Saturday, December 6

Tag: years

Black religious leaders are up front and central in US protests – as they have been for the last 200 years
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Religion

Black religious leaders are up front and central in US protests – as they have been for the last 200 years

When the Rev. Al Sharpton implored white America to “get your knee off our necks” at the memorial of George Floyd, his words were carried by news outlets across the globe. Meanwhile in the U.S., the Rev. William J. Barber II has been an ever-present voice in the protests, prompting some to place him as the successor to past civil rights greats. That people of the cloth are at the forefront of the current protests over police brutality should not be a surprise. From the earliest times of the United States’ history, religious leaders have led the struggle for liberation and racial justice for black Americans. As an ordained minister and a historian, I see it as a common thread running through the history of the United States, from black resistance in the earliest periods of slavery in the ...
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Not Just Five Minutes Of Horror, But 400 Years
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Not Just Five Minutes Of Horror, But 400 Years

There’s no greater frustration than working every day to build and inspire others to build a more just, compassionate world, only to be so brutally reminded of how far away that world is, as we are bombarded by videos of an atrocity such as the police killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd. Witnessing someone being killed is terrorizing. I am experiencing episodes of terror after seeing the life leave Floyd’s handcuffed body under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, while two officers held down Floyd, and another stood idly by. That image will stay with me for a long time, just as Eric Garner’s has, just as Philando Castile’s has, and Terence Crutcher’s, and 12-year-old Tamir Rice’s. And with those images, the stories of Trayvon Martin, Jamar Clark, Sandra Bland, ...
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What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment’s ratification
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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...
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US marks 400 years since first Africans arrived as slaves
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SOCIAL JUSTICE, VIDEO REELS

US marks 400 years since first Africans arrived as slaves

Slave trade leaves bitter legacy for African Americans and still mars race relations in US. The United States is marking the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to the English colony of Virginia 400 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of Africans from what's now known as Angola would soon follow. The commemoration comes at a time when the US president is accused of creating a culture where white nationalism and racism can flourish. by Alan Fisher Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher reports from Hampton, Virginia.
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IN OTHER NEWS

Five Years After Ferguson Uprising, Still Seeking Justice and Healing

On the fifth anniversary of Michael Brown's death, his family and the town of Ferguson look to the past—and future—to bring about meaningful change. Michael Brown Sr. lies stock-still on his back on the floor of an art studio in St. Louis as an artist layers papier-mache on his arms, chest, and torso. Brown Sr. is a stand-in, the model for a life-size replica that St. Louis artist Dail Chambers is creating to represent Michael Brown Jr.—his deceased son. In the days and weeks that followed, other artists added their own interpretations to the cast, and community leaders, family, friends, and activists affixed messages of remembrance, of hope, as well as photos and tributes to Brown Jr. “Although everybody else has left since your death, we are still here fighting,” one 1...
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POP CULTURE & TRENDS

Fifty Years After Stonewall, the Real Fight for LBGTQ Rights Is Local

As legislation has languished in Congress, many cities and states are moving forward with their own non-discrimination bills. The U.S. House of Representatives last month passed the Equality Act—more than four decades after it was first introduced—extending civil rights protections to LGBTQ+ people. This vote should give us some hope. Its passage—236-173—was bipartisan, a rare feat these days; its provisions are expansive, granting protection in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations; and its language includes both sexual orientation as well as gender identity, allowing for explicit inclusion of transgender individuals. Yet to each hopeful sign, there’s a caveat. Only eight Republicans supported the Equality Act, and it’s unlikely to ever be brought to vote ...
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LAW ENFORCEMENT

Leader to an Elmira Dark Web Opioid Trafficking Ring Sentenced to Over 17 Years in Federal Prison

According to an announcement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of New York, a 31-year-old man from Elmira who, with a co-conspirator, headed an opioid dark web trafficking ring was sentenced to 17 years and six months in federal prison. The sentence was issued after the man was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and distribution of more than 100 grams of a fentanyl analogue. Authorities believe that at least two people died after consuming opioids sold by the man’s ring, while another overdosed on several occasions but survived after being treated. From 2015 to May 2017, Maximillian Sams, 31, and his partner, Robert Ian Thatcher, led an opioid manufacturing and distribution ring from Elmira, New York. Sams and Thatcher used the dark web to ...
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Oscar Grant Was Shot by Police 10 Years Ago. Now His Family Is Helping Others to Heal

His life was cut short on a train platform. Now his family is building bridges between police and the community, and connecting families affected by such violence. Oscar Grant III was an unarmed Black man killed by a police officer in Oakland, Calif., years before Black Lives Matter drew national attention to the growing number of unarmed Black men, women and children who die at the hands of law enforcement officers—what some scholars are calling an epidemic. Jan. 1 marked 10 years since the 22-year-old father was fatally shot by the Bay Area Regional Transit officer in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day. In the decade since his tragic death, Grant’s family has helped to create a police citizen review board of BART, established a foundation, and launched a campaign...
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IN OTHER NEWS

Cosby sentenced to 3-10 years, deemed ‘sexually violent predator’

Cosby was convicted in April of drugging and sexually assaulting one-time friend Andrea Constand in 2004. Actor and comedian Bill Cosby was sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison on Tuesday for sexually assaulting a woman more than a decade ago. Cosby was convicted in April of three counts of indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting his one-time friend Andrea Constand, a former Temple University administrator, at his Philadelphia home in 2004. Pennsylvania Judge Steven O'Neill also deemed Cosby a "sexually violent predator", meaning that he must undergo monthly counselling for the rest of his life and report quarterly to authorities. Cosby's name will appear on a sex-offender registry sent to neighbours, schools and victims. The actor was also fined $25,000. His la...
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Amanda Bynes SPEAKS OUT for the First Time in 4 Years! – FULL Interview | HS EXCLUSIVE
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CELEBRITIES

Amanda Bynes SPEAKS OUT for the First Time in 4 Years! – FULL Interview | HS EXCLUSIVE

Amanda Bynes breaks her silence for her first interview in 4 years! Amanda sits down with Diana Madison of The Lowdown to discuss her past controversies and hardships, the now-infamous 'Drake tweet,' her road to recovery, as well as what Amanda has been up to lately, and her future plans which involve a special surprise that her fans will be incredibly happy to hear! Welcome back, Amanda Bynes!
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