How Negro History Week Became Black History Month and Why It Matters Now. BecomingAntiRacist Graphic Organizer. The Limits of Police Reform. Police Funding Reform. This OpEd first appeared on Cosmopolitan.
Almost exactly six years after NYPD officers murdered Eric Garner in New York City, Minneapolis police officers murdered George Floyd. Activists, advocates, and protestors are still screaming “I can’t breathe” and begging government officials for police reform that will end police violence in Black communities. But today’s demands are bigger and bolder: Now, protesters are advocating for systemic changes that require a complete reimagining of law enforcement in the United States. American policing has never been a neutral institution. The first U.S. city police department was a slave patrol, and modern police forces have directed oppression and violence at Black people to enforce Jim Crow, wage the War on Drugs, and crack down on protests.
Funneling so many resources into law enforcement instead of education, affordable housing, and accessible health care has caused significant harm to communities. How the Federal Government Can Reform the Police. Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds. A recent experiment performed by Mercier and some European colleagues neatly demonstrates this asymmetry.
Participants were asked to answer a series of simple reasoning problems. They were then asked to explain their responses, and were given a chance to modify them if they identified mistakes. The majority were satisfied with their original choices; fewer than fifteen per cent changed their minds in step two. It's Not 1968, and Trump Isn't Nixon - The Dispatch. How you can be an ally in the fight for racial justice. Molly Mendoza.
When you say you 'don't see race', you’re ignoring racism, not helping to solve it. People love to tell me that they often forget that I’m black.
They say this with a sort of “a-ha!” Look on their faces, as if their dawning ability to see my blackness was a gift to us both. When I point out that their eyesight had never left them, that my skin has never changed colors, and that they probably did not really forget that I am black, they inevitably get defensive. First, they try to argue that it was a compliment; the smart ones quickly realize that complimenting someone on not being black is actually pretty racist, so they switch gears. Kimberlé Crenshaw on What Intersectionality Means Today. The purpose of Blackout Tuesday on Instagram. An effort to raise awareness about police brutality and systemic racism, which started in the music industry before being co-opted by countless Instagram users, appears to be backfiring somewhat.
The “Blackout Tuesday” campaign began as a push for a day of reflection from music artists and labels in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minneapolis last Monday. But almost immediately after the campaign started, countless Instagram users uploaded solid black squares in solidarity and added a #BlackLivesMatter hashtag.
For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies. Kanye West Donates $2 Million To Families Of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor. Music icon Kanye West has donated $2 million to the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.
According to TMZ, West also set up a “529 college savings fund to fully cover tuition for Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter, Gianna.” He also donated to cover the legal costs for the Arbery and Taylor families. Beyond that, Kanye West will also be donating money to black-owned businesses crippled by the riots. How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change. As millions of people across the country take to the streets and raise their voices in response to the killing of George Floyd and the ongoing problem of unequal justice, many people have reached out asking how we can sustain momentum to bring about real change.
Ultimately, it’s going to be up to a new generation of activists to shape strategies that best fit the times. But I believe there are some basic lessons to draw from past efforts that are worth remembering. First, the waves of protests across the country represent a genuine and legitimate frustration over a decades-long failure to reform police practices and the broader criminal justice system in the United States. The State Of Our Politics Is Divided, Mistrustful And Engaged. Riots Are the American Way: On the George Floyd Protests. Think back to March 5, 1770, when Crispus Attucks, a man of African and Native American descent, became the first casualty of the American Revolution.
Attucks was one of a handful of protesters killed by British forces during the Boston Massacre. The lawyer tasked with defending the British soldiers in their American criminal trial was none other than Adams. When presenting his case, Adams described the men those soldiers killed as “a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes and molattoes [sic], Irish teagues and outlandish jack tarrs.”
He built his defense of the British soldiers on the charge that Attucks struck the first blow and led the “dreadful carnage.” Adams concluded that the “mad behavior” of Attucks provoked the soldiers’ response, saying that Attucks’s group was “under the command of a stout molatto fellow, whose very looks, was enough to terrify any person.” Read: When police view citizens as enemies If violence is a political language, white Americans are native speakers. As chaos engulfed Philadelphia, peace reigned across the river in Camden. Barack Obama visited Camden in 2015 and lauded the Camden County Police Department's commitment to achieving public safety through community-engaged policing.
On Monday, while what began as peaceful protests condemning the death of George Floyd at the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin continued to descend into violence, arson, vandalism and looting, the 44th President once again praised the department for its part in keeping the peace in Camden. In a Medium post entitled "How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change," Obama calls protests across the country a representation of "a genuine and legitimate frustration over a decades-long failure to reform police practices and the broader criminal justice system in the United States. " Peaceful demonstrators, said Obama, "deserve our respect and support, not condemnation — something that police in cities like Camden and Flint have commendably understood.
" How it began. "They Know the Right and the Wrong": Protesters' New Hope. 'That's not going to bring my brother back': George Floyd's brother calls for end to violence. MINNEAPOLIS — After a week of mushrooming protests and, in some cities, looting and violent clashes with police, the younger brother of George Floyd arrived Monday at the Minneapolis intersection where Floyd's life came to an end a week ago.
Police and Law Enforcement. Anti-Racism Resources for all ages. Ahmaud Arbery Could Have Been Me. According to McMichael, he ran in his house and grabbed his son, Travis, and both grabbed their weapons.
McMichael told police they armed themselves because they “didn’t know if the male was armed or not.” McMichael also told police he saw Arbery “the other night” stick his hand down his pants, which led him to believe he was armed. Why 56 black men are posing in hoodies. Cephas Williams is tired of how people look at him when he wears his hoodie. "I am a black man with a degree in architecture, and I find I am not taken seriously when I walk into a room full of strangers. " Candace Owens: ‘I Do Not Support George Floyd And The Media Depiction Of Him As A Martyr For Black America’