By Patricia Yosha— Race Matters. At the beginning of 2020, the Social Justice Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter (FUUSE) sponsored two community discussions on racial issues and local racial history. Shortly after, the coronavirus pandemic took over, destroying lives inequitably among Black and brown people. Adding to that pain, police killings of Black people inspired demonstrations of racial reckoning all over the country. As we look…
By Peniel E. Joseph— This week marks the 155th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution that banned racial slavery. At the time this marked a new birth of American freedom, one that came at a such a high cost — and remains so incomplete — that many Americans tend to gloss over the contemporary challenges left in its wake. The end of 2020 also…
By Sophia Schmidt— The City of Wilmington may be one step closer to reparations for systemic racism. After more than an hour of debate Thursday, Wilmington City Council passed a resolution directing the next council to create a task force to study and make proposals around reparations for African Americans. Specifically, the group would focus on disparities resulting from City government services, City or other government policy, and widespread business…
By Tom Phillips in Duque de Caxias— The shooting of two young black girls – who had between them enjoyed fewer than 11 years of life – has sparked outrage in Brazil and intensified the debate over police violence and structural racism in a country still grappling with the legacy of slavery. Witnesses claimed they had seen a police officer shoot into the community at about 8.30pm that night, although Rio’s…
By Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights— “Recognizing the Past, Repairing the Present, Building the Future” Excellencies, Colleagues, friends, It is my honour to address this Inaugural Commemoration of the European Day for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, with the theme: “Recognizing the Past, Repairing the Present, Building the Future.” I commend the European Parliament’s Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup for organizing this event alongside the…
Live Webcast November 18, 2020 — The year 2019 represented the 400th anniversary of the forced arrival of enslaved Africans in the English colonies at Point Comfort, Virginia in 1619. In the history of the African-American experience throughout this period there have been many gains in the liberation of the formerly enslaved. However, with the continuation of the conditions of structural impoverishment and systemic and violent racism, the ultimate liberation…
By Julianne Malveaux — It took five days for the 2020 election to be called for former Vice President Joe Biden. Five days with me peeled to the television and the internet. Five days holding my breath. Five days, meditating and praying for strength. I could not imagine four more years of Trump. I actually started going through my belongings, trying to decide which one would make the cut for…
The legacy of slavery — and the centuries of theft it entails — does not dwell in the long-forgotten past for Black people. It’s our now. By Michelle Singletary, Washington Post — Dear Reader, Some of my happiest moments were nursing my three children. As I looked down at their faces, their fingers tangled in my hair, I felt enormous peace and joy. I never took nursing my babies for…
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