Police officers and racism have forced Black fathers to have an added responsibility to their parenting. Black fathers must have a conversation with their children about how to survive when encountering a racist civilian or police officer.
Infamous incidents such as George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Philando Castile are just a few examples in which their deaths resulted from a deadly encounter with racism. Former officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all three charges against him in the killing of George Floyd. However, police officers who conduct similar controversial actions do not always get the appropriate justice.
Even then, Black parents across America now have a responsibility to try to teach their children how to avoid such encounters in the first place if at all possible. In that regard, on this Father’s Day, Black fathers are having to double down on teaching their kids how to stay alive in a racist atmosphere; especially since their killers may not always receive justice. The lessons being taught are universal.
Quincy Williams, a Black father of a 23-year-old son from Laurel Hills, Calif., told his son that interactions with law enforcement are “not the time to prove that you are right.” Williams has told his son to “remain calm and make no quick movements so you can get home. We will handle the situation as needed.”
Dr. Eric Bell, a Black father in Northern Virginia, tells his 17-year-old son that “though we live in a society rich with opportunity only limited by ones imagination, there are segments whom aim to promote discourse and destruction through the advancement of division in people.” Dr. Bell also tells his son to “continue to seek out the good in people, educate the uninformed, and never allow yourself to be silenced through any form of oppression from anyone!”
Read the complete article at: Seattle Medium
Also Read: How Racism Affects Children of Color in Public Schools
James Meredith was walking down Highway 51 just south of Hernando, Mississippi. It was June 6, 1966, the second day of his planned 220-mile trek from Memphis to Jackson, which he undertook to encourage Black people to overcome racist intimidation and to register to vote.
As cars filled with newspaper reporters and police officers rolled nearby, he walked a sloping stretch of road lined with pine trees. He heard a shout: “James Meredith! James Meredith!”
A white man in a roadside gully lifted his shotgun, aimed at Meredith and fired. Meredith was hit and crawled across the road, his eyes wide with panic. As he splayed onto the gravel shoulder of Highway 51, blood soaked through the back of his shirt.
The attack, which happened 55 years ago, propelled Meredith back into the spotlight. Four years earlier he had integrated the University of Mississippi, which prompted bloody rioting and a political crisis. Now, in 1966, photographs of an anguished, injured Meredith splashed across newspapers’ front pages, and the media again admired his stoic fight for racial justice.
Civil rights leaders and thousands of others took up Meredith’s walk, transforming it into a huge demonstration known as the “Meredith March” and “March Against Fear.”
But Meredith, who survived his wounds, resisted his assigned political role. While liberals celebrated his sacrifice, he grumbled that he should have carried a gun, and in the ensuing weeks, he complained that the march lacked order, imposed upon Black Mississippians and endangered women and children.
The shooting revealed how James Meredith fits no conventional political category. He is a civil rights hero who does not associate himself with the civil rights movement. He espouses conservative ideas of self-reliance, discipline, morality and manhood, yet he proclaims a radical mission to destroy white supremacy.
Read the complete article at: The Conversation
Also Read: Biden Vows to End ‘Systemic Racism’ on Greenwood Anniversary
President Joe Biden vowed to “root out systemic racism” in a statement Monday to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, which wiped out one of the nation’s most prosperous Black neighborhoods.
Biden will travel to the Oklahoma city this week to commemorate the massacre that took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when a White mob destroyed Tulsa’s Greenwood district, known as “Black Wall Street” for its abundance of Black-owned businesses. An unknown number of people were killed, with estimates ranging from 50 to 300.
“We honor the legacy of the Greenwood community, and of Black Wall Street, by reaffirming our commitment to advance racial justice through the whole of our government, and working to root out systemic racism from our laws, our policies, and our hearts,” Biden said in the proclamation.
Biden has made racial equity a centerpiece of his presidency. The government must “reckon with and acknowledge” the role it has played in stripping wealth and opportunities from Black Americans, Biden said.
“I call upon the people of the United States to commemorate the tremendous loss of life and security that occurred over those 2 days in 1921, to celebrate the bravery and resilience of those who survived and sought to rebuild their lives again, and commit together to eradicate systemic racism and help to rebuild communities and lives that have been destroyed by it,” Biden said.
The Tulsa massacre was one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history, but for decades was little known outside Oklahoma.
Read the complete article at: Bloomberg
Also Read: How President Biden confronted racism and injustice in his first 100 days
“I call upon the people of the United States to commemorate the tremendous loss of life and security that occurred over those 2 days in 1921, to celebrate the bravery and resilience of those who survived and sought to rebuild their lives again, and commit together to eradicate systemic racism and help to rebuild communities and lives that have been destroyed by it,” Biden said. Biden vowed
Khady Gueye first became the target of online racist abuse after a Black Lives Matter protest she organised was met with opposition by some people in her hometown.
A year on, the 25-year-old is still glad she did it, but says the abuse she’s received has got more frequent.
Despite this, she says she doesn’t regret making a stand and will continue to do so.
“It’s changed my life entirely,” she tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.
‘No-one was talking about it’
This time last year, Black Lives Matter demonstrations were popping up all over the world, in response to the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
But Khady felt that “no-one was talking about it” where she lived in Lydney, Gloucestershire.
“Outraged and upset”, as the footage of George Floyd’s death circulated online, she decided to organise her own local protest.
“I wanted to highlight this tragedy for black communities in the area I live in, where discussions about race and racial justice just don’t happen,” she said.
The town council tried to block the demonstration from happening. The UK was still in a national lockdown and they told Khady they were worried about the spread of coronavirus.
But after getting threats and abuse about it online – including in the comments section of her local MP’s Facebook page – Khady suspected racism may be part of the reason.
The protest went ahead after the town council backed down, but Khady is keen to move away from a period she says “fractured” the local community.
“It was controversial in this area, everyone knows that,” she says.
“I feel that we’ve made progress in the sense that the conversations are still happening. Whether they are positive or negative, to make any real tangible change it starts with a conversation.”
Read the complete article at: BCC
Also Read: US embassies authorized to hang Black Lives Matter flags, banners on anniversary of Floyd’s murder
Chicago Public Schools will build a reporting system for incidents of racism and bias in schools, the district announced Thursday. Much of the work will focus on training and nondisciplinary solutions at the school level, but the district will investigate more serious incidents.
The program is called Transforming Bias-Based Harm and will include training for students and some staff on recognizing implicit bias and microaggressions. The district defines such actions as “everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional,” based on a person’s race, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
This past fall, students at some of the district’s selective high schools began using social media to document instances of racism at their schools. They shared stories involving racial slurs, bullying, and racial profiling by school security officers. The district said that students and families would be able to start reporting incidents of perceived bias on the CPS website or by emailing [email protected].
District officials Thursday did not offer many specifics about how educators would address harmful behavior among students but said cases would be referred to counselors and social workers. In addition, officials said schools would be encouraged to use restorative justice practices, such as peace circles and mediation, rather than punitive ones. More serious allegations will be investigated by the Office of Student Protections, or OSP, which formed in 2018 to investigate cases of sexual abuse.
The effort will include student input — something some student groups said was lacking during the social-justice protests of 2020.
“Our students’ bravery in standing up and speaking out against injustice was a call to action for our team and the entire district,” said Debra Spraggins, OSP’s director of investigations.
Read the complete article at: Chicago Chalkbeat
Also Read: Complaints of racism, bullying in central Minn. school district prompt calls for change
In the year after George Floyd’s murder, Beacon Hill put in place a new police oversight law and committed to a closer focus on racial issues, but the biggest change many see in the state capital has been a willingness across government to openly address structural racism.
“I think people are listening better,” Roxbury Rep. Liz Miranda told GBH News near the anniversary of Floyd’s killing by police in Minneapolis last year.
Rep. Nika Elugardo said she hadn’t heard from nearly as many white colleagues as when Floyd’s killing went viral on social media.
“Fast forward not even 24 hours after George Floyd, I’m getting phone calls from people at every level of government,” Elugardo said.
“The biggest difference, I think, that George Floyd made, is that people who were formerly mainly defensive and in ‘critique mode’ at even the mention of the phrase structural racism, or they were intellectually on board but not experiencing an urgency,” became willing to act, Elugardo said.
What the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Baker eventually arrived at was a first-in-the-nation law allowing decertification of police, new training standards and a majority-civilian oversight board that goes into effect July 1.
Miranda says she knew lawmakers and powerful Democratic leaders had conversations about race privately, but that Floyd’s death and a subsequent demonstration by the Legislature’s Black and Latino Caucus got the attention needed to push through the police accountability bill. Miranda said former House Speaker Robert DeLeo and his team were moved by footage of Floyd’s death and became more willing to engage with Black and brown lawmakers about policing.
“We heard from every member of leadership and I think that there was an openness to realize that they didn’t understand,” Miranda said.
Read the complete article at: WGBH
Also Read: Teaching children that racism is structural is key to finally eradicating it
Beacon Hill Beacon Hill
Parents and siblings of Black men killed by police urged people during a discussion in the city where George Floyd was killed a year ago to join them in pursuing legal changes they say can make similar deaths less likely in the future.
The panel, convened Monday in Minneapolis and organized by the George Floyd Memorial Foundation founded by Floyd’s sister Bridgett and moderated by prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, was part of a series of events marking the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death.
Family members of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Daunte Wright and other Black men slain by police gathered for a discussion about the state of policing in the U.S. and racial inequities in the frequency of fatal encounters with law enforcement.
The families also discussed the role of lawmakers in making changes to hold police accountable and how community members can support the loved ones of those killed by police.
“You don’t have to actually lose a child in order for you to have that passion,” said Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin. “We need allies, we need people to support us and lift us up when we’ve fallen down and when you all have fallen down we need to lift you all up.”
Gwen Carr, Garner’s mother, described her meetings and conversations with lawmakers over six years to get legislation passed that bans the use of chokeholds, among other measures, after an officer used the technique in the death of her son. One instance involved Carr and other mothers in New York brought makeshift coffins to the state Capitol in 2015 after failed attempts to meet with Gov. Andrew Cuomo in person.
“I don’t believe in writing letters. I don’t believe in phone calls. I do like to get right up in their face… I tell them what my demands are — not my asks, but my demands,” she said.
Read the complete article at: WBAL TV
Also Read: An Anti-Racist Advocate Is In Critical Condition After She Was Shot In London
Black men killed
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday the government would support Britain’s Jewish community in any way it could after a spike in anti-Semitic incidents, including an attack on a rabbi, following the outbreak of hostilities in Gaza.
The Community Security Trust (CST), which advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters, said it had recorded 106 anti-Semitic incidents since May 8 compared to 19 in the 11 previous days, a fivefold increase.
Responding to a question in parliament from Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, Johnson said: “I share his horror at the outbreak of anti-Semitic incidents and the government has conveyed that message loud and clear to those who are responsible for enforcing the law against hate crime.”
“As a country and as a society … we call this out at every stage. We will not let it take root, we will not allow it to grow and fester.”
In one high-profile incident, a video posted on social media on Sunday showed a convoy of cars bearing Palestinian flags driving through a Jewish community in north London and broadcasting anti-Semitic messages from a megaphone.
Detectives have since arrested four men on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences and they were later released on police bail pending further investigation.
ASSAULT, THREATS
Police have also arrested two men for a religiously-aggravated assault on a rabbi in Chigwell, to the north of London. He needed hospital treatment for concussion after receiving a number of blows to the head.
The CST said there had been several incidents of individuals shouting “Free Palestine” at random Jewish people, daubing graffiti next door to a synagogue and emailing abuse to Jewish community leaders.
In another case, a man stopped Jewish schoolchildren in London and threatened to punch them if they did not say they supported Palestine.
Read the complete article at: Euronews
Also Read: US Condemns ‘Anti-Semitic’ Remarks by Turkey’s Erdogan
“Destroy white supremacy, not each other.”
That’s the message plastered on several new billboards across the Portland area. The provocative message is displayed between a large gold-colored bullet that includes a superimposed image of a slave ship.
At a Monday unveiling of one of the new billboards, the artist behind the image — Portland native Elijah Hasan — said the bullet, like a slave ship, is a vessel of trauma for Black people.
“It is my intention to remind the Black minds inside these Black bodies that they may think that these bullets fly because someone snitched or even killed a loved one,” said Hasan. “But I am suggesting that this is not the reason you’re shooting. But instead, it’s a symptom of the environment you find yourself in.”
Motivated by Portland’s recent homicide rate increase, community organizations and anti-gun violence advocates — including the No Hate Zone, the Portland Rotary Peace Builders Committee, Love is Stronger, and Books Not Bars Oregon — came together to create the billboards. Their goal is to “directly connect the issue of Black-on-Black gun violence to the self-hate that is procreated by racism.”
The organizers hope to “reveal the impact that anti-Black trauma has had on the psyche of Portland’s Black community,” said Sam Sachs, founder of The No Hate Zone, a Portland racial justice organization. “The billboard campaign is done out of love and compassion, with the intent to bring awareness, action and solutions to the overwhelming number of shootings that impact communities of color, but more specifically Black men in Portland.”
Portland Police Bureau data as of May 10 shows 30 homicides this year, which includes 22 deaths from gunshots, including one fatal shooting by a police officer. There have been about 370 shooting incidents, and 118 people injured in shootings.
Read the complete article at: Oregon Live
Also Read: Michelle Obama Worries About Her Daughters Experiencing Racism
To understand racism, kids must empathise with its impact — and teachers must embrace discomfort
For people who experience racism, the pain sometimes comes as much from words as it does from actions. Indigenous people like Adam Goodes and Latrell Mitchell have spoken of the hurt they feel when they’re subject to racist slurs.
Words and actions used to demean people on the basis of race or colour can be found throughout everyday society and may even be seen as innocuous. Recent government bans on Australian citizens returning from India highlight one way non-white people can be excluded from society.
People of Indian or African heritage who were born in Australia or, as in my case, the United Kingdom, often face questions like, “Where are you from?” The answer is regularly met with some disbelief.
To be subject to t++-he continual presumption that skin colour other than white is country-specific and non-Australian is humiliating, no matter how subtle it may be.
Changing how people act in terms of race and colour means changing their attitudes towards difference. Learning about the context in which racial words originated and why they are hurtful is crucial to achieving this.
Why the history of words matters
Education is an important strategy in the campaign against racist behaviour and language. Intercultural understanding is part of the Australian Curriculum and mandated by its “general capabilities” — which must be taught throughout all learning areas where appropriate.
The current curriculum review recommends a reinforcement of this intercultural understanding. The draft changes offer greater emphasis on First Nations perspectives of Australian history and more acknowledgement of Australia’s multicultural society.
But it’s not enough to just passively incorporate such education. Changing children’s attitudes towards race and, in particular, the idea (or irrelevance) of skin colour, can be best done if they learn by experiencing the negative feelings people of different races, and with different skin, colours can feel.
Read the complete article at: The Conversation
Also Read: Biden lays out plans to combat racism, says America is ‘ready to change’
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