It’s Day 19 of Black History Month and We Whites Are All Going to STFU and Listen.

[CONTENT NOTE: police abuse resulting in the death of 14-year-old child with no accountability. No violent images in this post.]

Today we will STFU and listen to Deanna Hardy Joseph and Andrew Joseph, Jr., who lost their 14-year-old son to police abuse with no justice or accountability, and the team at Black Lives Matter Global Network who co-signed their letter. Those of us who are able and wish to help can do so in several different ways.

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It’s Day 17 of Black History Month and We Whites Are All Going to STFU and Listen.

At the intersection of patriarchy and anti-Black racism stands the Black woman. There’s even a word for it: misogynoir. And it’s a necessary word, too, because multiple axes of oppression (like misogyny and anti-Black racism) do not compound each other by simple addition. Instead, they contort and magnify each other in a way that is distinct, and it works a lot more like multiplication.

Can Black women experience anti-Black racism in the same way Black men do? YES.

Can Black women experience misogyny in the same way white women do? OF COURSE.

Can Black women experience bigotry and oppression that is unique to the wholeness of their identities as “Black women”? YESSSSS.

And add LGBTQ+, disabled, or any other axes of privilege/oppression and the harm and marginalization multiply. Again.

There are white feminist women being racists toward Black women in the feminist movement (a well-documented phenomenon since the earliest feminist organizing that unfortunately continues to this very day). And Black men being misogynistic and patriarchal toward Black women (also a well-documented phenomenon).

Misogynoir manifests in too many ways to enumerate here, but one example that comes readily to mind is when police assume a Black woman who is dressed appropriately for warm weather is a sex worker, and they then proceed to degrade, harass, arrest or assault her. (Not that mistreating sex workers is EVER okay, in any context.) The misogynoir lies in the initial assumption: the stereotyping and overt sexualizing of Black women, because they are Black women. The consequence of that assumption is harm to Black women.

I have been privileged and honored to know and to work with Black women over the course of my time living in New York, and even more fortunate to count some Black women as my friends.* While they face not only sexism and anti-Black racism but their twisted cousin, misogynoir, in everyday life, my respect, empathy and anger on their behalf only continues to grow, as I do.

WAIT. Now I owe you all an apology! All of that^ was a way-too-wordy prelude (from the white woman who is supposed to be S-ing TFU and listening!) to introducing perhaps my favorite historical figure ever, a Black woman. It just felt necessary to emphasize this context in which she lived her life, because it makes her all the more extraordinary for being who she was, and doing what she did.

Her name is Florynce Rae Kennedy. A.k.a. Flo.

Florynce Rae (“Flo”) Kennedy
1916-2000

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It’s Day 16 of Black History Month and We Whites Are All Going to STFU and Listen.

I’ve written, quoted and shared petitions from Color of Change many times here. Today we’ll listen to their statements about anti-protest laws being passed all over the country. Apparently criminalizing Black voting just doesn’t go far enough; obviously Black voices need to be criminalized, too.

Criminalizing protest was always going to be the next step on the fascist/conservative agenda. First, members of the Bush-Cheney war criminal cabal avoided exposure to protests at their public appearances by designating “First Amendment zones.” People could protest there – and only there – safely away from the possibility of crossing into any executive branch criminal’s line of sight or earshot.

Bu that just didn’t go far enough for the fascists and conservatives. Why would they stop there? It’s not like there was a concerted media push to expose “First Amendment zones” for the (very likely unconstitutional) sham that they were, much less any appetite to sue the administration and consequently lose precious access to Big Willies in the government and military throwing glamorous parties and running exciting wars. Since no one stopped them at the point of “First Amendment zones,” OF COURSE they’re going farther and outlawing protest outright.

This should teach us all something important about what really scares powerful public officials and America’s owners, whom they so ably serve. Which, in turn, illustrates why we so badly need more, bigger and louder protest movements.

Nationwide general strike, anyone?

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Iris, our right to protest is under threat.

It’s been nearly two years since millions of people around the world took to the streets in historic numbers for what became the longest, largest, and most sustained movement to stand up for Black lives.¹Our persistent, loud, and clear voices, as well as organizing efforts were instrumental in obtaining a modicum of accountability for George Floyd.

Since then there have been over 100 anti-protest bills proposed across the country! Thirteen of those bills have been passed,² and in 2022 already, several bills have been newly introduced or re-introduced.³

Some of the anti-protest laws proposed and passed actually grant immunity to drivers who run into protesters with their cars or use force against a protester like how Kyle Rittenhouse did!

But Iris, we cannot be stopped and we cannot be silenced. From the March on Washington to the Black Lives Matter movement, protest is an essential tool for our freedom and we will fight to protect it.

Join us in demanding the Department of Justice defends our Constitutional right to protest.

Iris, these laws, often backed by organizations affiliated with police unions, are an attempt to criminalize free speech, punish those who speak up for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, and offer specific protections for counter-protesters who harm us.⁴ In fact, police unions have advocated for anti-protest bills in 14 states, and bills proposed in at least 9 states include sponsorship from current or former law enforcement officers.⁵

Here’s just a sampling of some of what we’re up against:

Several laws include provisions that would strip people of public benefits, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and unemployment benefits, if they are convicted.⁶ These laws are trying to punish people by taking away their ability to feed and house their families!

A Tennessee law would make it a felony for demonstrators to camp at the state Capitol. The result? People would lose their right to vote.⁷

In Florida, Oklahoma, and Iowa, laws grant immunity to drivers who run into protesters with their cars.⁸

A proposed bill in Indiana would ban anyone who was convicted from getting a state job or running for elected office.⁹

And laws in states like Georgia include provisions that would create civil immunity for a “volunteer” who uses or threatens to use force against a protester.

Iris, the Department of Justice has the power to make an impact by condemning these laws and supporting legal and advocacy efforts to fight them.

As history has shown us, where racial justice protests flourish, anti-protest laws follow.¹⁰

It’s time we break the cycle of silencing and criminalization by demanding the Department of Justice fight for our right to protest.

Until Justice is Real,

Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Malachi, Megan, Ernie, Palika, Ariel, Madison, Trevor, Erick, Ana, Kristiana, McKayla and the Color Of Change team

REFERENCES:

1. Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in US History (PAYWALLED): https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html

2. US Protest Law Tracker https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/?location=&status=&issue=&date=custom&date_from=2020-05-01&date_to=2022-02-02&type=

3. US Protest Law Tracker: https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/

4. It’s not just voting: Legislators have introduced 100 state bills targeting protesting (PAYWALLED): https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/13/its-not-just-voting-legislators-have-introduced-100-state-bills-targeting-protesting/

5. New anti-protest laws cast a long shadow on First Amendment rights: https://publicintegrity.org/politics/new-anti-protest-laws-cast-a-long-shadow-on-first-amendment-rights/

6. Minn. lawmaker proposes revoking convicted protesters’ student loans, food stamps: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/minn-lawmaker-proposes-revoking-convicted-protesters-student-loans-food-stamps-n1264549

7. Tennessee legislature cracks down on protesters, making it a felony to camp overnight outside Capitol: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/12/tennessee-passes-law-targeting-protesters-makes-capitol-camping-felony/3354879001/

8. G.O.P. Bills Target Protesters (and Absolve Motorists Who Hit Them (PAYWALLED): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/us/politics/republican-anti-protest-laws.html

9. G.O.P. Bills Target Protesters (and Absolve Motorists Who Hit Them (PAYWALLED): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/us/politics/republican-anti-protest-laws.html

10. Arresting Dissent: Legislative Restrictions on the Right to Protest: https://pen.org/arresting-dissent/

__________

Just FYI, here are some other stories I could have written about today:

Washington Post, Breaking News email alert:

Home buyers in Black neighborhoods were disproportionately squeezed as investors bought record share of homes in metro areas in 2021

Last year investors bought nearly 1 in 7 homes sold in America’s top metropolitan areas, the most in at least two decades. An analysis of 40 major metro areas reveals unequal levels of investor activity, with Southern cities and Black neighborhoods disproportionately affected.

__________

New York Times: New York Today email newsletter:

Ignored by the media and pushed aside by the police, families and supporters of Black women are building their own missing persons operations online.

__________

New York Daily News online edition:

Proposed elementary school merger stirs debate over race, education in East Village

A proposed merger of two Manhattan elementary schools with sharply differing student demographics and enrollment numbers is stirring up debate over race, gentrification and education in the East Village.

__________
Day 1 of Black History Month 2022 (Lori Teresa Yearwood) is here.
Day 2 (Mallence Bart-Williams) is here.
Day 3 (Emmett Till) is here.
Day 4 (A Tale of Two Citizens) is here.
Day 5 (Trayvon Martin) is here.
Day 6 (Franchesca Ramsey) is here.
Day 7 (National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and the Black Aids Institute) is here.
Day 8 (extreme racial disparities in marijuana arrests) is here.
Day 9 (Summer of Soul/1969 Harlem Cultural Festival) is here.
Day 10 (current and historic racist domestic terrorism, Steve Phillips/Democracy in Color) is here.
Day 11 (Gee’s Bend Quilters) is here.
Day 12 (egregious anti-Black (& anti LGBTQ+) behavior at a NY State high school is here.
Day 13 (Erin Jackson, 1st Black woman to win Olympic gold medal in speedskating) is here.
Day 14 (Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions) is here.
Day 15 (racial inequities in spiking vehicle death rates during the pandemic compound and are compounded by other racial inequities, and The New York Times buries the lede) is here.

It’s Day 14 of Black History Month and We Whites Are All Going to STFU and Listen.

Today, we get to listen to recording artist Stevie Wonder from back in 1973.

Stevie Wonder Innervisions
album cover art

As I’ve immersed myself in this Black History Month project, I’ve had some memories surface from long ago. I now view those experiences through a very different lens than I did at the time.

I was was a young child when Innervisions came out in 1973. As I got a little older and gained a musical awareness, singles from Innervisions were still in occasional rotation on the radio. They weren’t current top 40 hits by any stretch, but still, I knew these songs.

I remember one day finding Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions album in the stacks of my father’s records. I was not allowed to touch them – nor his turntable or tuner – but he was rarely ever around. All I had to do was wait until my mother was scarce, and I could pretty much have at it.

I played that record, both sides, straight through. And played it again. And again. I even dug out daddy’s 100% off-limits headphones so I could listen to it louder and with more clarity, alone inside my own head. Sure I was just a kid, but I got lost in that record. Musically and lyrically, Innervisions transported me to another world, one very different from my own. A Black world.

The music was positively bursting, full of struggle and pain, of power and pride, of musical exuberance and originality, of yearning and hope, of politics and poverty, and of characters and stories unlike anyone or anything I had known. And that was by design, by the way: I knew only a very insular, sheltered, and blindingly white world.

Innervisions gave me my first glimpse into Blackness. Now, looking back, I can see that was where my Black history lessons first began.

Of all the tracks on the album, Living for the City hit me the hardest, touched me the deepest. Here are two versions of it, plus a link to the album in its entirety. It changed me. I think it’s worth honoring and celebrating what is arguably Stevie Wonder’s finest work this Black History Month.

This is the radio edit (3:39):

Full-length version (7:22) from the album:

The whole album (nine tracks) can be played on YouTube here.

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