By Brandon R. Byrd, World Politics Review — At approximately 8:19 p.m. on the evening of May 25, Derek Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, brought his weight down upon George Floyd’s neck. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, arrested for the alleged crime of using a counterfeit $20 bill, struggled for breath—for life—for more than five minutes. Lying prostrate on the hot concrete, his arms handcuffed behind…
By Adria Watson, CalMatters — The anger and frustration that flooded more than 20 cities in recent days will likely put pressure on the state to conduct a thorough examination of historic and continued discrimination of African Americans — even as civil unrest continues. Although racism — both institutional and cultural — is a national stain that bleeds hundreds of years deep, some suggest California should account for its share of mistreatment….
By Michael J.A. Davis — “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. ” – James Baldwin I had trouble getting out of bed this morning. I abashedly moved my 9 o’clock meeting with my boss to give myself time to rise. I almost did what many Black folks joke about in private, yet often need…
Statement by Ben & Jerry’s — All of us at Ben & Jerry’s are outraged about the murder of another Black person by Minneapolis police officers last week and the…
“My people are being killed.” By Sarah Emily Baum, Teen Vogue — Veteran organizers, like Nupol Kiazolu, the 19-year-old president of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, are familiar with the ebbs and flows of a protest. She stood nose-to-nose with Nazis in Charlottesville. She’s fled law enforcement with rifle sights set on her chest. She knows it means risking her life, even before the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the…
By Zamira Rahim and Rob Picheta, CNN — Protesters have marched in the US for six consecutive nights over the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer. Their anger over…
By Opal Tometi, The Guardian Nigeria — The murder of Trayvon Benjamin Martin in 2012 and the acquittal of the ‘killer cop’ George Zimmerman revealed an already-established fact: the Black race’s…
By BLMLA — Twice in 20 months, employees have called police on black members, resulting in their murder. 24 Hour Fitness has refused to address this. THIS MUST STOP! On March 8, 2017, LA County Sheriff deputies responded to a call from 24 Hour Fitness employees at the location in the Ladera Heights section of Los Angeles, the employee claimed Dennis Todd Rogers, another unarmed Black gym member had stayed too long…
In Louisville, the group is purchasing vacant homes for low-income families to promote stability in the community and fight gentrification. By Zenobia Jeffries Warfield, YES! Magazine — In May,…
A new study found that people who experience discrimination are almost twice as likely as others to struggle with hunger. By Greg Kaufmann, The Nation — With more than 40 million people in the country struggling with hunger, anti-hunger advocates in the United States have their work cut out for them. In 2017, nearly 12 percent of all US households were food insecure—meaning they didn’t have access to enough food for all household members…
By Astead W. Herndon, The New York Times — An air of solemnity hangs over Lucy McBath’s bid for Congress. It is present in her campaign stump speech, when she recounts the 2012 murder of her son, Jordan Davis, a black teenager who was shot and killed by a white man at a gas station when the 17-year-old refused to lower the volume of the rap music playing in his…
By Miles Kampf-Lassin, In These Times — “We are far from done. This is the beginning and we should use this momentum to keep going forward.” Chicago has long been a city on the brink. Decades of racial stratification, disinvestment, segregation and endemic poverty have left large swaths of the population struggling to survive, while new development has disproportionately favored wealthier residents. The communities left behind by this process are…