Images show Donata Meirelles, who is white, sitting on a throne-like seat flanked by four black women dressed in white. By Anna Jean Kaiser, The Guardian — The fashion director of the Brazilian edition of Vogue has resigned after photos from her 50th birthday party drew criticism for evoking colonial depictions of slavery. Images from the party showed Donata Meirelles, who is white, sitting on a throne-like seat flanked by four black…
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, The Hutchinson Report — When actor Jussie Smollett claimed that he was the victim of a hate attack by MAGA backers complete with a noose around…
While traveling abroad this week, a black graduate student at New York University says he was told by a classmate that a class discussion was easier to facilitate without a “black presence” in the room. Now administrators at NYU’s Silver School of Social Work have acknowledged that it has a problem with “ongoing institutional racism,” especially in the classroom. Shahem Mclaurin, a grad student in the Silver School, described the…
The solutions to Baltimore’s inequitable financing problems must be as radical as the policies that segregated the city in the first place, says Lawrence Brown. By Brentin Mock, City Lab — On December 19, 1910, the city of Baltimore passed an ordinance that a New York Times writer called “the most remarkable … ever entered upon the records of town or city of this country.” The ordinance made it illegal for any…
By Dr. Julianne Malveaux — Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is a member of Congress. Let me repeat that. Ms. Omar is a member of Congress. So how dare Elliot Abrams, 45’s nominee as Venezuelan envoy presume to interrupt the Congresswoman as she made a statement and interrogated him? He was relatively docile when white people questioned him, but was angry and ignorant in his response to the Congresswoman. His behavior was…
The president is using his executive power not to address a legitimate crisis, but to satisfy a political goal. By Matt Ford, The New Republic — President Donald Trump has announced that he will sign the compromise spending bill struck between Democrats and Republicans this week, which will avert another government shutdown and provide $1.375 billion for new barriers along the southern border. Unhappy with that amount—he had requested $5.7 billion from…
By Mike Suriani, WREG — ELAINE, Ark. — It is considered one of the darkest days in American history — the Elaine, Arkansas Massacre of 1919. More than 200…
By Bankole Thompson, Detroit News — Despite the revival taking place in cities like Detroit, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, they are being turned into “places of growing inequality where small, glittering enclaves of prosperity are ringed by larger areas of decline and where millions are relegated to lives of poverty and hopelessness.” That’s the message historian and author Alan Mallach conveys in his new book, “The Divided City: Poverty and Prosperity…
By D. Watkins — Back in 2008 America successfully elected its first black president, and we could possibly get another in 2020. (OK, I’m not holding my breath or anything.)…
Though opposition to abortion is what many think fueled the powerful conservative white evangelical right, 81 percent of whom voted for Donald Trump, it was really school integration, according to Randall Balmer, chairman of the religion department. By Margery Eagan, The Boston Globe — Here are some facts that might surprise you. In 1971, two years before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, the biggest white evangelical group in America, the…
By Dr. Maulana Karenga — Clearly, in this important month and historical moment of celebrating Black History thru reflective remembrance and recommitment to ever-deeper study and emancipatory practice, our minds…
By Nicholas Ballasy, PJ Media — WASHINGTON – CNN political analyst April Ryan, Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks, said past U.S. presidents like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush refused to formally “apologize for slavery” because it would lead to some form of reparations for descendants of slaves. “In my first book, I tackled the issue of reparations as a healing, as a possible healing, asking people……