📰 Former UT prof defends Epstein

Former UT Prof Asked Epstein for Donation

Former University of Texas at Austin professor Thomas K. Hubbard asked Jeffrey Epstein’s charity for more than $10,000 for a 2016 conference about sexual consent following new Title IX policies, files released by the DOJ show. The charity did not send Hubbard money. Hubbard defended Epstein in a statement to The Daily Texan about the request, denying the disgraced financier was a pedophile “in the technical sense.” [The Daily Texan]

Dog Removed From Owner Suspected of Abuse

Police are investigating after a video of a man beating his dog in a downtown apartment was posted online. The dog, whose name is Boone, was taken to Austin Animal Services for evaluation. [KVUE]

How Austin’s Gen Zers Are Making Friends

Thousands of Gen Zers who have made Austin their home are changing the way the city approaches friend-making. They’re drinking less, throwing raves in coffee shops on Saturday mornings, and more. [City Cast Austin 🎧]

Austin Music Awards Lineup Is Out

Austin Music Awards is celebrating its 44th year on March 1 at Antone’s and the lineup includes Jackie Venson, Ben Kweller, and Big Bill, among others. [The Austin Chronicle]

February marks 100 years of Black History Month in the U.S. In Austin, the largest Black History Month event takes place in the most gentrified part of the city. I wanted to find out what that looks like.

The Event

Solar Saturday is the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center’s annual Black History Month kick-off block party. The block party was on Feb. 7 and had a little bit of everything. The day started with a Black makers market and other programming included everything from food panels to a Black Queer Kiki Ball & Variety Show. They debuted a new gallery exhibit by Steven Bernard Jones called “Who Draws the Maps” that I’ll be raving about for weeks. The exhibit represents Jone’s pursuit of creative bliss, reconstructing borders and routes through “big doodles.”

City officials were also out in full force. Mayor Kirk Watson, State Rep. Sheryl Cole, Congressman Lloyd Doggett, and County Commissioner Jeff Travillion were all in attendance. But for me the stars were the Ninth Calvary Buffalo soldiers! Buffalo Soldiers were U.S. Army regiments made up exclusively of Black American soldiers.

Seeing Buffalo soldiers immediately takes me back to my childhood. They led every Juneteenth parade I attended as a kid in East Austin, and I always made sure to get a picture with them at the post-parade celebration at Rosewood Park. I’m sure they’re a core memory for so many other Black kids in the city, too. I couldn’t resist asking to take a photo.

The People

The East Side has seen absolutely crazy growth over the last few years. Gentrification has not just changed the landscape, it’s changed the culture. So, I was curious to see who would be at the block party. In years passed, to see more than a few non-Black people at this type of event who weren’t politicians would be rare. But given the growing demographic shift, I wasn’t surprised to see the diverse, excited crowd.