“…while the students are demographically different, one can hope that the call to “practice humanity” is one that will be heeded. It is, perhaps a sign of the times, that graduates have to be urged to practice humanity, but so much of our world is inhumane, placing profits over people, that the admonition is appropriate.”
“How strong is our economy? It is undoubtedly stronger than it was a year ago, but it’s not as strong as some claim that it is. Labor market weaknesses and inequality are of particular concern to African Americans. Companies are hiring, but they aren’t hiring enough African Americans to close the unemployment rate gap.”
Killing is wrong. Killing Black people because they are Black is even more wrong. Lynching Black people is exponentially wrong. So why was I opposed to the state-imposed killing of John William King, the despicable murderer of James Byrd, Jr.? I happen to think that there are worse things that can happen to you than death. The now 44-year old King could have gotten a sentence of life in prison and lived miserably there for the rest of his life. In some ways, death is salvation for him. Imagine being relatively healthy with nothing to look forward to? Just sitting there, in jail, surrounded by the Black people your white supremacist self purports to hate. That might be torture worse than death.
Mnuchin is really above his Peter Principle as Treasury Secretary in any administration but 45’s. And those birds of a feather stick together because they share values and shady self-serving morals. Mr. Mnuchin boldly requested government planes to facilitate his honeymoon, is taking his cues from the man who has turned the Presidency into a profit center, operating government on a “pay-to-play” basis with possibly Russians, Saudis and who knows who else.
Nearly half a million people die every year from complications from smoking. About a tenth of them never put a cigarette to their lips – they die from exposure to second-hand smoke. Death from tobacco is, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the leading cause of preventable death. But too many people, enticed by advertising, think that smoking is so “cool” that they embrace it. And the tobacco industry spent more than $9 billion on smoking advertising, or about a million dollars an hour.
“…there is this misguided group of Afrodescendants, who are throwing shade at those who are not ‘American descendants of slaves’ ADOS. Their shade is an odd version of the “am I Black enough for you” game that some folks ran against President Barack Obama, and are now running against Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Corey Booker.”
No freedom in this homeland of the free, but this Congress offers freedom possibilities. It offers the possibility of fixing the Voting Rights Act, even as the Supreme Court has attempted to erode voting rights, even as at least two elections were stolen in 2018, those of Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Andrew Gillum in Florida.
I’m writing about Robby because his memory has challenged me to make a 2019 resolution.
Bennett College has a unique history, and it is a history that must be preserved. It will only be maintained if folks who love women, women’s history, and the elevation of Black women’s voices come together to find five million dollars in just a few weeks. I am writing this column to appeal to those who will help. Here’s how:
Black, White, Latina, Asian, Native, Palestinian and other women have starkly different experiences. We are joined by our gender but separated by the status of the men in our race, and by the differential privilege that some women experience.
Jackson changed the way that African American people saw ourselves politically. Before him, we thought we could not make a difference. Because of him, we know that we can. Before him, we did not believe, in his words, that “the hands that picked peaches could pick Presidents.”
What is exciting about the Black political excellence is that it also represents a generational changing of the guard.
Kofi Annan made his transition in August. The seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, he worked up from the lower ranks (starting at age 24) of the international organization, to serve as head of peacekeeping operations, and four years into his term as UN Secretary-General, earning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Just over four years ago, on August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was murdered by police officer Darren Wilson. He was shot six times, and might have survived some of the shots, but was fatally wounded when he was shot in the head. Wilson claimed he shot in self-defense, but Michael Brown was unarmed. St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch took his time convening a grand jury and announced in November 2014, three months after Brown’s murder, that the grand jury voted not to indict Wilson.
Dellums was a fierce, focused fighter for justice, an anti-war activist who served in the military, authored several CBC Alternative Budgets (budgets that focused on human needs rather than military buildup) and was an indefatigable fighter for South African freedom.