civil rights movement

The California wildfires could be leaving deeper inequality in their wake

The sight of celebrity mansions and movie landmarks reduced to ashes can make it seem like the wildfires roaring through the Los Angeles area affected a constellation of movie stars. But a drive through the charred neighborhoods around Altadena shows that the fires also burned through a remarkable haven for generations of Black families avoiding discriminatory housing practices elsewhere.

U.S. Mourns Death of Rev. James M. Lawson, `One of Our Nation’s Noblest Leaders’ 

Tributes continued this week for the Rev. James Lawson Jr., an icon of the Civil Rights Movement and the longtime pastor of Holman United Methodist Church in South Los Angeles, with President Joe Biden saying on June 11 that Lawson dedicated his life to “our country’s ideals.”  Lawson died June 9 in Los Angeles after a brief illness at age 95. 

Xernona Clayton and Other ‘Herstory Sheroes’ Honored in Atlanta

Civil rights icon Xernona Clayton became the first woman to be enshrined with a statue in downtown Atlanta on March 8. The eight-foot statue with its arms open, propped high on a pedestal, looks down on Xernona Clayton Plaza, making the petite icon a giant in the cradle city of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

Healing Ourselves Communities and Country 

Those of us who believe a peaceful world is possible need to figure out how we can truly become “indivisible” as we vow in our pledge of allegiance. 

COMMENTARY: Black No More 

It is worth noting that recounting the horrors of slavery, remembering heroes of the civil rights movement, along with a few 19th and 20th century inventors, athletes and entertainers, in no way sufficiently pays proper tribute to the totality of our past. Only by passing down our complete stories and sharing the fullness of our heritage do we properly honor our ancestors and history, a history that long predates the 17th century in North, South and Central America and the Caribbean. We were Africans long before becoming New Yorkers, Jamaicans, Brazilians, Haitians, Cubans or Puerto Ricans.