Early last week, on April 12th, two Black men were arrested inside a Philadelphia Starbucks. The store manager had called the cops, saying there was a disturbance, that these men were refusing to leave the premises, and that she was scared. In response to the call, a group of police officers came inside the establishment, did not ask the two men any questions about their presence in the Starbucks, and immediately handcuffed them and walked …
It is very easy, I’ve found, to look out and look around and see behaviors and interactions that are silently swept into the cyclical system that White supremacy has made out of our country. It is valuable as it is easy to analyze and self-educate in response to these observations. A habit equally if not more valuable to the resistance to oppressive systems, however, is the ability to look inward to analyze and learn from …
For most of the 20th century the prison population in the United States remained below 300,000 prisoners. By the year 2000 the population rose to over one million prisoners. When numerically compared to other western nations, the US prison population rises to the top. The racial disproportion in prison populations is unmistakable; African American men make up 39% of the prison population though they represent less than 12% of the total adult male population. (Bobo …
Today when we talk about mass incarceration, many people may think that we are talking about a social problem. Yes, it is a big social problem, since America has become the country with highest incarceration rate for years, which is much higher than the incarceration rates of all other western industrial countries. Although each year the United States federal and states government spends about 70 billion dollars on incarceration, some prisons like which in Texas …
Stephon Clark is not the first Black man to be shot and killed for posing an imaginary threat to the nearby community. Unfortunately, he will most likely not be the last person of color to fall victim to police brutality and ignorance. The police officers claimed that Clark was facing them and seemed dangerous and like he was holding a gun. Contradictory to their statements, the autopsy report says Clark was shot from the back …
Notice anything in this photo? Do you think you’d be able to pick out your shade? Tarte is a cosmetics company, prominent in high-end make-up stores like Sephora and Ulta Beauty. On their website, they boast their dedication to cruelty-free, vegan skincare and cosmetics that are both ecologically friendly and high quality. Tarte has recently made headlines for their controversial new line of Shape Tape Foundation. By glancing at the photo above from the lens …
On April 6th, 2018, The U.S. Justice Department announced that it might formally enter a lawsuit accusing Harvard University of discriminating against Asian American applicants as the agency probes its admissions policies for potential civil rights violations. On April 10th, the case moved a step further as a U.S. district judge proposed a tentative October trial date and suggested ground rules for admissions records to be made public in upcoming months. Harvard denies the allegations …
Derald Wing Sue (2005) describes the masternarrative as white talk that “depicts historical and cultural themes of racial progress, of a fair and just society, of equal access and opportunity, of meritocracy, and of colorblindness.” This idea of reality, often held by well intending white people, is one that denies the harmful effects, both past and present, of racism and, thus, helps to perpetuate it. The perpetuation of racism and prejudice can be depicted in …
Today I want to speak about the National Football League, and the issues occurring in regards to the National Athem protests. This has been an ongoing event for the past few years, especially after the “leader” of this protest, Colin Kaepernick decided to start it. As a result, over the past couple of years, the players have been closely studied, and criticize for every movement they made during and before the National Anthem of an …
Earlier this year an Ohio basketball team was banished from their recreational league for wearing racist jerseys during a game. The members of both basketball teams were high school students from West Clermont High School and Kings High, but they were not affiliated with the school districts other than renting the space hand having players that were students. The members of one of the basketball teams showed up for the game wearing jerseys that read …
The fact that racism is a big problem will most likely not come as a surprise to many people. Yet, there are people who are just now seeing racism as a “big problem” in the United States. According to a Pew research center poll, 58% now see racism as a big problem in the United States. What about the other 42%? These are the people who either think racism is somewhat a problem, small problem, …
“The history of America is too big for one building.” – Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Recently, I had a conversation about the variety of museums in my hometown of Capitol Hill and about the wonderful exhibits surrounding the Washington Mall. The person I spoke with had recently visited, they shared, and they loved it. But they didn’t visit the African American museum because they didn’t like …