William Monroe Trotter rejected the view that racial equality could come in stages. By Casey Cep, The New Yorker — The mustache had to go. A classic nineteenth-century handlebar, it was far too recognizable, so William Monroe Trotter shaved it off. In addition to the disguise, he arranged to take a cooking class in his boarding house, evincing a sudden interest that would have surprised his wife, mother, and two…
By Sonia Pruitt (Chair of the National Black Police Association) — Yesterday morning, I received a text message from a friend, who is also in law enforcement. The text contained a link to a news story, and the lede read “William Barr Says Those Who Don’t Show More Respect to Cops May Not Get Police Protection.” The next text from my friend read, “How horrible is this….” After I read the story, I felt…
By Terri L. Crawford, JD, The Omaha Star — “Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you …” — Exodus 4:16 As the voice of the people, the Nebraska Democratic Party Black Caucus’ mission is to promote the involvement of Blacks in the political process and the activities of the party at the local, state, and national level. The Caucus…
Forty years ago, a gang of Klansmen and Nazis murdered five communists in broad daylight. America has never been the same. By Shaun Assael and Peter Keating, Politico — “Death to the Klan!” On Saturday, November 3, 1979, that chant swept over Morningside Homes, a mostly black housing project in Greensboro, North Carolina, as dozens of protesters—some donning blue hard hats for protection—hammered placards onto signposts and danced in the…
The life and work of Jack O’Dell who died last week at 96 at his home in Vancouver, British Columbia were marked by an unwavering radical vision fused with an immovable partisanship for working people the world over. By James Campbell and Mark Solomon, Portside — Jack’s quietly effective teaching, his strategic acumen, his theoretical insight, his unbending internationalism and his generosity of intellect and spirit inspired and enriched the…
Congressman John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929 – October 27, 2019) By Herb Boyd — Unlike his often convulsive, tumultuous political career, former Congressman John Conyers, Jr. died peacefully in his sleep Sunday at his home in Detroit. The iconic and highly productive representative from Michigan was 90. More than half those 90 years were spent on the battleground for civil rights and public service, including 53 years as…
Dr. Maulana Karenga — This is a profoundly respectful re-remembering and raising up, an offering of word and water in tambiko, sacred offering to a most honored ancestor. Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer (October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) is one of those awesome ancestors about whom it is said: They were so tall when they stood up, they were the height of mountains and when they lay down, they…
By Julianne Malveaux — October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the proliferation of pink ribbons is about to start. Predatory capitalists will make breast cancer their cause, producing pink t-shirts, pocketbooks, everything. It’s a mixed blessing, this awareness, because too many will make this both a marketing and a profit-making opportunity, while others will wonder how they can use their health insurance to afford a mammogram. Health equity is…
By Hannah Uebele, WGBH — This year marks the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans arriving in the United States. Reverend Irene Monroe and Reverend Emmett G. Price III joined Boston Public Radio on Monday to discuss what reparations will look like if HR-40 — the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act — or another reparations bill is passed. “We’re looking at 250 years of slavery, 90 years of…
By The People’s Organization for Progress (POP) — This is a brief summary and overview that presents many of the voices in the lengthy history of African-American support and solidarity for the Palestinian People’s legitimate claim for justice and selfdetermination. This support has grown and developed from a perspective advocated by some of the most radical and progressive activists such as Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party to a…
By Alexandria Millet, The Progressive — Much was written after Kamala Harris’s and Joe Biden’s spat at the first Democratic debate about how Harris was the benefactor of integration by busing. But no one pointed out how much white students benefited just as much from her presence. To perpetuate the idea that only students of color have something to gain from integration is to deny the brilliance that each individual brings to…
The author, Burt Neuborne, is one of America’s top civil liberties lawyers, and questions whether federal government can contain Trump and GOP power grabs. By Steven Rosenfeld — A new book by one of the nation’s foremost civil liberties lawyers powerfully describes how America’s constitutional checks and balances are being pushed to the brink by a president who is consciously following Adolf Hitler’s extremist propaganda and policy template from the…
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