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Banking Black

By Commentaries/Opinions

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…

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The Mormon church is still grappling with a racial past.

Mormons confront a history of Church racism

By Commentaries/Opinions

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…

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ew York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon speaks at the NYC Cannabis Parade and Rally on May 5, 2018. Nixon has been criticized by black leaders for saying that marijuana licenses could be a “form of reparations.”

Cynthia Nixon called marijuana licenses a “form of reparations” for black people. Not exactly.

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

Marijuana reform can help black communities. That doesn’t make it “reparations.” By P.R. Lockhart — New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon is facing criticism after suggesting that giving black people access to marijuana licenses could serve as a “form of reparations” for black communities. The controversy started after Nixon, who is challenging current Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the state’s upcoming Democratic primary, appeared at the NYC Cannabis Parade on May…

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William Barber

William Barber Takes on Poverty and Race in the Age of Trump

By Commentaries/Opinions

After the success of the Moral Monday protests, the pastor is attempting to revive Martin Luther King, Jr.,’s final—and most radical—campaign. By Jelani Cobb — At first glance, the crowds of people congregating on a block of Mulberry Street, a stretch of squat brick buildings near downtown Memphis, on the morning of April 4th, might have been there for a variety of reasons. The street venders selling T-shirts and posters…

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