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Racism

A New Nevada Law Bans Racial Mascots In Schools

June 7, 2021 Dustin Jones, NPR. , , ,
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak met with members of the Nevada Indian Commission in Carson City on Friday as he signed legislation removing racially discriminatory identifiers or language from schools. Additionally, counties can no longer sound "sundown sirens," which once signified it was time for certain people to leave town. The law will require schools to change any name, logo, mascot, song or identifier that is "racially discriminatory" or "associated with the Confederate States of America or a federally recognized Indian tribe." Under Assembly Bill 88, exceptions can be made only with tribal approval. The legislation applies to public schools and charters, universities and community colleges. Friday's signing took place at the Stewart Indian School, which served as a federally run Native American educational institute for 90 years.

What’s Up With The Sudden Attacks On Schools That Teach Critical Race Theory?

June 4, 2021 Jeff Bryant, LA Progressive. , , ,
When North Carolina public school teacher Justin Parmenter penned an opinion piece for the Charlotte Observer about the difficulties of teaching in hybrid mode during the pandemic, with students both in-person in the classroom and remote online, he didn’t expect to get called out by a legislator on the floor of the state House of Representatives.

White People’s Stake In Ending The White Republic

June 4, 2021 Erin Heaney, Organizing Upgrade. , , ,
Wing describes this multiracial base: “We need to build the independent strength of the most determined racial, social, climate, and economic justice constituencies – those that understand that inequality, war, and environmental destruction are rooted in capitalism and that the corporate class is an unstable opponent of racism and authoritarianism.”

‘Rural People Against Racism’ March In Washington

May 31, 2021 Andrew Freeman, Liberation News. , , ,
On May 29, local activists in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, (population 11,739) and the greater Skagit County area held a march against racism marking the one year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. Marchers gathered at Hammer Heritage Square in downtown Sedro-Woolley for sign-waving followed by a march of about 75 people through the business district starting at noon.

Dubious Arrests, Death Threats and Confederate Loyalists

May 22, 2021 By Julia Wall and Carli Brosseau, ProPublica. , , ,
Reported from a community where protesting is restricted and violence feels imminent, “Sound of Judgment” provides a rare view into the fight for justice in small-town America.

A Day Of Action: Educators Pledge To Teach The Truth, June 12

May 21, 2021 Zinned Project. , , ,
Lawmakers in at least 15 states are attempting to pass legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history.

An Environment Of Anti-Racism Is How We Win

May 13, 2021 Janelle Lapointe, National Observer. , , ,
Canada - Spring has always been a time of renewal and hope. I’m filled with a sense of wonder and possibility as I watch new life sprout from the soil and cherry blossoms bloom along streets. But this spring, I feel a prevailing heaviness. For many of us, this season marks a year since COVID-19 restrictions were put in place. March 13 marked one year since Breonna Taylor was shot in her sleep by police in Louisville, Ky. As the season progresses, and as we pass through solemn anniversaries, I continue to be reminded of where we were a year ago. Last spring, the COVID-19 pandemic started to unmask the inequalities in society, with the virus disproportionately affecting racialized communities. Headlines were filled with stories of police violence as mass protests erupted around the world.

Thirteen Facts About American Prisons That Will Blow Your Mind

May 12, 2021 Lee Camp, ScheerPost.com. , , ,
In a few minutes time you’ll want to abolish prisons. If you’re not ready for that intellectual and emotional transformation, then please stop reading now. Or put on your thunder shirt. If you grew up in the United States, like I did, then you probably think prisons are a fact of life. We just go through our day-to-day assuming that a huge chunk our population must be hardened criminals (which is very different from hard criminals: scalawags involved in burgling while aroused) and that without prisons these delinquents would be running everywhere, breaking things, kicking squirrels in the face, and urinating in your car window while you’re at a stoplight. We just assume prisons have been around forever — as if back in caveman times they had one of the caves walled off with sticks and vines where they kept Blartho because he was a real a-hole. 

Toward An Abolitionist Approach To Anti-Asian Violence

May 9, 2021 Dylan Rodriguez, Society and Space. , , ,
Atrocities targeting people and bodies we identify as our own tend to incite powerful feelings of exception.  A shared sense of singular vulnerability and violation circulates virally, and the epidemiology of toxic intimacy with violence is simultaneously social and personal. The sheer quantity of casualties matters less than the bare fact of unexpected cruelty. Singularity and exception yield to righteous outrage, communal mobilization, and militant demand on surrounding authorities. Something must be done now. A famous few may issue bounties for individual culprits, with no regard for the collateral consequences of such grandstanding. A larger narrative quickly forms, condensing in precious keywords:  hate, hate crime, justice, ignorance, safety, policing, prosecution, inclusion, education, criminal.

AFL-CIO’s Report Shows Commitment To Defending Police Unions

May 7, 2021 Hamilton Nolan. In These Times. , , ,
On July 2020, a month after protests over racial injustice and police violence set the AFL-CIO headquarters on fire, America’s largest union coalition formed a ​“Task Force on Racial Justice” as a signal that it was taking the issues seriously. A subcommittee of that task force was charged with producing a report on the touchy issue of the labor movement’s relationship to police unions. In These Times has obtained a copy of that committee’s draft report, which is currently circulating within the group before being released to the public. As it stands, the report amounts to a definitive rejection of calls for the labor movement to separate itself from police unions, and a clear statement that the AFL-CIO intends to stay closely aligned with its police members. 

First 100 Days: Has Biden Kept His Promises To Black America?

May 5, 2021 Dr. Amara Eniya and Maurice Mitchell, NewsOne. , , ,
Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris agreed with South Carolina Senator Tim Scott that the United States is not a racist country. Generations throughout history have made it plain that all our social and political systems in this country are steeped in racism. Nearly nine out of 10 Black voters supported Joe Biden and Harris in the 2020 election. Black Americans represented over 50% of all Democratic voters in Georgia (33% of total state population is Black), 20% of all Democratic voters in Michigan (14% of the state population is Black), and 21% of all Democratic voters in Pennsylvania (Black people make up 12% of the state’s population). This made Vice President Harris’s assertion that the United States is “not a racist country,” not only out of touch, but dangerous, considering the work that organizers and activists have done across the country to expose and root out systemic racism.

No Justice Without A Movement

May 1, 2021 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
The depth of public connection with George Floyd was clear on the day the verdict of his police killer was announced. The moment was awaited with trepidation and the guilty verdict was met with enthusiasm and in some cases outright joy. But at the same time that the world learned the perpetrator’s fate, a 16-year old named Ma’Khia Bryant was also killed by the police. Police in the United States kill more than 1,000 people every year, an average of three every day. Had young Ms. Bryant been killed on any other date, it is probable that no one outside of her immediate circle would know her name either. But demands for justice must be expanded beyond the latest police lynching that the media may choose to expose.

Race, Poverty, Farming And A Natural Gas Pipeline

April 28, 2021 Brett Chase, Inside Climate News. , , ,
Five years ago, the mayor of Hopkins Park, a Black, rural community in Kankakee County, Illinois, argued for building an immigration detention center there to boost the economy. The people who lived there said: No, thanks.  Mayor Mark Hodge now has another idea for new development in his town and the surrounding, historic farming community of Pembroke Township, south of Chicago. He’s backing a proposal for a pipeline, built by the utility Nicor, that would run through the area and, he hopes, bring with it natural gas and a boost to taxes and the local economy. And again, some residents are not pleased.  “People here love the earth,” said Dr. Jifunza Wright-Carter, who farms 45 acres with her husband in Pembroke Township and promotes sustainable agriculture.

Governor DeSantis Signs Unprecedented Anti-Protest And Anti-Public Safety Law

April 20, 2021 The Black Collective. , , ,
Tallahassee, Fla. - This morning, just days after the Republican-led Florida Senate voted to pass an unprecedented, costly and racially charged bill (House Bill 1) to censor protest, preempt local policing budgets and preserve symbols of white supremacy, Governor DeSantis is signing it into law. The bill passed despite widespread opposition by Floridians of all political ideologies and diverse sectors, after Governor DeSantis made it his number one legislative priority and lobbied behind doors to make sure it passed both Chambers as early as possible. The new law, which does nothing more than silence dissent and criminalize peaceful protestors, will disproportionately censor, incarcerate, and kill Black Floridians simply exercising their constitutional rights, setting a dangerous precedent of criminalization and repression.

In Small Black Southern Towns, The Cops Remain Undaunted

April 17, 2021 Justin L. Brooks, The American Prospect. , , ,
Almost a year ago, the roaring chants echoed in the streets: Defund the police! Abolish the police! The tide of public opinion spurred some of the nation’s more liberal cities into action. Los Angeles cut $150 million from its police department budget, New York City pledged to shift $1 billion from its police department to social services, and the Minneapolis City Council removed the requirement for a police department from its city charter. But in Southern states—home to the nation’s largest Black population—the pattern has been one of strengthening police departments in rural communities. This has been true even in towns led by liberal Black city officials, bringing into sharp relief the urgent need to protect some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens—Black rural Southern folks.
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Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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