#BlackExcellence: Eddie Murphy to receive Lifetime Achievement Award

If you thought Eddie Murphy‘s epic comeback was over, think again!

On Monday, the Critics Choice Association announced that Murphy would be receiving their coveted Lifetime Achievement Award during the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards. This award is just the icing on the cake of a critically acclaimed comeback for the legendary comedian and actor.

READ MORE: Eddie Murphy delivers highest ‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings in years

Murphy, who got his big break on Saturday Night Live in the 80s, took full advantage of 2019. In addition to beginning filming on the highly anticipated sequel to the classic Coming to America, Murphy also transformed into comedic legend Rudy Ray Moore in the hit Netflix film Dolemite Is My Name. According to Entertainment Tonight, he has already scored Best Actor nominations at both the Critics Choice Awards and the upcoming Golden Globes.

This is not Murphy’s first time finding success during the awards season. In 2007, he was nominated for an Oscar for his acclaimed performance in Dreamgirls. That year, he scored a Golden Globe.

The actor made huge waves in December when he made his return to SNL for the first time in 35 years. During the episode, fans had the opportunity to see Murphy bring back some of his most memorable characters from his initial run on the show. Murphy’s performance during SNL‘s final episode of the year gave the show its highest ratings in years.

During his comeback, Murphy has also found himself confronting controversies from his past, including homophobic jokes he told during some of his stand-ups. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Murphy expressed remorse for the jokes.

“Some of it. Some of it, I cringe when I watch,” he said. “I’m like, oh my God, I can’t believe I said that!”

READ MORE: ANOTHER SEQUEL? Eddie Murphy could star in ‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’ at Netflix

The comedian went on to say that they were a product of the time and that he was “just a kid,” saying those things.

The 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards is set to air on Sunday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. on the CW network.

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New law could protect social media users’ data around the country

At the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, a new law went into effect that is aimed at protecting consumer information from big companies; with more and more social media users concerned about how their data is being used, this California-based law could be a model that leads to more widespread change across the country.

READ MORE: People of color at Facebook pen open letter about racial discrimination at company

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is now live and its purpose is to hold more companies accountable for how they use consumer data. One of the most notable companies to have problems in this area is Facebook.

Early in December, over 267 million Facebook users’ information was exposed in yet another data breach. According to CBS New York, on Dec. 14, it was found that the names, phone numbers, and Facebook user IDs had been compromised. This was not the first time. In March, CBS reported that the social media giant also confessed that for years, many of their employees could read user passwords in plain text.

According to CNET, when it comes to social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others, the CCPA would limit the amount of data they can collect and may provide incentive for them to be more clear on how they use this information.

According to Yahoo, the bill also creates a host of new legal obligations for companies that share, collect and sell the data of more than 50,000 people and generated revenue of more than $25 million in the preceding year. This factor means that the law goes beyond big tech companies like Facebook and would also apply to companies like Home Depot and Walmart that use loyalty cards.

“The CCPA always started as a, basically, a private [Freedom of Information Act] request, so that you could go to a business and actually find out, not in legalese, but in plain English, what they are collecting about you,” Mary Stone Ross, a cybersecurity expert that helped CCPA, said.

Consumers will have the ability to opt-out of having their data shared and they will have access to information on how these companies use their data.

The main stipulation is that all the companies and consumers have to be based in California. But according to Yahoo, several companies have come forward and vowed to expand these California-specific protections to customers across the country.

“In order to provide a consistent experience to all of our customers, we plan to provide to all of our U.S. customers the data access and data deletion request processes that we provide to California customers under CCPA,” an Amazon spokesperson told Yahoo.

Microsoft, Apple, and Google have also expressed interest in giving these protections to consumers across the U.S.

Some companies fear the new law would be confusing to consumers and cause an unnecessary burden to many businesses. Some believe the CCPA does not do enough to protect consumers. Yahoo reported that individual customers would not be able to go toe-to-toe with companies they feel violated the law; the California Attorney General Xavier Becerra would have to determine whether or not to take action, for which Becerra would then pursue.

READ MORE: Congresswoman Yvette Clarke pushes for diversity in media and challenges Comcast to do right by Black people

Becerra has said that he would only be able to handle three CCPA cases a year, but consumers do have the right to sue companies on an individual basis.

It is unclear if other states will follow suit, but what is apparent is that with many concerns about consumer privacy and data usage growing, the CCPA is a major milestone that may lay the groundwork for major change.

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Rutgers Women’s Basketball Coach Offers Condolences to Family of Don Imus, Who Infamously Referred to Team as 'Nappy Headed Hos'

We are such a forgiving people, aren’t we?

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Meet Danielle Outlaw, Philadelphia’s First Black Female Commissioner

The City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection has finally appointed a sister to run the show –— and she plans to bring some real law and order to the police department.

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Why New Year’s Day was no holiday for Black people during slavery

With the countless amounts of motivational 2020 memes, statuses and tweets, it is hard to remember that during this time of year less than 200 years ago, enslaved people were filled with dread.

READ MORE: Ancestry.com apologizes for romanticizing slavery in new commercial

According to TIME, New Year’s Day or Jan. 1 was often referred to as “Hiring Day” or “Heartbreak Day.” What does that mean? On that day, many enslaved Black people anxiously waited to see if they would be rented out to another family or household. This would, in turn, separate them from their families. This, as an alternative to selling a slave, was practice all too familiar during the time of chattel slavery. These transactions took place in town squares, on courthouse steps and on the side of country roads.

The enslaved would enter contracts for various amounts of time throughout the year, but there were many that began on New Years Day and lasted for up to a year. TIME reported that those who resisted would have faced whippings and/or jail time.

“‘Hiring Day’ was part of the larger economic cycle in which most debts were collected and settled on New Year’s Day,” Historian Alexis McCrossen said.

Many enslaved people documented the fear surrounding Jan. 1.

“On New Year’s Day, we went to the auctioneer’s block, to be hired to the highest bidder for one year,” Israel Campbell wrote in an 1861 memoir.

An enslaved man named Lewis Clarke said, “Of all days in the year, the slaves dread New Year’s Day the worst of any.”

While some were rented, many were still sold.

Harriet Jacobs, the first Black woman to write a “slave narrative,” wrote in her autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, of a woman who went to the auction block with all seven of her children.

“A mother leads seven children to the auction block. She knew that some of them would be taken from her; but they took all,” Jacobs wrote.

Jacobs went on to explain that one by one, all of the woman’s children had been auctioned off, which caused her to yell in pain, “gone! All gone! Why don’t God kill me?”

A lot of the time, parents could not know where their children were being taken, which caused further pain.

Though the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade on Jan. 1, 1808 gave some enslaved people hope, there was so much longer to go to see any real change.

“Different slave-trade abolition commemorations took place between 1808 and 1831, but they died out because the domestic slave trade was so vigorous,” McCrossen said.

In spite of its dark history, New Year’s Day would eventually be associated with something that was a lot more promising: Freedom.

READ MORE: Back to Africa: New York politician experiences the ultimate homecoming during a life-changing visit to Senegal

On Jan.1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Hours prior to the announcement, enslaved people had been attending a prayer services at Black churches across the country when they received the news. This monumental event led to the tradition of New Years Eve prayer services, which continue to this day.

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