This is the first message Chadwick Boseman sent to my son in 2017. He had already been diagnosed with colon cancer, unknown to anyone. Amazing. 🙏🏾💜✊🏾😭 pic.twitter.com/2Tb4V2O8bN
— Brian Hammond (@_Bro_Hamm_) August 29, 2020
Sunday, September 6, 2020
A Class Act
Hanging Tree Guitars
From the Bitter Southerner -
Freeman Vines: Hanging Tree Guitars
https://bsgeneralstore.com/products/hanging-tree-guitars?utm_source=The+Bitter+News&utm_campaign=d78a45fc20-2020_09_01_HOUSE_THAT_CARVING_BUILT&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8269ec3593-d78a45fc20-92175213&goal=0_8269ec3593-d78a45fc20-92175213&mc_cid=d78a45fc20&mc_eid=0b6dd8ed2d
How to Vote in Every State
From Slate -
The Best Way to Vote in Every State
An extremely comprehensive guide to making sure your ballot gets counted, no matter where in America you live.
By MOLLY OLMSTEAD and MARK JOSEPH STERN
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/08/2020-voting-guide.html
The Marines Have a Problem
An excerpt from the NY Times -
The Few, the Proud, the White: The Marine Corps Balks at Promoting Generals of Color
A respected, combat-tested Black colonel has been passed over three times for promotion to brigadier general. What does his fate say about the Corps?
By Helene Cooper
WASHINGTON — All things being equal, Col. Anthony Henderson has the military background that the Marine Corps says it prizes in a general: multiple combat tours, leadership experience and the respect of those he commanded and most who commanded him.
Yet three times he has been passed over for brigadier general, a prominent one-star rank that would put Colonel Henderson on the path to the top tier of Marine Corps leadership. Last year, the Navy secretary, Richard V. Spencer, even added a handwritten recommendation to Colonel Henderson’s candidacy: “Eminently qualified Marine we need now as BG,” he wrote.
But never in its history has the Marine Corps had anyone other than a white man in its most senior leadership posts. Colonel Henderson is Black.
“Tony Henderson has done everything you could do in the Marines except get a hand salute from Jesus Christ himself,” said Milton D. Whitfield Sr., a former Marine gunnery sergeant who served for 21 years.
Proud and fierce in their identity, the Marines have a singular race problem that critics say is rooted in decades of resistance to change. As the nation reels this summer from protests challenging centuries-long perceptions of race, the Marines — who have long cultivated a reputation as the United States’ strongest fighting force — remain an institution where a handful of white men rule over 185,000 white, African-American, Hispanic and Asian men and women.
“It took an act of Congress last year to get them to integrate by gender at the platoon level,” said Representative Anthony G. Brown, Democrat of Maryland and a former Army helicopter pilot. “And now they continue to hold onto that 1950s vision of who Marines are.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/us/politics/marines-race-general.html
Mama Said
An excerpt from Bored Panda -
Indian Mom Goes Viral After Son Convinces Her To Put Her Worldly Wisdom On Signs And Share It On IG (30 Pics)
By Jonas Grinevičius and Ilona Baliūnaitė
The world really needs more heartwarming people like Poonam Sapra and her son Pranav. Especially in 2020. Together, the mother-son duo from India runs the ‘Mother With Sign’ Instagram page. They post photos of Poonam holding up signs with wholesome, relatable, and humorous motherly advice for living a good, healthy, and happy life.
They started the page 8 months ago and, since then, they’ve gained a whopping 108k followers. What’s more, they even got the attention of the Humans of Bombay IG account that has over 1.1 million avid fans. Poonam and Pranav’s content is nearly universal because the world’s filled with moms who constantly give out helpful advice.
https://www.boredpanda.com/mother-with-sign-poonam-sapra/
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Just A Minute
“I only have a minute.
Sixty seconds in it.
Forced upon me, I did not choose it,
But I know that I must use it.
Give account if I abuse it.
Suffer, if I lose it.
Only a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.”
- Dr. Benjamin E. Mays
"I Wish I Dried Up"
An excerpt from Upworthy -
It's Black Breastfeeding Week. Wondering why? One gut-wrenching poem says it all.
"I wish I dried up..."
By Annie Reneau
It's Black Breastfeeding Week, a week set aside in the U.S. to celebrate and encourage Black breastfeeding parents.
Some may wonder why such a week is necessary. After all, that's a pretty narrow niche, isn't it? Aren't Black moms included in all breastfeeding awareness and education campaigns? Is there something special about Black people breastfeeding?
The answer is yes, there is something unique about Black breastfeeding. Several somethings, actually, but one reason for Black Breastfeeding Week is summed up in a gut-wrenching poem by feminist author Hess Love.
"I wish I dried up
I wish every drop of my milk slipped passed those pink lips and nourished the ground
Where the bones lay
Of my babies
Starved while I feed their murderer
I wish I dried up
So the missus babies would dry up too
And be brittle
So I could crumble them to dust
Return them to the ground
Where all children of my bosom lay equal"
- Hess Love
https://www.upworthy.com/its-black-breastfeeding-week-if-you-wonder-why-this-gut-punching-poem-offers-one-reason
Best Books by Black Authors
From Cosmopolitan -
The Best Books by Black Authors to Add to Your Bookshelf Right Now
Not an anti-racist reading list.
by PAULINA JAYNE ISAAC
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/books/g33625689/best-books-black-authors/
Meals Served With Love, No Prices
From Black Enterprise -
BLACK-OWNED FAMILY-STYLE RESTAURANT IN ALABAMA HAS NO PRICES AND FEEDS ANYONE WHO IS HUNGRY
by BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors
The founders of Drexell & Honeybee’s, a Black-owned family-style restaurant in Brewton, Alabama, are gaining national attention because they serve meals with no prices. The donation-only restaurant does not use cash registers and also feeds everyone – including those who don’t have anything to pay.
Every lunchtime from Tuesday to Thursday, husband and wife team, Freddie and Lisa Thomas-McMillan, are busy serving hungry people with soul food and Southern dishes from their daily-changing menu such as fried chicken, cornbread, and collard greens.
Everyone who comes to the restaurant doesn’t have to worry about the payment because they can leave a handful of coins, a generous donation, or even just a thank-you note. The owners then use 100% of the donations for the operational costs of feeding the hungry so they don’t really profit from it.
Still, the McMillans continue serving people from all walks of life in exchange of the joy that they get from all of it. They say there’s real joy whenever people leave their restaurant “with a full stomach, a full heart, and the understanding that you are loved and worthy of love.”
https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-owned-family-style-restaurant-in-alabama-has-no-prices-and-feeds-anyone-who-is-hungry/
Pharrell Williams - Entrepreneur (Official Video) ft. JAY-Z
Stick with this. It has a POWERFUL MESSAGE!
Club Cardinal - Launch Video
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/stanford-university-students-flock-to-virtual-campus-180975675/
BLM Poster Not Welcome Here
An excerpt from Upworthy -
Texas teacher placed on leave after parents complained about her virtual 'Black Lives Matter' poster
By Tod Perry
Via Change.org
Taylor Lifka, a 25-year-old English teacher at Roma High School in Roma, Texas, wanted to create an inclusive environment for her online classes this school year.
So she created a virtual background with posters that read: "Black Lives Matter," "Amiga, tu lucha es mi lucha," (Your struggle is my struggle) and "Diverse, Inclusive, Accepting, Welcoming, Safe Space for Everyone" in rainbow colors.
Before the first day of school, she asked her incoming students to put their names and preferred pronouns in the chat box on the digital chalkboard. Then, she posted a screenshot of her classroom on her social media.
Some parents complained about the inclusive posters to the principal.
"My assistant principal told me, 'Please take the posters down.' I guess once that happened, I knew that it might be a rocky road, but considering being put on leave? I never really thought that that was going to be their first step," Lifka told The Texas Tribune.
https://www.upworthy.com/texas-teacher-placed-leave-after-parents-complained-about-her-black-lives-matter-poster
Comply or Die
"Comply or die. That is the only thing we're able to tell our young Black sons."@MariaTaylor shared what her father, who was in the FBI, told her brother about interacting with police. pic.twitter.com/VDJukqNSWr
— ESPN (@espn) August 28, 2020
Thursday, August 27, 2020
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Thursday, August 6, 2020
I just got pulled over and for the first time i watched a white women record my whole traffic stop . pic.twitter.com/BolkS8K9rj
— The Mad King (@Kingkeraun) August 3, 2020
White Privilege Explained
What is white privilege?
— BBC Bitesize (@bbcbitesize) August 5, 2020
We asked @JohnAmaechi, psychologist, best-selling author and former NBA basketball player to explain it for us.
👉 https://t.co/t7LIENTnPn pic.twitter.com/mQrYX6Y0N1
Saturday, August 1, 2020
Our Marching Orders
From the New York Times -
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html
Amazon's Ex-Wife Makes Big Donation to HBCUs
An excerpt from CNN -
These historically Black universities just got their biggest ever financial gifts all thanks to one generous donor
By Alicia Lee
(CNN)Four historically Black colleges and universities announced that they have each received the largest single donation in their long-standing history.
The generous donor?
MacKenzie Scott, formerly Bezos.
Howard University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Hampton University and Tuskegee University all announced on Tuesday that they had been gifted record donations.
Howard, which received $40 million, Hampton, $30 million, and Tuskegee, $20 million, revealed that their donations had come from Scott, the author and philanthropist who divorced from Amazon's Jeff Bezos last year.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/29/us/hbcus-largest-donation-history-mackenzie-scott-trnd/index.html
White Christians Mostly Silent
An excerpt from NPR -
American Christianity Must Reckon With Legacy Of White Supremacy, Author Says
Heard on Fresh Air with Terry Gross
In his new book, White Too Long, Jones examines the legacy of white supremacy among Southern Baptists and other Christian denominations.
Jones says the Southern Baptist Convention tends to focus on each individual's interior relationship with God — and "essentially screens out questions of social justice."
"I cannot remember a single sermon calling attention to racial inequality, racial injustice [or] the struggle for civil rights," he says.
As the U.S. begins to grapple more seriously with issues of racism and white supremacy, Jones says the time has come for churches to be more in vocal about social justice.
"There's so much work still to be done," he says. "White Christians have been largely silent ... and have hardly begun these conversations."
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/30/896712611/american-christianity-must-reckon-with-legacy-of-white-supremacy-author-says?ft=nprml&f=1001
Hate is Real
The man in this video who dealt with all the hate is @robblissgr https://t.co/8kx4fmhCgO
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) July 30, 2020
Peanut Butter & Jelly Pie
From Bon Appetit -
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/salted-pbandj-ice-cream-pie
Saturday, July 25, 2020
Friday, July 24, 2020
Representation Matters
Not five seconds into #TheReidOut with @JoyAnnReid, my three-year-old daughter - who's in the room - points at the screen and shouts out, "MOMMY, SHE HAS CURLY HAIR JUST LIKE ME!"
— Elliot Williams (@elliotcwilliams) July 20, 2020
Representation is no joke, people. pic.twitter.com/NmELt2bCuB
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Response to Verbal Abuse is PRICELESS!
"My father, thankfully, is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter. My mother got to see Mr. Yoho's disrespect on the floor of this House towards me on television. I am here because I have to show my parents that...that they did not raise me to accept abuse from men." pic.twitter.com/cf0woHRf58
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 23, 2020
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Saturday, July 18, 2020
The First Black Female Physician in the US
An excerpt from the Boston Globe -
Gravestone dedicated to the first Black female medical doctor in the US
By Brian MacQuarrie
 |
| A gravestone dedication ceremony was held at Fairview Cemetery for Rebecca Crumpler, the first Black woman to become a medical doctor in the United States. JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF |
Rebecca and Arthur Crumpler lay side by side in unmarked graves in Hyde Park for more than a century, a wife and husband buried 15 years apart at the fringes of Fairview Cemetery near their home on Mother Brook.
No headstones carried their names. No plaque told of their lives and accomplishments. Nothing but the records of the city-owned cemetery could direct the curious — if any came along — to an unadorned patch of tree-shaded grass that covered their remains.
Until now.
Dedicated at a poignant ceremony Thursday, new granite tombstones use a few chiseled words to commemorate a remarkable story that has rarely been told. Here lies Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first Black female physician in the United States, and her husband, a former escaped slave who much later became the oldest pupil in the Boston schools.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/17/metro/gravestone-dedicated-first-black-female-medical-doctor-us/
Friday, July 17, 2020
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Monday, July 13, 2020
Where Black Students Matter
An excerpt from the New York Post -
These are the colleges where black students really matter
By Dennis Richmond, Jr.
When New York’s black high school seniors return to school in the fall and start looking ahead to college admissions, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) should be at the top of their lists.
As protests over racism continue to ripple across the country, HBCUs offer a safe haven where young minds can feel truly embraced by a racially diverse faculty who will empower them for the future. According to US Department of Education statistics, 75 percent of all black people with a doctorate degree (and four fifths of all black federal judges) received their undergraduate training at HBCUs. With typically lower tuition fees and a more integrated staff than traditionally white institutions, HBCUs are a more affordable and supportive way for black kids to level the playing field.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/11/these-are-the-colleges-where-black-students-really-matter/
These are the colleges where black students really matter
By Dennis Richmond, Jr.
When New York’s black high school seniors return to school in the fall and start looking ahead to college admissions, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) should be at the top of their lists.
As protests over racism continue to ripple across the country, HBCUs offer a safe haven where young minds can feel truly embraced by a racially diverse faculty who will empower them for the future. According to US Department of Education statistics, 75 percent of all black people with a doctorate degree (and four fifths of all black federal judges) received their undergraduate training at HBCUs. With typically lower tuition fees and a more integrated staff than traditionally white institutions, HBCUs are a more affordable and supportive way for black kids to level the playing field.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/11/these-are-the-colleges-where-black-students-really-matter/
1st Black Female Fighter Pilot!
BZ to Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle on completing the Tactical Air (Strike) aviator syllabus. Swegle is the @USNavy’s first known Black female TACAIR pilot and will receive her Wings of Gold later this month. HOOYAH! @FlyNavy @NASKPAO #ForgedByTheSea #CNATRA #CNATRAgrads pic.twitter.com/FKSlURWQhJ— Naval Air Training (@CNATRA) July 9, 2020
The Greatest Asked a Question
“How come is everything white?”— BBC (@BBC) June 9, 2020
Muhammad Ali appeared on Parkinson in 1971.pic.twitter.com/mNtQvMxmZ8
Friday, July 10, 2020
Not Today
An excerpt from the New York Times -
Yeah, Let’s Not Talk About Race
Unless you pay me.
By Damon Young
The people doing the least can be found in every viral video clip of a white person hysterically refusing to wear a mask at Trader Joe’s. These people are unhinged, dangerous and just plain goofy, willing to die (and kill) over Jicama Wraps and Kale Gnocchi. And the people doing the most? Well, the most happens anytime a white person encounters a Black person who writes about race — or just a Black person who just happens to be Black — and the Serious Conversation About Racism (SCAR) must ensue. This isn’t a new phenomenon. I’ve been SCARed before in the grocery store express aisle, between pickup hoop games at the gym, while getting a colonoscopy, and at least 82 percent of the unsolicited emails I get are drive-by SCARings. But now America feels like a deleted scene from “Get Out.” Or better yet, “The Sixth Sense.” But instead of seeing dead people, white people see us as walking, talking, antiracist book lists.
There’s no better example of the absolute most than the recent ABC News feature on Ernest Skelton. Mr. Skelton, an appliance technician, was just doing his job when the white woman whose house he was working on grilled him about the plight of blacks in America. He shared that racism is, um, bad. The woman, Caroline Brock, wrote a post about their conversation on Facebook, and it went viral. Local news stations called, and they eventually appeared on “Nightline” as an example of what happens when America allows itself to “heal from the heart.” But all I can think about is this man trying to fix a sink while taking a random pop quiz about redlining.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/opinion/george-floyd-racism.html?searchResultPosition=1
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Representation Matters
Little Jenna here is exactly why #representationmatters . I am so grateful for this show, that so many young people can watch this show and say “It’s me” . Thank you @britbrit1432 for sharing this video ❤️💕❤️💕 @HamiltonMusical #hamilfilm pic.twitter.com/iDbb4orVIs
— Phillipa Soo (@Phillipasoo) July 6, 2020
Saturday, July 4, 2020
The 4th of July to Me
Black ppl have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized + terrorized by America for centuries, & are expected to join your commemoration of “independence”, while you enslaved our ancestors. We reject your celebration of white supremacy & look forward to liberation for all. ✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/YCD2SYlgv4
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) July 4, 2020
We Tip Our Caps
Today, we all tip our cap to the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. #TipYourCap2020 pic.twitter.com/dIcVYiRBHj
— MLB (@MLB) June 30, 2020
A Field of Flags
An excerpt from the Boston Globe -
A patriotic forest takes root to fight a stubborn, invisible — and deadly — enemy
More than 8,000 flags fly as emblems of resolve against a pandemic
By Thomas Farragher
 |
| Michael Labbe stood beside the field of flags he and his family have planted in front of their home to honor all of those who have died from COVID-19 in Massachusetts. JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF |
GRAFTON – It happens several times a day on the gently sloping road where Michael Labbe is tending a star-spangled garden.
A car slows and pulls over. A camera is raised. A prayer is said. And then the passersby move on in a sudden and solemn silence.
Occasionally, they get out for a handshake. Or an air hug.
Just like 71-year-old Rhonda Lavallee did the other day as she stood in near disbelief to take in the forest of flags that has suddenly blossomed on Labbe’s front lawn.
There are more than 8,000 of them now, each one a red-white-and-blue emblem to a life lost to a killer pandemic that clouds America’s Independence Day, a holiday usually punctuated by kaleidoscopic fireworks and cozy backyard cookouts with family and friends.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/02/nation/patriotic-forest-takes-root-fight-stubborn-invisible-deadly-enemy/
He's Not With Us!
HAPPY FOURTH?
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) July 4, 2020
Trump’s visit to Mt. Rushmore ignites fireworks - both real and political: https://t.co/bSCtVCCqMS
America marks 244 years of independence in troubled times ... once more: https://t.co/2Y97vfcjYs
‘What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?’: https://t.co/nSGIaDMqFK pic.twitter.com/cG13GgOxH9
He Wanted Us to Know Black Lives Matter
From the Washington Post -
Carl Reiner’s Daughter Tweets Final Dig At Donald Trump On Her Late Father’s Behalf
The late comedy legend often took the president to task on the platform.
By Lee Moran
Carl had wanted to tweet this picture, taken last Saturday. As you can see he was happy and vital up to the very end. He will be sorely missed. pic.twitter.com/Q4sh0QK4Xz
— carl reiner (@carlreiner) July 3, 2020
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/carl-reiner-daughter-donald-trump-blm_n_5f007635c5b6acab2850ff03
Friday, July 3, 2020
Priceless!
An excerpt from Bored Panda -
Tired Of Customers Ignoring Their Polite ‘Please Wear A Mask’ Sign, This Store Puts Up A New One And It Gets Dark Real Quick Interview
ByJonas Grinevičius and Mindaugas Balčiauskas
However, wearing a mask is now a political issue in the United States. Some Americans refuse to wear them because they believe it limits their freedom. But tired of people coming in without covering their faces, vintage clothing shop Antique Sugar in Phoenix, Arizona got the world’s attention after it put up a hard-hitting sign about wearing face masks.
https://www.boredpanda.com/face-mask-sign-antique-sugar/
Artists Reflections
From the Washinton Post -
Nine black artists reflect on the question: “Is America at a point of reckoning?”
By Washington Post Staff
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/lifestyle/black-artists-america-racial-inequality/
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Exposing Racism in Medicine
An excerpt from Today -
How this Black doctor is exposing the racist history of gynecology
Dr. J. Marion Sims is known as the founding father of gynecology. He earned this title through contributions made by experimenting on enslaved Black women.
By Maura Hohman
There's one name Dr. Kameelah Phillips, an OB-GYN at Calla Women's Health in New York City, would prefer not to use in her operating room: Sims.
Depending on the context, the word can mean either a surgical tool, "Sims' vaginal speculum," or its inventor, Dr. James Marion Sims. Sims is known as the founding father of gynecology, but his legacy is fraught because of how he gathered much of his learnings — by operating on enslaved Black women without their consent or anesthesia.
Today, Phillips is "reclaiming" this story, she told TODAY. She prefers to call the tool "Lucy."
Lucy was an enslaved 18-year-old who almost died after Sims operated on her, attempting to fix her postpartum urinary incontinence, according to the Journal of the National Medical Association.
Phillips recalled feeling "shocked, appalled and disappointed," when she first learned about Sims' history over 10 years ago. In that moment, she said it was "a no-brainer" to stop using his name.
https://www.today.com/health/racism-gynecology-dr-james-marion-sims-t185269
What Trump Won't Say
From the Associated Press -
Analysis: What Trump leaves unspoken carries consequences
By NANCY BENAC
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump seems to rarely leave a thought unspoken.
Of late, though, it is increasingly clear there are things Trump won’t say — and they are tied to the most important issues of his presidency.
Among them:
— Knock it off, Russia.
— Wear a mask, Americans.
— Systemic racism must end.
None of the above are particularly bold or controversial messages.
https://apnews.com/c3251ce810aa70351e535430a48fcc50
Living in the State of Idiocracy
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Welcome to the United States of ‘Idiocracy’
Opinion by Max Boot
The presidency’s idiocy is matched by that of Republican governors in states such as Florida (where coronavirus cases increased by 277 percent in the past two weeks), Texas (+184 percent) and Arizona (+145 percent). They were slow to declare lockdowns and quick to end them. They also refused to impose statewide mask mandates — and, in the case of Texas and Arizona, tried to prevent municipalities from imposing their own rules — even though studies show that wearing masks can reduce transmission by as much as 85 percent.
This toxic imbecility is getting people killed. But recall the adage that “every nation gets the government it deserves.” Trump and the Trumpy governors did not seize power by force. They were elected by constituents who, in some cases, see masks as the spawn of the devil.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/30/welcome-united-states-idiocracy/
The Character of a Man
From Thread -
A Rabbi's Story
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1275429939597021184.html?campaign_id=93&emc=edit_fb_20200701&instance_id=19913&nl=frank-bruni®i_id=38867499&segment_id=32334&te=1&user_id=e3bf1057d4e3c0988a79ae4bce515610
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
The Deadly Consequences of Karens
An excerpt from the Raw Story -
Conservatives fume over Washington Post editor calling out the dangerous history of white ‘Karens’
By Sarah K. Burris
Conservatives are criticizing Karen Attiah, an editor for The Washington Post, because of a tweet she sent about the impact white women have had on the lynching of Black people.
In the case of the Tulsa massacre in 1921, the whole incident was caused when a 19-year-old Black shoe shiner named Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, a 17-year-old white elevator operator. There was a rumor that spread throughout the city that Rowland would be lynched without a trial. Hundreds of white men gathered around the jail but a crowd of Black men wasn’t far behind. A shot was fired and the groups of men began a fight where over 300 died and over 800 people were injured.
In the case of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy allegedly “offended” a white woman, she said, because he flirted with her. Stories about the incident have been disputed, but the woman, 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant claimed Till made “advances.” Bryant’s husband and half-brother kidnapped the child, beat him, mutilated him and then finally shot him in the head and tried to hide the body in the river.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/conservatives-fume-over-washington-post-editor-calling-out-the-dangerous-history-of-white-karens/
In a Nutshell
An excerpt from the Boston Globe -
The problem is white supremacy
‘Systemic racism’ conveys the pervasiveness of racial oppression, but white supremacy goes further by indicating that there is a rigid nexus of power that protects and enforces it.
By Barbara Smith
Why is this story, written almost 80 years ago, so relevant to what we face today? In 1943, the armed services had not been desegregated, Brown v. Board of Education had not been decided, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act had not been passed, affirmative action did not exist, and no Black person had ever been elected president. In 2020, all of these markers of racial progress and many more are part of the historical record, yet Minneapolis and the entire country have erupted for the very same reason that Harlem did in 1943: A white police officer cavalierly executed a Black man. The reason America’s pattern of racial terrorism keeps repeating is because the system of white supremacy that spawns the terrorism remains intact.
Despite the hand-wringing that occurs when the nation’s racial value system gets exposed, usually by unspeakable acts of violence, the reality is that this country has never done anything to eradicate the root cause of these atrocities. America abolished chattel slavery, but quickly instituted peonage, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration; it extended civil rights then proceeded to erode them, especially voting rights; it ended legal segregation but preserved widespread de facto segregation in schools, housing, and jobs; and despite initiating affirmative action, allowed employment discrimination and vast economic inequality to persist.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/29/opinion/problem-is-white-supremacy/
Body Cams & Dash Cams Can Help
An excerpt from Consumer Reports -
Dash Cams Can Be Silent Witnesses During Police Traffic Stops and Other Incidents
From personal security to evidence for insurance claims, dash cams can provide peace of mind
By Benjamin Preston
Adam Osmond, a 52-year-old Connecticut resident, accountant, and runner, always wears a body camera when he’s running on trails around New England. And when he’s driving, he always has a dash cam recording everything that happens inside and outside of his car.
Osmond, who is Black, says he's been racially profiled by the police while he’s been behind the wheel. In fact, he leaves early for races in case he gets pulled over. Most of the time the police officers cite minor infractions, such as driving too close to the curb, and let him go with a warning. In one case he was pulled over and ticketed for using his cell phone while driving.
Sunday, June 28, 2020
The 'Karens' of the World
An excerpt from Time -
How the 'Karen Meme' Confronts the Violent History of White Womanhood
BY CADY LANG
The historical narrative of white women’s victimhood goes back to myths that were constructed during the era of American slavery. Black slaves were posited as sexual threats to the white women, the wives of slave owners; in reality, slave masters were the ones raping their slaves. This ideology, however, perpetuated the idea that white women, who represented the good and the moral in American society, needed to be protected by white men at all costs, thus justifying racial violence towards Black men or anyone that posed a threat to their power. This narrative that was the overarching theme of Birth of a Nation, the 1915 film that was the first movie to be shown at the White House, and is often cited as the inspiration for the rebirth of the KKK.
“If we’re thinking about this in a historical context where white women are given the power over Black men, that their word will be valued over a Black man, that makes it particularly dangerous and that’s the problem,” says Dr. Apryl Williams, an assistant professor in communications and media at the University of Michigan and a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard who focuses on race, gender and community in digital spaces.
“White women are positioned as the virtue of society because they hold that position as the mother, as the keepers of virtuosity, all these ideologies that we associate with white motherhood and white women in particular, their certain role in society gives them power and when you couple that with this racist history, where white women are afraid of black men and black men are hypersexualized and seen as dangerous, then that’s really a volatile combination.”
Williams says the exposure is challenging this position. “That’s part of what people aren’t seeing is that white women do have this power and they’re exercising that power when they call or threaten to call the police.”
https://time.com/5857023/karen-meme-history-meaning/
Leadership Matters
An excerpt from NBC News -
Why are similar countries experiencing COVID-19 so differently?
What do the United States, Russia, Brazil and India all have in common? Leaders who have downplayed the virus.
By Dante Chinni
The point is sometimes the data show that underlying economic and health factors have a smaller impact than you might think, even in a pandemic. One thing the U.S., Russia, Brazil and India share, however, is government leaders that have at times downplayed the impact the virus.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his people yoga could help build a “protective shield” of immunity against the virus as the country has loosened its rules to aid the economy. In Russia, Vladimir Putin declared victory over the virus this week and held a massive public military parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the country’s defeat over Nazi Germany. Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has belittled the virus and not worn a mask (though this week a judge ordered him to wear one or pay a fine). And, of course, President Donald Trump has begun to resume his large campaign rallies — which are mask-optional — as he mocks the virus.
None of this is to say those leaders are wholly responsible for their countries higher new-infection numbers. There is a wide range of societal factors in each country, from population density to the actions of local officials in each.
But as the pandemic continues and nations head down different paths, the politics and the data seem to be carrying a message. The voices at the top matter.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/why-are-similar-countries-experiencing-covid-19-so-differently-n1232358
Black Academics - A Rallying Cry
An excerpt from the Boston Globe -
#BlackintheIvory: a hashtag that became a rallying cry for Black academics
By Deirdre Fernandes
Since then hundreds of professors, graduate students, researchers, and doctors across the United States and around the globe have rallied around #BlackintheIvory, calling out their personal experiences of discrimination and racial inequality on college campuses. Their words and experiences are searing: Doctors and medical students mistaken for janitors. Researchers discouraged from focusing on issues related to the Black community. Tenure denials and assumptions from white colleagues that they earned admissions and funding because of their race, not their accomplishments. And the unpaid and underappreciated work of mentoring students of color.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/27/metro/hashtag-that-became-rallying-cry-black-academics/
Frederick Douglass Speaking Truth
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Frederick Douglass delivered a Lincoln reality check at Emancipation Memorial unveiling
By DeNeen L. Brown
In his speech at the 1876 statue unveiling, Douglass exposed Lincoln’s legacy. “Truth compels me to admit, even here in the presence of the monument we have erected to his memory,” Douglass said, “Abraham Lincoln was not, in the fullest sense of the word, either our man or our model. In his interests, in his associations, in his habits of thought, and in his prejudices, he was a white man.”
Douglass, who had met Lincoln on several occasions at the White House, said that Lincoln was not a president for black people and that Lincoln’s motivation above all was to save the union, even if it meant keeping black people in bondage.
“He was preeminently the white man’s president, entirely devoted to the welfare of white men,” Douglass said, according to the speech stored at the Library of Congress. “He was ready and willing at any time during the first years of his administration to deny, postpone, and sacrifice the rights of humanity in the colored people to promote the welfare of the white people of this country.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/27/emancipation-monument-in-washington-dc-targeted-by-protests/
MAGA = Pity for America
An excerpt from the Atlantic -
The Decline of the American World
Other countries are used to loathing America, admiring America, and fearing America (sometimes all at once). But pitying America? That one is new.
Story by Tom McTague
It is hard to escape the feeling that this is a uniquely humiliating moment for America. As citizens of the world the United States created, we are accustomed to listening to those who loathe America, admire America, and fear America (sometimes all at the same time). But feeling pity for America? That one is new, even if the schadenfreude is painfully myopic. If it’s the aesthetic that matters, the U.S. today simply doesn’t look like the country that the rest of us should aspire to, envy, or replicate.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/06/america-image-power-trump/613228/
Coach K's Response
Black Lives Matter pic.twitter.com/p14w8PFdhY
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) June 26, 2020
Friday, June 26, 2020
NASA Headquarters Renamed After Black Female Engineer
Our headquarters building in Washington, D.C., will be named after Mary W. Jackson, the first African-American female engineer at NASA. She started in @NASAaero research and later moved into the personnel field, working to ensure equal opportunity in hiring and promotion. pic.twitter.com/eMandeaMyv
— NASA (@NASA) June 24, 2020
Monday, June 22, 2020
A Fascinating Discovery
From ESPN - (Faye's commentary: It's worth the read. I promise you. Don't cheat and watch the video first. It doesn't do justice to the story).
KC Chiefs RB coach Deland McCullough's jaw-dropping story behind the search for his family
By Sarah Spain
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29324031/kc-chiefs-rb-coach-deland-mccullough-jaw-dropping-story-search-family
Buy Black
From Buy Black The Movement -
This is the first “Buy Black” movement that quantifies how Black consumers and allies buy from Black-owned businesses as a collective. Our goal is to hold consumers who pledge to Buy Black accountable, while publicly demonstrating what happens when we follow through on supporting Black-owned businesses publicly. Black-owned businesses are at risk of going extinct with 90% of them not receiving Payment Protection Program Loans and 41% projected to close permanently as a result of COVID-related hardship. Our goal is to activate an army of consumers to support where systems have failed Black entrepreneurs.
Achieving Greatness @ 17 and Just Getting Started
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
THIS 17-YEAR-OLD RECEIVED 24 COLLEGE OFFERS WHILE CREATING A COMPANY DEDICATED TO STOPPING GUN VIOLENCE
by Dana Givens
The spread of COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus, may have led to the cancellation a lot of major milestones like graduation or prom for young people but the viral outbreak isn’t stopping them from still excelling academically. In the case of 17-year-old RuQuan “Ru” Brown, his mission was always clear—excel in school and get into college. Not only was he able to accomplish both, but he also managed to do it all while running his own company to help stop gun violence.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/high-school-senior-received-24-college-offers-dedicated-to-stopping-gun-violence/
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Protest Photos
From USA Today -
Photos of protests around the world. View gallery about midway down the page.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/17/george-floyd-police-reform-hearing-turns-into-debate-over-black-lives-matter/3207310001/
Anti-Racist Teachers
An excerpt from the Atlantic -
What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently
They view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching.
By PIRETTE MCKAMEY
Ask black students who their favorite teacher is, and they will joyfully tell you. Ask them what it is about their favorite teacher, and most will say some version of this: They know how to work with me. So much is in that statement. It means that these students want to work, that they see their teachers as partners in the learning process, and that they know the teacher-student relationship is one in which they both have power. In other words, black students know that they bring intellect to the classroom, and they know when they are seen—and not seen.
As the principal of San Francisco’s Mission High School and an anti-racist educator for more than 30 years, I have witnessed countless black students thrive in classrooms where teachers see them accurately and show that they are happy to have them there. In these classes, students choose to sit in the front of the class, take careful notes, shoot their hands up in discussions, and ask unexpected questions that cause the teacher and other classmates to stop and think. Given the chance, they email, text, and call the teachers who believe in them. In short, these students are everything their families and community members have raised and supported them to be.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2020/06/how-be-anti-racist-teacher/613138/
The Token Black Friend
An excerpt from Upworthy -
Reflections from a token black friend
By Ramesh A. Nagarajah
I am regularly the only black kid in the photo. I have mastered the well-timed black joke, fit to induce a guilty "you thought it but couldn't say it" laugh from my white peers. I know all the words to "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers.
I am a token black friend. The black one in the group of white people. This title is not at all a comment on the depth of my relationships; I certainly am blessed to have the friends that I do. But by all definitions of the term, I am in many ways its poster child. And given the many conversations occurring right now around systemic racism, it would feel wrong not to use my position as a respected friend within a multitude of different white communities to contribute to the current dialogue. I believe my story speaks directly to the covert nature of the new breed of racism — its structural side, along with implicit bias — and may prove helpful to many I know who seek a better understanding.
Growing up, I lived in the inner city of Boston, in Roxbury. I attended school in the suburbs through a program called METCO — the longest continuously running voluntary school desegregation program in the country, which began in the late 1960s. My two siblings and I attended school in Weston, Massachusetts, one of the nation's wealthiest towns. The place quickly became our second home, and alongside Boston, I would count it equally as the place I was raised. All three of us did very well by all standards. We had all been co-presidents of the school, my brother and I were both football captains, and all three of us went on to top-end universities.
For those wondering about the structural side of systemic racism, I'd ask you to consider a few questions. First: Why does METCO still exist? Segregation ended more than 60 years ago, yet there is a still a fully functioning integration program in our state. We haven't come very far at all. Many of our schools remain nearly as segregated as they were in the 1960s.
Second: What is the point? Weston improves its diversity. Without us, most of Weston's students would go through all those years seeing possibly three or four local black faces in their schools (and that's the reality for many white people in this country). As for the Boston students, most of whom are black, they receive a much higher-quality education. Property taxes, a structural form of racism meant to allow segregation to endure, have ensured that while schools have grown increasingly better in our suburbs, the inner-city schools continue to struggle with resources, attendance, and graduation rates.
https://www.upworthy.com/reflections-of-a-token-black-friend
Charts of Racial Disparities
From USA Today -
12 charts show how racial disparities persist across wealth, health, education and beyond
When people talk about systemic racism, they mean systemic: impacting institutions, policies and outcomes across all aspects of Black Americans' lives.
By Mabinty Quarshie, N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Anne Godlasky, Jim Sergent, and Veronica Bravo, USA TODAY
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2020/06/18/12-charts-racial-disparities-persist-across-wealth-health-and-beyond/3201129001/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)