Lee Elder, who broke the race barrier at the Masters, dies at 87

Photo Courtesy Lee Elder Foundation — November 2020: Lee Elder being honored at the 2020 Masters Tournament

Lee Elder, the first Black golfer to play in the Masters, is dead at the age of 87.

The PGA Tour announced his passing on its official Twitter Monday, noting that this past April he was honored for his accomplishments at Augusta National, and his legacy will surely live on.

No official cause of death was listed, but Elder had been reportedly in poor health in recent years. During his appearance at the Masters in April he wore a visible oxygen tube. The Tour said he died early Sunday in Escondido, California.

Lee Elder has passed away at the age of 87.

In 1975, he made history as the first African American to compete in the Masters Tournament.

Lee was honored this past April at Augusta National and his legacy will surely live on. pic.twitter.com/1o05rephKt

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 29, 2021

His contemporary, and one of the greatest golfers to ever walk the greens, Jack Nicklaus responded to the death on Twitter writing, "Lee was a good player, but most important, a good man who was very well respected by countless people. The game of golf lost a hero in Lee Elder.''

Lee was a good player, but most important, a good man who was very well respected by countless people. The game of golf lost a hero in Lee Elder. Barbara and I send our heartfelt condolences to Lee’s wife Sharon and their entire family.

— Jack Nicklaus (@jacknicklaus) November 29, 2021

A native Texan, Elder did not play a full round of 18 holes until he was 16 and learned the game while caddying when most courses were segregated. Following his history-making turn at the formerly all-white Masters, which he qualified for by winning the Monsanto Open, he notched three more career PGA wins. In 1979 he became the first African American to qualify for play in the Ryder Cup.

Rihanna Named National Hero in Barbados as Country Becomes Republic

Nine-time Grammy winner and Fenty Beauty billionaire Rihanna was honored by her home country of Barbados on Monday, the same day the island nation shed its colonial allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II and declared itself a republic.

“On behalf of a grateful nation, but an even prouder people, we therefore present to you the designee for national hero of Barbados, Ambassador Robyn Rihanna Fenty,” Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced at a ceremony celebrating Barbados' presidential inauguration and marking its first day as a republic. “May you continue to shine like a diamond and bring honor to your nation by your words, by your actions, and to do credit wherever you shall go. God bless you, my dear.”

The 33-year-old, who has had the honorary title of Ambassador for Culture and Youth in Barbados since 2018 and was first named one of the Caribbean island country's cultural ambassadors in 2008 — doing promotional work for its tourism ministry — said it was a day she would never forget and never saw coming.

"I have traveled the world and received several awards and recognitions, but nothing, nothing compares to being recognized in the soil that you grew in," she said.

Rihanna, who was born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown where the ceremony took place, before moving to the United States after she was discovered by music producer Evan Rogers, is the 11th person to receive the honor. It had been 20 years since it was last conferred.

The announcement was a high-point of the festivities surrounding Barbados formally cutting ties with the British monarchy after nearly 400 years.

Watch Rihanna's entire speech below:

Georgia Jury Convicts 3 White Men of Ahmaud Arbery Murder

Ahmaud Arbery

Wednesday, following eight days of testimony and two days of deliberation, a jury of nine White women,
two White men and one Black man, delivered guilty verdicts in the trial of three White men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery in Glynn County Georgia last year.

The 25-year-old Black man was jogging through the Satilla Shores neighborhood outside Brunswick, Georgia, on Feb. 23, 2020, when Travis McMichael (35) and his father Gregory McMichael (65), grabbed their guns and pursued Arbery in a pickup. Their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan Jr. (52) later joined the pursuit in his own pickup and ended up recording cellphone video of Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery.

The video, which leaked online two months after the killings, was key in the prosecution of the crime in which federal authorities allege the three men chased and killed Arbery because he was black. Prosecutors in the current trial did not argue that racism motivated the killing, but the trio will face federal hate crime charges in a trial scheduled for February.

Following the verdict, outside the courthouse, Ahmaud's father Marcus Arbery Jr., said his son never did anything wrong.

"He didn't do nothing but run, run and dream. He's always been a curious kid. He always wanted to see things," an emotional Arbery Jr. said as he greeted family and supporters with smiles and handshakes. with. "All he wanted to do was run and dream."

Ahmaud Arbery's father Marcus Arbery, who cheered in the courtroom after the first guilty verdict in his son's murder trial:

"I don't want to see no daddy watch their kid get lynched and shot down like that ... Today is a good day." pic.twitter.com/m6zyyQ6j3z

— The Recount (@therecount) November 24, 2021]

Arbery Jr. added, "For real, all lives matter. Not just Black children. We don't want to see nobody go through this. I wouldn't want to see no daddy watch their kid get lynched and shot down like that."

"It's all our problem. So hey, let's keep fighting. Let's keep doing and making this a better place for all human beings."

From left to right, William "Roddie" Bryan, Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael

The shooter Travis McMichael was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony. Gregory McMichael and William Bryan were acquitted of malice murder but convicted on the other counts. All three men stood trial for murder because it was determined by the jury that they committed crimes that contributed to Arbery's death.