AT&T hosted its 2nd annual The Humanity of Connection at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on Thursday, March 15th celebrating the power of human connectivity and the technologies that chronicle and connect the remarkable achievements of African Americans.

Honorees included legendary actress Cicely Tyson, the first African American to appear as a series regular on a prime television series and the first African American actress to win an Emmy Award; Michelle Ebanks, the President of Essence Communications, Inc., the nation’s preeminent magazine for Black women; Angela Rye, the Principal and CEO of IMPACT Strategies, as well as a CNN Political Commentator and NPR analyst; and bestselling author and social entrepreneur Wes Moore, the CEO of Robin Hood.

The Humanity of Connection was conceived by Tanya Lombard, head of Multicultural Engagement and Strategic Alliances for AT&T.

Dignitaries in attendance included award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad, acclaimed musician Wynton Marsalis, Susan L. Taylor, founder of Founder & CEO, National CARES Mentoring Movement and Editor- in- Chief Emeritus of Essence Magazine, Tony Award Winning Choreographer George Faison, celebrity stylist June Ambrose, Hazel Dukes, President of the New York State Conference of the NAACP and member of the NAACP National Board of Directors, Acclaimed choreographer and dancer Judith Jamison and many others.

A short film, co-produced by Keith Clinkscales and Tanya Lombard, Head of Multicultural Engagement and Strategic Alliances for AT&T, was screened at the event.

The film, entitled The Humanity of Connection, is narrated by critically acclaimed actor Jeffrey Wright and explores the state of civil rights 50 years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Over the course of the past five decades, many advancements to humanity have been made and new leaders in a variety of fields have emerged to continue the quest for equality.

“The energy of the room in our second year was inspirational” said Keith Clinkscales.

“The opportunity to tie the greatness of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to today’s leaders created a unique platform to partner with AT&T”

The Humanity of Connection featured prominent leaders discussing the progress made, as well as the new battles being fought. Some of today’s best and brightest leaders will be highlighted including legendary actress Cicely Tyson, Rev. Al Sharpton, President & CEO of National Action Network, Rev. Jesse Jackson, President of Rainbow Push, Marc Morial, President & CEO of the National Urban League, and national millennial civil rights activist Mary Pat Hector, among others.

“AT&T is proud of the Humanity of Connection series” says Tanya Lombard, Assistant Vice President of AT&T. “Our annual event provides an opportunity for AT&T to engage with the innovators and leaders of our community.”

A post shared by Derick Monroe (@derickmonroe) on Mar 15, 2018 at 8:02pm PDT

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Have you ever felt some type of way about something but really couldn’t express how you were feeling because maybe because of the people around you? Well, that’s exactly what happened to political commentator, Angela Rye when she was listening to Kayleigh McEnany, conservative correspondent talk on the “great things” that Donald Trump has done.

According to the Huff Post while McEnany was going on and on about Trump’s high achievements for veterans all across his foundation and went on to state how we’ve all done great things in our lives, Angela Rye’s eyes was the tell-all in how we all feel anytime the name “TRUMP” is mentioned. Thanks to Marcus Gilmer whom tweeted about the incident, we too can all say “YES! that’s how I feel too” to Rye’s not so poker face.

Rye, whom is much aware that she makes facial expressions on air, stated that she doesn’t have a “poker” face and can’t pretend on subject matters. She also stated that she has to be aware of how she truly chooses to express her discontent on TV as she doesn’t want to be thought of as “an angry black woman.”

Rye stated:

“For me, yesterday, it was such a historic moment. Regardless of whether you’re with Hill or you’re feeling the Bern, we had to appreciate the magnitude of that moment, “To switch gears from shattering glass ceilings from Michelle Obama’s dynamic speech to Cory Booker to Eric Holder the night before, to then talk about ISIS? Are we really doing this right now?”

Other people also caught a glimpse of Wednesday night’s CNN’s program and was in agreement of Rye’s response:

This girls face on @CNN is EVERYTHING. 🙄😂 #mythoughtsexactly pic.twitter.com/J7bQdLXzuU

— Rachel Potter (@therachelpotter) July 27, 2016

YO. @angela_rye's faces on TV are LEGENDARY…. https://t.co/vLZOqnYi4U

— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) July 27, 2016

Please don’t think that Rye has anything against McEnary as off air the two are actually really good friends, but as the saying go “Peace is a victory. Not an Agreement.” Rye just showed us it’s okay to not agree with everything we hear whether it’s by speaking or simply by expression. Go Girl!

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