couch, co-founder of Fayetteville Road about fit technology and the importance of supporting a community of Black female entrepreneurs. The Grio: Jessica Couch’s Fayetteville Road firm addresses racial disparities in fashion fit tech
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Jessica Couch was on a path many would envy. Over a decade ago, she was standing in Steinway Studios in Brooklyn, N.Y., on an enviable assignment with music star Lady Gaga. At the time, Couch had run her own online fashion boutique, Luxor + Finch, parlaying it into a career as an ascending fashion designer.
On the surface, it seemed Couch, in her early 20s at the time, was on a fast track to incredible success and access. Instead, she did the unthinkable; she gave it all up to return to school and get her master’s degree.
“That was the hardest decision I had to make,” Couch told theGrio. “And a lot of my friends who were stylists, a lot of people that were in the fashion industry, even my own sister and a couple of other people were like, ‘What are you doing?’”
What Couch’s friends, family, and colleagues didn’t understand at the time was that she had noticed a void in the fashion industry; a problem that had grown to enormous proportions but was mostly being ignored. She took it upon herself to find solutions, and her choice to enter the styling world had been a step toward dealing with the issue head-on.
“I fell into styling while looking to solve a bigger problem. And although styling came naturally—it was great, and it got me there—I had to make a decision: Am I being true to what I first got into this for? And I have this bigger vision of a problem I’m trying to solve. Do I stop now and just enjoy this, or do I go after the problem I’m trying to solve?”
That problem was the fashion industry’s lack of understanding when it came to fit technology, a method of ensuring consumers can efficiently match desired fashions with their body types.
Couch, with partner Brittany Hicks, then created Fayetteville Road.
The management consulting firm focuses on matching people with products, with a particular focus on fashion technology and fit technology. It also serves as a community builder for women of color, fusing creatives with technical professionals. Fayetteville Road is an innovative firm bringing much-needed attention to the underserved in fashion, catering to both professionals and consumers.
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WELCOME TO THE FRIDAY PORCH
IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE BLACK KOS COMMUNITY, GRAB A SEAT, SOME CYBER EATS, RELAX, AND INTRODUCE YOURSELF.
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