The violent theft of land and capital is at the core of the U.S. experiment: the U.S. military got its start in the wars against Native Americans. By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz,…
There are currently roughly 7,500 US military personnel, including 1,000 contractors, deployed in Africa. For comparison, that figure was only 6,000 just a year ago. By Strategic Culture Foundation, Mint…
By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu, Quartz Africa — In a recently released music video, Fuse ODG and Damian Marley (Bob Marley’s youngest son) explore the themes of slavery, colonialism, black pride…
By Ashley Farmer, Black Perspectives — “Learn from the Past, Organize the Future, Make Democracy Work.” This is the mission statement that greets visitors at the SNCC Digital Gateway—a wide-ranging, collaborative website that documents and animates the history of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Founded in April 1960 under the guidance of veteran activist Ella Baker, SNCC became a leading civil rights organization due to countless young organizers who engaged in voter…
Victories in communities that had never elected a black representative run counter to the divisive rhetoric that played out in some contests across the country. By John Eligon, The New York Times — When Joe Neguse discussed his newborn child on the campaign trail in his congressional race in Colorado, he found himself empathizing with constituents concerned about early education for their own children. In his chats with millennials, the…
Africa did not gain Independence from her erstwhile colonial masters, we regained’ it! Africa was independent before they arrived! By Sebastiane Ebatamehi, The African Exponent — We can never talk enough of Kwame Nkrumah when ever the African narrative is analyzed. He is the perfect martyr, a hero unappreciated and one who despite the betrayal from a people he loved with all his heart, left behind a compass that would guide…
By Carla Pineda, Law at the Margins — Editor’s note: This article is part of “We the Immigrants,” a Community Based News Room (CBNR) series that examines how immigrant communities across the United States are responding to immigration policies. The five-part series is supported by a Solutions Journalism Network Renewing Democracy grant. The truth became clear to Sadat Ibrahim early. At the age of 18, he knew his life would be difficult as…
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, The Hutchinson Report — Now how do you explain this? Scott Paul Beierle casually strolls into Hot Yoga Tallahassee in Tallahassee, Florida and just as causally blazes away inside and when the smoke clears, two innocents are dead and a score others are wounded. Beierle is not gunned down by police but just as casually murders himself. Then explain this. Beierle was not some nameless, faceless kook,…
By Deana Heath, The Conversation — Jeremy Corbyn has recently proposed that British school children should be taught about the history of the realities of British imperialism and colonialism. This would include the history of people of colour as components of, and contributors to, the British nation-state – rather than simply as enslaved victims of it. As Corbyn rightly noted: “Black history is British history” – and hence its study should be…
NOTE: No mention of the centrality of racism and sexism the plays in “rigged” capitalism. I put rigged in quotes because it’s redundant to call capitalism rigged! Capitalism has always been rigged against the vast majority of the people: those exterminated or enslaved by capitalism’s founders and those who eventually became the proletariat all over the world. Hence, this essay is fundamentally flawed in its attempt to explain why their…
She and political strategists like Jessica Byrd and Kayla Reed are designing a new theory of the Democratic coalition. By Brittney Cooper, The New York Times — For too long, the Democratic Party has been comfortable with black women only running conventions or registering voters — doing background work. The party expects black women to be its backbone, as when 98 percent of black female voters in Alabama cast their ballots for…
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, The Hutchinson Report — “Maybe he will put this Willie Horton on the ticket”. Lee Atwater, George Bush Sr’s 1988 presidential campaign manager wasn’t being totally facetious…