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William Lloyd’s Coffee House in London specialized in being the first in getting marine news, such as arrivals and shipwrecks. Merchants and traders profited from the transatlantic slave trade before abolition, not only in the buying and selling of slaves, but also in the whole marine business of ship insurance and mortgages to sea captains.

The Surprisingly Long History of Racial Oppression in Coffeehouses

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

Centuries before two Black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks, capitalists met at coffee shops to profit from the transatlantic slave trade. By Tasha Williams, Yes Magazine — An 18th-century ad tells us that a dozen or so men, women, and children of African heritage were scheduled for buyer’s inspection one Saturday, just outside the entrance of the London Coffee House in Philadelphia. The Stamp Act protests and other famous anti-British…

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Power Packed Agenda for Premier Edition of Vantage Point in Drive Time

By Vantage Point Radio, Video/Audio

Topics: The Legacy of Elombe Brath • Fighting for Justice in the Case of Anton Rose, Jr. • Impact of the the “Trump” Supreme Court. Guests: Herb Boyd (Editor, Elombe Brath, Selected Writings and Essays, New York, NY), Bernard White (The Forward, Elombe Brath, Selected Writings and Essays, New York, NY), Jasiri X (Founder/Creative Director, One Hood Media Center, Pittsburgh, PA), Dr. Julianne Malveaux (Author, Political Economist, Educator, Washington, D.C.)

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Ahmed Reid

How Europe Underdeveloped The Caribbean

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

By Ahmed Reid, The Gleaner — In a recent article published in The Gleaner titled ‘Caribbean expats mean much to Britain’, Lord Tariq Ahmad, the British minister of state with responsibility for the Caribbean, Commonwealth and the United Nations, took the opportunity to highlight the sterling contribution of the Windrush Generation to the UK’s post-World War II development. Lord Ahmad’s history lesson should not be discounted. We recall that on his visit…

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Calling 911

White People Have Been Dialing 911 On Black People Since 911 Was Invented

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Neil J. Young, HuffPost — It was his first day on the job. A 12-year-old kid with a newspaper route, that rite of passage for so many American boys and girls. Uriah Sharp gathered the pile of newspapers he was to deliver and set out with his mother and older brother to their assigned neighborhood of Upper Arlington, Ohio, an affluent Columbus suburb. That’s where Sharp, a young African-American boy…

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Colin Kaepernick, middle, knees with his teammates before a game on September 25, 2016. (USA Today Sports / Joe Nicholson)

Donald Trump’s War on Black Athletes

By Commentaries/Opinions

Could it trigger a long-awaited “Jock Spring”? By Robert Lipsyte, The Nation — Snatching immigrant babies may have scored some points for President Trump with his base, but it was never going to light up the scoreboard like tackling black jocks. That one really played to the grandstands. The complicated combination of adoration and resentment so many white males feel for those rich, accomplished über-men is a significant but rarely…

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"When we sent Japanese Americans to internment camps, families were often separated when fathers were sent hasty relocation orders and forced labor contracts." (Photo: Clem Albers/ US National and Records Administration)

America Was in the Business of Separating Families Long Before Trump

By Commentaries/Opinions

The true story is that the United States has a well-documented history of breaking up non-white families. By Jeffery Robinson, Common Dreams — Children are crying for their parents while being held in small cages. The attorney general tells us the Bible justifies what we see and the White House press secretary backs him up. Be horrified and angered, but not because this is a new Trump transgression against real…

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Demonstrators prepare to march to protest the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, July 17, 2013 in Beverly Hills, California.

We Founded Black Lives Matter 5 Years Ago Today. We’re Still Going.

By Editors' Choice

By Patrisse Cullors, HuffPost — Right after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer in July 2013, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and I were devastated. We’d been following the proceedings closely. We’d watched the media criminalize 17-year-old Trayvon and humiliate his family to justify his cold-blooded murder presumably because his assailant was white-presenting. Still, we were sucker-punched by the acquittal. We stood perplexed; hadn’t we elected our first black president? Yet it was clear;…

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Trayvon Martin supporters rally in Times Square while blocking traffic after marching from a rally for Martin in Union Square in New York, on July 14, 2013. George Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges in the shooting death of Martin on July 13, 2013. Many protesters challenged the verdict.

Black Lives Matter: 5 Years on, What Has the Movement Achieved and Where Will It Go From Here?

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Chantal Da Silva, Jessica Durham and Alexis Wierenga, Newsweek — Black Lives Matter. It has been five years since Patrisse Khan-Cullors, now 34, first shared those three words on Facebook, reminding Americans that black lives do matter at a time when it felt like they did not. News that George Zimmerman, 34, had been acquitted of all charges in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin sent shock waves across the U.S. on…

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