The Canadian Narrative about Slavery Is Wrong Casting ourselves as the âsavioursâ of African American fugitives fits neatly into our national identity. But this country, too, was founded on exploitation
âWhy did we let you in, then?â That was what a white colleague in a scientific society asked me when I declined to lead a new diversity initiative. I am the first Black woman to chair a department at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the only one currently leading a department of pharmacology at any US medical school. All through my career, from grade school onwards, teachers, colleagues and leaders have challenged my place in science. When my appointment as chair was announced, I received a racist backlash through Twitter and e-mail.
Some anti-Blackness Iâve faced has been indisputable. Someone wrote the ân-wordâ on an announcement of a scientific award that I had received, and left it in the inbox at the door to my lab. This is just one of several notes with a racial slur that Iâve received during my years in science.
The Color of Law shows that creating, and maintaining, residential segregation was at the heart of federal housing policy for decades. Rothstein assiduously documents the more explicit federal efforts, such as the racialized implementation of both public housing policy and the Federal Housing Administrationâs loan programs. He finds the federal government culpable at the local level, where it turned a blind eye to exclusionary local zoning laws and violent anti-integration protesters in the North, and preserved the tax-exempt status of religious institutions that preached hate and segregation.
On Wednesday, six federal lawmakers asked the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in the case, saying they have âgrave concernâ about the decision to detain Grace during the COVID-19 pandemic. They asked the Education Departmentâs Office for Civil Rights to investigate and for the Justice Department to review the judgeâs order to detain Grace and her denial to release her last week. The lawmakers asked for a response by Aug. 7.
Grace is Black, and activists and others, including her mother, say her case highlights systemic racial disparities in the juvenile justice system. From January 2016 through June 2020, about 4,800 juvenile cases were referred to the Oakland County court. Of those, 42% involved Black youth even though only about 15% of the countyâs youth are Black, according to a ProPublica Illinois analysis. Research also has shown a disproportionate number of youth of color are incarcerated in Michigan.
âWhile Grace has faced many personal challenges in her young life, it was her lack of completion in online coursework that the judge cited as the definitive reason for sentencing Grace to juvenile detention,â the request from the lawmakers states. âThis is simply unacceptable.â
Searching for my slave roots The poet Malik Al Nasir has been on a journey to find his roots as a black Liverpudlian. It's a journey that has taken him back in time and halfway around the world, before returning him right back to the city where he began.
along the lines of the nick cannon vid except worse
not sure what to make of it or if it is true
definitely not good for the cause
For what it's worth, it's disputed whether or not the "Yusra K. Ali" post did actually come from Yusra Khogali. I read that pseudo-scientific diatribe a while ago, but hadn't followed the authorship findings - doesn't matter to me really. Still, she has been making similar inflammatory statements for years.
along the lines of the nick cannon vid except worse
not sure what to make of it or if it is true
definitely not good for the cause
For what it's worth, it's disputed whether or not the "Yusra K. Ali" post did actually come from Yusra Khogali. I read that pseudo-scientific diatribe a while ago, but hadn't followed the authorship findings - doesn't matter to me really. Still, she has been making similar inflammatory statements for years.
along the lines of the nick cannon vid except worse
not sure what to make of it or if it is true
definitely not good for the cause
I guess these folks don't understand history well. Black's have enslaved black's, as have white, brown and yellow people. Believe 'slavery' is still rampant in Africa.
Yes, I find the hypocrisy amusing or irritating at being scolded for not knowing American history (when most people fully do) whilst not knowing African history.
along the lines of the nick cannon vid except worse
not sure what to make of it or if it is true
definitely not good for the cause
I guess these folks don't understand history well. Black's have enslaved black's, as have white, brown and yellow people. Believe 'slavery' is still rampant in Africa.
A conservative New Hampshire talk radio personality was kicked off the air Sunday amid backlash spurred by a video she filmed in which she is heard repeatedly yelling at and questioning landscapers in Nashua for not speaking English. (...)
Ploss, a self-described âMAGA activist,â can be seen in an undated Facebook Live video from last week, reported on by TMZ, shouting at employees from Hollis-based Morinâs Landscaping, who were working on the side of the road in downtown Nashua.
This and Revolution by The Beatles are 2 of the more and sadly misunderstood songs of history. I know some black people that need to hear and comprehend this song from time to time as well. Lyrics are so straight forward, but apparently very difficult to manifest through people of all colors.
The revolution will not be televised. â G. Scott-Heron
As a callow lad, in my scholastic days, I read Dick Gregoryâs The Shadow That Scares Me, Eldridge Cleaverâs Soul on Ice, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, among other provocative books. Those books made an impression on an impressionable mind. I guess it fair to say I filed some of those impressions away; they stayed with me even if I did not act upon them. Suffice it to say, there were lessons to be learned.
Protests bring attention to issues. That is what they are designed to do. The hard work of effectuating the changes sought and highlighted begins afterward, if at all. And it often falls to others to nurture the spark lest it become extinguished. Social change, as we have seen, is incremental. Certain protests, like those triggered by the murder of George Floyd, are literally combustible. The stopper on that bottle of incremental change pops and the bottle explodes. This emotional outpouring cannot be easily contained nor, it can be argued, should it. There is good reason for these emotions.
This protest is more enduring than most other protests and more volatile (see also the long arc of Vietnam War protests and also the inner-city riots following the assassination of MLK). Those of us on the left side of the political spectrum know that many protests and âmovementsâ become co-opted by a multitude of ideological agendas. Their messages can and do become diluted. The other thing about these large, emotional protests is that they can and often do become co-opted by those using them as cover to loot or engage in other forms of illicit behavior, driven by reasons that have little or nothing to do with the message that brought the great, great majority out into the streets, crying for justice and standing vigil. No question some of those out there for good reason and with good intentions let their emotions get the better of them at times. It happens.
The central point is that the original message, the catalyst not only for the protests but for the needed social change, becomes not only diluted but sometimes disparaged because of these roiling and overlapping waters. Unfortunate as this is, it is not reason to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water.
Eyes on the prize. Justice beckons. Always.
Here is hoping there may be some kernels of sound thinking amidst these meanderings.
Thanks very much for writing this. I've avoided the arguments here about the outbursts of violence and vandalism arising from BLM protests because I think they're a relatively minor issue. There will always be fringe elements in a mass protest or riot who want to take advantage of the disruption of order by looting, stealing and even killing. You cannot expect a spontaneous protest to always avoid violence: a crowd without strict training and monitoring may within minutes stray from a focus on marching as protest to having a few actors committing vandalism and unwittingly encouraging others to join in. An unruly crowd can invite herd thinking and herd action, and violence can break out in a matter of minutes.
If you're focusing on smashed windows, looted stores, even pulled-down statues, you're missing the point (and in the case of some people posting here, deliberately so). The BLM protests may be the largest protest movement in American history—and they largely happened with little planning or organization. The protests have caused a sea-change in American attitudes about the prevalence of racism, police behavior and our politics. They may very well contribute to a wholesale rejection of the GOP come November.
While I agree with the peaceful purpose of the protests, I think they should have stopped after about a week and morphed into organized grassroots political action. Signs and marches don't translate into a lasting change. Pulling down statues is a symbolic gesture that might chip away at changing people's publicly expressed opinions but do little to change their privately held beliefs. It's time for the protesters to focus their thoughts, change their listing of grievances into politically actionable demands and proposals, and organize into groups focused on peaceful, constructive political change.
