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/
Sunday, June 21, 2020
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/
Black Daddies
An excerpt from the Washinton Post -
A dad posted joyful photos of black fathers to shatter stereotypes. Then it became a movement.
By Sydney Page
Williams aimed to debunk the misconception of black fatherhood by creating an initiative called The Dad Gang.
He began by posting photos of him and his kids, now ages 15, 4 and 3, on social media. Then he started posting photos of other black fathers he knew.
“It started as an Instagram page, with the goal of focusing exclusively on positive stories, images and videos of active black dads,” Williams said. “I wanted to showcase the reality of black fatherhood and rewrite the narrative.”
When he and some friends called out to black fathers to share their stories, submissions started overflowing.
The account, which now has more than 86,000 followers, features dads doing it all: From braiding hair to dancing, teaching to cooking, The Dad Gang Instagram page shows black fathers collectively smashing the stereotype.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/06/19/dad-posted-joyful-photos-black-fathers-shatter-stereotypes-then-it-became-movement/
Reign of Terror
An excerpt from National Geographic -
Remembering ‘Red Summer,’ when white mobs massacred Blacks from Tulsa to D.C.
The U.S. was gripped by a reign of racial terror after World War I, when whites rose up to quash prosperous Black communities.
BY DENEEN L. BROWN
A group of white women beat a group of Black women with sticks and stones as they begged “for mercy,” Hurd wrote. But the white women “laughed and answered the coarse sallies of men as they beat the negresses’ faces and breasts with fists, stones and sticks.”
The East St. Louis Massacre launched a reign of racial terror throughout the U.S. that historians say stretched from 1917 to 1923, when the all-Black town of Rosewood, Florida, was destroyed. During that period, known as the Red Summer, at least 97 lynchings were recorded, thousands of Black people were killed, and thousands of Black-owned homes and businesses were burned to the ground. Fire and fury fueled massacres in at least 26 cities, including Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois; Omaha, Nebraska; Elaine, Arkansas; Charleston, South Carolina; Columbia, Tennessee; Houston, Texas; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/06/remembering-red-summer-white-mobs-massacred-blacks-tulsa-dc/#close
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Powerful Reflections
Please take the time to read this in its entirety. It's too powerful to cherry-pick an excerpt.
Reflections on the Color of My Skin
By Neil deGrasse Tyson
https://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/commentary/2020-06-03-reflections-on-color-of-my-skin.php
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Monday, June 15, 2020
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Ways To Help
From the Strategist -
135 Ways to Donate in Support of Black Lives and Communities of Color
The Editors
https://nymag.com/strategist/article/where-to-donate-for-black-lives-matter.html
Covid vs. Police Violence
An excerpt from GQ -
I've Spent Months Fighting Coronavirus in the ER. Police Violence Is What Really Scares Me
For a Black doctor, simply getting to the hospital feels like the most dangerous part.
BY DR. DARIEN SUTTON-RAMSEY
I’m an emergency medicine physician in New York City—one of the only Black physicians in the entire emergency department at my hospital. While many New Yorkers followed shelter-in-place orders, I’ve been called to work to help heal the people afflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. I drive to work, and lately, compared to typical New York City traffic, the roads are empty. You might think this was a relief for me, but it was the opposite. I may have a shorter commute, but I’m a Black man behind the wheel when law enforcement and the government have ordered us to stay home. Stay-at-home rules have been enforced much more harshly against Black people, and I am aware that I am very much a moving target.
https://www.gq.com/story/making-myself-essential
Saturday, June 13, 2020
A Proud Father and Son
An excerpt from ESPN -
Doug Williams, the first black QB to win a Super Bowl, shares 42 years of 'teaching moments'
By John Keim
My son, D.J. [an offensive assistant with the Saints], sent me a text Saturday morning [June 6] that brought me to tears.
"You raised a strong black man! You created America's worst nightmare. A SMART, EDUCATED, AMBITIOUS, BLACK MAN with great character. Thanks for that Pops. I can't even begin to imagine the things you went through coming from seeing crosses burning and just your ride as a black man and a black player in this country. Love you Pops. I'm a product of you and that's what I am most proud of my brother"
We always have had a great relationship, talking about life and how to handle situations. When he was driving back and forth to Grambling [where he went to college and played football], I used to tell him, "If you get stopped, be compliant. You've got to get out and say, 'Yes, sir.'" He was going through Mississippi and a few country towns. Don't be argumentative. He would always say, "Don't worry about me." But I had to worry, because he's black and he's driving by himself through little towns. And then to get that note? It says a lot about him and what he thinks of me. It made me feel like I'd done a decent job. He wanted me to know the impact I had on his life, that I raised a smart, educated, ambitious black man. As an older black man, that's pretty good. Yeah, from an emotional standpoint he brought something out of me.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29297476/doug-williams-first-black-qb-win-super-bowl-shares-42-years-teaching-moments
More Black Girl Magic!
Now I could let these dream killers kill my self esteem or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams.
— Ono (@_onvme) June 7, 2020
A black female neuroscientist.
Shot by: @Txmmy4k pic.twitter.com/KAa7zApnSn
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