Collective Action

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The Mental Health Impact of ‘Blame a Black Man Syndrome’ The Frequent Wrongful Accusation of Black Men Ruins Lives and Communities.

by Rob Whitley, Ph.D. | November 2017
Blame a Black Man Syndrome describes a common tendency to falsely accuse a black man of a crime or misconduct. It can take two forms.Firstly, it can refer to generic racial hoaxes, where an accuser blames an imaginary black man for a non-existent crime. Famous examples include Susan Smith, who alleged that a black man carjacked her vehicle and kidnapped her sons, when in fact she had murdered her children herself. Another is Bonnie Sweeten, who claimed that she and her daughter were kidnapped by two black men when she was actually vacationing in Florida. Secondly, it can involve accusations against a named but innocent black man. Famous examples include football player Brian Banks, who spent five years in prison for a rape he did not commit. Another is Patrick Lumumba, whose life was ruined when Amanda Knox falsely accused him of murder.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Prison System] [Calling Police] [White Privilege] [White Supremacy] [-ing While Black] [Definitions] [Prison System] [Policing] [Assumptions]

The Racist History of Abortion and Midwifery Bans; Today’s attacks on abortion access have a long history rooted in white supremacy.

by Michele Goodwin | July 2020
Just like slavery, anti-abortion efforts are rooted in white supremacy, the exploitation of Black women, and placing women’s bodies in service to men. Just like slavery, maximizing wealth and consolidating power motivated the anti-abortion enterprise. Then, just as now, anti-abortion efforts have nothing to do with saving women’s lives or protecting the interests of children. Today, a person is 14 times more likely to die by carrying a pregnancy to term than by having an abortion, and medical evidence has shown for decades that an abortion is as safe as a penicillin shot—and yet abortion remains heavily restricted in states across the country. Prior to the Civil War, abortion and contraceptives were legal in the U.S., used by Indigenous women as well as those who sailed to these lands from Europe. For the most part, the persons who performed all manner of reproductive health care were women — female midwives. Midwifery was interracial; half of the women who provided reproductive health care were Black women. Other midwives were Indigenous and white.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Indigenous] [History] [Slavery] [Black Lives Matter] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [Politics] [Civil War] [Asian]

Teaching the Hard History of Indigenous Slavery; TT’s newest film, ‘The Forgotten Slavery of Our Ancestors,’ offers a classroom-ready introduction to the history of Indigenous enslavement in What is Now the United States.

by Teaching Tolerance Staff | October 2020
Recognizing the ways that American enslavement and dispossession continue to shape our lives is a critical first step in working to address oppressive systems still in place. And students deserve an accurate reckoning of that legacy. As Hasan Kwame Jeffries, chair of our Teaching Hard History Advisory Board, wrote in his preface to that project, “Some say that slavery was our country’s original sin, but it is much more than that. Slavery is our country’s origin.”
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Teachers] [Indigenous] [Slavery] [Anti-Racism] [Accountability] [Systemic Racism]

The Numbers Don’t Speak for Themselves: Racial Disparities and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Justice System

by Rebecca C. Hetey, Jennifer L. Eberhardt | May 2018
Many scholars and activists assume the public would be motivated to fight inequality if only they knew the full extent of existing disparities. Ironically, exposure to extreme disparities can cause people to become more, not less, supportive of the very policies that create those disparities (Hetey & Eberhardt, 2014). Here, we focus on the criminal justice system—policing and incarceration in particular. We argue that bringing to mind racial disparities in this domain can trigger fear and stereotypic associations linking Blacks with crime. Therefore, rather than extending an invitation to reexamine the criminal justice system, the statistics about disparities may instead provide an opportunity to justify and rationalize the disparities found within that system. With the goals of spurring future research and mitigating this paradoxical and unintended effect, we propose three potential strategies for more effectively presenting information about racial disparities: (a) offer context, (b) challenge associations, and (c) highlight institutions.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Policing] [Prison System] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [Politics]

Dear White Parents Of My Black Child’s Friends: I Need Your Help

by Maralee Bradley | June 2016
I’ve been wrestling with talking to you about some things I think you need to know. I’ve wrestled with it because I feel my own sense of shame—shame that I didn’t know or understand these issues before they touched my family. I’ve felt fear that you’ll respond in subtle ways that make it clear you aren’t safe for my child. I’ve been concerned that you won’t believe me and then I’ll feel more angry than if I hadn’t said anything. But my son is getting older, and as he transitions from an adorable black boy to a strong black man, I know the assumptions about him will change. And I need your help in keeping him safe.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Assumptions] [Policing] [Colorblindness] [Systemic Racism] [Anti-Racism] [Individual Change] [Advocacy] [White Privilege]

Video: Black Professor Unleashes Flood of White Tears After On-Air Clash Ensues When Guest Says the British Empire ‘Wasn’t All Bad’

by Ashleigh Atwell | February 2020
A Black British academic ruffled some feathers when he deemed whiteness “a psychosis” and took Britain to task for its oppressive history.
Birmingham City University professor of black studies Dr. Kehinde Andrews made the comments on Sunday during a “Good Morning Britain” panel discussion about the use of “Empire” when referring to Britain and its territories. The talk was prompted by commentary from British Labour Party candidate Lisa Nandy, who argued the “Order of the British Empire” should be changed to the “Order of British Excellence,” per The Guardian.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [White Blindness] [History]

Influencers are Doing blackface to ‘show Solidarity’ with BLM

by Brit Dawson | June 2020
One group seemingly still clueless about how to support Black Lives Matter is influencers. First, they were posing at protests for clout, and now they’re doing blackface to ‘show solidarity’ with the movement. In an Instagram post, satirist and socio-political activist Saint Hoax shared screenshots of influencers who had painted their skin Black, along with a brief history of blackface. They wrote: “How can you ‘spread awareness’ about a subject you know so little about? If you genuinely care about a cause, the least you can do is educate yourself about it.” They continued: “It’s infuriating that we still need to educate people about the racist and painful history of blackface. We shouldn’t be having this conversation in 2020.”
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Accountability] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Supremacy] [Black Lives Matter] [White Culture] [Myths] [Strategies]

11 Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers

by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. | Updated January 2020
Black scientists, engineers, and inventors have made important contributions to the science of chemistry. Learn about black chemists and chemical engineers and their projects in the 19th and 21st centuries.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Teachers] [History]

Black Women Need to be Free; OPINION: We Must Work to Re-Build the System in Order to Amplify Black Women’s Voices and Prioritize Our Freedom

by Whitney Pirtle | July 2020
Black women live at the intersection of multiple systems of oppression: structural racism, structural sexism, and capitalism, which constrain the opportunity to live freely and fully. Thus, Kimberlé Crenshaw argued that “any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated.” Intersectional analysis should be employed as a unifying public health framework, especially as related to the pandemic and police brutality.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [Silencing POC] [Accountability] [Employment]

Whites Only: SURJ And The Caucasian Invasion of Racial Justice Spaces

by DiDi Delgago | April 2017
Anti-racism work with a white lens is inherently flawed. White-led anti-racism groups have existed for hundreds of years, and they’ve often been problematic, counterproductive, and just fucking weird since their inception. Take, for instance, the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society of 1833, which believed that slave owners were missing out on a business opportunity by not putting slaves on the payroll. They argued that paying slaves “would make them doubly valuable to [their] masters,” because paid laborers are more motivated than forced laborers. That’s the whitest thing I’ve ever heard, and I own two Hanson records. I can think of a thousand better reasons not to own a person aside from increased productivity… I suspect many white people combatting racism have been so busy checking their privilege that they’ve forgotten to check their egos. It seemed that one chapter finally got it right, and they did so by realizing they got it wrong.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Anti-Racism] [White Privilege] [Slavery] [History] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Supremacy] [Individual Change] [Reparations] [Black Lives Matter] [Accountability]