“A Bernie Sanders presidency means an America where folks don’t die because they’ve got to rotate out their insulin to make sure it lasts. We are looking for an America where hospitals are not closing but are expanding services to vulnerable communities. We want a healthcare system that is not commodified. That’s it and that’s all.” — Senator Nina Turner
On January 6, 1992, the California Assembly elected E. Dotson Wilson as its Chief Clerk and Parliamentarian.
The Berkeley native made history that day, becoming the first African American to be voted into that all important, non-partisan role at any legislative body in the United States.
Whether it’s taking a stand for the Double V campaign during World War II; marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement; or fighting to have a voice in the White House in more recent times, NNPA’s board chairpersons’ responsibilities have historically gone far beyond any standard business definitions.
Thus, we self-consciously called our Movement, the Black Freedom Movementand demanded “FreedomNow,” not civil rights now. We composed and sang freedomsongs, not civil rights songs. And we built freedomschools, not civil rights schools, and we risked our lives on freedomrides, not civil rights rides. You can always say there was indeed a fight for civil rights. But although civil rights were an important concern of the Black Freedom Movement, the Black Freedom struggle was committed to freedom as a more expansive concept, practice and goal. In a word, it was concerned about freedom from oppression and freedom to grow, develop and come into the fullness of ourselves.
During both the Holocaust of enslavement and the era of segregation, leaving the plantation was a metaphor, mental process and actual practice of freedom. It was a freeing oneself mentally and physically, thinking freedom and then acting in ways that led to its achievement as did Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Fannie Lou Hamer, Messenger Muhammad and countless others in their rejection of and resistance to enslavement and segregation. Clearly, it is rumored and reported in various official and unofficial send-outs and circles that we have all left the plantation and are all free. But today, regardless of official edited and embellished reports; images of mixed couples and company in TV commercials and movies; and our wishing and wanting to believe we are beyond its borders and bondage, the plantation and its politics remains with us.
In April 1963, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and James Bevel of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) along with other members of the SCLC set out to desegregate Birmingham through the use of non-violent acts like protests, marches, and boycotts.
“I’m born and raised in this segregated city without any Home Rule rights and no equal rights when the city was segregated,” Norton said. “I’m a third generation Washingtonian and I’m the great, great granddaughter of a runaway slave, so motivation is built into my DNA.”
On February 26, the California Legislature passed a joint resolution in support of the national Bayard Rustin Stamp campaign. Spearheaded by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (AD 51), the concurrent resolution ACR-27 “honors the legacy of Bayard Rustin, who stood at the confluence of the greatest struggles for civil, legal, and human rights by African Americans, as well as the LGBTQ community, and whose focus on civil and economic rights and belief in peace and the dignity of all people remains as relevant today as ever.”
“Had there been no May 17, 1954 (the day the Supreme Court ruled in Brown V. Board of Education), I’m not sure there would have been a Little Rock. I’m not sure there would have been a Martin Luther King Jr., or Rosa Parks, had it not been for May 17, 1954. It created an environment for us to push, for us to pull,” Lewis said.
I was born of a White mother and a Black father in 1961 in Southern California during a time when America was experiencing segregation across the nation. Although many of us in California did not feel the same effects as many of our relatives in the South, segregation was still alive and well throughout the country. The Civil Rights Movement was in its beginning stages and the 50’s and 60’s were pivotal in changing the face and climate of America. The Civil Rights Movement was organized by African Americans with the goal to help end racial discrimination and provide equal rights to all under the law.
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has enjoyed a long history of supporting organized labor, particularly during the Civil Rights Movement when many unions and civil rights-focused organizations worked together to secure legislation that benefitted African Americans.
Lauterbach’s book attempts a balanced and unbiased perspective on what Withers’ legacy will be: a traitorous informant who spied for the FBI or a blackmail victim forced to do as he was told.
As we celebrate each year our strivings and struggles through history, the Black Freedom Movement is always a central focus. But we may not call it by its rightful name, because it has been renamed by the established order as the Civil Rights Movement and this has implications for us in terms of self-determination and how we define our goals, what we count as victory, and the lessons and spirit of life and struggle we learn and absorb from this world historical struggle. Our urgent and constant call was “Freedom Now!” and even now, it is no less necessary.
The Brotherhood Crusade showed another story of athletes in activism when they hosted an intimate conversation between two-time NBA champion Craig Hodges and Olympic gold medalist Ron Brown. The event was about public figures who take a stand and sacrifice their jobs to help other.
As we bid farewell to an iconic voice for many generations, we remember what made Nancy Wilson nothing short of a Legend.