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

Why Did the Police Shoot Jacob Blake? | The Daily Social Distancing Show

Summer Headstones

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?

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

— BBC Bitesize (@bbcbitesize) August 5, 2020

You Can't Stop Us | Nike

President Barack Obama eulogy at John Lewis funeral

Freedom Riders - PBS

https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-freedom-riders-preview/

Our Marching Orders

From the New York Times - 

When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide. - John Lewis 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html

Lloyd & Jimmy | Yellowstone | Paramount Network

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

Systemic Racism Explained

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!"

Representation is no joke, people. pic.twitter.com/NmELt2bCuB

— Elliot Williams (@elliotcwilliams) July 20, 2020

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

The fight for America's 51st state, explained

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/