SOCIAL JUSTICE – Page 16

Growing Up Black In America – Racial Prejudice

13May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Growing Up Black In America – Racial Prejudice

Black Americans have certainly faced many challenges trying to live the American Dream and partake in the many blessings other races have enjoyed here. One of the biggest hindrances black Americans have to continue facing in this country is the constant racial prejudice sent their way by white people. The original black people in this country were taken by force from Africa on ships to America where they were subjected to extreme abuse. They were made slaves, had their families separated, women violated and men whose self- esteem was reduced to nothing. They had no rights and were considered personal property. You may ask "how can a civilized people like the English fall to such abhorrent behavior? What reason could they possibly have to partake in behavior that treated a whole race of p...

Finding Racial Healing During the Pandemic

13May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Finding Racial Healing During the Pandemic

As a kid growing up in White America, learning to embrace my Asianness has often felt like rebellion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it feels more political than ever. Added anxiety over the rise in anti-Asian violence has shaken my community’s sense of security. I’ve heard and seen plenty of advice on how to stay physically safe—most of which prescribes assimilation and exceptionalism, which has proven ineffective for BIPOC throughout history. Rather than performing useless acts that take us further away from ourselves, I recommend practicing a form of radical acceptance. We can and should call out racism, defend ourselves, and work towards policy change to improve racial justice. But with radical acceptance, we let go of the idea that it’s our job to prove our worth as humans; to change...

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE, VIDEO REELS

The Reshaping Of Afrofuturism

After the movie Black Panther became a cultural landmark in 2018, it’s appeared as if Black people have been an integral and natural presence in science fiction. That hasn’t always been the case. Science fiction as a genre has been around since the 1920s, when the namesake of the field’s prestigious Hugo Awards, Hugo Gernsback, coined the term. However, the first widely notable Black sci-fi characters in U.S. popular culture wouldn’t appear until 1966, with the first the Black Panther character appearing in Marvel comics, and Lt. Uhura appeared on the bridge of the starship Enterprise in the first season of Star Trek. The Black characters, stories, and even the creators in the genre have had to struggle to gain a foothold. So, when scholar Mark Dery coined the term “Afrofuturism” in 1993,...

Birthed by HBCU students, this organization offers important lessons for today’s student activists

15Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Birthed by HBCU students, this organization offers important lessons for today’s student activists

April 15, 2020 marks 60 years since the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, perhaps better known as SNCC, and usually pronounced as “snick.” SNCC became one of the most important organizations to engage in grassroots organizing during the modern civil rights movement and radically transformed youth culture during the decade. Jelani Favors, an associate professor of history and author of a book on how historically black colleges and universities ushered in a new era of activism and leadership, discusses SNCC’s legacy and what lessons it can offer today’s activists. What role did SNCC play in the civil rights movement? The founding of SNCC in April 1960 represented an important paradigm shift within the modern civil rights movement. SNCC encouraged black youth to defia...

What we can learn from MLK for a Better Post-Coronavirus Economy

13Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

What we can learn from MLK for a Better Post-Coronavirus Economy

The civil rights icon fiercely advocated for redistributive wealth and social democracy. Fifty-two years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down in Memphis, April 4, 1968, his radical economic agenda reverberates through a pandemic-ridden nation at a prophetic tilt. “If the society changes its concepts by placing the responsibility on its system, not on the individual, and guarantees secure employment or a minimum income, dignity will come within reach of all,” King wrote in his book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community. As the economy grinds to a halt to flatten the COVID-19 curve, the triage of policies designed to fill the yawning holes in the nation’s social safety net looks a lot like what Dr. King ordered. The $2 trillion congressional emergency relief bill, CARES...

The future of work will hit vulnerable people the hardest

6Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

The future of work will hit vulnerable people the hardest

People living with disabilities, youth, LGBTQ2 people, Indigenous people, certain racialized minorities, immigrants and those with low socioeconomic status, as well as those in some professions, will face complex barriers to entering the workforce in the future. A great deal of attention is being paid to the future of work and its impact on Canadians. Often missing from the discussion is the extent to which different workers will be included or excluded from the changing labour market. The future of work is characterized by a number of rapid and large-scale changes that will affect all industries. Labour market experts point to the growing integration of digital technologies in the workplace, including the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning, automation of job task...

Poets Of Color Carry Pushing For Social Change In Their Communities.

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Poets Of Color Carry Pushing For Social Change In Their Communities.

Most often in the United States, when poetry is discussed, what comes to mind for many is the works of Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot, even Emily Dickinson. These are referred to as the “classics.” While their works have influenced much of American culture, the works of poets of color have championed revolutionary change, many through social justice movements. Poets such as Joy Harjo, Khalil Gibran, Gloria Anzaldua, Suji Kwock Kim, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Maya Angelou. Phillis Wheatley was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry, and was born into slavery, yet many do not know her name. Even when we look globally, many poets were key revolutionaries in the Sandinista National Liberation Front against the Somoza regime and United States oc...

The 2020 Election And The Fight Against Voter Disenfranchisement

5Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

The 2020 Election And The Fight Against Voter Disenfranchisement

As the 2020 election season gets under way, activists are beginning to push back against voter disenfranchisement across the country. Voting rights advocates are battling on multiple fronts this presidential election year to fend off a proliferation of voter suppression maneuvers that largely restrict people of color and younger Americans from casting their ballots. “Heading into the 2020 election, voters in half the states face more obstacles to the ballot box and will find it harder to vote than they did a decade ago,” says Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. These new obstacles have energized a counter-campaign to restore and expand voting rights. Often the newer restrictions focus on bureaucratic details, but their intent and impact tar...

What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment’s ratification

6Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment’s ratification

I’ll never forget a student’s response when I asked during a middle school social studies class what they knew about black history: “Martin Luther King freed the slaves.” Martin Luther King Jr. was born in 1929, more than six decades after the time of enslavement. To me, this comment underscored how closely Americans associate black history with slavery. Many African Americans made education a high priority after the Civil War. National Museum of African American History and Culture While shocked, I knew this mistaken belief reflected the lack of time, depth and breadth schools devote to black history. Most students get limited information and context about what African Americans have experienced since our ancestors arrived here four centuries ago. Without independent study, most adults a...

Diabetes: A global epidemic costing billions

15Nov

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Diabetes: A global epidemic costing billions

On World Diabetes Day, data shows the disease's incidence is declining in the United States, but rising globally. It's a disease that kills someone every eight seconds, and costs the globe over a trillion dollars every year. Diabetes is a chronic condition that strikes when the pancreas, an organ that is part of the digestive system, no longer produces sufficient insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels. Complications with the hormone can lead to various forms of diabetes, now at epidemic levels around the world. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1.5 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed annually in the US alone. To lower that toll, the CDC has spent millions on prevention and education ca...