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Miami Grand Prix 2023
NNPA NEWSWIRE — The only Black man to have raced in Formula 1, British driver Lewis Hamilton, 38, has won more and been the fastest qualifier more times than any other driver, triggering racist social-media diatribes from motorsports fans used to their Nomex-clad heroes being White-only.
The post Miami Grand Prix 2023 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

MIAMI GARDENS, FL – Chattering happily, rocking garb worn to ward off an unrelenting South Florida sun, scores of Black faithful exuberantly trudge toward their place of Sunday worship – Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
The 20 helmeted deities to be exalted this afternoon probably couldn’t toss a perfect spiral if their lives depended on it, and their average weight is a dinky 148 pounds. But they drive the hell out of nimble, 1,000-horsepower winged cars better than anyone on the planet, and are led by a Black high priest whose seven world championships and 103 career victories make him the hands-down G.O.A.T.
Welcome to the Formula 1 Crypto.Com Miami Grand Prix 2023, the fifth round of a traveling circus that will hit 24 global racing venues this year and is viewed as the pinnacle of motorsport. Formula 1’s irrepressible Black king, British driver Lewis Hamilton, 38, has drawn the sport’s ire for speaking truth to power, to include kneeling atop racetracks while clad in a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, to protest the police executions of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
The only Black man to have raced in Formula 1, Hamilton has won more and been the fastest qualifier more times than any other driver, triggering racist social-media diatribes from motorsports fans used to their Nomex-clad heroes being White-only.
The only Formula 1 icon with 103 wins and 103 pole positions, Hamilton was victimized by an inexplicable, last-second rules change during the last lap of the last race of 2021, which was held in Abu Dhabi. As a result, Hamilton, who entered Formula 1 in 2007 and currently drives for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team, was controversially deprived of a chance to win a record-setting eighth world championship.
His otherworldly talent, off-track fashionista flair, and even his affluence (Forbes says Hamilton raked in $55 million in 2022, excluding endorsements), spurred a noticeable Black presence among the more than 270,000 fans who attended three days of Miami Grand Prix festivities May 5, 6 and 7. Easily half of the melanated faces in the crowd were crowned by baseball caps emblazoned with Mercedes’ distinctive tri-star logo.
Without Hamilton in the field, it’s doubtful there would have been pre-race pageantry featuring Venus and Serena Williams standing near the start/finish line of a twisty, makeshift 3.36-mile asphalt track winding around Hard Rock Stadium. The Williams sisters smiled appreciatively as showman LL Cool J bombastically introduced each of the contest’s 20 drivers, while will.i.am theatrically led a string orchestra providing background music.
The Miami Grand Prix is more than a contest where cars routinely hit 210 mph while traversing a 19-turn course lined by unforgiving concrete barriers. It’s part sporting event, part over-the-top party leavened with plenty of palm trees, more celebs than you can shake a stick at, blaring reggaeton and sumptuous food and drink prepared by worldclass chefs and mixologists.
Moko, a colorfully dressed native of Senegal who’s traveling to each of Formula 1’s 24 races in 2023, wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I look at Formula 1 like art, in a way,” says Moko, who idolizes Juan Manuel Fangio, a charismatic Argentinian driver who seized the world championship in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957, before Moko was born. “I like the duality between the machine and the human being.
“It’s hard to explain, but I’m going to give it to you the African way — it’s like you’re dancing with the woman you love, and if you don’t dance right, the woman can kill you,” Moko laughs. “And the woman is the car!”
As for the financial impact of the Miami Grand Prix, where $100 earns you the privilege of strolling around the sprawling Miami International Autodrome campus for a single day, without getting a place to sit, Moko shrugs. “If you love something and you can afford it, why not?”
Unlike Moko, saxophone player Bismarck Morgan traveled only 60 miles from West Palm Beach. “I think there’s a great atmosphere here, and I think it’s important for people to come and make a decision for themselves,” Morgan says. “You get in and it’s a very wonderful and beautiful atmosphere. It’s easy to sit on the outside of something and have an opinion of it, but when you get there, it’s actually a beautiful place.
“There are plenty of people from around the world here, people of color from India, Dubai. It’s a beautiful thing, and I love the sound of race cars, I love the revving of the engines. It gets your blood flowing.”
Lewis Hamilton, who drives a W14 Mercedes-AMG road rocket propelled by a 1.6-liter, V6 engine and an electric motor hooked to a rechargeable battery, has noticed a change in the hue of Grand Prix crowds since he joined the Grand Prix circuit 16 years ago.
“For the first five or ten years or so, I didn’t see many people of color in the grandstands,” says Hamilton, whose Mercedes-AMG Petronas team has an annual budget exceeding $300 million. “There were very few people of color. It was not as diverse as I might have hoped.”
However, Hamilton is now “seeing a crowd that’s more diverse. That’s amazing to me to not be the only one there, which is nice to see. And it’s just great to be seeing that we’re tapping into those different cultures, those different communities, who perhaps once didn’t think (Formula 1 racing) was for them. “Because they didn’t see someone that looked like them in the sport, maybe.”
Just as Tiger Woods’ soul-crushing dominance drew more Black fans to golf tournaments, Lewis Hamilton’s championship-winning campaigns in 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 have lured new eyeballs to Formula 1.
So has the Netflix series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” which New England Patriots safety Adrian Phillips and his wife, pediatrician Camille Phillips, credit with attracting them to Miami Gardens to see Hamilton drive.
The couple watched Hamilton hustle his underperforming W14 Mercedes from 13th on the grid to a 6th-–place finish. Hamilton says that despite having subpar equipment this year, and finishing the Miami Grand Prix fourth in the driver standings with 56 points, compared with 119 for first-place Dutchman Max Verstappen, Hamilton will be back in 2024 and beyond.
Adrian and Camille Phillips say you can count them in, too.
The post Miami Grand Prix 2023 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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Federal Raids Target Migrant Kids, Split Families
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The Trump administration has reportedly removed at least 500 migrant children from their homes across the United States and placed them into government custody, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
The Trump administration has reportedly removed at least 500 migrant children from their homes across the United States and placed them into government custody, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The children, many of whom were living with family members or other vetted sponsors, were taken during so-called “welfare checks” carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies. According to CNN, the operations are part of a larger campaign launched shortly after President Donald Trump returned to office, with federal authorities setting up a “war room” inside the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review data on children who entered the country alone and were later released to sponsors. Officials have used the room to coordinate efforts between agencies, including ICE and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which oversees the custody of unaccompanied migrant children.
Trump officials claim the effort is aimed at protecting children placed in unsafe conditions or with unqualified sponsors, pointing to cases where children were released to individuals with criminal backgrounds or those involved in smuggling. Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the welfare checks have led to the arrests of some sponsors and the transfer of children into ORR custody. Federal data shows more than 2,500 children are currently in ORR custody. CNN reported that the average stay has grown significantly, from 67 days in December 2024 to 170 days by April 2025. Former Health and Human Services officials say new vetting rules—including income requirements, government-issued ID, and DNA tests—have made it far more difficult for parents and guardians, particularly those who are undocumented, to reclaim their children.
In some cases, reunifications that had already been scheduled were canceled. A recent lawsuit details how two brothers, ages 7 and 14, remain in government care because their mother cannot meet new documentation requirements under the revised policies. Mark Greenberg, a former senior HHS official, stated that the approach puts children in a difficult situation. “To the extent, the goal is to determine whether children are in danger or in need of help, this isn’t a good way to do that because it creates fear that anything they say could be used against their parent or family member,” he said. Immigration enforcement agents reportedly have visited children’s homes and asked about their journey to the U.S., school attendance, and upcoming immigration court appearances. Legal advocates say these visits, which sometimes include the FBI, are not standard child welfare procedures and can create fear and confusion among minors.
An FBI spokesperson confirmed the agency’s role, saying, “Protecting children is a critical mission for the FBI, and we will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to secure their safety and well-being.” Multiple outlets noted that the Trump administration has not provided clear evidence that large numbers of children are missing. Instead, it has referenced a Department of Homeland Security inspector general report from 2023 that noted more than 291,000 unaccompanied minors had not received notices to appear in immigration court. Former officials note that these figures do not necessarily indicate that the children are missing; some lacked updated addresses or were affected by administrative backlogs.
Within HHS, officials were instructed to expedite policy changes. Former ORR Ombudsman Mary Giovagnoli stated that a senior ICE official, Melissa Harper, was temporarily appointed to lead ORR. Her short tenure was followed by Angie Salazar, another former ICE official who now frequently communicates with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Trump’s team argues the Biden administration allowed thousands of unaccompanied children to enter the country without sufficient oversight. Jen Smyers, a former ORR deputy director, stated that all sponsors underwent thorough vetting, including Department of Justice background checks and reviews of the sex offender registry. “No amount of vetting is a predictor of the future,” she said. The Miami Herald recently reported that a 17-year-old foster child in Florida was removed from his home in shackles and transferred to ICE custody. The boy and his mother had crossed the border without documentation, but he had been living in a state-supervised foster placement. The case raised concerns about the state’s cooperation with federal enforcement and the message it sends to immigrant families. Concerns about federal custody of vulnerable children are not confined to immigration.
In North Carolina, a 7-month-old baby died after being left in a hot minivan by her foster mother, who now faces charges of negligent child abuse and involuntary manslaughter. In Hawaii, dozens of children have been forced to sleep in government offices and hotels due to a shortage of foster placements. In North Dakota, a foster couple has been charged in the death of a 3-year-old after surveillance footage showed the child being repeatedly assaulted. “These cases show what happens when systems meant to protect children fail them,” said Laura Nally, director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights Children’s Program. “There’s a growing concern that these welfare checks are being used to carry out mass detentions of sponsors and unnecessarily return children to government custody.”
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Protests of a Costly and Historic Parade
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — President Trump is planning an elaborate and costly celebration for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army that coincides with his birthday.

By April Ryan
It will rain on President Trump‘s parade on Saturday if most weather forecasts correctly predict the chance of storms. President Trump is planning an elaborate and costly celebration for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army that coincides with his birthday. When asked if he plans to attend the massive D.C. celebration, New York Democratic Congressman Greg Meeks exclaimed,” Heck no!” He elaborated, saying, “It is clear to me that what Donald J. Trump is trying to do is to emulate Vladimir Putin.” Trump and Putin, the Russian president, are friends. Meeks feels “that’s where he initially got the idea from when he saw the tanks going down the street and how people bow down to Vladimir Putin, how…that authoritarian runs his country where no one questions what he does.”
Meanwhile, around the nation 1600 protests are scheduled to coincide with what is happening in Washington, D.C. Democratic Congressman Al Greene confirms he will attend several “No King Day” protest rallies and marches in his home state of Texas. The congressman questions the president’s comments about using “force” for anyone trying to stop the parade. Reverand William Barber plans to be in Philadelphia on Saturday. “We are having a rally bringing people together,” the civil rights leader confirmed. The leader of Repairers of the Breach added, “Those rallies are gonna be massive and multiracial of every race, color, creed, religion, geographic area, so this is not a moment. We must have a constant movement.”
Weeks ago, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser warned the parade, and all its military might, and pageantry would cost “many millions of dollars” just to repair District streets after the heavy artillery tanks rolled down the historic roads in the nation’s capital. Tall gates and other barricades around the White House are part of the parade’s security measures. The Secret Service has warned of a high-security presence in the area for the parade. You can expect to see military tanks, dozens of other military vehicles, and thousands of service members marching along a route stretching nearly four miles from the Pentagon to the White House.
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Critics Question 2024 Results as Musk Tactics Surface
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Now, a Wisconsin nonprofit has filed a legal complaint accusing Musk, his America PAC, and a Musk-affiliated group called United States of America Inc. of violating state election laws by bribing voters.

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
Donald Trump’s return to the White House in 2024 has reignited questions about election integrity, particularly after his remarks thanking Elon Musk for what he called a “landslide” win in Pennsylvania. “He knows those computers better than anybody… all those vote-counting computers,” Trump said. “So, thank you to Elon.” The comment set off alarm, including Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett. “So, Trump is rambling on about he and Elon rigging the election?! Am I missing something or is he confessing to yet another damn crime?!” she posted on social media.
Now, a Wisconsin nonprofit has filed a legal complaint accusing Musk, his America PAC, and a Musk-affiliated group called United States of America Inc. of violating state election laws by bribing voters. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and two voters allege Musk handed out $1 million checks and that his PAC paid $100 to registered voters who signed petitions and gave their contact information. Wisconsin law prohibits offering anything of value over $1 to encourage someone to vote. The complaint also cites violations of the state’s lottery ban. The plaintiffs are asking a court to declare the actions illegal, prevent future violations, and award damages if applicable.
The lawsuit follows a failed attempt by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to block Musk’s actions earlier this year. Kaul argued that Musk’s conduct amounted to illegal inducement, but courts declined to intervene before the April state Supreme Court election. Jeff Mandell, president and general counsel for Law Forward, which represents the plaintiffs, said this new case is being filed under more typical legal timelines. “We’re trying to create … accountability in a more regular timeline, in a way that gives the courts the opportunity to look at this more carefully,” Mandell said.
Musk, who served briefly as a Trump adviser and led a short-lived federal agency focused on cost-cutting, has denied wrongdoing. He initially promoted the giveaways as rewards for early voters but later revised eligibility criteria following legal scrutiny. The controversy has added fuel to growing concerns over anomalies in places like Rockland County, New York, where Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly received virtually no votes despite Democratic victories in other races. “We know exactly what happened and how it unfolded, and we’re asking the court to say this is not acceptable,” Mandel has said.
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