BBG The West Virginian Newsletter

BBG’s Juneteenth Print Edition is in Production

This issue marks our one-year print anniversary and we are excited about the future for BBG.We are delighted to bring you original content from 10 new authors including kid reporter Jayli!

You can read her first fashion story live on BlackByGod.org.

BBG celebrates our unique process of mutual aid for information. We are community journalism from start to finish, leaning on our community to help write, edit, fund, promote and deliver the news.

This week we need two things from our loyal readers:

1. Please tell us about any Juneteenth celebrations in West Virginia ([email protected]) or you can use our google sheet.

2. Want BBG Juneteenth 2022 print delivered to you? We’d be happy to mail a copy for a $5 shipping fee or $40 for a bundle. Please use this form and we encourage you to share the delivery across your networks.

“In the future, as in the present, as in the past, Black people will build many new worlds. This is true. I will make it so. And you will help me.”― N.K. Jemisin

News To Know

Isabelle Stewart, Raymond McNeal, and Odetta Johnson sit on the Storer College lawn holding a school pennant.

The Jefferson County Museum recently acquired family papers of Littleton L. Page, a prominent African American educator, and a collection of ephemera related to Storer College, the first college open to African Americans in West Virginia. — The Journal

Promotion from Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition

Stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline!

The fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline is steamrolling its way through West Virginia & Virginia but President Biden can stop it.

Tell Biden to Stop MVP!

The WV Black Caucus is hosting a virtual event on June 2, 2022 at 6:30 pm featuring Gaylene Kanoyton,the first Vice-Chair of the VA Democrats. All Allies who are Democrats are welcome to attend.

Congratulations to the WVBC whose website is now live!

Note: Since 1974, the Democratic National Committee has required state-level democratic parties to have “affirmative action programs” to include young people, women, and people from ethnically diverse backgrounds at all levels of the party. West Virginia implemented these committees in 2021, 40 years after the mandate.

The Ballad Of ‘John Henry’ Elicits Varied Feelings For Some Black Appalachian Residents The song, railroad worker John Henry wins a contest with a steam drill, but dies from the effort. Like any traditional song, there are different of versions and interpretations of“John Henry.” A story by WVPublic Broadcasting Folklore reporter Nicole Musgrave looks at how for some who grew up in Black communities in Appalachia, the song elicits a variety of feelings. “I feel like it’s kind of propaganda. That this Black man would sacrifice himself for industry,” said Ruby Daniels.

BBG will share an amazing piece by Bunmi Kusimo in our Juneteenth issue titled “The Gospel Of Rest” that explores John Henry and the spell of “hard work.”

Keeping Black Family-Owned Newspapers

The history of Black family-owned newspapers from the Beacon Digest to The AFRO News inspires BBG’s Founder Crystal Good to dream of BBG’s possibilities with her Dad Wes Armstead, who will one day retire from being WVVA station manager.

Or, perhaps her children will take an interest in being at the helm. BBG has a long way to go – but the nose for news is something, “You get honest,” as they say.

Meet BBG Tik-Tok reporter Aiden Satterfield, college basketball scholarship athlete, Dean’s list student, and the publisher’s son with a story on when Jesse Jackson the 1988 Presidential candidate took an interest (and still does) in Appalachia.

Note: Mr. Armstead is very much alive. A disturbing “Facebook hack” used his image with an obituary notice. We deeply encourage all our readers to diversify their news sources and not to depend on Facebook/Meta as their news source.

For this reason and more, BBG is not active on Facebook.

“Doing Good For West Virginia Originally from Kanawha County, West Virginia, Crystal Good took many twists and turns in life."

Publishers Note:

I’ve waited a long time to read that headline!

This article by WVU John Chambers School Of Business is one of my favorite summaries of my relevant irrelevant life. My last name has often held me hostage you can read more about “My Good Name.”

But it is my Good name and I’m excited to get into some Good trouble in the independent publishing world.

I know the incomprehensible harm people can perpetrate against children.“Hurt people hurt people” has been a phrase that explains so much of life but also terrifies me — because we are all hurting.

I hope you all are being kind to yourselves.

The2022 Juneteenth issue of BBG will explore mental health in a new series by Kabrea James featuring Black led and owned health care facilitiesin West Virginia.

As we plan for new content series for our year two of print publishing I am thinking about how BBG should/should not report and share information on gun violence that starts with “the police said.”

For this reason I stay close to Scalawag and Media 2070 and invite you to as well. These organizations are thinking deeply about how we use re-define the media "rules"to move past illusions and into a greater truth.

Thank you for supporting BBG.

~ Crystal Good