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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.

Corporations grapple with slavery reparations

Corporations grapple with slavery reparations

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

By Courtenay Brown, Axios — The debate over reparations for slavery has moved from the political realm to the corporate one. At least two big British companies — insurer Lloyd’s of London and brewer Greene King — promised to make certain amends for their role in slavery. But activists want them and other companies to do more. Why it matters: We usually hear about reparations as a political issue — a “societal…

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People walk by a bus with a mural of US abolitionist and former slave Harriet Tubman on it

Reparations Now: A White Man’s Appeal For America To Pay What Is Due

By Reparations

By Seth Cohen, Forbes — Beginning 400 years ago, and for more than 250 years of our nation’s history, slaves built the United States into one of the wealthiest countries on the planet. As a result, America owes an unconscionable and unforgivable debt to the ancestors of those slaves. Yet now, as the country is challenged to confront both the violent legacy of slavery and the dehumanizing tradition of systemic…

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The grand buildings of Bordeaux, France, were financed, in part, by the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The city has moved to address that past.

George Floyd’s Killing Forces Wider Debate on France’s Slave-Trading Past

By Editors' Choice

Rather than tear down statues, some argue that the past should not be obliterated, but remembered and explained. By Norimitsu Onishi, The New York Times — BORDEAUX, France — At a bend in the river, a succession of stately stone buildings, each more imposing than the last, stretches along the left bank. Their elegant 18th-century facades had helped Bordeaux, already famous for its wineries, become a UNESCO World Heritage site.…

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Protesters chant “Say His Name — George Floyd!” near a memorial for George Floyd in Minneapolis on June 2.

Poll: Black Americans outraged by George Floyd’s death, but optimistic about change after nationwide protests

By News & Current Affairs

More than a third of black Americans say there was an occasion when they feared being hurt by a police officer. By Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Scott Clement and Emily Guskin, The Washington Post — Jackie Beckley believes the video of the final moments of George Floyd’s life may finally help white friends and colleagues understand what she has labored to tell them about her experience as a black woman:…

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Protesters cross the Brooklyn Bridge on June 19, 2020 – Juneteenth – in the United States’ third straight week of protest.

George Floyd protests aren’t just anti-racist – they are anti-authoritarian

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Lilian Bobea — The massive protests that erupted across the United States – and beyond – after the police killing of George Floyd are billed as anti-racist mobilizations, and that they are. Demonstrators are denouncing police violence in minority communities and demanding that officers who abuse their power be held accountable. But I see something more in this wave of American protests, too. As a sociologist specializing in Latin America’s human rights movements and…

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