Featured
Why We Must Teach African American Studies: A Call to Action. By Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy and Johnetta Betch Cole / Diverse Issues in Higher Ed
“It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten”— saying in the Twi language spoken in Ghana.
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida and other right-wing conservative legislators would like us to believe that the field of African American studies is “woke’ indoctrination and has no value in K-12 classrooms or college and university curricula. The governor has even promoted the idea that teaching about anti-Black racism in U.S. history makes white children feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, and psychological distress,” without any consideration of Black students’ feelings of isolation and unimportance. Clearly, legislators’ denouncement of African American studies is a denouncement of Black people, Black history, and Black culture. It sends a clear message of disrespect for a group of people who have lived and worked in the U.S. for hundreds of years, voted as citizens, fought in consequential American wars, and significantly contributed to American culture. Read more
Related: The Other Children in the DeSantis Culture War. By Charles M. Blow / NYT
Related: Why Racial Discussions Should Also Focus on Progress. By John McWhorter / NYT
Political / Social
US sees white supremacist propaganda jump to all-time high: ADL / By Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill
The United States saw its highest-ever distribution of white supremacist propaganda last year, jumping 38 percent, according to data collected by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
The group recorded 6,751 incidents of propaganda activity in 2022 — a jump from 4,876 in 2021 that the ADL attributed to growth in the number of white supremacist groups and their membership. “There’s no question that white supremacists and antisemites are trying to terrorize and harass Americans and have significantly stepped up their use of propaganda as a tactic to make their presence known in communities nationwide,” Jonathan Greenblatt, president of ADL, said in a statement alongside the report. Read more
Democrats propose countermeasure to GOP’s Parents Bill of Rights. By Arthur Jones II and Alexander Hutzler / ABC News
Democrats say their bill would advance “inclusive” vision for public education.
In response to a Republican bill to boost parents’ rights in the classroom, Democrats are out with a proposal they say will advance an “inclusive, aspirational, and affirmative vision for public education.” The Bill of Rights for Students and Parents, unveiled by Oregon Rep. Suzanne Bonamici on Friday, calls for well-rounded education “rooted in evidence-based practices” to support teachers, students and families. Read more
Calling out Louisville police racism is a start. But only a start. By Eugene Robinson / Wash Post
The Justice Department’s finding that the Louisville Metro Police Department “unlawfully discriminates against Black people in its enforcement activities” is stunning. But it’s not surprising.
The Hispanic experience in jail looks more like the White one now. By Keith Humphreys / Wash Post
An inmate walks down a prison hallway in San Quentin, Calif., in 2017. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Many politicians, activists and academics have long characterized the criminal justice system as biased against Black and Brown people, with the catchall term “Brown” usually referring to Hispanics. But the latest data shows that Hispanics’ experience of criminal justice and law enforcement is becoming increasingly similar to that of Whites, not Blacks. This little-noticed trend has major implications for the future of criminal justice reform. Read more
A son kneels for the anthem. A father raises the flag. Both are patriots. By Theodore R. Johnson / Wash Post
A participant holds an American flag during a naturalization ceremony held for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services annual Independence Day celebration on July 1, 2022 in New York City. (Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)
The Maternity Care Deserts of Georgia’s Black Belt. By Margo Snipe / Capital One
Georgia is one of the most dangerous states in which to give birth. One reason: A decades-old state regulatory system gives rural, Black Georgians less access to maternity care.
The health care system has disinvested in Georgia’s rural Black communities at disproportionately high rates, forcing families to travel dozens of miles and across state lines to receive critical care. Many of the state’s poorest regions battle the greatest barriers to health care, and face the worst outcomes. A Capital B analysis of data from Georgia’s Obstetrical and Gynecological Society found that, since 1994, more labor and delivery units have been closed in Black counties than in white counties. Over the same period, twice the number of labor and delivery units have opened in white counties compared with Black rural counties. Read more
Racial bias in home appraising prompts changes in the industry. By Jennifer Ludden / NPR
Accusations of racial bias are fueling changes in the home appraisal industry. Companies say modernizing the technology and data they use will help limit discrimination.
A Black couple in California has settled a discrimination case over their home’s value. They were shocked in 2020 when a white appraiser put it at just under a million dollars. Tenisha Tate-Austin recently told a federal panel how they scheduled another appraisal, this time with a white friend posing as the owner. Our friend Jan brought over a family photo. We took down our family photos and replaced artwork so there was no trace of us in our own home, a term often referred to as whitewashing. That second assessment – nearly half a million dollars higher. Now, this is an extreme example, but research finds that homes in Black and Latino areas are more likely to be undervalued, and that is fueling a push to revamp the appraisal process to limit racial bias. NPR’s Jennifer Ludden explains. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Harriet Tubman monument unveiled, replacing Columbus statue in Newark. By Liam Reilly and Kia Fatahi / CNN
Architect Nina Cooke John stands with the Harriet Tubman monument she designed, titled “Shadow of a Face,” in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday.
A monument honoring famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman was unveiled in Newark, New Jersey, this week, replacing a statue of Christopher Columbus removed in 2020 amid social injustice protests, officials said. The 25-foot-tall monument, titled “Shadow of a Face,” was revealed Thursday at the heart of the city’s recently renamed Harriet Tubman Square, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka announced in a statement. “In a time when so many cities are choosing to topple statutes that limit the scope of their people’s story, we have chosen to erect a monument that spurs us into our future story of exemplary strength and solidity,” Baraka said. Read more
The Real Wakanda: How an East African Kingdom Changed Theodore Roosevelt and the Course of American Democracy. By Jonathan L. Earle / Politico
Visiting the kingdom of Buganda in 1909 had a profound effect on Theodore Roosevelt. | Library of Congress
When former American President Theodore Roosevelt reached the east African kingdom of Buganda near the end of his epic 1909 safari, he expected to find more of what he already knew: exotic animals to hunt and an African landscape filled with “wild savages,” as he wrote in a letter to a friend. But what he discovered instead on that Christmas Eve was something extraordinary: one of the most politically and socially sophisticated monarchies in the world, a real-life kingdom that could have been a model for the fictional Wakanda. Buganda — geographically located near its Marvel counterpart in sub-Saharan east Africa — changed the course of American democracy. Read more
The crucial takeaway from the backlash against ‘Creed III’ stars. By Peniel E. Joseph / CNN
Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors, two of the most talented actors of their generation, are redefining Black masculinity in America.
These seemingly isolated but ultimately related controversies help to illuminate the persistent toxicity of long-standing stereotypes about Black men. The public displays of friendship between Jordan and Majors represent a significant and welcome disruption of the cultural boundaries that too often impede Black men’s ability to publicly express love for each other. What makes such public displays of Black male love such as these so striking and, to some, so very threatening? Read more
Geraldine Brooks’ novel ‘Horse’ reckons with racism past and present. By Winfred Morgan / NCR
In Horse, author Geraldine Brooks’ control of her craft is on full display. Her multiple plots and sets of characters collaborate to achieve a single effect — an effect that is itself unsettling.
Readers will come away from the novel wondering at the intransigence of racism in America and, if they are people of faith, uncomfortable with the fact that worship groups have not done a better job of denting the self-interest that helps racism hold sway in the U.S. The novel weaves three main stories: that of an enslaved person tending to a colt who becomes a phenomenal racehorse; that of a Nigerian American grad student who, having happened upon a lost painting of the horse, makes Lexington the focus of his dissertation; and that of the horse itself. Read more
2023 Finalists for the Pauli Murray Book Prize in Black Intellectual History. By AAIHS Editors
The African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS) is pleased to announce the finalists for the fifth annual Pauli Murray Book Prize for the best book in Black intellectual history.
Named after lawyer, author, and women’s rights activist-intellectual Pauli Murray, this prize recognizes the best book concerning Black intellectual history (broadly conceived) published between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 by a member of AAIHS. Read more
Black Music Sunday: A Women’s History Month salute to three remarkable jazz vocalists. By Denise Oliver Veldez / Daily Kos
Carmen McRae, left, sings with Betty Carter in 1980. Jazz history writers tend to focus on legendary Black female jazz vocalists Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan. But for anyone who’s long loved jazz or is exploring it, it’s imperative to include the body of work from both McRae and Carter, which has contributed enormously to the catalog of female vocal stylings.
For this second Sunday of Women’s History Month, we’re showcasing three of my favorite women in jazz: Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, and newcomer Samara Joy, who, at 23, just made history last month with Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best New Artist. Thanks to Joy, who pays tribute to those who came before her while developing her own style, a whole new generation of jazz listeners are exploring the genre and its history for the first time. Read more and listen here
Behind the Scenes with Thelonious Monk in “Rewind & Play.” By Richard Brody / The New Yorker
Alain Gomis’s film is a treasure trove of Monk in performance and a revealing look at common documentary practices. “Rewind & Play” shows the cinematic methods by which a fabricated and tailored view of Thelonious Monk’s life and work were crafted. Photograph courtesy Grasshopper Films
The premise of Alain Gomis’s “Rewind & Play” is as exciting as the film itself. While doing research for a fictional film about Thelonious Monk, Gomis gained access to the rushes—the unedited raw footage, including outtakes—for a documentary about Monk that had been made for French television. (The footage was shot in December, 1969, and the half-hour-long film, “Jazz Portrait: Thelonious Monk,” was broadcast in 1970.) “Rewind & Play,” which opens Friday at bam, is an hour-long reëdit of this footage, much of it unreleased until now, and it’s a remarkable film at many levels. Read more
Sports
An all-Black Little League team made history without playing a game. By Chris Lamb / Wash Post
Cannon Street players and coaches watch the Little League World Series championship game in 1955. (Little League Baseball and Softball)
The Cannon Street team wasn’t going all this distance in a broken-down bus on unfriendly roads to play in the World Series. The team knew it would not be allowed to compete.Yet it became what Creighton Hale, the former chief executive of Little League Baseball, called “the most significant amateur baseball team in history.” Before white supremacists stood outside newly integrated schools to prevent Black children from attending, they stood at the edge of Little League baseball fields to prevent Black boys from playing baseball with White boys. Read more
Tears flow as Howard men earn first NCAA bid since 1992. By John Feinstein / Wash Post
Howard Coach Kenny Blakeney and the Bison are headed to the NCAA tournament after defeating Norfolk State to win the MEAC tournament. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
Kenny Blakeney couldn’t stop crying. It was 3:30 on Saturday afternoon at Scope Arena, Howard had just ended a 31-year NCAA tournament drought with a heart-stopping 65-64 victory over Norfolk State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament final, and the tears were flowing everywhere. Read more
Black former Iowa football players vindicated by settlement Lawyer says. By Chad Leistikow / Hawk Central
The lead attorney who sued the University of Iowa for racial discrimination within the football program said his clients have been “vindicated” by the $4.175 million settlement agreement that was finalized Monday.
The 12 Black former football players were set to receive, on average, $184,200 apiece from the settlement agreement, with about $1.9 million going to legal fees. Tulsa-based civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons, in an e-mail, touted the additional measures outlined in the settlement, including $90,000 for the former players to earn their graduate degrees; paid mental-health counseling for the next year; and the assistance of Dr. Leonard Moore, founder of the National Black Student-Athlete Summit, to assist Iowa’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in athletics through at least May of 2024. Read more
After the N.B.A., J.R. Smith Was Lost. Golf Became His Guide. By Jonathan Abrams / NYT
Smith was bored and confused when his basketball career abruptly ended in 2020. His search for self took him to a golf team at an H.B.C.U.
In the fall of 2021, at 36 years old, Smith was in North Carolina A&T’s freshman class, becoming one of several Black athletes — including Chris Paul, Deion Sanders, Eddie George and Mo Williams — who turned to H.B.C.U.s later in life for schooling or jobs. Smith earned a 4.0 grade-point average and the Aggies’ Academic Athlete of the Year in his first year. He proudly shared his accomplishment on social media. He wants to be involved in golf. He’s interested in becoming an athletic director at an H.B.C.U. He may even coach children, he said, “teach them the game of basketball, as opposed to running and chucking, this new-age game.” Read more
Colin Kaepernick on new book and possible NFL future: “Passion is still there.” By Adiaana Diaz and Analisa Novak / CBS News
The off-season looks different for Colin Kaepernick. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback is a new father, is involved in various media projects, runs a publishing company, and is the man behind “The Colin Kaepernick Foundation,” a nonprofit that aims to empower Black and Brown youth.
He is also the author of a just-released book titled, “Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game,” which he co-wrote with Eve L. Ewing, a professor and sociologist at the University of Chicago. Geared toward young adults, the graphic novel reveals the early years of Kaepernick’s life before he became a professional athlete and made headlines by taking a knee during the national anthem, sparking a movement within the NFL to protest police brutality and racial injustice. Read more
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