A historian steps back to the 1700s and shares what’s changed and what needs to change. By Liz Mineo, The Harvard Gazaette — Historian Donald Yacovone, an associate at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research and a 2013 winner of the W.E.B. Du Bois medal, was researching a book on the legacy of the antislavery movement when he came across some old history school textbooks that stopped him cold —…
President Woodrow Wilson told Black leaders, ‘Segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen.’ He was one in a long line of racist American presidents. By Stephen A. Jones and Eric Freedman — The fury over racial injustice that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s killing has forced Americans to confront their history. That’s unfamiliar territory for most Americans, whose…
By comparing white supremacy in the U.S. to the caste system in India, her new book at once illuminates and collapses a complex history. By Sunil Khilnani, The New Yorker — As the summer of 1958 was coming to an end, Martin Luther King, Jr., was newly famous and exhausted. All of twenty-nine years old, he had been travelling across the country for weeks promoting his first book, “Stride Toward…
By Anna Swartwood House — The portrayal of Jesus as a white, European man has come under renewed scrutiny during this period of introspection over the legacy of racism in society. As protesters called for the removal of Confederate statues in the U.S., activist Shaun King went further, suggesting that murals and artwork depicting “white Jesus” should “come down.” His concerns about the depiction of Christ and how it is used to…
“Why would $300 keep me from voting?” asks Robert Peoples of Mobile, Alabama. By Dana Sweeney, Facing South — Robert Peoples remembers when African Americans won the right to vote…
By Dr. Maulana Karenga — This is a revisiting of an ongoing conversation beginning in 2015 about taking down symbols of oppression, especially Confederate flags, but also statues, murals and all public signs,…
White Privilege is “White Blessing” and the Horrifying Legacy of Black Oppression. By Rev. Dennis Dillon, The Christian Times — I write this letter to Louie Giglio, Rick Warren, Charles…
88th Annual Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors Resolution In Support of the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act (H.R 40/S. 1083) WHEREAS,…
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…
Today’s protests build on a long tradition of activism. By Keisha N. Blain. The Atlantic — In cities across the United States, black activists are denouncing state-sanctioned violence and demanding…
By Rev. Dennis Dillon, NY Christian Times — There is a man in Washington who behaves just like a troubled kid with a mild mental disability – a brash, bombastic…
By Bashir Muhammad Akinyele — “The making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.” (American dictionary on…