The 44 Percent: Dawn Staley makes history, Miami gerrymandering, and the Creole Food Festival
Nearly 19 million people watched on as Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks bested the Iowa Hawkeyes in the women’s NCAA championship game on Sunday afternoon. Not a stranger to making sports history, Staley became the first Black coach to have an undefeated season in the NCAA Division 1 and the only Black coach to win three national titles.
As I was doing squats, rows, leg lifts with the game on in the background, I mentally transported back to my childhood when promotion for the WNBA was heavy. I read about it in Sports Illustrated Kids, I saw Lisa Leslie on “Sister, Sister” episodes, and ahead of her win, a clip of “Martin” with Staley and other Team USA women’s basketball players Teresa Edwards, Rebecca Lobo and Sheryl Swoopes, made the rounds on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In 1996, when the league was announced, promotion of the WNBA was inescapable – at least for a young Black girl growing up in Atlanta. But after the initial promo, the league has been treated as an afterthought in some respects. Yes, you’ve had star players and there have been successes, but overwhelmingly the WNBA has been ignored. For instance, last year, the viewership for the WNBA championship game peaked at 1.3 million.
That said, in more recent years, we’re seeing more coverage of the WNBA, which has expanded with time, and the league will see more nationally broadcast games. We’re also seeing increased interest at the NCAA level with the drummed up rivalry between LSU’s Angel Reese and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and South Carolina’s revenge tour. A cross generational talent such as Staley – a woman who was praised for her physical abilities and is now praised for her coaching – and her peers who coach in the WNBA are keeping that tenacity going.
I am hoping the fans garnered from the NCAA women’s championship the past two years will translate into more eyes. This month, the WNBA will turn 27. It’s time they, too, get 19 million viewers.
INSIDE THE 305:
Judge throws out Miami’s ‘unconstitutional’ voting map over racial gerrymandering
Earlier this week, a federal judge threw out Miami’s voting map, ruling that in 2022, commissioners approved a map that had “unconstitutional, racially gerrymandered district boundaries that sorted residents by race and ethnicity,” Miami Herald reporter Joey Flechas reported.
Flechas writes: “U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore issued a sharp ruling that invalidated the boundaries of each of the city’s five districts — rejecting a mindset that has defined how the city chose elected representatives for more than two decades.
The judge barred the city from holding any elections under the unconstitutional districts. The next city elections are in November 2025. The judge said he would set a court date to bring both sides together to discuss the next steps, which could include holding special elections and drawing a new map.”
Docuseries highlights Miami Northwestern high school’s dance team and their star coach
Miami Northwestern Senior High School’s Golden Girlz is featured in the six-part docuseries “Supa Girlz.” The final episode debuted Thursday on streaming service ALLBLK, Herald reporter Isaiah Smalls reported. Led by Miami native and Northwestern alum, Traci Young-Byron, the group are back in the national spotlight due to the series.
Smalls writes: “The docuseries follows Young-Byron as she preps the G Girlz for the 2021-22 season, a particularly trying time considering it was the first full in-person school year amid the COVID-19 pandemic and many of her dancers had graduated. Through a combination of interviews, archival material and behind-the-scenes footage, the series lifts the veil behind how one of the most prestigious dance programs emerged from Liberty City, one of Miami’s most historically underserved communities.
“This is a perfect opportunity to showcase the dancers, showcase myself, showcase Liberty City, the history of how it all came about,” Young-Byron said.
OUTSIDE THE 305:
Reform Rollbacks May Lead to Another Rise in Mass Incarceration
Non-profit news organization Capital B examined the ramifications of rolling back criminal justice reform efforts and its potential effects on the Black community. Reporter Christina Carrega writes California “is among several states and Washington, D.C., considering new laws that repeal or amend existing policies that were created to reverse tough-on-crime legislation that ultimately and disproportionately did more harm than good to Black communities.
Excessive prison sentences tore families apart and criminalized those with substance use issues instead of providing resources for treatment. That’s not what over 60% of survivors of crime or families of crime victims say they want, according to a 2016 study by the Alliance for Safety and Justice.”
HIGH CULTURE:
This food festival in Miami Beach celebrates Creole cuisine from all over the world
This weekend Miamians can feast on Creole cuisine at the third annual Creole Food Festival in Miami Beach. As Herald reporter Connie Ogle writes, the festival “will showcase chefs and a wide range of Creole cuisine, not just from the places you’d expect but from all around the globe: Africa, the Caribbean, Latin and South America, the American South.”
Such chefs include Todd Richards, who has published his second cookbook “Roots, Heart, Soul” with Amy Condon, Food Network star Jouvens Jean, and Miami native Catherine Hinds, who worked as a private chef for tennis star Serena Williams. The festival will be held at 1100 Lincoln Road. Visit https://www.creolefoodfestival.com/ for more information.
Where does “The 44 Percent” name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter’s title.
