Racial Justice

Austin While Black Documents Hidden Black Culture

May 29, 2015 Joneka Percentie, www.theculture.forharriet.com Educate! Austin, Black People, Racial Justice, Texas

For Harriet: What inspired you to start Austin While Black? Doyin: There was a lot of talk about gentrification in Austin late 2013 or 2014. There were a lot of articles about it and we were like, "Yeah there are not a lot of Black people in the city." We wanted to approach it from a journalistic video standpoint of "What is another part of the story?" and "Who are the Black people who are still here in Austin?" FH: Gentrification is so real. My family moved here to Charlotte seven years ago and I remember the area we lived in was not that nice at all, and now they have all of these fancy restaurants and ritzy things opening up. It's really weird. D: Is there a vegan restaurant nearby? That's another sign you've been gentrified. [laughs]

#SayHerName Project Explained

May 29, 2015 Jenée Desmond-Harris, www.vox.com Resist! Black Women, Patriarchy, police brutality, Racial Justice

On May 20, the African American Policy Forum released a report titled "Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women," to draw attention to the victimization of African-American women — in particular, by law enforcement officers. The release was accompanied by nationwide demonstrations — notably in New York and San Francisco — designed to draw attention to black women who have been killed, beaten, or sexually assaulted, but whose cases haven't elicited national attention matching that of high-profile cases of unarmed black men killed by police in recent years. The organizations behind the report, which was co-authored by UCLA professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, and supporters of its message have used the hashtag #SayHerName to draw attention to its mission.

Police Riot In Philadelphia, Attack Peaceful Protesters

May 27, 2015 Betsey Piette, www.workers.org Resist! #SayHerName, Philadelphia, police brutality, Racial Justice

The confrontation with the police had begun to develop over an hour earlier, before the bus incident, toward the conclusion of a two-hour #SayHerName vigil in remembrance of Black women, transwomen and children murdered by racist police and vigilantes. Nearly 50 demonstrators had gathered at the corner of Cecil B. Moore and N. Broad streets to light candles and chalk the names of hundreds of victims on the surrounding block. Toward the end of the event, people took turns reading the names of the victims, including women and children who had been lynched by racist mobs. Nevertheless, people peacefully concluded the vigil and many headed home, only to get calls a short time later alerting them to the arrests at the bus stop and the need to be present outside the precinct where the arrestees had been taken. Despite the late hour, nearly 60 people turned out, with many staying into the night.

Matt Taibbi: Why Baltimore Blew Up

May 27, 2015 Matt Taibbi, www.rollingstone.com Educate! Baltimore, Housing, police brutality, Poverty, Racial Justice, Social Change

When Baltimore exploded in protests a few weeks ago following the unexplained paddy-wagon death of a young African-American man named Freddie Gray, America responded the way it usually does in a race crisis: It changed the subject. Instead of using the incident to talk about a campaign of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of illegal searches and arrests across decades of discriminatory policing policies, the debate revolved around whether or not the teenagers who set fire to two West Baltimore CVS stores after Gray's death were "thugs," or merely wrongheaded criminals. From Eric Garner to Michael Brown to Akai Gurley to Tamir Rice to Walter Scott and now Freddie Gray, there have now been so many police killings of African-American men and boys in the past calendar year or so that it's been easy for both the media and the political mainstream to sell us on the idea that the killings are the whole story.

NYPD Considers Amnesty For 1.2 Million, Arrested Too Many

May 26, 2015 Jackson Marciana, www.countercurrentnews.com Educate! Marijuana, Mass Incarceration, NYPD, Police the Police, Racial Justice

The New York Police Department is being forced to acknowledge they have arrested far too many people for victimless crimes. Now, the department admits they will have to do something about it. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has publicly accepted the fact that “millions” have been convicted of crimes that they should never have been jailed for. The new controversial proposal suggests the City of New York grant amnesty to over 1 million citizens who have open warrants for low-level, clearly victimless offenses. The prison industry warns that this will “cause crime to skyrocket,” but what they seem more worried about is the bottom line for their for-profit, tax-payer-funded prison schemes.

Black Opposition To Rigged Trade Neoliberalism

May 25, 2015 Ajamu Baraka, www.blackagendareport.com Resist! Free Trade, Racial Justice, TPP, Worker Rights and Jobs

President Obama and the corporate Democrats continue to press Congress to provide Obama with trade promotion authority (TPA), or so-called “fast-track” authority to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the first of a series of pernicious so-called free trade agreements. The Flush the TPP website, a major resource for the anti-TPP movement characterizes the treaty as: “A secret trade agreement…(that) threatens to undermine democracy by entrenching corporate power in virtually every area of our lives, from food safety and the environment, to worker rights and access to health care, the TPP is about much more than trade. It is a global corporate coup.” In the process of organizing the fight-back to deny President Obama fast-track authority to conclude the TPP and ram it through Congress behind the backs of the people, I wrote about the fact that in some black circles there was uncertainty regarding the priority that the TPP should be given or whether or not it was even an important issue for African Americans.

Tell The Congressional Black Caucus, Don’t Fall For Obama’s Race Card On Fast Track

May 25, 2015 Editors of Black Agenda Report, www.blackagendareport.com Resist! Congress, fast track, Free Trade, Obama, Racial Justice, TPP

We understand that the First Black President is now leaning heavily upon members of the Congressional Black Caucus to provide the handful of Democratic votes in the House needed to achieve fast track status for TPP and TTIP. To their credit so far, many CBC members are quietly resisting the president, and a few dare to say so out loud. It's time to let the Congressional Black Caucus know that this is a time and a place when they MUST resist narrow appeals to racial solidarity, when they MUST refuse to line up behind the president. President Obama will demand their support in the name of racial solidarity, if nothing else, but they must refuse. But for the next 10 days, we want to gather as many online signatures to present to the Congressional Black Caucus as possible demanding that they stand up for their constituents, to stand up to the president and SAY NO TO FAST TRACK, NO TO TPP AND TTIP.

Baltimore Police Were Out Of Control Before Freddie Gray

May 25, 2015 Steven Rosenfeld, www.alternet.org Educate! Baltimore, Economic Justice, police brutality, Racial Justice

“It became clear that the most brutal cops in our sector of the Western District were black. The guys who would really kick your ass without thinking twice were black officers. If I had to guess and put a name on it, I’d say that at some point, the drug war was as much a function of class and social control as it was of racism. I think the two agendas are inextricably linked, and where one picks up and the other ends is hard to say. But when you have African-American officers beating the dog-piss out of people they’re supposed to be policing, and there isn't a white guy in the equation on a street level, it's pretty remarkable. But in some ways they were empowered. Back then, even before the advent of cell phones and digital cameras — which have been transforming in terms of documenting police violence — back then, you were much more vulnerable if you were white and you wanted to wail on somebody."

High-Stakes Testing Is A Social Justice Issue

May 25, 2015 author name, www.seattleducation2010.wordpress.com Educate! Economic Justice, Education, Racial Justice, Social Change, Testing

Few things please parents more than learning that their children are invigorated about and engaged in their education, perhaps deconstructing the representation of womenthrough a media literacy unit or trying Columbus for possible crimes against humanity – activities that represent education at its best. Unfortunately, however, too many students are coming home from school deflated, defeated, and disillusioned. Why? The high-stakes testing season is in full swing. What are high-stakes tests? Tests are considered high-stakes when they are tied to major consequences, such as graduation. But this year’s season is anything but business as usual. Instead, we are experiencing the largest revolt against high-stakes testing ever, as historic numbers of families from New York to Seattle opt their children out, refusing to subject them to what is too often education at its worst.

‘This Is Straight Murder’: Protests Following Cleveland Acquittal

May 25, 2015 Nadia Prupis, www.commondreams.org Resist! Cleveland, Criminal Justice, Law, police brutality, Racial Justice

After a white police officer in Cleveland, Ohio was acquitted on Saturday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man and woman in 2012, protests against racism and police brutality spread throughout the city as activists called for justice. Police in riot gear arrested multiple protesters marching peacefully through the streets of Cleveland, where the shooting took place. Activists chanted, "No justice, no peace" outside of the courthouse where the officer was cleared of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault. The trial had been closely watched as a growing civil rights movement swept the country. The officer, Michael Brelo, and 10 other officers fired 137 shots at Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams after a 20-minute car chase, with Brelo climbing onto the hood of Russell's car and delivering 15 shots at close range.

Prosecutor: 6 Officers Indicted In Death Of Freddie Gray

May 23, 2015 Juliet Linderman, www.AP.org Educate! Criminal Justice, Freddie Gray, Law, police brutality, Racial Justice

A grand jury indicted all six officers charged in the case of Freddie Gray, who died of injuries he suffered in police custody, allowing the state's attorney to press ahead with the most serious charges despite criticism that she was part of an "overzealous prosecution." The indictments announced Thursday were similar to the charges Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced nearly three weeks ago. The most serious charge for each officer, ranging from second-degree "depraved heart" murder to assault, stood, though some of the lesser alleged offenses had changed. Gray suffered a critical spinal injury April 12 after police handcuffed, shackled and placed him head-first into a van, Mosby has said. His pleas for medical attention were repeatedly ignored.

‘Black Women & Girls Matter’ Wave Of Protests To Sweep Country

May 21, 2015 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Resist! #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Feminism, Liberation, Patriarchy, police brutality, Racial Justice, Reparations

Mya Hall. Aiyana Jones. Rekia Boyd. These are a few of the names that will be held up in Thursday's national day of action, slated to sweep at least 17 cities across the United States, demanding an end to "state violence against All Black Women and Girls," including those who are transgender. Organized by Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), Black Lives Matter, Ferguson Action, and numerous community organizations, the wave of protests come amid a growing nation-wide movement for racial justice that many are calling Black Spring. Organizers say now is a critical time to highlight the black women who are heavily impacted by police and vigilante violence—and who are at the forefront of organized resistance.

A Winning Strategy For The Left

May 20, 2015 Michael Schwartz & Kevin Young, www.jacobinmag.com Strategize! Imperialism, Left, Patriarchy, Racial Justice, Revolution, Social Change, Worker Rights and Jobs

Finally, this movement strategy may be more conducive to the long-term goal of promoting systemic change, since it focuses our anger and analysis on the institutions at the heart of capitalism, racism, patriarchy, and war. Winning policy reforms, after all, is not enough: reforms are by definition tenuous since they leave intact the basic institutions and systems of society. As recent history makes painfully clear, labor protections and civil rights for black people have been subject to intense counter-attack by entrenched interests. Military withdrawals have not ended imperial violence. Ultimately, only by destroying the old institutions and building more civilized ones in their place can we hope to safeguard the reform victories we win. And directly confronting the oppressive institutions that shape policy seems to advance this goal better than focusing on politicians.

The Forgotten Origins Of Wall Street In Slave Auctions

May 20, 2015 Alan Gilbert, www.democratic-individuality.blogspot.com Educate! Economic Justice, Finance and the Economy, History, New York City (NYC), Racial Justice

One might think New York was a bastion of abolitionist sentiment before the Civil War. Hamilton's Federalists had led a move for gradual emancipation in 1799; the last black person was freed in 1842. They, too, needed John Brown and mass abolitionism from below. Wall Street had founded the slave trade in 1711. Fernando Wood, mayor in 1860, proposed joining the Confederacy because of the heavy influence of slave-produced cotton/textiles. Two years ago, construction workers on a new building hit a cemetery for slaves. Over 40% of the skeletons were from people under 15. Bondage murdered (resulted in the otherwise unnecessary deaths of) many, many people. Last week, the Times editorial page below called Wall Street - at last - to account. As in Denver with Silas Soule at 16th street, so in New York, a plaque will be put up, honoring those captured and murdered, among the glitter of those who traded in them to found their fortunes (see also Craig Slaughter's Ebony & Ivy on the founding of major universities).

The Freddie Gray Truth File (Vol. 3) ~The Racial Divide

May 16, 2015 Rob Brune, www.dcmediagroup.us Educate! #BlackLivesMatter, Baltimore, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Racial Justice

While many of the demonstrators in Baltimore questioned the legality of the Mayor Rawlings-Blake imposed curfew (which began on April 28th), tensions came to a climax on Saturday May 2nd with a city wide action to oppose the questionable mandated curfew issued by the mayor’s office. There were stark differences in the way white protesters and black protesters were detained on North ave after the curfew began at 10pm. Most people around the country saw the video of Baltimore Police pepper-spraying a black man and slamming him to the ground by his hair in what was the first arrest of the evening at North & Penn. avenues. Immediately after the violent arrest, Kerridwen Henry, a white female supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, stepped in front of the police and was arrested without use of force.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources