? BBG News To Know

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Black By God is a multimedia news and storytelling organization centering Black voices in West Virginia.

We move in the tradition of the Black Press in West Virginia starting with The Pioneer Press a weekly that started in 1882.

We publish a print edition 4 times a year. We are on our third issue!

We publish weekly on our website BlackByGod.org

We tweet daily on our Twitter @BlackByGod

We curate our Instagram @BlackByGod

We produce content onYoutube

Young, Gifted & Black Series w/ Malik Smith

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News To Know. And Some You Wish You Didn’t.

EXCLUSIVE: Governor calls for a formal investigation into conditions at Southern Regional Jail. A representative for Governor Jim Justice, (R) West Virginia, told WVVA News a formal investigation is being launched into the conditions inside Southern Regional Jail (SRJ).

BBG X West Virginiaville The barriers to Black West Virginians getting the mental health care they may need Like many Black communities in the United States, West Virginia’s poor mental health stems from a complex mix of problems, including high poverty rates and substance abuse and a culture of independence that stigmatizes psychological help

101-year-old man receives high school diploma from historic Harper’s Ferry school. Merrill Pittman Cooper attended the former high school from 1934 to 1938 from the Griot.

Code-switching, Identity, and New Media in Appalachia ?Black By God, Black In Appalachia, Appodlatchia and 100 Days Of Appalachia

David Fryson: Honor Where Honor Is Due for the Gazette-Mail

History & Hope

Ms. Mertolyn English offers a gentle touch to a pre-k graduate of the child care facility she started – The Kanawha County Family and Children’s Center – in the 1980s. Sharon Rockefeller and an unnamed woman look on.Photo compliments of Rev. Ronald English

We found this photo in a conversation with Rev. English about Jessie Jackson in the 1980s. Mr. Jackson attended the groundbreaking of the child-care center( above).

We are working on a story about Mr. Jackosn and his incredible campaigns in the West Virginia coalfields in the 1980s.

Please contact us with your memories: crystal@balckbygod.org

Dear Readers,

I’m writing this on Trans Visibility Day (March 31st), thinking about how West Virginia has the highest rate of trans-youth in the country. I dream of taking a big gay bus of Appalachian LGBTQI+ plus 21+-year-olds to BUSHWIG! Maybe you’ll hold that vision with me.

I was happy to find the new WEST VIRGINIA BLACK PRIDE ORGANIZATION. Please give them a follow.

In other news, I published an op-ed for the Gazette-Mail,Closing The Digital Divide Starts With The FCC. I would love your feedback.

BBG is seeking an ” urban business owner” to recommend for the West Virginias Broadband Enhancement Council. The council comprises all (cis) white men. Therefore, diversifying this vital body is critical.

Lastly!

I am so excited about the WVU Film Festival Next Week.

After the screening of”Running With My Girls, I will be hosting a panel.”

This film is excellent. You will be inspired. The director, Rebekah Henderson, also has a West Virginia connection. She is the niece of Herb Henderson, namesake of the Herb Henderson Office Of Minority Affairs.

Free popcorn and political game after this film with Del. Walker and Charlene Marshall.

I’ll close this note with a big hug #kissesnocovid, and thank you for all your donations and continued support.

Please donate $25 to our PRINT IS NOT DEAD campaign.

We are not writing our elegy but our future and printing it too!

In Gratitude,

~ Crystal

Founder/Publisher Black By God THE WEST VIRGINIAN