Systemic Racism

NAARPR Calls For Justice For Jacob Blake

August 25, 2020 the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Resist! Accountability, Police violence, Systemic Racism, Wisconsin

Once again the hour of tragedy strikes for another Black family, in another Black community caught in the grip of the pandemic crises of COVID-19 and racism. First of all, we want to express our solidarity with the traumatized family of Jacob Blake, and the protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sometime after 5pm on Aug. 23, 2020 Jacob was returning to his car, unarmed, after attempting to break up a fight between two women. The police arriving, guns drawn, were pleaded with by bystanders not to shoot, yet they shot Blake 7 times as he was opening his car door.

Federal Judge Calls On Supreme Court To Overturn ‘Qualified Immunity’

August 9, 2020 Julia Conley, Commondreams. Create! Legal System, Police violence, Qualified immunity, Systemic Racism

Handing down a ruling to dismiss a civil lawsuit which alleged a police officer violated a Black man's Fourth Amendment rights during a traffic stop in 2013, a federal judge in Mississippi made clear that he sided with the plaintiff—and demanded the U.S. Supreme Court overturn legal precedent that makes it nearly impossible for the judicial system to hold officers accountable for rights violations. Calling for an end to qualified immunity, which dates back to a 1982 ruling and shields police from civil liability in most cases, U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves turned his ruling into a plea for justice for plaintiff Clarence Jamison as well as countless other Black Americans who have faced violent abuse and deadly use of force by officers.

Louisiana Supreme Court Upholds Racist Modern Day ‘Pig Law’

August 9, 2020 Zack Linly, The Root. Educate! Legal System, Louisiana, Prisoner rights, Systemic Racism

There has been plenty of discussion about whether prison is more about rehabilitation, punishment or keeping society safe. However, for Black people especially, it often seems like there’s a fourth option: Prison is about throwing undesirable people away. More than 20 years ago, a Black man was given a life sentence for stealing a pair of hedge clippers. Last week, the Louisiana Supreme Court denied that man a request to have his sentence reviewed citing prior bad acts, most of which were nonviolent. Only one of the seven justices on the bench agreed that his sentence should be reviewed—the Black one.

50 Years Of Struggle From Black August To Black Lives Matter

August 5, 2020 Judy Greenspan, Workers.org. Educate! Black August, Black Liberation, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Criminal Justice and Prisons, Systemic Racism

This Aug. 7 marks the 50th anniversary of the heroic attempt by Jonathan Jackson, younger brother of George Jackson, to free three Black revolutionaries from the clutches of the California state prison system. The fact that this bold attempt failed has no bearing on its historical and revolutionary significance to the movements for Black Liberation and prison abolition in this country and around the world. Jonathan Jackson was only 17 years old when, armed with a rifle, he burst into a Marin County courtroom while a hearing was in session.

Racial And Ethnic Economic Inequality And The COVID-19 Pandemic

August 4, 2020 Thomas Hanna, Democracy Collaborative. Educate! COVID-19, Health disparity, Systemic Racism, wealth inequality

The Democracy Collaborative prepared a report, created for the Healthcare Anchor Network, that looked at how racial and ethnic disparities in the economy are showing up in the COVID-19 pandemic and in the public policy response to the pandemic. The report also covers how the economic effects of the pandemic will likely impact racial and ethnic inequality. Every passing day brings new, painful evidence of how the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting people of color in the United States.

‘How The South Won The Civil War’

August 4, 2020 BillMoyers.com. Strategize! Civil War, oligarchy, Systemic Racism, US history

If you think about the Civil War as a war between two different ideologies, two different concepts of what America is supposed to be, is it supposed to be a place where a few wealthy men direct the labor and the lives of the people below them, the women and people of color below them, the way the Confederacy argued? Is that America? Or is America what Lincoln and his ilk in the Republican Party in the North defined the democracy as during the Civil War? Is it a place where all men are equal before the law and should have equal access to resources? And of course, I use the word man there, but that’s because that’s the language that Lincoln used.

There Can Be No Equality Without Employment Opportunity For All

August 4, 2020 By William Lazonick, Philip Moss, and Joshua Weitz, Ineteconomics. Create! Jobs, Jobs Guarantee, Recession, Systemic Racism

The employment opportunity that privileged the white male was much more than a job. By the 1960s, growing numbers of white men had employment that gave them steadily rising real earnings, often with decades of tenure at one organization. The “career-with-one-company” (CWOC) that had become the employment norm by the beginning of the 1960s included health insurance and a defined-benefit pension, both funded by the employee’s business corporation or government agency. This white-man’s world constituted the foundation for the “vast ocean of material prosperity” to which Dr. King referred.

Enslaved People’s Health Was Ignored From The Country’s Beginning

August 2, 2020 Eric Kyere, The Conversation. Educate! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Health disparity, Slavery, Systemic Racism

Some critics of Black Lives Matter say the movement itself is racist. Their frequent counterargument: All lives matter. Lost in that view, however, is a historical perspective. Look back to the late 18th century, to the very beginnings of the U.S., and you will see Black lives in this country did not seem to matter at all. Foremost among the unrelenting cruelties heaped upon enslaved people was the lack of health care for them. Infants and children fared especially poorly. After childbirth, mothers were forced to return to the fields as soon as possible, often having to leave their infants without care or food.

Is Burning Prisons The New Knocking Down Confederate Statues?

July 30, 2020 Branden Janese, The North Star. Resist! Confederate Statues, Prisons, Rebellion2020, Systemic Racism

Saturday afternoon in Seattle, Washington, a construction site where a youth detention center was being built burned to the ground. The King County juvenile detention facility is assumed to have been set ablaze by some of the thousands of Seattle demonstrators who marched in protest to both the federal government terrorizing it’s neighboring city of Portland, Oregon, as well as policemen murdering innocent and unarmed Black Americans. The timing of the fire set to the youth prison feels deeply symbolic, especially in light of a Michigan court case where a Black teenage girl is currently serving time inside of a juvenile detention center after failing to finish her homework.

End Federal Executions, Racist Death Penalty

July 25, 2020 Gloria Rubac, Workers.org. Educate! Death Penalty, Federal executions, Legal System, Systemic Racism

In just four days, the U.S. government doubled the number of federal executions since Congress reauthorized the federal death penalty in 1988. Three men were put to death in the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., on July 14, 16 and 17. After a flurry of last minute appeals, stays of execution, the lifting of stays, injunctions and petitions regarding the nature of the drugs to be used, witnesses fearing exposure to COVID-19 and victims’ families asking for a halt — Daniel Lee, Wesley Purkey and Dustin Honken, all white, are now dead. Another federal prisoner, Keith Nelson, is scheduled to be executed on Aug. 28.

Asheville Approves Reparations For Black Residents

July 16, 2020 Joel Burgess, Asheville Citizen Times. Create! North Carolina, Reparations, Slavery, Systemic Racism

Asheville, NC - In an extraordinary move, the City Council has apologized for the city's historic role in slavery, discrimination and denial of basic liberties to Black residents and voted to provide reparations to them and their descendants. The 7-0 vote came the night of July 14. "Hundreds of years of black blood spilled that basically fills the cup we drink from today," said Councilman Keith Young, one of two African American members of the body and the measure's chief proponent. "It is simply not enough to remove statues. Black people in this country are dealing with issues that are systemic in nature," Young said. The unanimously passed resolution does not mandate direct payments. Instead it will make investments in areas where Black residents face disparities.

Chris Hedges: Don’t Be Fooled By The Cancel Culture Wars

July 13, 2020 Chris Hedges, ScheerPost. Educate! Cancel Culture, Free Speech, Propaganda, Systemic Racism

The cancel culture — the phenomenon of removing or canceling people, brands or shows from the public domain because of offensive statements or ideologies — is not a threat to the ruling class. Hundreds of corporations, nearly all in the hands of white executives and white board members, enthusiastically pumped out messages on social media condemning racism and demanding justice after George Floyd was choked to death by police in Minneapolis. Police, which along with the prison system are one of the primary instruments of social control over the poor, have taken the knee, along with Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of the serially criminal JPMorgan Chase, where only 4 percent of the top executives are Black. Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world whose corporation, Amazon, paid no federal income taxes last year and who fires workers that attempt to unionize and tracks warehouse laborers as if they were prisoners, put a “Black Lives Matter” banner on Amazon’s home page.

#WhiteCoatsForBlackLives Wants Racial Justice In Medicine

July 11, 2020 Kim Brown, The Real News. Resistance Report COVID-19, Health Care, Healthcare workers, Systemic Racism

In the weeks since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, there have been daily sustained protests across the country advocating for the equality and liberation of vulnerable and marginalized communities, particularly that of Black people. One such protest came from the medical community. If you search the hashtag White Coats For Black Lives, what you’ll find is a smattering of media, ranging from videos to photos, to outright statements acknowledging and yet decrying racism that exists within the medical field with statements and pledges to do better and help to alleviate this issue. Joining us today to discuss this is Randi Abramson, M.D. She is the Chief Medical Officer for an organization in Washington, D.C. called Bread For The City, where their mission is to help low-income district residents empower their communities through various means of aid.

A Decade Of Research On The Rich-Poor Divide In Education

July 8, 2020 By Jill Barshay, The Hechinger Report. Educate! Education, Education Funding, Inequality, Systemic Racism

Education inequality is not just a divide between rich and poor but also between the ultra-rich and everyone else. In 2020, a Pennsylvania State University researcher documented how the wealthiest school districts in America — the top 1 percent — fund their schools at much higher levels than everyone else and are increasing their school spending at a faster rate. The school funding gap between a top 1 percent district (mostly white suburbs) and an average-spending school district at the 50th percentile widened by 32 percent between 2000 and 2015, the study calculated. Nassau County, just outside New York City on Long Island, has the highest concentration of students who attend the best-funded public schools among all counties in the country. Almost 17 percent of all the top 1 percent of students in the nation live in this one county.

These Three Studies Prove That Systemic Racism Is Very Very Real

June 27, 2020 Lee Camp, Counterpunch. Educate! Black Working Class, climate crisis, Education, Systemic Racism

Racism is like sewage. Whether we’re currently engaging in a national dialogue about it or not, it’s still there. It runs under our streets, our buildings, our society. Millions of tons of shit. Rarely is racism truly visible to the naked eye. More often, it trickles along beneath our collective consciousness, quietly infecting everything. A lot of people try to claim systemic racism no longer exists. “It’s gone. What systemic racism? ‘Black Panther’ was one of the most popular movies ever, therefore, racism is over,” they claim. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Three studies prove just how many millions of gallons of fetid, systemic racism still fill our country. Let’s start with education. A recent report found a $23 billion racial funding gap for schools.

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