Breaking News! History in the Making
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Has the skin lightener industry learned from Black Lives Matter?
Black Lives Matter has jolted the skin lightener industry. Manufacturers of skin lighteners joined other corporations in voicing support for the racial justice movement. Critics quickly pointed out the hypocrisy of voicing such support while continuing to sell skin whitening products globally.
Working to restore voting rights to returning citizens ahead of the general election
The voting rights for people with some felony convictions have been restored in the state of Alabama. However, many in the Black community still face many barriers to voting. Alabama did not inform citizens of the new 2017 law, so those affected are not aware of their right to vote. This is happening in other states as well.
Internalizing White Supremacy: What We Can Learn From Liberia
The country of Liberia has an interesting history that has insitutional parallels with the United States in terms of institutional racism. The impact of white supremacy on African-American culture is shown through Liberia’s history of ethnic suppression.
Samuel Jackson Traces the History of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Samuel L. Jackson hosts a six-part docuseries, “Enslaved,” that premiered last Monday on Epix. The series traces Mr. Jackson’s journey across the globe as he uncovers elements of the history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The story also follows Diving With a Purpose, an offshoot of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers, as they search for wreckage of slave ships along the ocean bottom.
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Statement on the Death of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The BLM Movement salutes Justice Ginsburg as a woman of resilient courage, strength and character. She was determined to change the trajectory of inequalities in communities often forgotten. Even to the end of her life, she remained committed to BLM’s mantra: that none of us are free, until we are all free.
‘MLK/FBI’ Review: The FBI’s Clownish Surveillance Of A Civil Rights Icon Is More Relevant Than Ever
In MLK/FBI, well-known documentary filmmaker Sam Pollard brings a Martin Luther King Jr. story never before seen on-screen. Using archival footage and interviews with those close to King and the situation, his new film shows how FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover spent years targeting King and the Civil Rights Movement.
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – The policing reforms in the Breonna Taylor settlement, explained
From revised search warrant protocols to contracting social workers, the policy changes are a start but could go much further.
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Breonna Taylor’s Family to Receive $12M Settlement From Louisville
In the aftermath of the botched police raid in which Ms. Taylor was killed, the city also agreed to institute changes aimed at preventing future killings by officers.
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Documents Reveal How the Police Kept Daniel Prude’s Death Quiet
A Black man, Daniel Prude, died of suffocation in March after police officers had placed his head in a hood and pinned him to the ground. The public had never been told about the death, but that would change if police body camera footage of the encounter got out. A mass of city documents released on Monday show how prominent Rochester officials did everything in their power to keep the troubling videos of the incident out of public view.
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Black lives matter in children’s books, too.
“When a child sees themselves reflected in the books that they read, when the books are a mirror to them, they feel valued.” Black main characters are slowly growing more prominent in children’s books research shows. The Roseman’s Young, Black & Lit is making certain free books that feature black characters reach children.
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Black Lives Matter but slavery isn’t our only narrative
Our historical understanding of Blackness is most commonly shaped by the story of the Atlantic slave trade, in particular to the Americas. But this is a linear narrative that is dominated by American voices. It’s not just potentially exclusory; it doesn’t adequately take into account the diversity of black people worldwide. Aretha Phiri asks Michelle M. Wright about her work in disrupting the slavery narrative.
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Interview with Frank Nitty on Showtime’s ‘The Circus’
In an episode of Showtime’s The Circus entitled “Law And Disorder,” the show visited Kenosha, WI, the site of civil unrest after the shooting of Jacob Blake. Watch this gripping interview with Activist Frank Nitty.
The Exception to Exceptionalism: Why marginalized communities feel a collective guilt in America
When the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed in 1995, the authorities and all media outlets immediately blamed it on “Islamic terrorists.” Members of the Muslim community around the country were attacked, verbally and physically. When Black people protest and one sets a building on fire, all Black people are blamed collectively.For White people the rules are generally the opposite.
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Black Lives Matter brings new vitality to LA neighborhood
The police killing of George Floyd and the surge of activism around Black Lives Matter has suddenly made this LA shopping district once again a destination for discussion, gatherings and commerce.
Court blocks DeVos from diverting COVID-19 relief from public schools
A federal court ruled that Secretary of Education DeVos violated the language of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act – by siphoning off relief funds to private schools, to the detriment of underserved children in public schools, including children from low-income families, children with disabilities, children of color and English language learners.Now public schools will receive the full federal emergency aid to which they are entitled.
Faces of Power: 80% Are White, Even as U.S. Becomes More Diverse
The most powerful people in the United States pass our laws, run Hollywood’s studios and head the most prestigious universities. They own pro sports teams and determine who goes to jail and who goes to war. A review by The New York Times of more than 900 officials and executives in prominent positions found that only about 20 percent identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, multiracial or otherwise a person of color.
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Black Lives Matter protest in Oxford to demand reparations
Crowds of activists from Black Lives Matter will gather in the heart of Oxford to call for reparations to be made to African nations and descendants of slaves.
The Oscars’ New Diversity Rules Are Sweeping but Safe
#OscarsSoWhite hashtag became a rallying cry, the academy began taking great strides to diversify a membership that had been largely white and male for nine decades. This week, the academy unveiled an even more ambitious diversity initiative with the intention of reshaping not just how movies are rewarded, but also who’s hired to make them in the first place.
Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – 89% of HR employees expect solidarity with Black Lives Matter
As Black Lives Matter protests continue to rage on, companies are under immense pressure to declare their support – with press silence speaking volumes in itself.
Black, Native American and Fighting for Recognition in Indian Country
Thousands of African Americans were once enslaved by Native Americans in the South. Post-Civil War, they were promised tribal citizenship, but promises were broken. Now a Supreme Court decision has breathed new life into their fight.
