Civil Rights

Newsletter: At A Critical Juncture, Rise Up!

March 7, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Civil Rights, climate crisis, Corporatism, fast track, police brutality, Racism, TPP

We are at a critical juncture in world history. We live in a globalized world. That is the reality. But at present, it is a world that is increasingly dominated by multi-national corporations and big finance capital that controls national policies. The result of this system is exploitation of people and the planet and the use of the security state to oppress those who resist or to gather resources. William Dalrymple reminds us of the serious consequences that can result from such an arrangement in his article about the East India Company. It is up to us to rise together and fight back, to resist the expansion of corporate power and to build new systems that are more democratic, just and sustainable. We are with you in this struggle. People power, applied strategically, can succeed.

We Must Honor The Legacy Of Selma Foot Soldiers

March 7, 2015 Deborah J. Vagins, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Civil Rights, Congress, Law, Selma

In an important moment of bipartisanship, Congress unanimously passed a bill this month that honors the thousands of people who marched for voting rights 50 years ago in Selma, Alabama, with the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress' highest civilian honor. This legislation was co-sponsored by 149 Republicans and 227 Democrats. On March 7, 1965 at the foot of the Edmund Pettis Bridge, they suffered beatings and the fear of death to peacefully protest for a national voting rights law. Ultimately, they prevailed and that law -- the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- changed the face of America and combated ongoing discrimination to the present day. Unfortunately, in 2013, the Supreme Court crippled one of the most effective protections of that act in its Shelby County v. Holder decision by rendering ineffective the requirement that certain jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination get pre-approval for voting changes.

Why Malcolm X Should Be Recognized In Selma This Weekend

March 6, 2015 Kirsten West Savali, www.theroot.com Educate! Civil Rights, History, Malcolm X, Media, Racial Justice

The 50th anniversary of the assassination of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) came and went on Feb. 21 of this year. And just as in other years when the date of Malcolm’s assassination came around, his name trended for a few hours and then the stifling silence rolled back in, erasing his name from the social media landscape almost as quickly as it had re-emerged. This year the occasion didn’t go completely unacknowledged, and some would even say that Malcolm was recognized in all the ways that mattered. There was massive coverage of the occasion right here at The Root, as well as other sites geared to black audiences. There was a CNN special that gave us a glimpse into the last moments of Malcolm’s life via the people closest to him that day. And the Shabazz Center organized a spectacular program in his honor—with a diversity in the ethnic, racial, religious and cultural DNA of the crowd in attendance that was a powerful reflection of the man himself.

Selma: Experienced As A Child, Remembered As An Adult

March 6, 2015 Sophia Bracy Harris, www.equalvoiceforfamilies.org Educate! Civil Rights, Economic Justice, History, Racial Justice

It was New Year’s Day, January 1, 1966. My older sister, several of my younger siblings, a cousin and I had attended the annual Elmore County Emancipation Proclamation Celebration (the observance of Abraham Lincoln’s signing the proclamation freeing Blacks from slavery). The guest speaker for this occasion was a Birmingham civil rights preacher, Rev. Jesse Douglas, whose powerful message and melodious voice singing, “I told Jesus that it would be all right, if he changed my name,” had the audience on its feet for most of his sermon. Little did I know that he was preparing us for the most traumatic experience of our lives, which would take place in less than four hours. We went home, excitedly sharing with our parents the experience of the evening with this wonderful civil rights preacher.

Cops Attack Unity Rally — Against Police Brutality

March 4, 2015 Betsy Piette, www.workers.org Educate! Civil Rights, New Jersey (NJ), police brutality, Police the Police

A peaceful protest against police brutality outside the Cumberland County courthouse here on Feb. 28 was disrupted by an orchestrated police provocation that resulted in two people being arrested. The rally was cut short after police converged on the gathering, confronting demonstrators and pushing them out of the street, even though organizers had a permit. Demonstrators reported seeing police armed with M16s. The demonstration, initiated by the Salem County-based civil rights group National Awareness Alliance, was held to unite families from New Jersey and Philadelphia who have been demanding justice for loved ones killed or injured by police. Starting at the intersection where police killed Jerame Reid, 36, of Bridgeton on Dec. 30, 2014, it was the fifth event demanding justice for Reid since his death.

Rev. Pinkney Denied Appeal Bond

March 4, 2015 Abayomi Azikiwe, www.spyghana.com Resist! Civil Rights, Faith, Mass Incarceration, Racial Justice

Pinkney was convicted by an all-white jury in November and he was sentenced to 30-120 months in prison on Dec. 15. He is currently housed at Marquette Correctional Facility, a 10-12 hour drive from his home in Benton Township. He was indicted after a group of residents collected enough signatures of registered voters seeking to recall Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower. Dissatisfaction with Hightower stemmed from the poor economic conditions in the majority African American city where unemployment and poverty are widespread. Benton Harbor is a city of approximately 10,000 people in southwest Michigan. Nearly 90 percent of the population is African American yet across the bridge in St. Joseph, the seat of the county, the city is nearly all-white and far more affluent.

103 Year Old Civil Rights Icon, Lessons From The Movement

February 25, 2015 Sasha Bronner, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Civil Rights, History, Law, Racial Justice

Amelia Boynton Robinson was nearly beaten to death in 1965 during the first march in Selma, Alabama, led by Martin Luther King Jr. She was 53 years old at the time. A graphic photo of Boynton Robinson, severely beaten and collapsed, spread around the world and became an iconic image of the civil rights era. Boynton Robinson survived the brutality and chaos of the time and is alive today to talk about it, at 103 years old. One of the nation's oldest civil rights activists, she remains an essential figure of the movement. She was one of the first people to urge King to travel to Selma in the first place, and was also the first woman and first African-American to ever run for Congress in Alabama. “Thank god I learned that color makes no difference,” Boynton Robinson said Friday at a private luncheon at the Soho House in West Hollywood, California. “My parents [were] an example for what they wanted their children to be.”

Net Neutrality Activists Take Civil Rights Fight To Telecom Giants

February 25, 2015 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Resist! Civil Rights, FCC, Net Neutrality

In the lead-up to the FCC's pivotal net neutrality vote on Thursday, civil rights and media justice organizations across the United States are taking their demands for an open internet to the store-fronts of the telecommunications giants that continue to aggressively fight the protections. In partnership with the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-net), local organizations began rallying last week to bring the call "Don't Block My Internet" to AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner. Notable actions have already taken place in numerous cities—including Berkeley, California; Urbana-Champaign, Illinois; and San Antonio, Texas—with more slated for the coming days.

Civil Rights Activists Protest AT&T, Demand Internet Freedom

February 22, 2015 Media Justice, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Civil Rights, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

Champaign, IL – Despite the snow storm, a crowd of civil rights activists and supporters gathered outside of AT&T store today, demanding the company and other Internet service providers (ISPs) nationwide #DontBlockMyInternet. In the countdown for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to pass new net neutrality rules on February 26 that will keep the Internet fair, fast, and open for generations to come, local groups Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) and CU Citizens for Peace and Justice --in partnership with the Media Action Grassroots Network, Color of Change, Presente, Free Press, and other partners -- gathered to lift up the voices of communities of color and low-income Internet users who won’t stand for corporate gatekeepers interfering with First Amendment rights.

Ingredients For Building Courage

February 12, 2015 George Lakey, www.wagingnonviolence.org Strategize! Civil Rights, Media, Student Activism

The students’ stated mission was to teach in Freedom Schools and organize African Americans to try to register to vote despite heavy repression. Their unstated mission was to draw the attention of the North to hardcore segregation and force the federal government against its will to support the right to vote. Northern students taking large risks would be attention-getters, and might even offer some measure of protection to the embattled field workers with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, who had been in Mississippi since 1961. Even to take the bus to the training, most students would have endured strong opposition from family and friends fearful for their safety.

The Crises Are Urgent, So Let’s Slow Down

February 7, 2015 Hénia Belalia, www.truth-out.org Organize! Capitalism, Civil Rights, Colonialism

Wise sister and civil rights organizer George Friday, once told me that "There are two paces to organizing for change: the speed with which our systems are collapsing and the slow intentional time that is necessary for deep movement building." Too often, the anxieties about the world's problems lead to a hasty rush for solutions in which the slow time is compromised for the sake of moving actions, campaigns and institutional agendas forward. In that space, the complexities of systemic oppressions are overlooked, and the very inequalities that we are fighting to abolish continue to play themselves out. With every excuse to deal with the micro aggressions later, because the crises of environmental and social degradation must take precedence, the same folks are made expendable and sacrificed.

‘Friendship Nine’ Cleared Of 1961 Civil Rights Sit-In Crimes

January 29, 2015 Colleen Jenkins, www.reuters.com Resist! Civil Rights, Law, Sit-In

Black civil rights protesters credited with reinvigorating the 1960s U.S. sit-in movement were absolved by a South Carolina court on Wednesday of the convictions lodged against them 54 years ago after they dared to sit at a segregated lunch counter. The men, known as the 'Friendship Nine' because most were students at the now-closed Friendship College, knew they would be arrested when they took seats at the popular McCrory's five-and-dime store lunch counter in Rock Hill on Jan. 31, 1961. Found guilty of trespassing, they became the country's first demonstrators to choose to serve jail time rather than pay a fine for sitting at an all-white lunch counter, launching the "jail, no bail" strategy later adopted by other activists.

No DOJ Prosecution Of Wilson Means Struggle Continues

January 26, 2015 Syreeta McFadden, www.alternet.org Resist! Civil Rights, Law, Racial Justice

The purpose of leaks by “credible sources” is to manage expectations for the public. So the leak indicating that the Department of Justice will likely not pursue federal civil rights charges against Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown is likely a trial balloon to see how the public will react. I hope that one of those reactions is a demand for police reforms across the board, imposed not only from the top down but also from within. Justice – which we believe embodies accountability, blame, the restoration of equality, and a repair to some awful wrong between the aggrieved and the aggressor – loses its meaning in circumstances like this.

Beyond MLK: 9 Others Who Died For Black Liberation

January 19, 2015 Atlanta Blackstar, www.handsupunited.org Educate! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Civil Rights, MLK, Racial Justice

Black history has been celebrated in America throughout the month of February since 1976, and 50 years prior in Negro History Week. During this time, classrooms across America typically engage in activities from plays and artwork to writing assignments that highlight the contributions of Black people. Despite its nearly 100-year history, Black History Month often excludes the contributions of African and Caribbean-born leaders and even some American-born leaders, who get buried beneath staples such as civil rights activists Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. These leaders and activists have earned their rightful place in history, however a disservice is done to countless other leaders from around the world who too fought for Black liberation.

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