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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.

Long before President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for COVID-19, the pandemic was ravaging the country’s poor neighborhoods and prisons.

How Jair Bolsonaro and the Coronavirus Put Brazil’s Systemic Racism on Display

By Reparations

By Anakwa Dwamena, The New Yorker — Several months before the coronavirus first arrived in Brazil, this spring, a series of man-made tragedies befell Maria Marques Martins dos Santos. On November 12th, dos Santos, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of three, whose five-foot frame is crowned by curly brown hair, was at her home, in Favela do Amor, in São Paulo. Just after midnight, her fourteen-year-old son, Lucas, went out to buy soda and…

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African nations call for racism debate at UN Human Rights Council

African nations call for racism debate at UN Human Rights Council

By News & Current Affairs

By DW — A letter signed by all 54 African nations requested the UN Human Rights Council to urgently debate racism and police violence as protests over George Floyd’s death grow around the world. African countries on Friday called on the United Nation Human Rights Council to urgently debate racism and police impunity, amid growing protests over George Floyd’s death in the United States and other parts of the world. Burkina Faso’s…

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Five generations of a slave family.

American slavery: Separating fact from myth

By Reparations

By Daina Ramey Berry — People think they know everything about slavery in the United States, but they don’t. They think the majority of African slaves came to the American colonies, but they didn’t. They talk about 400 years of slavery, but it wasn’t. They claim all Southerners owned slaves, but they didn’t. Some argue it was all a long time ago, but it wasn’t. Slavery has been in the…

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Muslims of all backgrounds pray during the 2019 Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

Islam’s anti-racist message from the 7th century still resonates today

By Commentaries/Opinions

The Quran recognizes ‘no superiority of a white person over a black person.’ That notion, radical in 7th-century Arab society of slavery and tribal divides – remains unrealized 1,400 years later. By Asma Afsaruddin — One day, in Mecca, the Prophet Muhammad dropped a bombshell on his followers: He told them that all people are created equal. “All humans are descended from Adam and Eve,” said Muhammad in his last known…

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‘Jacob’s Dream’ by Salvador Rosa (c. 1665).

How did ‘white’ become a metaphor for all things good?

By Commentaries/Opinions

We want to be whitelisted and not blacklisted for jobs. White lies make stretching the truth okay, but you don’t want to receive a black mark on your record. By Aradhna Krishna — Shortly after George Floyd’s death, one of my friends texted me that Floyd wasn’t necessarily a bad person, but, pointing to his prior stints in prison, added that “he wasn’t lily-white either.” Soon thereafter, I read an article in…

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