It’s Day 24 of Black History Month and We Whites Are All Going to STFU and Listen.

URGENT REMINDER: The fundraiser for reopening the National Black Doll Museum ends February 28. If you are able to donate a few dollars please do, and please share the fundraiser link as widely as you can. Many thanks! ☮️ -Iris.

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Every once in a while, mainstream media gets something (sort of) right. For instance, at Today.com I found the inaccurately titled Nine inspiring Black American heroes you might not know about, but should. The phenomenon of erasure is a subject near and dear to my heart, and I’ve given my take on erasure in at least one post in this Black History Month series. Here is another, from the Today article:

Black history lessons in the month of February likely include the teachings of famous Black Americans like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Park [sic], and Jesse Owens. These pioneers have earned their pages in history textbooks, but why is so much Black history missing?

“The reason is simple,” Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies at University of Houston told TODAY Parents. “Just look at the legislative backlash to Critical Race Theory or the Virginia gubernatorial race. Black history well taught leaves discomfort, which many would prefer to avoid.”

Personally, I prefer uncomfortable truths to comfortable fictions. Embracing the latter is not only foolish, but demonstrably dangerous.

But this post falls in neither camp; it celebrates historic accomplishments by Black people that we whites really should know about. (And if you’re into historic photos, its a little treasure trove.) As the good people at Color of Change helped to remind us yesterday, Black history IS American history.

Below are photos of Black historical figures I had never heard of until now, and short quotes from the Today article where you can go to learn more about them.

1. Harlem Hellfighters

Black & white photograph of over a dozen black men wearing double-breasted coats on a sailing ship, many of whom are smiling, upon the arrival of the famed 369th Black infantry regiment in New York after World War I.

The arrival of the famed 369th Black infantry regiment in New York after World War I. Celebrated in Europe, they faced discrimination at home.
(image: Bettmann Arc via Today)

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It’s Day 23 of Black History Month and We Whites Are All Going to STFU and Listen.

And learn. And then click. And thus help.

logo, a blue-bordered square with stylized text "COLOF OF CHANGE""I have written many times here about Color of Change, and I have learned so much about what Black people actually need from me by reading their work, and then doing what they ask of me. Today we get to learn and to help Black people by reading, signing, and sharing (if possible), four Color of Change petitions.

But first, I want to share something that we whites (including Yours Truly) clearly need to hear, again and again and again.  [Read more…]

It’s Day 22 of Black History Month and We Whites Are All Going to STFU and Listen.

Today I turn this space over to my esteemed Freethought Blogs comrade Abe Drayton, who writes at Oceanoxia. Abe posted today about a Black history issue that is both important and urgent, and deserves the widest possible audience. It is posted here in its entirety, with Abe’s kind permission.

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Color photo of Black Barbie doll in embellished red dress.(image: National Black Doll Museum of History & Culture)

Tegan Tuesday: The National Black Doll Museum needs your help!

“The National Black Doll Museum has a three-fold mission: to nurture self-esteem, to promote cultural diversity, and to preserve the history of black dolls by educating the public on their significance.” – Mission statement of The National Black Doll Museum of History and Culture

 

I only recently learned about this interesting museum, The National Black Doll Museum, that used to be housed in Mansfield, MA. For all I lived in Massachusetts for 12 years, I rarely explored the many small and unusual museums in the area. The NBDMHC has a collection of over 7000 Black dolls, and the oldest dolls are from the late 18th century. This isn’t just about the past, however, as these dolls are equally loved and displayed with Black Panther action figures. Although many doll museums include Black dolls in their collections, prior to 2020, this museum was the only physical museum in the US dedicated to Black dolls specifically.

The museum got its start from the personal collection of the founder, Debra Britt, who used to take her private doll collection on tours to women’s shelters or community centers to share the history and communal heritage as the Doll E Daze Project. The museum, which is a 501(c) 3 non-profit, still supports this community outreach as well as a number of workshops and educational resources. The workshop on the Power of Play looks at the impact of Black dolls on the self-pride and explores the stories of Black activists post-Reconstruction through today; The workshop on African wrap dolls works to preserve this important cultural handcraft; and the museum offers support and assistance for geneology research as well. For a project focused around children’s toys, the staff involved have found ways to connect with many aspects of the Black community at all stages of life.

But, unfortunately for the project, 2020 was a difficult year for them, like so many others. With the lack of school engagements, workshops, or in-person celebrations, the museum lost their space in Mansfield due to lack of funding. However, all is not lost! Attleboro, MA has set aside land for cultural development and is interested in working with the National Black Doll Museum to relocate to the new area. But they need funding to do so. The current phase of fundraising has a goal of $100,000 and a deadline at the end of the month — February is Black History Month after all! So I hope that you, much like myself, find the concept exciting and the project worthwhile, and will help to make the new location a reality. Let’s let this understudied aspect of history have a chance to shine again!

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BREAKING: Ahmaud Arbery’s killers found guilty of federal hate crimes, kidnapping charges.

 

 

Wahington Post banner logoBREAKING NEWS

Ahmaud Arbery’s killers found guilty of hate crimes, kidnapping charges after trial focused on racist slurs and comments

The federal trial was the first to focus directly on racism in connection with one of the high-profile killings of Black people that sparked massive racial-justice protests in 2020. Travis and Gregory McMichael and William Bryan were accused of pursuing and confronting Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old, because he was Black. The McMichaels were also convicted of a weapons offense.
Read more [@WaPo/paywall]

The thing is, regardless of the sentencing yet to come, there can never be justice. Unless Ahmaud Arbery walked through the door with the jury that delivered the verdict, this is a wrong that can never be righted.

Keeping the murdering racists behind bars for life so they don’t ever do anything like this to anyone else, I think, is the closest thing to justice we as a society can hope for. It is the sentence in the state case (for two of them, anyway; one has the possibility of parole). But it still isn’t justice.

photo of face of Ahmaud Arbery, wearing a baseball cap and smiling.

Ahmaud Arbery, 25
1994-2020
(image: still from video via CBS news)

Rest in Power, Mr. Arbery. You will not be forgotten, as long as I live.

 

It’s Day 21 of Black History Month and We Whites Are All Going to STFU and Listen.

Today we all get to STFU and maybe look a little more than listen. This post is about a piece of Black history being reclaimed and revived, and it is also about that revival being beautifully documented by photographer Justin Hardiman.

Okay, quick: what’s the first image that comes to your mind in response to the word cowboy?

For me, it’s some hybrid of Clint Eastwood in one of his Western films, sitting high on a horse with a squint and a snarl, and some white dudes with unkempt facial hair, iconic cowboy hats, and conspicuous holstered guns doing “cowboy things” (I guess?) like sitting around a campfire passing whiskey, riding horses to round up cattle, or small groups of these men on horseback traversing the mountains and deserts of the Western U.S.

For Black photographer Justin Hardiman, a “cowboy” looks a lot more like him.

Photo of Justin Hardiman, wearing white dress shirt, jeans, and tan leather lace-up shoes, seated, against a dark backdrop with large red lettering: "TEDx"Justin Hardiman
Photographer & Cowboy
(image via justinhardimanvisuals.com)

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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.

logo: white rectangle with "BLACK LIVES MATTER" in black text above three horizintal yellow lines, which when clicked links to the site blacklivesmatter.com.

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It’s Day 18 of Black History Month and We Whites Are All Going to STFU and Listen.

[CONTENT NOTE: police killings of Black people; no violent images appear in this post, which does contain: an image of a casket and pallbearers at a funeral for police shooting victim Amir Locke; discussion and news reporting on police killings of Black people; some links in the Amir Locke section go to pages which contain graphic and disturbing police body camera footage of his killing and/or still images extracted from it.]

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I have learned something about myself through this Black History Month project (JFC! There I go making it all about me already! #whitefail): it’s that I physically cannot write a blog post every day about every “newsworthy” story I encounter about Black people, whether tragic, triumphant, or very often both. That is why, for the past few days, I included in my posts links and blurbs about stories I did not address.

More than one article regarding police killings of Black people appears in my news feed today. I am posting about all three of them.

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AMIR LOCKE

Photo of face of Amir Locke, smiling very broadly.

Amir Locke, 22
(image: source via techbondhu.com)

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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.

Photo of Black woman Florynce "Flo") Rae Kennedy, wearing a cowboy hat, brown leather vest over a black long-sleeved shirt, pointing upward with one finger, and smiling.
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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color of change & Free Press logos on multicolored image of protesters, with white block letters "DEMAND THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE PROTECT OUR RIGHT TO PROTEST"

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. 

Red rectangle with white text: "DEMAND THE DOJ PROTECT OUR RIGHT TO PROTESTIris, 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.

Red rectangle with white text: "SIGN THE PETITION"wiAs 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. 

Red rectangle with white text: "IT IS OUR RIGHT TO PROTEST RACIAL INJUSTICE!"

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/

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/

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 15 of Black History Month and We Whites Are All Going to STFU and Listen.

Today we’ll learn how racial inequities compound other racial inequities. However, because we are learning this from today’s New York Times (via its email newsletter), we must first slog through a shit ton of obligatory crap to get to the important part of the story, the part about how racial inequities compound other racial inequities. I swear, nobody is better at burying the lede than the Times. Let’s go see if we can find it!

The email starts like this:

The New York Times "The Morning" email newsletter heading.

February 15, 2022

Good morning. Traffic deaths are surging during the pandemic.
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