by Martha S. Jones | March 2019
Historian Martha S. Jones takes a look at the question of race versus gender in the quest for universal suffrage. The history of black women and the vote is one about figures who, though subjected to nearly crushing political disabilities, emerged as unparalleled advocates of universal suffrage in its truest sense.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [History] [Politics] [Collective Action]
by Mary C. Curtis | September 2014
*Yet whites are, frequently, disappointingly, incredulous. Very often a “friend’s” reaction that goes something like this: “I don’t think a police officer would stop anyone for no reason at all.” Or: “You must have done something suspicious.” Or my favorite: “If you haven’t done anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about.” I am not some child coming home with some tall tale, and I am certainly not a delusional liar.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [Policing] [Systemic Racism] [White Culture] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]
*Paywall Alert
by Conor Friedersdorf | June 2019
Even highly informed commentators lack a shared understanding of what the word means.
But among some influential Democratic constituencies—educated, left-of-center Brooklyn, for example—reparations is understood differently, as illustrated by a roundtable on the subject broadcast last month by a Brooklyn TV station…it clarifies the degree to which Americans discussing the subject can talk past one another or mistake how much disagreement actually exists, fueling everything from mild confusion to needless polarization.
TAGS: [Reparations] [Strategies] [2010’s] [Advocacy] [Politics]
by Anna Kegler | Updated December 2017
*The language we use to talk about racism is obviously distorted, a big clue that something is being hidden. It’s pretty easy to pinpoint the source: most White people can’t handle talking about racism. We flail. We don’t understand the subject, we get really uncomfortable, and we either clam up because we don’t want to say the wrong thing, or we bust out the whitesplaining (FYI, this is a best-case scenario. It can be much worse).
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [White Supremacy] [Implicit Bias] [White Fragility/Tears] [“All Lives Matter”]
by Ricky Riley | July 2016
A Providence, Rhode Island man was charged with assaulting police officers at a night club last year but surveillance footage released this week shows that officers started the raucous. Tuesday, the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office announced that 29-year-old Esmelin Fajardo will be allowed to enter a not guilty plea regarding the charges related to a melee in a club during closing hours.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Accountability] [Policing] [White Supremacy] [-ing While Black] [White Privilege]
by Elizabeth Warren | December 2019
Born in West Africa, Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped by slave traders and brought to New England in 1761. She mastered English, Latin, Greek and English literature at a time when enslaved people could be condemned to death for learning. By imagining she could, she became the first black woman poet to publish a book before the Revolutionary War. Using her example, we too can see a future where collectively our imaginations can be challenged to change the world for the better.
TAGS: [2010’s] [Strategies] [History] [Role Model]
