Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) has announced that scholar and co-founder of the Los Angeles Chapter of Black Lives Matter, Melina Abdullah, will be the university’s inaugural Activist-In-Residence for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Racism is America’s original sin. Racism that built this nation using the free labor of enslaved Africans. Racism embedded in our original Constitution, claiming that my Black ancestors held only 3/5 of value compared to a white person. Racism that led to racial segregation and discriminatory laws in education, housing and employment. Racism that created a system of law enforcement designed to disproportionately incarcerate Black Americans. For over 400 years, America has used racism to build a wall around Black Americans. This wall has kept Black Americans excluded from opportunities to learn, to work and to vote.
As our fellow Californians and Americans protest across our country, we must not lose sight of why they are protesting. It’s because of a deep pain that we recognize all too well. The pain of not confronting a dark history that has spanned the life of our country. The pain of recognizing our fathers, uncles, brothers, mothers, sisters, and aunts in the faces of so many Black men and women who were taken from us because of racism and violence.
Former Cincinnati State Sen. Eric Kearney told a group of Black Press of America publishers that he’s concerned that the prosecution and conviction of Judge Tracie Hunter and her impending six-month jail sentence set to begin on July 22, will rekindle the same intense racial division that led to race riots less than 20 years ago.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Cellphone video recorded by Sandra Bland, a black woman found dead in a Texas jail following a confrontational 2015 traffic stop, shows for the first time her perspective as a white state trooper draws his stun gun and points it at close range while ordering her out of her car. The 39-second clip revealed by the Investigative Network, a nonprofit news organization in Texas, aired Monday night on Dallas television station WFAA Bland was found hanging in her jail cell outside Houston three days after her arrest. Her death and dashcam video showing Trooper Brian Encinia trying to pull the 28-year-old Chicago-area woman
Jackie Lacey this past Sunday, February 17 for their 35th Annual Black History Month program. The same DA Lacey who has been charged with prosecuting crimes in the County of Los Angeles since January 2012, over which time more than 450 killings of community members by police have occurred and only one prosecution of an officer has been filed. It is imperative that we remember that each of these 450 “cases” are real people: sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and community members. When people are murdered by police, it leaves unimaginable pain for the hearts of their loved ones…especially their mothers. On Sunday evening, a cadre of five mothers, family members and supporters refused to allow Lacey to smile, wave, invoke God, and dishonor the Spirits of their slain children. They confronted her in, what may be, the most appropriate of all places, church.
It is clear now that the 45thpresident of the United States is knowingly or unwittingly a tool of the Russian government. But for many years before the dumpster fire in the White House came into office, the Kremlin has been wielding a secret weapon against the “land of the free.”
Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland explores the death of Sandra Bland, a politically active 28-year-old African American who, after being arrested for a traffic violation, was found dead in her jail cell. Watch Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland December 3 at 10:00PM on HBO.
Our nation’s racially-discriminatory cash bail system has left hundreds of non-violent misdemeanor suspects to die in jail while awaiting trial, simply because they are poor. A 2015 study identified more than 800 deaths in local jails and lockups; more than 75% of those in local jails have not been convicted, and 70% of those awaiting trial are detained for non-violent offenses.
Texas’ ‘Sandra Bland’ Bill Would Revamp Profiling Laws
A police officer in the small Texas town where Sandra Bland, a black woman who later died in a jail cell, was pulled over says the county’s top prosecutors threatened to end his career if he came forward with what he says is evidence of wrongdoing, an accusation the prosecutors deny.
2015 Obituaries
Sandra Bland is described as an advocate for justice who had embraced her purpose to fight racism. She is described as a sister who knew her rights. She was well-educated, assertive, and a resource for her people. She was dragged out of her car for failing to signal a traffic lane change because Texas Highway Patrol Trooper Brian Encinia chose to abuse his power and violate her rights, because he could.
On July 25 in Lisle, Illinois, 28 year-old Sandra Bland was laid to rest by her family and friends. Over 1,000 people attended her funeral at DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) is a place where many African American students come to become adults by embracing the Black college experience.