By Earl Ofari Hutchinson — The instant the news flashed that Congressman John Lewis died the expected and much deserved avalanche of tributes poured in from all corners. Trump’s tribute…
By Laurence I. Barrett, The Washington Post — John Lewis, a civil rights leader who preached nonviolence while enduring beatings and jailings during seminal front-line confrontations of the 1960s and later spent more than three decades in Congress defending the crucial gains he had helped achieve for people of color, has died. He was 80. His death was announced in statements from his family and from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…
Why this matters today. By Julia Gaffield, The Washington Post — Global protests in support of Black Lives Matter have systematically exposed the legacies of slavery and colonialism today. This has put many on the defensive. White people are quick to tout stories of abolition, emphasizing the path bravely forged by imperial powers like Britain and France. They diminish the realities and consequences of slavery and colonialism by demanding gratitude for ending…
The Ethnic Cleansing of Native Americans By David Treuer — In his first annual message to the U.S. Congress, in 1829, U.S. President Andrew Jackson—a slave-owning real estate speculator already famous for burning down Creek settlements and hounding the survivors of the Creek War of 1813–14—called for the “voluntary” migration of Native Americans to lands west of the Mississippi River. Six months later, in the spring of 1830, he signed…
By Brandy Monk-Payton, Public Books — I. CHANNELING FREEDOM DREAMS A Black boy presses his forehead and cheek against the television. He shuts his eyes, clasps his hands together, and…
By Daina Ramey Berry — People think they know everything about slavery in the United States, but they don’t. They think the majority of African slaves came to the American colonies, but they didn’t. They talk about 400 years of slavery, but it wasn’t. They claim all Southerners owned slaves, but they didn’t. Some argue it was all a long time ago, but it wasn’t. Slavery has been in the…
By Julianne Malveaux — Socially isolated and alone in my home, I lifted my fist into the air when I learned that the Mississippi legislature voted to remove the Confederate…
By Dr. Maulana Karenga — If we are to honor and rightfully appreciate our history and struggle to liberate ourselves and expand the realm of freedom and justice in this…
The landmark 1852 speech by the Black abolitionist was titled, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” By Chris Walker, Truthout — A statue of Frederick Douglass, a…
For many years Surinamese people of African descent, whose ancestors worked on the plantations in the colony of Suriname, celebrated and commemorated ‘Keti Koti’ on July 1 as “Emancipation Day”….
Police violence sparked an uprising, but racial equality demands economic reforms as well. By Nichole Nelson, The Washington Post — Over the past month, protests across the country, and even the world, have erupted in response to the death of George Floyd by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. While the protests have focused on police violence, the issues of racism are deeply rooted and multifaceted. In fact, addressing police…
A nation founded on the premise of liberty and justice for all has failed to deliver that promise to Black Americans. Now it must. By Seth Cohen, Forbes — Over…