Featured
Corporate America Is No Longer Pretending to Care About Diversity. By Elie Mystal / The Nation – Illustration CNN
In what should be a surprise to no one, corporations are quietly trimming the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” teams they loudly championed in 2020.
A new study of over 600 companies from workforce analytics firm Revelio Labs reports that “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” officers, hired en masse after the protests following Floyd’s murder, are now being quietly phased out of their positions. The study found that the attrition for DEI officers was 33 percent at the end of 2022, compared with 21 percent for non-DEI roles.
Again, none of this is surprising. Corporate America is never going to be a leader in diversity or inclusion, because most of the white plutocrats running corporations do not want to hear from diverse voices—or hire them. Read more
Related: The right wing’s ‘woke’ obsession could come back to haunt it. By Molly Roberts / Wash Post
Political / Social
Florida NAACP moves towards initiating a travel advisory for Florida. By Jada Williams / ABC News
It’s what keeps Florida going; tourism. Visit Florida said 137.6 million people visited here in 2022, the most ever. In 2021, tourism brought $101.9 billion dollars into the state’s economy.
“Florida is a nice place to be. You got your beaches, you got your tourists, you see people all over the world,” said Gregory Franklin as he strolled the Tampa Riverwalk. But the Florida State Chapter of the NAACP has its sights set on hitting the state where it hurts most. Over the weekend, the Florida State NAACP unanimously voted to ask the NAACP National Board to issue a travel advisory. The advisory would ask people to forego visiting and moving to the sunshine state. Read more
The Unsettling Truth About Trump’s First Great Victory. By Thomas B. Edsall / NYT
This is more than an academic question. For the third time, Trump is the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.
Three books, published in the years following Trump’s election — “Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America” by John Sides of Vanderbilt, Michael Tesler of the University of California-Irvine and Lynn Vavreck of U.C.L.A.; “White Identity Politics” by Ashley Jardina of George Mason University; and “Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity” by Lilliana Mason of Johns Hopkins — shed light on Trump’s improbable political longevity. Each points to the centrality of racial animosity. Read more
Related: Whatever justice Donald Trump may face, America will need a reckoning. By Chauncey Devega / Salon
Who is Alvin Bragg? The prosecutor who could charge Donald Trump. By Ken Tran / USA Today
As the possibility of an indictment looms for Donald Trump, all eyes will be on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who could become the first prosecutor to ever criminally charge a former president. Here’s what to know about Bragg as the New York case heats up for Trump.
Bragg was born in Manhattan, New York and grew up in Harlem. He attended Trinity School before earning a bachelor’s degree in government at Harvard College and later a law degree at Harvard Law School. Bragg previously served as both a New York state and federal prosecutor. He made history in November 2021 when he became the first Black person elected as Manhattan District Attorney. Read more
Greg Abbott’s Authoritarian Power Grab of Houston’s Public Schools. By Sam Russek / TNR
The Texas governor wants to make a big name for himself in the conservative movement, and students are being left behind.
On March 15, the Texas Education Agency, or TEA, confirmed to the public that it plans to forcibly remove the Houston Independent School District’s democratically elected superintendent and board of trustees in June, effectively seizing control of its 276 schools and nearly 200,000 students. Even as campaign platitudes like “school choice” seem to imply a certain amount of local control, Abbott’s move has signaled that he’s willing to thrust his administration into possession of his state’s largest school district. If this sounds eerily similar to Ron DeSantis’s war on “woke” initiatives, that’s because it is. Read more
Inside a Brooklyn School Teaching the Course That Florida Banned. By Troy Closson / NYT
Shannah Henderson-Amare, center, teaches the new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies at Brooklyn Preparatory High School in Williamsburg. It is the only New York City school offering the class this year.Credit… José A. Alvarado Jr. for The New York Times
The GOP gains among ‘voters of color’ are overhyped. By Perry Bacon Jr. / Wash Post
The 2020 and 2022 election results have led Republicans, the news media and even some Democrats to suggest that we are seeing a major shift in American politics. Asian, Black and Latino voters have flipped to the Republicans in such large numbers that the Democrats are in huge trouble, the story goes. The GOP could become the party of a “multiracial working class.”
Not quite. Asian American, Black and Latino voters have shifted to the right over the past decade. That should delight Republican Party officials and worry Democratic ones. At the same time, voters of color have favored Democrats by more than 35 percentage points in every recent election. The news media and others who analyze politics shouldn’t emphasize the rightward shift so much that they obscure that these voting blocs remain very Democratic-leaning. Here’s what is really going on with voters of color: Read more
Chicago mayoral election: Vallas and Johnson split endorsements from Black politicians. By Tonia Hill / Slate
Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson.Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images and Scott Olson/Getty Images.
In just a few months, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson went from being a relatively unknown candidate in a crowded 2023 Chicago mayoral field to surging in the polls and cementing his place in the city’s April 4 runoff election against former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas. Johnson and Vallas represent opposing ideological stances that could push Chicago further left or right. Read more
Video Shows Virginia Man’s Death in Custody. Campbell Robertson and
Irvo Otieno’s death was a devastating ending to a journey that began when his family immigrated from Kenya when he was a young boy, “compelled by the American dream.”The Dinwiddie County prosecutor, Ann Cabell Baskervill, has charged seven sheriff’s deputies and three employees of the hospital with second-degree murder. On Tuesday afternoon, a grand jury in Dinwiddie County formally indicted the 10, confirming the prosecutor’s charges. Read more
Related: When Bystanders Step Between the Police and Black Men. By Brooke Jarvis / NYT
Disturbing history of negative health outcomes for Black pregnant women, study reveals. By Rehema Ellis / NBC News
A new study that factored in both race and income found that money didn’t matter in maternal health care. During childbirth, the richest Black women are more likely to die than the poorest white women. NBC News’ Rehema Ellis talks to an OBGYN and a recent mother about the findings. Watch here
Ethics / Morality / Religion
From Christchurch to Emanuel AME, we must recognize the patterns of white supremacy. By Daniel N. Boaz / RNS
In this June 20, 2015, file photo, Allen Sanders, right, kneels next to his wife, Georgette, both of McClellanville, South Carolina, as they pray at a sidewalk memorial in memory of the shooting victims in front of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
Reporters and government officials often refer to these shooters as “lone wolves” and their crimes as “one offs.” They study the background of these individuals to attempt to determine what led them to carry out such horrific and supposedly unusual crimes. However, a recent report published by the International Commission to Combat Religious Racism (ICCRR) suggests these attacks are not rare, and the perpetrators are seldom acting alone. The ICCRR report examines racially motivated attacks on places of worship and religious community centers in the United States and Canada. Read more
Antisemitism on Twitter has more than doubled since Elon Musk took over the platform – new research. By Carl Miller / The Conversation
In the days after Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, the social media platform saw a “surge in hateful conduct,” which its then safety chief put down to a “focused, short-term trolling campaign.”
New research suggests that when it comes to antisemitism, it was anything but. Rather, antisemitic tweets have more than doubled over the months since Musk took charge, according to research that I and colleagues at tech firm CASM Technology and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think tank conducted. Read more
Faith Leaders, Let’s Embrace the Racial/Ethnic Identity of Young People of Color. By Nabil Tueme / CT
Young BIPOC don’t leave their ethnic/racial identity at the door when they walk into their places of worship—and they don’t want to.
In 2022, nearly half of young people (47%) told Springtide they were moderately or extremely depressed, 55% reported being moderately or extremely stressed, and 45% said they were moderately or extremely lonely. For Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC hereafter), the mental health crisis is compounded by experiences of racial prejudice and discrimination. Research in psychology shows that these experiences are associated with elevated levels of trauma symptoms, depression, anxiety, and suicidality. Despite these experiences, a new study from Springtide, Navigating Injustice: A Closer Look at Race, Faith & Mental Health, reveals that young BIPOC are flourishing mentally and emotionally at rates comparable to their White peers. Read more
Why white Christian nationalists are in such a panic. By Jenifer Rubin / Wash Post
You might find it strange that a large segment of the Republican base thinks Whites are the true victims of racism and that Christians are under attack. After all, America’s biggest racial group is still Whites; the most common religious affiliation remains Christianity. Whites and Christians dominate elected office at all levels, the judiciary and corporate America. What’s the problem?
Well, there is a straightforward reason for the freak-out, and an explanation for why former president Donald Trump developed such a close bond with white Christian nationalists. This group feels besieged because they are losing ground. “The newly-released 2022 supplement to the PRRI Census of American Religion — based on over 40,000 interviews conducted last year — confirms that the decline of white Christians (Americans who identify as white, non-Hispanic and Christian of any kind) as a proportion of the population continues unabated,” writes Robert P. Jones, president of the Public Religion Research Institute. Read more
The Black Church After Covid. By Kristal Brent Zook / The Root
Our special report on how churches took action to serve their flocks in the wake of a devastating pandemic.
Many wondered if the church would ever be back. And if it did return, would it be the same? Now, looking back it’s clear that the Black church as an institution has been radically transformed over the last three years. Not only has it survived, but it has thrived. Many now say they can see light again, as so many houses of worship across the country have learned to expand and grow in ways they couldn’t possibly have foreseen before the pandemic. Read more
Related: Here’s How Black Churches Were Transformed By COVID-19 Pandemic. The Root Video
Historical / Cultural
Who are the ‘Courageous Eight’ in 1965 Selma Civil Rights marches? By Saleen Martin / USA Today
Their names are Ulysses Blackmon Sr., Amelia Boynton Robinson, Ernest Doyle, Marie Foster, James Gildersleeve, Rev. John D. Hunter, Rev. Henry Shannon Sr. and Rev. Frederick Douglas Reese.
Nearly 60 years ago, Black leaders organized three marches from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, the state’s capitol, in protest of legislation preventing Black people from voting. The three marches, with the final occurring on March 21, 1965, were led by historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis and Rev. Hosea Williams. But historians and Selma natives say the marches wouldn’t have come about without eight people in particular, all members of the Dallas County (Alabama) Voters League, known as the Courageous Eight. Read more
Myrlie Evers, civil-rights pioneer, still marches against racism at 90. By Susan Page / USA Today
As the 60th anniversary of Medgar Evers’ assassination approaches, his widow reflects on the nation’s unfinished business.
Myrlie Evers felt her temper rising as she sat in the White House theater behind President Joe Biden last month, watching a screening of the award-winning movie “Till.” She appreciated the invitation and had no complaints about the film’s portrayal of her as the young wife of civil rights organizer Medgar Evers. What riled her was the reminder of the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955, the reminder of what the violence of the civil rights struggle had cost his family and hers. And of the unfinished business that remains. Read more
A White woman re-creates the lives of her Black ancestors. By Maud Newton / Wash Post
Rachel Jamison Webster’s family history, ‘Benjamin Banneker and Us,’ is a thoughtful blend of research, conversation and imagination. Shown is a portrait of American author, astronomer and surveyor Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806). (Stock Montage/Getty Images)
In 2016, Rachel Jamison Webster learned from a cousin that her family is related to Benjamin Banneker, a Black man born free in Maryland in 1731 who gained prominence as a clockmaker, almanac writer, self-taught astronomer and surveyor of the land that became Washington, D.C. Webster’s years of researching, imagining and feeling her way into the histories of her ancestors and their descendants have culminated in her sweeping, frequently insightful, often speculative and sometimes extremely moving “Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family.” Read more
Aaron Douglas’ History Lesson on the Responsibility of Black Artists. By Tiffany Pennamon / AAIHS
Aaron Douglas mural above the door, Cravath Hall (Nashville Public Library, Special Collections)
In an interview with Fisk University professor Leslie Collins, Harlem Renaissance painter and educator Aaron Douglas recalled his admiration for the “spiritual power” undergirding Negro life. He noted that if Black artists can tap into this “enormous” and “spiritual” power by writing about it or drawing it, it would be like tapping into “a gold mine.”1 Douglas’ observation responds to one question that early Harlem Renaissance leaders continuously sought to answer: what is the role of the Negro artist? Read more
How a Black woman gospel singer helped pioneer rock ‘n’ roll. By Natasha S. Alford / The Grio
Journalist Cheryl Wills’ new book “Isn’t Her Grace Amazing!” details the untold stories of Black women gospel singers overlooked by the history books. Shown is Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
When you think of rock ‘n’ roll, you might not think of high heels and a long church coat. But it turns out one of the pioneers of the genre was a Black woman who survived Jim Crow and became one of the most influential guitar players in American history. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, is just one of the many Black women gospel singers, profiled in a new book by NY1 TV anchor and journalist Cheryl Wills, called “Isn’t Her Grace Amazing! The Women Who Changed Gospel Music.” Read more
Growing demand for HBCU bands’ talent increases their time in national spotlight. By Darren A. Nichols / Andscape
Bethune-Cookman University band director Donovan Wells leads the Marching Wildcats onto the field to perform before the 65th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 19 in Daytona Beach, Florida. James Gilbert/Getty Images
When Bethune-Cookman University’s Marching Wildcats band took the field at the Daytona 500 in February, it put historically Black colleges and universities’ culture in front of the world. As the most prestigious race in the NASCAR series, the Daytona 500 boasts the largest financial purse to win and historically draws the highest television crowd. For Bethune-Cookman, it made leading the top drivers down the iconic track and playing in front of about 15,000 fans afterward a huge deal. Read more
Sports
The Racial Politics of the N.B.A. Have Always Been Ugly. By Jay Caspian King / The New Yorker
A new book argues that the real history of the league is one of strife between Black labor and white ownership. Shown is Spencer Haywood of the Denver Rockets outside the federal court house in Los Angeles, in November of 1970.Photograph from AP
In “Black Ball,” a new book about Black players in the National Basketball Association in the nineteen-seventies, Theresa Runstedtler, a professor at American University and a former member of the Toronto Raptors dance team, lays out a compelling history of the league, and the origins of what we today call player empowerment. Read more
Willis Reed, Hall of Fame Center for Champion Knicks, Dies at 80. By Harvey Araton / NYT
He was beloved by New York fans for his willingness to play hurt, as memorably exemplified in the decisive Game 7 of the 1970 N.B.A. finals at Madison Square Garden.
Willis Reed, the brawny and inspirational hub of two Knicks championship teams that captivated New York in the early 1970s with a canny, team-oriented style of play, died on Tuesday. He was 80. In an era when Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were the more celebrated big men, Reed was a highly skilled 6-foot-9 center with a resolute physicality that was much admired over a 10-year career, though it was marred by injury and ended at 31. Read more
Magic Johnson joins Josh Harris’s bid to purchase Commanders. By Nicki Jhabvala, Mark Maske and Liz Clarke / Wash Post
NBA great Earvin “Magic” Johnson has joined the investment group led by Josh Harris that is attempting to purchase the Washington Commanders from owner Daniel Snyder, according to a spokesperson for Magic Johnson Enterprises.
It was not clear how large of a stake in the team Johnson, 63, would own if Harris’s group is successful. Johnson previously was involved in Harris’s unsuccessful effort last year to purchase the Denver Broncos from the Pat Bowlen Trust. A group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton bought the Broncos for $4.65 billion, a record price for an NFL franchise. That deal was approved by the NFL’s team owners in August. Read more
Deion Sanders’ take on why he left Jackson State football for Colorado. J.T. Keith / Mississippi Clarion Ledger
Colorado football coach Deion Sanders told The Pivot Podcast that resources wasn’t the only the reason he left Jackson State.
“It was the ideology, the thought process, the forward thinking,” Sanders told hosts Channing Crowder, Fred Taylor and Ryan Clark on March 7. “It was meeting me at the crossroad. That’s what was involved in that.” Sanders’ main concern during his tenure at Jackson State was the stability of his assistant coaches and support staff. Sanders was concerned about the business model of HBCUs and how they operated. That was one of the reasons he felt going to a Power Five school would benefit not only him but his staff. Read more
Dusty Baker, World Series champion: On life, baseball and all the love he’s received. By jayson Stark / The Atheletic
Just 135 days. That’s all. Just 135 days since the magical night when Dusty Baker finally did that thing he’d waited a lifetime to do.
That’s 135 life-spinning days since he finally managed the game where his team won a World Series. But it isn’t only Dusty Baker’s Baseball Reference page that’s different now. You know what’s gone down in those 135 days? We asked him to tell us about it. We’re guessing his life and times since Nov. 5 haven’t gone quite like your life and times. For one thing, Obama checked in … because of course he did. So did Barry Bonds and Sandy Koufax … and Snoop Dogg. Read more
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