By reading this article in the Healing Racism Toolkit, you have chosen to explore an experience that can change your thinking and interaction with other human beings that seem different from you but if you really really think about it, we as human beings, are very much alike.
by John Biewen, with special guest Chenjerai Kumanyika | February 2017
Part 1 of a 14-part documentary series exploring whiteness in America—where it came from, what it means, and how it works. Just what is going on with white people? Police shootings of unarmed African Americans. Acts of domestic terrorism by white supremacists. The renewed embrace of raw, undisguised white-identity politics. Unending racial inequity in schools, housing, criminal justice, and hiring. Some of this feels new, but in truth it’s an old story. Why? Where did the notion of “whiteness” come from? What does it mean? What is whiteness for? Listen to the Podcast or download the transcript.
TAGS: [Assumptions] [Podcast] [White Culture] [White Supremacy] [2010’s]
How would the world look in 50 years with true racial and environmental justice?
How can a community be safe for ALL neighbors, friends, and visitors, especially in the context of the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman experience or other examples of a person of color being killed in situations in which if they were white, the killing probably would not have occurred?
by Ishaan Tharoor | September 2016
The history of slavery in the United States justifies reparations for African Americans, argues a recent report by a U.N.-affiliated group based in Geneva. This conclusion was part of a study by the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, a body that reports to the international organization’s High Commissioner on Human Rights. The group of experts, which includes leading human rights lawyers from around the world, presented its findings to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday, pointing to the continuing link between present injustices and the dark chapters of American history. “In particular, the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent,” the report stated. “Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching.”
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Reparations] [Slavery] [History] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [Accountability] [White Supremacy]
by Democracy Now | September 2016
(Video Transcript) For a third night in a row, protesters chanted “release the video!” as they took to the streets and called for police to release video of the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. His grieving family has been shown the dashboard and body camera videos of his fatal shooting, but Charlotte Police Chief Kerr Putney says he had no plans to release the video at this time. We get response from Rev. Dr. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP and Moral Mondays leader. His most recent book is titled “Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement.”
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Policing] [Black Lives Matter] [Police Shootings]
by George Joseph | April 2017
Emails show that undercover officers were able to pose as protesters even within small groups, giving them extensive access to details about protesters’ whereabouts and plans. In one email, an official notes that an undercover officer is embedded within a group of seven protesters on their way to Grand Central Station. This intimate access appears to have helped police pass as trusted organizers and extract information about demonstrations. In other emails, officers share the locations of individual protesters at particular times. The NYPD emails also include pictures of organizers’ group text exchanges with information about protests, suggesting that undercover officials were either trusted enough to be allowed to take photos of activists’ phones or were themselves members of a private planning group text.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Policing] [Black Lives Matter] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [White Culture] [Systemic Racism]