Don Lemon doesn’t watch CNN anymore, but says you haven’t seen the last of him on the small screen. Google is collaborating with HBCUs on AI technology that could propel the institutions and their students into the future. There’s a crisis in Black maternal health that could get worse if current policy trends aren’t reversed. Bakari Sellers is more concerned with public policy aimed at turning back the clock on Black folks than on people who use the n-word in 2023. And Google executive Melonie Parker, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Sirius XM’s Reecie Colbert and Orlena Nwokah Blanchard, founder of consultancy Seven Elements Group, laid out the blueprint for how Black women in politics, business and media can show up for one another in boardrooms and personal spaces.
Howard University’s Lisa Crooms-Robinson and Morgan State University’s Jaqueline C. Jones described to Howard journalism professor Yanick Rice Lamb, the importance of mission-drive HBCUs in preparing global leaders and fortifying Black Americans against assaults on our rights ... from affirmative action to voting.
Those were just some of the takeaways from this year’s Root Institute, which unfolded this week on the historic campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. Amidst the backdrop of a looming 2024 presidential election, students, academics, policymakers and executives gathered to share insights and advice, and even an invitation to the White House.
Highlights included Lemon’s sober reflections on the state of media in one of his first public appearances since being fired from CNN earlier this year. Correction: since being non-fired, as Lemon recounted to the Root Editor-in-Chief Tatsha Robertson that he’s still technically on CNN’s payroll. As for what exactly led to him being pulled off the air permanently, we may never know for certain. “I don’t actually know what happened,” he said of his firing, adding that he worked a full day before getting the call that he wouldn’t be back on air.
“It is fair to say that management said publicly that they wanted to move toward the political center. They believed that the network was moving too far to the left. All I know is I got the phone call shortly after that.”
Speaking of media, Lawyer and Amazon influencer Nneka Kanu joined author Denene Millner; Shark Tank casting consultant and entrepreneur Brandon Andrews and Danyel Surrency Jones, the head of Amazon’s Black Business Accelerator, for an engrossing discussion on turning a skill or entrepreneurial passion into a personal brand that can be monetized (hint: Amazon is one of the few large companies out there platforming Black influencers, Kanu said.)
On the same topic, some of the women from Bravo’s reality TV franchises, including Venita Aspen, Jordan Emanuel, Candiace Dillard Bassett, Wendy Osefo and Cynthia Bailey, talked about using their castings as a way to build a platform for entrepreneurship.
Dr. Joia Crear-Perry commanded attention during the question and answer session with a fierce defense of reproductive justice and bodily autonomy.
Stephen Benjamin, Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, issued a challenge to the Howard students in attendance: the best policy ideas or suggestions submitted by students in attendance would yield an invitation to his office to discuss.
Jotaka Eaddy, a Silicon Valley executive and the founder of Full Circle Strategies, told the audience (on a panel that also included Benjamin and Antjuan Seawright, a veteran political strategist and Democratic campaign operative and moderated by The Root’s contributing editor Keith Reed) that as the upcoming election moves closer, beware of disinformation shared online specifically targeting Black men as a means of depressing the overall Black vote.
Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison had a heartfelt moment while discussing his personal loss in the wake of the Charleston Emanuel Church shooting. Harrison followed that up with a call for Democrats to come to the polls and join the fight against the forces that led to that tragic shooting.
Susan Fales-Hill kept it all the way real about her time as one of the few Black creatives working in Hollywood back in 1985, but inspired the crowd about her successes like working with Lena Waithe and on Max’s hit show And Just Like That.
Among the other highlights: Howard law professor Greg Carr and Hilltop student newspaper editor Jasper Smith joined National Black Justice Coalition executive director David Johns to parse the many ways democracy itself is under attack.
Who doesn’t love Carla Hall? The chef and author is always a delight to hear, but listening to her explain and describe her journey and all the twists and turns that come with success was especially refreshing. She supplied the audience with the tools to be confident and risk taking. These days, we all need that kind of nudge.
