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IBW21

IBW21 (The Institute of the Black World 21st Century) is committed to enhancing the capacity of Black communities in the U.S. and globally to achieve cultural, social, economic and political equality and an enhanced quality of life for all marginalized people.

The body of Ethel Freeman, in the wheelchair, was found outside the convention center in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

When Blackness Is a Preexisting Condition

By Commentaries/Opinions, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

How modern disaster relief has hurt African American communities By Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, The New Republic — Ethel Freeman became famous in death, even though no one knew her name. For months, she was one of the many nameless people who lost their lives in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s deadly intersection of race and class. Her son, Herbert Freeman Jr., had successfully rescued the 91-year-old retired school employee from…

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An illustration about how the coronavirus is especially ravaging the African American community. Image by Jamiel Law for the New Yorker.

COVID-19: We’re in This Together (But Who Does “We” Include?)

By Black Family Summit News, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

By Dr. Sharon L. McDaniel, BACW Board President — We are strong. I know we will come through this together. Whereas now there is despair, desperation and death, there will someday soon be recovery, renewal and life. I anticipate things will change. Perhaps online grocery shopping and virtual doctor visits will grow in popularity. We may also see a higher occurrence of daily hand-washing as a result of our new habits. But who is the “we” who will get through COVID-19 together? More importantly, will “we” all get through this in the same way? While a collective impact brings us together, does that same collective impact separate us more?

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Rev. Joseph Lowery with Rosa Parks

Undaunted Resistance: Joseph Lowery and the Spirit of SCLC

By Editors' Choice

By R. Drew Smith, AAIHS — Against all odds, a movement for racial justice took hold in mid-20th-century America, emerging from within the racially-heated South, and drawing sustenance from a rich-array of Black religious sources. A cadre of activist Black clergypersons were among the central figures in this historic social movement, with organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) epitomizing the promise of a socially-mobilized Black clergy sector. Although SCLC…

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Dr. Liz Caballero putting on her mask before going door-to-door to check on residents in the El Carmelo municipality of Havana, Cuba, March 31, 2020

Belly of the Beast: Cuba’s Untold Stories

By Commentaries/Opinions, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

In the last month, more than a thousand Cuban doctors and nurses have traveled to twenty countries to join the global battle against Covid-19. There’s historical precedence for this. By Reed Lindsay, Belly of the Beast — AVANA, CUBA—Every night at 9 PM, applause erupts across Havana, filling the city’s dark, empty streets. It’s hard to see where the clapping is coming from, but if you look up, you can…

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A fruit vendor waiting for customers during lockdown in Prayagraj, India. About 2 billion people worldwide work in the informal economy

Half of world’s workers ‘at immediate risk of losing livelihood due to coronavirus’

By COVID-19 (Coronavirus), News & Current Affairs

By Phillip Inman, The Guardian — Almost half the global workforce – 1.6 billion people – are in “immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed” by the economic impact of Covid-19, the International Labour Organization has warned. Of the total global working population of 3.3 billion, about 2 billion work in the “informal economy”, often on short-term contracts or self-employment, and suffered a 60% collapse in their wages in the…

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Enslaved Africans serving in Nieu Amsterdam

North America’s First Freed Black Settlement Right in our NYC Neighborhood

By Reparations

By Sarah Bean Apmann, GVSHP — According to historian Christopher Moore, the first legally emancipated community of people of African descent in North America was found in Lower Manhattan, comprising much of present-day Greenwich Village and the South Village, and parts of the Lower East Side and East Village. This settlement was comprised of individual landholdings, many of which belonged to former “company slaves” of the Dutch West India Company. These former slaves, both men…

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Partnership between the CFA, Harvard, John Hopkins and leading Diaspora organizations to work with the Africa CDC on the COVID-19 response

By COVID-19 (Coronavirus), News & Current Affairs

Partnership Between the Constituency for Africa (CFA), Harvard, John Hopkins and Other Leading Institutions and Diaspora Organizations to Work with the Africa Centers for Disease Control on the COVID-19 Response The Constituency for Africa (CFA), will partner with leading USA and Diaspora organizations on solutions to help address the COVID-19 situation in Africa. This will be in collaboration with Dr. John Nkengasong who is the Director of the Africa Centers…

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Social Distancing = Communism: this is the ideological angle of Trump’s most belligerent storm-troopers.

Trump’s Zealots: White Supremacists and Evangelicals Gearing up for a New Civil War?

By Commentaries/Opinions, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

Social Distancing = Communism: this is the ideological angle of Trump’s most belligerent storm-troopers. By: Gilbert Mercier — What the gun-toting, Trump 2020 and Confederate-flag waving Trump supporters have been organized and likely paid to do, is to make sure the U.S. goes back to work as soon as possible. Let us not be naive. If President Trump recently called on his adoring followers to “liberate” states like Michigan, Virginia, Maryland,…

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