By Rebecca Theodore — Given the United Nations sustainable development goals universal call to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity; the question…
Exclusive: Debbie Sims Africa, the first freed member of a radical Philadelphia group many say were unjustly imprisoned, talks about reuniting with her son and defends the Move members still locked up: ‘We are peaceful people’. By Ed Pilkington, The Guardian — The first member of a group of black radicals known as the Move Nine who have been incarcerated, they insist unjustly, for almost 40 years for killing a…
Black people experience discrimination every day – it’s knowledge inaccessible to white people and, when confronted with it, most are incredulous. By Elijah Anderson, The Guardian — Almost every black person in America has experienced the sting of disrespect on the basis of being black. A large but undetermined number of black people feel acutely disrespected in their everyday lives, discrimination they see as both subtle and explicit. Black folk…
By Dr. William Small, Jr. — There is no question mark at the conclusion of the title to this essay. Although the title will hopefully raise a question, it is…
The routine suppression of black voters is far-reaching and has devastating consequences. We cannot be silent about it. By Carol Anderson, The Guardian — The recent spate of whites calling 911 on African Americans for barbecuing while black, waiting in Starbucks while black, sleeping at Yale while black ad nauseum has led to a much-needed discussion about the policing of public spaces. Yet, there’s another important public space where blackness has been policed and we have…
By Salih Booker and Ari Rickman, The Washington Post — Salih Booker is the executive director of the Center for International Policy. Ari Rickman is a research fellow at the Center. Beginning in 2035, the number of young people reaching working age in Africa will exceed that of the rest of the world combined, and will continue every year for the rest of the century. By 2050, one in every…
Mohammed Nurhussein, Black Star News — The legacy of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s 1857 Dred Scott ruling (and opinion) endures today: “[Black Africans imported as slaves] had for more…
By Charles M. Blow, The New York Times — Racist comments don’t hurt my feelings. Not at all. However, I find that people assume that they are hurtful, both the persons spewing them and those empathic about the perceived pain. But I register no such pain. I’m from the Toni Morrison school of morality on the subject of race. As she once told Charlie Rose: “I always knew…
Can divesting from America’s big financial institutions help fix racial inequality? By Kia Gregory — Musa Sega is a street vendor in Harlem, New York. He sells perfumed oils, soap, sage, and other products just outside the Carver Federal Savings Bank building on West 125th Street. About six months ago, frustrated by a string of police shootings and the tenor of politics nationally, Sega decided to pull his money from his…
By Matthew Bowman, The Conversation — On June 1 of this year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – or the Mormons – will celebrate the 40th anniversary of what they believe to be a revelation from God. This revelation to the then-President of the Church Spencer W. Kimball – which is known as “Official Declaration 2” – reversed longstanding restrictions placed on people of black African descent in the…
By Angelo Falcón, National Institute for Latino Policy (NilP) — “The reparations debate is threatening because it completely upends the usual narrative of development. It suggests that poverty in the global…
By Tyehimba Salandy, Trinicenter — Ten years ago, British ‘royalty’, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visited the Caribbean and locals prostrated before them. Local leaders made arrangements for them…