Five Arrested In Connection To The Shooting Of Sasha Johnson

Five men have been arrested by the British police in connection to the attempted murder of Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson, NPR reports. Johnson, a leader of the Taking The Initiative Party, was shot in the head Sunday at a party in South East London. While police have said that there is no evidence that Johnson was a target of the shooting, members of her organization say that she received several death threats prior to the incident.

Author Terry McMillan Questions Why Celebs Make Coming Out Statements

In a tweet last Wednesday, Waiting To Exhale author Terry McMillan questioned the purpose of coming out announcements made by celebrities. "I don't understand why celebrities have to announce their sexuality," she wrote. "Just be who you are." The comment triggered 146 responses, many of which explained that the announcements keep celebrities from being "misgendered" while also providing visibility and representation of others in the LGBTQ+ community.

Naomi Osaka Declines Press Interviews At French Open To Protect Mental Health

Wednesday, tennis star Naomi Osaka announced that she will not be granting press interviews at the French Open. According to the 23-year-old top-ranking athlete, press conferences, especially after a loss, take a toll on the mental and emotional well-being of athletes. “I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes' mental health and this rings true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one,” Osaka explained in an Instagram post. “We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me.”

Obama Says 'Institutional Restraints' Limited What He Could Say About Trayvon Martin

During a virtual gathering for the My Brother's Keeper Alliance Leadership Forum on Wednesday, Barack Obama expressed the frustration he felt during his time in office in regard to the shooting deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. “I went as far as I could just commenting on cases like Trayvon Martin or what was happening in Ferguson because as we discovered, not every president follows this, at least my successor didn’t. But I followed the basic notion that the Justice Department was independent, I could not steer them,” said the former president. “I did not in any way want to endanger their capacity to go in, investigate and potentially charge perpetrators, which meant that I could not come down or appear to come down decisively in terms of guilt or innocence in terms of what happened. So you had institutional constraints.”

Emily Bustamente Welcome First Grandchild

Emily Bustamente, the longtime girlfriend of rapper Fabulous, is now the proud grandmother of a baby boy. Wednesday, the former "Love & Hip Hop" star's son-in-law-to-be, rapper G-Herbo, announced the birth of the family's new addition by sharing a black and white photo of the infant's hand on Instagram.